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I’m in the rare books repository at work and there are books here that were printed before Australia was colonised by the europeans.

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#book #Library #old
in reply to David de Groot 𓆉

David de Groot 𓆉
David de Groot 𓆉
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Ha! They’ll let anything get in here. Aleister Crowley: Confessions. 1929

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in reply to David de Groot 𓆉

David de Groot 𓆉
David de Groot 𓆉
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Inside this much more modern box is a book in Latin, published in 1553!

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in reply to David de Groot 𓆉

David de Groot 𓆉
David de Groot 𓆉
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Here are some saucy tomes!

The Universal Magazine of Knowledge & Pleasure. 1766/7

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in reply to David de Groot 𓆉

David de Groot 𓆉
David de Groot 𓆉
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Blatantly original binding on this collection of The Bulletin from the first half of 1931. Very Art Deco.

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in reply to David de Groot 𓆉

David de Groot 𓆉
David de Groot 𓆉
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Carefully boxed up, a Survey of the cities of London and Wedtminster, Borough of Southwark. 1733-35

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in reply to David de Groot 𓆉

David de Groot 𓆉
David de Groot 𓆉
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Some Italian works; La Villa dei Misteri. 1947

And, Monumenti della pittura antica scoperti in Italia. 1936, 1940.
in reply to David de Groot 𓆉

Giselle
Giselle
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Likely not for Southwark, but I'm pretty sure I looked at a copy of these survey books here in London (maybe at the Westminster archive, British Library or somewhere like that). It is lovely to see that these are also in other locations for people to look at the actual printed book.
Next time I'll handle one of those I will think of that. Thanks so much for posting these photos.
Unknown parent

David de Groot 𓆉
David de Groot 𓆉
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indeed. I don’t usually have access to this collection, but I’m in here doing a wifi survey.
in reply to David de Groot 𓆉

rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua
rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua
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It would be nice to have all those books scanned and available to everybody.
in reply to David de Groot 𓆉

rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua
rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua
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Yes, it's not an easy job.

The worst books, in terms of preservation, are those printed with the first "industrial" paper with iron based ink, since the second half of 1800: they literally crumble, while the old paper (1500-1600) made with rugs is far more robust.
in reply to David de Groot 𓆉

publius
publius
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The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas has a surprisingly large number of volumes printed before Europeans first reached the Americas.

You could probably say that "any" would be surprisingly large, considering the relatively short interval of time, but I have personally handled several volumes from the 1480s.
in reply to David de Groot 𓆉

penguin42
penguin42
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I like how your library uses gold embossed leather for even simple labels.
in reply to David de Groot 𓆉

James Conroy-Finn
James Conroy-Finn
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is there an inventory online somewhere? I’d love to find a synopsis on each.

I’m also curious about who was writing about what and when, and who kept these books for so long. This is a fascinating glimpse into the past. If only books could talk!

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in reply to James Conroy-Finn

David de Groot 𓆉
David de Groot 𓆉
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They are housed in the Fryer Library at UQ, so this page might help: https://manuscripts.library.uq.edu.au/index.php/

Although possibly not. A lot of the Fryer material is quite restricted and you need to book an appt. with a librarian.

University of Queensland Library - Fryer Library Manuscripts - Fryer Library Manuscripts

Access to memory - Open information management toolkit
manuscripts.library.uq.edu.au
in reply to David de Groot 𓆉

James Conroy-Finn
James Conroy-Finn
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thanks for the link! I’ll take a look and drool from a safe distance.

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