Syracuse Rare Books

My seven days in Syracuse were very busy and productive, so much so that I am only now getting around to providing you, good reader, with the highlights from the trip.

For me, the highlight of all the class experiences was the rare books presentation. Dr. Lavender took us through the history of the book by showing us actual examples of the changing nature of books over time.

We started off with a small cuneiform tablet from Nineveh, approximately four thousand years old. Next was the development of paper - he showed us a piece of papyrus from the reign of Cleopatra, about two thousand years ago. Next were handmade manuscripts from the middle ages. I found these manuscripts to be most impressive. You might have seen illuminated manuscripts online, but those images do not portray the three-dimensionality of the images on the actual page. After nearly six hundred years, the script and accompanying images have an amazing amount of color and contrast.

We moved on to the intersection of the middle ages and the renaissance. The book example of this was a printed book on medical botany - one that included Unicorns. We also saw Galileo’s book, the first movable book (Arien’s Cosmography), as well as a book from Elizabeth I’s library.

As a student of library science, I loved seeing where we “came from.” For me, it helps to put the “what’s next” in context, and will help me to make better choices as a librarian.

- Jason Dean