University of Illinois RBML

Shelfmarks:
The Delafield affair (1909) by Florence Finch Kelly - Baym 813 K29d
Adele Doring on a ranch (1920) by Grace May North - Baym 813 N8113a
The biography of a prairie girl (1902) by Eleanor Gates - Baym 813 G224b
The giants (1905) by Mrs. Fremont Older - Baym 813 Oℓ17g

Baym was an English professor at Illinois who amassed an 800 volume collection on the female perspective of the American West. Baym was dedicated to recovering the voices of these 19th- and 20th-century women writers, ensuring that their significant literary contributions are recognized.

Color illustration from "The Delafield Affair" featuring a man and woman on horseback in the American West, with the caption "It had come, this question she had not meant to let him ask."

Cover for "Adele Doring on a Ranch" by Grace May North, featuring a woman wearing a cowboy hat riding on a horse with cacti in the background.

Cover for "The Biography of a Prairie Girl" by Eleanor Gates, featuring a white flower and green leaves.

Cover for "The Giants" by Mrs. Fremont Older, featuring an oil rig with flames coming out of the top.

In honor of Women's History Month, we are highlighting materials from the Nina Baym Western Women Writers Collection, which includes Western novels (many of which feature female protagonists), memoirs, and scholarship on women in the American West.

This talk was recorded and will be posted on our YouTube channel in the coming weeks!

"Dr. Elias Petrou. The Evolution of the Greek Book: From Byzantine Manuscripts to Renaissance Incunabula. Thursday, February 26, 3-5 pm in the RBML. Learn about the evolution and transmission of the Greek book from East to West, and how this inherited book culture was transformed through the new technology of print. This talk is free and open to all audiences!"

Join us on Thursday, February 26 from 3-5 pm for a talk by Dr. Elias Petrou (Literatures and Languages Library), titled "The Evolution of the Greek Book: From Byzantine Manuscripts to Renaissance Incunabula."

This event is free and all are welcome. Refreshments will be served.

This item is one of many gorgeous botanical texts housed at RBML, and as spring approaches we encourage you to come by and take a look!

Shelfmark:
Exactissima descriptio rariorum quarundam plantarum (1625) - IUQ05097

The book contains 16 chapters that each cover a different plant, including information about medicinal and culinary properties and engravings. Pictured here are the Hyivcca canedana and two states of the Flores Maracot.

Book open to display the chapter on "Hyivcca canedana" on the right page, and an illustration of the plant on the left.

Left: single page with an illustration of a flowering plant with the label "Flores Maracot." Right: single page with an illustration of a fruiting plant labeled "Flores Maracot."

Exactissima (1625), by Italian physicist and botanist Petrus Castelli, is one of RBML's oldest illustrated botanical texts. Featuring beautiful woodcuts and plate engravings of exotic plants, it is more than just a scientific textbook. 🌸

Shelfmark:
Lithographic reproductions of war horses of the Tang Dynasty (19--?) - F. 709.51 L713

Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is a time for gathering with family and welcoming an auspicious start to the new year. A wide variety of customs are celebrated by cultures across Asia and diaspora communities.

How will you be celebrating Lunar New Year? 🐎

Taizong commissioned six large stone panels to commemorate the warhorses he rode during his military campaigns. The reliefs of the “Six Steeds” were located at his mausoleum in Shaanxi, China, for centuries, and those depicted here are now at the Beilin Museum in Xi’an.

Close-up of a black-and-white lithograph of a galloping horse wearing a saddle and bridle.

Black-and-white lithograph of a standing horse wearing a saddle and bridle.

Black-and-white lithograph of a galloping horse wearing a saddle and bridle that has been struck with five arrows.

Happy Lunar New Year! 🌑✨

To celebrate the Year of the Horse, we are featuring four images of horses from the tomb of Tang-dynasty Chinese emperor 太宗 Taizong (r. 626-649 AD). These lithographic reproductions, however, were created in the 20th century.

@illinoisrbml.bsky.social on the road!

Shelfmarks:
"Whooping Crane" drawing by John James Audubon - X 598.2 AU21840
Twenty love poems and a song of despair (1969) by Pablo Neruda - Broomfield 0115
Never Been Kissed press kit - MSS00030, Box 21, Item 1574

Photorealistic color drawing of a Whooping Crane.

Book cover for Twenty Love Poems and A Song of Despair (1969) by Pablo Neruda.

Press kit images for Never Been Kissed (1999) starring Drew Barrymore.

Happy Valentine's Day! ❤️

Love can be found in all corners of RBML's collections, from drawings of birds that mate for life to collections of love poems to rom-com press kits and more!

In his lecture, Dr. Petrou will explore the evolution and transmission of the Greek book from East to West, the preservation and transmission of classical Greek knowledge through manuscripts, and how this inherited book culture was transformed through the new technology of print.

"Dr. Elias Petrou. The Evolution of the Greek Book: From Byzantine Manuscripts to Renaissance Incunabula. Thursday, February 26, 3-5 pm in the RBML. Learn about the evolution and transmission of the Greek book from East to West, and how this inherited book culture was transformed through the new technology of print. This talk is free and open to all audiences!"

