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!

New Exhibit--Golden Age of Legal Publishing in Massachusetts

This new exhibit is up for viewing in the Rare Book Room, and a digital edition is also available for those unable to visit the physical exhibit or for anyone interested in more information on the featured works.

Massachusetts was an extremely important legal publishing center in the 19th century, when American law book publishing was taking off. Prior to and right after the American Revolution, virtually the only law books being published in the colonies were statutory compilations and reprints of English and continental legal texts. However, by the beginning of the 1800s, a “home-grown” canon of American legal literature began to emerge.

“The Golden Age of Legal Publishing in Massachusetts” traces this progression in Massachusetts legal publishing, beginning with a 1648 statutory compilation and ending with Christopher Columbus Langdell’s famous A Selection of Cases on the Law of Contracts, which revolutionized teaching at American law schools. Beautiful first editions of Joseph Story's works and Simon Greenleaf's Treatise on the Law of Evidence are among the featured items.

Educational Technology Specialist Chester Kozikowski helped integrate QR codes into the exhibit. This addition blends old and new and allows those touring the exhibit with a smart phone to easily access additional content about the exhibit—audio clips, links to related websites, and a link to the digital edition of the exhibit, which is also available from the exhibit’s webpage.

The exhibit will be open for viewing into Spring 2012.

Rare Book Room will be closed September 5th-11th

The Rare Book Room will be closed from September 5th through September 11th for exhibit work. It will reopen on Monday, September 12th with our new exhibit on Massachusetts legal publishing in the 18th and 19th century. Our lovely collection of Joseph Story's works will be one of the features of the exhibit. Please come see the new exhibit and use the room for studying or research when we reopen!

For all you book lovers out there...

Check out Bibliophemera, one of my favorite blogs. Blogger Chuck Whiting posts regularly on book-related ephemera--trading cards, old book invoices, bookseller billheads, and variety of other fun things. One of my favorite posts deals with the famous Boston publisher Little, Brown & Co., founded in 1837 and still in existence today. Little, Brown was a prolific early American law book publisher, with Joseph Story and Simon Greenleaf on its author list. Enjoy!