237. Abbott’s Digest 2d. (1929-1961). St. Paul: West Publishing and Lawyers Cooperative Publishing. Vols. 1 to 28B, Tables, Words & Phrases vols. Complete set, in 74 books. Original red cloth. Ex-private law firm library without any stamps or marks. A very good set. Special $295.

1894 Grolier Club Facsimile Edition of Bradford’s 1694 New York Laws

238. [Grolier Club]. Facsimile of the Laws and Acts of the General Assembly for their Majesties Province of New York, etc., etc. At New York. Printed and Sold by William Bradford...1694. Together with an Historical Introduction, Notes on the Laws, and Appendices by Robert Ludlow Fowler. New York: [Printed by the De Vinne Press for] The Grolier Club, 1894. Engraving of the tomb of William Bradford, head-piece. clxii, [4], 84, 3, 4, [6], 11 pp. Original limp vellum, spine gilt, covers blind stamped with the royal insignia, deckle edges. Spine slightly soiled, but still a very nice copy. $250.
* Limited edition. One of 312 copies on hand-made paper. An extensive introduction contributes to the importance of this finely printed edition of the laws and acts of colonial New York.

238a. Bender’s Forms for the Consolidated Laws of New York. Lexis Law Publishing. Vols. 1 to 8D, and General Index with release #110/September 2001, in 53 books. Lacking Vol. 2 Part 2 (1 book/1995). Current through 2001 pocket part supplements. Ex-private law library with stamps else very good. Publisher’s Price $2,333. Special $195.
* Provides thousands of annotated forms, with statutory provisions and case citations, for use under the substantive laws of the State of New York as well as litigation forms to use in drafting pleadings, motions, judgments and other papers for actions, special proceedings, Article 78 proceedings, and administrative proceedings. Full range of legal instruments, including wills, trusts, deeds, contracts, leases, assignments, mortgages and other documents.  

Muckraking Case Relating to Tammany Hall

239. [Connolly, John A., Compiler]. The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, In the Matter of the Charges Preferred Against Daniel F. Coholan, A Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, By John A. Connolly. Testimony Before Committee on Grievances. [Bound with] State of New York, Proceedings of the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and Assembly In the Matter of the Investigation Demanded by Honorable Daniel F. Coholan, a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, in and For the First Judicial District. Albany: J.B. Lyon Company, 1913. Both items preceded by twenty-nine leaves containing newspaper clippings concerning the case. [New York: published privately, 1913]. [xxvix], 267, 532 pp. Octavo (5-1/2" x 8-1/2"). Newly rebacked in three-quarter morocco, raised bands, gilt rules and ornaments to compartments, over marbled boards. Top edge gilt, marbled endpapers, frontispiece (of Connolly?). Inscribed by Connolly to Ralph Pulitzer, son of Joseph Pulitzer, founder and editor of The New York World. Ex-New York World library, institution name stamped to leaf. Unique. $500.
* In 1906 the New York World launched an investigation into alleged instances of influence peddling and bribery by the Tammany Hall politician Daniel F. Cohalan, a city commissioner of public buildings who later became a New York State Supreme Court Justice. They engaged the services of John A. Connolly, a contractor seeking municipal contracts in the city, to see if this was indeed the case. Connolly later confirmed this to be true. And after Cohalan was indicted in 1913, by which time he had joined the state supreme court, Connolly wrote a series of articles about his experiences for the World that were published during the trial. This volume was produced by Connolly as a souvenir of the case. His articles are pasted to the first twenty-nine leaves; transcripts of Coholan’s hearings follow.

240. Denton, Daniel. A Brief Description of New York, formerly called New Netherlands...Likewise a Brief Relation of the Customs of the Indians there. A New Edition with an Introduction and Copious Notes by Gabriel Furman. New York: William Gowans, 1845. 17, [4], 57, [2], 4, 16 pp. Original cloth. Near fine, with tear in rear free endpaper. $150.
* No. 1 in Gowan’s Bibliotheca Americana series. Reprint of the 1670 edition, which was the first account of New York in English. Denton moved to New York in 1644 and in 1670, apparently with the view of attracting immigration to that province, he published, in London, A Brief Description of New York. Appended to this volume is Gowan’s Catalogue of Early Printed American Books...No. 4 (16 pages). Larned 1059. Howes D259. Sabin 19611.

Early New York Reports

241. Caines, George [1771-1825]. Cases Argued and Determined in the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors, in the State of New York. New York: Printed and Published by I. Riley, 1810. Octavo (6" x 9"). Two volumes in one. [3], xxxi, 128; [3], 360 pp. Recent period-style quarter calf over cloth, endpapers renewed. Early owner signature to title page, internally fresh. A desirable copy in an attractive binding. $350.
* “This work, embracing cases from the court of errors from 1801 to 1805 inclusive and supreme court cases from 1796, contains much important matter, displays much ability, and is esteemed authoritative”: Dictionary of American Biography II:404.

242. Dougherty, J. Hampden. Constitutional History of the State of New York. New York: The Neale Publishing Company, 1915. 408 pp. Reprint available March 2004 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-391-X. Cloth. $95.
* Reprint of the second edition. Dougherty published this book while the 1915 state Constitutional Convention was taking place. He hoped it would influence public opinion and members of the convention by describing how earlier constitutions fell short. And by pointing out the follies of earlier conventions, he hoped to influence the conduct of the current one. Whether or not it achieved its stated purposes, this book remains a detailed and insightful study that pays close attention to the social and legal developments that shaped the state's constitutions since the seventeenth century.

