MEMOIRS OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH, 1836, IN CONTEMPORARY MARBLED BOARDS

(MACKINTOSH, James) MACKINTOSH, Robert James, editor. Memoirs of the Life of the Right Honourable Sir James Mackintosh. London: Edward Moxon, 1836. Two volumes. Octavo, contemporary three-quarter speckled brown calf, raised bands, black morocco spine labels. $600.

Second edition of the memoirs of one of England’s most famous early 19th-century philosophers and jurists, in contemporary three-quarter calf and marbled boards.

Sir James Mackintosh was one of the best known philosophers and jurists of his days. He first rose to fame with his 1791 rebuttal, Vindiciae Gallicae, to Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the French Revolution, the only reply to the work that Burke considered worthy. For many years, Mackintosh was considered a leading liberal voice, though the excesses of the revolutionaries drove him to Burke’s side. Mackintosh then became involved in defending a French refugee against a libel suit instigated by Napoleon. The refugee, Peltier, had suggested the killing of Napoleon during peacetime. Mackintosh’s speech was a sensation and he was knighted in 1803. Soon after, Mackintosh became involved in Parliament, where he served as a noteworthy, but ultimately overshadowed Liberal presence. From that point on, Mackintosh was involved in teaching and writing, serving to mold the young minds of his country and contributing to a wide range of scholarship in law and history. Unfortunately, he died a good bit earlier than he might have otherwise: he choked on a chicken bone and died a short time later from inflammation of the throat. The first edition was published in 1835.

Light foxing mainly to preliminaries, lower front joint of Volume I expertly repaired, only slight rubbing to bindings. A near-fine copy, handsomely bound.