[Rarebooks] FS: Charles Sumner's copy of James Kent's COMMENTARIES ON AMERICAN LAW

[Charles Agvent]

[SUMNER,  Charles] KENT, James. COMMENTARIES ON AMERICAN
          LAW. New  York: Printed for the Author 1840. Fourth  Edition.
          Four octavo  (5-1/2"  x  8-3/4") volumes  bound  in  original
          sheep with  modern  sheep  spines   and  gilt-lettered  black
          morocco  spine labels. Senator Charles Sumner's copy with his
          SIGNED  PRESENTATION  in  the  first volume:  "This  copy  of
          Kent's  Com-/mentaries,  a present to me/from the Author,  is
          offered/with  pleasure  to  the  Library/of  Olivet  College,
          /Michigan./Charles  Sumner/Boston Dec. 26th 1847." Above  the
          inscription  Sumner  has written the library number  of  this
          copy in  his personal library. The other three volumes bear a
          signature  that  may  be  Sumner's  along  with  his  library
          notation.  Sumner, an 1830 graduate of Harvard, was  admitted
          to the  bar  in  1834. In 1850, he was chosen to  the  United
          States Senate from Massachusetts, in place of Daniel Webster,
          where he  opposed the Fugitive Slave Law. Sumner was  perhaps
          the most  influential man in public life after Lincoln at the
          end of  the  Civil  War  and   was  a  notable  advocate  for
          emancipation  of the slaves and later for civil rights. James
          Kent's  fame  rests  with  his  authorship  of  this  text, a
          formative  influence  on  American  jurisprudence  and  legal
          education.  During  the  Civil War Kent was one of  the  most
          perceptive  commentators  on  law in antebellum  America.  An
          exceptional    copy    of  the    most   important   American
          institutional  legal treatise, America's first legal classic,
          owned by  one  of this country's most famous senators.  Light
          and scattered  foxing.  Some loss of leather to  the  boards,
          mostly  along  the  edges.  Clean,   Near  Fine  set,  nicely
          rebacked.                                            $4500.00

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