Spanning the Centuries: An Exhibit of Recent Acquisitions, 1579-1868

Part I -Voices from the Past: Printed
Books, Bound Manuscripts, and the
PeopleWho Created Them
In Historical & Special Collections, we collect materials that show how law was taught, learned,
and practiced. Sometimes, the way books are bound and illustrated can shed light on how their
owners used them, and even who they were.Two such examples follow: a legal and medical self-
help volume, likely owned by a community leader in a small French community; and a work that
may have belonged to a German student studying to become a notary. Each volume is an example
of a sammelband – a volume comprising multiple printed works that were bound together at
some point after publication – usually by the volume’s owner. Because their owner chose to bind
specific (and sometimes apparently unrelated) works together, sammelbands can show us how
their owners intended to use the material in ways that a single volume often cannot.
HSC also focuses on collecting legal manuscripts, many of which we digitize and make freely
available to scholars worldwide. Because they are written by hand, manuscripts by their nature
are unique, and show us how particular individuals have engaged with the law over the centuries.
The manuscripts shown here illustrate the evolution of French law, reveal an English clergyman’s
concern for the criminals in his care, and give us glimpses of how law was studied and taught in
17th-century France and at the 19th-century Harvard Law School.

Becoming a Notary
Johann Zeulner, Examen creandorum notariorum
Nuremberg: Joannis Friderici Sartorii, 1620 (1st ed.)
bound with:
Heinrich Knaust, E divi Iustiniani imperatoris
Institutionibus erotemata Latinogermanica
Frankfurt: Matthäus Kempfer,Vincenz Steinmeyer, 1628
bound with:
GeorgVogelmann, Elegantiarum Latini sermonis
praeceptiones aliquot
Magdeburg: Johannis Franci, 1620
HOLLIS nos. 13756109, 13756201 and 13757135
This sammelband is made up of three books useful to a
seventeenth-century German student training to become
a notary.We can surmise that the student bound these
works together so they could easily be carried from place
to place, always at hand for reference.Though the vellum
binding with hand-lettered text in black and red looks
striking to our eyes, it was most likely just “binding waste”
or “manuscript waste” – scrap material from the binder’s
shop.
First published in 1620, Examen Creandorum Notariorum is
a study guide for the examination given notarial
candidates. Iustiniani, first published in 1569, is a highly
abridged version of Justinian’s Institutes with a parallel
German translation and study questions. First published in
1566, the final title is a handbook on eloquence and
forensics based on a collection of exemplary passages
from the speeches of Cicero and other Latin authors.
Shown: Front cover

Becoming a Notary (cont’d)
Johann Zeulner,Examen creandorum
notariorum
Nuremberg: Joannis Friderici Sartorii, 1620 (1st
ed.)
bound with:
Heinrich Knaust, E divi Iustiniani
imperatoris Institutionibus erotemata
Latinogermanica
Frankfurt: Matthäus Kempfer,Vincenz Steinmeyer,
1628
bound with:
GeorgVogelmann, Elegantiarum Latini
sermonis praeceptiones aliquot
Magdeburg: Johannis Franci, 1620
HOLLIS nos. 13756109, 13756201 and 13757135
Shown: Zeulner title page (HOLLIS no. 13756109)

Legal and Medical Self-Help in
a French Community
Alexandre de la Roche, Prieur de Saint-Pierre, L’Arbitre
charitable pour euiter les procez et les querelles; ou du
moins pour les terminer promptement, sans peine & sans
frais
Paris: Laurens Raveneau, 1668
HOLLIS no. 13346101
bound with 2 editions of:
Remedes pour les pauvres gens de la campagne
Paris: 167?
HOLLIS nos. 13739457 & 13346408
This unique work features an early French arbitration treatise
bound with two brief manuals for treating illnesses and injuries. Its
titles may be translated as “Charitable arbitration to avoid trial and
quarrels, or at least to end them quickly, without penalty and
fees,” and “Remedies for the poor people in the countryside.”
It likely belonged to a community leader in a small French town
who bound them so they could easily be carried as he or she
traveled about tending to people in the community. That these
three titles were bound together suggests that one person
assumed dual roles in the community, and provides an intriguing
clue about how law and medicine were practiced away from cities,
formal courts, and hospitals.
La Roche’s work contains striking engravings whose purpose was
to show people, even those who could not read, how to conduct
themselves during an arbitration (shown here). The companion
works also feature engravings, some quite graphic, that
demonstrate how to bandage injuries.
Shown: De la Roche, title pages 1 (detail) & 2

