The Rare Books Department welcomes U back to school! Do you have your textbooks ready? How about your reading primers? Primers were a type of textbook that taught students how to read. Initially, they contained "primary" or fundamental religious materials. Reference to primers appears in English...
"Printing is the Inseparable Companion of Achievement" — Roy Trewin Porte Roy Trewin Porte was born on May 8, 1876 in Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada. When he was just five years old he moved to the states with his widowed mother, settling in Casselton, North Dakota. Porte’s mother likely did...
“If a scholar only stays in one place, he will be blocked by one small river and become narrow-minded and ignorant. He must travel everywhere to see human affairs, the social customs of the north and the south, mountains and rivers, and to broaden his...
The Rare Books Department welcomes you all back to the J. Willard Marriott Library, and invites you to visit our latest exhibition, Roar of Distant Breakers, now on display in the Special Collections Gallery on level four. This exhibition was curated by Luise Poulton, the former Managing...
Last year, on May 22, Rare Books lost our dear friend, Marie Christensen Dern. On that day, like the rest of the world, we were sheltering in place. We were locked out of our office, and more disorientingly, out of the Rare Books Vault. We...
from California: The Land of the Sun, 1914, Mary Hunter Austin (1868-1934) We had not gone far from this village when the fog cleared off, and we enjoyed the delightful prospect of the ocean, the object of all our labours, the reward of all our anxieties....
Pulitzer Prize winner of the famed novel “Angle of Repose,” Wallace Stegner didn’t consider himself to be an environmentalist. Be that as it may, this writer, professor, conservationist, and noted historian was certainly articulate in describing the utmost importance of preserving our nation’s wilderness....
“What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything, and who, having eyes to see what time and chance are perpetually holding out to him as he journeyeth on his way,...
"You'll get to see the vast networks that connect languages, cultures, and periods of history." -- Lyuba Basin The Rare Books Department invites you to two of our most recently published virtual lectures: A Look Into the Vault and Getting A Word In. Digital exhibitions, virtual lectures,...
Ann Montanaro Staples, director of the Movable Book Society, and Vice Chair of Friends of the Library Board will discuss the history of movable books and how complex paper engineering educates and entertains readers....