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  • Sunday, April 21, 7-10 a.m.: library catalog, user accounts, e-media will be unavailable

LAPL Blog

rare books department

Book artist Tia Blassingame and her art books, Black: A Handbook and African American: A Handbook
The Blassingame Handbooks: Imagined Futures, Dreams and Wishes From the Past
Angela B. Charles, April 17, 2024

"Art is humanity’s greatest tool for insight."

Rare Books Department
In the Rare Books room, rare books are set on top a white cloth over a table for a preview.
Lost and Found in Rare Books
Juan Avalos, October 12, 2022

There is something special about visiting the library and losing yourself in a good book. It can become more special when you find a surprise inside that book. An item meant to be forgotten, found again and given new meaning.

Rare Books Department
Joyce with Sylvia Beach at 12 rue de l’Odéon - 1922 known by the “Scandal of Ulysses” poster. unknown photographer; source: The Poetry Collection of the University Libraries, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Sylvia Beach, the Dreamer Who Drove the Publication of "Ulysses"
Ani Boyadjian, June 14, 2022

June 16 marks Bloomsday, a day of celebration in honor of Irish writer James Joyce’s seminal novel Ulysses (1922).

Rare Books Department
Medieval Manuscript
A Medieval Manuscript in the Rare Books Collection
Emma Roberts, February 15, 2013

Many visitors to Central Library are curious to know what the oldest book in our collection might be. In recent months we have been fortunate enough to find out a great deal of new information about a very special item in our Rare Books collection.

Rare Books Department

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