The scarcity of first printings of Acts of Parliament:

Acts of Parliament are most frequently sold individually and disbound, and even in this state important acts are extremely scarce and command substantial prices.  (Disbound copies of the Stamp Act are offered in the $15-20,000 range.)  On offer is a complete run of what are referred to as Sessional Volumes of Statutes (or Public Acts) printed by the Crown Printer, spanning the crucial period from 1763 through 1783.  The volumes were distributed only to the members of both Houses of Parliament, the great officers and offices of state, and the judiciary. 

Maurice F. Bond, Clerk of the Records in the House of Lords discusses the importance of Sessional Volumes and their scarcity in his 1971 book, Guide to the Records of Parliament:  “These vols. are of high authority as texts... few sets exist for the 16th and 17th centuries., but the House of Lords Library holds 26 vols. dating from the 16th c., 8 from the 17th and a set for 1702-13.  For the sessions from 1714 onwards the House of Lords and House of Commons Libraries each hold complete series.”

Just over 1100 sets of Sessional Volumes were printed for each session.  Needless to say, this is a very small print run.  It is not known how many sets exist, though it is safe to presume that only a small fraction of the original 1100 survive.  Many sets issued to institutions would have been discarded after having been replaced by the Statutes of the Realm series, a 19th century abridged edition of the Acts of Parliament issued by the Crown Printer.  There are no records of a complete collection from this pivotal period in Anglo-American history ever appearing for sale.  It should also be noted that the extreme infrequency with which important individual Acts of Parliament appear for sale all but precludes the possibility of one’s assembling a collection piecemeal.

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