The Lawbook Exchange has issued Catalogue 69, Recently Acquired Books, Manuscripts and Ephemera. Anything pertaining to the law may be found here. Works range from early treatises on the law dating back to the 16th century, to statements of basic human rights held by American colonists objecting to British rule, to sensational murder trials, to basic texts meant for use by legal practitioners. If, as someone said a long time ago (John Adams?), we are a nation of laws, then this catalogue is a summary of the history of western nations. These are a few samples of what is offered.
Item 3 is one of the earliest enunciations of the sovereign rights of American colonists vis-à-vis their rulers in England. In 1721, Parliament's Board of Trade was seeking to revoke the charters of the New England colonies. The charge was the colonies were not doing enough to defend themselves from the French in Canada. This spirited defense was published by Jeremiah Dummer: A Defence of the New England Charters. Dummer was an American who settled in London as representative for the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut. His argument for the colonists won the day and the charters were not revoked. Offered is a 1721 first edition of a book that would be reprinted in 1765 when Britain and her colonies again bumped heads, this time with far more serious consequences. Priced at $6,000.
The issue of colonial rights would arise again shortly after the French and Indian War when the British would again seek to make the colonists pay more for military needs. James Otis responded with The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved. It was a forerunner of arguments to be made later and enforced through revolution. Otis was responding to one of the first indignities, the sugar tax. Otis argues on the basis of the colonists' natural rights, including the right to a voice in Parliament. He has been credited with the quote "taxation without representation is tyranny." Item 7 is a first English edition, published in 1764 (same year as the first American). $3,500.
Item 99 is John W. Pitts' Eleven Numbers Against Legislation and Fees at the Bar, published in 1843. Pitts was an unhappy Georgian. He published the first six of his numbers in The Southern Reporter, but that publication refused to print any more. Pitts responded by publishing all 11 essays in this pamphlet. Pitts believed lawyers, who dominated legislatures, made laws unnecessarily complex, thereby forcing people to hire lawyers and pay their fees in order to exercise the rights created. Of course, we now know such charges to be entirely baseless. $850.
Koller, Mar. 25: KAFKA, FRANZ, SCHRIFTSTELLER. Eigenh. Brief mit Unterschrift. Prag, 20. Oktober [19]15. CHF 30,000-40,000.
Koller, Mar. 25: EINSTEIN, ALBERT. Zwei eigenhändige Briefe an Ernst Gabor Straus, unterschrieben "A.E" bzw. "A. Einstein". [Princeton], [19]45. und [1950]. CHF 30,000-40,000.
Koller, Mar. 25: HORTENSE DE BEAUHARNAIS, MUTTER VON NAPOLEON III. Album aus ihrem Besitz mit 69 Aquarellen und Pinselzeichnungen in Sepia oder Grau… CHF 14,000-18,000.
Koller, Mar. 25: ZOOLOGIE - ORNITHOLOGIE - Seligmann, Johann Michael. Verzameling van uitlandsche en zeldzaame Vogelen. Teile 1-8 (von 9) in 2 Bänden. Mit 421 prächtig altkolorierten Kupfertafeln. CHF 14,000-20,000
Koller, Mar. 25: BOTANIK - Berlèse, Lorenzo und Johann Jakob Jung. Iconographie du genre camellia... 3 Bände. Mit 300 Farbstichtafeln "a la poupée.” Paris, [1839-]1841-1843. CHF 12,000-18,000.
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Andrews (H.C.) Coloured Engravings of Heaths, 4 vol. in 2, first edition, [1710,--94]-1802-1809-[1830]. £10,000 - £15,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- Cramer (Pierre) and Caspar Stoll. De Uitlandsche Kapellen voorkomende in de drie Waereld-Deelen…,, 5 vol., Amsterdam & Utrecht, 1779-91. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Voyages.- Darwin (Charles) and others. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, 3 vol. in 4, including Appendix to vol.2, first edition, 1839. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Butterflies.- de Graaf (Willem Diederik Vincent). [Inlandsche Kapellen in beeld], 170 fine original watercolours, [Enkhuizen], [1800-40]. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Dresser (Henry Eeles). A History of the Birds of Europe, 9 vol., including supplement, first edition, by the author, 1871-96. £6,000 - £8,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Zoology.- Felines.- Elliot (Daniel Giraud). A Monograph of the Felidæ or Family of the Cats, first edition, for the Subscribers, by the Author, [1878]-1883. £25,000 - £30,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Frisch (Johann Leonard). Vorstellung der Vögel Deutschlandes, 2 vol., first edition, Berlin, Friedr. Wilhelm Birnsteil, [1736]-1763. £40,000 - £60,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Birds.- Gould (John). The Birds of Great Britain, 5 vol., first edition, by the author, 1862-1873. £30,000 - £40,000.
Forum Auctions Natural History: The remaining stock of Antiquariaat Junk, 1899-2026 25 March 2026
Forum, Mar. 25: Pomology.- France.- Poiteau (A.) Pomologie Française. Recueil des Plus Beaux Fruits cultivés en France, 4 vol., Paris, 1846. £30,000 - £40,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- [Robin (Jean)]. Histoire des Plantes, nouvellement trouvées en l'Isle Virgine…,, 1620; with Geoffrey Linocier L'Histoire des plantes, second edition, 1619-20. £3,000 - £4,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Japan.- Siebold (P.F. von). Nippon. Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan, 7 parts in 6 vol., first edition, Leyden, [1832]-1852. £35,000 - £45,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Asia.- Valentijn (Francois). Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën..., 5 vol. in 8, first edition, Dordrecht [&] Amsterdam, 1724-26. £8,000 - £12,000.
Forum, Mar. 25: Botany.- Australia.- Redouté (P.J.).- Ventenat (Étienne Pierre). Jardin de la Malmaison, 2 vol.,, Paris, 1803-04[-05]. £30,000 - £40,000.
