Book Collections

The University of Arizona Library Special Collections includes world-class collections of rare books dating to the 15th century. The collections are particularly strong in the following subject areas: history of science, Southwestern Americana and borderlands history, fine and theatre arts, British and American literature, and the art of the book.

Art of the Book Collection

Special Collections documents the history and art of the book in fine edition books, both historic and contemporary, produced by noted printers and designers. Limited editions by small presses, miniature books, special volumes created by notable binders, pop-up books, and artist's books demonstrate the art of the book.

British and American Literature Book Collection

Special Collections contains many first and special editions of works by British and American authors, including Jane Austen, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, William Wordsworth, Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, Mark Twain, Bret Harte, and Washington Irving. Works by 20th century American poets include Charles Bukowski, Gary Snyder, Diane Wakowski, and William Everson. These collections receive continued support from The Ruth Goodhue Chasteney Memorial Endowment, The Edith Goodhue Reiber-Magnuson Memorial Endowment, and The Della Cole Distler Memorial Endowment.

Fine and Theatre Arts Book Collection

In 1936 Pennsylvania industrialist T.E. Hanley, a collector of books and art, began donating books to the University of Arizona Library in the areas of fine and theatre arts. Over time, Hanley gave more than 38,000 volumes to the Library. Hanley donations form the core of Special Collections’ holdings in fine and theatre arts, including an excellent collection of Restoration and 18th century drama, which contains the works of William Congreve, George Etherege, John Dryden, and Aphra Behn.

Special Collections has extensive holdings of fine facsimile editions, including illuminated medieval masterpieces and outstanding examples of Pre-Columbian art such as Codex Borbonicus and The Codex Dresdensis. It also holds rare period books such as Reisch's Margarita Philosophica (1504), a compilation of existing European knowledge in all areas of the arts.

These collections receive continued support from The Ann-Eve Mansfeld Johnson Memorial Endowment, a fund dedicated to the Fine Arts; and The Della Cole Distler Memorial Endowment, a fund established to support studies in Art and Humanities.

Genre Collection

Special Collections includes some literary genre collections which provide study of a particular style of literature. Examples of extensive genre collections include a contemporary women’s mystery writer collection, a 20th century science fiction collection, 19th and 20th century westerns, and play scripts representing 18th and 19th century British farce.  To a lesser extent Gothic fiction and regional travel literature are also represented. 

History of Science

Within Special Collections, the development and transmission of key scientific ideas is documented by several volumes in the history of science. The collection features landmark volumes in several branches of science, dating from as early as the 15th and 16th centuries. Optics and astronomy, traditionally areas of excellence at the University of Arizona, are particularly well represented.

Southwest Americana and Borderlands Book Collection

In 1917, the Library began a comprehensive collection of literature about Arizona. Expanding its geographical scope in later years, Special Collections is home to one of the nation's finest collections of printed texts on Arizona and the borderlands of the Southwest. These collections document the region's culture and history, including accounts of Native Americans and their ancestors, the impact of Spanish and Mexican settlement, and the influx of Anglo-Americans and others into the region during the 19th century.

This extensive book collection contains volumes in all areas of the arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences relating to the borderlands of the Southwest. It includes fiction by Anglo Americans, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans; extensive materials on Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico; state and local documents covering southern Arizona; Western pulp fiction; juvenile fiction; and cookbooks; as well as a large pamphlet and ephemera collection documenting the region.

These collections are supported in part by The Fay and Lawrence Clark Powell Endowment for Southwestern Research.