One of the premier collections in our Renaissance printing collection is a collection of imprints by Parisian printer Simon de Colines. The library is constantly adding to the collection in order to get a complete record of Colines’ output as a printer. Here are images from our most recent acquisitions:
To coincide with the American Library Association’s 2016 Banned Books Week, BYURadio’s Top of Mind With Julie Rose spoke with HBLL’s European Studies Librarian, Richard Hacken, on the history of book banning. Several prominent banned books mentioned in the conversation are found in Special Collections, including Galileo’s Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems (Vault …
Special Collections has a small but significant collection of rare Japanese books and manuscripts, and we periodically add to it. One of our most recent acquisitions is a 1796 treatise on Western science, “Oranda tensetsu,” or Dutch Astronomy Explained. It is one of several books published by Japanese printmaker Shiba Kōkan which discuss European science …
Interested in Colonial American History? This new resource provides a list of books and manuscripts held by Special Collections which were produced in North America before the 19th century. The document also lists our holdings of descriptive and historical works about North America produced in Europe during the Colonial period. Fun fact: the oldest book …
In the Catholic liturgical calendar, today marks the Feast of Corpus Christi. This religious observance, which celebrates the Eucharist, originated sometime in the 13th century. The Feast of Corpus Christi was the first church rite to be made official through papal decree, by Pope Urban IV in 1264. L. Tom Perry Special Collections owns an …
April 23 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Spanish novelist Miguel Cervantes, author of Don Quixote. Special Collections holds over a dozen rare copies of Don Quixote in Spanish, French, and English, from early 17th century English translations to fine press versions illustrated by modern artists. Here are some of our favorites! The …
Love typography? Here’s a trick for finding fine press books printed with your favorite fonts. Go to the library catalog (catalog.lib.byu.edu) Enter the search string “typefaces type evidence” and the name of the font in the search box Select “genre/form” in the drop-down next to the search box Choose a book to request in the …
Here in the library we have an amazing collection of Arabic Manuscripts in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, which date as far back as the 9th century. These manuscripts range in topic from religion to science and astrology. Most of these manuscripts are bound in leather wrappers and were hand-written in Arabic. The item …
In honor of International Women’s Day, today’s blog post features the work of a Victorian woman printer, Emily Faithfull, and her imprint, the Victoria Press. Faithfull was a member of the Society for the Promotion of the Employment of Women, a mid-Victorian social organization which hoped to improve working conditions and employment opportunities for women. …
Facsimiles of three famous illuminated medieval manuscripts have recently been added to Special Collections’ holdings. All three are associated with known artists and all are available for consultation in the reading room or in the classroom! Hours of Henry VIII This Book of Hours (pictured above) was illuminated in Tours, France by artist Jean Poyet …