THE CHARTER GRANTED BY THEIR MAJESTIES KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY, TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE PROVINCE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS-BAY IN NEW- ENGLAND. [bound with:] ACTS AND LAWS, OF HIS MAJESTY'S PROVINCE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS-BAY IN NEW ENGLAN

Boston: Samuel Kneeland and Timothy Gree, 1742. [2],14,28,[2],337,[1],339-340,341-344pp. Folio. Contemporary blind-tooled calf, expertly rebacked in matching style, spine gilt, leather label. Contemporary ink inscriptions on covers; contemporary inscription: "Watertown's Law Book Red [?] March 1, 1743." Browning, dampstaining, and some soiling and foxing. Small hole in margin of CHARTER with loss of a few letters. A good copy. The "Table" of the ACTS is bound before the ACTS. Bound at the end of the volume are two subsequent Massachusetts ACTS AND LAWS printed in 1743, pp.339-340 (EVANS 5237) and pp.341-344 (EVANS 5238). A fine mid-18th-century collection of the laws of Massachusetts. This copy includes, as is often the case with this and earlier collected editions, the separately issued CHARTER (here bound first) and the full compilation of laws printed in 1742. Such compilations often are found with subsequent Massachusetts laws. Present here are two additional ACTS from 1743. A very good source for colonial legal, political, and social history, this copy bears a contemporary provenance inscription from Watertown, Massachusetts. EVANS 5002 (CHARTER), 5003 (ACTS AND LAWS).