Austrian delegation visits Rare Books
The Rare Book Collection was honored by a visit On October 11 from Ewald Nowotny, Governor of the Austrian National Bank, Dr. Peter Brezovsky, Consul General of Austria in New York, and their delegation. Later that afternoon, Governor Nowotny delivered a standing-room only lecture at the Yale Law School, “The Financial Crisis from the European Perspective.”
Among the items on display for the delegation were Franciscus de Platea’s Opus restitutionum, usurarum, excommunicationum (ca. 1472) considered to be the first printed book in economics, and Nicolaus de Beckmann’s Idea juris statutarii et consuetudinarii Stiriaci et Austriaci (1688), with engraved vignettes of Austrian cities. Governor Nowotny was especially fond of our first edition of Thomas Hobbes’s classic, Leviathan (1651), which he is holding in the photograph below. It was a delightful visit. I look forward to their return. A special thanks to Dr. Alexander Stremitzer, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, for arranging the visit.
MIKE WIDENER
Rare Book Librarian
L-R: Professor Alexander Stremitzer (Yale Law School), Gerald Fiala (Chief Representative of the Austrian National Bank in New York), Dr. Peter Brezovsky (Consul General of Austria), Ewald Nowotny (Governor, Austrian National Bank), and Mike Widener.
