Unless other specificied, all the catalogues listed below are for sale. Any questions about ordering publications from the Fisher Library should be directed to fisher.library@utoronto.ca. The reference # of the Exhibition Catalogue (listed after the price) is very important, so please quote when ordering.
'The age of guessing is passed away': An Exhibition to Mark the David Thompson Bicentennial
ISBN 0772760624, 16 pages, $5.00 | Ref. #7040
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Online exhibit: 'The age of guessing is passed away'
This celebration of the remarkable achievements of Canadian explorer, trader and cartographer David Thompson (1770-1857) forms part of the North American David Thompson Bicentennials initiative. As the institution that holds one of the primary source documents of the life of Thompson, the narrative of his 'Travels', the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library has undertaken this exhibition to commemorate not only his life, writings and works, but also the long and rich tradition from which he came-the explorers and fur traders who mapped Canada.
All in the golden afternoon
ISBN 0772760314, 108 pages, $30.00 | Ref. #7009
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Due to popular demand this catalogue is sold out
All in the golden afternoon celebrates the Library's acquisition several years ago of the Joseph Brabant Collection of Lewis Carroll and Charles L. Dodgson. The exhibition and catalogue, a collaboration between Richard Landon, and Alice Moore, one of his students, concentrates on the special strength of the Brabant Collection, its magnificent run of editions of the Alice books from 1865 until almost the end of the twentieth century. Also shown are some of the rare Dodgson material. The exhibition is arranged under seven headings: The Collector and His Collection; Mr. Dodgson and Lewis Carroll; C.L. Dodgson as Correspondent; C.L. Dodgson as Photographer; The Artists and Alice; The Hunting of the Snark and Other Poems; C.L. Dodgson as Artist; and The Works of C.L. Dodgson.
Ars medica: medical illustration through the ages
ISBN 077276056X 68 pages; $30.00 | Ref. #7035
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This exhibition commemorates the seventieth anniversary of the founding of Associated Medical Services which has done much to promote the study of the history of medicine at the University of Toronto, and was instrumental in acquiring the Jason A. Hannah Collection in the History of Medicine for the Fisher Library. Books exhibited include some stunning anatomical atlases, important medical landmarks, such as the first editions of Andreas Vesalius (1543) and Edward Jenner (1798), and other lesser known books with illustrations.
Art on the Wing: British, American and Canadian Illustrated Bird Books from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century
ISBN 0772760292, 80 pages, $10.00 | Ref. #7022
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This exhibition, curated by Joan Winearls, examines the changing styles and techniques in bird art over the last three centuries, beginning with etching and engraving, wood-engraving and lithography, and the hand-colouring of illustrations, followed by chromolithography and experiments in colour printing, up to the photo- reproduction techniques employed after the middle of this century. On display are such works as Gould's hummingbirds, Lear's toucans, Wolf's falcons and Audubon's warblers along with twentieth century works such as Fuertes' hawk, Brooks' and Shortt's ducks and Peterson's first field guide.
As the Centuries Turn
ISBN 0772760322, 68 pages, $10.00 | Ref. #7023
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As the Centuries Turn features a selection of manuscripts and printed books from the collections of the Fisher Library, exhibiting the book as it has appeared over the centenaries of the past thousand years. Beginning with a large and much worn Hebrew manuscript of the Pentateuch dating from approximately 1000, the exhibition goes on to other manuscripts of the next 300 years, including such splendid illuminated manuscripts as the Missale Pragense, produced between 1400 and 1410 in Bohemia. Early printed works include a 1498 Bible, with woodcut illustrations and initials, and a 1499 illustrated edition of Terence's Comoediae. Printed books from 1600, 1700, and 1800 include works of science, exploration, and literature. Canadian works are represented in both 1800 and 1900, including such evocative items as the McTavish, Frobisher and Co. fur trade agreement of 1800, and photographs of Dawson City at the turn of the twentieth century. The exhibition and catalogue have been a collaboration involving many of the staff of the Fisher Library.
Bibliophilia scholastica floreat: Fifty Years of Rare Books and Special Collections at the University of Toronto
ISBN 0772760551, 132 pages; $30.00 | Ref. #7033
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This exhibition, mounted to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, reveals something of the vast range and depth of holdings of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto. Divided into several sections, it features a variety of items from the library’s collections of early manuscripts and printed books, Shakespeareana, science and medical texts, Enlightenment materials, juvenile drama artifacts, Anglo-Irish literature, Canadiana, as well as the evocative artistic works of Thoreau MacDonald. In addition, the exhibition highlights the personal art of collecting as well as examples of the fine art of book binding. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue were prepared by the director of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Richard Landon.
Book History and Print Culture, ISBN 0772760365, 99 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7007
Selection from Catalogue
Due to popular demand this catalogue is sold out
This exhibition at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library was undertaken to commemorate the founding of the Collaborative Program in Book History and Print Culture, whose first classes began in September 2000. The items chosen, ranging from a 1789 B.C. Babylonian clay tablet to a manuscript of Margaret Atwood, from the collections of the Fisher Library and from the Library of Massey College, the home of the Collaborative Program, combine interesting and important titles with the many different methods used to convey their texts. The catalogue descriptions point out the physical details of each object providing the basis for an historical understanding of the book, and its role in cultural history. Prepared by a collaborative team of Sandra Alston, Anne Dondertman, Marie Korey, Richard Landon and Philip Oldfield, with contributions from Luba Frastacky, Edna Hajnal, and Jennifer Toews, the catalogue was edited by Marie Korey, Richard Landon and Philip Oldfield.
