Selected Highlights
The Fisher Library's book and manuscript holdings are rich and diverse, supporting research and teaching at the University of Toronto in a great number of disciplines. These pages provide a brief overview of individual items and collections, and include images and other additional information. The selection of items will change from time to time and will be augmented with audio and video, so please revisit this page.
Please click on the image to view the highlights.
Ronald Bryden and Tom Stoppard
Previous Highlights
Szyk Haggadah - This magnificent facsimile of the Szyk Haggadah, sumptuously illuminated by the renowned Polish-born artist Arthur Szyk in the 1930s. The book is a masterpiece of book production and is said to surpass the original in every way, taking advantage of every recent advance in photography, colour reproduction, papermaking and typography.
John Florio's World of Wordes - Wasted Leaves - Looks at the printer's waste found in the binding of one of the Fisher's copies of Florio's World of Wordes, an English-Italian dictionary printed in London in 1598.
Sidney Fisher Collection - Examines the Sidney Fisher copy of the 1619 edition of Ralph Brooke’s A catalogue and succession of the kings, particularly the numerous blank shields in the book that have
been handcoloured.
Charles Fothergill Papers - Charles Fothergill was a naturalist, politician, author, printer and publisher. Born at York, England, in 1782 into a prominent Quaker family, he was devoted to natural history from childhood.
Lewis Carroll Collection - The Joseph Brabant Lewis Carroll Collection, donated in 1997, is one of the finest private collections focused on Carroll to have been in private hands, and is the largest and most valuable single-author collection in the Fisher Library.
Medieval Manuscripts - The Fisher has a small but representative selection of early manuscripts, with a focus on those with significant texts, as well as manuscripts valued for their illumination and aesthetic appeal. Many of the manuscripts are viewable online - please visit our Digitized Manuscripts page.
Wenceslaus Hollar - The Fisher is the third largest repository for the artistic works of Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677). The individual prints and a selection of the books are available online in the Wenceslaus Hollar Digital Collection.
Incunabula - The library holds some two hundred books printed before 1501. These books are broadly representative of the range of early western printing.
Juvenile Drama Collection - This collection, originally gathered together by Desmond Seaton Reid, comprises more than six thousand sheets of engravings and lithographs illustrating the characters and scenery from British and some European plays between 1810 and 1940.
Thoreau MacDonald - The Fisher Library is the principal archival source for MacDonald's career as a graphic artist.
Canadian Small and Fine Press - Canada has had a flourishing private press movement since the 1930s. The Fisher has attempted to collect as many of the books, pamphlets and broadsides issued by these presses as possible.
Blaeu's Atlas Major - Joan Blaeu (1596-1673) was a Dutch cartographer who between 1638 and 1658 produced his first large atlas, commonly referred to as the Theatrum orbis or Novus Atlas. The Fisher copy of the Atlas major consists of the first volume, which is dated 1659.
Margaret Atwood Juvenilia- In 2008, the library received from Margaret Atwood a donation that offers a rare glimpse into the young mind – and the budding writing talent – of Atwood: a large collection of juvenilia.
