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BLACKSTONE, William.
Commentaries on the Laws of England in Four Books.
Fourth Edition.
Fourth edition. "Blackstone's great work on the laws of England is the extreme example of justification of an existing state of affairs by virtue of its history … Until the Commentaries, the ordinary Englishman had viewed the law as a vast, unintelligible and unfriendly machine... Blackstone's great achievement was to popularize the law and the traditions which had influenced its formation... He takes a delight in describing and defending as the essence of the constitution the often anomalous complexities which had grown into the laws of England over the centuries. But he achieves the astonishing feat of communicating this delight, and this is due to a style which is itself always lucid and graceful" (PMM).
4 volumes, quarto (267 × 210 mm). 19th-century tan calf, spines gilt in compartments, red and black morocco labels. Bookplate of William Baker to each volume. Boards rubbed, chipped, and scratched, some corners knocked, endpapers tanned from turn-ins, spotting to edges, endpapers, and contents. A good set.