Calvin by the Book: A Literary Commemoration of the 500th Anniversary of the Birth of John Calvin, 112 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7052
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As this exhibition demonstrates, John Calvin's life and legacy can be told through books. Books shaped him and his age, and in the end he and his followers used the medium of print to bring about one of the greatest revolutions the world has ever known. Of all of the sheets of print produced by individual writers in the period from 1541 to 1565, Calvin is responsible for an astonishing 42% of the total; even the Bible only accounts for 14% of total print output during this era. As this exhibit, prepared by Pearce J. Carefoote, demonstrates, Calvin enjoys the ignominious distinction of being simultaneously one of the most honoured and vilified figures in human history – largely because of the mass of print he left behind for others to interpret and expand upon.
Canlit without Covers : Recent Acquisitions of Canadian Literary Manuscripts, ISBN 0-7727-6054-3, 16 pages, $5.00| Ref. #7032
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This summer exhibition features Canadian literary papers held by the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, including those of Margaret Atwood, Joy Fielding, Alberto Manguel and Erika Ritter. The display is divided into thematic groupings which trace the development of a text from the initial germ of an idea, to the various manuscript drafts and revisions, through the publication process, to the public reception of the work. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue were prepared by Anne Dondertman, Assistant Director of the Fisher Library.
Caterpillars and Cathedrals: The Art of Wenceslaus Hollar, 95 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7054
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The Fisher Library's outstanding collection of prints and book illustrations by printmaker Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) is highlighted in this exhibit, curated by Anne Thackeray. Printmaking reached new technical and artistic levels in the seventeeth century, and Hollar was among its most admired practitioners. His exceptionally wide range of subject matter reflects the political and religious conflicts of his times, changes in book and print culture, and the expansion of European knowledge during his lifetime.
Commentary: an exhibition of work by Sylvia Ptak, ISBN 0-7727-6049-7, 24 pages (Due to popular demand this catalogue is sold out)
In "Commentary" Toronto-based artist Sylvia Ptak creates gauze ‘texts’ inspired by items from the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library’s collection. Works in the exhibition explore the multiple meanings that texts generate. Ptak simulates script to create texts of indecipherable writing. The works are comprised of fabric ‘pages’ and interventions within texts from the library’s collection. The exhibition was prepared by Sylvia Ptak and the accompanying catalogue by Kyo Maclear and Sylvia Ptak.
Cooper & Beatty: Designers with Type, 50 pages, $20.00
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During its almost seventy years of existence, the firm of Cooper & Beatty had been prominent, first in Toronto and Ontario, and then during the 1950s and 1960s in the rest of Canada and the United States. The firm prided itself on its tradition of creative excellence; at one time or another, typography created by Cooper & Beatty craftsmen appeared in the print ads of every major advertiser in Canada. This exhibition, curated by Edna Hajnal and Richard Landon, and the heavily illustrated catalogue document some of the highlights of the firm's history, based on the records housed at the Thomas Fisher Library.
The Culture of the Book in the Scottish Enlightenment
ISBN 0772760357,160 pages, $20.00| Ref. #7008
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This exhibition at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library was devoted to the culture of the book in the Scottish Enlightenment, and was timed to coincide with the conference “Memory and Identity: Past and Present”, held jointly by the Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, and the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society. The catalogue which accompanied the exhibition consists of four essays, by Roger Emerson, Richard Sher, Stephen Brown, and Paul Wood, on various aspects of book history during the Scottish Enlightenment of the eighteenth century. The essays are supplemented by a list of the items displayed, which include, in addition to printed books and newspapers, several prints by Hogarth, glass enamel portraits by James Tassie, and a replica of the Portland Vase.
David Jones Artist & Writer
ISBN 0772760195, 56 pages, $10.00 | Ref. #7020
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This centennial exhibiton, marking one hundred years of the birth of the artist, David Jones, was curated by Professor William Blissett and Alan Horne of the University of Toronto. According to Professor Blissett, David Jones belongs to a great tradition, that of the notable artist who is also a notable writer. Profusely illustrated with woodcuts, watercolours and paintings by Jones, the exhbition documents the artist's life and works with examples from the collections of the Fisher Library and Professor Blisset's own collection.
Designer Bookbinders in North America, ISBN 0772760357, 59 pages, $30.00 | Catalogue is no longer available
The best in contemporary British bookbinding was showcased in the travelling exhibition, Designer Bookbinders in North America. Featured was the work of twenty-four Fellows and Licentiates of Designer Bookbinders, Great Britain’s principal bookbinding society and one of the foremost in the world. The forty-seven bindings featured in the exhibition confirm the great diversity and high quality of contemporary British bookbinding. Literary inspiration ranges from The Four Gospels to Unity Universe, An A-Z by Sue Doggett and Wrenching Times – Poems from “Drum Taps” by Walt Whitman.
