Benjamin N. Cardozo: American Judge. In a fine custom binding

New York: Whittlesey House, [1940]. 1st ed. Finely Bound 1940 First Edition Biography of Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo Hellman, George S. [1878-1958]. Benjamin N. Cardozo: American Judge. New York: Whittlesey House, [1940]. ix, 339 pp. Frontispiece. Illustrations. Handsomely bound in full chestnut morocco, boards richly gilt, spine with raised bands and red morocco lettering piece, gilt tooling to board edges, marbled edges and endpapers, gilt dentelles. A few negligible scuffs to the binding; tiny folds to the lower outer corners of the first few leaves. An exceptionally well-preserved copy in an elegant custom binding. $750. * First edition. Published two years after Cardozo's death, this remains one of the earliest full-length biographies of the influential Supreme Court justice. Hellman, a writer of established literary reputation, presents not a technical study of jurisprudence but a vivid and accessible portrait of the man himself. "Mr. Hellman. presents a portrait of [Cardozo's] life, not so much for students of jurisprudence as for persons whose fundamental interest is in the personality of the man. The materials are woven together with the skill of a literary artist" (Carl Brent Swisher, The American Political Science Review 34 [1940], 792). Benjamin Nathan Cardozo (1870-1938) served as Justice of the New York Supreme Court (1914-1917), Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals (1917-1926), Chief Judge of that court (1926-1932), and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1932 until his death. He believed the law must evolve in response to changing social conditions, and together with Harlan Fiske Stone and Louis D. Brandeis formed part of the so-called "Three Musketeers," supporting many New Deal measures in opposition to the conservative "Four Horsemen" (George Sutherland, Willis Van Devanter, James Clark McReynolds and Pierce Butler). A distinguished copy of an important early account of one of the twentieth century's most respected American jurists.…