[California Laws]:

$3,000 · Offered by William Reese Company

THE STATUTES OF CALIFORNIA.... A complete run of the first editions of the statutes of California during her formative years. As the third and fourth volumes are very rare, it is extremely difficult to find a consecutive run of these early laws. At this early stage of California legal printing, any given state printer was not kept for long. Those represented herein are as follows: J. Winchester (first volume); Eugene Casserly, State Printer (second volume); G.K. Fitch & V.E. Geiger, Co., State Printers (third volume); George Kerr, State Printer (fourth volume); B.B. Redding, State Printers (fifth and sixth volumes); James Allen, State Printer (seventh and eighth volumes); James O'Meara, State Printer (ninth and tenth volumes); Charles T. Botts, State Printer (eleventh and twelfth volumes); Benj. P. Avery, State Printer (thirteenth and fourteenth volumes); O.M. Clayes, State Printer (fifteenth and sixteenth volumes).There is an interesting note to the printing history of the statutes. According to Wagner, the Governor refused to acknowledge Casserly as state printer at the end of the 1851 session and instead appointed G.K. Fitch to the position. Fitch turned over all state printing copy to be done in New York. Casserly brought the matter to court and won back his position as state printer, whereupon the already printed statutes were sold to him in a compromise agreement. Casserly then proceeded to have new titlepages added to the statutes that had been printed in New York, and

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