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Philadelphia: James Humphreys, 1804. 3 vols. First American Edition of Montefiore's Fascinating Commercial Dictionary Montefiore, Joshua [1762-1843]. A Commercial Dictionary: Containing the Present State of Mercantile Law, Practice and Custom. With Very Considerable Additions Relative to the Laws, Usages, and Practice of the United States. Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by James Humphreys, 1804. Three volumes. li, [2], 54-562, [6]; [ii], 481, [3]; 479, [1] pp. 4 pp. publisher advertisements at rear of each volume. Subscriber list at beginning of Volume I. Octavo (8-1/2" x 5"). Recent period-style speckled goatskin, lettering pieces, gilt fillets and gilt volume numbers to spines, speckled edges, endpapers renewed. Moderate toning, light foxing and ink spots to a few leaves in each volume. A handsome copy of a scarce title. $3,500. * First American edition, based on the 1803 London edition with a considerable addition of American material. The subscriber list includes businessmen throughout the eastern seaboard and several notable Philadelphia jurists, such as Horace Binney, Alexander James Dallas, Peter S. Du Ponceau and William Rawle. Intended for merchants, this dictionary offers a wealth of information about contemporary commercial and maritime law, international business practices and commercial ports and their primary imports and exports. It also discusses the present state of banks and insurance companies in the United States, the laws of copyright and letters patent, the regulation of coastal trade and the funding system and state of the U.S. national debt. It was useful for lawyers as well as merchants: Thomas Jefferson owned a copy. Montefiore was born in London and had a distinguished career there as a notary public and solicitor despite obstacles to Jewish participation in public life. He published a number of works on commercial law; two had American editions, making him the first Jewish author to publish a legal work in the United States. Upon his retirement in 1835, he moved to St. Albans, Vermont with his family. His wife and children were Catholic, but he maintained his Jewish faith and was Vermont's first Jewish citizen. Dorn, "Joshua Montefiore, First Jewish Author to Publish a Law Book in America," In Custodia Legis (accessed online). Sabin, A Dictionary of Books Relating to America 50100. Kress Library of Business and Economi. Seller Inventory # 71798
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