A Succinct View of the Law of Mortgages: With an Appendix, Containing

1798. London: W. Clarke and Son, 1798.. London: W. Clarke and Son, 1798. With "Scientific Precedents" and Interesting Provenance Wilmot, Edward Coke. A Succinct View of the Law of Mortgages: With an Appendix, Containing a Variety of Scientific Precedents of Mortgages. London: Printed for W. Clarke and Son, 1798. [vi], 104, 108, [4] pp. Includes three-page publisher catalogue. Octavo (8-1/4" x 5-1/4"). Contemporary calf, blind fillets to boards, raised bands and lettering piece to spine. Light rubbing to spine, lighter rubbing to extremities, a few minor scratches to boards, corners bumped. Early owner signature and annotation to front free endpaper, interior otherwise fresh. A well-preserved copy. $750. * Second edition. On the front free endpaper, there is an early ownership inscription: "1798 / E Libris / Andrew G: C: Tucker / Non bonum est vivere sed bene vivere". This is the distinguished Aberdonian solicitor and naturalist Andrew Griffin Coard Tucker, LL.D. (1778-1832). Interestingly, he inscribes the book with not only his name and his date of acquisition, but with his motto, a Latin aphorism from Seneca. An author himself, Tucker wrote numerous legal tracts, published in Ashburton and Exeter, in the 1810s and 1820s, several dealing with specific court cases, but his most monumental publication was ornithological, his Ornithologia Danmoniensis: or, An History of the Habits and Economy of Devonshire Birds (London, 1809). Written for the benefit of "the junior Part of the Profession," Wilmot's book offers a review of the law and a collection of model precedents. The chapters of the "succinct view" are clearly written and arranged topically. Its definitions are illustrated with leading cases. This appears to have been a well-received book. The first edition was published in 1789, the third and final edition in 1819. All are scarce. OCLC locates 5 copies of this edition in North American law libraries, 1 of the first, 13 of the third. English Short-Title Catalogue T73270.