This directory is a handy on-volume discovery tool that will allow readers to locate rare book and special collections in the British Isles. Fully updated since the second edition was published in 1997. this comprehensive and up-to-date guide encompasses collections held in libraries, archives, museums and private hands. The Directory: Provides a national overview of rare book and special collections for those interested in seeing quickly and easily what a library holds Directs researchers to the libraries most relevant for their research Assists libraries considering acquiring new special collections to assess the value of such collections beyond the institution,showing how they fit into a ‘unique and distinctive’ model. Each entry in the Directory provides background information on the library and its purpose, full contact details, the quantity of early printed books, information about particular subject and language strengths, information about unique works and important acquisitions, descriptions of named special collections and deposited collections. Readership: Researchers, academic liaison librarians and library managers.

Books are among the most precious of our civilization's achievements, and they have been prized and collected since antiquity. It is no wonder, then, that for centuries the most painstaking care has been taken to bind books with sumptuous, finely worked materials. Now, for the first time, the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.--one of the most important repositories of rare books in the United States--presents a selection of its finest bookbindings, from the 15th century to the present.