ESTATE OF JOHN M. READ, DECEASED. RECEIPTS.
[Philadelphia: 1875]. 4"x 7". [27] pp + blank leaves. Original leather-bound notebook [lightly rubbed and worn at corners]. Lined paper; about half of the receipts are in manuscript on notebook pages, others are mounted on leaves. Occasional spotting, else quite clean. Very Good.
Accounting of the Estate of a prominent Pennsylvania jurist--one of the Founders of the Republican Party, and Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court until soon before his death-- kept by his executor, William Henry Rawle [another prominent Philadelphia lawyer]. Read's legal writings and opinions were a significant influence on the development of the law. "His amendments form an essential part of the constitutions of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and his ideas were formulated in many of the statutes of the United States" [Appletons]. In this Receipt book we can see the extent of Justice Read's financial holdings: shares in various railroads [e.g., Camden & Amboy, Philadelphia and Trenton, Delaware and Raritan Canal] and enterprises; he left his investments and money to his wife Amelia, son John M. [then serving as U.S. Ambassador to Greece], and apparently other relatives and friends. Item #22001
Price: $250.00