[Rarebooks] fs-Blackstone's Commentaries

[Joe Luttrell]

A selection of sets of Blackstone's Commentaries which we have in 
stock, with images of them; for others, please feel free to 
browse our web site, where you may search our entire inventory by 
any word or phrase: www.meyerbos.com

1.  BLACKSTONE, William.  Commentaries on the Laws of England . .
. The Fifteenth Edition, with the Last Corrections of the Author;
and with Notes and Additions by Edward Christian. Four Volumes.
Eller 27 [unrecorded variant?].  Printed by A. Strahan . . . for T.
Cadell and W. Davies [etc.], London, 1809.  Near-contemporary 1/2
calf over marbled boards, a fresh set. [57544] PHOTO:
http://www.meyerbos.com/bookListing.cgi?bookNo=57544   $ 1,500.00

The last edition undertaken by Edward Christian, who had succeeded
Richard Burn as the editor of the 'Commentaries' following
Blackstone's death and who, by some decades, preceded Maitland as
Downing Professor of Law at Cambridge; with the half title.

2.  BLACKSTONE, William.  Commentaries on the Laws of England . .
. from the Last London Edition. With the Last Corrections of the
Author; and with Notes and Additions by Edward Christian . . .
Downing Professor of the Laws of England in the University of
Cambridge. Four Volumes.  Printed and Published by Thomas B. Wait,
& Co., Portland, 1807.  Original publisher's paper-backed
light-blue boards, paper labels. [62886] PHOTO:
http://www.meyerbos.com/bookListing.cgi?bookNo=62886     $ 750.00

An early American edition (the fifth), a completely
unsophisticated, unrestored set in its original American
publisher's binding, bottom and foredges untrimmed, cracking to the
joints, bottom of one spine perished, labels slightly different.

3.  BLACKSTONE, William.  Commentaries on the Laws of England
[etc.]. Twelfth Edition.  Four Volumes. Eller 21.  Printed by A.
Strahan and W. Woodfall [etc.], London, 1793-95.  Contemporary 1/2
calf, rubbed, serviceably rebacked; a clean set. [64573 Y] PHOTO:
http://www.meyerbos.com/bookListing.cgi?bookNo=64573   $ 1,500.00

One of the most desirable of all the early editions, famous for its
inclusion of thirteen full page engravings, the first of only two
editions to have them, including those of Coke, Fortescue, Hale and
Mansfield, among many others.

4.  BLACKSTONE, William.  Commentaries on the Laws of England.
Fifth Edition. Four Volumes. Eller 7.  At the Clarendon Press,
Printed for William Strahan [etc.], Oxford, 1773.  Contemporary
polished calf, extra gilt, a bit rubbed and a bit of cracking to
some joints, one table torn (no loss), else a lovely, appealing,
fresh set. [70671 XY] PHOTO:
http://www.meyerbos.com/bookListing.cgi?bookNo=70671   $ 2,500.00

The first authorized octavo edition (its format followed in all
successive editions save one), the first such to be printed at
Oxford, and the first to appear under Strahan and Cadell's imprint,
following Blackstone's sale to them of the copyright.

5.  BLACKSTONE, William.  Commentaries on the Laws of England. Four
Volumes.  University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1979.  Original
wraps, as new. [70379] PHOTO:
http://www.meyerbos.com/bookListing.cgi?bookNo=70379     $ 110.00

The facsimile re-issue in paperback of the first edition printed at
Oxford between 1765 and 1769; with four brief scholarly
introductions, one for each volume.

6.  BLACKSTONE, William.  Commentaries on the Laws of England. Four
Volumes [Second Editions of Volumes One and Two, First Editions of
Volumes Three and Four].  Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1766-69.  [59066
Y] PHOTO: http://www.meyerbos.com/bookListing.cgi?bookNo=59066
                                                        $ 4,500.00

A well preserved mixed edition of the most famous of all works on
English law, bound in a full contemporary calf, a bit of cracking
to some joints, a tad of foxing, one label chipped, yet generally
quite fresh, clean and wide-margined.

7.  BLACKSTONE, William.  Commentaries on the Laws of England. Four
Volumes. Eller 1.  Printed at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1765-69. 
Contemporary calf, rebacked, joints rubbed; a good, usable set.
[67979 XY] PHOTO:
http://www.meyerbos.com/bookListing.cgi?bookNo=67979  $ 15,000.00

First edition of the pre-eminently collectible work of
Anglo-American law, the principal fruits of Blackstone's Vinerian
Professorship at Oxford, the first legal chair in the English
speaking world whose first occupant was Blackstone.

8.  BLACKSTONE, William.  Commentaries on the Laws of England. The
Fourth [sic] Edition. Eller 6.  Printed for John Exshaw [and
others; imprint varies], Dublin, 1771.  Contemporary calf, rubbed,
a few repairs, new labels; a sound set. [60114 TAS] PHOTO:
http://www.meyerbos.com/bookListing.cgi?bookNo=60114   $ 1,500.00

A very early Dublin-printed, pirated edition (the second) of
Blackstone's classic work, appearing during the same year as the
first American edition, and the first in Ireland in which all four
volumes were published during the same year.

9.  BLACKSTONE, William.  Commentaries on the Laws of England: In
Four Books . . . Adapted to the Present State of the Law, by Robert
Malcolm Kerr . . . Judge of the Sheriffs' Courts . . . London, and
One of the Commissioners of the Central Criminal Court. Four
Volumes. Eller 44.  John Murray, Albemarle Street, London, 1862. Contemporary 
calf, a bit rubbed and spotted, but an attractive set,
all edges marbled, marbled endpapers, and contrasting morocco
labels, gilt. [70690] PHOTO:
http://www.meyerbos.com/bookListing.cgi?bookNo=70690     $ 850.00

The third of four editions prepared by Kerr, carefully preserving
Blackstone's text and distinguishing it from his additions, noting
Blackstone's original pagination in the margins, and translating
into English some of Blackstone's Latin and French.

****************************
  Meyer Boswell Books, Inc.
  Rare and Scholarly Law Exclusively
  2141 Mission Street #302
  San Francisco CA 94110
  415 255 6400
  415 255 6499 FAX
  rarelaw at meyerbos.com
  www.meyerbos.com

  Member, Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America
  and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers