“The legend’s popularity is a tribute to its ability to make the plight of individual salvation tangible and visible at a time when that salvation must seem highly uncertain.” — from the Introduction The Theophilus Legend in Medieval Text & Image Jerry Root Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2017 PN687...

“It is not the history of the science, or of the human mind, that we are to attempt in an elementary treatise. Our only aim should be ease and perspicuity, and with the utmost care to keep every thing out of view which may draw...

The Rare Books Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah invites students, faculty, and community members to visit the Special Collections Reading Room (Level 4), where you can hold history in your hands. Click to view slideshow. The rare book collections of nearly 80,000 pieces...

Evolution and Imagination in Victorian Children’s Literature Jessica Straley Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016 From the publisher: “Evolutionary theory sparked numerous speculations about human development, and one of the most ardently embraced was the idea that children are animals recapitulating the ascent of the species. After Darwin’s Origin...

“Rare Books helped me develop a different perspective on literary analysis.” – Lyuba Basin (Class of 2015 and graduate student in Comparative Literature/Cultural Studies, The University of Utah) Lyuba Basin, former Rare Books Curator, writes from Argentina, where she is spending eight months on a Fulbright...

These commentaries are excerpts from an assigned project for Humanities4900/6900, “Indigenous Peoples: Social and Cultural Perspectives,” taught by Isabel Dulfano, Spring semester 2016. Students studied demographics, Mayan epigraphy, Incan kipu, archaeology, linguistics and other topics as an interdisciplinary approach to critically expanding their understanding of...

Tunnel Vision: A Selection of Tunnel, Pop-up and Movable Books from the Rare Books Department Tunnel Vision features a selection of pieces from the rare book collections produced using various paper manipulations to create the illusion of depth — framing and narrowing the viewers’ perspective. This...