New from Quid Pro Books: Northup and Story

Our friends at Quid Pro Books have drawn our attention to the reprinting of two quite notable books.  The first is Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave, in a very readable font and with such images “as the manifest of slaves from the ship Orleans that carried Northup to New Orleans, and the plantation house Northup built.”  Writes the press of the book:

The classic and compelling narrative of the kidnapping, slavery, and freedom of a free man of color wrested to rural Louisiana. Lured to the nation’s capital by the prospect of work, Solomon Northup, a free man born in New York, is kidnapped and sold into slavery. He spends the next twelve years in bondage, primarily on a plantation in Louisiana, along the Red River. Solomon was a witness to the inhumanity of the institution of slavery, the abuses suffered at the hands of cruel masters, and working conditions and the daily lives of his fellow slaves.

Throughout his enslavement, Solomon never reveals his true identity as a free man, kept secret for fear of brutal physical consequences and the possibility of being traded to a plantation further away from society. Eventually enlisting the aid of a white man from Canada employed on the plantation, Solomon strives to realize his dream of returning to Saratoga, New York, to his wife and now-grown children.

First published in 1853, Twelve Years a Slave is a stark description of that “peculiar institution” that drove the southern economy and bitterly divided Americans. Solomon Northup’s narrative is perhaps one of the most important–and compelling–first-hand accounts of slavery that exists. The new edition features additional interesting and rare images relating to Solomon Northup, such as the actual “manifest of slaves” from the ship that brought him in chains to New Orleans. The paperback uses clearer, more legible formatting and font than do typical reproductions of this book, and the eBooks include the additional images and active Contents, linked notes, and proper digital presentation–also rare among the usual eBook editions of this work.

The second book is a one-volume abridgment of Joseph Story’s Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1833), with an introduction by Penn Law’s Kermit Roosevelt III:

Justice Joseph Story’s famous and influential review of the origins, influences, and early interpretations of the Constitution is now presented in the author’s own 1833 Abridged Edition—considered the most useful and readable version of this important work, written by the Supreme Court’s youngest member. No other ebook version offers the accessible abridged form, and in proper digital format no less. The new hardcover and paperback use modern, legible font. Plus in print or digital, this edition adds an extensive 2013 introduction by Kermit Roosevelt III.

One of the United States’ most influential legal scholars and jurists wrote his landmark treatise before the Civil War, describing federalism, states’ history, freedoms, and constitutional structure. He abridged it into this usable book. Adding a new and informative Foreword by constitutional scholar Kermit Roosevelt III of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, the quality Quid Pro edition features active Contents, proper formatting, and embedded pagination from the original, for continuity of referencing and citation. Professor Roosevelt catalogs many instances in which the current Court has relied on this book to decide issues of gun rights, federalism, and privacy. In addition, he provides a fascinating biographical summary of Story and describes the origins of this monumental work, as well as the sway it has had on legal history since 1833.

Publishing Puzzles in Legal History

It is great to be involved in the blog.  Thanks to Karen for including me! 

I have been following the debate over electronic publication (or “embargo”) of history dissertations, with accompanying concerns about pirating of ideas and research.  

Questions of protecting our original research, publication, and how best to publicize our work, are particularly complex in the enterprise of legal history.  By definition, we operate in multiple fields simultaneously.  This affects all aspects of our work, but none more completely than how best to reach audiences for our scholarship (not to mention to get tenure).  I have been involved in books, articles in history journals, and most recently in an article for a law review, and have found myself wondering in each case how the venue affects the readership.  I still believe that the book is the central form of scholarly achievement for most in our field, and am very much enjoying being a book series editor in legal history, but the virtues of other forms of publication loom large, for practical reasons as well as for those of scholarship.

For legal historians based in law schools, deans and many colleagues may equate success with law review publication.  I have even been told by some that their deans have actively discouraged books, while touting law review articles as the safest track to tenure.  And some noted legal historians have made careers primarily on the strength of such articles.  Among graduate students in joint degree programs, by contrast, I have noticed a habit of downplaying the intellectual worth of law reviews.  From my perspective, this is unwarranted, in large part because law remains the field where student-run publications actually dominate the market.   We can all think of superb legal history research that has been published in law reviews.  Remember Bob Gordon’s Critical Legal Histories? 

A key question about publishing in law reviews, however, remains the one I began with:  audience.  Does legal history in law reviews languish in relative obscurity compared with non-legal journals and books?  Do journals that are not explicitly targeted at historians actually get read by those we hope to reach?

Read more »

Weekend Roundup

• The conversation on dissertation embargoes continues at the Chronicle of Higher Education: "Embargoes Can Go Only So Far to Help New Ph.D.'s Get Published, Experts Say." See also this post over at Historiann. (For earlier coverage of the topic, check out last Saturday's roundup.)  

• The Times Colonist recently published the story Royal B.C. Museum Protects Court Documents Full of History and Great Stories.  These include “60 boxes of bound volumes and other items . . . largely from the B.C. Court of Appeal, which first sat in 1910, but some are from its predecessor, the Supreme Court of B.C. — then also known as the Full Court.”  These include “a number of ‘cause’ books included in the material, heavy volumes that contain summaries of cases and were once toted from place to place by judges.” 

• We've previously noted the publication of Opening Statements: Law, Jurisprudence, and the Legacy of Dutch New York, edited by Albert M. and Julia C. Rosenblatt.  Here is an interview of the editors from the Poughkeepsie Journal.

• From the Junto: a post on "Teaching with Legal Sources: The Case of Ann Hibbens."

• R. B. Bernstein's appreciation of Edmund Morgan for H-law is here. Also worth a read: Roman Hoyos's thoughts on "Edmund Morgan . . . and Popular Constitutionalism," over at the Faculty Lounge.

• 

  David Beito (credit)

  From the National Review: The New Deal Witch Hunt. "Federal targeting and intimidation of conservatives is nothing new," writes David T. Beito (University of Alabama).

• "Why the Relentless Assault on Abortion in the United States?" Ruth Rosen (University of California, Davis) offers answers over at History News Network.

• Here's a headline you don't see every day: "Kenyan lawyer on quixotic quest to nullify trial of Jesus." (Hat tip: HNN)   

Weekend Roundup is a weekly feature compiled by all the Legal History bloggers.

Weekend Roundup

• "Why Is Arbitration Legally Binding?" Over at History News Network, Imre Stephen Szalai (Loyola University New Orleans College of Law) offers an answer.

• Also from HNN: Just say no to the surveillance state? Jackson Lears (Rutgers University) makes the case. 

• From the Chronicle of Higher Education, an article sure to interest all current history Ph.D. students and recent graduates: "Scholarly Group Seeks Up to 6-Year Embargoes on Digital Dissertations."

Weekend Roundup is a weekly feature compiled by all the Legal History bloggers.