The Lawbook Exchange has published their Catalogue 112. Its subject is Incunabula. Law Books from the First Fifty Years of Printing. Obviously, these are all very old books. Each was printed during the fifteenth century, the “newest” one coming from 1500. Those dates don't reflect the age of these works. Many were written a couple of centuries earlier. They had existed only in manuscript. They needed to wait for Gutenberg to reach a wider audience.
Their importance is shown by the fact that they exist in print at all. A book sufficiently respected to be printed a couple of centuries after being written had to survive a test of time. On the other hand, printing also made it easier for newer texts to be created and spread around, meaning that legal texts that had survived centuries had a shorter future ahead. The Renaissance was on, and nothing, the law included, would ever be the same.
These books, as would be expected, were written in Latin. Most of us, myself included, can't read Latin, and if we could, my guess is the language has evolved such as to make these challenging reads even for those who do. I think I can understand English, but Chaucer is beyond my comprehension. The result is that I can't provide individual descriptions of these books. Then again, I suspect many if not most of the collectors who come to own these books will not be able to read them either. Suffice to say the appeal is in holding something so old, and appreciating their significance, the artistry of the type, and in some cases, illustrations. Even if you can understand their meaning, the laws are way out of date anyway. Some were written by popes and other ecclesiastical figures so they do not correspond well to today's civil law. Today, these books are best appreciated as physical objects, rather than sources of legal wisdom.
A couple of these books have later distinguishing features. They were owned by Alexandre P. Rosenberg and contain his bookplate. His bookplate was designed by his friend, Pablo Picasso. Anything that can justly be described as a Picasso is going to be valuable. One includes the bookplate of noted American printer and author Theodore Low DeVinne.
Sotheby’s, July 14: Henry De La Beche. "Awful Changes," 1830. $6,000 to $9,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 11]. Flight Plan, Complete Original Printing Signed by Buzz Aldrin. $5,000 to $8,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: Thomas Alva Edison. Documents Establishing and Ending the Edison Electric Railway Company. $20,000 to $30,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: Richard P. Feynman. Feynman's Lectures on Gravitation 1-16, Including the Original Transcriptions of Lectures 12-16 by Morinigo and Wagner, With Richard Feynman's Manuscript Notations, 1971. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 9]. A Group of Manuals and Mission Documents used by Stuart Roosa as a member of the Astronaut Support Crew. $5,000 to $8,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [BYTE: The Small Systems Journal]. A collection of early foundational issues of Byte: The Small Systems Journal, with rare hardcover editions. $5,000 to $8,000.
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000
Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000
Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000
Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000
Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000
Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000
Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000
Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000
Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000