Legal and Medical Self-Help in
a French Community (cont’d)
Alexandre de la Roche, Prieur de
Saint-Pierre,L’Arbitre charitable
pour euiter les procez et les
querelles;ou du moins pour les
terminer promptement,sans
peine & sans frais
HOLLIS no. 13346101
Shown: First page of table of contents

Legal and Medical Self-Help in a French Community (cont’d)
Alexandre de la Roche, Prieur de Saint-Pierre, L’Arbitre charitable pour euiter les procez et
les querelles; ou du moins pour les terminer promptement, sans peine & sans frais
HOLLIS no. 13346101
Shown: Engraving 1 (following title page)

Alexandre de la Roche, Prieur de Saint-Pierre, L’Arbitre charitable pour euiter
les procez et les querelles; ou du moins pour les terminer promptement, sans
peine & sans frais
HOLLIS no. 13346101
Shown: Engraving 4 (after page 38)

Alexandre de la Roche, Prieur de Saint-Pierre, L’Arbitre charitable pour euiter
les procez et les querelles; ou du moins pour les terminer promptement, sans
peine & sans frais
HOLLIS no. 13346101
Shown: Engraving 5 (after page 74)

Legal and Medical Self-Help
in a French Community
(cont’d)
Remedes pour les pauvres gens
de la campagne
Paris: 167?
HOLLIS no. 13739457
This is the first of the two “Remedies
for the Poor” works that was bound
with de la Roche’s volume on
charitable arbitration.
Shown:Title page

Remedes pour les pauvres gens de la campagne
Paris: 167?
HOLLIS no. 13739457
This is the first of the two “Remedies for the Poor” works that was bound with de la Roche’s volume on charitable
arbitration.
Shown: Table of contents

(cont’d)
de la campagne
Paris: 167?
HOLLIS no. 13346408
This is the second of the two
“Remedies for the Poor” works that
was bound with de la Roche’s volume
on charitable arbitration.
Shown:Title page

(cont’d)
de la campagne
Paris: 167?
HOLLIS no. 13346408
Shown: Fig. 1 (after page 4): illustration
of a bandage

(cont’d)
de la campagne
Paris: 167?
HOLLIS no. 13346408
Shown: Fig. 2 (after page 8): how to tie
a bandage

Coutumes: Tracing the
Development of French Law
City of Lille, Coustumes de la ville et
eschevinage de Lille, 1579
HLS MS 221; HOLLIS no. 13481824
The most important source of early French law,
coutumes, or “customary laws,” document the laws
and practices of different regions, cities, towns, and
villages in France.At first transmitted orally, by the
middle of the 13th century some coutumes were
written down. For the next several centuries,
countless people copied and recopied the coutumes,
documenting changes in local laws and customs as
they did so. By the 16th century, official coutumes
appeared, which ultimately became an important
source of modern French law.
Our newest manuscript coutume joins hundreds of
others in our collection, which includes coutumes
from jurisdictions throughout France. From them we
can learn much about the history and evolution of
French law.This volume is particularly rich in new
material: it is a working manuscript of the Coutumes
of Lille in force around 1579, during the period of
Philip II's dominion.
The Harvard Law School Library has digitized the
complete work; consult the HOLLIS library catalog
record for a link to the images.
Shown: Front cover, made of limp vellum

(cont’d)
City of Lille,Coustumes de la ville
et eschevinage de Lille,1579
Shown:Table of sections (folio 3v)

(cont’d)
Shown: First page (folio 4r)

(cont’d)
Shown: Inside back cover

Learning andTeaching the
Law in 17th-Century France
Edmond Mérille,Commentarii
Institutionum
France: Bourges, July-August 1637
Edmond (or Emond) Mérille (1579-1647) was
a prominent 17th-century French jurist, a
professor of civil law at Cahors and Bourges,
and the author of several important legal
treatises.
This manuscript consists of transcriptions of
Mérille’s commentaries on Justinian’s Institutes,
and adds an end-of-year lecture delivered
between July 29 and August 8, 1637. Almost
certainly written by an anonymous pupil of
Mérille’s, it contains important evidence about
how Roman law was studied and taught in
17th-century France.
Shown: Front cover

(cont’d)
Institutionum
Revisions and corrections to the text, in
different handwriting and with darker ink,
appear throughout the manuscript.These
notes are probably written by Mérille or an
editor, who relied on this student’s
manuscript to prepare a published version of
the text.The printed version of the
Commentarii, edited by Claude Mongin, was
published nearly two decades later in 1654,
seven years after Mérille’s death.The Library
owns a copy (HOLLIS no. 4345364).Scholars
can now study this manuscript alongside the
Library’s printed volume for evidence of the
substance and evolution of Mérille’s legal
thought.
Shown: Page 1

