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Rare Books and Manuscripts in Smith College Special Collections

Introductory information about the rare books and manuscripts in the Mortimer Rare Book Collection

Quick Start Guides

Quick Start Guides are designed to assist researchers in beginning their search on a specific topic. These lists are not meant to be comprehensive lists of materials in the collection.

Botanical Books

The Chemist in the Garden: Origins of Natural Products.

An exhibition pamphlet of books from the Mortimer Rare Book Room in honor of Lâle Burk upon her retirement from the Department of Chemistry. Curated by Signe Dahlberg-Wright (Class of 2014), 2013. (Note that this does not include any botanical-related materials acquired after 2013.)

 

Medieval European Manuscripts

  • Fifty original leaves from medieval manuscripts, Western Europe, XII-XVI century. Compiled by Otto Ege (MRBC MS 35)
  • Original leaves from medieval manuscripts, 1325-1579. Compiled by Otto Ege (MRBC MS 42)
  • Original leaves from famous Bibles: nine centuries 1121-1935 A.D. / collected and assembled by Otto F. Ege. (MRBC MS 36)
  • Digital Scriptorium
    •  The Mortimer Rare Book Collection contributions to the Digital Scriptorium, an educational consortium of American libraries with collections of pre-modern manuscripts or manuscripts made in the tradition of books before printing.
    • These images can also be found on Compass

 

Lesbian Pulp Fiction

 

Food and Cooking

  • Cabinet of Culinary Curiosities
    • Exhibition pamphlet of books and manuscripts in the Mortimer Rare Book Room, September 5, 2010-January 20, 2011. (Note that this does not include any food and cooking related materials acquired after 2011.)