About the Exhibit

History VI Panel

Unknown artist, “Sypontus courts Victorina / Ould Souranza and Victorina / Fassino courts Victorina,” copper engraving, in John Reynolds, The Triumphs of God’s Revenge […] (London: Printed for R. Gosling, and Sold by J. Osborn, 1726), History VI, 59 (edited excerpt).

The true crime genre has become a major fixture in today’s entertainment, and few true crime stories are as popular as the murder story. Accounts of unsolved murders and serial killers dominate contemporary forms of media, like podcasts and documentary film series, but what are the historical precedents for these stories? Investigation into early modern English media reveals that the circulation of true crime predates the development of the newspaper. Some historians have interpreted John Reynolds’ remarkable 1621 book, The Triumphs of God’s Revenge, as an early printed example of such true crime.

This characterization may not be a perfect fit. The veracity of the 30 murder stories in The Triumphs is widely questioned today, but Reynolds insists that his stories are accounts of real events in the book’s preface. This truth claim may have been crucial to his early modern audience’s interpretation of the work, as the claim of factuality forms the basis of many contemporary audiences’ fascination with true crime. The content of the murder stories in The Triumphs also echoes the major priorities of today’s true crime stories: the establishment of motives, the (sometimes gruesome) description of the crime, and the steps of investigation and punishment are central to Reynolds’ work. Although The Triumphs may include more overtly religious and moral commentary than today’s mainstream murder stories, the pursuit of justice for innocent victims is a core value that connects Reynolds’ stories with much of today’s true crime. This exhibit provides the opportunity for today’s readers to find such familiarity in these centuries-old murder stories while appreciating their early modern character.

Allowing remote viewers to peruse an antique book is another priority of this exhibit. Under normal circumstances, few viewers are able to handle and study a physical book printed in 1726 due to its fragility and rarity. During an era of increased restrictions due to the pandemic, our community of readers has had fewer opportunities to handle and study physical books of any age. After a long process of digitizing and editing sections of The Triumphs, viewers can have a digital encounter with this book that may allow more scrutiny and intimacy than one could expect from a physical encounter. Our remote audience can read these early modern stories in their original letterpress form and closely examine the copperplate engravings that illustrate each story. The digital context provides a unique advantage for viewing the artwork of The Triumphs: the illustrations are complex grids of small vignettes, reminiscent of comic strips, and it may be difficult to appreciate the content and craftsmanship of each vignette on these busy pages. Through the process of digital editing, this exhibit isolates and displays individual panels of these illustrations at a magnified scale, inviting viewers to spend more time with these engrossing moments of action. By presenting these digitized excerpts, this exhibit not only celebrates the visual and narrative richness of Reynolds’ The Triumphs, but also demonstrates the value of the Pritzker Legal Research Center’s special collections on a whole.

Exhibit Credits

About the Pritzker Legal Research Center

Established in 1859, what is now Northwestern Pritzker School of Law was the first law school founded in the city of Chicago. During the century and a half since, it has served as a leading institution of legal education and research, and has produced a number of alumni who have gone on to distinguished legal, political, academic, and business careers.

The Pritzker Legal Research Center is proud to hold a significant rare book collection specializing in Roman, canon, and customary law. Its more than 8,000 volumes include several incunabula as well as first editions of legal classics. Use of the collection–including The Triumphs of God’s Revenge–is available to the Northwestern community as well as outside researchers by appointment.

For a deeper look into the collection, please see Emily Kadens’ article, “A Hidden Treasure,” on pages 10-17 in the Fall 2013 issue of Northwestern Law Reporter. For any other questions or to make an appointment, please contact Brittany Adams, Special Collections, Digitization, and Archival Services Librarian.