Rare Books Collection

Dublin Core

Title

Rare Books Collection

Subject

Examples of items from the Rare Books Collection at uOttawa ARCS

Description

The Rare Book Collection includes over 14,000 printed books from the 15th to the 20th centuries which cover subjects such as medicine, law, literature, philosophy, natural sciences, geography, science, architecture, history, arts, etc. The collection includes books published in Europe and America, but there is also a significant collection of Canadiana, including periodicals.

Collection Items

Omnivm opervm divi Evsebii Hieronymi Stridonensis tomv primvs [...]
This post-incunabulum, an edition of Saint-Jerome’s works printed in Basel, Switzerland, has a binding typical of the first years of the 15th century, with its wooden boards and endpapers of manuscript waste.

C. Suetonii Tranquili XII Caesares.[…]
Printed by Sebastian Gryphius in 1547, this item is an example demonstrating a binding repair in which the owner took special care to retain as many elements of the original binding as possible.

Les Ordonnances et édicts du très chrestien roy de France Charles neufiesme du nom […]
This book has lost its binding over time, but its current state allows for a wonderful illustration of the elaborate and painstaking process that went into sewing of a text block before an external cover was applied. Interestingly, this particular…

Colloquiorum: Desid. Erasmi Roterodami familiarium decerpta, cum notis illustrata. […]
Two hundred and twenty years younger than its display case neighbour Les Ordonnances et édicts du très chrestien roy de France Charles neufiesme du nom […], this item is a good example of the economic measures taken to reduce the costs of…

Oeuvres poetiques de Mellin de S. Gelais
A laced-case binding in limp parchment with no support of boards; this was likely a temporary binding. The "laces" that are visible through the cover are actually slips or supports that are sewn into the spine to support the text block. The fact that…

D. Junii Juvenalis & Auli Persii Flacci Satyræ : cum veteris scholiastæ & variorum commentariis
This binding of parchment on boards displays stab holes within its covers for ties (now missing). The spine label is in red morocco, with the title “Juvenalis et Persius” tooled on in gold. There is tooling in gold on front and back covers, with the…

Menosprecio de corte y alabanza de aldea: Aviso de privados, y doctrina de cortesanos […]
This binding shows a simulated marble effect, which has been styled as “Run or Prusian marble” by 18th century printer and binder James Coghlan in his Memorandum on the bookbinding trade, dating to 1764-65. The effect is generated by black ink and…

Aurelii Cor. Celsi De re medica libri octo:Item Q. Sereni Liber de medicina. […]
The binding consists of parchment on boards, with the parchment having been painted in brown ink to simulate a marbling effect. The spine label is of yellow morocco, with title tooled in gold (partially illegible due to remnants of a former label…

Les coustumes generales du conte d'Arthois decretees : auec celles de l'escheui-nage d'Arras, bailliages de S. Omer, Bethune, Aire, Lens, Bappalmes, Hesdin, […] & du bailliage de Lillers […]
Another example of parchment on cardboard, this binding is on exhibit to show the leather ties that were used to keep the book closed when not in use. Due to the fragility of the leather used to make ties, it is rare that they survive the passage of…

P. Vergilij Maronis Latinorum poetarum principis Bucolica, Georgica, et Aeneis […]
A typical binding for the geographic region and timeframe whence it was printed, it is likely that this binding was executed with little time lag from the day it left the printer’s studio. Parchment (pigskin) has been laid over wooden boards. The…
View all 259 items