William & Mary Libraries and Special Collections

News, highlights, and treasures from the libraries and the Special Collections at William & Mary.

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Farewell, Tumblr friends

We’ve had fun here on Tumblr, but we’ve decided to discontinue this blog in favor of some of our other projects. Please follow us on Twitter @SwemSCRC, and on our blog, http://scrc.blogs.wm.edu/ where we will continue to share special finds and hidden treasures from our collections.

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1922 Travel Journal

Images from the Charlton Yarnall Travel Journal, 1922. Yarnall and his family traveled between March and June, departing from Philadelphia and visiting Algeria, Italy, France, and England. The journal contains post cards, photographs, and typed notes on the journey.

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The Mighty Oak

This is our last post about plant life for awhile. We promise. Maybe. Lush colored copperplate engravings of oak leaves from The North American Sylva 1853.

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A Shortcut to Mushrooms!

Continuing our obsession with books on plants, we give you some lovely illustrations of mushroom varieties. And a Tolkien reference for good measure. Mushrooms, Russia, and History by V.P. & R.G. Wasson. In two volumes; 1957.

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British Seaweed

We’re obsessed with books about plant life right now. On the heels of last week’s post on bulbous plants, here’s another one from our rare books collection: The nature-printed British sea-weeds: a history, accompanied by figures and dissections of the Algae of the British Isles (1859). A beautiful text in four volumes. Who knew Britain had such variety of seaweeds?

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Amaryllidaceae

Lovely plates of bulbous flowers found amidst our Rare Books. From 1837. QK 643 M7H4

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Are you in Oxford on 23 June? If not, you’ll wish you were, as we’re displaying a rare map of Middle Earth annotated by J.R.R. Tolkien! It will be free to view at Weston Library on Broad Street from 9.30am–5pm.

We only acquired the map last month. It  reveals Tolkien’s remarkable vision of the creatures, topography and heraldry of his imagined world where The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place. The map was a working document that Tolkien and acclaimed illustrator Pauline Baynes both annotated in 1969 when Baynes was commissioned to produce a poster map of Middle-earth.

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The Virginia Almanac from 1756, and a reproduction publication by Colonial Williamsburg from 1935.

Rare books AY326 W5 V5 1743-1760, AY326 W7 V812 1935.

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Happy 95th birthday, Prince Philip!

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Images from Dancing in Prints: A Portfolio of Twelve Etchings, Engravings and Lithographs, 1634-1870. New York Public Library, 1964. Rare book: NE962 .D3 N4

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Spring and summer fashions from 1947! Brought to you by Bloomingdale’s and the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rare Book: TT507 .N4

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April [and May] showers bring May flowers

Williamsburg has experienced some rainy weather in the last few weeks, but today the sun is shining. To celebrate, here are a few images of our display of Special Collections materials on plants and gardening, currently located in the Read and Relax area on Swem Library’s first floor.

One of the cases features seed catalogs and nineteenth-century guides about the social meanings of flowers.

Also on display are images from John Gerard’s The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes (London, 1633) [Rare Book QK41 .G3 1633 Folio], which is illustrated with over 1,800 woodcuts and contains plant descriptions with habitats, times of flowering, old English names, associated popular legends, and medicinal uses.

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Pop-up Books in Special Collections

We have recently tweeted a couple pictures from our M.C. Escher pop-up book: https://twitter.com/SwemSCRC/status/728606587485564932, but we have other great pop-up books at the SCRC, too! Here are some pictures from Frank Lloyd Wright in Pop-up (RB NA 737 .W7 T533 2002) and Edward Gorey’s Dracula: A Toy Theatre (RB PN 1979 .T6 G6 2007). 

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“A left to the body…and a right to the head!”

EC Comics “New Direction” comic books were created in response to public criticism of comic books perceived harmful effects on children. The first issues did not carry the Comics Code seal, resulting in wholesalers refusal to carry them. The seal was then added, but none of the New Direction titles survived for more than five issues.

The entire run of M.D. and Psychoanalysis can be found in James Branch Cabell Library’s Special Collections and Archives.

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It’s a fantastic friday reblog ... grim, but stirring.

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Do Judge Me By My Cover!

A publisher’s cloth binding decorated by John Feely (circa 1819-1878), will undoubtedly ensure a book’s long-term preservation on any library shelf. John Feely, who engraved stamps and dies for a number of publishers, signed about half of his work, and our copy of Francis Asbury Roe’s Naval duties and discipline, with policy and principles of naval organization, Rare Book VA10 .R68 1865, is a beautiful example of his art. 

Close-up of Francis Asbury Roe, Naval duties and discipline, with policy and principles of naval organization, Rare Book VA10 .R68 1865. Feely’s signature can be seen in the center, near the bottom of the ship.

For more examples on decorated publishers’ bindings, check out the searchable database of Publishers' Bindings Online, 1815-1930: The Art of Books (PBO), hosted by the University of Alabama and the University of Wisconsin-Madison libraries.

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“Japanese Jingles” by Mae St. John Bramhall and published by Takejiro Hasegawa. 1891 first edition.  “Crepe” paper bound in the style of "fukuro-toji" when paper is printed on one side, folded and bound.

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The 1900 Tennis Club and Women’s Tennis in 1932