A Treatise On The Law Of Bills Of Exchange And Promissory Notes Kyd, Stewart; Jacob Fisher (Previous Owner) Antiquarian & Scholarly

Boston: Manning & Loring, 1798. 1st Am. ed. First American Edition With Six Pages of Contemporary Notes Kyd, Stewart [d.1811]. A Treatise on the Law of Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes. Boston: Printed by Manning & Loring, 1798. xii, 288 pp. 12mo. (6-3/4" x 4"). Contemporary sheep, blind fillets to boards, lettering piece and blind fillets to spine, blind tooling to board edges. Light rubbing and a few faint dampstains to boards, which are separated but secured by cords, moderate rubbing to extremities, chipping to spine ends, corners lightly bumped and worn, owner signature (of Jacob Fisher) to front free endpaper, 3 sheets (6-1/4" x 3-3/4" folded) secured with pin along vertical fold laid in, contemporary manuscript notes in Fisher's hand to first 6 pp. Light toning to interior, occasional light foxing, underlining, brief annotations or corrections and manicules in ink to several leaves. $1,500. * First American edition, from the third London edition, 1795. With considerable additions. Kent called this early treatise on bills of exchange "a very valuable digest to the practicing lawyer, and particularly as during the times of Lord Holt and Lord Mansfield, the law concerning negotiable paper was extensively discussed and vastly improved." The laid-in notes, mostly summaries of key points of law, are keyed to page numbers and demonstrate careful study and engagement. Though it is difficult to be certain, the Jacob Fisher who made them may have been Jacob Fisher [1768-1843] from Lancaster, Massachusetts, a public servant and state legislator who reportedly acquired an impressive business education through self-study. Kent, Commentaries on American Law III:128. Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 2542.