[Rarebooks] fs-Legal Humor [I]

[Joe Luttrell]

A selection of works which we have in stock on the legal humor
and related subjects; for others, please feel free to browse our
web site, where you may search our entire inventory by any word
or phrase: www.meyerbos.com

1.  A BECKETT, Gilbert Abbott.  The Comic Blackstone. Not in Eller.
Published at the Punch Office, 92, Fleet-Street, London, 1846.
Modern burgandy straight grain calf, extra gilt; attractive. [47994
L19L23EL51L71] PHOTO:
http://www.meyerbos.com/bookListing.cgi?bookNo=47994     $ 450.00

First edition in book form of the highly successful and
sophisticated spoof parodying Blackstone closely while giving free
reign to A'Beckett's acerbic views of just about every legal
writer; with the famed illustrations by George Cruikshank.

2.  A'BECKETT, Gilbert.  The Comic Blackstone.  Bradbury, Agnew &
Co., 8,9,10, Bouverie Street, London, 1887.  Blue pictorial cloth
gilt, the spine faded, yet a sound copy. [58806 L44L64E] PHOTO:
http://www.meyerbos.com/bookListing.cgi?bookNo=58806     $ 350.00

The prettiest and most lavish of all the 'Comic Blackstones',
revised and extended by Gilbert A'Beckett's son, Arthur William
A'Beckett (a barrister of Gray's Inn, as was his father); with many
illustrations, ten in full color, by Henry Furniss.

3.  [ANSTEY, John].  The Pleader's Guide, A Didactic Poem, In Two
Parts: Containing . . . the Conduct of a Suit at Law [with] the
Arguments of Counsellor Bother'um and Counsellor Bore'um, in an
Action . . . Betwixt John-a-Gull and John-a-Gudgeon [etc.]. The
Seventh Edition.  Printed for T.Cadell, and W. Davies, Strand,
London, 1815.  ?Contemporary polished calf, extra gilt, rubbed, but
quite pretty. [66270 L67] PHOTO:
http://www.meyerbos.com/bookListing.cgi?bookNo=66270     $ 250.00

One of the better spoofs of English law popular throughout the 19th
century, characterized by Holdsworth as a work "[of] considerable
wit", three pages of its verses which he then can't resist quoting;
based, it is said, on Mr. Surrebutter's lectures.

4.  AYE, John.  Humour among the Lawyers.  The Universal Press,
Chicester House, Chancery Lane, London, 1931.  Original blue cloth,
worn, quite embrowned; usable only. [61229]               $ 50.00

5.  BECKETT, Gilbert Abbott A.  The Comic Blackstone of "Punch".
With Illustrations by Cruikshank. Eller 197.  Collector Publishing
Company, Detroit, 1897.  Original blue cloth, gilt, lightly rubbed
and browned, but a very good copy. [71699]                $ 35.00

The last Comic Blackstone recorded by Eller, who notes the
Cruikshank frontispiece and the special title pages of Part II and
Parts III and IV, respectively (all present here), corresponding to
the four books of the Commentaries.

6.  BIGELOW, L.J.  Bench and Bar: a Complete Digest of the Wit,
Humor, Asperities, and Amenities of the Law.  Harper & Brothers,
Publishers, New York, 1867.  Original maroon cloth gilt, the spine
quite faded, light browning, else a good copy. [91269]    $ 25.00

Wideranging, with chapters devoted to the Lord Chancellors of
England (commencing with Sir Thomas More), the Chief Justices of
this country, both countries' bar, closing off with a miscellany of
puns, epigrams and poems; illustrated and indexed.

7.  BLOUNT, Thomas.  Fragmenta Antiquitatis; or, Antient Tenures of
Land, and Jocular Customs of Some Manors . . . A New Edition, With
Alterations, large Additions, English Translations . . . To which
are added, Explanatory Notes . . . By Josiah Beckwith [etc.].
Printed by W. Blanchard and Co. for the Editor [etc.], York, 1784.
?Later 3/4 calf, extra gilt, definitely rubbed, but still pretty.
[68391 ACTL73]                                           $ 650.00

Second edition, much expanded, of the work which Holdsworth called
the "only really original book" written on legal history in the
late 17th century, painstakingly compiled by Blount while
investigating tenures; James Raine's copy.

8.  HAY, Peter.  The Book of Legal Anecdotes.  FactsOnFile, New
York, 1989.  Original 1/4 cloth, gilt, a very good copy. [66455
L68]                                                      $ 45.00

9.  [HAYES, George].  Crogate's Case; A Dialogue In ye Shades on
Special Pleading Reform [Printed for Private Circulation Only].
B.E. Bult, Printer, 25, New Quebec Street, Portman Square, London,
1854.  Modern cloth, ex-library, light browning, else a sound copy,
41 pages, with the closing verse, "A Special Pleader's Lament";
three copies in OCLC. [71679 BLS1008 BRYAN]              $ 450.00

A classic though rare send-up of the absurdities of special
pleading, based on an early 17th century case reported by Coke
involving Crogate, a Norfolk farmer, and one of three exemplars
chosen by Holdsworth representing the law's humorous skewering.

10.  HINE, Reginald L.  Confessions of an Un-Common Attorney.  The
Macmillan Company, New York, 1947.  Russet-cloth, gilt, a trifle
worn, but a very good copy. [62152 FBWL60]                $ 45.00

Arguably a true-life English equivalent of Arthur Train's Mr. Tutt,
the autobiography of a successful English country lawyer,
antiquary, and man of letters permitting full reign to Mr. Hine's
capacities as a "compelling and accomplished storyteller".

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