Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - April - 2008 Issue

Murder Most Foul and Other Books of Law from the Lawbook Exchange

Artist's depiction of the murder of Mr. Steele, a version much of the public did not believe.

Artist's depiction of the murder of Mr. Steele, a version much of the public did not believe.


Here is a murder trial with a happier outcome, at least for the defendant, though he seems to have been a suspicious character: Trial of Medad M'Kay, For the Murder of His Wife... printed in 1821. M'Kay, of upstate New York, made the following strange claim of innocence when his wife's body was discovered: "I will not say that they won't find arsenic in her; but if they do, I did not put it there, for I have enemies enough to put it there." Considering that M'Kay fought often with his wife, and neighbors had to prevent him from attacking her, this claim did little to allay their suspicions. M'Kay blamed his sister-in-law, and proposed a strange test where the accused would place a finger on the dead body. If blood appeared, the suspect was guilty. His sister-in-law declined to participate in this exercise, but surprisingly enough, the body was exhumed so that M'Kay could prove his "innocence." To his horror, the test declared him guilty. The jury then did the same. However, there was a technical problem with the jury summons, so M'Kay was granted a second trial, and with the aid of a very skillful lawyer, he was acquitted. We don't know much about what happened to this strange man afterwards, other than unlike his wife, he lived for another three decades, reaching the age of 84. Item 83. $500.

Item 81 is an account of the Alton Trials, by William Lincoln, court reporter. These trials concerned a riot in which abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy was killed in 1837. Lovejoy's original press in St. Louis had been destroyed by mobs, whereupon he moved across the river to Alton in the free state of Illinois. His reception there was not much better. Twice more his press was destroyed. When his fourth press was delivered, a group of public-spirited citizens gathered to protect it. Nonetheless, a mob gathered to destroy it once again. His building was set afire, and in the attempted defense, Lovejoy was shot and killed. His last press was then dumped in the river. While the mob may have felt it accomplished something on behalf of slavery, its actions only served to stir even more abolitionist fervor. This account does not deal with the murder of Lovejoy, but of prosecutions resulting from the riot, where the defenders of Lovejoy's press were prosecuted as well as the mob. $500.

You will find many more legal books, including those of more technical legal matters, within this catalogue. The Lawbook Exchange may be reached at 732-382-1800 or law@lawbookexchange.com. Their website is www.lawbookexchange.com.

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    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
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    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
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    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
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    Sotheby’s, July 15: Buzz Aldrin's FLOWN Apollo 11 Crew-Signed NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Cover. $15,000 to $20,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Lunar Surface Flown Mission Emblem Presented to Tom Stafford by John Young. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Albert Einstein. Typed Letter Signed ("A. Einstein."), to Ann Morrisett, Affirming a Pacifist's Right to Self-Defense, March 21, 1952. $10,000 to $15,000.
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    2-17 July | New York
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Operating and Maintenance Manual for the BINAC Binary Automatic Computer Built for Northrop Aircraft Corporation. Philadelphia, 1949. $30,000 to $50,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 17: Steve Jobs Apple Computer Business Card, c. 1977. $5,000 to $8,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 15: Extensive Chronology of Spacecraft From Apollo to Skylab, Signed by a Member of Every Crewed Apollo Flight and the Commanders of Each Skylab Mission. $5,000 to $8,000.

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