Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - February - 2013 Issue

Legal and Law Related Works, Some Serious, Others Not So Much

The Devil made those lawyers do it.

The Lawbook Exchange has issued their Catalogue 72. Recently Acquired Books, Manuscripts and Ephemera. It covers much ground related to the law, from learned legal treatises, to more pop culture of their day stories of crime and punishment. There are many items which will interest the non-legal scholar, including numerous very old books, some being items of incunabula. We also find some broadsides and prints, these shorter pieces often being satiric rather than serious (though serious in their own way). A few manuscripts and photographs also make their way into the catalogue, such as those from notable American jurists such as Brandeis and Frankfurter. There is much to be found here, and you do not need to be a lawyer to appreciate it all.

We start with one of the most significant legal tracts ever printed. It has been described as the book that “made” the common law. Item 42 is La Grande Abridgement... together with the second part, the first edition published by Richard Tottell in London (1565). Up until the time Anthony Fitzherbert created this compilation of English cases in the early 16th century, it was difficult to determine what the law, as interpreted by judges, was. Fitzherbert abridged 13,485 cases, which he published under 263 titles listed alphabetically. He essentially took all of the important cases at common law and made the decisions available to the legal trade. For the first time, the tenets of common law became readily accessible to the public. Priced at $6,500.

From the not so serious side of the law, item 35 is the engraving depicted on the cover of this catalogue, The First Day of Term..., or The Devil among the Lawyers. Lawyers seem to have a bad press among the public, ranking almost as low as politicians and used car salesmen, even though it is not clear that their good to bad ratio is any different from that of other professions. Evidently, this unpleasant image is nothing new, as this satirical cartoon dates back to around 1760. In the picture, a smiling Satan is seen passing out briefs to eager lawyers, while another takes some coins in payment from what appears to be something of a country bumpkin. The papers at his feet say “Begun in 1699. Not yet finished.” $2,500.

Lawyers were made the butt of jokes even earlier. Item 97 is the unkindly named play Ignoramus, George Ruggle's biting satire of the English bar, first performed in 1615 (this first edition was published in 1630). This “comedy” is in Latin, and makes fun of the language of the common law and the dullness of lawyers. It is based on a legal dispute between the Mayor of Cambridge and the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University. $750.

