History of Special Collections @ Colby

  • INTRO
    • Goals
    • Student Scholars Wanted
    • Acknowledgments
    • Contact Us
  • CHRONOLOGY & CONTEXT
    • What Happened (early on)
      • The First Library & Edward Hall
      • The “Rare Book” Section (early 1930s)
    • Our Chronology (1935-1975)
    • Some Context
  • THE PEOPLE
    • Curators
      • Carl Jefferson Weber (Curator 1940-1958)
      • Richard Cary (Curator 1958-1975)
    • Librarians
      • N Orwin Rush (Librarian 1936-1945)
      • Gilmore Warner (Librarian 1945-1947)
      • James Humphry III (Librarian 1947-1957)
      • John R McKenna (Librarian 1957-1964)
      • Kenneth P Blake, Jr (Librarian 1964-1973)
      • Eileen M Curran (Acting Librarian, 1973-1976)
    • Other Colby People
      • Ernest C Marriner ’13
      • Frederick A Pottle ’17
      • Carroll A Wilson ’40 LLD
      • Franklin Winslow Johnson (President 1929-1942)
      • Julius Seelye Bixler (President 1942-1960)
      • Robert Edward Lee Strider II (President 1960-1979)
    • The Colby Library Associates
    • Highlighted Donors
  • HIGHLIGHTED COLLECTIONS
    • Rare Book Collections
      • Early Books
      • Thomas Hardy
      • Book Arts
      • The Rubáiyát
    • Personal Libraries
      • Library of Edwin Arlington Robinson
      • Library of Thomas Sergeant Perry
      • Library of Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer
      • Library of James Augustine Healy
      • Library of Ben Ames Williams
    • Manuscript Collections
    • “A Recent Accession”: The Colby Library Quarterly

Rare Book Collections

The book collections featured in this section of our site illustrate various collecting strategies used by Special Collections curators, librarians and their associates. These collections are the result of intentional acquisition around a particular theme, person or literary work.

NC - 5th day
The fifth day of creation of the world as depicted in the Nuremberg Chronicle (Liber Chronicarum) printed in 1493. The Chronicle is a biblical paraphrase and world history that represents the pinnacle of early printing achievement.
  • Early books – which together demonstrate the history of printing in the West
  • Thomas Hardy books – a collection that primarily aimed to contain every edition of every Hardy title, including those in non-English languages
  • Book Arts volumes – which together demonstrate the beauty and significance of fine press productions
  • Editions of the Rubáiyát – collected in order to commemorate the centenary of Edward Fitzgerald’s 1859 English translation of Omar Khayyám’s quatrains

 

Explore Common Threads – and Student Scholarship – in our Manuscript Collections

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