A New Abridgment of the Law..., 5 Volumes. London, 1768-1770

1768. London: His Majesty's Law Printers, 1768-1770.. London: His Majesty's Law Printers, 1768-1770. A Complete Set of Bacon's Abridgment, "Quite a Law Library in Itself" Bacon, Mathew [fl. 1730]. [Gilbert, Sir Jeffrey (1674-1726)]. [Sayer, Joseph (fl. 1750)]. [Ruffhead, Owen (1723-1769)]. A New Abridgment of the Law. Corrected; With Many Additional Notes and References. London: Printed by His Majesty's Law Printers, For J. Worrall [et al.], 1768, 1770. Five volumes (Volume 5: 1770). Complete set. Folio (13-1/4" x 8-1/4"; 33.5 x 21 cm). Recent three-quarter calf over buckram, blind fillets to calf edges, blind fillets and red and black lettering pieces to spines, endpapers renewed. Moderate rubbing to extremities, spines somewhat darkened, front joint of Volume 3 starting at foot. Light toning to interiors, occasional light foxing, light soiling and faint spotting in a few places, tiny recent ink shelfmark to upper outside corner of Volume 1 title page, small tear to gutter of last leaf of Volume 5 not affecting text. Brief early pencil and ink notes to a few leaves in each volume. A very good set. $2,500. * Third edition. Bacon's Abridgment is a digest of cases and treatises written by Gilbert. It was popular among English and American practitioners into the early nineteenth century because its logical system of subdivisions within each title was a significant improvement over previous compendia. It was also considerably more comprehensive. As Marvin notes, it was "quite a law library in itself." Jefferson, who owned a copy of the fifth edition, saw it as the definitive statement of English law, the successor to the works of Bracton and Coke. The Abridgment was compiled and mostly edited by Bacon. The first volume was published in 1736 and new volumes were issued until the work was interrupted by Bacon's death. (His last entry was "Sheriff.") The rest of the work was edited by Sayer and Ruffhead. It went through some seven English and two American editions, the latter edited by Bird Wilson and John Bouvier. Marvin, Legal Bibliography 85. Sowerby, Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson 1792 (citing the fifth edition). English Short-Title Catalogue N5624.