What are Rare Books?
They are library materials that are not housed with the general collection due to their:
What kind of Rare Books are at the Southwest Collection/Special Collection Library (SWC/SCL)?
Our Rare Books collection is a unique resource among the 38,000 volumes held at SWC/SCL, providing a rich environment to foster scholarly research and other creative endeavors. Among rare and early printed books housed here, you will find illustrated or finely-bound limited editions, artists' books, manuscripts, and maps that cover:
May I request items from the Collection?
This collection is non-circulating, meaning that they are not eligible to be borrowed. You are, however, more than welcome to request materials to view in our reading room. For more information, please see our guide on requesting materials.
**Please note that materials housed in vaults are not always accessible to patrons on nights and weekends.**
Artist's Books
In this collection, each item is a work of art, not even necessarily in book form. Artists include Julie Chen, Lisa Rappoport, and Deb Rindl.
The Dr. Idris Rhea Traylor, Jr. Collection of Russian and European History and Culture
A growing collection of books collected and donated by Dr. Traylor. Topics covered include Tsarist Russian and WWII.
American & European Literature
Of the 38,000 volumes in Rare Books, more than half are literary in nature. The in-print collection of Joseph Conrad is perhaps the strongest and most complete in the world. Other authors with significant representation include John Donne, Rudyard Kipling, W. H. Auden, Walt Whitman, Marianne Moore, Kay Boyle, Arthur Schnitzler and James Dickey.
Among the highlights of the collection are a 1471 printing of the Roman author Suetonius (Suetonius Vitae XII Caesarum. Venice: Nicolaus Jensen, 1471); a 1625 Dutch prayer book manuscript (Book of Hours and Prayerbook. Eastern Netherlands: Between 1500 and 1625); and an 1896 copy of the Kelmscott Press Chaucer (Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer: Now Newly Imprinted. Printed by me William Morris at the Kelmscott Press: Finished on the 8th day of May, 1896).
Classical Greek & Roman Authors
Consisting of over 250 volumes, Rare Books’ collection of classical Roman and Greek authors includes some of Texas Tech University’s oldest texts, beginning with Jenson’s 1471 printing of Suetonius’ Life of the 12 Caesars (Vitae XII Caesarum. Venice: Nicolaus Jensen, 1471).
Rare Books’ dowsing collection is perhaps the only one of its kind located in an academic special collections. With some 150 cataloged books and periodicals, the collection is broad-based. It includes guides and other manuals written by practicing dowsers as well as material on allied subjects such as magic, parapsychology, radiesthesia, and the occult.
The Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Koger History of Science Collection, established in 1963, includes approximately 1,000 titles and 1,400 volumes. Primarily scientific literature of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, it was acquired to support the research needs of the university.
Coronelli’s 1688 Terrestrial Globe
One of only three in North America, the globe was designed and constructed in the Venetian workshop of the Franciscan Father Vincenzo Coronelli. It is likely that the 1.07 meter (3 ½ ft.) globe was paired with a celestial counterpart illustrating the night sky, but its whereabouts are currently unknown.