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Posted by: Patrick Hastings
Before today's thin, brittle paper made from wood pulp became standard, paper was handcrafted by experts using linen rags as the essential material. This post explains the process by which rag paper was made in Europe for centuries.
Posted in: 14th Century, 15th Century, 16th Century, Book Anatomy, Education Outreach, History of the Book, Paper
Posted by: Mark Manivong
Mary Renault (pseudonym of Eileen Mary Challans) was a British lesbian writer best known for her widely read historical-fiction novels set in ancient Greece.
Posted in: 20th Century, Classics, LGBTQIA+, Literature, Women in Book History
Posted by: Marianna Stell
In Anglophone communities during the 16th - 18th centuries, a common custom was for book owners to add in their book a note of ownership in either English or in Latin. The Rare Book and Special Collections Division holds a number of examples of these notes that offer a curious study for those interested in historical linguistics.
Posted in: 17th Century, 18th Century, Classics, Provenance
Posted by: Marianna Stell
At the end of the fifteenth century, simplified versions of medical charts featuring an image of the "Zodiac Man" began to appear in Books of Hours. The Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division contains many examples of these printed editions, one of which uses a skeleton in place of the Zodiac Man.
Posted in: 15th Century, 16th Century, Illustrated Book, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press), Medicine, Seasonal
Posted by: Marianna Stell
During the 17th and 18th centuries, classical languages were an important component of education in the North American colonies. Viewed through the lens of material and printing history, the books highlighted in this blog post provide a very human picture of classical studies in early America.
Posted in: 17th Century, 18th Century, American History, Classics, Education History
Posted by: Mark Manivong
Andrew Holleran (pseud.) is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer and a significant contributor to post-Stonewall literature. He was a member of the Violet Quill, a group of gay writers who assembled in the early 1980s to critique each other’s work and to develop strategies to overcome corporate publishers’ reluctance to publish gay-themed novels. The Rare Book and Special Collections Division collects the works of the Violet Quill writers, including Andrew Holleran, and holds the first editions of their works in the Gene Berry and Jeffrey Campbell Collection.
Posted in: 20th Century, LGBTQIA+, Literature, Publishing
Posted by: Michael North
Learn why Thomas Jefferson annotated his copy of Xenophon's Cyropaedia.
Posted in: 18th Century, American History, Thomas Jefferson
Posted by: Stephanie Stillo
A conversation with Patrick Hastings: writer, educator, bibliophile, and the new Education Outreach Specialist in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division.
Posted in: Education Outreach, News and Events
Posted by: Amanda Zimmerman
Born in Harlem on August 2nd, 1924, novelist and essayist James Baldwin (1924 – 1987) is regarded as one of America’s greatest writers. At the time of his death on December 1st, 1987, Baldwin was working with sculptor and printmaker Leonard Baskin (1922–2000) of the Gehenna Press to publish a fine press edition of an unpublished work. Gypsy and Other Poems features six of Baldwin's poems that reveal an intimate, introspective side of the writer.
Posted in: 20th Century, Fine Prints, Literature