Old and Rare Books

Welcome! Feel free to curl up in front of the fire place with a good book, or at least a link to one. If you love books, you've come to the right place. My preference leans towards books made in the middle ages. That means most of them are in Latin. Since I've been unable to acquire any for myself, I've consoled myself by creating links to them as well as other book sites. I hope you enjoy them!

Manuscripts - This is my favorite set. These links bring you to a world of beautiful works. These are heavily graphic based, since they are scans of original documents.
Collections - More modern and less graphic based than the manuscripts.
Informational - Links about the history of books, collection books and printing them.
Reference- Places with lots of links, books data bases, places to other collector information.

Manuscripts

Treasures of the Danish Royal Library - sampling of books and manuscripts in the Royal Library.
Alciato's Book of Emblems - online edition of the 1531 collection of Latin emblem poems.
In Aedibvs Aldi - The Legacy of Aldus Manutius and His Press - digital version of the exhibit organized by the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU.
DScriptorium - devoted to collecting, storing and distributing digital images of Medieval manuscripts.
Le Roi Charles V et Son Temps - from La Bibliotheque Nationale de France.
Koninklijke Bibliotheek - An exhibit of manuscripts, printed works, book bindings, and specimens including exerpts from the Delft Bible, Blaeu atlas, sheet music in manuscript from Willem Pijper.
Vatican Exhibit: Rome Reborn - the Library of Congress presents some 200 of the Vatican Library's most precious books, manuscripts and maps.
Renaissance Dante in Print (1472-1629) - presents Renaissance editions of Dante's Divine Comedy from the John A. Zahm, C.S.C., Dante Collection at the University of Notre Dame, together with selected treasures from The Newberry Library.
Printing: Renaissance and Reformation - an exhibit that explores the history of printing from its origins to the seventeenth century.
Center for Electronic Text & Image (CETI) - provides online access to unique, rare, and other original materials from the University of Pennsylvania Library's holdings.
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili - an electronic facsimile of the original edition, published in Venice in 1499.
Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts - images from a travelling exhibit of Flemish miniature paintings from 1475 to 1550.
Gutenberg and Beyond: Books, Libraries, and Changing Technology - focuses on the role of changing technology in the history of books and libraries.
Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry - online exhibit of the calendar images from the classic medieval book of hours.
Jesuits and the Sciences: 1540-1995 - exhibit of scientific works written and published by the Jesuits.
Rosenbach Museum & Library - museum of art and antiques and library of rare books and transcripts housed in a historic 19th century mansion in Philadelphia, PA.
Bodleian Library Image Catalog - features thumbnails of digitized images taken from the library's manuscript collections.
Bibliotheca Schoenbergensis - illustrated manuscripts from the medieval and early modern periods.
The Planets and Their Children - blockbook of medieval astrology.
Technology of the Word in the Middle Ages - images of the book arts from the Middle Ages.
Printing Press as an Agent of Change - by Elizabeth Eisenstein. Abridged and illustrated version of the author's 1979 study.
Aldus Pius Manutius: Publisher of Renaissance Venice - from a 1995 exhibit at Simon Fraser University to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Aldus' first work.
Illustrated and Published Works of John Vassos - descriptive bibliography of the illustrated and published works of John Vassos, 1927-1946. Contains reviews of his work and publishing history.

Collections

Anthologies and Miscellanies - history and theory of early poetry anthologies (versus miscellanies or beauties volumes), with tables of contents of many collections, investigating what role the anthology had in canon formation
Paper Dinosaurs, 1824-1969 - virtual catalog of an exhibition of rare books and journals illustrating the early history of dinosaur discovery and restoration.
Household Words: Women Write from and for the Kitchen - selected works from the Aresty Collection of Rare Books on the Culinary Arts.
. A Frost Bouquet: - exhibit of Frost manuscripts, editions, and his family magazine Bouquet.
Illustrated Book, 1780-1830 - curated by Kenneth R. Holston, at the Department of Special Collections at University of Pennsylvania Library.
Dreams of the Past - exhibition of 19th century color lithographic sheet music covers. September and October 1996.
Paperback Cover Art Illustration Display - examines selected covers of mass-market paperbacks published between 1939 and 1959.
The Holden Arboretum - lists details of book and art exhibits from the Warren H. Corning Collection of Horticultural Classics and the collection of the Arboretum.

Informational

the Printing Press and a Changing World - traces the development of the printed book.
Adam Ramage: Early American Press Builder - biography and discussion of the technical innovations of the press builder.
Book History Timetable - chronological and alphabetical book and printing history timetable.
What Makes a Book Collectible? - offers an online informational guide to collectors about issues concerning the collectibility and desirability of books.
Your Old Books - covers frequently asked questions about rare books and book values.
Digital Watermark & Ornament Catalogue - features the type and watermarks used by William Stansby in the printing of The Workes of Benjamin Jonson, 1616. A project of the Institute of Advanced Technology in the Humanities at UVA.

Reference

Book Lovers Home Page - useful places on the net on writers and poets, on libraries, publishers and booksellers, both of new and second hand/antiquarian books.
Books - Rare - includes a Guide to First Edition Identification, book search, and links to sites and lists related to book collecting.
Bibliophile Research Tools - online research tools for book dealers and collectors, featuring links to public access library catalogs.
Books & Book Collecting - links to odd-volumes and incomplete sets, searchable bookstores, book terms and glossaries, on-line libraries.
IXth International Antiquarian Book Fair - book collectors throughout the world can visit the virtual book fair at the same time as the real book fair, via the Web. May 29th to June 1st, 1997.
Bibliophile Bookshelf - maintained for the benefit and education of dealers and collectors of rare, scarce, and out of print books. Features the Bibliophile Mailing List.

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