Difference between revisions of "Law Tracts"

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{{BookPageInfoBox
 
|imagename=BlackstoneLawTracts1762v1TitlePage.jpg
 
|imagename=BlackstoneLawTracts1762v1TitlePage.jpg
|link=https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/78373
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|link=http://wm-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/01COWM_WM:EVERYTHING:01COWM_WM_ALMA21548974140003196
 
|shorttitle=Law Tracts in Two Volumes
 
|shorttitle=Law Tracts in Two Volumes
 
|vol=volume one
 
|vol=volume one
|author=William Blackstone
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|author=[[:Category:William Blackstone|William Blackstone]]
|publoc=Oxford
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|publoc=[[:Category:Oxford|Oxford]]
 
|publisher=Clarendon Press
 
|publisher=Clarendon Press
 
|year=1762
 
|year=1762
 
|edition=First collected  
 
|edition=First collected  
|lang=English, French and Latin
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|lang=[[:Category:English|English]], [[:Category:French|French]] and [[:Category:Latin|Latin]]
 
|set=2
 
|set=2
|desc=8vo (22 cm.)
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|desc=[[:Category:Octavos|8vo]] (22 cm.)
}}[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blackstone Sir William Blackstone], law reporter, judge, and Oxford's first Vinerian Professor of English Law, is better known as the author of ''[[Commentaries on the Laws of England]]''.<ref>Wilfrid Prest, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2536 "Blackstone, Sir William (1723–1780)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online ed., Oct 2009, accessed 19 June 2013.</ref> ''Law Tracts'' predated that publication by three years and compiled for the first time several of Blackstone's earlier works. Texts reprinted in volume one include ''Essay on Collateral Consanguinity'', previously published in 1750, ''Considerations'', published originally in 1758, and ''Treatise on the Law of Descents'', a work from 1759. Blackstone's work on the Magna Carta from 1759, ''The Great Charter and Charter of the Forest, with Other Authentic Instruments: to which is Prefixed an Introductory Discourse, Containing the History of the Charters'', comprised the whole of volume two. According to one biographer, "[t]hese self-published reports were almost certainly intended as money-making ventures."<ref>Wilfrid Prest, ''William Blackstone: Law and Letters in the Eighteenth Century'', (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 214.</ref>
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|shelf=F-1
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}}[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blackstone Sir William Blackstone], law reporter, judge, and Oxford's first [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinerian_Professor_of_English_Law Vinerian Professor of English Law], is perhaps best known as the author of ''[[Commentaries on the Laws of England]]''.<ref>Wilfrid Prest, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2536 Blackstone, Sir William (1723–1780)]" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', accessed June 19, 2013.</ref> ''Law Tracts'' predated that publication by three years and compiled for the first time several of Blackstone's earlier works. Texts reprinted in volume one include ''Essay on Collateral Consanguinity'', previously published in 1750, ''Considerations'' (1758), and ''Treatise on the Law of Descents'' (1759). Blackstone's work on the Magna Carta from 1759, ''The Great Charter and Charter of the Forest, with Other Authentic Instruments: to which is Prefixed an Introductory Discourse, Containing the History of the Charters'', comprised the whole of volume two. According to one biographer, "[t]hese self-published reports were almost certainly intended as money-making ventures."<ref>Wilfrid Prest, ''William Blackstone: Law and Letters in the Eighteenth Century'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 214.</ref>
  
 
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==
 
==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==
The evidence is not conclusive, although it would not be surprising that Wythe owned this title. The Brown Bibliography<ref> Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433</ref> lists the first collected edition (1762) of this title noting that the copy in Thomas Jefferson's Library at the Library of Congress has the signature of ''D. Carr'' on the title page. Jefferson gave Dabney Carr, his nephew, many of Wythe's law books. This might be one of those titles. It is not listed on the [[Jefferson Inventory]], but the list of books given to Carr begins on a page with a fragment missing from the top.<ref>Endrina Tay & Jeremy Dibbell, [http://www.common-place.org/vol-10/no-02/tales "Reconstructing a Lost Library: George Wythe's 'Legacie' to President Thomas Jefferson"], Tales from the Vault, ''Common-Place'', Jan. 2009.</ref> Perhaps ''Law Tracts'' was originally part of the list. Jefferson did sell the copy with Carr's signature to Congress, but how Jefferson gained or regained possession of the set is unknown. The Wolf Law Library followed Brown's suggestion and purchased a copy of the first collected edition.
+
The evidence is not conclusive, although it would not be surprising that Wythe owned this title. The Brown Bibliography<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> lists the first collected edition (1762), noting that the copy in Thomas Jefferson's Library at the Library of Congress has the signature of ''D. Carr'' on the title page. Jefferson gave Dabney Carr, his nephew, many of Wythe's law books. This might be one of those titles. It is not listed on the [[Jefferson Inventory]], but the list of books given to Carr begins on a page with a fragment missing from the top.<ref>Endrina Tay & Jeremy Dibbell, "[http://www.common-place.org/vol-10/no-02/tales Reconstructing a Lost Library: George Wythe's 'Legacie' to President Thomas Jefferson]," ''Common-Place'', Tales from the Vault (January 2009).</ref> Perhaps ''Law Tracts'' was originally part of the list. Jefferson did sell the copy with Carr's signature to Congress, but how Jefferson gained or regained possession of the set is unknown. The Wolf Law Library followed Brown's suggestion and purchased a copy of the first collected edition.
  
