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Articles - June - 2010 Issue

The Digital Age Comes to the Ivory Tower - <i>A visit to some public and private special collections

- by Susan Halas

De-accessioning
Though some local libraries in a scramble to make space may throw out, give away or sell duplicates or unwanted contributions, this is seldom the case in the more rarified world of special collections. "We don't de-accession," said Minnesota's Hedin, "not even duplicates. Once we acquire it for our specialty it's here forever."

Reach AE Monthly writer Susan Halas halas@hawaii.rr.com

LINKS & RESOURCES to the people and collections mentioned in this story:

Anthony "Tony" Bliss
Curator, Rare Books and Literary Manuscripts
Bancroft Library at the University of California Berkeley
abliss@library.berkeley.edu
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/info/
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/

Alice Schreyer
Director, Special Collections Research Center
University of Chicago Library
schreyer@uchicago.edu
www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/

Katherine Hedin
Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections
University of Minnesota Law Library
k-hedi@umn.edu
http://library.law.umn.edu/riesenfeldcenter.html

Lou Pitschmann
Dean, University Libraries, University of Alabama
lpitschm@ua.edu
Publishers bindings:
http://bindings.lib.ua.edu/sitesearch.html
http://www.lib.ua.edu/libraries/hoole/collections/
These are just two of the many special holdings and libraries at Alabama

Liza Kirwin,
Curator, Archives of American Art (Smithsonian Institution)
Washington DC and NYC
kirwinL@si.edu
http://www.aaa.si.edu/

Gina Olaya
Director, Tribal & Public Relations
Cherokee Nation Entertainment, Oklahoma
gina.olaya@cnent.com No web site

EXLIBRIS - an online listserv for libraries and special collections
Join or leave EX LIBRIS listserv
https://listserv.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/wa-iub.exe
Contact moderator Everett Wilkie
ewilkie@ix.netcom.com

Resources at the University of Virginia
Many members of the faculty at the University of Virginia Rare Books School are special collections staff. Here is a list
http://www.rarebookschool.org/faculty/
An alphabetical list by name of institution of many special collections is also at their site: http://www.rarebookschool.org/directories/#A

Other Links
Rare Books and Manuscripts Librarianship
http://www.rbms.info/publications/rbml/index.shtml

FAQ rare books
http://www.rbms.info/yob.shtml

Fine Books and Collections
http://www.finebooksmagazine.com/

Rare Book Monthly

  • ALDE, Apr. 8: GUEVARA (ANTONIO DE). Histoire de Marc-Aurèle, Empereur Romain, vray miroir et horloge des Princes. Paris, Pierre et Galliot du Pré, frères, 1565. €3,000 to €4,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: HEURES DE LA VIERGE. Horæ in laudem beatissimæ virginis Mariæ ad usum Romanum. Paris, Charles L'Angelier, 1556. €4,000 to €5,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: MONTAIGNE (MICHEL DE). Les Essais. Édition nouvelle, trouvée après le deceds de l'autheur… Paris, Abel L'Angelier, 1595. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [ROJAS (FERNANDO DE)]. Celestina, tragicomedia di Calisto et Melibea, tradotta de lingua castigliana in italiano idioma… Venise, 1531. €2,000 to €3,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CAMÕES (LUÍS DE). Os Lusiadas. Lisbonne, Pedro Crasbeeck, 1613. €2,000 to €3,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Bruxelles, Roger Velpius & Huberto Antonio, 1611. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: LA FONTAINE (JEAN DE). Fables choisies, mises en vers. Paris, Denys Thierry et Claude Barbin, 1678-1694. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid, Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. €3,000 to €4,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: DIDEROT (DENIS) ET JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Paris, 1751-1765. €15,000 to €20,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. LAMARTINE (Alphonse de). Les Laboureurs. Poème tiré de Jocelyn… Lyon, J. A. Henry, 1883. €8,000 to €10,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. Livre de prières tissé d'après les enluminures des manuscrits du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Lyon, [A. Roux], 1886. €5,000 to €6,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts & Objects from Three Important Collections
    Open for Bidding 2-17 April
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: [Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun]. Le Roman de la Rose, [Geneva or Lyons, c.1481], first printed edition of the most important medieval French vernacular poem. £200,000 to £300,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Castiglione. Il libro del cortegiano. [Venice], April 1528, first edition, in a magnificent binding by Jean Picard for Jean Grolier. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Jacobus de Cessolis. Schachzabelbuch, Strasbourg, 1483, von der Lasa copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: World Championship, 1972. A collection of 84 press photographs of the famed match between Spassky and Fischer. £2,000 to £3,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Ben Franklin. Autograph letter signed, to Lord Shelburne, British Prime Minister, during peace negotiations, November 1782. £15,000 to £20,000.

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