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Item #28983 The Statute Law of Kentucky; with Notes, Praelections, and Observations on the Public Acts. In Five Volumes. William LITTELL.
The Statute Law of Kentucky; with Notes, Praelections, and Observations on the Public Acts. In Five Volumes.

The Statute Law of Kentucky; with Notes, Praelections, and Observations on the Public Acts. In Five Volumes.

Frankfort: William Hunter; Butler & Wood, 1809-1819. Five volumes. Thick octavos. (8 1/2 x 5 inches). [2], xiii, 759; [2], xvi, 630; vii, 621; v, [1], 536, [61], [vii]-ix; [4], 592, [32]pp.each titlepage. Light foxing and soiling to text.

Half calf and marbled boards, leather labels. In second volume pp.545 and 547 have minor tape repairs.

A rare set of the Kentucky statutes compiled by noted Kentucky legal historian, William Littell.

Littell (1768-1824) moved to Kentucky in 1801 where he received a law degree and began writing about legal history for the state. The present statutes, published over a period of ten years, were originally intended to be just three volumes (as evidenced by the titlepages) but were later expanded to five. The Shaw & Shoemaker bibliography entry covers the five volumes as one work, though they are cited individually by McMurtrie. These are relatively early for Kentucky printing, which began in Lexington in 1787. Incredibly rare in the marketplace, especially complete in five volumes. The only other complete set we can locate at auction was in the Brinley sale in 1880.

McMurtrie 340, 363, 394, 508, 726; Shaw & Shoemaker 17866.

Item #28983

Price: $8,500.00

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