Spotlight on Rare Books: Joost de Damhoudere's Praxis Rerum Criminalium

Last spring, Professor Bruno Debaenst was the visiting professor to Minnesota from the Faculty of Law at Uppsala University. As an expert legal historian, he has truly wide-ranging interests, from employment, labor and insurance law, to international legal organizations, Swedish legal history, and early and modern Belgian legal history. At the Law School, he taught an excellent class on historical trials in comparative perspective.

Bruno visited as part of the wonderful exchange program between the Minnesota and Uppsala law schools that dates back to the fall semester of 1982. The program has sent numerous faculty and students of the two law schools back and forth for enriching teaching and study across the Atlantic.  

 

During Bruno's stay we became good friends and he became interested in one of our historical law books in particular, a striking copy of Joost de Damhoudere's Praxis Rerum Criminalium (1570). The book is remarkable as one of the most extensively illustrated law books, featuring dozens of woodcuts graphically depicting the crimes it discusses. Our 1570 copy is additionally interesting for the unusually rich, creative annotations made by a contemporary student, citing literature and law in German, Latin and Greek. Notably, our copy was also owned by Hermann Kantorowicz, an influential legal historian and scholar of the 20th century, whose personal library is held in our collections.

 

Last spring, we had a nice opportunity to discuss this extraordinary book for the Premodern Podcast "I've Got A Thing" series, hosted by the Center for Premodern Studies at Minnesota. Bruno highlighted in his discussion one further feature that is especially remarkable about Damhoudere's magnum opus: it was plagiarized from a manuscript by Philip Wielant, a city magistrate of an earlier generation. Bruno's great comments 'revealed the steal' and we talked further with Elijah Wallace, a PhD candidate in the History Department, about the illustrations and annotations. The podcast is available here.

 

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections  

 

 

 

Wednesday, February 1: Rare Books Open House!

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

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

When: Wednesday, February 1, 12 p.m - 3 p.m.
Where: Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center*
What: Rare books, bagged snacks and treats, Valentine's candy, and refreshments!

(*The Riesenfeld Center is in N30, on the subplaza past Student Orgs. in N20.) 

Rare Books Collection: Clarence Darrow's Books and Library

The Law Library and Riesenfeld Center's Clarence Darrow Collection features more than a thousand letters to and from the great American trial attorney. It has also grown recently through the acquisition of significant books from Darrow's personal library, and several owned by close family members. The books augment the extensive printed material related to Darrow's legal cases, speeches, debates, and other writings that round out the collection. A number of the new items have been inscribed by Darrow, or inscribed to Darrow by friends and associates. The books, bookplates, and inscriptions tell us more about what Darrow owned and read, and shed light on some of the volumes and people he cherished.

Darrow was the nation's leading criminal defense attorney in the early 20th century and he remains today the most famous American trial lawyer. His memorable courtroom arguments, speeches, and eloquent, "country lawyer" rhetoric won him fame and saved the lives of a long series of criminal defendants. His courtroom rhetoric was often imbued by his pessimistic philosophy, along with a belief in compassion as the reasonable response to human frailty. The same views were distilled in key works for popular audiences. They can be found in his early volume, A Persian Pearl, a collection of literary essays and his first book-length publication; Farmington, a semi-autobiographical novel about growing up; An Eye for an Eye, his second novel, treating poverty and crime; and The Story of My Life, his mature autobiography. In addition to these are more minor works, including A Skeleton in the Closet, which have supplied some of Darrow's most quotable lines.

 

Typical of authors, Darrow signed and inscribed copies of these works, often for friends and fairly well-known associates. Darrow's library also contained works of friends and associates who personalized and sent him their publications. Among the recently acquired books are inscribed volumes of poetry, in particular, that suggest Darrow's own literary ambitions and the kind of critical, socially-oriented poetry that he preferred. Of special interest among the volumes is a first edition of A Persian Pearl, inscribed by Darrow to his first wife, Jessie Ohl Darrow. Though comparatively little is known about their relationship, in the inscription, written two years after the marriage ended, Darrow calls Jessie "his best friend," suggesting an enduring warmth as they continued to care for their son, Paul. Another family heirloom is inscribed fondly by Jessie to Paul, and another of Paul's books is inscribed by Darrow's father, Ammirus.

