The Alcuin Society Book Design Awards Exhibit (2013) is now up for your viewing pleasure on the third floor of The Queen Elizabeth II Library. There are a limited number of catalogues available with the exhibit—first come first served. The books will be on display until early December.

More information about the award winners here.

For his contributions to research on book publishing and on Pre-Raphaelite literature and for his continuing contributions to Memorial’s intellectual life, Dr. Roger Peattie will be recognized with an honorary doctor of laws degree during the St. John’s session of convocation on Friday, Oct. 17, at 3 p.m.

Read more about Dr. Peattie here.

Cornwall, Barry. English Songs, and Other Small Poems. London: Chapman and Hall, 1851. Pastoral fore-edge painting showing cows, horses, people and lambs.

 Moore, Thomas. Poetical Works of Thomas Moore. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1900. English ‘town square’ fore-edge painting depicting town buildings (perhaps Hight Street, Edinburgh) and a number of people, including two unfolding a piece of red fabric.

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Poetical and Dramatic Works of Coleridge. London: C. Daly, 1890. Fore-edge painting: portrait of Coleridge and a ship scene from the “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.”

This summer the Queen Elizabeth II Library is hosting a commemorative exhibition of artists’ books from the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition. The exhibition contains approximately forty-five unique or limited-edition works from ten countries. For more information about the Al-Mutanabbi Street Project please visit the organization’s website.

(above) Miriam Schaer, USA. Witness, 2012

(above) Donna Ruff, USA, Rabii, 2011

(above) Al-Mutanabbi Street Exhibit, QEII Library. Level 3.

Koran. Glasgow: David Bryce, c. 1900. (824)pp. 1.0″x 0.75″

From the collection of Hannah Rabinowitz, with her miniature bookplate to the front paste-down. Printed entirely in Arabic and representing one of the most famous of all David Bryce publications, these Korans were distributed to Muslim Ottoman soldiers fighting for the allies during World War I.

Printed on thin tissue paper, with minute headers and ornaments throughout. Re-bound in red morocco with gilt decoration to the spine, and in a matching red morocco slipcase.

The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments. Glasgow: David Bryce, (1901). 876pp. 2.0″x 1.25″

Jointly published with Henry Frowde in London. A later edition of the smallest complete bible in the world, first published in 1896, and later under various imprints.

Bound in the original limp black leather, with elaborate gilt-stamping to front panel and spine. Housed in the original metal case with a red cloth inlay to the cover that holds a magnifier.

Contains full-page illustrations of biblical scenes.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Glasgow: David Bryce, (1904). 509pp. 2.0″x 1.25.” With the additional imprint of Frederick A. Stokes of New York. One of a set of Shakespeare’s complete works issued by David Bryce and dedicated to British stage actress Ellen Terry. Bryce published a number of literary sets dedicated to Terry, and according to Bondy, these volumes are “Bryce’s greatest achievement as a leading promoter of miniature books.” With the seldom-seen original printed dust wrapper.

As Bondy notes, the type is clear and readable to the naked eye. Illustrated with a frontispiece engraving depicting a scene from the play.

The Life of General Tom Thumb. Troy, NY, Merriam, Moore & Co., (c. 1850). 64 pp. 2.0″ x 1.5″. From The Tiny Library series.

Illustrated with a black & white frontispiece. A biography of Charles Stratton, known as General Tom Thumb, intended for children. Stratton was the smallest man in the world at the time, and became a celebrity while touring the world with P. T. Barnum and performing at Barnum’s American Museum in New York City. The biography is followed by rhymes and a short moral tale. Contemporary owners’ inscriptions to front endpaper and paste-down.

Burns, Robert. Saturday Night and Other Poems. Edinburgh, Andersons, (c. 1925). x, 372pp. 2.0″ x 1.5″

Illustrated with a black & white frontispiece depicting the Cottar returning home from his day’s toil. A collection of Robert Burns’s poems, focused on the experiences of the common people, bound in red, blue, and green silk tartan. With gilt leather lettering piece on the spine. 

Twenty-four broadsides created by Richard Outram and Barbara Howard have been added to the Special Collections holdings of the Queen Elizabeth II Library’s Special Collections. These works are in addition to the holdings of the Gauntlet Press Collection and the Robert D. Denham Collection.

The Alcuin Society’s 2012 Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada have been handed out and a selection of the winning titles will be on display in the main lobby of the Queen Elizabeth II Library from Nov 13-Dec 13, 2013. More information about this year’s winners can be found on the Alcuin Society website.

Memorial University’s Queen Elizabeth II Library’s First Space Gallery is currently hosting an exhibit of printers’ marks from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The marks have been selected from the holdings of Archives and Special Collections. The exhibit runs until December, 2013.

Three display cases containing thirteen books and broadsides from the outstanding Locks’ Press (Kingston, Ontario) are on display this spring in the main lobby of the Queen Elizabeth II Library. The pieces on display are: Fame‘s Trumpet: Twenty Rhymes; Know Thyself; Poem about Nothing; Alison; Autolycus’s Song; Hymn to Hephaistos; Deor’s Lament; The Legend of St. Laura; Farewell Ungrateful Traytor; Winter; “We work in the dark…”; Svmer is Icumun In; and Ulisses and the Syren.

Medieval Manuscripts & Early Print Works at Memorial University highlights twenty-six manuscripts and print works from the holdings of Archives & Special Collections and the Centre for Newfoundland Studies.