New Publication: Histories of Legal Literature

A new legal bibliography has just been released, which will be of service to scholars and students across disciplines interested to learn more about and use for research the rich and diverse texts found in the history of the law. The book, Histories of Legal Literature, indexes 998 English-language works of scholarship, published in the past hundred years, on the history of legal literature in a global framework. The bibliography also includes extensive introductory material, a subject index and statistical analyses to guide the reader. These are intended to provide better access to the scholarship and indicate where future scholarship may make new contributions. 

The legal texts that are the subject of the indexed studies have formed the basis of legal systems across numerous jurisdictions, from the ancient world to the present, and have represented repositories of significant historical continuity and change, providing a window not only into substantive law, but the social, economic and political dynamics that the law often illuminates. The authors have also featured in the bibliographic checklist works about the law - including juvenile legal literature and comic books - that offer a point of entry into forms of expression that have cultural significance beyond canonical treatises, reports and statutes. These are certainly worthy of (and often need) further study.  

The project was led by Michael Widener, an internationally recognized expert on legal history and rare law book collecting, who has served as the Rare Book Librarian at Yale Law School and previously at Tarlton Law Library. A very warm congratulations to Mike on the wonderful result of all the good work! The author of this post has been privileged to provide assistance, and both of the book's authors very much hope that the bibliography will open new paths for study by students and scholars.

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections