Browse Items (259 total)

Like their modern cousins still available today, almanacs contained information necessary for the carrying out of many aspects of everyday life. Their biggest asset was their portability. The item held by Archives and Special Collections is in…

Who is hiding within the lines of these two portraits in pencil done by an unknown hand? Another caricature is to be found on the verso of the endpaper. While we today might not dream about doodling on the endpapers of an 18th century book, this…

Here we see the remnants of the leather straps that would have served to keep the book closed. More often than not, these fragile closures have not stood the test of time.

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…

The pages that serve to form the inner boards of this work are actually composed of printer’s waste (printed sheets that could not be used by the printer or binder in a final copy). Boards of this nature were created by gluing several sheets of paper…

This example of mottled paper, a very classic design, displays much more modern colours, with its tones of burgundy, black and cream.

This work displays the printer’s device of Simon de Colines. De Colines (ca. 1475-1546) was active in Paris from about 1520 until his death in 1546. De Colines had actually collaborated with printer Henri Estienne (1528-1598), continuing printing…

This printed ex-libris, attached to the “von Ende” family of Altjessnitz, Germany, appears on the interior pastedown of this book. It serves to remind us that the ex-libris was also considered an art form during certain eras for bibliophiles, who…

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.

This image depicts the bookplate of Bernard Coleridge, 2nd Baron Coleridge. If the name Coleridge sets off the ringing of bells, it should, as Bernard’s grandfather was the nephew of famed English Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834).…