Collections

How It’s Made: Medieval Manuscripts

In honour of our new exhibition, Papal Parchments and Blackletter Books, here’s a lesson on how medieval manuscripts were made, courtesy of the exhibition’s curator and a student in UBC’s School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies, Robert Makinson.  How Manuscripts Are Made Manuscript leaves are usually made from vellum, a term denoting calfskin; other […]

New exhibition: Papal Parchments and Blackletter Books

Rare Books and Special Collections at UBC Library announces a new exhibition! Papal Parchments and Blackletter Books: How the Middle Ages Shaped the Way We Read, 1245 AD to UBC This fascinating exhibition tells the medieval and early modern story of the written word using RBSC’s fantastic collection. Two recent acquisitions are of particular note: […]

Papal bull media roundup

More excitement at RBSC over the last few weeks! An extraordinary Papal document that’s nearly 800 years old has come to UBC Library and promises to be a valuable teaching and research tool. The legal decree, called a Papal bull, was written in 1245 and issued in Latin by Pope Innocent IV to the Italian […]

Des Grieux : The Prelude to "Teleny"

Teleny and Des Grieux media roundup

It’s been exciting times here at Rare Books and Collections! With the help of PhD candidate Justin O’Hearn, RBSC has scored a coup by acquiring two exceptional examples of early gay literature, Teleny, or, The Reverse of the Medal and Des Grieux: The Prelude to “Teleny,” that share a connection with famed Victorian author Oscar […]

New exhibition : Dorothy Burnett Book Binding Tools

New exhibition : Dorothy Burnett Book Binding Tools

A new exhibition is now on display at Rare Books & Special Collections. This exhibition features book binding tools used by one of the first book binders in Vancouver, Dorothy Alcorn Burnett. Dorothy graduated from the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts (now Emily Carr University) in 1930. She left her tools, plus a […]

Coasting license for the S.S. Mist

Scanned, sealed (pun intended), and delivered

Last summer, we processed a very interesting new fonds here at RBSC. The Charles E. Spring (1859-1938) fonds provides great insight into the sealing industry of British Columbia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as the on-going campaign of one man to receive restitution for the loss of his business. The […]

Hugh Thomson's illustration from Austen's Persuasion

Happy 238th birthday!

Today, December 16, is Jane Austen’s 238th birthday! I have quite a soft spot for our Jane, so I was too excited when a generous private donor gifted a first edition of Pride and Prejudice to Rare Books and Special Collections last year. We are also fortunate enough to have a first edition of Emma, […]