due to the same with slight loss to lettering, general light browning and foxing in places, a few other shadows of pressed leaves and flowers, worming in gutter in vol. I leaves Y4–2D. A good set. ¶ Eller, The William Blackstone Collection in the Yale Law Library , pp. 1–2; ESTC T57753; Printing and the Mind of Man 212; Rothschild 407. £12,500 [154859] 11 BLAVATSKY, Helena Petrovna. Isis dévoilée. Paris: Les Éditions Théosophiques, 1913–21 “AN EPOCH IN OCCULTISM” – ONE OF 25 COPIES First authorized edition in French of the author’s first major publication, each volume 9 of 25 numbered copies on japon; a beautiful set, with all but one volume preserved “en carré”. It is genuinely rare, especially in this format; we can trace no copies in commerce, and only nine complete sets in institutions worldwide. Isis dévoilée was first published in English as the two-volume Isis Unveiled: A Master-Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology (1877). The first volume, “Science”, opens with a discussion of Darwin’s Origin of Species and Huxley’s Physical Basis of Matter – Blavatsky’s attack on materialist science – and is followed by chapters on spiritualism, Mesmerism, the Kabbalah, and the advanced knowledge and achievements of ancient societies. The second volume, “Theology”, includes her views on secret societies such as the Jesuits and Freemasons, and a comparison of Christianity with Hinduism and Buddhism. Isis Unveiled totalled 1,300 pages and had an initial print run of 1,000 copies, all of which sold out within ten days. It is “a remarkable effort from one who had begun writing in English only three years before its debut, and who, by her own admission, had never been to any college or studied any branch of science. In spite of this, reviews at the time of its publication indicate that the book was regarded as one of great erudition and not just a literary curiosity” (Gomes). The 1913–21 French translation was made by R. Jacquemot and seen through the press by Gaston Revel (1880–1939), director of Éditions Théosophiques and founder of a number of Theosophical journals, including the newspaper Le Théosophe . Due to the absence of a Russian translation, Russian Theosophists initially read both Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine – Blavatsky’s second work – in French, often in partial, unauthorized manuscript
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10 BLACKSTONE, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1765–69 THE KEY WORK IN ENGLISH LEGAL LITERATURE First editions of all four volumes of the supreme work on English law, Blackstone’s magnum opus, a major influence on the Founding Fathers and the foundation of all legal analysis for the next two centuries. “Blackstone’s great work on the laws of England is the extreme example of justification of an existing state of affairs by virtue of its history . . . Until the Commentaries , the ordinary Englishman had viewed the law as a vast, unintelligible and unfriendly machine . . . Blackstone’s great achievement was to popularize the law and the traditions which had influenced its formation . . . He takes a delight in describing and defending as the essence of the
constitution the often anomalous complexities which had grown into the laws of England over the centuries. But he achieves the astonishing feat of communicating this delight, and this is due to a style which is itself always lucid and graceful” ( PMM ). This copy has the ownership signature to vol. IV of “H. Hawkins Tremayne”, likely the Reverend Henry Hawkins Tremayne (1741–1829), owner of the Heligan estate in Cornwall, curate at Lostwithiel in the same county, and with significant interests in the Cornish tin mining industry. The gardens he created around Heligan House – the so-called Lost Gardens of Heligan – remain a popular Cornish attraction. 4 volumes, quarto (258 × 205 mm). Early red morocco boards rebacked to style (probable remboîtage), dark green morocco labels, spine compartments gilt, marbled endpapers, yellow edges. Housed in a custom red cloth slipcase. With 2 engraved tables (1 folding) in vol. II. Vol. I with running stain from degradation of formerly inserted botanical specimens, leaves 2A1–2 and 3E4–3F1 with professional consolidation
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