The Discovery of Insulin at the University of Toronto: an exhibition celebrating the 75th anniversary
80 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7011 (Due to popular demand this catalogue is sold out)
This exhibition, by Katharine Martyn, tells the story of the discovery of insulin from its genesis in a note jotted down by F.G. Banting in October 1920, through the early experiments he performed with C.H. Best in the summer of 1921, the subsequent experiments to obtain a purified extract, carried out by Banting, Best and J.B. Collip, under the direction of J.J.R. Macleod, to the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine to Banting and J.J.R. Macleod in 1923.
Elegant Editions: Aspects of Victorian Book Design, ISBN 0772760144, 60 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7046
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Curated by Marie Korey of the Massey College Library, University of Toronto, this exhibition is the first extensive public presentation of the Ruari McLean Collection. Assembled by the noted British book designer and historian of printing, the McLean Collection documents the developments in colour printing, particularly in Britain, and the evolution of publisher's bookbindings, and formed the basis of his pioneering works on the subject.
Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The Natural History of Charles Darwin
ISBN 978-0-7727-6069-2, 72 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7053
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This exhibition of books and manuscripts celebrates the accomplishments of Darwin’s rare and inquisitive mind. Besides the Fisher’s own collections, several items come from the private libraries of the curator, Richard Landon, and of Toronto financier, Garrett Herman. On display are the many editions and issues of Darwin’s books that illustrate the significant textual changes made by him as his ideas developed. Important works on evolution by Darwin's predecessors, works by his scientific colleagues and many of the books resulting from the controversies surrounding the publication of Origin of Species (1859) broaden the appeal of the exhibition.
Eric Gill: His Life and Art, ISBN 0772760055, 54 pages, $20.00| Ref. #7047
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This commemoration of Gill's life and work is drawn primarily from a private collection in Toronto formed by J. Kemp Waldie, and also contains items from the Fisher Library and the Library of the University of Waterloo. It illustrates the varied aspects of Gill's career, with special emphasis on his graphic art and book illustration. The catalogue, by Alan Horne, Richard Landon, and Guy Upjohn won a first place award from the Rare Books and Manuscripts Sections of the American Library Association, and two design awards from the National Composition and Prepress Association.
Evolution of the Heart: The University Library: The First Century, 1827-1923, ISBN 0772760098, 47 pages, $10.00 | Ref. #7017
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Curated by Harold Averill of the University Archives, this exhibition celebrates the early history of the University Library, profusely illustrated with photographs and documents. Early documents detail the founding of King's College, the Library's early homes, the devastating fire of 1890 and the building of the new Library and its collections afterwards. The catalogue won a first place award from the Rare Books and Manuscripts Sections of the American Library Association.
Expectations and Experience: The World of the Medieval and Renaissance Traveller, ISBN 0772760098, 16 pages, $5.00 | Ref. #7003
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The exhibition is mounted in conjunction with a symposium sponsored by the Humanities Centre on the occasion of the 2002 Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities. It features a variety of early maps, manuscripts, and early printed books drawn from the resources of the Fisher Library and the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, and explores the theme of the cultural encounter of east and west.
Experiencing India: European Descriptions and Impressions, 1498-1898, ISBN 077276025X , 104 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7048
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The variety of European encounters with the Indian subcontinent, from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries, was the theme of this exhibition. Two things developed in the fifteenth century that frame the start of the historical period. One was printing from movable type, introduced in Europe by Johann Gutenberg in the 1450s. The other was navigation, permitting the Portuguese Bartolomeu Diaz to sail into the Indian Ocean, around the southern tip of Africa, in 1488, and another Portuguese navigator, Vasco da Gama, to reach the shores of India in 1498, exactly five hundred years ago. The ensuing record of discovery and travel, as it unfolded, was published in early European printed books that have come to be highly prized by collectors and libraries. The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library of the University of Toronto is fortunate to possess a representative range of materials, principally in English, from these four centuries.The exhibition and catalogue were by Professor Willard G. Oxtoby, Comparative Study of Religion, Trinity College, University of Toronto. The catalogue won an Honourable Mention award from the Rare Books and Manuscripts Sections of the American Library Association.
Extra muros/Intra muros: A Collaborative Exhibition of Rare Books and Special Collections at the University of Toronto, ISBN 0772760608, 126 pages, $30.00 | Ref. #7037
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Within the walls of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, there are roughly 700,000 books and many large collections of literary and historical manuscripts, including the University of Toronto Archives. It is the largest and most diverse research resource of its kind in Canada. However, without those walls, but within the University of Toronto, there are a dozen other important Special Collections departments whose resources are well known to the specialist scholars who use them, but are not, perhaps, as visible to the general university community and the citizens of Toronto. This is the first time we have attempted a joint, collaborative exhibition to display in one venue a selection of the treasures throughout the whole university.
Fifteenth Century Italian Woodcuts From the Biblioteca Classense, ISBN 0772760039, 35 pages, $5.00
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Exhibited for the first time outside Italy, this unique collection of fifteenth-century woodcuts, mostly of Italian origin, from the Biblioteca Classense, the library founded by the Camaldolese monks of Classe, the old sea-port for Ravenna, is composed of single-sheet incunables. They had originally been interleaved among the legal texts owned by the notary, Jacopo Rubieri and are for the most part, hand-coloured, single-sheet woodblock prints, although the collection also contains four engravings and one metcalcut. The catalogue, by Robin Healey, won a first place award from the Rare Books and Manuscripts Sections of the American Library Association.
