Harvard Law School bought a copy of the Magna Carta from legal book dealer Sweet & Maxwell for $27.50 in 1946. Nearly eight decades later, two researchers have discovered it’s actually an original version.
One clarification. This is not the original Magna Carta, as implied by my headline. That was “signed” in 1215, and then parchment copies were distributed throughout the kingdom. Four of those 1215 copies are still around today, but that’s not what Harvard has. The Harvard library has a confirmation issued by Edward I in 1300. (That’s still a big deal. It’s an official 700-year-old version of the Magna Fucking Carta!)
I placed “signed” in quotations because scholars believe that the first version of the document was not signed ceremonially by King John, as represented in lore, but rather stamped with the royal seal.
You gotta remember that $27 was about 2 weeks pay in 1946 so not quite the bargain you think
$27 was about half the average weekly pay in 1946 according to census.gov
Regarldess, it doesn’t matter if it’s cheap for an average individual, it was definitely cheap for Harvard.
Jeesh you guys take things way too serious. I guess we need a tongue in cheek icon. And the minimum wage was raised to 40c/hr in 1945 and didn’t increase until the early 50’s
The minimum wage was considerably lower than the average income at the time, though.
Well of course but I never mentioned average income. Using minimum wage just quadrupled the hilarity of my original post. (Last sentence not to be taken seriously)
I was going to respond seriously to this post, but then I realized you might be joking again. Maybe what we need is an “I am serious” emoji. Really, either one would be helpful to you.
I can’t tell if you meant this to be funny.
I meant Mr. Haney.
In high school my World History teacher was from Boston. So everytime I see the words, his voice saying “MAAAG-NAH, CAH-TAH” goes though my head.
That’s all I got.
People from Boston think that Magna Carta is a better form of Terra Cotta,
We had a Prime Minister in the UK called David Cameon.
I remember he was interviewed on TV and he was asked what the English translation of the Latin “Magna Carta” was.
He couldn’t answer.
That was a waste of an Eton and Oxford university education don’t you think?
It actually means “Great Charter”. Which I think most people could have guessed.
Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you?
Did she die in vain?
Brave Hungarian peasant girl who forced King John to sign the pledge at Runnymede and close the boozers at half past ten! Is all this to be forgotten?
For all the Tony Hancock fans out there.*
*You have to be familiar with old UK radio shows and of a certain age.