A Report of the Decision of the Supreme Court of the Unted States, and the Opinions of the Judges Thereof, in the Case of Dred Scott versus John F. A. Sandford. December Term, 1856
New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1857. First Edition. Original full calf over boards. Octavo. [4], [393]-633, [1], [leaf of publisher ads].
Dred Scott was the most controversial Supreme Court decision of the 19th century, and is its most famous decision involving slavery. In Scott v. Sandford, the court ruled that African Americans could not be citizens, and that a key provision of the Missouri Compromise Act of 1820 was unconstitutional. This decision made the outbreak of Civil War four years later almost inevitable, and is widely regarded as the worst decision in the Court's history.
This is the first public appearance of all nine opinions that comprise that infamous decision, prepared by the Court's official reporter of decisions, Benjamin C. Howard. Counterintuitively, this New York Appleton imprint precedes the well-known Washington, DC imprint of Cornelius Wendell. The work of scholar Douglas W. Lind has conclusively shown that Wendell's DC imprint was not issued until well into 1858, despite its imprint date of 1857, and that Howard printed this New York Appleton imprint to prevent a Congressionally sanctioned offprint of the individual decision from undercutting sales of his annual bound volume of court decisions.
Great significance therefore attaches to this New York imprint by Appleton, as it was this edition alone that the public and legal scholars had access to in 1857 and upon which their early commentaries are based.
Ref. HOWES S218; SABIN 78261; FINKELMAN p. 49; LIND pp. ix-xiii, etc.
Bound in full calf over boards with thin ornamental border rules stamped in blind. Gilt-stamped red leather title label on spine. Mild age toning inside, a bit of browning to endpapers, a few shallow extremity bumps, and a slight dime-sized blemish to lower fore corner of lower board. A beautifully preserved copy of this important 19th century turning point.
Item #1720
Price: $3,500