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Strong Room books

Archive Print Collection: Strong Room

Details

Type of record: Book

Title: Strong Room books

Level: Collection

Classmark: Strong Room

Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/56716

Description

The Strong Room books collection takes its name from the secure room where these early, often rare and valuable, books were originally kept. The collection is divided into two parts, one for books printed in England, the other (about three-quarters of the total) for books printed abroad. The earliest book in the collection is dated 1474, the latest 1885. There are 18 incunabula, and well over half the books were printed before 1600. There is range both of subjects and languages. Theology and spirituality feature strongly, and there are 49 Bibles including several polyglot ones. History, literature, natural history, geography and travel, and dictionaries are also well represented. About half the books are in Latin, some 260 in English, some 130 in Italian and some 84 in French, while fewer are in Ancient Greek, Hebrew, Spanish and German.

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