In 2000 the Max-Planck-Institute is inaugurating a new series of volumes devoted to the bibliography of European legal history in the modern period. The first two volumes to be published provide a bibliographical record of selected parts of the rich and varied collection of books gathered from all over Europe by the Institute since its inception in 1964. The holdings of works published in continental Europe from the beginning of printing up to 1600, of which the Institute possesses some 2.300 editions, including a small collection of incunables, constitute the first volume. A parallel volume, devoted to the 17th and 18th centuries, records the holdings of works of selected printing centres. The areas covered include the Southern and Northern Netherlands, of which the Institute has one of the largest collections outside the Netherlands, in addition to smaller collections of works printed in Spain and Portugal, many of which are only infrequently to be found outside the Iberian peninsula.The catalogues have been compiled as part of the preparation of a number of more substantial projects on the bibliography of European legal history. These projects seek to offer a bibliographical survey of the entire legal production from the beginning of printing to 1800 in a number major European countries.