Catalogue of the Library of Trials and Legal Literature...
An Interleaved and Annotated Copy Bangs & Co. [Arnold, John H.V. (1839-1901)]. Catalogue of the Library of Trials and Legal Literature Belonging to John H.V. Arnold, Esq. The Largest and Most Valuable Collection of the Kind Ever Offered in This City: Comprising Both Civil and Criminal Trials in the Courts of England and America, Carefully Selected to Illustrate Points of Law and to Exhibit the Various Forms of Criminal Conduct...To be Sold at Auction Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday April 23d, 24th, 25th and 26th, 1900 by Bangs & Co. 91 & 93 Fifth Avenue, New York. [New York: Bangs & Co., 1900]. 218 pp. Interleaved; blanks hand-numbered 219-302 bound after text block. Softbound book in stiff printed wrappers bound into near-contemporary buckram, gilt fillets and title to spine, cloth hinges. Moderate shelfwear and light soiling, early owner signatures (of Arthur Weld and Edward McGarry) to front wrapper, which is lightly soiled and starting to detach. Moderate toning to interior, annotations in single neat hand (differing from the owner signatures) to many pages and interleaves. An interesting and rare item. $750. * Arnold, a New York City lawyer and politician, "loved literature, and was one of the best-known book collectors of this country. Since the disposal of a collection of 6,000 rare volumes in 1879 he had had various literary fads. His library now contains one of the best private collections in the country of autographs, histories, and engravings of people who are or have been prominently before the public. His collection of works on criminal law and upon crimes is recognized as one of the best in English-speaking countries. His library on this subject reaches back for centuries. He also had a reputation in other directions, such as extra illustration, or the interleaving of old works" (New York Times). The interleaver and annotator of this copy may have been in the process of preparing a bibliography of trials using this collection as a starting point. Some of the manuscript entries are taken from a 1927 Maggs Brothers catalogue. Others are unsourced. "John H.V. Arnold Dead," New York Times, March 31, 1901.
Price: $750.00
Book number 84750