New Jersey Provenance

Commentaries on American Law. Volumes I and II (of four).

Philadelphia: O. Halsted, 1826-27.

Price: $1,250.00


About the item

First Edition. 2 vols. 8vo. New Jersey Provenance. Full contemporary calf, blind tooled at edges of upper and lower covers, original red and black spine labels (lacking one on Vol. II), some rubbing, hinges to Vol. II cracked but holding, internally fine. Front covers bear the contemporary signature of Aug. W. Cutler of Morristown, New Jersey. American Imprints 25026; Cohen 5398; Larned 2761; Woxland and Ogden. Landmarks in American Legal Publishing: an Exhibition Catalogue p. 23 f.; Hicks. Men and Books Famous in Law Chapter 6.

Item #17192

A landmark in American and International legal commentary, the first edition of Kent's classic — issued in four volumes from 1826 to 1830 — has become extremely rare. The work, notes the DNB, “still remains the foremost American institutional legal treatise.”

With a significant New Jersey provenance of a Morristown resident (Kent himself lived in Summit, New Jersey): August William Cutler was born in Morristown in 1827, went to Yale but returned home due to illness. He was called to the NJ Bar in 1850, served in the NJ Legislature, US House of Representatives (3 terms) and ran unsuccessfully for the Governorship. His most lasting contribution was his effort to found the US Dept. of Agriculture.