Category Archives: Rare Books and Special Collections

Digitized items from Mcgill’s Rare Books and Special Collections.

McGill began acquiring antiquarian books and other special collections materials as early as the 1860s. Gifts and purchases over the years have formed the Rare Books and Special Collections Division’s present holdings of over 280,000 printed books, 12,000 prints, 6,000 maps, 1,000 manuscripts and 500 linear metres of archives and private papers. The collection focuses on the humanities and social sciences, particularly history, literature, the history of ideas, travel and exploration, and the history of the book. Scientific works in the Blacker-Wood and Macdonald College Rare Book collections are also held in the Division.

http://www.mcgill.ca/library/branches/rarebooks

Inside the books of the Internet Archive

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Internet archive has started to extract images with no known copyright restrictions from their millions of scanned books and post them to Flickr.

All of the images from "An alphabet of animals" (1865) at https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/tags/bookidMcGillLibrary-PN970_S5_A5_1865-2023

All of the images from “An alphabet of animals” (1865) at https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/tags/bookidMcGillLibrary-PN970_S5_A5_1865-2023

Notably each image includes a variety of subject tags extracted from the books original metadata with information like the time period, book publisher or the author so you can search through the collection in many ways.

Image from page 9 of "An alphabet of animals" (1865)

Image from page 9 of “An alphabet of animals” (1865)

Most importantly they have included snippets of the text right before and after the pictures plus a link back to the full book in so you can see the image in context.

Full-book-An-alphabet-of-animals-1865

An alphabet of animals (1865) full book at the Internet Archive

These are just some examples from our Chapbook collection but there are (as of October 22, 2014) over 2.6 million more images up at their account.

With the algorithm for image detection isn’t always perfect, see

Image from page 4 of "The good shepherd" (1845)

and

Image from page 6 of "Park's Tom Thumb" (1836)

it’s a pretty great tool for discovery!

The McGill Retro Thesis Digitization Project

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thesis_0A proposal was made in the summer of 2011 to digitize all retro McGill theses. The goal was an ambitious one: to digitize all archival theses from Rare Books and Special collections that did not already exist on microfilm from the National Library of Canada. The period would span over 80 years, from 1881 all the way to 1966.  A project launch date set for spring 2012.

The equipment consisted of two high-production auto-feed scanners for loose sheet pages and a large-format scanner for over-sized material such as maps, commonly found in geographic papers. Bound theses would be digitized on the APT2400, the auto page turner that was purchased several years before and was best-suited for digitizing hardcover books.

Not only were theses digitized and processed, meta-data were entered and PDFs were uploaded for each thesis record in eScholarship@McGill, the digital repository that stores electronic theses and other student publications.

To date  – two years since the project was launched – two decades of material have been digitized and uploaded, including a record 5000 theses and over 712,000 digitized pages for the period between 1946-66.

Most of the theses were scanned as sequences of full-colour raw images. After a quality check was done for missing pages, the raw images were processed and cropped into derivative files and assembled into a text searchable PDF. Text pages were converted to bitonal, while photos, illustrations, and diagrams were kept in full-colour. Many challenges were encountered during the digitization, including detached photos, fragile paper, faded text, and ink that left a powdery residue on the scanner. Despite these issues, we have managed to digitize every thesis and ensure the best reproduction possible. The process is continuing with the plan to complete all of the digitization up to the year 1881.

APT book scanner

The Automatic Page turner (APT2400) digitization system.

Figure after p206. John T. Copp. 1962. The Canadian general election of 1908. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/-?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=113604&silo_library=GEN01

Figure after p206. John T. Copp. 1962. The Canadian general election of 1908. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/-?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=113604&silo_library=GEN01

Found in the stacks: Almanaque de “Tierra y libertad”

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This volume was digitized as a part of our on demand service with the request originally coming from a professor in the United States who was looking to borrow the book through our Inter Library Loans program. When the ILL staff (thanks Patrick!) noticed that it was rare and ours was the only copy in Canada they sent to us for digitization. In the end the professor was sent the catalogue link to the digital copy and we transferred the book to our Rare Books & Special Collections for safe keeping.

One of our liaison librarians, Juanita Jara de Súmar noted about the book “it was commissioned as a complement to the weekly published by an Anarchist group related to the Confederación de Trabajo, the main Communist party involved with the big Internacional Socialista in Spain that fought against Franco in later years.”

Cover page of Almanaque de "Tierra y libertad". (1912).

Cover page of Almanaque de “Tierra y libertad”. (1912).

City of Montreal key plans showing arrangement of plates

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City of Montreal key plans showing arrangement of plates. Canada 1912. By Chas. E. Goad Co. Civil Engineers. From Volume 1 of Atlas of the city of Montreal and vicinity : in four volumes, from official plans, special surveys, showing cadastral numbers, buildings & lots

City of Montreal key plans showing arrangement of plates. Canada 1912. By Chas. E. Goad Co. Civil Engineers. From Volume 1 of Atlas of the city of Montreal and vicinity : in four volumes, from official plans, special surveys, showing cadastral numbers, buildings & lots

You can download a full resolution version from our catalogue or you can drop by anytime during Rare Books and Special Collections opening hours to consult the original. 

Close of up Plate 18 & 20. City of Montreal key plans showing arrangement of plates. Canada 1912. By Chas. E. Goad Co. Civil Engineers.