From the less serious we move to the grisly. Item 19 is The Trial & Execution of John Horwood, which Took Place at the New City Gaol, This Day, (Friday April 13 1821) For the Wilful Murder of Eliza Balsam. Friday the 13th was not a lucky day for Mr. Horwood, unless you consider being the first to be hanged in Bristol's new jail to be a strike of good fortune. John Horwood was a young man of 18 when he spied his former girl friend, Eliza Balsam, with another man. The young English miner was so upset that he threw a stone at Miss Balsam. Unfortunately, his aim was a bit too good, and while it apparently did not cause a major injury, she nonetheless died in surgery. Horwood was tried and promptly executed at the end of a rope, a detail illustrated on this broadside. In compensation for his unsuccessful work saving Miss Balsam's life, the surgeon was rewarded with Horwood's body. He skinned and tanned Horwood's hide and used it to bind the papers from the case. Horwood's skeleton was kept in a closet, the noose still around his neck, and was not buried until 2011, 190 years later. $1,250.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Roberts (David) & Croly (George). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumae, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia. Lond. 1842 - 1843 [-49]. First Edn. €10,000 to €15,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Incunabula: O'Fihily (Maurice). Duns Scotus Joannes: O'Fihely, Maurice Abp… Venice, 20th November 1497. €8,000 to €12,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: An important file of documents with provenance to G.A. Newsom, manager of the Jacob’s Factory in Dublin, occupied by insurgents during Easter Week 1916. €6,000 to €9,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: WILDE (Oscar), 1854-1900, playwright, aesthete and wit. A lock of Wilde’s Hair, presented by his son to the distinguished Irish actor Mícheál MacLiammóir. €6,000 to €8,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Heaney (Seamus). Bog Poems, London, 1975. Special Limited Edition, No. 33 of 150 Copies, Signed by Author. Illus. by Barrie Cooke. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Binding: Burke, Thomas O.P. (de Burgo). Hibernia Dominicana, Sive Historia Provinciae Hiberniae Ordinis Praedicatorum, ... 1762. First Edition. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: COLLINS, Michael. An important TL, 29 July 1922, addressed to GOVERNMENT on ‘suggested Proclamation warning all concerned that troops have orders to shoot prisoners found sniping, ambushing etc.’. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Scott Fitzgerald (F.) The Great Gatsby, New York (Charles Scribner's Sons) 1925, First Edn. €2,000 to €3,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Yeats (W.B.) The Poems of W.B. Yeats, 2 vols. Lond. (MacMillan & Co.) 1949. Limited Edition, No. 46 of 375 Copies Only, Signed by W.B. Yeats. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of the Russian Empire, Description in English and French, Lg. folio London (S. Gosnell) 1803. First Edn. €1,000 to €1,500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of Turkey, Illustrated by a Series of Engravings. Lg. folio Lond.(T. Bensley) 1802. First Edn. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Mason (Geo. Henry). The Costume of China, Illustrated with Sixty Engravings. Lg. folio London (for W. Miller) 1800. First Edn. €1,400 to €1,800
  • Sotheby’s
    Important Modern Literature from the Library of an American Filmmaker
    8 December 2023
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Kerouac, Jack. Typescript scroll of The Dharma Bums. Typed by Kerouac in Orlando, Florida, 1957, published by Viking in 1958. 300,000 - 500,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. The autograph manuscript of "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." [Key West, finished April 1936]. 300,000 - 500,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Miller, Henry. Typescript of The Last Book, a working title for Tropic of Cancer, written circa 1931–1932. 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Ruscha, Ed. Twentysix Gasoline Stations, with a lengthy inscription to Joe Goode. 40,000 - 60,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. in our time, first edition of Hemingway’s second book. 30,000 - 50,000 USD
  • Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 2:
    John Ford Clymer, U.S. Troops' Triumphant Return to New York Harbor, oil on canvas, circa 1944.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 44:
    Edward Gorey, Illustration of cover and spine for Fonthill, a Comedy by Aubrey Menen, pen and ink, 1973.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 50:
    Harrison Cady, frontispiece for Buster Bear's Twins by Thornton W. Burgess, watercolor and ink, 1921.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 54:
    Ludwig Bemelmans, Pepito, portrait of Pepito from the Madeline book series, mixed media.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 79:
    Gluyas Williams, Fellow Citizens Observation Platform, pen and ink, cartoon published in The New Yorker, March 11, 1933.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 86:
    Thomas Nast, Victory, – for the moment, political cartoon, pen and ink, 1884.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 91:
    Mischa Richter, Lot of 10 cartoons for Field Publications, ink and pencil, circa 1940.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 111:
    Arthur Getz, Sledding In Central Park, casein tempera on canvas, cover of The New Yorker, February 26, 1955.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 124:
    Richard Erdoes, Map of Boston, illustration for unknown children's magazine, gouache on board, circa 1960.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 155:
    Robert Fawcett, The old man looked him over carefully, gouache on board, published in The Saturday Evening Post, June 9, 1945.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 170:
    Violet Oakley, Portrait of Woodrow Wilson, charcoal and pastel, circa 1918.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 188:
    Robert J. Wildhack, Scribner's for March, 1907, mixed media.
  • CHRISTIE’S
    Valuable Books and Manuscripts
    London auction
    13 December
    Find out more
    Christie’s, Explore now
    TREW, Christoph Jacob (1695–1769). Plantae Selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortus curiosorum. [Nuremberg: 1750–1773]. £30,000–40,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    VERBIEST, Ferdinand (1623–88). Liber Organicus Astronomiae Europaeae apud Sinas restituate. [Beijing: Board of Astronomy, 1674]. £250,000–350,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALICE & NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT. Master of Jean Rolin (active 1445–65). Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, [Paris, c.1450–1460]. £120,000–180,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    A SILVER MICROSCOPE. Probably by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), c.1700. £150,000–250,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    AN ENGLISH HORARY QUADRANT
    C.1311. £100,000–150,000

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