From Aquinas to Atwood, ISBN 0772760462, 155 p, $20.00 | Ref. #7014
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This exhibition celebrates gifts in Italian studies to the University of Toronto Library from 1890, when the original Library and its collections were destroyed by fire, to the present day, with the University’s collections fast approaching ten million books. Most of the books in the exhibition were printed between the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, and are shown with some modern books, and with manuscripts, prints, and broadsides. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue were prepared by Robin Healey, of the Collection Development Department, Robarts Research Library.
From Cavalcanti to Calvino: 500 years of Italian editions and English translations, ISBN 0772760217, 64 pages, $20.00
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From Cavalcanti to Calvino, curated by Dr. Robin Healey, is constructed from printed books, drawn from the earliest as well as the most recent works of Italian literature and of its translators, and gathered examples both from the collections of the Thomas Fisher Library and from the Robarts Research Library, celebrating the influence of Italian literature on English literature, from the Middle Ages to the present day. The exhibition was intended as a testimony not only to the builders of the Library's collections, but also as evidence of the historical and continuing importance of Italian writing to English letters, and of Italian culture to the world.
Great and Manifold: A Celebration of the Bible in English, ISBN 978-0-7727-6105-7, 148 pages, $30.00 | Ref. #7057
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The title of this exhibition, ‘Great and Manifold’, is drawn from the opening words of the dedicatory preface of the King James Bible of 1611, which offer hearty thanks for the succession of the Stuart King to the throne of England. As important as that event was to the life of the nation, the main concern of the translators was to remind the King that the Word was still living and active, an ‘inestimable treasure which excelleth all the riches of earth’. ‘Great and manifold’ have been the ways in which the English Scriptures have appeared for almost half a millennium now – and not only the Church, but the home, law courts, theatre, and literature are the beneficiaries. The exhibition is curated by Pearce Carefoote of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library.
Hopeful Travellers - Italian Explorers, Missionaries, Merchants, and Adventurers from the Middle Ages to Modern Times, ISBN 0772760616, 152 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7039
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This exhibition is about travellers, and the exhibits are for the most part accounts of their travels. There are few restrictions: the journeys will be to anywhere in the world, at any time from the thirteenth to the twentieth centuries. Some of the books and maps were published as recently as this century, others were first printed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The travellers’ tales were most often written down by the travellers themselves, or perhaps dictated to amanuenses, soon after their return. Not all are truthful, though most claim to be. One restriction is self-evident: for the journeys to have been recorded at all they must have been at least partly successful. The second restriction is more interesting: each of the explorers and cartographers is Italian, and they are all men — for the cultures of the times, even into the twentieth century, excluded Italian women from such ventures. But these were Italians who, though living at the centre of the Mediterranean region, with opportunities for trade, profit, and God’s work close by on every side, chose to cross the deserts, the oceans, and the mountains. Suffice to say that they did, and the world was changed, and they were rewarded.
How Beautiful My Brethren and Sistren: Derek Walcott, Life and Work, ISBN 978-0-7727-6106-4; 32 pages, $15.00 | Ref. #7058
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Widely recognized as one of the finest poets working in the English language today, Derek Walcott received the 1992 Nobel Prize for Literature for his entire body of work, and specifically for his epic poem, Omeros. The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library first acquired a significant portion of the literary papers of Derek Walcott in 1997, comprised of his poetry, plays, storyboards, drawings, sketches and prose primarily from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s. This exhibition highlights a broad selection of original archival material, from O Babylon! to Omeros, as well as other aspects of his life and work, including his painting and drawing. The exhibition and catalogue were prepared by Fisher Librarian, Jennifer Toews.
How Does My Garden Grow: The Education of a Gardener, ISBN 978-0-7727-6108-8; 122 pages, $25.00 | Ref. #7060
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Drawing on the rich printed and manuscript resources of the Fisher Library, this exhibition - whose title makes reference to Russell Page’s The Education of a Gardener - approaches horticultural history from the particular viewpoint of how people learn to cultivate plants – both historically and as individual gardeners today. While the main focus is on historical material, the sections also make reference to modern examples, both British and Canadian, thereby demonstrating that all these modes of learning are as relevant today as they were in the past, and all have as their basis the love of plants and the universal human pleasure we take from them. The exhibition and catalogue were prepared by the Fisher Library's Anne Dondertman.
Humane Letters: Bruce Rogers - Designer of Books and Artist, ISBN 0772760630, 114 pages, $30.00 | Ref. #7041Order Catalogue
Bruce Rogers (1870-1957) designed about five hundred books between 1892 and 1957. To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of this great artisan’s death, the Fisher Library is proud to present not only Rogers’ prized ‘Thirty’, but a selection of his other works dating from the end of the nineteenth century through to the middle of the twentieth century. Thomas Schweitzer has provided a solid foundation for the Bruce Rogers collection at the Fisher, upon which the library has built, as recently as 2007 with the addition of Rogers’ masterpiece, the great Oxford Lectern Bible of 1935. His books have been consistently praised for their simplicity of design and elegance of execution.
