Page:Legal Bibliography, Numbers 1 to 12, 1881 to 1890.djvu/7

 SOULE & BUGBEE'S Legal Bibliography PUBLISHED AND DISTRIBUTED GRATUITOUSLY AT IRREGULAR INTERVALS No. I. BOSTON, MASS. November, i88i. CONTENTS. PAGE PAGE Law-Books in the British Museum Important English Statutes. . . Libraries Bought or Appraised. . . Curiosities of the Law-Reporters ■ • 5 Dictionary of Abbreviations needed Trials • • 5 Special List of Bargains .... New and Standard Lav-Books. . . . 6 Ames's Cases on Bills and Notes. • 3 The First King's Bench Report . . 6 New Revision of Massachusetts Law • 3 Lawyers' Reference Manual. . • 3 New Fir.m of Law-Booksellers. . ■ • 7 EDITORIAL. Tffls paper is intended to advertise the publications and stock of tlie booksellers who issue it ; but their endeavor will be to make it more readable than a mere advertisement. Bits of biography, of literary gossip, of news about books, of anecdotes and interesting extracts, will be found among the drier details of editions and prices. The book-lovers and book-buyers will be rewarded for glancing through these columns by the solid information they obtain ; while the larger class of lawyers, who are not eager to read ordinary circu- lars, will find here, we hope, enough matters of interest and amuse- ment to save future numbers of Legal Bibliograpahy from the oblivion of the waste-basket. ![■ has been the fortune of the present editor to usher into the world two other papers of a like character to this, which are still alive and flourishing, though now in other hands. If this sheet is as prosperous as its predecessors, he can congratulate himself upon being, perhaps, the only man in America who has founded three successful periodicals without sinking a fortune. Prosperity is very likely to attend such a venture as this ; for the great aim of pubhshers — a wide circulation — is assured from the start. It only remains to induce the recipients to become readers, and then the purpose of the publication wiU be fulfilled. I t is right to say, however, that there are a great many lawyers who need no coaxing or spurring to induce them to read law-book adver- tisements. There is often an ardor of interest in books, awakened in the student, and quickened in the practitioner, which burns brighter the more it is indulged. If an ample income allows this ardor to gi-atify itself in purchases, the first step beyond the famihar round of office text-books leads one into a field of search and research for rare books and choice editions, which has aU the charm of the virtuoso's range after old china or antique furniture. The hunt for a volume here and a volume there, the gradual completion of a set or a collec- tion, is not only a keen delight in itself, but it is a recreation to the busy lawyer, taking his mind off of the drudgery of his profession. Here, too, is one of the pleasures of law-bookselhng, — the search after rare books among the booksellers of America and Europe, in the book-stalls of great cities, on the shelves of lawyers in the villages. To gather up in any quarter the useless or unvalued books, and take them a thousand miles away to some eager buyer, — this has the pleasure of a game rather than a business. The writer was asked, not long ago, to find an out-of-print English work, in two volumes, for a lawyer in Boston. He searched through all corners of England and Ireland and Scotland, finding only an old copy of the second volume, and came back, disappointed, across the Atlantic, to report that the complete book was not to be had. But, before the report was made, he happened to discover on the dusty shelves ' of an obscure book- stall in Cincinnati, an odd first volume ; and thus the set was com- pleted, — one-half from the Old Vv'orld, the other from the New. This was a genuine triumph, petty, perhaps, but worth weeks of uneventful office-work. " In estabUshing a new law-bookstore, we do not wish to draw away custom from the many excellent firms already estabhshed. We hope that we can find enough young lawyers coming into practice, and can suggest enough new wants to older book-buyers, to give us sufficient business without diminishing the sales of any of our friends m the book-trade. Indeed, the especial temptation which our lists and advertisements will offer from time to time ought to stimulate lawyers to invest so freely that the fashion of book-buying will spread, and all booksellers will profit thereby. Nothing would please us bet- ter than to build up an extensive business for ourselves, and benefit our neighbors in doing it. LAW-BOOKS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. It is a general belief that the English or American student in any branch of literature can find the best collection of books for reference and study in the Library of the British Museum. This is probably true in most cases ; but there is a notable exception in the literature of the law. The collection of law-books at the Museum is large ; but it is in bad shape for use. It is scattered through different parts of the library, is not catalogued after the plan with which lawyers are familiar, and cannot be used except through cards of appHcation sent from the reading-room, a volume, or a few volumes, at a time. The privilege of going to the shelves, so valuable to the searcher foi authorities when he is uncertain which volume of a set or series he wants, cannot be obtained except by special permission, and never without the detail of an attendant to accompany and watch the inves- tigator. There is no law-librarian ; and apparently no one of the librarians or assistants has any familiar knowledge of law-books and the best methods of facilitating their use. In consequence of this, the money which is liberally spent every year in the purchase of legal literature is more or less wasted, unless the mere accumulation of books is desirable in itself. It is unfortunate that this state of things exists ; for the Museum Library contains a great number of lav.--books. If they were collected into one room, or suite of rooms, and placed in charge of a trained law-librarian, like the librarians of Lincoln's Inn and the Inner Temple, the department so organized would be- come a favorite resort of students of Enghsh law. Intelligent arrange-