Toppan Library Rare Book Collections

Highlights from the rare book collections of Toppan Library

 Click on the links below to see images.

• A manuscript Pentateuch, written in Samaritan
• A clay cuneiform tablet from Mesopotamia
• A papyrus fragment from an Egyptian Book of the Dead
• Two illuminated manuscript Korans
• Several complete illuminated manuscripts from the 1400s
• Ten incunabula (early examples of printing before 1500)
• Early exploration books by Captain John Smith, Sir Walter Raleigh, De Bry, Lewis and Clark, Hakluyt, Mackenzie, Parry, and Captain Cook
• Seventeenth-century Puritan books printed and published by London women
• Numerous books illustrated by the humorist George Cruikshank
• Original prints (many hand-colored) in travel, Native American, natural history, and other types of books
• Fine press books from the Kelmscott Press of William Morris
• Watercolor paintings hidden under the gilt fore-edges of twelve books
• Early editions of the Book of Mormon and primers in the Deseret script
• Books autographed by famous politicians, artists, explorers and literary figures, including Amelia Earhart, Robert Frost, Henry Thoreau, Frederic Remington, Susan B. Anthony, Father De Smet, Mary Pickford, Thomas Edison, Izaak Walton, Admiral Byrd, Arthur Rackham, George Washington 

Individual Collections

Much of the library houses donated material. Large named collections are kept intact:

• Frederick W. Toppan Collection
• Charles and Paul Clay Collection
• Beatrice Beuf Collection
• William Fitzhugh Collection
• Lloyd Taggart Collection
• Joseph Roebling Collection
• Tristram and Charles Howard Colket Collection
• Owen Wister Collection
• Lewis Einstein Collection
• C.C. Kuehn Collection
• Maud Littleton Collection
• Lewis Knapp Collection
• Wilbur, Emma, and S.H. Knight Collection
• Arthur and Helen Rippey Collection
• Revilo Pendleton Oliver Collection
• Walter Levy Collection
• Ed and Shirley Cheramy Collection
• Louise Jackson Collection
• Gene Gurney Collection

Images from the Toppan Library

Manuscript Pentateuch, Written in Samaritan

Back to Top

Clay Cuneiform Tablet from Mesopotamia

Back to Top

Papyrus Fragment from an Egyptian Book of the Dead

Back to Top

Illuminated Manuscript Korans

Back to Top

Illuminated Manuscripts from the 1400s

Back to Top

Incunabula (Early Examples of Printing Before 1500)

Back to Top

Early Exploration Books

Back to Top

17th Century Puritan Books Printed and Published by London Women

Back to Top

Books Illustrated by the Humorist George Cruikshank

Back to Top

Original Prints

Back to Top

Fine Press Books from the Kelmscott Press of William Morris

Back to Top

Watercolor Paintings Hidden Under the Gilt Fore-edges of Books

Back to Top

Early Editions of the Book of Mormon and Primers in the Deseret Script

Back to Top

Autographed Books

Back to Top