A Hundred Years of Philosophy from the Slater and Walsh Collections, ISBN 978-0-7727-6064-7, 147 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7042
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This exhibition and catalogue bring together the concerted practical efforts of two philosophers, John Slater and Michael Walsh. In this exhibition, members of the public can see and reflect on the fruits of latter days and the busiest century of philosophical speculation. This exhibition is also a tribute to the bibliophilical exertions of two of the Fisher Library’s most important donors.
In Honour of our Friends, ISBN 0772760306, 72 pages, $10.00 | Ref. #7027
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In Honour of Our Friends is an exhibition celebrating four years of gifts to the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, organized around a number of themes and subject areas, reflecting some outstanding new collections which have been recently established, as well as highlighting gifts which build on the Library's already established strengths in various disciplines. The chosen themes are: Hebraica (a new area of strength for this Library); Early Printed Books; Arts of the Book; the History of Science and Medicine; Exploration and Travel; English and American Literature (showing examples from several new author collections); and Canadiana. Included, among many other treasures, are: a fragment of the Mishnah written sometime from the ninth to the eleventh century; because the colophon is damaged the date cannot be accurately deciphered; an unsigned letter that could be in the hand of Galileo, written in 1633 while he was awaiting trial on a charge of heresy; and a proof copy of Robert Service's Songs of a Sourdough (1907).
In Memoriam: Ralph Stanton, ISBN 978-0-7727-6107-1; 48 pages, $12 | Ref. #7059
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Ralph Stanton was a professor of mathematics at several Canadian universities. He was also an avid book collector, and without question he has been the single most prolific donor to the Fisher Library. Beginning with his first donation, a two-volume set of the 1587 edition of Holinshed's Chronicles in 1986, hundreds of volumes have been arriving annually from Winnipeg right up to the time of his passing in 2010. His collection of French literature, particularly seventeenth- and eighteenth-century drama, is especially strong, and the Fisher now boasts comprehensive collections of most of the significant French playwrights of the Classical period. Professor Stanton has also donated a number of incunables and early printed books, many of which were exhibited. This exhibit was curated by Philip Oldfield, Pearce Carefoote and Luba Frastacky.
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In Retrospect: Designer Bookbindings by Michael Wilcox, ISBN 0772760284, 70 pages, $30.00 | Ref. #7006Order CatalogueMichael Wilcox is a master bookbinder who began his career in the English trade bindery in 1955. Now an internationally renowned binder whose works are found in many North American libraries, he has selected the twenty-two bindings that are currently on display in the Fisher Library. In the words of Richard Landon, director of the Fisher Library, the exhibition demonstrates "the marriage of inspired art with impeccable craftsmanship". The Library has brought together examples from its own collections and from many other North American libraries, including the National Library of Canada, Bridwell Library, Southern Methodist University, the Lilly Library, the Grolier Club and a number of private collections, including the binder's own.
J.B. Tyrrell: Explorer and Adventurer: the Geological Survey years, 1881-1898, ISBN 077276011X, 72 pages, $10.00 | Ref. #7019
{C}{C}Digitized material from the Tyrrell Collection/Order Catalogue
This exhibition celebrates the hundredth anniversary of the amazing expedition across the Barren Lands of J. B. Tyrrell, geologist, engineer, businessman, palaeontologist, and historian and his small group of fellow explorers for the Geological Survey of Canada. Tyrrell joined the Geological Survey in 1881, going on his first field survey to the Rocky Mountains, with George Mercer Dawson in 1883. He discovered dinosaur remains in Alberta, explored Manitoba from 1887 to 1891. Lake Athabasca and then the Canadian North, in several trips to the Barren Lands in 1893 and 1894. The materials on display were selected by Katharine Martyn, curator of the exhibition, from the huge collection of papers and other materials Tyrrell left as a bequest to the University of Toronto Library.
Leaves of enchantment, Bones of inspiration: The dawn of Chinese Studies in Canada
ISBN 978-0-7727-6082-1; 112 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7055
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This exhibition highlighted the Eternal City as a prime destination for travellers. For centuries, Rome has attracted visitors from all walks of life ranging from religious pilgrims and young men taking the Grand Tour to architects, exiles and poets. The city's richness and continual self-renewal have ensured that Rome takes on new features for each generation of visitors. This is evident in the varied selection of material on display which included early pilgrimage guides from the sixteenth century, travel accounts and phrase-books published in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and view books and publishers' guides from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue were prepared by guest curator Amy Marshall of the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Literary Forgeries & Mystifications, ISBN 0772760284, 79 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7013
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Produced to celebrate and honour the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section Pre-Conference held in Toronto 17 to 20 June 2003, on the theme "TRUE/FALSE: Facsimiles, Fakes, Forgeries, and Issues of Authenticity in Special Collections" the exhibition covers various aspects of literary forgery (and one 'real' forgery) from Richard Bentley and the Epistles of Phalaris to the inventions of Thomas J. Wise and Harry Buxton Forman.The exhibition and accompanying catalogue were prepared by Richard Landon, of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library.
