The Law Library

In 1938 Piero Sraffa and his mother donated a collection of volumes on law to Bocconi, including a fascinating unit of early printed books — some particularly rare and valuable, part of Angelo Sraffa's extensive library.

"Bocconi University holds the most grateful memory of Him, but possessing something that belonged to Him and that was an instrument of His brilliant work will be for all of us a source of deep and intimate satisfaction."
(Letter from Giovanni Gentile, Vice President of Bocconi University, to Piero Sraffa)

Sraffa had collected these volumes with well-defined criteria, undoubtedly in the spirit of bibliophile and collector. In fact, in the most antique part of his law library, the most significant sources of modern-age, doctrinal and judicial law can be found. Sraffa was not just a bibliophile; he was also a successful lawyer, professor of commercial law, and "culture organizer" for his efforts at Bocconi and other Universities, as well as for his curation of the Rivista di diritto commerciale and for the editing of Enciclopedia Treccani. Of these antique legal texts — collected with intuition and passion — he reportedly made direct use when drafting his scholarly works, which never lacked a historical introduction. So by utilizing his 16th, 17th and 18th-century volumes, which already originated as guides for lawyers and jurists of the past, he truly read them and became more familiar with them.

A collection of legal excerpts and pamphlets, his Miscellanea was also part of the donation — materials he had collected and sorted throughout his life.