Atkinson, George W. Bench and Bar of West Virginia. Charleston, W. Va.: Virginia Law Book Co., 1919. xxvii, 543 pp. incl. portraits. Reprinted 2008 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1-58477-898-1. ISBN-10: 1-58477-898-9. Cloth. $95. * Reprint of the sole edition. Bar histories are valuable compendia of information that is often impossible to find in any other source. Atkinson says his goal was to "sum up the legal lifework of the best known and most prominent members of the Bar of West Virginia" without "flattery, adulation and comparison of one with another, or of any one against the rest" (v). He fulfilled this aim admirably. The professional and personal lives of his subjects are described with great skill. Atkinson had the advantage of working at a time when many of the West Virginia Bar"s founding members were still alive. Personal acquaintance with many of these lawyers, and of anecdotes about other lawyers through those he knew, enlivens the vivid sketches of the lawyers who practiced in West Virginia since its founding in 1863.