[Rarebooks] A Selection of Lawbook Exchange Titles

[The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.]

Monday, February 23, 2004, 5:37 PM:

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1.             First Edition of Cunningham's Dictionary
Cunningham, T[imothy] [1718?-1789]. A New and Complete Law-Dictionary,
Or, General Abridgment of the Law: On a More Extensive Plan Than Any
Law-Dictionary Hitherto Published: Containing not only the Explanation
of the Terms, But Also the Law itself, Both with Regard to Theory and
Practice. Very Useful to Barristers, Justices of the Peace, Attornies,
Solicitors, &c. London: Printed by the Law-Printers to the King's Most
Excellent Majesty, 1764, 1765. Unpaged. Text printed in double
columns. Folio (9-1/4" x 14"). Contemporary calf, blind frames to
boards, raised bands, red and green lettering pieces. A few scuffs to
boards, wear to corners and spine ends, Volume I joints cracked but
secure, Volume II joints just starting at ends, hinges cracked. Early
owner signature to front pastedowns. Minor clean tears to four leaves
mended with archival tape. Light foxing in places, interior otherwise
notably clean and bright. A handsome set. $3,000.
* First edition (from parts). Along with those of Jacob and Marriot,
this was one of the most popular comprehensive English dictionaries of
the period. According to Hicks, it was "The first...which aimed at
completeness as regards legal terms." Like Jacob, Cunningham aimed to
give a complete account of the law. The result is a work that is also
an abridgment that includes summaries of cases and precedents in
equity and statutes. Hicks notes that this edition was issued in
parts. OCLC locates 16 copies. Hicks, Materials and Methods of Legal
Research (3rd. rev. ed.) 247. Catalogue of the Library of the Harvard
Law School (1909) I:497. Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the
British Commonwealth of Nations I:8 (22). Marvin, Legal Bibliography
(1847) 245. Holdsworth, A History of English Law XII:177.
(Inventory # 40576)

2.       First Edition of the First American Treatise on Patents
Fessenden, Thomas G. [1771-1837] An Essay on the Law of Patents for
New Inventions. With an Appendix Containing the French Patent Law,
Forms, &c. Boston: Published by D. Mallory & Co., 1810. xxxix, [40]-
229 pp. Octavo (5-1/4" x 8-1/4"). Recent period-style quarter calf
over cloth, raised bands, lettering piece, endpapers renewed. Early
signatures to title page and rear endleaf in fine hand. Occasional
light foxing, interior otherwise fresh. An attractive copy of a scarce
title. $1,000.
* First edition of the first American book on the subject. A true
"Renaissance man," Fessenden was a lawyer, poet, journalist, inventor
and venture capitalist who promoted various inventions. He was the
holder of two patents for heating devices. He promoted "scientific"
techniques in The New England Farmer, a journal he founded. Also a
prominent satirist, he wrote numerous pieces under the pseudonym
Christopher Caustic for one of his other journals, The Terrible
Tractoration. His treatise contains summaries of the relevant
statutes, digests of leading cases (such as Whitney v. Carter over the
invention of the cotton gin) and comparisons between the patent laws
of the Unites States, Great Britain and France. The appendix contains
the United States Patent Law of 1800, a bilingual collection of French
laws and a set of French recommendations for improvements in the laws
of the United States. Shaw and Shoemaker, American Bibliography 20110.
Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 7129.
(Inventory # 40735)

3.                     Innovative Canon Law Digest
Pirhing, Ehrenreich (Ernrico, Ennricus) [1606-c.1681]. Jus Canonicum
in V. Libros Decretalium Distributum, Nova Methodo Explicatum, Omnibus
Capitulis Titulrum (Qui in Antiquis, et Novis Libris Decretalium
Continentur) Promiscue et Confuse Positis, in Ordinem Doctrinae
Digestis. Adjunctis Aliis Quaestionibus Connexis, Quae ad Plenam
Gujusque Tituli, Aut Materiae Cognitionem, et Expositionem Pertinent.
Additi Sunt Praeter Synopticum et Methodicum, Duo Alij Indices
Alphabetici, Unus Rerum Seu Quaestionum, Alter Titulorum a Pluribus
Desiderati. Venice: Ex Thipographia Remondiniana, 1759. Five books in
two volumes, each book with title page. Folio (9-1/4" x 15-1/4").
Contemporary three-quarter vellum over marbled boards, hand-lettered
titles to spines. Light rubbing to boards, some wear to board edges
and corners, minor chipping to heads, some soiling to spines. Front
joint of second volume just starting. Attractive large woodcut
vignettes to title page, Book I title page printed in red and black,
woodcut decorated initials and tail-pieces. Occasional light foxing,
interiors otherwise clean and bright. Ex-institutional library. Small
inkstamps to endleaves and title pages. A handsome set. $500.
* Third and final edition. First published between 1674 and 1677, the
innovative Jus Canonicum is a landmark in German canonical science.
Though Pirhing follows custom by preserving the classical divisions of
the Corpus Juris Canonici, he supplements each topic with a complete
and synthetic explanation of the relevant canonical legislation. A
resume of this work, the Synopsis Pirhingana, was published
anonymously in 1695 and reissued in 1711. Pirhing was a German Jesuit
scholar who taught canon law and scripture at the University of
Dillingen in Bavaria. Catholic Encyclopedia (online version).
Ferreira-Ibarra, The Canon Law Collection of the Library of Congress
829.
(Inventory # 40173)

