.jpg)
Rare Books
The University of York holds a number of significant items in its Rare Books collection designed to enhance teaching, learning and research.
Items held in our Rare Books collection can be viewed by arrangement with the Borthwick Institute for Archives. Wherever possible, please give full details of the author, title, date, collection and shelf location, which you can find on the Library catalogue.
For information about the collections themselves, please contact Sarah Griffin, the Rare Books Collection Librarian.
Email: lib-rarebooks@york.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1904 321159
University teaching staff
If you require an item in the Rare Books collection for use in a seminar, please give us at least 24 hours notice. This is to allow us time to assess the condition of the item and check its suitability for seminar use.
As many of the books are in a fragile condition and may be rare or valuable, you will be offered a surrogate in the first instance, for example Early English Books Online or The Eighteenth Century Collection Online, or a microfilm copy.
Please let us know if there is a particular reason why you need to see the original. There are conditions attached to using the originals to ensure their condition is maintained, in particular you will only be able to use a pencil to write with.