The English Constitution by Bagehot, Walter - 1995

1995. Bagehot, Walter [1826-1877]. The English Constitution. Hartford: The Travelers Insurance Company, 1891. Reprint. New York: Gryphon Editions [The Legal Classics Library], 1995. 289, [1] pp. Full calf, decorative gilt, gilt edges, raised bands, marbled endpapers, ribbon marker. As new, excellent condition. $45. * Reprinted from The Works of Walter Bagehot, edited by Forrest Morgan. A handsome edition of Bagehot's popular study, which was first published in London in 1867. " This classic account of that most elusive and least codified of entities, the Constitution of England, never lost its popularity, and shows signs of being elevated from the rank of first-class handbook to a place with de Tocqueville as one of the most important texts in political literature... (Printing and the Mind of Man). His argument that the monarch functioned for the most part as an advisor to parliament had a significant influence on the post-Victorian royal family. George V and George VI studied this book carefully, and their reception of Bagehot's thesis helped to establish patterns in the British monarchy that continue to this day.