Tag Archives: Rare Books

Key Acquisitions: Early Printed Books

Over the summer the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections acquired two early printed books. The first was Incipit liber sancti ihe[r]onimi De sc[ri]ptorib[us] ecclesiasticis, otherwise known as De viris illustribus. It is comprised of brief biographies of Church leaders written over the course of centuries by three different authors. The first part was written [...]

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Gift books, Elston Press, and Cosway-style bindings - February and March 2023 Highlights

Eltze, Frederick. The New Table-Book, or, Pictures for Young and Old Parties. Edited by Mark Lemon. London: Bradbury, Evans, and Co., 11 Bouverie Street, 1867.
During the Victorian period, the convergence of an expanding middle class and their love of reading, the mechanization of book production, and the growth of the publishing industry led to an explosion in [...]

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Music, Miniatures, and Costume Books-December 2022 Highlights

Foster, Myles Birket and Kate Greenaway. A Day in a Child's Life. London: George Routledge and Sons, Broadway, Ludgate Hill, 1881.
Kate Greenaway and her illustrations of children in historical dress, plain backgrounds, flowers, and coloured borders have been featured on this blog before. Her association with printer Edmund Evans and publisher George Routledge was also established [...]

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Edges, Elephants, and Ads - September 2022 Highlights

Moule, Joseph, Andrew Crichton, James Duncan, and Robert Hamilton. Lives of Eminent Naturalists: with Engraved Portraits Accompanying Each. Edinburgh: W.H. Lizars, 3 St. James' Square, 1840.
This book contains a series of essays about naturalists Hans Sloane, Pliny the Elder, Abraham Gottlob Werner, Peter Camper, John Hunter, and Maria Sibilla Merian. However, like so many of these [...]

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Kate Greenaway, Aquatints, and Dominion Glass - August 2022 Highlights

Greenaway, Kate. Almanack for 1883. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1883.
This almanac is the work of Kate Greenaway, an English artist part of the Aesthetic Movement which focused on the beauty of art and championed the idea of "art of art's sake." At this point in her career Greenaway was working with printer Edmund Evans, who [...]

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Drill, Volvelles, and Plate marks - June/July 2022 Highlights

Coffin, N. A System of Drill, for the Militia, of Upper-Canada. York: Printed by Robert Stanton, 1830.
Published before Confederation, and even before the incorporation of Toronto in 1834, this short work outlines instructions for equipment and movement drills, and battalion and platoon exercises. These exercises were important in a time when precise movements were needed on the [...]

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