How the Rare Books Library Blew My Mind

The highlight of what has been an increasingly academically frustrating week was a tour that my Research Sources class went on of the rare books library, which is handily right across the square from the art building. I was expecting just some background of the collection, how we get access to the books, how to use the card catalog (they still have one!), etc. But it was actually something much more wonderful.

I've used the rare book library on two occasions now, the first for a 1608 copy of Cesare Ripa's Iconologia, and the second to view a page from a fifteenth century Iranian manuscript for a response paper. Both times I totally dorked out, while still being totally incredulous that I can touch things that I've not only studied but that are contemporary to so much of the art that I'm interested in. Thanks to his inventory, we know Velazquez owned that same edition of Ripa. I mean, totally cool.

Like I said, though, I'm still incredulous about this process:
Librarian: Ok, here is your book. Just leave it in the foam viewing stand when you're done.
Me: Just to clarify--I can touch the pages, right?
Librarian, giving me an odd look: Well, of course you can.
Me: I mean, because it's 400 years old. I feel like I should wear gloves, or something.
Librarian: It's survived this long, hasn't it? And you only need to wear gloves if your hands are especially oily or dirty.
Me: They're not.
Librarian: Alright then.

So I knew that the library was really excellent, but happily instead of just talking about what all they have, the director showed us. We stowed all our bags in the lockers (no pens around the books, fair enough) and proceeded to one of the back kind of conference rooms. This one looked like a library in a southwestern ranch, with a beamed ceiling, Native American and western art, rows of bookshelves and stone fireplaces, flanking a huge wooden table. We sat around the wooden table, with one of my classmates saying it looked like we were in a murder mystery similar to Clue, where we had all been gathered in the library to be told that Colonel Mustard had been killed there with a candlestick.

The library director came in with a cart, and he was the sweetest man EVER and clearly in love with his job and the books, and he proceeded to show us some things. It went something like this:

Director: This is one of the Nuremberg chronicles, which for those of you who don't know, tells the story of the world, up until 1493, when this book was published. So we can see the different maps here, and the images of "strange people" from countries where the vast majority of its readers would never go.
Classmate: We looked at that image of the man shaving with his feet in class yesterday!!
Director: Isn't that one great?? My favorite part though is that these images are hand colored for the first 30 pages of the chronicle, but then that stops, because the patron ran out of money. Oh, and this map of Venice, which folds out of the book, so you get the full effect of the canals. [He proceeds to fold it out. It's about 4 feet long, and gorgeously detailed.] Like many books of the time, the sheets in this are vellum [calfskin], which is why it stayed in such good shape. Go ahead and feel this sheet.
Another classmate: Wait...we can touch it?
Director: You certainly can! See, this is the hair side of the calf, so you can feel the slightly raised bumps from the follicles, while the other side is smooth.
Us, as we feel the vellum: Oh, ick! But cool!
Director: I know. I'm a vegetarian, but what can you do.

Director: And here is one of three complete copies of Dürer's Apocalypse in the United States. Dating from 1498, it basically tells the story of the Book of Revelations with pictures. Here's a great one, with a seven headed snake. Look at the thinness of those lines. I don't know how anyone could carve that small.
Us, hovering over it: Ahhh!
Director: And here is, of course, the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"..
Us: Ahh! Ahhh!
Director: And if you've ever wanted to say you've touched a Dürer, now is your chance!
[we touch the Dürer with reverence]

Director: Here is a binding from a contemporary binder, for a book on Islamic designs. There is a five year waiting list to have him do a binding, and it takes him about 3 months to complete one binding. He reads the book first to get a sense of it, and then makes a binding to incorporate what the book is about. He's in his 70's now and works in a small log cabin in Canada, which sounds like a myth but is actually true. The weather conditions are such that he can only do gold embossing during 3 months of the year.
Us: That is the most gorgeous book we've ever seen!
[I'm not sure how to describe the binding on this book--hand tooled in leather with gold embossing on red, blue, and yellow flowers, with some dome motifs and geometric designs. It was perfect.]

Director: Here's a copy of Hamlet, where the binding is made up of tiny pieces of leather, so it kind of looks like an impressionist painting, right? [we nod] Back away from the book, and see if you can see anything. [we move about 6 feet back]
Us: Ahh! [Once you step away from this book, much like an impressionist painting, the little specs of colors turn into an image. In this case, to the right side of the binding was Hamlet's head, wearing a crown, and on the left was Elsinore.

Director: Here is a moralizing book for children from the 18th century, with a binding designed with cats.
Us: Ahhh! [the book is about 4 inches square]

Director: Well, we have about 5 minutes left.
Us: Nooo!
Director: Do you have any questions for me?
Classmate: What is that big book on the cart that we didn't get to?
Director: Ah, that is a copy of Ulysses, bound with illustrations as a special edition for people who were willing to pay more for it. The person they picked to do the illustrations was Matisse--
Us: AH!
Director: --but the publishers didn't really like Matisse's illustrations for it, so they had him include all his original sketches for the finished drawing, and then they included them in a series before each illustration, so you can see the genesis of his work. The publishers thought people would be less annoyed about the illustrations if there were extras added. Oh, and we can see at the back that this book was signed by both Matisse and Joyce.
Us: AHH!!!

We all left the library going, "Dürer! Wha, gah! Touched it! That cat book was adorable! I want to meet the guy who does binding! I didn't even know people still DID binding professionally anymore! Ah, gah, Matisse!"

Good way to spend a Friday morning.