 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Hard cover, 16mo, finely bound in tree calf, rolled with gilt foliage roll to board edges, with six faux compartments, red morocco title label to the second and gilt decoration to the spine. Marbled page edges and endpapers. Turn ins are tooled in blind. Illustrated title page by George Cruikshank. Printed by Bradbury, Evans and Co., Whitefriars, London. 252pp. CONDITION: Very Good. Tender front hinge; cracked. Rear hinge is in order. Exterior shows wear and rubbing to both joints and perhaps some old color restoration. Boards are, however, lovely and clean as seen. The spine has one small scuff. Light foxing to prelims. Pages are lightly age toned. British Author and Humorist Gilbert Albert A' Beckett (1811-1856) was a contemporary of Charles Dickens and adapted several of his short stories into plays. A barrister as well as a comic writer, A'Beckett founded and edited the satirical magazine, "Figaro" from 1831-39, and contributed to "Punch," as well as many other periodicals of Victorian Britain. His book of legal satire here was first published in 1844. The "New Edition" appears to have been published variously between 1856 and 1876. Original publishers Bradbury & Evans were renamed in the year of this edition, 1872, as the retired founders sons, William Hardwick Bradbury and Frederick Moule Evans, jr., brought onboard new capital investors, Mancunians William and Andrew Agnew. Written with tongue in cheek as a law text, A'Beckett's "The Comic Blackstone" has a lot to say about the practical limits and conflicts of British legal precedents in the exercise of personal liberty, taxation, and the rights of the Crown versus the Barons and the people. Watson 1143. BL. OCLC. On Bradbury and Evans: Royal Academy.
Ref: HAHA 9763
$95.00