List of Collections: Rare Books
Charles Boyer Collection
Over 300 volumes acquired from the Charles Boyer French Research Foundation. These consist mainly of hundreds of bound-together 17th-19th century pamphlets, mostly in French, on history, politics, philosophy, literature, and science. Other works include La Harpe's 24-volume Abrégé de l'Histoire Générale des Voyages (1780) and Bibliographie Catholique, a 25-volume set published in the 19th century.
Ygnacio del Valle Family Collection
BOOKS:
Eighteenth and nineteenth century Spanish-language devotional works, novels (including an 1835 Spanish translation of Ann Radcliffe's A Sicilian Romance), and instructional works.
NON-BOOKS:
Early California Mission Vestments
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John J. Doran Collection
Rare and early editions of Oliver Goldsmith, with emphasis on translations of The Vicar of Wakefield into Czech, Danish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, and phonetic English. Non-Goldsmith titles in the collection date from the 17th to 20th centuries.
Daniel T. Mitchell Collection
Over 200 titles on 18th century English literature. The bulk of the collection is comprised of works by and about Oliver Goldsmith, including forty-six editions of The Vicar of Wakefield published from 1766 to 1965.
Leonard William Longstaff Saint Thomas More Collection
The collection of Leonard William Longstaff, a descendant of Sir Thomas More, is comprised of:
BOOKS
Over 800 titles by and about Thomas More, his contemporaries and descendants, the country and the times, and Chelsea, where More lived. Works by Thomas More include the March and November editions of the Utopia printed in 1518, as well as over sixty other editions of Utopia. Works about him include early biographies (Roper, Cresacre, More, Stapleton, etc.), fiction and drama. More's contemporaries found in the collection include Erasmus, Tunstall, Pole, Colet, Henry VIII, Luther, Fisher, Wolsey, Holbein, and Tyndale.
NON-BOOKS
Nine volumes of newspaper clippings, stills from the motion picture A Man for All Seasons, over 900 prints and portraits on Saint Thomas and related subjects, from 17th century engravings to 20th century postcards, 40 sets of glass plate photographic negatives, music and songs dedicated to the saints, programs and lectures, and letters to Mr. Longstaff. Also original sketches and drawings by L. W. Longstaff and several of his manuscripts, including Margaret Roper's translation of Erasmus, copied by him from the British Museum printed copy, a lecture of his on Thomas More, and notebooks with biographical quotes and details related to his sketches. Photographs from the canonization ceremony of 1935 are included in the image collection.
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Helena and John Weadock Collection of Rare and Fine Printed Books and First Editions
Also referred to as the Chilton Collection, after donor T. Marie Chilton. The collection includes the 1481 printing of Dante's Divine Comedy illustrated by Botticelli. There are also four 17th-century folio editions of Shakespeare, including the much-prized first folio. Also included are first editions of Austen, Coleridge, Dickens, Fielding, Hardy, Keats, Kipling, Lamb, Maugham, Milton, Scott, Shaw, Shelley, Stevenson, Tennyson, Thackeray, Twain, Wells, Wharton, Wilde, and Wordsworth, many of which are signed or presentation copies. Additionally, the collection contains two volumes from the library of George Washington, bearing his autograph signature.
Other Books of Interest
Biblia Sacra Vulgatae editionis Sixti V. Pont. Max. (1603). This 17th century Bible boasts an elaborate, exposed fore-edge painting entitled "Evil Tidings: Job, Ch. 1"; signed by the artist John T. Beer, who painted the fore-edge in the late 19th century.
[Book of Hours]. A late 15th century example of a Book of Hours, probably printed in Paris. The woodcut borders and illustrations, some of which are richly hand-colored and gilded, still strive to emulate the artistic style of the medieval manuscript.
Other books include a fine collection of editions of Virgil, including John Martyn's 1749 illustrated edition.
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