A collection of rare law books stemming back to the early days of Massachusetts, both pre- and post-republic, is now on display in the Daniel R. Coquillette Rare Book Room in the Boston College Law Library.
The new exhibit, titled “Printed in Massachusetts: Law Books from Colony to Commonwealth,” explores the evolution of law publishing in the US through books that were printed here in Massachusetts. It moves through early statutory compilations and case reports, reprinted English texts, the first major US legal treatises by figures such as Simon Greenleaf and Theophlius Parsons, and touches on the early printing of form documents like deeds.
Massachusetts charter
One early example on display is The Charter Granted by King William & Queen Mary to the Inhabitants of the Province of Massachusetts-Bay, printed in Boston in 1726. The charter governed Massachusetts from 1692 up until the American Revolution. Another from 1834, Commentaries on the Conflict of Laws, Foreign and Domestic by Harvard Law professor and Supreme Court justice Joseph Story, examines conflicts in law and jurisdiction that arose in the early republic and which became an authoritative resource on the subject.
Laurel Davis, legal information librarian and lecturer in law/curator of rare books at BC Law, creates or co-curates biannual exhibits each year to bring collections and the stories they carry to life for students, faculty, and visitors. Since she began curating for the Rare Book Room back in 2011, she has explored international law texts, women in the law book trade, books owned by notable lawyers such as Robert Morris (1825–1882), law dictionaries, and more.
Commenting on this latest collection she has helped bring to the public, she said, “I have long been struck by the number of colonial and early American law books printed in Massachusetts, and this exhibit gave me the opportunity to explore the authors, booksellers, and printers that made the Commonwealth such a crucial part of late 18th- and early 19th-century legal publishing.”
In addition to the substance of the texts themselves, Davis also took care to include stories about the Massachusetts printers and booksellers of the era who were such a vital part of the publishing industry and distribution of legal literature.
Dan Coquillette, former dean of BC Law and the namesake for the Rare Book Room since its dedication in 1996, gave all the credit to Davis for her efforts. “This exhibit is exemplary in demonstrating the central role that books have played in the evolution of constitutional government and the rule of law,” he said. On the mission of the Rare Book Room in the law library, he added, “With so much research now done by students online, the room is meant to be a purposeful presence on campus of the beauty of books. Students are always welcome to use it, even if just to study there and be surrounded by these great works.”
This exhibit is available for viewing in the Rare Book Room in the law library, open on weekdays from 9:00AM–5:00PM, and will be on view into November 2026.