• Object type: Painting
• Formal Title: none
• Creator: unknown
• Date Created: about 1883
• Origin: Meadville, Pennsylvania
• Current Location: unknown

This beautiful drawing and signature underneath adorns the inside cover of Intemperance and Crime: Leaves from the Diary of an Old Lawyer, written by A. B. Richmond, Esquire of Meadville, Pannsylvania, United States of America.

When Leaves came out, in 1883, law libraries in the great free land of America were spouting everywhere and many an aging lawyer thought to publish their memoirs. Many, including Leaves, are war stories similar to those encountered by any lawyer who goes to court. We've all had the drunk client, the haggard mother and the conniving businessman in our office.

But the devil is in the detail. There are row upon row of similar biographies of American and British lawyers; circa, the 1800s. They come from well known retired judges mostly but there are also the occasional gem such as Leaves, and a few which are quite properly covered with a thin whisp of dust.

Lawyers don't do this anymore - write biographies or memoirs. But while the profession and record of law may  lost perspective on  the progress of the profession by such a continuing record, law libraries have a wealth of information of the early, formative days of the lawyer, because of these biographies.

And these books were beautiful in an of themselves, with ornate covers, old plate photographs and, of course, the exquisite de rigeur portrait of the biographer that must adorn the mantle of some Richmond clan in the near-abouts of Meadville, PA.

A.B. Richmond (1825-was an unabashed proponent of the intemperance movement. His severe countenance and crucifix over his heart were all part of that image. There is a nice Internet short biography of Richmond at historicpa.net/bios/2a/ab-richmond.html.

REFERENCES:

• Richmond, A.B., Leaves from the Diary of an old Lawyer (Meadville: Meadville Publishing House, 1886)

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