Legally Binding: Book Bindings on Display at Yale Law Library
- by Michael Stillman
Legally Binding.
The Yale Law Library is noted for its exhibitions of law books that are celebrated for attributes beyond their legal text. That may involve the physical appearance of the book, or the illustrations and type within. Their latest in this series is Legally Binding: Fine and Historic Bindings from the Yale Law Library. These legal bindings may not have set precedents in the law, but it would have been fine if later bindings actually were required to follow their lead.
Over 30 examples of spectacular bindings on law books will be on display at the Yale Law Library from now through May 30, 2019. They provide an opportunity to enjoy the artwork and see the relationships between their form and content. Curators for the exhibition are Michael Laird of Michael Laird Rare Books in Lockhart, Texas, and Michael Widener, Rare Book Librarian of the Yale Law Library.
Describing the books, Widener and Laird noted, "These bookbindings tell stories about the people who owned them, read them, or sold them at some point in their long histories. The bindings reflect the time and place of their creation, and reveal attitudes about the legal texts they continue to protect. They also illustrate chapters in the history of book binding."
The books range in age from the Middle Ages to the late nineteenth century. They come from both Europe and America. The curators point out that the collection includes "bindings prepared for students, lawyers, public officials, noblemen, wealthy magnates, a book collector, an Italian cardinal, a chained library in England, the tourist trade in China, the Queen Regent of Spain, the English diarist John Evelyn, and a palace of the Tsar of Russia."
The books are displayed on the second level of the law library, 127 Wall Street, in New Haven, Connecticut.
Gros & Delettrez, June 12: LETTRE ENCYCLIQUE, manuscrit XIXe siècle
Gros & Delettrez, June 12: NOUVEAU TESTAMENT, Amsterdam 1668, reliure arménienne
Rose City Book & Paper Fair June 14-15, 2025 1000 NE Multnomah, Portland ROSECITYBOOKFAIR.COM
Swann, June 12: Lot 3: Thomas McKenney and James Hall, History of the Indian Tribes of North America, 1848-1854. Estimate $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 8: Invoice to the Town of Boston for advertising pre-revolutionary content in the Boston Post Boy, manuscript document, Boston, July 1768. Estimate $5,000 to $7,500.
Swann, June 12: Lot 13: Clairac and Nicola, L'Ingenieur de Campagne; or, Field
Swann, June 12: Lot 81: Journals of Major Robert Rogers . . . of the Several Excursions he Made . . . upon the Continent of North America, London, 1765. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 99: Photograph albums and papers from the family of W.G. Fargo, photo albums containing 442 photographs, 1865-88. Estimate $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 112: Isaac Leeser, Discourses on the Jewish Religion, 10 volumes, Philadelphia: Sherman & Co., 1866-1868. Estimate $6,000 to $9,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 176: Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Boston, 1845. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 190: Thomas Hariot, Admiranda narratio fida tamen, de commodis et incolarum ritibus Virginiae, 1590. Estimate $25,000 to $35,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 200: Correspondence of a regimental cavalry commander in Wyoming and Utah, July 1865 to February 1866. Estimate $4,000 to $6,000.
Swann, June 12: Lot 226: Maturino Gilberti, Vocabulario en lengua de Mechuacan / Aqui comienca el vocabulario en la lengua Castellana y Mechuacana, 1559. Estimate $8,000 to $12,000.
Sotheby's Bibliothèque Jacques Dauchez - Autour de Dubuffet
5-19 June
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Bissière, Roger. Cantique à notre frère soleil de saint François. 1954. 1,000 - 1,500 EUR
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Céline, Louis-Ferdinand. La vie & l’œuvre de Philippe Ignace Semmelweis. 1924. Rare édition originale, avec envoi. Joint : La Quinine en thérapeutique, 1925. 4,000 - 6,000 EUR
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Céline, Louis-Ferdinand. Mort à crédit. 1936. Édition originale. Bel exemplaire sur Hollande. 2,500 - 3,500 EUR
Sotheby's Bibliothèque Jacques Dauchez - Autour de Dubuffet
5-19 June
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Chillida, Eduardo ─ Emil Cioran. Face aux instants. 1985. Un des 100 exemplaires sur Arches. Eau-forte signée. 600 - 800 EUR
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Dubuffet, Jean. Ler dla canpane. L’Art Brut, 1948. Édition originale. 3,000 - 5,000 EUR
Sotheby’s, June 5-19: Dubuffet, Jean. L'Herne Jean Dubuffet. 1973. Un des 100 exemplaires du tirage de luxe avec une sérigraphie originale en couleurs. 1,000 - 1,500 EUR
