Rare Book Room closed morning of Nov. 1st for a classroom visit

We are happy to be hosting Professor Dan Coquillette's Anglo-American Legal History class again this week to view some of our rare books. This week's mini-exhibit: sixteenth and seventeenth century legal professional literature. This exhibit, on display specifically for the class, will include Yearbooks of Edward III, Coke's Reports, Dyer's Reports, abridgments by Brooke and FitzHerbert, multiple examples of Registers of Writs, and some special editions of 16th and 17th legal treatises, including Glanville's Tractatus.

Be on the lookout for a blog post about the visit and some photos of the offerings on Facebook!!

Rare Book Room closed October 17-18th

The Rare Book Room is being used as a site for on-campus interviewing on Monday, October 17th, and Tuesday, October 18th. We apologize in advance for any disruption to your study or research plans and hope that you can visit another day.

Best of luck to all of the students who will be interviewing!

Rare Book Room will be closed October 6

The Rare Book Room will be closed on Thursday, October 6, as we prepare to host an event in the room tonight.

The room will reopen on October 7 for visitors to the exhibit or those seeking a quiet study space. We look forward to your visit!

Fun in the Stacks--The Domesday Book

   

Helen Lacouture and I were happy to host Dan Coquillette's Anglo-American Legal History class a couple of weeks ago when they came to visit the Rare Book Room. We put out an exhibit of selected Norman law materials, including a couple of Magna Cartas, a Bracton, a Glanville, and this facsimile of the Domesday Book. Until this visit, I'd never had occasion to deal with it closely, other than to strain my back when lifting it off the shelf. However, it is such a fascinating piece of work that I thought a blog post was in order.

The Domesday Book was a 1086 survey of Britain ordered by William I of England, more often referred to as William the Conqueror. William wanted a clear record of the lands that were in his realm, who owned what, and what taxes were owed to him by the holders of the lands and the personalty thereon. He sent his men out across the country, and every acre and every pig and cow on top of every acre was counted.

The photo above (left) is a page from a 1986 facsimile of the original Domesday (held at the British National Archives in London) --specifically a page from the section devoted to Devonshire. The 1986 facsimile, which was released in honor of Domesday's 900th anniversary, added translation volumes. The appropriate page from the translation volume is also included above (right). More photos will be posted on Facebook!