#TBT in the Archives 3/23/17: Rare Books

Before Spring Break, #TBT visited Special Collections, which comprises a substantial part of the Pennsylvania history housed in SU Archives & Special Collections. This week, we hop next door to the Rare Book Room.




Many of the furnishings in the Rare Book Room were acquired thanks to fundraising by 1967-1968 alumni.

In addition to the literary and historical volumes housed at SU Archives & Special Collections, the collection also contains a variety of rare books, which are housed next door to the archives on the second floor of Ezra Lehman Memorial Library. The room, which has a homey atmosphere thanks to chairs, a desk, and soft lighting calibrated for the volumes on the shelves, contains books deemed rare for any number of reasons. For example, first edition copies of novels by SU alum Dean Koontz are included here, as well as fragile histories from Cumberland and Franklin counties. Also permanently housed here are illuminated manuscripts, like the Book of Kells facsimile, and volumes of art.

Let's take a closer look at the Rare Book Room:

Author Dean Koontz graduated from Shippensburg in 1966. First editions of his books occupy shelves in the Rare Book Room.



Astronomicum Caesareum was written by Petrus Apianus in 1540. It is a Renaissance manual which explained use of the astrolabe. Movable discs in the SU copy also teach astronomy principles.
Apianus was court astronomer to Emperor Charles V.

This very fragile volume of Franklin County, Pennsylvania history was published in 1879.

Shippensburg University owns a facsimile copy of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript. The original is in Dublin, Ireland. The manuscript contains the four gospels of the New Testament and each page is richly illustrated.

Très Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry, is a copy of the Book of Hours commissioned in 1410 and is known for its vivid illustrations, as shown in this facsimile copy.

Visconti Hours is another illustrated manuscript of the Book of Hours held in the Shippensburg University Rare Book Room collection.

This color plate is one of dozens featured in The Holy Experiment: A Message to the World from Pennsylvania, by Violet Oakley, a copy of which is in the Rare Book Room.

Like books in Special Collections, books in the Rare Book Room do not circulate - you cannot check them out. However, appointments may be made to look at these volumes for research purposes by emailing specialcollections@ship.edu. Additionally, copies of Dean Koontz's novels are available in the SU Authors Collection on the first floor of the library, and the Book of Kells, Visconti Hours, and Très Riches Heures are currently on display as part of the illuminated manuscript exhibit, also on the first floor.