Crim Con, A Full, Faithful, & Impartial Report of that Curious..

1817. Defended By a Distinguished Anglo-Irish Barrister [Trial]. Blake, Martin Joseph, Defendant. Crim. Con. A Full, Faithful, & Impartial Report of that Curious, Extraordinary and Interesting Trial with Speeches of Counsel and Judge's Charge, In the Case Wherein Mark Browne, Esq., Was Plaintiff and Martin Jos. Blake, Esq., Defendant, In an Action of Damages for Crim. Con. With the Plaintiff's Wife. Tried in the Court of Common Pleas, Dublin, On the 9th and 10th Days of July, 1817, Before the Right Honorable Lord Norbury and a Special Jury of the City of Dublin; Damages laid at ?30,000. Dublin: Printed by J. Charles, 1817. 48 pp. [Bound with] Phillips, Charles [1787?-1859]. The Speech of Charles Phillips, Esq. In the Case of Brown Versus Blake for Adultery; Delivered Before Lord Norbury and a Special Jury on the 9th July, 1817. Dublin: Printed at the Hibernia Press Office, For John Cumming, 1817. 31 pp. Octavo (8" x 5"). Stab-stitched pamphlet in later plain wrappers. Two vertical fold lines to front wrapper. Moderate toning to interior, light foxing in places, early library stamps to head of p. 3 of Crim. Con., verso of title page, head of p. 7 and verso of final leaf of Speech. $650. * Crim. Con.: First edition; Speech: only edition. A second edition of Crim. Con. was published shortly after the first in 1817. Although it was a typical adultery trial, Browne v. Blake attracted a fair amount of attention because Blake's lawyer was Phillips, who defended him successfully. A leading Anglo-Irish barrister, Phillips was renowned for his oratory and expertise with adultery cases. Both titles are scarce. OCLC locates 5 copies of Crim. Con., all first editions, 1 in a North American law library (LA County) and no copies of Speech. Crim. Con.: British Museum Catalogue (Compact Edition) 3:582.