Harold B. Lee Library

Archive for the “Renaissance and Reformation” Category

• Philip II letters now available online
  Posted September 22, 2009 by Maggie Gallup

  The library recently completed its newest digital project, the digitization of a collection of letters from Philip II, King of Spain, related to naval wars with France and England during the period 1592-1597. These letters were previously available in incomplete black and white facsimiles. The letters have been re-scanned in full color and [...]

• Stationers’ Company Records
  Posted August 18, 2009 by Maggie Gallup

  Special Collections recently acquired the 115-reel microfilm reproduction of the Records of the Worshipful Company of Stationers & Newspaper Makers.  The Stationers’ Company was founded in 1403 and was a major force in London’s book trade both before and long after printing technology arrived in England.  Throughout the centuries, many of London’s leading printers, publishers, [...]

• New digital collection in French history
  Posted July 22, 2009 by Maggie Gallup

  One of Special Collection’s best resources in early modern history is our French Political Pamphlets collection.  It consists of over 2,100 short works printed in France between 1550 and 1650.  These pamphlets describe and react to the social, political, religious and economic issues and events of the period, including France’s Wars of Religion, the Edict [...]

• Bastille Day
  Posted July 14, 2009 by Maggie Gallup

  Bastille Day is France’s national holiday, which commemorates the storming of the Bastille fortress by the citizens of Paris on July 14, 1789. The storming of the Bastille was the symbolic beginning of the French Revolution and the rebellion of common citizens against the nobility.
  Special Collections has a few first-hand accounts of the storming [...]

• New Reformation-era Acquisitions
  Posted April 30, 2009 by Maggie Gallup

  BYU’s Renaissance and Reformation Collection contains over 100 Martin Luther pamphlets in German and Latin, comprising letters, religious and political tracts, and sermons.  The most recent additions to this collection are:

  Luther’s “Wider den falsch genantten geystlichen stand des Bapst und der Bischoffen (Against the So-Called Spiritual Estate of the Pope and the Bishops),” a 1522 [...]

• Managing the 17th Century Household
  Posted March 23, 2009 by Maggie Gallup

  Looking for ways to live providently during tough economic times? Take the advice of this collection of six tracts printed in London in 1657 entitled, “A Way to Get Wealth.” Subtitled “six Principall Vocations, or Callings, in which every good Husband or Huswife, may lawfully employ themselves,” the tracts give advice on planting your own [...]

• Nicolaus Copernicus
  Posted November 20, 2008 by Maggie Gallup

  The Associated Press reports today that a team of Polish archaeologists and Swedish geneticists have identified the grave and remains of Nicolaus Copernicus, the astronomer who first posited that the Sun, rather than the Earth, was the center of the universe.  The Copernican system, as it is known, was a major advancement in the understanding [...]

• What can you learn from an old book?
  Posted November 6, 2008 by Maggie Gallup

  You may have wondered why the library keeps so many old books in Special Collections. One reason, of course, is because of their rarity or monetary value. But why keep old copies of works by, say, Martin Luther or Aristotle when you can get newer copies online, in your local bookstore, or the [...]

• Christopher Columbus
  Posted October 13, 2008 by Maggie Gallup

  In the United States, Columbus Day is observed on the second Monday of October to mark the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the New World in 1492. While Columbus’s legacy in the Americas is a source of dispute, his historic voyages are a popular topic for book collectors. Special Collections has a number [...]

• Rare Bibles and Bible translations
  Posted September 23, 2008 by Maggie Gallup

  Did you know that Special Collections houses hundreds of old and rare Bibles in over 50 languages? From medieval manuscripts to 19th-century missionary translations, there are hundreds of volumes containing the Bible or portions of the Biblical text in the collections. You can find many early printed Bibles in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; [...]

• Recent acquisitions
  Posted March 13, 2008 by Maggie Gallup

  This book is a catalog of the museum founded by Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680). Kircher had a wide range of interests, including antiquities, natural history, and musicology, and his private museum included numerous specimens and curiosities. Many of the items in the museum were given to Kircher by fellow members of the Jesuit order, [...]