Rare Book Collection

Introduction

Since the establishment of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong in 1844, the Judiciary Libraries had accumulated a substantial holding of early legal literature. Publication of these books spanned from as early as the 17th to the 19th century.

With decades passed by, physical condition and appearances of the book collection have regrettably become far from satisfactory. The High Court Library has made provision for a Rare Book Room to accommodate the collection with devices for climate control, thus enabling us to enhance preservative measures for care of the books. (See Facilities.)

To set up a collection of rare books, some guidelines were drawn up based on which books are designated as ‘Rare’. (See Identification of Rare Books.) All the rare items so selected from the bookshelves are housed in the Rare Book Room and are subject to the special conditions of use by the readers. (See Service Guidelines.)

The Rare Book Collection now has a total of over 700 volumes. It is divided into four sections: Hong Kong Collection, 17th Century Collection, 18th Century Collection and 19th Century Collection. It includes chiefly the rare copies of early Hong Kong and British law texts and reports.

We hope that these rich resources of legal classics, textbooks, digests, abridgments, encyclopedias will be beneficial to the legal professionals and researchers with interest in the area of law history.

Identification of Rare Books

Books are designated as ‘rare’ when they meet the criteria below:

1. All pre-1800 imprints.
2. For Hong Kong Collection, all pre-1950 books.
3. Fundamental works of the 19th century British law books, and wherever possible, the first editions are to be chosen.

Law reports that form part of a series are generally not considered for classification as 'rare'.

Collections

1. Hong Kong Collection
   • The Hong Kong Collection contains books chiefly published before 1950, including 19th century ordinances and regulations, early editions of Laws of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Government Gazette, textbooks, reports on specific social and legal issues etc.
2. 17th Century Collection (1601-1700)
   • The Collection includes 36 volumes of the 17th century English legal classics. The oldest book is the 1607 edition of a law dictionary The Interpreter: or Booke Containing the Signification of Words.
3. 18th Century Collection (1701-1800)
   • The 18th Century Collection contains 130 volumes of legal publications, mainly law reports. Most of the reports were named after the judges or jurists who did the reporting, compiling and editing.
4. 19th Century Collection(1801-1900)
   • The more sizable 19th Century Collection of textbooks, law reports, abridgments, biographies, digests and modern encyclopedias contains approximately 400 volumes.

Service Guidelines

1. General
   • Books in the Rare Book Collection are only available for readers to read in the Library’s Rare Book Reading Room and cannot be taken out of the Library.
   • The Rare Book Room is not for open access.
2. Requesting Library Materials
   • To get a book of the Rare Book Collection, please fill in a request form at the service counter.
   • Please place your request not less than 30 minutes before the Library closes.
   • Readers are allowed to borrow a maximum of two items each time.
   • Readers must return the rare books to the service counter before the Library closes or before leaving the Library.
3. Using Library Materials
   • Readers should handle rare books with care, and should not leave the rare books unattended.
   • Keep hands clean and dry. For better protection, readers are requested to wear gloves provided by the counter staff when using rare books.
   • Never lay books open face down.
4. Copying
   • Readers should not copy materials from the Rare Book Collection using a photocopier. Rare books are particularly vulnerable and their physical condition may be further weakened in the course of photocopying.
   • Rare books with a green label on the inside cover must not be copied with any equipment.
   • The library staff may prohibit copying of rare books according to individual circumstances, such as tight binding, brittle pages, etc. All books are assessed individually to avoid damages that may be made during the copying process.
   • Readers must use the book scanner provided in the Rare Book Reading Room to copy part of the rare books, if necessary. However, readers should make sure that they do not infringe any copyright when making copies of the books.
   • After activating the print function of the book scanner, readers have to pay the printing charges at the service counter.
   • Please complete the book scanning, pay the charges and collect the print copies at the service counter not less than 15 minutes before the Library closes.

Facilities

• The FM 200 fire suppression system equipped in the Rare Book Room has the capacity of extinguishing fire within seconds.
• The Rare Book Room is environmentally controlled round the clock with a constant temperature and humidity.
• The Room is windowless to keep the exposure to the damaging effects of light and dust to the minimum.
• The Rare Book Reading Room is equipped with a reading table, a chair and a book scanner. Please read Conditions of Use of Rare Book Reading Room and Book Scanner before use.