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Mirabilia Urbis Romae
ISBN 077276039X, 103 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7004
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This exhibition highlighted the Eternal City as a prime destination for travellers. For centuries, Rome has attracted visitors from all walks of life ranging from religious pilgrims and young men taking the Grand Tour to architects, exiles and poets. The city's richness and continual self-renewal have ensured that Rome takes on new features for each generation of visitors. This is evident in the varied selection of material on display which included early pilgrimage guides from the sixteenth century, travel accounts and phrase-books published in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and view books and publishers' guides from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue were prepared by guest curator Amy Marshall of the Art Gallery of Ontario.
{C}{C}{C}{C}Maximum Imaginativeness: an exhibition on modern Czech book design (1900-1950)
ISBN: 978-0-7727-6116-3 (paperback) | 120 pages | $25.00 | Ref. 7072
The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library holds some of the finest examples of modern Czech book design and illustration. This exhibition featured a display of books and journals published from the turn of the nineteenth century to the late 1940s, with examples ranging from the book beautiful (bibliophile) movement whose aesthetic principles were advanced by graphic artists Zdenka Braunerová, Vojtěch Preissig, František Kupka, and František Kobliha, to works by avant-garde artists and writers centered around the literary association Devětsil, including Karel Teige, Vítězslav Nezval, Jaroslav Seifert, and Toyen. Also covered are the various movements associated with this period, such as Symbolism, Decadence, Cubism, Constructivism, Poetism, and Surrealism. The exhibition focused on the development of book design in twentieth-century Czechoslovakia, primarily in Prague, and illustrated the developments in machine type, graphic design, book covers and binding, photomontage, and collage.
This exhibition was curated by Ksenya Kiebuzinski, Head, Petro Jacyk Central & East European Resource Centre
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Nihil Obstat, ISBN 0772760519, 112 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7031
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This exhibition of banned, censored, and challenged books places censorship in the West within the historical context of the last five hundred years. Essentially it asks visitors to imagine what their world would look like today if these texts had been successfully suppressed by legitimate authorities. The books on display fall into six basic categories: religion, science, philosophy, politics, literature, and works either by Canadians, or challenged by the Canadian government. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue were prepared by Pearce Carefoote, of the Fisher Library, The illustrated catalogue includes prefaces written by Alberto Manguel and Richard Landon, Director of the Library and was designed by Stan Bevington, and printed by Coach House Press.
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NOW and the '80s : A Photographic Exhibition
ISBN 0772760500, 80 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7030
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This exhibition highlights the original photographic images used in the pages of NOW Magazine, and currently housed in the NOW Magazine Collection in Media Commons, University of Toronto Library. Focussing on the decade of the 1980s, the array of images revisits some of the more striking, humorous, insightful, aesthetically appealing and historically important moments in the fields of popular music, art, theatre, cinema, fashion, politics and protest.
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Philosophy & Bibliophily
ISBN 0-7727-6047-0, 128 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7028
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This exhibition introduces the philosophy collection of Michael and Virginia Walsh, their gift to the University of Toronto Library. The books on display were printed between the fifteenth and the twentieth centuries, and are shown with numerous artworks on loan from the Walsh family. The collection itself covers the broad scope of philosophical pursuits, from the Platonists to the Scholastics, the Cartesians, Humanists, Logical Positivists, to the Empiricists of the twentieth century. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue were prepared by Michael Walsh.
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Please, Sir, I want Some More. Being an Exhibition of the Works of Boz, and Containing Some Account of His Trials and Tribulations with Publishers and Illustrators, His Sojourn in the Far-Flung Colony of Canada, and Sundry Descriptions of His Books
ISBN 0772760101, 69 pages, $15.00 | Ref. #7018
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Mounted in recognition of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Charles Dickens' visit to Canada, the exhibition illustrates items from the collection of the Toronto bibliophile, Dan Calinescu. Profusely illustrated, the catalogue, by Dan Calinescu and Richard Landon, contains chapters on "Dickens and America", "Dickens and his Publishers", "Dickens and his Illustrators", and examinations of his major and minor works.
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Plotting the Oceans: Dutch Sea Atlases of the Seventeenth Century
ISBN 0772760330, 16 pages, $5.00 | Ref. #7001
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Plotting the Oceans: Dutch Sea Atlases of the Seventeenth Century features a selection of hand-coloured sea charts from the golden age of Dutch cartography - the Fisher Library copies of the 1666 sea atlas of Hendrik Doncker and the 1686 atlas of Jacobus Robijn. The exhibition, by Anne Dondertman, begins with a brief look at the Mediterranean manuscript chart tradition and gives an overview of the evolution of navigational charts, placing the Dutch chart trade in the context of the age of discovery and exploration. The exhibition then continues with examples from the Doncker and Robijn atlases, often showing charts of the same area from the two atlases side by side in order to compare and contrast their portrayal of the area, as well as to point out relevant facts of their publishing history.
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Printed Ephemera : Memories from a Vanished Past,
ISBN 0772760101, 20 pages, $5.00 | Ref. #7005
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This exhibition demonstrated the pervasiveness of print within the culture of everyday life from the nineteenth century to the present. On display were a great variety of examples of printed ephemera, from early forms such as the broadside proclamation and broadside ballad, to the trade cards, invitations, programs, postcards, business forms, stationery, guidebooks, posters and printed advertisements of the recent past.
