Venteicher Rare Book Collection
Editions from the Creighton Law Library Rare Book Collection
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NOTE: This page is currently in the process of development and represents only a small percentage of the large number of rare books housed by the Creighton law library. Please check back periodically for more information and photos of the law library's rare book collection.
| 2d Edition |
Commentaries on the Laws of England. / 2d ed. Oxford, Printed at Clarendon Press, 1766-1769. In this quarto edition, vol. 3-4 are first edition.
No second edition of vol. 3-4 was published.
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| 3d Edition |
Commentaries on the Laws of England. / 3d ed. Oxford, Printed at Clarendon Press, 1768-1769. In this quarto edition, vol. 3-4 are first edition.
No revision of vol. 3-4 was published until the fourth edition.
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| 1st American Edition |
Commentaries on the Laws of England. In four books. By Sir William Blackstone, Knt. One of His Majesty's judges of the Court of Common Pleas. Re-printed from the British copy, page for page with the last edition. America: Printed for the subscribers, by Robert Bell, at the late Union library, in Third-street, Philadelphia, 1771-1772.
This is the first American Edition; reprinted line for line from the fourth Oxford edition, 1770. It was printed with an advance subscription list of 1,587 sets, according to thee alphabetical list of "Names of the Subscribers," twenty-two unnumbered pages preceding title page of vol. 4, which lists 839 names of individuals, libraries and booksellers.
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| 4th Edition Oxford |
Commentaries on the Laws of England. / 4th ed. Oxford, Printed at the Clarendon Press, 1768. This quarto edition is called fourth on title page of all volumes, although no Blackstone revision of vol. 3-4 had been published prior to 1770. This edition is first to have Blackstone's preface of the first edition, five paragraphs, abbreviated to three paragraphs.
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| 7th Edition |
Commentaries on the laws of England. / 7th ed. Oxford, Clarendon press, printed for William Strahan, Thomas Cadell, and Daniel Prince, 1775. This edition is the first edition which contains a Blackstone portrait known to have been printed for the edition in which it appears. Frontispiece of vol. 1 is a bust portrait of Blackstone, facing right, in an oval frame. Its reads: "The Honourable Sir Wm. Blackstone knight one of the justices of the Court of Common Pleas. Painted by Gainsborough 1774. Engraved by J. Hall 1775."
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