KAMES, Henry HOME, Lord. Mathieu Antoine BOUCHAUD, translator.
Essais historiques sur les loix, traduits de l'Anglois, par Mr. Bouchaud... avec des notes et une dissertation du traducteur.
Paris: [Quillau for] Vente, 1766.
12mo (165 × 90 mm.), pp. [ii], xi, [i], 391, [5] (approbation and adverts). Engraved title by Moreau (dated by him 1765), engraved armorial vingette to head of dedication. Two contemporary manuscript corrections to pp. 328-9. Contemporary mottled calf, gilt spine with 5 raised bands, red morocco label, marbled edges. Very slight wear to lower joint with resulting tiny hole. Later bookplate of Jean Toubeau de Maisonneuve. An excellent copy, very crisp and fresh throughout.
First edition in French. In his introduction to this translation of Kames' first two "Essays on several subjects concerning British antiquities", Bouchaud explains how he has somewhat reorganized his original and added his own extensive critical and expository notes, as well as a 103 page dissertation on the law of property (the subject of the second essay) "Observation sur la loi Cincia". Bouchaud omitted Kames' essays on the history of British law, which he judged would be of little interest to a French audience - but the very different reception of even the more general essays (translated here) in Britain and France marks the gulf between two different traditions of jurisprudence.
OCLC: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, University of Leiden, Library of Congress, University of Chicago, Harvard and Princeton.
£850.00
US$1687.93*
* Given as a guide only. Based on an exchange rate of £1 = US$1.985799 for the day 25 July 2008 but liable to fluctuate.
25 July 2008