Research Guides
Book Arts & Rare Book Collections: Home
Historically significant, rare and collectible books from the Libraries Special Collections Division.
Welcome!
The Special Collections Book Arts and Rare Book Collection is comprised of materials not found in the regular Libraries stacks. These materials may be viewed in the Special Collections Reading Room. We recommend scheduling an appointment in the reading room or virtual reading room, but we also welcome walk-in visitors. You are invited to get as creative or inquire after as bizarre research topics as your heart desires--we will have something for you to peruse!
Contact info and scheduling
How to Request and View Book Arts Materials
Sandra Kroupa
Book Arts and Rare Books Curator
Email: skroupa@uw.edu
Phone: 206-543-1929 [Special Collections Main]
Updated: March 2025
Primary v Secondary Sources
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The categories of primary, secondary, and tertiary sources are not mutually exclusive.
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The way one uses or interprets an item determines whether it is a primary or secondary source.
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A book can be treated as an artifact, documents can consist of visual elements, and visual materials are often considered to be documents.
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Think off primary sources as the raw data for your research and consider this example: Encyclopedias are usually considered to be classic reference sources. However, they are primary sources to someone studying encyclopedias.
Starting Points / Top Resources
- Modern Book Arts CollectionOver 21,000 historical & modern pieces encompassing all aspects of the physical book: typography, paper making, letterpress and offset printing, illustration, book design, paper decoration, calligraphy, sculptural & conceptual work & artist's books. Major holdings documenting bookbinding history, especially 19th century publishers' decorated bindings. Substantial supportive reference collection.
- Historical Children's Literature CollectionOver 7,000 titles of 17th - 20th century books providing examples of alphabet books, primers, books of grammar & etiquette, bestiaries, story books, fables, moral tales & boys', girls' & series books. Emphasis on the history of illustration.
- Authors CollectionNearly 10,000 titles including the 19th Century American Literature Collection noted below. Holdings include 17th-20th century materials with major focus of American, British and European writers. Authors include H. C. Andersen, William Blake, G. Chaucer, Charles Dickens, W. Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser & W. M. Thackeray. Emphasis on 20th century poetry: W. H. Auden, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, & W. B. Yeats. Some collections complement manuscript holdings such as Theodore Roethke & Richard Hugo.
- 19th Century American Literature CollectionThis endowment supported Collection includes extensive holdings of published works of 19th century American authors, with an emphasis on women authors. All major literary figures of 19th century America are represented including H. W. Longfellow, H. Melville, N. Hawthorne, H. B. Stowe, H. D. Thoreau and R. W. Emerson along with scarce editions of popular writers of the time who are little known now. First editions, variant editions and illustrated books provide a research collection for textual studies. Some holdings of related photographic and visual materials and some limited manuscript materials. Letters of H. W. Longfellow are major manuscript holding.
Interested in how books use design and format to communicate beyond text? Piper Thomas explores the breadth of possibilities available for non-textual elements in books in her capstone project for the Textual Studies and Digital Humanities minor.
Cali Vance (UW MILS, 2022) and Claire Cannell (UW MILS, 2022) researched and curated a detailed timeline of the history of the book as a capstone project for completing their Masters of Library and Information Science degree at the University of Washington. If you are curious about material history, book history vocabulary, and more take a look at their digital exhibit.
Handling Guide
Before coming into the reading room, you may review these guidelines for handling rare book material. 