Our collection of early modern English theater includes editions and criticism of Shakespeare as well as his contemporaries, including Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker, Ben Jonson, and Philip Massinger. Our rare holdings include a 1690 folio of The Works of Ben Jonson, Fifty Tragedies and Comedies by Beaumont and Fletcher from 1690, and a 1656 quarto edition of The Old Law, or A New Way to Please You, a tragicomedy attributed to Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, and Philip Massinger on the book's title page.
The Center holds eight different editions of Sir Philip Sidney’s the Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia. Other major works of literature include Edmund Spenser’s epic poem The Faerie Queene (copies from 1609 and 1611), and Sir John Harrington’s translation of Orlando Furioso (1634).
The Center’s collection of books from the hand-press period contains a diverse range of bindings, type, illustrations, and marginalia. The Center also possesses many materials on bibliography and book collections. Our Stansbury printing press is available for lessons and demonstrations, allowing visitors to learn how to set type by hand.
The Center's collection of early books on the subject of botany and gardening is ever-expanding, supporting the research necessary to maintain critical scholarly research and the Center's sixteenth-century Kitchen Garden. One of our finer books on botany is a 1633 copy of Gerarde’s Herball. The Herball was an immensely informative and popular work, each page containing detailed descriptions and illustrations of plants. In a similar vein is Adam Lonicer’s Kreuterbuch (1564). In addition to the pages on plants, it also covers animals, minerals, and distilling. Each of the numerous illustrations is hand-colored.
The Renaissance produced many humanist thinkers and scholars who studied the teachings and philosophies of classical scholars. The most famous of these was Erasmus of Rotterdam whose extensive knowledge was influential for centuries. He was widely published and the Center has collected many copies of his works, including his Adages, The Encomium for Thomas More, and his instructions on letter writing. The Center also holds a 1573 copy of Thomas More’s Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation.
Notable amongst the Center’s collection of classics is a 1503 copy of the works of Euripides in Greek, and a 1515 copy of Ovid in Latin. Each of these volumes was published by the Aldine Press in Venice, best known for popularizing the italic font and the more portable octavo format. The Center has several other copies of Ovid, most notably a 1632 copy of George Sandys’s famous translation of the Metamorphosis.
The Center maintains an extensive collection of books pertaining to European armor, weapons, and their use. In addition, it is home to the Raymond J. Lord Collection of Historical Combat Treatises: a digital archive of historical combat treatises and fencing manuals dating primarily from the Renaissance. The collection contains over thirty digitized combat manuals, dating from the early-sixteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century and spanning most of western Europe.
For scholars of the Bible and church history, the Center’s rare holdings include several useful works. These include a 1496 Bible with commentary by Nicholas of Lyra, two Geneva Bibles from 1586 and 1598; a 1699 King James Bible bound in velvet, a Bishop’s Bible from 1611, and a 1545 Vulgate Bible. We also have the works of many influential early Church philosophers, often appearing as multi-volume sets. These include the works of St. Augustine (1729), St. Gregory I (1705), St. Jerome (1684), Hugh of St. Cher (1645), Cornelius Lapide (1625), and Matthew Poole (1684).
Many works of the Spanish Golden Age are housed at the Center. These include the writings of Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, Francisco Quevedo, and Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Our most prized item is a 1633 copy of Todas las obras de don Lvis de Gongora en varios poemas, the complete works of Luis de Gongóra. Gongóra was one of the most famous Spanish poets of all time.
Our collection of works on art history contains over two hundred and fifty volumes, with a particular focus on Italian art. Some of the collection deals with the complete works of famous artists of the period, while other texts are devoted to artistic practices such as architecture, engraving, altarpieces, and illumination.