A Guide to Magistrates: With Practical Forms... 2nd ed. Richmond, VA 1860

1860. Richmond: A. Morris, 1860. Second edition.. Richmond: A. Morris, 1860. Second edition. Antebellum Virginia Magistrate's Guide with Interesting Provenance Mayo, Joseph [1795-1872]. A Guide to Magistrates: With Practical Forms for the Discharge of Their Duties Out of Court. To Which are Added Precedents for the Use of Prosecutors, Sheriffs, Coroners, Constables, Escheators, Clerks, &c. Richmond: A. Morris, Publisher, 1860. xvi, 726 pp. Octavo (8-1/2" x 5-1/2"; 22 x 13.5 cm). Contemporary calf, blind fillets to boards, lettering piece and blind fillets to spine. Rubbing to exterior, some scuffs, nicks, scratches and stains to boards, light wear to extremities, gatoring to spine, portion of front free endpaper lacking. Light browning to interior, occasional light foxing. Black morocco owner label ("Harry L. Taylor") to head of spine, ink owner signatures ("Tredway") to front board and spine, early owner signature "E.C. Tredway" to front pastedown, pencil and ink annotations (mostly sums and names of cases) to endleaves, several leaves dogeared, early pencil markings to a few leaves. $125. * Second edition. Originally published in 1849, Mayo's Guide to Magistrates provides not only practical guidance for local legal officials of the time, but interesting insights for today's scholars of antebellum Virginia social history. The 1860 edition deals extensively with slavery and the treatment of enslaved people, including a section on suits for freedom. The work would not receive another edition until 1892, probably as a consequence of the damages Richmond incurred during the Civil War. Much of its content remained relevant to practitioners, however, especially given the continuity of local governance during Reconstruction. Our copy was probably owned by one such practitioner, Edward Carr Tredway [1849-1907], an attorney in the small town of Emporia, Virginia who began practicing in the early 1870s. As a country lawyer, he likely performed many of the traditional duties of a constable or justice of the peace and clearly found his copy of this book useful and practical. The owner label on the spine may well be that of the distinguished American lawyer and judge Harry L. Taylor (1866-1955), who served as a Justice of the Supreme Court for the Eighth District in New York from 1914 to 1936.