Toppan Gift Announcement Clara and Fred Toppan Gallery AHC Librarian Honored for Distinguished Serivce, October 23, 2006 UW News Location, Hours, and Contact Staff Information Service Areas of Specialty Scope of Holdings Some Highlights in the Library Individual Collections Virtual Tour Brochure (348 k)

Location, Hours and Contact Information

The Toppan Rare Books Library is located on the second (main) floor of the American Heritage Center, Centennial Complex, University of Wyoming, Laramie. It is open Monday-Friday from 8 am to 5 pm (summer 7:30 to 4:30). (Saturday afternoons possible by appointment.) Phone: (307) 766-2565. E-mail: amlane@uwyo.edu. The Toppan Library serves as the Special Collections Library for the University of Wyoming and is sponsored by Mrs. Clara Toppan.

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Staff Information

The staff of the Toppan Library consists of one full-time curator, Anne Marie Lane, and one part-time student assistant. Ms. Lane has a master's degree in library science from the University of Arizona and  master's degree in art history from the University of Kansas.

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Service

Walk-in visitors, as well as researchers, are encouraged and everyone is welcome to look through the collection at no charge. However, as classes and presentations are sometimes held in the library, it is advisable to call ahead if you have specific needs.  Other informational needs should be addressed to the AHC Reference Services.

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Areas of Specialty

The Toppan Library is home to the University of Wyoming's rare books collection, consisting of 30,000 items. The majority of the materials are books, although there are newspapers, magazines, broadsides, illuminated manuscripts, incunabula, and other materials. Currently 4,000 items are available through the online catalog and over 10,000 items are available through a traditional card catalog search. Collecting subjects include the American West, British and American Literature, Early Exploration, Religion, Hunting and Fishing, and examples of the book arts.

• the history and literature of America (particularly the West)
  • View examples 1 | 2 | 3
• the history and literature of the British Isles and Europe
• world-wide travel and exploration
• fishing, hunting, and natural history
• books written by women authors (particularly before 1900)
• various religions
• examples of the book arts (illustration, paper, and binding)
  • View examples 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Of course, many other types are books are also present in the library; please inquire about your particular interest.

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Scope of Holdings

Approximately 30,000 items make up the collection. The vast majority are books, though some newspapers, magazines, broadsides, manuscripts, and other materials are present. 4,000 books of the Frederick W. Toppan Collection are currently available through an on-line catalog search, while other books are available through a traditional card catalog located in the Toppan Library. A cataloging project is underway to put more records on-line.

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Some Highlights in the Library

• a manuscript Pentateuch, written in Samaritan
  • View manuscript
• a clay cuneiform tablet from Mesopotamia
  • View tablet
• a papyrus fragment from an Egyptian Book of the Dead
  • View fragment
• from Siam, an accordion-fold book and a palm-leaf book
• three illuminated manuscript Korans
  • View examples 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
• several complete illuminated manuscripts from the 1400s
  • View examples 1 | 2 | 3
• two oversize Spanish choirbooks from the 1500s
• ten incunabula (early examples of printing before 1500)
  • View examples 1 | 2 | 3
• Renaissance books from the press of Aldus Manutius in Venice
• early exploration books by Captain John Smith, Sir Walter Raleigh, De Bry, Lewis and Clark, Hakluyt, Mackenzie, Parry, and Captain Cook
  • View examples 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
• seventeenth-century Puritan books printed and published by London women
  • View example
• numerous books illustrated by the humorist George Cruikshank
  • View example
• original prints (many hand-colored) in travel, Native American, natural history, and other types of books
  • View examples 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
• fine press books from the Kelmscott Press of William Morris
  • View example
• significant first editions, such as Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, 1755.
• letters from such notables as Sir Walter Scott, Sir Walter Raleigh, Teddy Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Charles M. Russell, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Henry Longfellow
  • View examples 1 | 2
• watercolor paintings hidden under the gilt fore-edges of twelve books
  • View example
• a fishing book with actual tied flies that are 100 years old
• early editions of the Book of Mormon and primers in the Deseret script
  • View examples 1 | 2
• books autographed by Amelia Earhart, Robert Frost, Henry Thoreau, Frederic Remington, Susan B. Anthony, Father De Smet, Mary Pickford, Thomas Edison, Izaak Walton, Admiral Byrd, Arthur Rackham, George Washington and other important politicians, artists, explorers, and literary figures
  • View examples 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

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Individual Collections

Much of the library houses donated material. Large named collections are kept intact:

• The Frederick Willcox Toppan Collection
• The Beatrice Beuf Collection
• The William Fitzhugh Collection
• The Lloyd Taggart Collection
• The Joseph Roebling Collection
• The Tristram and Charles Howard Colket Collection
• The Owen Wister Collection
• The Lewis Einstein Collection
• The C.C. Kuehn Collection
• The Maud Littleton Collection
• The Lewis Knapp Collection
• The Wilbur, Emma, and S.H. Knight Collection

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