A Treatise on the Law of Carriers of Goods and Passengers... 2nd ed

1851. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851. Copy of the First American Treatise to Discuss Railroads with a Notable San Francisco Provenance Angell, Joseph K. [1794-1857]. A Treatise on the Law of Carriers of Goods and Passengers, by Land and by Water. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851. xxiv, 647, xxviii, 802 pp. Octavo (9-1/4" x 6"; 23.5 x 15.25cm). Contemporary sheep, blind rules to boards, raised bands, lettering piece and hand-lettered shelf number to spine, blind tooling to board edges, library stamps (University of San Francisco Law Library, St. Ignatius Law School, San Francisco) to edges of text block. Light rubbing and a few minor nicks and scuffs to boards, moderate rubbing to extremities, joints just starting at head, small chip to foot of spine. Light toning to interior, light foxing in a few places, offsetting to margins at front and rear of text block, library stamps to endleaves and title page, owner signature of Ogden Hoffman, Jr. to front pastedown. A good copy with a notable provenance. $250. * Second edition, Revised and Enlarged. Angell on Carriers was highly esteemed in its day. First published in 1849, it went through three editions, the last one in 1857. It is notable as the first American legal treatise to discuss railroads and one of the first to discuss steamboats. The son and grandson of distinguished lawyer-politicians, Hoffmann [1822-1891] was a distinguished judge who served in the U.S. District Court for the District of California, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. He lived in San Francisco. Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 10943.