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Posted by: Marianna Stell
Monty Python's Rabbit of Caerbannog is not the only killer bunny. The Rare Book and Special Collections Division has a fifteenth-century Birgittine manuscript from Mariënwater that contains a variation on this visual tradition.
Posted in: 15th Century, History of the Book, Illuminated Manuscript, Illustrated Book, Low Countries, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press)
Posted by: Callie Beattie
In 1901, on a journey to reach the South Pole, the Discovery Expedition joined together to establish the first Antarctic journal. With illustrations, poetry, and field reports written by sailors and officers alike, the journal provided the crew with a creative outlet over the long polar winter. Six years later, members of that same crew embarked on a new expedition and set out to establish a floating print shop to create the first book ever published in Antarctica known as the Aurora Australis.
Posted in: 20th Century, Fine Press, History of the Book, Publishing, Seasonal
Posted by: Patrick Hastings
As our nation prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, the Library of Congress is producing a series of short films that present items from our collections related to American history and culture. Check out the latest films in the series!
Posted in: 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century, American History, Children's Literature, Education Outreach, History of the Book, Literature, Sports and Games, Thomas Jefferson, Women in Book History, Women's Stories
Posted by: Patrick Hastings
As students and teachers across the country begin a new school year, the Rare Book Classroom invites K-12 and university-level classes to explore the Library of Congress’s materials both on-site and remotely.
Posted in: Education Outreach, History of the Book
Posted by: Patrick Hastings
1922 was a pivotal year in the modernist literary movement, highlighted by the first edition publications of both James Joyce’s Ulysses and T.S. Eliot’s groundbreaking poem “The Waste Land.” In Eliot’s negotiations over publication rights to the poem, he utilized and tested an emerging network of modernist institutions.
Posted in: 20th Century, History of the Book, Literature, Poetry, Publishing
Posted by: Patrick Hastings
In another installment in Bibliomania's series on how books were made in the 15th-18th centuries, this post describes the processes of making woodcut illustrations, copperplate engravings, and etchings.
Posted in: 15th Century, 16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, Education Outreach, Famous Printers, Fine Prints, History of the Book, Illustrated Book
Posted by: Marianna Stell
In 1540, humanist polymath, mathematician, astronomer, and cartographer, professor, and printer, Peter Apian (1495-1552) published one of the most lavishly illustrated scientific books ever printed. Dedicated to German Emperor Charles V and Ferdinand I, King of Bohemia, the Astronomicum Caesareum (Imperial Astronomy) contains 21 volvelles and 58 hand-colored woodcuts that involve some of the most spectacular dragons in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division.
Posted in: 16th Century, Astronomy, Famous Printers, History of Mathematics, History of Science, History of the Book, Illustrated Book
Posted by: Marianna Stell
Happy Giant Bible Day! On April 4, 1952, philanthropist and bibliophile, Lessing J. Rosenwald (1891-1979) donated the Giant Bible of Mainz to the Library of Congress. He made this gift exactly five hundred years after the manuscript’s scribe first put quill to parchment. In keeping with Rosenwald's commitment to encouraging broad cultural engagement with the history of the illustrated book, the Library’s digitization allows book lovers near and far to encounter every page of this important and evocative manuscript.
Posted in: 15th Century, History of the Book, Illuminated Manuscript, Illustrated Book, Library History, Provenance
Posted by: Patrick Hastings
In the digital age, we have all been spoiled by the ease with which we can share our written ideas with others, but let's take a moment to appreciate the skill, time, and resources that were once required to bring a text into print. This post examines the processes involved in operating a printing press in the 15th-18th centuries.
Posted in: 15th Century, 16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, Education Outreach, History of the Book, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press)