Obiter Dicta

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1885. Book. Very Good. Cloth. First American Edition. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. New York: Scribner's, 1885. First American edition. This book was purchased from the historical collection of one of the oldest libraries in the USA and carries its antique hand-numbered (#7299) and hand-dated (June, 1885) bookplate. Green cloth binding, gold titles, top edge gilt. Birrell became a member of the British parliament in 1889. Chamber's describes him as a person with a "shrewd wit and charming essayist": Benet's, "acute, judicious, and trenchantly witty." It was as a literary critic of unusually clever style and an original vein of wit, that he first became known to the public, with his volume of essays entitled Obiter Dicta (1884). In 1889 he was returned to parliament for West Fifeshire as a Liberal. In the House of Commons his light but pointed humour gradually led to the coining of a new word, "birrellir.g," and his literary and oratorical reputation grew apace. Whether he was writing miscellaneous essays or law-books, his characteristic style prevailed, and his books on copyright and on trusts were novelties indeed among legal textbooks, no less sparkling than his literary Obiter Dicta. Library markings on spine. Very good condition..