 

Together the books from Darrow's library and family members enrich the Library's Darrow Collection and cast more light on his personal life and relationships.  

  

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

 

Finals Study Break: Monday, December 12!

Come out next Monday, December 12, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., for a study break during finals! 

Grab some coffee and freshly-baked donuts outside the Riesenfeld Rare Books Center in N30.  The Rare Books Center is on the subplaza, at the end of the hallway past Student Orgs in N20.

When: Monday, December 12, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Where: Outside the Riesenfeld Rare Books Center (N30, subplaza level). 

What: Coffee and donuts!

Good luck on finals, and best wishes for the holidays from the Law Library!

 

 

 

Rare Books Collection: Native American Law

The Law Library and Riesenfeld Center holds an excellent collection of law related to Native Americans, recording a difficult, complex, and very important legal, political, and to some extent social history. Among other material, the collection contains a wide selection of treaties from the nineteenth century. Included in these are an 1829 treaty between the United States and the Ojibwe, Menomonie, and Winnebago, and an 1863 treaty concluded with the Nez Perce, the last treaty agreed between an American Indian tribe and the federal government. There are also extensive printed communications between various tribes and the U.S. government regarding land and rights, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century laws and constitutions of diverse Native American nations. Association reports, investigations, hearings, and other descriptions of legal relations round out the material. Below are two items in particular that are special treasures for their outstanding historical significance.

 

[Laws of the Cherokee Nation: Adopted by the Council at Various Times (1839–1851)]. [Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation: Damaga Publisher, 1852].

This extremely rare collection of laws, pictured at left, was published at Tahlequah, the Cherokee Nation’s capital. The laws are printed in the Cherokee language, using a syllabary adopted by the Nation in 1825. Joseph Blackbird and Hercules Martin compiled the laws in Cherokee. The printers were John Candy and Mark Tyger. As in some family Bibles, a handwritten list of one generation of the Fodder family appears here. One family member, Sequoyah, was likely named after the founder of the Cherokee writing system. The book’s significance extends to aspects of familial, linguistic, and tribal identity.

 

Constitution of the State of Sequoyah. Muskogee, Indian Territory: Phoenix Printing Co., 1905.

In 1890, Congress created Oklahoma Territory from the western part of Indian Territory. In the same period, the federal Dawes Act (1887) and Curtis Act (1898) aimed to end communal tribal landholding and jurisdiction. In response, the Five Tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole) and others attempted to create a new American state, named Sequoyah after the founder of the Cherokee writing system, to retain control of their Oklahoma lands. A constitution was drafted in 1905, with a Bill of Rights that reflected provisions of the federal Bill of Rights. The proposal was not considered by Congress but the document provided a foundation for Oklahoma’s constitution. This sole edition of Sequoyah’s constitution includes a vivid map of its territory and counties.

 

   - Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections

 

Thursday, October 27: Halloween Open House!

Come out to the Riesenfeld Rare Books Center's special Halloween Open House on Thursday, Oct. 27, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.! 

Stop by to see spooky treasures from our collection - including witch trials, murder trials, a macabre torture manual, and other sensational works - and pick up snacks, drinks, and Halloween candy!

Come out in costume - we're happy to post pics on our Tumblr site!

When: Thursday, Oct. 27th, 12 p.m - 3 p.m.
Where: Riesenfeld Rare Books Center
What: Rare books, snacks, drinks, candy (and costumes)!


(The Center is in N30, on the subplaza past Student Orgs. in N20.)

 

 

 

Wednesday, October 12: Rare Books Open House!

Come out to the Riesenfeld Center's first monthly open house of the year on Wednesday, October 12, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.!

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

When: Wednesday, October 12, 12 p.m - 3 p.m.
Where: Riesenfeld Rare Books Research Center*
What: Rare books, bagged snacks, cookies, and refreshments!

(*The Riesenfeld Center is in N30, on the subplaza past Student Orgs. in N20.)