Rare Books

The Hinkes Collection of Scientific Discovery is composed of hundreds of rare books and manuscripts documenting the trajectory of scientific thought from the 15th to 20th centuries. Highlights include the first edition of Galileo’s illustrated treatise on the discovery of sunspots (1613), the first appearance in print of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, in a rare paper printed by the Linnaean Society (1858), and a hand-colored copy of Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr's Atlas Coelestis (1742).

Our rare books collection has a strong showing of periodicals and manifestos illustrating major European art movements of the 20th century, such as Futurism, Surrealism, and Lettrism. Of special note is our collection of periodicals documenting Dada, including Bulletin Dada and Z.

Bibliotheca Fictiva: The Arthur & Janet Freeman Collection of Literary & Historical Forgery offers a tremendous overview of literary forgery from the classical age through the twentieth century, including religious texts, "unknown" works by Shakespeare, and histories all meant to deceive the reader.

Housed at the George Peabody Library, the Dorothy McIlvain Scott Collection is composed of over two hundred books featuring fine binding and fore-edge painting. Hidden renditions of beloved characters like Winnie-the-Pooh, mysterious city views, and scenes of everyday life are revealed to the reader when the text block is carefully fanned out.

Book arts encompass a wide variety of objects, from limited-run pop-up books to one-of-a-kind sculptural pieces. They are represented in our collection by artists such as Julie Chen, Karen Hanmer, and Hanne Matthiesen, as well as from collectives and fine arts presses like Ediciones Vigía, the Women's Studio Workshop, and the Flockophobic Press.

American literature is richly represented. Holdings include first, limited, illustrated and special editions of works by major literary figures from the colonial era through the present; correspondence, notebooks and manuscripts of Baltimore and Hopkins-affiliated authors, editors, publishers and critics; works by women, African-American, ethnic, “minor” and “popular” authors; anthologies, textbooks and works of criticism; juvenile literature; broadsides, periodicals and other forms of ephemera.

Baltimoreans Ike and Moses Ottenheimer entered the book trade in 1890, and made a lasting contribution to the study of American humor through their joke books. Featuring colorful covers and priced to sell, their pocket-sized tomes became a hit nationwide. Today, these books are representative of Baltimore's history as a book production center and are rich resources that reveal how humor is used to address social change, from the invention of the automobile to the rise of the flapper.