(cont’d)
Institutionum
Shown: Page 291 (last page)

Ministering to Prisoners
John Disney (compiler),Offices proper to be
used with criminals and debtors. Compiled
from the Book of Common Prayer, & several
private books of devotion,for the use of
ordinaries,who have the care of attending
prisoners
Nottingham:1725
This attractive and unusual manuscript contains
readings from the Bible and other sources, fine-
tuned for different types of prisoners and crimes.
The compiler, John Disney (1677-1730), studied law
in MiddleTemple but never practiced. In 1719 he
entered the priesthood and in 1722 became vicar of
St. Mary's in Nottingham.Though Disney was a
prolific author, this compilation was left as a work in
progress and never published.
This manuscript, not quite like anything else in our
collection, adds a new dimension to our strong
collection of Anglo-American trials and crime
broadsides.
Shown:Title page

Ministering to Prisoners (cont’d)
John Disney (compiler),Offices proper to be
used with criminals and debtors. Compiled
from the Book of Common Prayer, & several
private books of devotion,for the use of
ordinaries,who have the care of attending
prisoners
Nottingham:1725
Shown: Office for criminals not yet brought to trial,
which includes a special prayer for those “such as
seem to be hardened and impenitent.” (fol. 1)

Ministering to Prisoners (cont’d)
John Disney (compiler),Offices proper to be used
with criminals and debtors. Compiled from the
Book of Common Prayer, & several private books
of devotion,for the use of ordinaries,who have
the care of attending prisoners
Nottingham:1725
Shown: Proper Lessons, to be read, one or two at a
time, with certain lessons pertaining to murder and
stealing highlighted (fol. 6)

The Daily Life of a Harvard Law
School Student
John MarshallVanmeter, Diary kept while a
student at Harvard Law School, 1856, January 1-
March 22
JohnVanmeter (1836-1925) was born in Chillicothe,
Ohio. He received his law degree from Harvard in 1857,
and returned home to Ohio where he pursued a
successful career in law, farming, and finance.
Vanmeter’s diary is a rich source of information about
the daily life of a Harvard Law School student, and a
window into HLS history. In the diary he noted the
topics of lectures delivered by his law professors,
especially Theophilus Parsons and Judge Parker, whose
lectures he found “dry and very hard to listen to, but
very instructive.” When he sought a bit of fun, he played a
borrowed violin; walked to Mt.Auburn and Fresh Pond to
view ice harvesting; and “went down on Washington
Street and after striving uselessly for half an hour in try
to see a pretty girl’s face, gave up in despair and came
back to the Parker House.”
Vanmeter’s diary joins a similar manuscript already in our
collection, the Diary of JamesW. Boyden, 1845-1846 (HLS
MS 4486; HOLLIS no. 13640337; available online through
HOLLIS), as well as over 200 collections of HLS student
class notes spanning the 1820s through the 1980s.
Shown: Front cover

The Daily Life of a Harvard Law
School Student (cont’d)
John MarshallVanmeter, Diary kept while
a student at Harvard Law School, 1856,
January 1-March 22
Vanmeter prefaced his diary with these lofty
sentiments:
Cambridge Jan 1st 1856
An hour, a day, a year!What are they?Time past,
time present, and time future.We muse upon
the first, the other know, and the third we
dream of; and from them all, deduce that man is
unworthy of his Creator. … (page 1)

The Daily Life of a Harvard
Law School Student (cont’d)
John MarshallVanmeter, Diary kept
while a student at Harvard Law
School, 1856, January 1-March 22
Vanmeter began his diary on January 1,
1856. Shown here is the first entry. He
spent his day reading (for 6 hours!),
attending lectures and visiting his club. He
finished reading Joseph Story’s treatise on
bailments, and pronounced it a “very
instructive work, and such an one as
should be in every law library.”

