Tuesday, August 31, 2010

New Exhibit in the Rare Book Room!

Please visit us - either virtually or the good old-fashioned way - to view our Fall 2010 exhibit, Recent Additions to the Collection. These books, manuscripts and memorabilia enhance our holdings in key areas and enable us to better understand the way law was published, acquired, studied and practiced in England and America in centuries past.

Highlights include a selection of early English law dictionaries, a stunning group of lawyers’ private library lists, signed modern first editions from contemporary political figures, and some unusual memorabilia connected to the legal publishing industry in late nineteenth-century North America.

Here is a handout describing the entire exhibit. As always, more images from our collections are available on the Rare Book Room’s flickr site, Boston College's Digital Collections, and of course on this very blog.

The exhibit will be on view through early December 2010. Please visit us if you can!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

We Will Be Closed August 16-20

The Rare Book Room will be closed for exhibit work the week of August 16-20. Watch this space for news about our Fall 2010 exhibit, coming soon!

Friday, August 6, 2010

A Very Special Roman Law Book

Helen Lacouture, our rare book cataloger, has been going through the wonderful collection of Roman Law books given to us by Professor Mike Hoeflich last year. Helen recently cataloged a book that appears to be unique: Giovanni Francesco Balbo, Tractatus de Praescriptionibus ... (printed by Bernardo Giunta, 1582).

First published in 1511, Balbo's popular treatise is concerned with the Roman law of prescription, the principle whereby a right or liability is created or extinguished over a certain period of time, usually in regard to a property title.

As far as we can tell, the Library of Congress is the only other library that owns a copy of the 1582 edition. And our title page appears to be unique; LC's copy has a different printer's device. Helen researched our printer's device, which you can see in the image here. She determined that it combines the arms of the Medici family (the six balls) and the Capello family (the hat: hence "Capello," and the St. Mark's lion: a symbol of Venice).

Thanks to Helen for the detective work, and of course to Professor Hoeflich for entrusting his magnificent collection to us! We look forward to displaying some of the treasures from his gift in Spring 2011.