Headpiece from John Seldon, Titles of Honor (1672)

Take a Break and Color in a Rare Book

Exam takers at UVA Law have a new study break opportunity: an adult coloring book filled with art and ornamentation from the Law Library’s rare book collection. Titled The Art of Law, this 10-page coloring book includes portraits, decorative title pages, and other illustrations dating back to the 1560s. Anyone looking for a brain break can grab a copy and some colored pencils by the Circulation Desk while supplies last. This is your chance to color in a rare book!

Would-be artists near and far can also download a PDF here.

Law Special Collections produced Art of Law and houses the law library’s rare book collection. UVA graduate student Janice Murray began work on the coloring book in summer 2021 as part of an internship through UVA’s Institute for Public History. Law Special Collections staff, led by Jane McBrian, completed design and production of the book in fall 2021. This coloring book project accompanies the exhibition The Art of Law in UVA’s First Law Library, which is currently on display at the UVA Law Library.

 

Title page from Robert Brooke, La Grande Abridgement (1576).
Initial letter from George Mackenzie, The Works of that Eminent and Learned Lawyer (1716).
Illustration from John Selden, Titles of Honor (1672).
Images from The Art of Law

Written by

Randi Flaherty

Randi Flaherty

Randi Flaherty is Head of Special Collections at the Arthur J. Morris Law Library. She is an early American historian with a focus on foreign maritime commerce in the early American republic.

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