#ForeedgeFriday Not every fore-edge is flashy! These #17Century folios from the Schulich-Woolf collection keep it classic—plain, sturdy, and full of stories. #RareBooks #SpecialCollections #BookHistory #schulichwoolfcollection

This copy of The State of Prisons in England and Wales (1792) opens with marbled endpapers. Inside the cover, you’ll also find the bookplate of Charles James Blomfield, who later became the Bishop of London. From prisons to pulpits, this book has quite the history.

✒️ Professor Ritchie’s 4th-year Book History students tried their hand at 18th-c. quill writing—copying moral maxims from an original text. Beautiful strokes + new respect for past readers & writers! #BookHistory #QuillWork

From our 1615 Annales rerum anglicarum et hibernicarum regnante Elizabetha: a dramatic historiated initial A woodcut showing a figure losing his leg. Early modern initials often carried vivid, unsettling scenes. #RareBooks #BookHistory

Happy #MarbledMonday! Today’s feature: the swirling endpapers of Science des princes (1752). This French work on the art of governance opens with color—reminding us that even serious political thought was bound in beauty.

Small but mighty—this 1819 two-volume Examen critique of Mme. de Staël’s posthumous work stands just 14 cm tall. Big 19th-c. debates, right in the palm of your hand. #RareBooks #TinyTuesday

Put your best foot forward—1659 style! This engraving comes from Regole per imparare a disegnar i corpi humani, an early manual for learning to draw the human body. Such manuals guided artists step by step, showing how to master anatomy through proportion and practice. #RareBooks

At the end of Opera omnia (1649), a striking face ornament marks ‘Finis.’ Printers often used such tailpieces to close a text with style. #FinisFriday #BookHistory

Happy #MarbledMonday! When your edges are this good, you deserve a close-up 😍 Histoire de la pairie de France et du parlement de Paris (1753) serving 18th-century flair. #MarbledMonday #18thCentury #RareBooks #SpecialCollections

ENGL 436 students got hands-on in the Conservation Lab this week — creating stitched pamphlet bindings with hot-foil stamped covers! Image credit: Dr. Ritchie #BookHistory #HandsOnLearning #RareBooks

Pierre Bayle’s Dictionnaire historique et critique (Basel, 1741) — a cornerstone of Enlightenment thought. The title page shows Minerva, goddess of wisdom, teaching while cherubs study at her feet. A perfect emblem for Bayle’s pursuit of reason. 🪶📖 #TitlePageTuesday #RareBooks

Head over heels for this one! Tumbling putti by Jacopo Palma, engraved in 1611 and later featured in Regole per imparare a disegnar i corpi humani (1659). A little Baroque mischief in a drawing manual! #RareBooks

Sound on 🔊 — the pages of Origines juridiciales (1671) have a story to tell. Listen to the crackle of 17th-century paper as history unfolds. ##SchulichWoolfCollection

From Origines juridiciales (1671): an armorial bookplate reading “in Grays Inn. THO. Brotherton.” A heraldic mark of legal learning and ownership. #Provenance #RareBooks

The ever-cunning renard (fox) from Buffon’s Histoire naturelle (1802–1803). A masterpiece of Enlightenment science and artistry. #RareBooks #SpecialCollections

A fitting way to head into the weekend: a little light reading in critical thought! Dictionnaire historique et critique by Pierre Bayle, 1741 #SpecialCollections #RareBooks

Happy #MarbledMonday From Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy (2nd ed.): the famous marbled page — “the motly emblem of my work.” Each one unique, with colour here even ghosted onto the facing page. #RareBooks #BookHistory #LaurenceSterne

Morning (engraved by Mr. Cooke, after William Hogarth), from The Works of William Hogarth (1821). Frost, smoke, piety, and chaos — the city wakes. It’s a vibe. #WilliamHogarth #Engraving #RareBooks #RobertsonDaviesCollection

John Buchan’s personal library is at W.D. Jordan Rare Books & Special Collections. Join us The Screening Room Nov. 2 for a talk by Buchan scholar William Galbraith, a pop-up exhibit, and Hitchcock’s 1935 film The 39 Steps! #JohnBuchan #The39Steps #Hitchcock

Doctor Syntax rides again! Title page of The Third Tour of Doctor Syntax, in Search of a Wife (1812), the final installment in William Combe’s satirical series illustrated by Thomas Rowlandson. ##SpecialCollections