Legal Research

A New Judicial Biography

By turquhart

The law library?s Acquisitions Assistant position has its perks: Clearly I have the advantage of a heads-up on titles ordered and titles arriving on an approval basis. Some of these items appeal to the lover-of-good-story in me and therefore get snagged out of normal library processing, toted home, devoured, then returned to circulation where they?ll be shelved to await the next reader. I can think of a few books offhand?Habeas Codfish, Breaking Silence, If Only, Storming the Court, and Executed on a Technicality?whose pages have crossed my eyes before they?ve reached the bookshelf. Here?s a new one to add to my list: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. by G. Edward White. (It?ll be with me over the weekend.)

I?m keenly interested in this man whose eloquent style and literary interests seem much more akin to those of ?a poet or writer instead of a Supreme Court justice.? In fact, White tells us that Holmes had to give up some of his interests: ?He had quite self-consciously given up those other pursuits in order to concentrate on law.? I?d like to think of the magnificent handlebar mustache as a self-consciously chosen remainder of his inclination for adventure.

Here?s an autograph:

Posted by Toni Urquhart

Full post as published by FSU College of Law Library Blog on March 23, 2006 (boomark / email).