Spanish Antiphonal Manuscript (Pre-1650 MS 209)

Recently donated by Roberta Lynn Hay, Pre-1650 MS 209 is a large and imposing addition to The Rare Book & Manuscript Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Once used for the observance of the Divine Office, this manuscript is one volume of an incomplete antiphonal of the Temporale cycle of a non-Dominican monastery […]

The New Non Solus

From 1974 to 1985, curators, librarians, and scholars at the University of Illinois collaborated on a annual journal that celebrated our special collections. Their articles brought to light discoveries, offered interesting stories behind our acquisitions, and reminded readers of the research opportunities that await them in our vaults.  The journal was called Non Solus after […]

Letter Reveals Lord North’s Apprehension Over British Defeat at Trenton, 1777

***This post was previously posted at the RBML Discoveries from the Vault website*** On the night of Monday, February 10, 1777, Lord North the British prime minister sat at his desk at 10 Downing Street and wrote a quick note to his friend and chief intelligence official, William Eden. In addition to forwarding to Eden […]

Seventeenth Century Hollar Prints Resurface

***This post was previously posted at the RBML Discoveries from the Vault website*** The famous artist and engraver Wenceslaus Hollar (Vclav Hollar in his native land), was born in Prague in 1607. While working in Cologne in May 1636 he met and entered into the service of the English diplomat Thomas Howard, the 2nd Earl […]

Lost Letter from Leopold von Ranke Found!

***This post was previously posted at the RBML Discoveries from the Vault website*** The German historian Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886) is today often regarded as the founder of the science of history as a discipline involving the use of a wide range of documents in historical research. At one time, a very interesting letter from […]

“The Humble Petition of William Andrews,” ca. 1690

***This post was previously posted at the RBML Discoveries from the Vault website*** A handwritten letter from around 1690 that has long been in the uncataloged area of The Rare Book & Manuscript Library has recently been cataloged. Though known to curators in the past, cataloger Brandy Parris came upon it again and brought it […]

The First Bible printed in the Western Hemisphere

***This post was previously posted at the RBML Discoveries from the Vault website*** Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God. Naneeswe Nukkone Testament kah wonk Wusku Testament. 2 vols. Cambridge, [Massachusetts]: Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson: 1663, 1661. [The Holy Bible: Containing The Old Testament and The New. Translated into the Indian Language, And Ordered to be Printed […]