Rare Book Collection
The George A. Smathers Libraries' Rare Book Collection is rich in a variety of rare and special books - books that are of interest to scholars of incunabula, classics in Latin, Elizabethan drama, Restoration literature, Irish literature, New England authors and related cultural/historical topics for the 17th through 19th centuries, Christian theology and history, ballads, British landscape architecture, natural history, history of science, botanical books, fine press imprints, book and printing history, significant modern authors, American almanacs, and rare Judaica. There are major holdings of rare Latin Americana, with particular emphasis on rare Cuban imprints and books on Brazil, printed through 1900.
The book arts are well represented, including the archives and publications of Joseph Ishill (Oriole Press), fine and small presses, book illustration, the Doves Press, the Dun Emer and Cuala Press, hundreds of proofs and several engraved wood blocks by Eric Gill, John Buckland Wright, and Lucienne Bloch, proofs of engravings by Sir Edward Burne-Jones for William Morris's unpublished Earthly Paradise, and fore-edge paintings.
The Rare Book Collection actively supports academic programs at the University.
For various subject treatments, see the Rare Book Subject Links page.