 
<gallery widths=230px heights=230px perrow=3>
 
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==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==
 
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==
Two octavo volumes bound in recent hessian cloth with gilt lettering and rules to spines.<br />
+
Two octavo volumes bound in recent hessian cloth with gilt lettering and rules to spines.
<br />
+
 
View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/78373 William & Mary's online catalog.]
+
Images of the library's copy of this book are [https://www.flickr.com/photos/wolflawlibrary/albums/72157637877515025 available on Flickr.] Alternate images of the library's copy of this book are also [https://www.flickr.com/photos/wolflawlibrary/albums/72157637448025776 available on Flickr.]  View the record for this book in [http://wm-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/01COWM_WM:EVERYTHING:01COWM_WM_ALMA21548974140003196 William & Mary's online catalog.]
 +
 
 +
==See also==
 +
*''[[Commentaries on the Laws of England]]''
 +
*[[George Wythe Room]]
 +
*[[Wythe's Library]]
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
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[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]
 
[[Category:George Wythe Collection at William & Mary's Wolf Law Library]]
 
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]
 
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]
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[[Category:William Blackstone]]
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[[Category:English]]
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[[Category:French]]
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[[Category:Latin]]
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[[Category:Octavos]]
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[[Category:Oxford]]

Revision as of 17:23, 23 March 2020

by William Blackstone

Law Tracts in Two Volumes
BlackstoneLawTracts1762v1TitlePage.jpg

Title page from Law Tracts in Two Volumes, volume one, George Wythe Collection, Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary.

Author William Blackstone
Editor {{{editor}}}
Translator {{{trans}}}
Published Oxford: Clarendon Press
Date 1762
Edition First collected
Language English, French and Latin
Volumes 2 volume set
Pages {{{pages}}}
Desc. 8vo (22 cm.)
Location Shelf F-1
  [[Shelf {{{shelf2}}}]]

Sir William Blackstone, law reporter, judge, and Oxford's first Vinerian Professor of English Law, is perhaps best known as the author of Commentaries on the Laws of England.[1] Law Tracts predated that publication by three years and compiled for the first time several of Blackstone's earlier works. Texts reprinted in volume one include Essay on Collateral Consanguinity, previously published in 1750, Considerations (1758), and Treatise on the Law of Descents (1759). Blackstone's work on the Magna Carta from 1759, The Great Charter and Charter of the Forest, with Other Authentic Instruments: to which is Prefixed an Introductory Discourse, Containing the History of the Charters, comprised the whole of volume two. According to one biographer, "[t]hese self-published reports were almost certainly intended as money-making ventures."[2]

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

The evidence is not conclusive, although it would not be surprising that Wythe owned this title. The Brown Bibliography[3] lists the first collected edition (1762), noting that the copy in Thomas Jefferson's Library at the Library of Congress has the signature of D. Carr on the title page. Jefferson gave Dabney Carr, his nephew, many of Wythe's law books. This might be one of those titles. It is not listed on the Jefferson Inventory, but the list of books given to Carr begins on a page with a fragment missing from the top.[4] Perhaps Law Tracts was originally part of the list. Jefferson did sell the copy with Carr's signature to Congress, but how Jefferson gained or regained possession of the set is unknown. The Wolf Law Library followed Brown's suggestion and purchased a copy of the first collected edition.

Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy

Two octavo volumes bound in recent hessian cloth with gilt lettering and rules to spines.

Images of the library's copy of this book are available on Flickr. Alternate images of the library's copy of this book are also available on Flickr. View the record for this book in William & Mary's online catalog.

See also

References

  1. Wilfrid Prest, "Blackstone, Sir William (1723–1780)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, accessed June 19, 2013.
  2. Wilfrid Prest, William Blackstone: Law and Letters in the Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 214.
  3. Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.
  4. Endrina Tay & Jeremy Dibbell, "Reconstructing a Lost Library: George Wythe's 'Legacie' to President Thomas Jefferson," Common-Place, Tales from the Vault (January 2009).

External Links

Read volume one of this book in Google Books.
Read volume two of this book in Google Books.