摘要：Late in the summer of 2014, a smallgroup of librarians gathered in theRare Book Room of Yale LawSchool’s Lillian Goldman Law Library.Removing tiny erasers from sealedcapsules, the group carefully collectederaser shavings from vellum pageshundreds of years old, coaxed theshavings into the capsules, and preparedthem for their journey to the UnitedKingdom. There, researchers from theuniversities of Manchester and Yorkwould conduct a bio-molecular analysisof the shavings to determine whichanimal species had been used to createthe vellum pages. The librarianscollecting the vellum samples werestudents in a Rare Book School coursecalled Law Books: History andConnoisseurship, taught by MikeWidener, rare book librarian at the YaleLaw Library. Though such a scene wouldbe unusual in most law libraries, it wasa typical afternoon activity at Rare BookSchool, the country’s leading continuingeducation program for the study oftopics relating to the history of booksand printing