4.           Founding Text of the Law and Economics School
Posner, Richard A. Economic Analysis of Law. Boston: Little, Brown &
Co., 1972. xi, 415 pp. Original cloth, very light shelfwear. A short
note in pencil to front free endpaper, interior clean and bright. A
very attractive copy. $250.
* First Edition. This was the first treatise to apply economic models
to a general theory of law, Guido Calabresi's insights on risk
allocation and Ronald Coase's theorem about human behavior in a world
with no transaction costs in particular. It is now in its sixth
edition, it is one of the most influential legal books of the
twentieth century and the founding text of the law and economics
school.
(Inventory # 39726)


5.           First Edition of a Landmark in Jurisprudence
Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of
Harvard University Press, [1971]. xv, 607 pp. Cloth very good in
lightly rubbed dust jacket. Owner signature and annotations to front
free endpaper, interior otherwise clean. $100.
* First edition, second printing, 1972. One of the most influential
books in the history of jurisprudence. Rawls aims to express an
essential part of the common core of the democratic tradition-justice
as fairness-and to provide an alternative to utilitarianism, which had
dominated the Anglo-Saxon tradition of political thought since the
nineteenth century. Advancing the ideas of Rousseau, Kant, Emerson,
and Lincoln, Rawls substitutes the ideal of the social contract as a
more satisfactory account of the basic rights and liberties of
citizens.
(Inventory # 39381)

6.                        1794 Clerk's Manual
[Spencer, Thomas, Editor]. The New Vade Mecum; or Young Clerk's
Magazine: Digested and Improved to Correspond with the Laws of the
State of New-York in Particular, and the United States in General:
Containing a Variety of the Most Useful Precedents, Adapted to Almost
Every Transaction in Life; Such as Articles of Agreement, Awards,
Bonds, Conditions, Recognizances, Letters and Warrants of Attorney,
Covenants, Releases, Indentures, Charter-Parties, Copartnerships,
Bargain, and sales, Gifts, Grants, Exchanges, Leases, Mortgages,
Assignments, Defeasances, Surrenders, Uses, Trusts, Conveyances by
Lease and Release, Feoffments, Jointures, Marriage Settlements, Wills
and Codicils, Levying of Fines, &c. &c. &c. To Which is Added a
Collection of Forms of Writs, &c. Most Common in Use in the Supreme
Court of the State of New-York. Lansingburgh: Printed by Silvester
Tiffany for Tho's Spencer, 1794. 346 pp. (pp. 289-336 incorrectly
numbered pp. 299-346). 12mo. (4" x 6"). Contemporary calf. Rubbing to
board edges and joints, chipping to corners, minor worming to spine
and pastedowns, hinges cracked but secure. Early bookplate to front
pastedown. Some dampstaining and foxing, interior otherwise clean. A
sound copy. $300.
* First edition. The preface states that this manual is based on the
British Young Clerk's Magazine with modifications for American use.
Catalogue of the Library of the Harvard Law School (1909) II:638.
Sabin, A Dictionary of Books Relating to America 89384. Cohen,
Bibliography of Early American Law 8002.
(Inventory # 12013)

