Through the Revolving Door: Fisher Blog

This week has been Freedom to Read Week, an annual event that is embraced by libraries and librarians across the country. There is no better environment than a library to celebrate the… Read the full post.

One of our favourite weekends of the year is coming up on Friday: the Toronto Antiquarian Book Fair. It’s an opportunity for us to reconnect with the various book sellers –… Read the full post.

Among the more impressive and unusual items in the Fisher Library’s Tennyson collection are several very large editions of Idylls of the King illustrated by Gustave Doré (1882-1883) for the publishing house of Moxon.… Read the full post.

“This book is the first one ever written about tennis.”

My ears perked up when a Fisher colleague said that sentence one morning last week in the workroom. I’m a fan of many things, but my love of the sport of tennis knows no bounds. It… Read the full post.

Happy Bloomsday! Today is the day that readers, particularly Dubliners, celebrate the work of the Irish writer James Joyce, and particularly the publication of Ulysses, often singled out as the most influential novel of the twentieth… Read the full post.

The Internet Archive Book of the Week highlights a book from the 25,000 Fisher items that are freely available on the Internet Archive. 

This week, Victoria Bowen introduces us to a book from the… Read the full post.

The Internet Archive Book of the Week, which highlights a book from 25,000 Fisher items that are freely available on the Internet Archive is back!… Read the full post.

Every November, Canada marks Remembrance Day, a solemn occasion to remember the loss, destruction and trauma wrought by war. The First World War ended 103 years ago and today there is now almost no one living with firsthand knowledge of the event… Read the full post.

The coming effects of climate change, including an increase in droughts, have inspired some to question the value of the innocent-seeming and commonplace grass lawn.… Read the full post.

One of the earliest scientific books at the Fisher Library is a 14th-century manuscript of the Elements, the famous treatise on geometry written by the Greek mathematician Euclid sometime around 300 BCE. The text of the manuscript -… Read the full post.

The history of science and medicine represents some of the core subject strengths at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, spanning across some of our largest collections. But where to begin? One great way to become more familiar with the many and… Read the full post.

This week, the Fisher celebrates Science Literacy Week with a series of blog posts that highlight materials from our collections - including, of course, from our… Read the full post.

The Classics Department Papyrus Collection held on long-term deposit at the Thomas Fisher Li-brary has a stunning array of decorated papyri from the Ptolemaic Period (305–30 BCE) of Ancient Egypt that were used for cartonnage. A process by which… Read the full post.

Each week the Fisher Library highlights an item from one of its many collections digitized online on the Internet Archive. This week, Rachael takes a look at a book from our Canadiana… Read the full post.

The Fisher's sizeable collection of over 400 fragmented Greco-Roman papyri from Egypt dating between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE is one of the library's great collections. The greater part of the library’s papyri holdings consists… Read the full post.

Each week, the Fisher Library highlights an item from one of its many collections digitized online on the Internet Archive. This week, Rachael takes a look at a book from our Biodiversity… Read the full post.

Each week, the Fisher Library highlights an item from one of its many collections that are digitized and made available through the Internet Archive. This week, Rachael takes a look at a book… Read the full post.

Sammelbands offer an interesting perspective into historical reading and collection habits. A sammelband is a collection of separately produced titled works that have been bound together into one volume. The work can be print, manuscript or a… Read the full post.

Each week the Fisher Library highlights an item from one of its many digitized collections available to all on the Internet Archive. This week, Rachael takes a look at a book from our… Read the full post.

As literacy became more widespread in England in the 1830s and 40s, printing companies began providing cheaper reading material, and a new style of print emerged. ‘Penny dreadfuls’ or ‘penny bloods’ were periodicals that were typically released… Read the full post.

Nineteenth-century Scottish physician Sophia Jex-Blake (1840-1912) devoted her life to the advancement of womens’ rights in the field of medicine. Her career and personal life reveal how the professionalization of modern medicine occurred… Read the full post.

Playbills are a form of ephemera, a printed material intended for a short duration of use. Originally used as a marketing tool for theatres and performance troupes, the earliest playbills emerged out of a tradition of oral advertising, wherein… Read the full post.

Each week, the Fisher Library highlights an item from one of its many digitized collections available to all for free on the Internet Archive. This week, Rachael takes a look at a book from… Read the full post.

Cookbooks provide suggestive instruction of necessary life skills, pertaining mostly to food preparation or cleaning. The contents of the recipes tailored to the intended reader and the title would often label this audience. Before the… Read the full post.

A reflection on a Fisher Archivist’s work-from-home projects over the past year.

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As an archivist at the Fisher Library, the recent Doors Open posts led me to reflect on the past fifteen… Read the full post.