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Pungent Personalities, ISBN 0772760594, 22 pages, $6.00 | Ref. #7036
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This exhibition reveals a hidden archival treasure – a collection of nearly 200 caricatures created by the renowned Canadian painter and Group of Seven artist, Arthur Lismer. The artworks were executed by Lismer primarily while spending time with his friends at The Arts & Letters Club of Toronto during the period 1922-1943. They document an especially vital period in Canada’s cultural history, when the club was a favourite meeting place for members of the artistic community. The club maintains sixty-three of these works in its archives, while the balance can be found in the first two volumes of the Club Scrapbook, which is on deposit at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library.
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Queer CanLit: Canadian, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Literature in English, ISBN 978-0-7727-6065-4, 64 pages, $25.00 | Ref. #7043
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Queer CanLit includes poetry, fiction, drama, 'zines, photos, and artwork, celebrating a rich history across the twentieth and into the twenty-first centuries with materials drawn from the Fisher collection, the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, the Robert Giard Foundation, and private collections. It includes materials from such writers as Marie-Claire Blais, Dionne Brand, Nicole Brossard, Timothy Findley, John Herbert, Tomson Highway, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Sinclair Ross, Shyam Selvadurai, and Michel Tremblay.
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Radicals and Revolutionaries: The History of Canadian Communism from the Robert S. Kenny Collection, ISBN 0772760268 , 67 pages, $5.00 | Ref. #7012
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Radicals and Revolutionaries explores a significant yet neglected area in Canadian history-the experiences of the radical workers' movement and the Communist Party of Canada. Although a minority current on the Canadian political scene, at key points the radical movement posed a pointed challenge to the established order. Within that section of the socialist movement which openly identified itself as revolutionary, the CPC clearly predominated. It was instrumental in building the industrial union movement and played a key role in many of the major strikes of this century. In the social upheavals of the 1930s and 1940s, its influence extended far beyond its numbers. The exhibition and catalogue are by guest curator, Sean Purdy, a Queen's University historian, and includes a brief biographical sketch of Robert S. Kenny by Tom Reid. The catalogue won a first place award from the Rare Books and Manuscripts Sections of the American Library Association.
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'so precious a foundation' the Library of Leander Van Ess at the Burke Library of Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
ISBN 0910672172, 386 pages, $50.00
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In 1838 the New-York Theological Seminary (soon to be renamed Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York) bought the library of the German priest, scholar and biblical translator, Leander va Ess (1772-1847). Estimated at nearly 14,000 items, it was a veritable cornucopia of theological literature: 37 manuscripts, over 500 incunabula, Bibles in many languages and versions, and works on the major subjects of theology (church history, canon law, pastoralia, liturgics, etc.) The sixteenth-century imprints may be the richest section of the library, and the collection is remarkable for its holdings in the writings of the Reformers, especially if one recalls that it was put together by a Roman Catholic priest. This exhibition of books from Leander van Ess's library comes from the Bur Library at Union Theological Seminary. It was conceived and prepared by the director, Milton McC. Gatch.
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The Stuff dreams are made of: the Art and Design of Frederick and Louise Coates, ISBN 0772760241 , 79 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7034
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Presenting a record of the lives and artistic accomplishments of Fred Coates (1890-1965) and Louise Brown Coates (1889-1975), this exhibition rediscovers the art and design of Fred and Louise Coates for another generation of Canadians. It evokes a period when the Arts and Crafts movement not only influenced their art but also permeated all aspects of their lives. Their impressive house on Chine Drive was built in the Arts and Crafts tradition and stands today as a fine example of that tradition. Pictures of the artists at work, the construction of their home, Sherwood, and the costume soirees held in Sherwood, convey lasting impressions of their lives and, more generally, an artist's lifestyle in Toronto between the two World Wars. The exhibition also documents their artistic achievements with designs for architecture, graphics, theatre sets and costumes, and it includes watercolours, drawings, photographs and objects illustrating these designers' long and varied careers. The exhibition curator was Paul Makovsky, assisted by Hrag Vartanian and Harold Averill, Assistant University Archivist.
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The Telling Line: Image and Text in Twentieth Century Britain, ISBN 0772760128, 82 pages, $20.00
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This exhibition demonstrated the pervasiveness of print within the culture of everyday life from the nineteenth century to the present. On display were a great variety of examples of printed ephemera, from early forms such as the broadside proclamation and broadside ballad, to the trade cards, invitations, programs, postcards, business forms, stationery, guidebooks, posters and printed advertisements of the recent past.
