Commentaries On The Laws Of England…

London: Printed For W.Strahan, T.Cadell, & D.Prince, Oxford, 1783. Ninth Edition, With The Latest Corrections Of The Author, And Continued By Richard Burn, LL.D. An important edition, the last to contain revisions made by Blackstone just before his death. The editor, Richard Burn, has also noted alterations made by subsequent acts of Parliament. Blackstone’s Commentaries, based on his lectures given at Oxford beginning in 1753, constitute the first attempt since Bracton to provide a coherent account of English law as a whole. “Blackstone inaugurated university instruction in English law…His great achievement…was his reduction to lucid and systematic statement of that disordered bulk of laws which had gradually accumulated since the days of Bracton. Although Blackstone lacked the originality and force of some of his predecessors in English legal literature, such as Bracton, Coke and Hale, his Commentaries, written in a style at once dignified, urbane and clear, are the most complete survey of the English legal system ever composed by a single hand.” (H.D.Hazeltine, Encyc. of Social Sciences) Marvin pp. 122-26. Sweet & Maxwell I p. 28. cfMarke p. 34. cfPrinting and the Mind of Man 212. cfRothschild 407. cfGrolier, English 100, 52. cfRothschild 407. See Winfield pp. 337-340. 4 Volumes. 8vo. pp. 8 p.l., 485; 4 p.l., 520, xix; 4 p.l., 455, xxvii; 4 p.l., 443, vii, [50]index. engraved frontis. portrait in Vol. I. 2 engraved tables (1 folding). contemporary tree calf, gilt backs (spine ends chipped, some cracks in spine, short splits in 3 joints, new lettering pieces, corners worn, Vol. I flyleaves lacking, collector’s rubberstamp on verso of portrait)