Special Collections & Archives

News and more from ZSR’s Special Collections & Archives

Complete Book on the Judgment of the Stars, by ʻAlī ibn Abī al-Rijāl (1485 Erhard Ratdolt edition)

One of the oldest printed books in ZSR’s Rare Books Collection is a Latin translation of Alī Ibn Abī al-Rijāl’s principal scientific work, Kitāb al-bāriʻ fī aḥkām al-nujūm. The text, commonly known as Liber in iudiciis astrorum,  is a treatise on astrological methods by an 11th century Arab mathematician, printed in 1485 by a German printer... Continue reading “Complete Book on the Judgment of the Stars, by ʻAlī ibn Abī al-Rijāl (1485 Erhard Ratdolt edition)”

What Are You Working On? With Paige

This is Paige, a Special Collections student assistant and Senior here at WFU. Paige has worked in Special Collections since her freshman year. We rely on Paige to do any number of things in our department including writing blog posts, processing collections, and reference desk shifts. In this picture, Paige is rehousing and updating a... Continue reading “What Are You Working On? With Paige”

The ABCs of Special Collections and Archives: D is for…

D is for… Dolmen Press Founded in 1951 by Liam Miller and his wife Josephine Brown, the press operated in Dublin until Miller’s death in 1987. It was founded as a way to provide a publishing outlet for Irish poetry. It heavily featured the work of Irish artists. The scope of the press grew to... Continue reading “The ABCs of Special Collections and Archives: D is for…”

Alexander’s feast; or, The power of musick (1750)

The following is a joint post by Megan Mulder (Special Collections Librarian) and Chelcie Rowell (Digital Initiatives Librarian). History of Alexander’s Feast The 18th century edition of Handel’s Alexander’s Feast has one of the most interesting provenances of any book in Z. Smith Reynolds Library’s Special Collections department. The work is based on an ode... Continue reading “Alexander’s feast; or, The power of musick (1750)”

Hoffmann Collection in the News

The Gertrude and Max Hoffmann Collection is enjoying the limelight once again. An article by ZSR Special Collections Librarian Megan Mulder about the collection is featured in the Winter 2014 issue of Performance!, the publication of the Performing Arts Section of the Society of American Archivists. The entire publication is available in PDF format here. ... Continue reading “Hoffmann Collection in the News”

“Finding A Piece of History” in Wake Forest Magazine

We are so excited about the story published in Wake Forest Magazine on Friday! Read all about our discovery of a Philomathesian banner and our plans for it in the future in Kerry King’s article “Finding A Piece of History.” Continue reading ““Finding A Piece of History” in Wake Forest Magazine”

Letters in Lead: Moveable Type and the Books It Created

The invention of a practical method for printing with moveable type was a watershed event in European history. From Johannes Gutenberg’s first metal types in the mid-15th century to letterpress printing of today, printers and type designers have practiced their craft to create texts that are both legible and beautiful. Letters in Lead, the current... Continue reading “Letters in Lead: Moveable Type and the Books It Created”

The ABCs of Special Collections and Archives: C is for…

C is for… Casa Artom Scrapbooks Casa Artom is a house, purchased by WFU in 1974, facing the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. The two-story house was built in the 1820s and is located between the Peggy Guggenheim Museum and Ca’Dario. The house is named for Dr. Camillo Artom, a faculty member at the Wake... Continue reading “The ABCs of Special Collections and Archives: C is for…”

The Old Gold and Black Now Keyword Searchable

Searchable PDFs of some issues of Wake Forest University’s student newspaper, the Old Gold and Black, are now available! Beginning in January, issues of the Old Gold and Black are being converted into a keyword searchable PDF format and uploaded to replace existing copies, which were not keyword searchable. What this means for users of... Continue reading “The Old Gold and Black Now Keyword Searchable”

Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, by Robert Burns (1787)

In December of 1786 a young country poet from the west of Scotland traveled to Edinburgh. Robert Burns hoped to drum up support for a second edition of the collection of poems that he had recently published by subscription in Kilmarnock. On 6 December Burns wrote to a friend I have now been a week... Continue reading “Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, by Robert Burns (1787)”