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Tending the Young: From the T.G.H. Collection on the History of Paediatrics An exhibition held at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
ISBN 0772760233, 88 pages, $10.00 | Ref. #7021
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The purpose of this exhibition, curated by Philip Oldfield, was to pay tribute to Dr. Drake as a book collector and historian of pædiatrics, and to display some of the most significant works from his outstanding collection. The T.G.H. Drake Collection is one of the most comprehensive libraries on the history of pædiatrics in the world. Consisting of approximately 1500 printed books and pamphlets, it is particularly rich in pre-1800 imprints, and includes five incunabula. Among the fifty or so sixteenth-century works are early printings of the writings of the ancient medical authorities (Hippocrates, Celsus, Galen), of the mediæval physicians of Byzantium (Oribasius, Ætius, Paul of Ægineta), and of the Islamic lands (Rhazes, Avicenna, Avenzoar). The Collection also boasts the first works on pædiatrics printed in German (Metlinger), English (Rhösslin, Phaer), French (Vallambert), and Dutch (Blankaart). Other major landmarks of pædiatrics, often in several editions, are also to be found in the Collection. The literature devoted to rickets from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is especially rich. The lengthy debate on inoculation against smallpox in the eighteenth century, leading up to Edward Jenner's development of the technique of vaccination, is well documented. There are also important clinical accounts, many of them first descriptions, of such infant diseases as whooping-cough, chicken-pox, diphtheria, meningitis, mumps, and poliomyelitis.
{C}{C}{C}{C}Through Foreign Latitudes and Unknown Tomorrows: 300 Years of Ukrainian Émigré Political Culture, ISBN 978-0-7727-6083-8, 104 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7056
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The year 2010 held special significance for Ukrainian studies worldwide and for here at the University. It marked the 300th anniversary of the Constitution of Bendery - the first constitutional document in Ukrainian history, which was adopted in 1710 by émigré followers of Hetman Ivan Mazepa. The year also is the 30th anniversary of the appointment of the first Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto, and 22 October marks the date when the inaugural lecture of the Chair was delivered. Emigres from the territory of present-day Ukraine have made important contributions to Ukrainian political thought and national consciousness for the past three hundred years. The exhibition, curated by Ksenya Kiebuzinski, Head, Petro Jacyk Central and East European Resource Centre, drew upon the Fisher Library's collections of Ucrainica - books, maps, documents, photographs, etc. - to situate Ukraine, to illustrate the diversity of its peoples, and to show the depth of Ukrainian political activity abroad.
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Toronto in Print: A Celebration of 200 Years of the Printing Press in Toronto, 1798-1998
ISBN 0772760276, 112 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7010
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Toronto's first printing press was brought by boat from Niagara in September 1798. This exhibition, curated by Sandra Alston and Patricia Fleming surveys the consequences of that event in the life of the city and its inhabitants, from the regulations printed in 1798 for settlers along Yonge Street to a literary CD-ROM published in 1998. Handbills, pamphlets, books, serials, posters, comics, letterheads, catalogues, sheet music and more chronicle the people of Toronto as readers and writers, at work and at play, and demonstrate the central role of the printing trades in politics, economics, and culture. The catalogue won a first place award from the Alcuin Society, and an Honourable Mention award from the Rare Books and Manuscripts Sections of the American Library Association.
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The University of Toronto: Snapshots of its History, ISBN 077176042X , 40 pages, $5.00 | Ref. #7002
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Based primarily on items in the University of Toronto Archives, this exhibition, by Harold Averill, was part of the University's 175th anniversary celebrations. Designed to complement Martin Friedland's University of Toronto: a history, it was a selective look at eight different areas of University's past. They are: King's College, the building of University College, the professoriate 'at play' in the 19th century, students in the Victorian era, research and new academic programmes before 1950, athletics, theatre on campus, and the impact of the 1960s. These themes were illustrated with a wide range of documents, drawings, photographs, posters, maps, works of art and artifacts, some of which have never been displayed publicly before.
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Vizetelly & Compan(ies): A Complex Tale of Victorian Printing and Publishing
ISBN 0772760276, 139 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7001
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This exhibition traces the careers of James Vizetelly (1817-1897) and his brother Henry Vizetelly (1820-1894), as printers and engravers, and occasionally publishers in the 1840s and 1850s. The firm started as Vizetelly & Company in 1838 and changed its name to Vizetelly Brothers & Company when Henry became a partner in 1842. Following a dispute, the partnership was ended about 1850. After this date, James Vizetelly used the original firm name, while Henry operated under his own name. Both brothers were involved in the development of pictorial journalism, at times producing work for The Illustrated London News, but also as founders of The Pictorial Times and other journals. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue were prepared by Marie Korey (Massey College), Richard Landon (Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library) and Yannick Portebois and Dorothy E.Speirs (French Studies, University of Toronto).
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Werner Pfeiffer (censor, villain, provocateur, experimenter): Book-Objects & Artist Books, 68 pages; $20.00 | Ref. #7051
This exhibition, the first travelling exhibit of the artist books and book-objects of Werner Pfeiffer, features 39 objects made by Pfeiffer using real books. He has "silenced" the books by gluing the pages together, while also adding ropes, nails, clamps and hooks. The intention is to comment on censorship and to provoke reactions from his audience. The exhibition also includes 8 of Pfeiffer’s artist books, a genre loosely defined as books wholly conceived of and produced as the vision of a single artist.
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Where Duty Leads: Canada in the First World War, ISBN 978-0-7727-6066-1, 128 pages, $20.00 | Ref. #7044
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This is an exhibition about the men and women who answered their country's call when war was declared in August 1914. It brings together a range of material - photographs, histories, poetry, memoirs, letters, government-issued posters, official documents, literature of the training camps and of the trenches - that highlight different aspects of this response. These printed items and artifacts are poignant reminders of a period when the sacrifice, courage and determination of Canadians so strongly shaped our nation's history.