“The importance of these prints derives not only from the fact that they are early witnesses to the use of printing in the Middle East, or their textual and artistic content, but also from their rarity.” - Mark Muehlhaeusler, "Eight Arabic Block Prints from the Collection of...

וַיְהִי עֶרֶב וַיְהִי בֹקֶר יוֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁי. וַיְכֻלּוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ וְכָל־צְבָאָם. וַיְכַל אֱלֹהִים בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וַיִּשְׁבֹּת בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי מִכָּל מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה. וַיְבָרֵךְ אֱלֹהִים אֶת יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אוֹתוֹ כִּי בוֹ שָׁבַת מִכָּל־מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים לַעֲשׂוֹת. And there was evening and there was...

“When the Holy One, blessed be He, was about to make the world,  all the letters of the Alphabet were still embryonic,  and for two thousand years the Holy One, blessed be He, had contemplated them and toyed with them.  When He came to create the world,...

In Spring 2019 students from Spanish 3070 Literary Analysis attended the Rare Books Classroom to consider the physical aspects of literary texts and to decipher first-hand the impact of examining a book and text as physical object. The viewing offered students a chance to see...

"That Catesby, Winter, Fawlks with many other Traitours lately attainted of high treason, would blowe vp with Gun-powder in the Parliament house, the King, the Prince, the Lls. Spirituall and Temporall, the Iudges of the realme, the Knights, Citizens and Burgesses, and many other subjects...

“But I must gather knots of flowers and buds, and garlands gay; For I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson, “The May Queen”...

Last semester, Rare Books loaned six of its medieval manuscript facsimiles to the Merrill-Cazier Library at Utah State University in collaboration with an art history course taught by Professor Alexa Sand. The upper-level course, “Special Topics Seminar in Medieval and Early Modern Art: Rare Books...