The First Part of the Justice of the Peace [And] The Second Part.

2 vols. London, 1730 & 1734. A Primary Source for Many Subsequent Manuals Blackerby, Samuel [fl. 1720-1738]. Blackerby, Nathaniel. The First Part of the Justice of Peace His Companion; Or, A Summary of All the Acts of Parliament.Begun by Samuel Blackerby, Alphabetically Digested, And Continued to the End of the Last Session of Parliament, 1729. With an Exact Table, By Nathaniel Blackerby, Esq. [London]: Printed by E. and R. Nutt, and R. Gosling, 1730. [xxiv], 508 pp. [And] Blackerby, Samuel. Blackerby, Nathaniel. The Second Part of the Justice of Peace His Companion. [London]: Printed by E. and R. Nutt and Richard Gosling, 1734. [iv], vii-xxiv, 360 pp. Includes one-page publisher list. 12mo. (5" x 3"). Contemporary calf, blind rules to boards, blind fillets along joints, gilt tooling to board edges, lettering pieces, gilt-edged raised bands and gilt volume numbers to spine. Light rubbing and a few nicks and scuffs to boards, moderate rubbing to extremities, corners bumped and somewhat worn, joints just starting at ends, early armorial bookplates (of Joseph Pickford, Esq.) to front pastedowns. Light toning to text, a few faint dampstains and early owner inscriptions (of Thomas Percival, Royton, Lancashire) to endleaves. Appealing copies, uniformly and attractively bound. $750. * Fifth editions. The first edition of Blackerby's Justice of the Peace, His Companion appeared in 1711. A companion volume, Cases in Law, which carries the subtitle "The Second Part of the Justice of Peace's Companion," followed in 1717. Both were held in high esteem, went through several editions and served as primary sources for many subsequent manuals. Justice of the Peace is arranged alphabetically by topic. Such entries as Apprentices, Bastardy, Gaming Houses, Overseers of the Poor, Papists and Popish Recusants and Witchcraft offer a unique perspective on rural English society during the early 1700s. Our copies, bound as a uniform set, are from the library of Thomas Percival [1719-1762], a Lancashire landowner and antiquary. On his death, his papers (and presumably his library) passed to his son-in-law, Joseph Pickford [1744-1819] (ODNB). Pickford, who later adopted the surname Radcliffe, was a magistrate and justice of the peace best known for the prolonged and brutal campaign against the Luddites which won him a knigh.…