Close of up Plate 18 & 20. City of Montreal key plans showing arrangement of plates. Canada 1912. By Chas. E. Goad Co. Civil Engineers.

 

Annotated catalogue of the Casey A. Wood Collection of Persian, Arabic and Hindustani manuscripts

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From the cataloguing notes:

Catalogue of a collection of 238 manuscripts, chiefly in Persian, acquired by Ivanow, collected mainly in Northeastern India, and brought by Wood to McGill University; a few titles already in the libraries of McGill University have been appended.

Ivanow, W., & Wood, C. A. (1927). Annotated catalogue of the Casey A. Wood Collection of Persian, Arabic and Hindustani manuscripts. Page 1.

Ivanow, W., & Wood, C. A. (1927). Annotated catalogue of the Casey A. Wood Collection of Persian, Arabic and Hindustani manuscripts. Page 1.

Included is Wladimir’s handwritten catalogue preceded by a typescript title page labelled “rough notes” with Wood’s handwritten annotations followed by Wood’s handwritten revised title page and table of contents, and a typescript preface with Wood’s handwritten revisions; this is accompanied by a typescript copy placed in loose-leaf covers of the revised title page and preface, and an outline of the parts of the catalogue, together with various other short sections of related information.

Ivanow, W., & Wood, C. A. (1927). Annotated catalogue of the Casey A. Wood Collection of Persian, Arabic and Hindustani manuscripts. Page 3.

Ivanow, W., & Wood, C. A. (1927). Annotated catalogue of the Casey A. Wood Collection of Persian, Arabic and Hindustani manuscripts. Page 3.

The revised title page is dated: Bombay, 1927; the “rough notes” title page is dated Calcutta, India, 1928 and has Wood’s manuscript notations re publication possibilities dated 1934.

Ivanow, W., & Wood, C. A. (1927). Annotated catalogue of the Casey A. Wood Collection of Persian, Arabic and Hindustani manuscripts. Page 7.

Ivanow, W., & Wood, C. A. (1927). Annotated catalogue of the Casey A. Wood Collection of Persian, Arabic and Hindustani manuscripts. Page 7.

2 manuscripts one handwritten and typescript. The  handwritten manuscript is housed in a fall-down-back box 24 x 20 x 8 cm. 

The romance of a princess : a comedy, and other poems by Amy Redpath Roddick

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This 94 page volume of poems was Lady Amy Redpath Roddick’s (1868-1954) 5th piece of published writing. While she might be best know as the McGill benefactor of the Roddick Gates, having donated them in the memory of her husband in 1924 she was also an accomplished writer with 17 works in 27 publications in 2 languages. 

Front inside cover & title page of The romance of a princess : a comedy, and other poems by Amy Redpath Roddick (1922)

Presented to the Library by the Author. Front inside cover & title page of The romance of a princess : a comedy, and other poems by Amy Redpath Roddick (1922)

We recently digitized 9 of her books bringing the total online to14.Screen Shot 2014-07-17 at 11.18.39 AM  You can read more about her in the Canada’s Early Women Writers digital collection at the Simon Fraser University library or for more on the history of the Roddick Gates visit McGill digital exhibition Virtual McGill: Campuses and Buildings 

Faust : das Volksbuch, das Puppenspiel by Karl Joseph Simrock

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From the cataloguing notes:

“The puppet play is K. J. Simrock’s version, a reconstruction from various sources and from memory. It was first published in 1846 under title: Doctor Johannes Faust, Puppenspiel in vier Aufzügen. Our copy in Rosalynde Stearn Puppet Collection with book seller’s label: “Annemarie Schnase “Antiquarin”, Berlin-Spandau…”; in slipcase.”

Title page of Simrock, K. J. (1924). Faust: Das Volksbuch, das Puppenspiel.

 Simrock, K. J. (1924). Faust: Das Volksbuch, das Puppenspiel.

 

Digitized at the request of a faculty member in the Languages, Literatures, and cultures – German Studies. Find out more about our digitization on demand service at our Research services webpage.

To consult the original you can visit Rare Books and Special Collections during their opening hours.

McGill Model School Girls’ Department

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McGill Model School

McGill Model School Girls’ Department. Prize awarded to Lulu Borden for Reading, French and Geography in the Junior Division. Montreal, 23rd June, 1897. Mary J. Peebles Head Mistress. S. P. Robins Principal.

Decorative book label from the Philippe Masson Collection of Ex Libris  in Rare Books and Special Collections.  The Philippe Masson Collection of Ex Libris comprises of approximately 4500 bookplates, of which, three thousand are Canadian in origin.

http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/bookplates/

The art of wood-engraving

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Woodcuts and some words by Edward Gordon Craig embodies glorious reproductions of woodcuts. My zest for the art of wood-engraving has grown after reading the history of wood blocks, cutting, and printing machines.

A McGill Library note from the catalogue record:
Copy no. 123 of a limited ed. of 160 copies signed by the author and with extra woodcut inserted.

The original book is available for consultation from our Rare Books and Special Collections reading room during regular opening hours or you can download the digital version from our catalogue.

Figure 17 of "Woodcuts and some words"

Figure 17 of “Woodcuts and some words”

Figure 21 of "Woodcuts and some words"

Figure 21 of “Woodcuts and some words”

Figure 57 of "Woodcuts and some words"

Figure 57 of “Woodcuts and some words”