Join us on Thursday, February 26 from 3-5 pm for a talk by Dr. Elias Petrou (Literatures and Languages Library), titled "The Evolution of the Greek Book: From Byzantine Manuscripts to Renaissance Incunabula."

This event is free and all are welcome. Refreshments will be served.

Shelfmarks:
Broadside Press storefront negative (circa 1975) - Gwendolyn Brooks collection, Box 334, Folder 3a
"All of us are all of us" (1974) by Lucille Clifton - Q. 811.08 B78 no.81
Broadside memories: Poets I have known (1975) by Dudley Randall - Modern Poetry Q. 928.1 R15b

Broadside Press initially sought to republish, distribute, and promote the poetry of established Black poets, but soon broadened its focus to also feature works by emerging Black writers and artists, making it a remarkable vehicle for the Black Arts Movement.

Photo of the Broadside Press storefront with a 10th Anniversary book display.

Broadside Series No. 81: "All of Us Are All of Us" by Lucille Clifton.

Page from Broadside Memories highlighting Dudley Randall with text titled "Broadside Press: A Personal Chronicle..."

Page from Broadside Memories featuring an advertisement for Lotus Press.

In honor of Black History Month, we’re highlighting some of our Broadside Press materials! Broadside Press (now Broadside Lotus Press) is a Detroit-based publisher of Black poets and writers founded in 1965 by poet-librarian Dudley Randall.

Shelfmarks:
Le dignità de' consoli, e de gl'imperadori (1561) - Baldwin 2666
The graded-school first-fifth reader (1875) - TEXT. 428.6 VANBR1875 v.4
Excerpta quaedam ex Luciani Samosatensis operibus (1757) - Baldwin 0653
The third reader (1877) - TEXT. 428.2 AMBO1877

Other curses explicated non-religious consequences that were instead more physically harmful. The tradition continued into the early printing period, with book curses often written on the front endpapers or at the end of the book, near the colophon.

Image of the bottom half of a page with a handwritten book curse in Latin.

Close-up image of a page with a handwritten book curse that reads: "Do not steal this book, my honest friend for fear the gallos [sic] might be your end..."

Close-up image of a page with a handwritten book curse that reads: "Steal not this book for fear of shame for under wrath the synear's name."

Close-up image of a page with a handwritten book curse that reads: "Don't steal this book or you will catch it from the owner. I wrote this you don't know who."

Curses upon ye! How does a book owner stop thieves from stealing their books? Well, in the medieval period, one popular method to discourage thievery was book curses. These curses often threatened that excommunication or anathema (a formal curse from the church) would befall the thief.

Dr. Thomas will explore visual representations of the Middle Passage in children’s picture books and comics, re-envisioning the slave ship as a metaphorical floating “dark forest.”

This event is free and all are welcome. Please sign up to receive the Zoom link at go.illinois.edu/DarkForest.

Graphic with text: "RBML presents a virtual talk by Dr. Ebony Elizabeth Thomas. 'Into the Dark Forest: Exploring Textual Representations of Enslavement in Children's Books and Comics.' Wednesday, January 28, 7:00 pm Central. Screenshot and click the QR or register at go.illinois.edu/DarkForest to receive the Zoom link. This program is free and all are welcome to attend!"

Join us virtually on Wednesday, January 28 from 7-8 pm for a talk by Dr. Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, titled "Into the Dark Forest: Exploring Textual Representations of Enslavement in Children's Books and Comics."

Shelfmarks:
Martin Luther King, Jr. letter (1957) - Post-1650 MS 0366
“Selected quotations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” by Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. (1997) - Q. Kennedy 323.1196073 K585s

This post features a 1957 letter written and signed by Dr. King to George Hendrick, a former professor of English at the University of Illinois, and a book of Dr. King's quotations created by letterpress printer and social activist, Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. for the Milwaukee Public Library.

A signed letter with a Dexter Avenue Baptist Church letterhead from Martin Luther King Jr. to Prof. George Hendrick, dated February 5, 1957.

Cover to "Selected Quotations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." with a cloth black, brown, and white geometrical pattern.

Quotation: "When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men conspire to preserve an unjust status quo, good men must unite to bring about the birth of a society undergirded by justice." From "Where Do we Go from Here: Chaos or Community," by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1967.

Quotation: "Hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear; only love can do that. Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illumines it." From "Strength to Love" by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1963.

RBML will be closed on Monday, January 19th in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Shelfmarks:
Dorcas Leaves: A Manual of Domestic Arts (1884) - Tennyson 5707
Needle-Craft: Artistic & Practical (1889) - Tennyson 5705
Carl Sandburg papers (Asheville) - Box 40

Crochet pattern for a "Marguerite Medallion."

Illustration of a woman engaging in needlework in a domestic setting.

Photos of a family outdoors.

January is National Hobby Month!

Get inspired for your personal hobby journey through hobbies represented in the RBML collection, including crochet, needlework, and photography.