Posts by Pablo Alvarez

In a previous post, I argued that we must judge a book by its cover because the design of an early binding can tell us much about the social status of its former owner. Now, I would like to argue that we can learn a lot about early printing history by examining the preliminary pages of a book.

A recent addition to our holdings on the history of medicine is a fascinating collection of twenty-five university dissertations, treatises, prize-winning essays, books, and reports, on the subject of milk. Ranging from 1659 to 1822, and published across Europe, these works are extraordinary witnesses of how milk was thoroughly studied from a chemical, medicinal, nutritional, and even a social perspective.

'Sammelband' is a German term meaning 'anthology', which, in a general sense, bibliographers often employ to describe a bound volume that contains a group of separately published works. Our featured sammelband volume also includes handwritten inscriptions revealing a fascinating provenance story.

Shortly after I completed a blog post arguing that the Special Collections Library holds a book formerly owned by Isaac Newton, another one has just resurfaced from the Le Roy Crummer Collection, part of our rich holdings in the history of medicine.

Here is a fascinating story of how we learned that the Special Collections Library holds a volume formerly owned by one of the most important figures in the history of science, Isaac Newton.

On April 16 my colleague Evyn Kropf and I prepared a show & tell presentation of manuscripts and early printed books for the attendees of the symposium, "Speaking the End Times: Prophecy and Messianism in Early Modern Eurasia". In brief, this two-day conference explored the topic of early modern apocalypticism from India to Iberia.

The Special Collections Library will host a reception to celebrate a new exhibit, "Through the Magnifying Glass: A Short History of the Microscope." Please join the exhibit curators, Pablo Alvarez and Gregg Sobocinski, to chat about this exciting display. There will be coffee and other refreshments. Date: April 24 (Friday) 3:00 pm -5:00 pm. Place: Seventh floor of the Hatcher Library.

On August 26 2014, led by Dr. Stefano Mengozzi, a group of six singers recorded a selection of Gregorian chant music at the St. Thomas Apostle Catholic Church in Ann Arbor. They sang from a fifteenth-century Antiphonary from the Special Collections Library, an extraordinary manuscript copied in Venice and richly illuminated by the Italian miniaturist, Benedetto Bordon.

We are pleased to announce the opening of a new exhibit on the seventh floor of the Special Collections Library: Through the Magnifying Glass: A Short History of the Microscope.

In 2013, an extraordinary collection on the history of medicine was transferred from the Taubman Library to the Special Collections Library, University of Michigan Library. Among the books, we came across three eighteenth-century microscopes stored in plain boxes and in need of conservation treatment. They have now been repaired and are in new homes. Here is a video explaining in detail the conservation work performed in one of these wonderful microscopes.