Rare Books and Manuscripts
The Rare Book and Manuscripts Collection is a broad one, useful for both instructional and research endeavors. The collection represents the range of the written word from early manuscripts and incunabula to modern first editions and fine press books. While containing rare books of every genre, the areas of subject strength are early travel and exploration, 18th and 19th century British literature and Irish drama, Jacobite history, and the history of the book and fine presses.
Noteworthy collections include 18th century British anonymous poetical pamphlets, the Charles J. Livingood Petrarch Collection, the Enoch T. Carson Shakespeare Collection, fine press editions of William Blake, Charles Dickens first issues and editions, the Edward S. Curtis portfolios of American Indians, pochoir volumes, D.H. Lawrence correspondence, Ambrose Bierce letters, the Kalman L. Levitan and Melinda C. Wells Brown collections of miniature books, and the manuscript notebooks of Irish theatre historian William J. Lawrence.
Use OneSearch, the University of Cincinnati Libraries' online catalog to search the Archives and Rare Books Library's printed collections and a portion of rare manuscripts. To limit your search to ARB's holdings, select "Advanced Search" then click "Special Collections." Enter your search terms and once you have your results list, you can limit to your results by selecting "ARB" under Library in the menu on the left side of the screen.