#curiouscollections

[librarycompany]

A boarding pass, a bit of string, an old receipt. We all leave things in books.

Yesterday's readers left these lovely bits and pieces inside books either as place markers or sentimental tokens, but unfortunately we have no record of where these pieces of ephemera were found. Thus they became the curious "Things Found in Books" collection.

Our policy now is to leave these unique traces of readership in place. They add to the story.

[librarycompany]

Now what kind of game do you play with cards like this?

These curious playing cards, though perhaps once used for rousing games of whist, were repurposed for use as insulators in Ben Franklin's electrical machine.

#CuriousCollections, indeed!

[librarycompany]

We don't usually keep this many duplicate copies of a book but...

In 1869 James Rush died, leaving an estate of nearly a million dollars to the Library Company—under certain conditions. One of the codicils in Rush's will gave the Library copyright to his works, provided we "always have on hand a number sufficient to supply any demand which maybe be made for any or either of them."

If anyone would like a copy of "Brief Outline of an Analysis of the Human Intellect" of "Philosophy of the Human Voice" just let us know.