Commentaries on the Laws of England. Book the Third [ONLY]

1768. London, 1768. 1st ed.. London, 1768. 1st ed. First Edition of Volume III of Blackstone's Commentaries in Publisher's Boards Blackstone, Sir William [1723-1780]. Commentaries on the Laws of England. Book the Third. Oxford: Printed at the Clarendon Press, 1768. [viii], 455, [1], xxvii pp. Quarto (11-1/2" x 9"). Publisher's boards with recent buckram rebacking, paper label to spine, later armorial bookplate to front pastedown, edges untrimmed, some gatherings unopened. Moderate toning to interior, occasional light foxing, light soiling in a few places, clean tears to leaves S3-4 (pp. 141-144), neatly mended and without loss to text. $250. * First edition. The most influential publication in the history of modern Anglo-American law, the Commentaries on the Laws of England is based on a course of lectures delivered at Oxford University. Because they were not intended for aspiring practitioners, they described general principles rather than practical specifics. Sensitive to the systematizing trends of the day and the prestige of the natural sciences, he described the common law as an intricate, well-designed system akin to Newton's mechanistic universe. The first edition of Volume I was published in 1765. By the time Volume II was published Volume I had been re-published in its second edition; both were issued in 1766. (A revised Volume II was published in 1767.) Volumes III and IV were later revised, along with the first two volumes, for the fourth edition, 1770. Eller, The William Blackstone Collection in the Yale Law Library 1. Laeuchli, A Bibliographical Catalog of William Blackstone 1.