Tarlton Law Library holds a rare first edition of John Rastell’s 1523 English law dictionary — a pioneering legal reference work.
By Kate Roden
Photos by Nick Cabrera
This thin, rather nondescript paper-wrapped pamphlet, described by the late Bill Powers as looking like nothing more than “an upside-down postage stamp,” is John Rastell’s Exposicions of [th]e Termys of [th]e Law of England. It is the first English law dictionary, and, indeed, the first dictionary of any kind published in the English language.
The book was Tarlton’s one-millionth volume when purchased in 1999 by then-head librarian Roy Mersky, with support from the efforts of Bryan Garner ’84 and Joe Jamail ’53. It’s been described by scholars as having “exercised as nearly permanent and decisive an influence as any lawbook in English history.” Tarlton’s copy constitutes a unique edition, with a first-edition title page dated 1523 and full text from 1530, essentially a medieval version of an update.
The edition is so rare that it is travelling this spring to New York’s Grolier Club Library as part of their exhibition, “Hardly Harmless Drudgery: Landmarks in English Lexicography,” opening this May. Tarlton’s unique edition is slated to be displayed alongside Robert Cawdrey’s Table Alphabeticall of 1604, loaned from Oxford’s Bodleian Library, and a 1525 copy of Rastell’s Dictionary from Harvard Law School.
The Printer’s Mark
The printer’s plate, Rastell’s trademark, depicts a mermaid and merman holding a shield emblazoned with his monogram. Common in medieval manuscripts, merfolk figures often were depicted preparing for battle, club or sword in hand. Rastell’s pair are calmly poised, suggesting security behind knowledge.
Bilingual
168 entries appear with the Anglo-Norman term on the left, the English equivalent on the right.
Drying Racks
16th Century papers were dried on ribbed frames, whose imprints remain visible centuries later.