7.       "Most Elaborate" Treatise on English Law and the Clergy
Watson, William [1637?-1689]. The Clergy-Man's Law: Or, the Complete
Incumbent. Collected from the Thirty-Nine Articles, Canons, Decrees in
Chancery and Exchequer, as Also from All the Statutes and Common-Law
Cases, Relating to the Church and Clergy of England: Digested Under
Proper Heads for the Benefit of Patrons of Churches, and the Parochial
Clergy. And Will be Useful to All Students, and Practitioners of the
Law. With a Table of Contents of the Chapters, and Another of the
Principal Matters. To Which Are Added the Names of the Present
Bishops, and Other Chief Dignitaries of the Church of England. With
Large Additions and alterations. London: Printed by Henry Lintot,
1747. iv, [8], 652, 61 pp. Folio (8" x 12-1/2"). Contemporary reversed
calf, raised bands, lettering piece, blind frames and fillets to
boards. Negligible rubbing, a few scuffs to spine, some wear to
corners, joints just starting at head, hinges cracked but secure.
Early owner bookplate and signature to front pastedown. Minor tear to
fore-edge of a leaf, faint dampstaining to top and fore-edges of a few
others. Occasional light toning, interior otherwise fresh. A very
handsome copy. $750.
* Fourth (and final) edition. "[During the eighteenth century a]
number of books aimed at setting out more or less a summary of those
branches of law which would be useful to the clergy. The most
elaborate of these books is [the present title], which was first
published in 1701.... The author was a clergyman who held the deanery
of Battel; but he had been educated with a view to becoming a
practitioner in the ecclesiastical courts, and had taken his degree of
doctor of laws. Because he had had a legal education he was, he tells
us 'soon apply'd to by his neighbours, as a person able to advise them
in the many doubts and difficulties that daily occured to them.' (...)
The book deals clearly and systematically in fifty-nine chapters with
the law and practice on all topics which are useful to the clergy. It
is a learned book; but, as the title page indicates, it is compiled
almost entirely from the English cases, statutes and other
authorities, to which the full references are given. Though the author
is an LL.D. he is obviously more learned in English law than in the
civil or canon law.": Holdsworth, History of English Law 12:622-623.
Catalogue of the Library of the Harvard Law School (1909) II:880.
Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of
Nations I:176 (127).
(Inventory # 40739)

8.      The First Compilation of U.S. Constitutions Since 1787
[United States]. Constitutional Law: Comprising the Declaration of
Independence; The Articles of Confederation; The Constitution of the
United States; And the Constitutions of the Several States Composing
the Union, viz. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,
Louisiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Mississippi, Indiana, Illinois.
Washington City: Printed and Published by Gales and Seaton, 1819.
[iv], 360 pp. Leaves in signature 27 bound out of order. Page 360 has
tipped-in note on an amendment to the Georgia constitution. 12mo. (4"
x 6-3/4"). Contemporary sheep treated to look like tree calf, gilt
fillets and lettering piece to spine, specked edges. Light rubbing
with some wear to board edges, joints and corners. Small scuff to rear
board, three tiny worm holes to joints near foot. Light foxing and
browning to title page and some leaves. Early owner signature to front
pastedown, interior otherwise clean. A handsome copy of a scarce
title. $2,500.
* First edition. With an appendix containing federal and state
amendments enacted between 1808 and 1816. This book is the first
compilation of its kind since the ratification of the United States
Constitution. Later editions were published in 1820, 1822 and 1823.
OCLC locates 15 copies. Shaw, American Bibliography 47716. Cohen,
Bibliography of Early American Law 3013.
(Inventory # 40188)

9.                 Expert Advice for English Clerks
Wright, William. Advice on the Study and Practice of the Law: With
Directions for the Choice of Books. Addressed to Attorneys' Clerks.
London: Printed for Charles Hunter, 1824. x, 248 pp. Octavo ( 5" x 7-
3/4"). Contemporary paper boards, rebcked in period style retaining
original spine label. Light rubbing and a few tiny stains to boards,
corners bumped and lightly worn, hinges repaired. Early bookseller
ticket to fronyt pastedown, early signature to free endpaper. One leaf
detached. Occasional light foxing, interior otherwise clean and
bright. $450.
* Third edition, enlarged. This book was written in the spirit of
earlier guides by Fulbeck, Doderidge and Philips, but with a
particular emphasis on the needs of clerks. It addresses a clerk's
duties, the relationship between clerks and attorneys, ways to work
more effectively and other practical matters. Wright is also
interested in the clerk's intellectual development. To this end he
recommends a rich curriculum of jurisprudential, political, historical
and literary works and encourages the study of old court hands and
Latin. Like his predecessors, Wright dispenses a good deal of moral
advice as well. Both fascinating and charming, this treatise offers a
rich perspective on English clerks during the age of Austen, Dickens
and Trollope. Catalogue of the Library of the Harvard Law School
(1909) II:966. Sweet & Maxwell, A Legal Bibliography of the British
Commonwealth of Nations 2:394.
(Inventory # 40734)

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Michael von der Linn
Cataloguer
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and International League of Antiquarian Booksellers
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