This book from 1825 is a beautiful example of fore-edge painting, a technique where the edge of the pages is decorated with a painted scene. When the book is closed, the fore-edge of the book simply looks gilded. But when you fan the pages out, there is a village scene!

The A. M. Todd Rare Book Room has four such books, including the one pictured. Come visit us, and our curator Mallory would be happy to show them to you!

Come visit the Rare Book room and see our Winter Quarter exhibit, Books and Beasts: A Collection of Fantastic Creatures!

The exhibit runs from January 7 – March 19, 2020. The Rare Book Room will be open Tuesday and Wednesday: from 10 a.m.-12 p.m., and Friday: 3 p.m.-5 p.m. Other times are available by appointment by contacting Mallory Heslinger, Rare Book Room Curator, at Mallory.Heslinger@kzoo.edu or 269-337-5762.

The Rare Book Room is in Upjohn Library Commons, Room 326.

Kalamazoo College and the Philosopher’s Stone: The Early Science of Alchemists, Astronomers, and Apothecaries

Date: September 10 – December 13, 2019

Day/Time: Tuesday, Wednesday: 10 a.m.-12 p.m., Friday: 3 p.m.-5 p.m., Homecoming, Saturday October 19, Family Weekend, Saturday, November 9, other times by appointment

Location: Upjohn Library Commons, room 326

Come see the Spring 2019 Rare Book Room exhibit!

When Horse and Hero Fell: A History of Warfare Through Literature

Date: April 2 – June 7, 2019

Day/Time: Tuesday, Wednesday: 10 a.m.-12 p.m. 
other times by appointment

Location: Upjohn Library Commons, room 326

Exhibit title is derived from stanza V of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade”

Who was A. M. Todd? Come see the last couple of weeks of the Winter Quarter Rare Book Room exhibit, A. M. Todd and the Case of the Rare Books to solve the mystery!

January 7 – March 16, 2019

Tues – Wed: 8:30 a.m. – 12 p. m.
Fri: 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Other times by appointment.