The Rare Books Department

Located on Level Three (L3) of the Goodhue Building.

Phone: (213) 228-7350  |  Fax: (213) 228-7239  |  E-mail (form)

Department Staff

• Virgina Loe, Department Manager (213) 228-7223

Materials & Collections

Rare books has over 16,000 volumes predominately in English and Spanish, dating from the fifteenth century. The majority of materials were published in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Core Collections

• California History
• Mexicana
• Bullfighting
• Pacific voyages
• Food and wine
• Costume
• Travel in North America, Europe and the Near East
• History of the book and printing
• Ornithology
• American Indians

Special Collections

• George Smith Biblioteca Taurina (Bullfight Collection)
• Los Angeles Public Library Archives
• WPA photographs by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston
• Tom Owen Collection of Bookplate Art
• Book Arts
• Paul Fritzche Collection of Culinary Literature

Hours of Operation

The Rare Books Department is only open by appointment. Please note that materials are not available for check-out.