Please Help Us Preserve Our Collection by Adopting a Book

Researchers from the Vassar community as well as visiting scholars come to the Special Collections Library regularly to examine items from our rich and diverse collection of rare books.  They gain insights about the books that can only be realized when they work with them in their original format.  Additionally, volumes from the collection are regularly used in the teaching of classes in disciplines ranging from Geography to Africana Studies to Education.  In order for others to continue to enjoy this same level of access, however, many books in the collection must be repaired and restored. 

The Adopt-a-Book Program is intended to encourage donor support as the Library endeavors to pursue conservation treatment for fragile and damaged items.  We hope that you will consider making a tax-deductible contribution that will enable us to preserve these volumes for Vassar's current and future scholars.  All donors will be recognized with special bookplates.  If you have questions about the program, feel free to contact the Associate Director of the Libraries for Special Collections Ronald Patkus at patkus@vassar.edu or 845-437-5798.

Subject Index:

All
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Art
Economics
Fashion
Fine Printing
Geography and Travel
History
Jewish Studies
Literature
Mathematics
Medieval Studies
Natural History
Religion
Women's History

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Georgius Everhardus Rumphius, D‘Amboinsche Rariteitkamer. Amsterdam: Printed by François Halma, 1705.

This first edition of this classic work of natural history is a “curiosity cabinet” of tropical shellfish, rocks, minerals, and fossils featuring many wonderful plates of these items.

($3,350)

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John Latham, General Synopsis of Birds. London, 1781-1801. 8 vols.

Latham was a physician and a founding member of the Linnean Society. This work was his first on ornithology and features over one hundred colored plates and descriptions of many new species.

($9,800)

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Thomas Bewick, A History of British Birds. Newcastle: Printed by Edward Walker, for T. Bewick: sold by him, and Langman and Co. and J. White, London, 1809. 2 vols.

Bewick was a talented wood engraver who produced illustrations for a number of books. A History of British Birds was his greatest work; our copy is the third edition.

($3,050)

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Humphrey Repton, Fragments on the Theory and Practice of Landscape and Gardening. London: printed by T Bensley for J. Taylor, 1816.  Adopted!

Repton, one of Britain’s most significant landscape architects, published three works on gardening. Our Fragments is a first edition and features over forty color aquatints and other engravings.

($5,350)

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John James Audubon, Ornithological Biography. Edinburgh, 1831-39. 5 vols.

This is the valuable first edition of the text companion to Audubon’s Birds of America (Audubon published his text separately to avoid British copyright law).

($8,500)