Part 2 - Crime, Consequences, and
Lessons Learned:Trials, Broadsides and
the Popular Press
HSC has a rich collection of Anglo-American trials and broadsides, which feature popular (and often
sensational) accounts of crimes and their perpetrators. From these we can learn how crime and
criminals were treated in the popular press and received by the public. As shown by the recent
acquisitions featured here, many of the stories in these pamphlets and broadsides are moralistic and
didactic in tone; confessions and repentance at the gallows is a popular theme. Lurid tales featuring
titillating details and grisly illustrations attest to the public’s thirst for sensation and the publishers’ ability
to meet the demand.
Featured here are accounts of trials and crimes in a variety of formats. Some of them will be digitized
and added to the Harvard Law School Library’s digital collection, Studies in Scarlet: Marriage and Sexuality
in the U.S. and U.K., 1815-1914. Besides showing the rise of crime reporting in the popular press, the
trials in Studies in Scarlet are a particularly rich source for the study of women in early modern society.
Also on view is a sampling of broadsides, which were published to notify the public of executions.The
broadsides, defined as a sheet of paper printed on one side only or containing one large page without
columns, usually contain accounts of the condemned person’s life and crimes, and often include didactic
poems or statements of the criminal’s guilt and repentance.These broadsides, and many others, may be
found online in the Harvard Law School’s digital collection, Dying Speeches and Bloody Murders: Crime
Broadsides Collected by the Harvard Law School Library.

A Notorious Murder, Vividly
Illustrated
The life of Elizabeth Brownrigg, who was
executed atTyburn, for starving Mary Clifford
to death, one of her apprentices. Upon which
is founded the popular piece of "Mary
Clifford," performed at the City of London
Theatre
London: J.V. Quick, 1839
HOLLIS no. 13901579
This is an anonymous account of the infamous
Elizabeth Brownrigg (1720-1767), who was tried and
executed for the murder of one of her apprentices.
Brownrigg, a midwife, was an "overseer ofWomen
and Children" at the foundling hospital in St.
Dunstan's parish, London. She was given several
young girls to train as apprentice servants, each of
whom she then proceeded to torture and starve in
her home, assisted by her husband and son. By the
time the authorities discovered her actions, one girl,
Mary Clifford, was incapacitated from starvation and
ulcerated lacerations from several days of whipping.
She died a few days later. Brownrigg and her son fled,
but were soon apprehended.All three members of
the family were tried, but the father and son were
acquitted.
Shown:Title page

A Notorious Murder,
Vividly Illustrated (cont’d)
The life of Elizabeth Brownrigg,
who was executed atTyburn, for
starving Mary Clifford to death,
one of her apprentices.Upon
which is founded the popular
piece of "Mary Clifford,"
performed at the City of London
Theatre
London: J.V. Quick, 1839
HOLLIS no. 13901579
As indicated in the title, this event was
the inspiration for a play, a scene of
which can be seen in the hand-colored
plate shown here (opposite title page).

A Murder, Unfolded
Sunderland murder:The trial of Jacob
Frederich Ehlert [1810-1839],for the
murder of Capt. Johan Fredrick
Berkholtz,of the ship Phoenix,while
asleep in his cabin, on the night of the
12th of June, 1839. Convicted on the
evidence of his accomplice,Daniel
Fredrick Muller.With an account of
his execution,&c.
Durham? GeorgeWalker, 1839
HOLLIS no. 5593369
This trial was printed in a single sheet,
intended to be folded 4 times, cut into 12
leaves, and bound as a 24-page pamphlet.
Our copy never made it that far. Still intact
as a single sheet, it is an interesting artifact
of the printing and publishing process.
Here is how it looks folded, with the title
page showing (actual size of each leaf is 7”
x 4”).

A Sensational Correspondence
New annals of gallantry: containing,a
complete collection of all the genuine letters
which have passed between Captain Inglefield,
and Mrs. Inglefield … relative to a charge
brought by the former against the latter, for
partiality to her black servant…
London: Printed for R. Randall, 1785
HOLLIS no. 13846849
This 80-page pamphlet contains letters and testimony
from all sides of a sensational case. Captain John
Nicholson Inglefield (1748-1828) sued his wife Ann
for divorce due to her alleged adultery with a black
servant;Ann counter-sued for desertion.The case
came before the ecclesiastical court in July 1785.
Though Mrs. Inglefield won in court, their marriage
was irretrievably damaged and they never lived
together again.
Shown:Title page

A Sensational Correspondence (cont’d)
New annals of gallantry: containing,a complete
collection of all the genuine letters which have
passed between Captain Inglefield,and Mrs.
Inglefield … relative to a charge brought by the
former against the latter, for partiality to her
black servant…
London: Printed for R. Randall, 1785
HOLLIS no. 13846849
Included in the pamphlet are three pages of salacious
advertisements for adultery trials; a miscellany of
amusing stories promising “A Dish of Fun for every
Palate, from the Peer to the Peasant”; and a saucy
collection of stories including “The Frolicks of Boarding-
school Misses.”
Shown: First page of publisher’s advertisement,
following page 65.

