BLACKSTONE, Sir William (1723-1780). Autograph letter signed to an unidentified correspondent, Carey Street, London, 17 November 1764, 2 pages,4to (some slight soiling to upper margin of first page). [Together with:] Autograph letter signed by Sir John Willes, chief justice of the common pleas, to an unidentified correspondent, Bloomsbury Square, London, 23 October 1750, one page, 4to.
BLACKSTONE, Sir William (1723-1780). Autograph letter signed to an unidentified correspondent, Carey Street, London, 17 November 1764, 2 pages,4to (some slight soiling to upper margin of first page). [Together with:] Autograph letter signed by Sir John Willes, chief justice of the common pleas, to an unidentified correspondent, Bloomsbury Square, London, 23 October 1750, one page, 4to.

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BLACKSTONE, Sir William (1723-1780). Autograph letter signed to an unidentified correspondent, Carey Street, London, 17 November 1764, 2 pages,4to (some slight soiling to upper margin of first page). [Together with:] Autograph letter signed by Sir John Willes, chief justice of the common pleas, to an unidentified correspondent, Bloomsbury Square, London, 23 October 1750, one page, 4to.

Blackstone discusses the question of 'the Power of the University [of Oxford] to grant a Lease for the printing of Bibles &c', giving it as his opinion that doubts upon the question are unreasonable: 'I conceive that the present Mode of exercising our Privilege is more for the public Benefit & the Advancement of Literature than any Attempt to exercise it upon our own Bottom could possibly be'.

Blackstone had been much involved with the Clarendon Press in his early years at Oxford. In 1764 he was engaged in the writing of his magnum opus, the Commentaries on the Laws of England, the first volume of which appeared the next year.

The letter by Willes discusses in general terms his disagreements with Blackstone's conclusions in his 'Essay on Collateral Consanguinity' (1750), on the question of founder's kin at All Souls College, Oxford. (2)

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