An Introduction to Municipal Law, Inscribed by the Author

New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1864. 1st edition. With a Warm Inscription by the Author Pomeroy, John Norton [1828-1885]. An Introduction to Municipal Law: Designed for General Readers and for Students in Colleges and Higher Schools. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1864. xxxviii, 544 pp. Octavo (8-1/2" x 5-1/2"). Original textured cloth, blind frames to boards, gilt title to spine. A few small scuffs to boards, light rubbing to extremities, spine lettering oxidized, spine ends worn, joints starting, corners bumped and worn, front hinge cracked (before title page), rear hinge starting at foot. Moderate toning to interior, first signature loosening and leaf [A4] (pp. v-vi) detached, a few slight cracks to text block, all other signatures secure, gift inscription to Maria H. Bulfinch, "Xmas 1865" to front free endpaper. $650. * First edition. This important treatise is not a study of municipal law in the modern sense, but a study of the positive law of the state and its history. A widely circulated book, it was highly regarded for its elegant prose style and thoughtful consideration of such topics as codification, legislation relating to married women and the war powers of the president under the Constitution. A second edition was published in 1883. The warm inscription to our copy reads, in part: "My dear Maria, I should not have thought of giving you this book, had I not understood that you had expressed a desire for it. It would have looked a little too much like affectation. Yet I think the book will call up some memories not entirely unpleasant." It goes on to detail her involvement in the publication process. Likely a New York native and local friend of Pomeroy's, Bulfinch was the author of several children's books. Catalogue of the Library of the Harvard Law School (1909) II:370.…