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History of the Book

Reference Collection

Aldine Press
Bookplate Collection
British Amateur Journalism
Decorated Paper
Giolito Press
Incunabula
Manuscripts Collection
Penmanship Collection (Berry)
Private Presses

Reference Collection
Documents aspects of books, including printing, design, history, paper, writing, and alphabets. The collection also includes catalogs of many libraries, some published in the 18th-19th centuries, and numerous exhibit catalogs. A shelf-list is available in the Department's card catalogs; many titles are also cataloged on MadCat. Other titles concerning history of the book are available in the general stacks.

Aldine Press
Some fifty volumes printed by the Aldine press in Venice (1494-1597). The collection also includes facsimiles, exhibit catalogs, and an English translation of a petition (1502) by the founder of the press, Aldus Manutius, to the Venetian Senate, requesting official protection against piracy of his typefaces.

Bookplate Collection
About 10,000 bookplates, cataloged and mounted by former librarians Flora Davidson and Gilbert Doane. The collection includes bookplates of famous writers, artists, political figures, college professors, book collectors, librarians, and libraries, as well as special collections of Wisconsin, medical, animal, and punning plates. Many are mounted in fifty loose-leaf notebooks; others are preserved in envelopes and boxes. Catalog available in the Department.

British Amateur Journalism
Some 8500 titles dating from about 1912 to the early 1970s, collected by Ralph A.L. Breed. See also the recent acquisition, as yet uncataloged, of the Library of Amateur Journalism, gift of The Fossils.

Decorated Paper. Collection C
A small collection of marbled papers used as endpapers; assembled by Flora Davidson.

Giolito Press
Titles from the press of Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari; many use an italic typeface. See also the facsimile of the Annali di Gabriel Giolito de' Ferrari, by Salvator Bongi, 2 vols., (Rome: Presso i Pruicyrali Librai, 1870) in the Department's reference collection (Z232.G5 B6). Shelf list available in the card catalog in the Department (see 1262490-1262722).

Incunabula
Forty-four titles from the period 1450-1500 have been identified and shelved separately in the Department's vaults. Other incunabula are held in the Health Sciences Library.

Manuscripts Collection
Mainly European manuscripts, ranging from English manor rolls of the 14th century to documents of the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection also includes a set of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts primarily of Italian provenance.

Penmanship (Berry) Collection
Textbooks on penmanship, acquired in 1944. Shelf-list available in card catalog (803002-803030) in the Department.

Private Presses
Representative examples of fine printing, including publications of the Kelmscott, Golden Cockerel, and Perishable presses. Many of the titles are by authors also represented in other collections in the Department. Shelf-list in the card catalog in the Department.