Letters by Historicus on Some Questions of International Law Harcourt, Sir William George Granville Venables Antiquarian & Scholarly

London: MacMillan and Co., 1863. Authorial Presentation Copy of an Important Contemporary English Commentary on the American Civil War and International Law with an Interesting Association [Harcourt, Sir William George Granville Venables Vernon (1827-1904)]. Letters by Historicus on Some Questions of International Law. Reprinted From 'The Times' With Considerable Additions. London: MacMillan and Co., 1863. xiii, 212 pp. Octavo (8-1/2" x 5-1/2"; 21.6 x 14 cm). Original textured cloth, black-stamped frames to boards, gilt title and black-stamped fillets to spine. Light rubbing and soiling to boards, spine ends and corners bumped and mildly worn, hinges cracked, later bookplate, of Percy Houghton Brown, to front pastedown. Moderate toning to interior, "W Bovill / from the Author" to head of title page. A unique copy in very good condition. $750. * Only edition. Harcourt was a leading lawyer, journalist and statesman who served as Home Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer and, while a Member of the House of Commons, Leader of the Opposition. Written during the early years of his career, Letters by Historicus urged Great Britain to maintain neutrality and deny recognition to the Confederate states during the American Civil War. A bold statement at a time when British public opinion favored the Confederacy, this work established his reputation as a jurist and statesman; he became a Queen's Counsel in 1866 and the Whewell Professor of International Law at Cambridge in 1869. Nevins gives this book a high rating in his critical bibliography of books about the American Civil War. Sir William Bovill [1814-1873], the recipient of our copy, was a lawyer, politician and one of the most distinguished judges of his time. Chief Justice of the Common Pleas between 1866 and his death in 1873, he was famous as the judge who presided over the Tichborne case. While a Member of Parliament for Guildford from 1857 to 1866, he took an interest in legal reform, and was responsible for two acts, the Petition of Right Act and the Partnership Law Amendment Act. Harcourt and Bovill were on the legal team for Spottiswoode in the 1863 appeal of Campbell v. Spottiswoode. Harcourt probably presented his book at that time. Brown [1867-1944], a Cambridge-educated LL.D., was a lawyer of Lincoln's Inn. Stansky, "Harcourt, Sir William George Granville Venables Vernon"; Hamilto.