An Extravagantly Illustrated
Account of aVersatile Criminal
PeterThomson, Life and adventures of George
W. Symonds, the Burdell murderer
NewYork: National Police Gazette Office, 1863
HOLLIS no. 13905602
This booklet is an example of the growing interest in
the genre of popular biography brought about by the
new mass media print culture in the mid-nineteenth
century. It pertains to the sensational murder of
James Rowand, a jeweler in Princeton, on Nov. 13,
1862, for which "Charles Lewis" was tried and
executed on April 3, 1863. Scholars have noted that
there was considerable doubt concerning Lewis’ true
identity. One of the contenders for the real Charles
Lewis was GeorgeW. Symonds.This narrative gives a
vivid account of the many horrific crimes committed
by Symonds over two decades, as well as other
aspects of his life.
Shown: Cover/title page

(cont’d)
PeterThomson, Life and adventures of
GeorgeW. Symonds, the Burdell murderer
HOLLIS no. 13905602
Shown: Page 3

An Extravagantly Illustrated Account of aVersatile Criminal (cont’d)
Peter Thomson, Life and adventures of George W. Symonds, the Burdell murderer
New York: National Police Gazette Office, 1863
HOLLIS no. 13905602
Copious illustrations throughout the booklet feature Symonds enacting a variety of misdeeds, such as "Symonds sets fire to
the Franklin House at Hudson" and "The widow's daughter escaping from Symonds,” shown here (following page 14).

(cont’d)
PeterThomson, Life and adventures of
GeorgeW. Symonds, the Burdell murderer
HOLLIS no. 13905602
Shown: Publisher’s advertisement for The
Vocabulum, or, Rogue's Lexicon, "a complete
dictionary of the words and phrases used by the
Professors of the 'Clyfaking' [i.e. pickpocketing]
Fraternity" – further evidence of the burgeoning
popular press (page 29).

A Selection of Crime
Broadsides
Farewell to the world of Richard
Bishop,who now lies under sentence
of death in Maidstone gaol, for the
murder of Alfred Cartwright
London: H. Disley, 1868
Broadside 526; HOLLIS no. 13854532
This is a fine example of gallows
literature. It claims to be based on the
final lament and mea culpa of 21-year-old
Richard Bishop, who was awaiting
execution for the murder of his neighbor
Alfred Cartwright. Hanged on 30 April
1868, Bishop was one of the last people
to be executed publicly; an act passed
that year banned public executions.

Broadsides (cont’d)
The life and behaviour of William
Burton, who was executed at Gloucester,
onThursday,April 8, 1819: For the wilful
murder of William Syms, of Woolaston
Gloucester: Price, Printer, 1819
Burton murdered Syms for his money and
dumped his body in the River Severn.

An Account of the trial and execution
of Wm. Ettell and Jacob Pool, who
suffered at Gloucester,on Saturday,
April 19, 1817
Gloucester: Printed and Sold byT. Birt, 1817
William Ettell, 22, and Jacob Pool, 37, were
hanged for the violent robbery of Mrs. Ship
ofYork, a women "of advanced years" who
was returning from Bath market.

The trial & execution of John Horwood,
which took place at the New City Goal [sic]
this day (Friday April 13, 1821) for the wilful
murder of Eliza Balsam,of Hanham, Near
Bristol
Bristol: Harry Bonner, Printer, 1821
John Horwood was an 18-year-old miner from
Hanham and the first person to be hanged at
Bristol's New Gaol.When he saw Balsam, his ex-
girlfriend, with her new boyfriend, he threw a stone
at her that knocked her in the head. She died from
the resulting injury.After the execution, Horwood's
skeleton was kept in a hanging cupboard, still with
its noose, until it was buried in 2011.The woodcut
depicts a body hanging from a gallows under the
gaze of a clergyman, military officer and audience.

A copy of verses on John Marrott, John
Wilkinson,and Matthew Harrison, now
under sentence of death inYork Castle,
for horse stealing
York (England): C. Croshaw, 1828
A 14-stanza didactic poem from the
viewpoint of the condemned, all three of
whom were executed on 26 April 1828.

A Selection of Crime Broadsides (cont’d)
Particular account of the execution &c. of
WilliamWalker,who was executed this morning,
(Friday,April 29, 1831), on the drop over the New
Bristol Gaol Bristol:Taylor, Printer, 1831
Walker, who was hanged for burglary, confessed his
involvement in two other burglaries before his death.
The account of the trial, description ofWalker after the
trial, and his execution is followed by a set of didactic
verses.

Spanning the Centuries: An Exhibit of Recent Acquisitions, 1579-1868

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Spanning the Centuries: An Exhibit of Recent Acquisitions, 1579-1868