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Catalogued
materials can be found in Orbis,
Yale University Library's online catalog. Separate finding aids exist for some
collections, while some materials are only available with the assistance of
the curator. Materials are accessed through the Arts of the Book reading room in Sterling
Memorial Library. Advance notice is the best method to view these
materials. Access to materials requested for the same day cannot be guaranteed.
Consult
the searching tips and
access issues page for more information.
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The Arts of
the Book Collection contains a growing number of artists' books. These
works take conventions and expectations associated with the book format
and exaggerate, subvert, question, or ignore the ways in which the traditional
codex looks, acts, and feels. In the words of art historian and book artist
Johanna Drucker, they "interrogate the form." Artists' books in the AOB
cover a broad spectrum of book works, from highly sculptural pop-ups to
more traditionally printed texts, and include unique books, multiples
and small editions, and occasional trade books which in some way or another
play with the notion of what makes a book a book. AOB's unique blend of
historical collections and contemporary book arts offers a forum to examine
the book as a construction, both physical and cultural. |
| Bibliographical
Press
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In
1927, University Printer Carl Purington Rollins and Professor of English
Arthur Ellicott Case felt students of eighteenth-century literature would
benefit from the practical experience of working with a hand press to
create the printed word. University Librarian Andrew Keogh gave the enterprise
his enthusiastic approval and the Press was formed. The
Bibliographical Press is housed in the basement of Sterling Memorial Library
and contains four presses, including a Vandercook Universal I. There are
aslo numerous cases of fonts, such as Caslon, Goudy, Perpetua and Montainge,
as well as wood type, ornaments and cuts. The Bibliographical Press is
proud to be a part of the tradition of student
letterpress printing at Yale. This resource is only available for printing demonstration for Yale classes. |
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Bookplate
Collection |
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The Yale Bookplate Collection
is one of the largest in the world, containing close to one million
bookplates. It is located in Mudd Library, with access provided through
the Arts of the Book Collection. The collection brings together a number
of private collections, including the Pearson-Lowenhaupt collection
of American and English bookplates; the Irene D. Andrews Pace Memorial
collection; the Salmonson collection of Swedish bookplates; the Alexander
Kaelas collection of Estonian and Baltic bookplates; the Richard Ballard
'48 collection of Russian and Soviet bookplates; and the collections
of Frank Hatch, Henry Rodgers Winthrop 1898, William Fowler Hopson,
Wilmarth Lewis 1918, and Harry Scammell, who served as Associate Curator,
then Curator, of the collection between 1966 and 1984.
The majority of this collection is currently unprocessed
and research requests will take an extended time to process.
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Fritz
Eichenberg Collection
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The
Arts of the Book Collection holds original woodblocks, many forms of
art work, and miscellaneous papers of the woodcut artist and illustrator,
Fritz Eichenberg. Eichenberg is perhaps best known for his illustrations
of Russian literature and gothic tales during the 1930's and 1940's.
He also had many illustrations published in the Catholic Worker
during the 1950's. The Eichenberg collection contains approximately
400 original carved blocks, along with several thousand works on paper
including sketches, lithographs and watercolor paintings. The collection
also includes a small amount of correspondence relating to the artist's
published works, personal correspondence and greeting cards.
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Ephemera |
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The Arts
of the Book Collection contains examples of printed ephemera and job printing
such as trade literature, trade cards, book prospectuses, posters and
broadsides, printer's ornaments and border designs, menus, bookmarks,
souvenirs, and postcards. Over 5000 advertising cards from the 1860s through
the 1920s document the graphic quality of early advertising and the promotion
of a visual consumer culture.
These materials
document the development of color printing, and the collection is particularly
strong in examples of chromo lithography from the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. These materials also document the wide variety
of print culture which exists beyond the book and is often excluded from
traditional library collections.
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Faber Birren Collection of Books on Color |
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Faber Birren (1900-1988) was a leading authority on the effects of color on humans as well as a dedicated collector of texts on color from a variety of viewpoints and time periods. He was a prolific author publishing 25 books and scores of articles, primarily on the use and effects of color in the workplace. As a collector, Mr. Birren's particular focus was on color systems and nomenclature as well as the more humanistic aspects of color theory. He began his collection in the early part of the 20th century, donated it to the Art+Architecture Library in 1971, and remained an active force in shaping the collection until his death in 1988.
The Faber Birren Collection of Books on Color is particularly strong in color systems, color standards, and color nomencla- ture. Color theory, artists' manuals and treatises, and color techniques are also well represented. In addition, the collection has materials on vision, psychology, printing and the graphic arts, textiles, music, religion, biology, medicine, heraldry, and the occult. The collection has materials ranging from the 16th century to the contemporary with important editions by Renee Descartes, Isaac Newton, Moses Harris, M.E.Chevreul, and C.S Greenough, among others. The Faber Birren Collection of Books on Color is considered one of, if not the, foremost gathering of works on color.
Visit the Faber Collection of Book on Color web site for more detailed information.
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| Fritz
Kredel Collection
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The
Arts of the Book Collection houses the personal and artistic archives
of Fritz Kredel (1900-1973). The artist started his career in Germany
in the 1920's under the tutelage of Rudolf Koch. Over the years, his skills
grew and he became a master woodcut artist. In 1936 Kredel and his family
fled Germany for the United States. In American he continued to flourish
as a woodcut artist and illustrator for many well-known publishers, including
the Limited Editions Club. The Collection contains over one hundred original
wood blocks, proofs and published work, sketch books and drawings, project
files, and correspondence.
Kredel's work tools, realia, toys and military figures made by Kredel,
as well as a nearly complete collection of works illustrated by the artist,
are also included in the collection. The
Fritz Kredel Collection is being donated to the Arts of the Book Collection
by Judith Kredel Brown and Mathilde Brown.
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| Overbrook
Press Printing Library |
| The
Overbrook Press was founded by Frank Altschul (Yale '08) in Stamford,
Connecticut, in 1934. During its thirty-five years of activity, the press
published over two hundred titles. The press was known for the graphic
and technical excellence of its work. The Overbrook Press Printing Library
includes type specimens and works on printing history, typography, and
design. AOB also holds ephemeral publications and job printing done by
the press.
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| Paul
Rand Library |
| The
Arts of the Book Collection houses a portion of the library of designer
Paul Rand. Works on graphic design, typography, film, writing and other
aspects of print culture and communication are housed together in their
own section. This allows the reader to experience the collection as it
belonged to Mr. Rand, yet to also use these resources in combination with
the rest of the AOB Collection. |
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Carl
Purington Rollins Printing Library
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| The
Carl Purington Rollins Practical Printing Library contains the personal
library of Carl Rollins and his wife, Margaret. It includes published
works on printing history, typography, design, early printing manuals,
type specimens, publications designed by Rollins, Rollins' scrapbooks
and design notebooks, ephemera, and correspondence between Rollins and
W.A. Dwiggins, Daniel Updike, and others.
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| M.F.A.
Theses in Graphic Design and Photography
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Arts of the Book Collection is the repository for graduate theses in graphic
design and photography. Consult the access
page to learn how to search for these works in the online catalog.
Visit the Yale School
of Art web site for more information on the Photography and Graphic
Design programs. |
| Type
Specimens
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Type specimen
books and broadsides in the Arts of the Book Collection document three
centuries of type design and production. Originating as samples printed
from metal and wood type fonts available through manufacturers, type specimen
books continue to be produced in the era of digital typography. Specimen
books demonstrate the visual range of communication available to printers
and designers involved in book and job printing. The collection is strongest
in examples of nineteenth-century American and British metal type.
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