Blackstone, William
The Great Charter and Charter of the Forest, With Other Authentic Instruments: To Which is Prefixed an Introductory Discourse, Containing the History of the Charters
Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1759. First edition. Large 4to, 12 3/4 x 9 3/16 in. (324 x 233 mm). (iv), lxxvi, (iv), 86 pp. Illustrated with an engraved dedication leaf, engraved historiated initials illustrating buildings at Oxford, and large engraved tail-pieces. Full tan calf, red morocco spine label, stamped in black and in gilt, joints and extremities rubbed, light scratching and wear to spine; red speckled edges; marbled endpapers; gutter reinforced at front and rear free endpapers and blanks; light foxing to title-page; gutter of title-page, dedication, and pp. (i)/ii repaired; fore-edge of title-page, dedication, and pp. (i)-x and xxxi/xxxii repaired; small short closed tear in fore-edge, pp. xi-xxiv; wormhole in top corner, from p. lxv of Introduction through p. 6 of Magna Carta, smaller wormhole at same extending to end of text; closed tear in fore-edge of pp. 9/10 and 13-16; fore-edge worn, pp. 81-86; pale foxing and soiling to text; light offsetting from engraved plates; text sometime washed. ESTC T143723

First edition of William Blackstone's important work on the Magna Carta. A pioneering piece of scholarship, Blackstone's work for the first time critically and systematically distinguished the sequence of the different texts of the charter itself. His close examination of the original texts demonstrated that all subsequent versions of the Charter were based on King Henry III's 1225 reissue, and not the original document endorsed by King John in 1215 at Runnymede. His work proved highly influential, with his numbering system of the Charter's articles is still in use today. Scholarship aside, the work is also an aesthetic tour-de-force and represents one of the finest publications of the Clarendon Press.