This blogger’s interest in the great English jurist, William Blackstone, is probably obvious. But he has recently been informed by his friend Georgia Chadwick of the Louisiana State Library that an American lawyer, called W.E. Baff, who was a keen supporter of Esperanto, at one stage proposed translating Blackstone’s Commentaries into Esperanto. He was a member of the International Society of Esperanto Jurists and its US Vice-President; on this side of the Pond, it is interesting to note that its Scottish Vice-President was William Page of Edinburgh, a Solicitor to the Supreme Court in Edinburgh, and a very active Esperantist. No English Vice-President is listed in 1911.
The gift of the William Auld Collection to the National Library of Scotland means that Edinburgh has one of the most significant Esperanto collections. See http://www.nls.uk/collections/rare-books/collections/esperanto (the first verse of Burns’ “Address to the Haggis” rendered into Esperanto is worth reading).
Baff had a colourful life. More may emerge. So watch this space!
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