243. Johnson, Herbert Alan and Ralph K. Andrist. Historic Courthouses of New York State. 18th and 19th Century Halls of Justice Across the Empire State. With a foreword by Charles D. Breitel. New York: Columbia University Press, 1977. Illustrations photographed by Milo V. Stewart. 175 pp. Oversized cloth (7" x 10-1/2"). Dust jacket. Very good. $25.

Contains the Decisions of Chancellor Kent

244. Johnson, William [1769-1848], Reporter. Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Court of Chancery of New York: Containing the Cases from March, 1814 to [July, 1823]. Albany: E. F. Backus, 1816-1824. Complete in seven volumes. Octavo (5-1/2" x 9"). Recent tan cloth with red and black lettering pieces. Internally fresh. $450.
* First edition. With a general digested index of cases from the Court of Chancery and Court for the Correction of Errors, on Appeal (1799-1822), a table of cases and an appendix titled “Sketch of the Life and Character of John Wells, Esquire.” This set contains decisions rendered during Kent’s tenure. This was a significant period in which Kent revived the Chancery Court’s reputation and enhanced its influence in American jurisprudence. According to Marvin, “Chancellor Kent’s decisions are in part, preserved in these volumes, which bespeaks their value, and entitles them to a careful perusal by all who desire to become familiar with choice specimens of judicial learning and eloquence.” Marvin, Legal Bibliography (1847) 426. Catalogue of the Library of the Harvard Law School (1909) I:1056. This set differs from the one listed in Cohen. He cites a two-volume set dated 1825. See Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 5578.

245. Kapp, Friedrich [1824-1884]. Immigration, and the Commissioners of Emigration of the State of New York. New York: The Nation Press, 1870. Frontispiece, five plates, one double-page plan. [2], iii, [1], 5-241 pp. Contemporary half-calf, rebacked with buckram, preserving original lettering pieces. Ex-library. Binding soiled, some wear, tiny tear to frontispiece, title-page repaired. Internally very good. $150.
* First edition. Neither the extent nor the value of [Kapp’s] historical writings have yet been sufficiently appreciated. His researches were based chiefly upon manuscript sources and his writings are characterized by their realism and humor. The work described above is a history of pre-Ellis Island immigration to New York. The place of disembarkation at the time was called Castle Garden. Sabin 37099.

246. Lincoln, Charles Z. The Constitutional History of New York. Rochester, NY: Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Co., 1906. Reprinted Buffalo, William S. Hein & Co., Inc. 1994. 5 vols. $360.
* Reprint of 1906 edition. Constitutional history of New York State from the beginning of the colonial period to the year 1905.

247. McKinney’s New York Rules of Court. State. 2003 edition. [St. Paul, MN:] West Group, 2003. xvii, 840, 48 pp. Including amendments received through November 2, 2002.
[with] McKinney’s New York Rules of Court. Federal. 2003 edition. Including Amendments Received through November 2, 2001. [St. Paul, MN:] West Group, 2003. xi, 676 pp. Together 2 books. Softbound. Ex-corporate law library with small stamp to inside front page, else very good. Publisher’s Price $58. Special $25.
* Coverage includes the uniform rules for New York State trial, appellate and surrogate’s courts; as well as rules for U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, U.S. District Courts, and U.S. Bankruptcy Courts. Also contains multidistrict litigation rules and the rules of the chief administrator of the Courts. Includes rules of the chief judge and administrative delegations of the chief judge; provides professional conduct and ethics codes and contains federal courts miscellaneous fee schedules.

248. New York Digest 3d, West’s. (1961-1978). St. Paul: West Group. 53 Vols. Complete set. Ex-private law firm library with no stamps or marks. A very good set. Publisher’s Price $1,841.75 Special $495.

249. New York Supplement 2d. St. Paul, MN: West Group. Vols. 678 to 719 (1987-2002). Ex-private law firm library with stamps and card pockets on inside front covers, else very good condition. Publisher’s Price $2,045. Special $695.
* Includes New York opinions from 1987 to 2002 in the North Eastern Reporter plus cases from the New York Court of Appeals, Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court and additional miscellaneous state courts.

250. Stokes, I.N. Phelps. The Iconography of Manhattan Island 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915. Six volumes. Reprinted 1998 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. LCCN 97-30604. ISBN 1-886363-30-7. Cloth. $750.
* Reprint edition of Stokes’ magnificent and comprehensive illustrated history of Manhattan. This sweeping survey, originally published over the span 1915 to 1928, is divided into two parts, with volumes one and two comprising the first. These initial volumes present historical summaries, followed by exquisite plates and thorough plate descriptions. Part two repeats this pattern in volume three; presents a detailed chronology of historical events and personages in volumes four and five; and concludes with an addenda, bibliography, and index to the entire work in volume six. Interspersed throughout are the maps, documents, photographs, engravings, illustrations, etc. that Stokes and his assistants assembled from countless original sources. Historical chronologies and detailed descriptions are enhanced by the facsimile plates which portray records and documents showing charters, ordinances and proclamations, etc.; handbills, broadsides, surveys, plans, portraits and numerous illustrations relating to the legal history of New York from the “period of discovery” through the Dutch and English settlements and the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, reconstruction, industrialization through to the year 1909.

251. Taft, Henry W. A Century and a Half at the New York Bar being The Annals of a Law Firm and Sketches of its Members. With Brief References to Collateral Events of Historical Interest. New York: Privately Printed, 1938. Illustrated. xv, 305 pp. Blue cloth, printed paper label. Label rubbed with some loss, spine darkened, rear hinge starting. $15.
* First edition. Annals and sketches of members of the law firm of Cadwalder, Wickersham and Taft, in New York City.” Marke 157. Inscribed on front free endpaper: “To Morris D. Crawford, Esq. with compliments of Henry W. Taft. New York City, November 29th, ’40.”