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Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Our First Virtual Rare Books Quiz!

Welcome to our first virtual rare books quiz!  Take a break from studies (and incessant news) - allow yourselves a diversion! 

Take a few moments to answer the questions below, and be entered to win prizes from the UMN bookstore (when it reopens).  

The two most correct entries win, drawing in case of (more than two) ties, prizes $25 each.  The prizes are the usual: hats, mugs, keychains, t-shirts, or some combination.  UMN Law School students only are eligible.


1.  Which noted French Enlightenment philosophe is this an image of?  (Several answers accepted; note the figure is wigless!)






The great etching, by artist Thomas Cornell, is from this book, in our current exhibits. 












   

2.  The design at bottom here is the printer's device of Baptista de Tortis.  These were common in early printed books, and offered quick recognition and a proud authenticity.  What year, month, day, and city was this book published in?





This volume of Roman law in the collection is an incunable, printed before 1501. (That's a hint, at least.)


















 



3.  What is significant about the book below? (All that apply.)

A.  It is a copy of the first printed edition of Bracton's De Legibus, considered the greatest treatise on (medieval) English law.
B.  It is an early example of the use of Roman type in English law books.
C.  It is a pirated copy, printed without license.
D.  Answers A and B only.
E.  Answers A, B, and C.






Fun fact: the printer of the book, Richard Tottel, spelled his name about a dozen different ways in his works (thanks to my colleague Mike Widener for this observation)! 











4.  A last one, from our Supreme Court Bobblehead collection.  Why is there a cow at the feet of Justice O'Connor, and why are there sheep at the feet of Justice Breyer?  (Short answer will do.)




Friday, March 27, 2020

From Our Spring Exhibits: Law in Times of Crisis

In times of crisis, governments often produce a succession of orders, legislation, and judgments in response to rapidly changing events. Below are two selections from our spring exhibits that reflect on law in these kinds of situations. One can easily imagine the need for a Massachusetts Act to Prevent Monopoly and Oppression (1777), in response to price gouging during wartime. Eliminating 'public threats' during periods of civil unrest is often more suspect, as arguably in the case of Gracchus Babeuf. In all these cases, governments intervene in extraordinary ways to strengthen authority and maintain order, with various effects. The old Latin legal maxim, necessitas non habet legem ('necessity knows no law'), can perhaps be reinterpreted at these moments as 'necessity makes its own law (necessitas facit suam legem). Of course, laws enacted in times of crisis and under emergency justifications still need analysis and critique from the perspectives of law and justice.  


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In the Year of Our Lord, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-Seven: An Act to Prevent Monopoly and Oppression (Boston: Printed by B. Edes and Sons, 1777).

During the American Revolution, the Massachusetts legislature passed a law to regulate prices in the face of limited supplies and increasingly “avaricious conduct.” The single act, published for immediate distribution, sets prices for a range of colonial goods named in it. At the back of our copy, in a clear and elegant hand, a selection of the goods and their prices is arranged according to common measures (per bushel, per pound, etc.). The items listed were those used in cooking and maintaining a household: mentioned are things like tallow, women’s shoes, and cloth for spinning. No ownership information tells us who wrote the list; one guess may be a colonial woman who ran a household. The pamphlet provides a direct and vivid window into daily economics in the midst of the Revolutionary War. Despite the crisis, the owner has organized the items with a sense of practical care necessary in the face of adversity.

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The Trial of Gracchus Babeuf before the High Court of Vendome, ed. and trans. by John Anthony Scott (Northhampton, MA: The Gehenna Press, 1964).

François-Noël Babeuf (1760-1797), known as Gracchus Babeuf, was a French revolutionary and reputedly one of the first communists, who advocated the abolition of private property. A prolific writer, he rose to prominence as a new
French government faced economic crisis and widespread suffering, with little effective remedy. He was tried and executed in 1797 for fomenting rebellion. The Defense is a modern translation of Babeuf’s apologia on his own behalf at his trial, where he invoked intellectual fathers of the French Revolution Rousseau and Diderot. 

The copy in our collection is a modern, beautifully illustrated edition featuring twenty-one etched portraits, including French Enlightenment figures and Babeuf himself. The outstanding illustrations are by Thomas Cornell (1937-2012), who signed each image in pencil in the lower right. The etchings were printed by Emiliano Sorini in New York, on loose blue Fabriano paper that has been laid in; the text is gathered in unbound quires. The noted illustrator and artist Leonard Baskin, who founded the Gehenna Press, designed the book. Our copy is number 87 from a limited edition of 300, signed again at the back by Cornell. Our copy is a gift of Christa Cornell, the artist's wife.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections











Monday, March 2, 2020

Wednesday, March 4: Rare Books Open House!

Come out to the Riesenfeld Center's first rare books open house of the semester, this Wednesday, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.!

Enjoy snacks and drinks, and see new treasures from the library's rare books and special collections:

When: Wednesday, March 4, 12 p.m - 3 p.m.
Where: Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center
What: Rare books, snacks and refreshments!


(*The Center is in N30, on the subplaza past Sullivan Cafe and N20.)