In addition to the archival collections often highlighted on this blog often, University of Houston Special Collections holds a robust collection of books, both rare and contemporary. The book collections total more than 66,000 volumes.
Among the library’s holdings in Special Collections are:
- More than 40 volumes and single leaves printed between 1450 and 1501
- More than 70 historical bibles dating from the 16th century
- More than 1,300 historic dictionaries
- Modern and contemporary volumes of American literature
- More than 1500 gay and lesbian studies titles, and
- More than 400 alphabet, pop-up and shape books.
Plates from some of our rare books can be seen in the UH Digital Library, including woodcuts from The Ship of Fools, published in 1494, woodcuts from Edward Topsell’s The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents (1658), and the volume India Illustrated, containing photographs of early 2oth century India under British rule.
As with the archival collections, these volumes can be viewed in the Special Collections Reading Room during our regular hours. For additional information, visit the Rare Books page.