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Title page of John Baskerville's Virgil (1757)

Cathy Baker making paper

In this video, Dr. Cathleen A. Baker (U-M Conservation Librarian Emerita) takes us through her years-long research into the earliest Western-made wove paper, including papermaking experiments to replicate the paper that first appeared in John Baskerville’s Virgil, published in Birmingham, England, in 1757. This paper, which is now the most commonly used type by people all over the world, had its origins in East Asia perhaps as long as a millennium ago, but until the mid-eighteenth century, it was unknown in the West.

View the video of Baker's talk!

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Out in the reading room recently, Isl. Ms. 259, manuscript copy of a selection of texts on qirāʼāt with stunning lacquerwork covers. Browse the description and the entire manuscript online!

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Another Marbled Monday, on the covers of Isl. Ms. 33, an 18th century manuscript copy of Jalāl al-Dīn al-Dawānī's treatise on Ithbāt al-wājib (اثبات الواجب) accompanied by commentary of Mullā Ḥanafī and gloss of Mīrzā Jān

Browse the description and images of the entire manuscript online!

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The Joseph A. Labadie Collection includes over 1,000 pinback buttons covering the topics of Anarchism, Atheism, Civil Liberties, Colonialism, Communism, Cooperatives, Ecology, Labor, Narcotics, Pacifism, Political Parties, Radical Right, Sexual Freedom, Socialism, Spain, Women, and Youth/Student Protest. These can be viewed in the Library's Digital Collections.

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A sampling of feathered friends from Audubon's Birds of America. Read our exhibit labels to learn more about this important 19th c. work of natural history! https://myumi.ch/MkpeV

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Minā with the place of the sacrifice, the jamarāt, pilgrim tents, Masjid al-Khayf, and cave where the Prophet was sheltered during the revelation of Sūrat al-Mursalāt

p.68 In Isl. Ms. 347, a 16c copy of Futūḥ al-Ḥaramayn

Browse and download the entire manuscript

Blessed Hajj and Blessed Eid al-Adha

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Fabric samples from Persoz, Jean François. Traité théorique et pratique de l’impression des tissus. Paris : Victor Masson, 1846.

Chevreul, Michel Eugène. De la loi du contraste simultané des couleurs. Paris: Pitois-Levrault et ce, 1839.

Read a bit about curator Jamie Vander Broek's journey toward developing the exhibit Behind the Curve: Rainbows and the Science and Culture of Color, on view through 4 September in the Hatcher Gallery Exhibit Room!

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“May Day is International Workers’ Day, a time of celebration and opposition throughout the world, except in the United States where it began. May Day commemorates the May 1st, 1886 nationwide protest for the eight hour day and the following “Haymarket Affair,” a pivotal event in the history of workers’ and anarchist movements in which four labor organizers were hanged by the State in Chicago. May Day is also the ancient celebration of Spring and rebirth – the traditional time for planting new seeds in old ground.” 

“May Day – Celebrate Peoples’ History.” West Coast Regional Anticapitalist Convergence – Autonomous Festivals of Resistance, 2002. SCLP0072 Labadie Collection Political Posters 

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Twelve books from the Bibliothek der Jüdische Gemeinde Berlin

Title page of Doctor Iohanns Reuchlins' Missiue (Open letter). BM 535 .R44 (Pfortzheim: T. Anshelm, 1505)

Stamp of the Bibliothek der Jüdische Gemeinde Berlin on the title page of Doctor Iohanns Reuchlins' Missiue BM 535 .R44 (Pfortzheim: T. Anshelm, 1505)

"Curated by Helmut Puff and Pablo Alvarez in 2017, the exhibit 'Reforming the Word: Martin Luther in Context' prompted an intriguing discovery: the presence in our collection of twelve books that once belonged to the Jewish Community Library of Berlin. This blog post delves into the circumstances that brought these books to our library." Read more!

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"Trans Rights are Human Rights" Pinback Buttons, Labadie Collection, LBC.1588

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"Ed Fabre, a leader in the Black Action Movement (BAM) on the University of Michigan campus, talks with a striker outside Rackham Auditorium where black students demand a 10-per cent black enrollment by 1973 and UM President Robben W. Fleming announced late 3/27 the school will commit its financial resources to achieve at least a 10-per cent black student enrollment by the 1973-74 school year. UPI Telephoto. 1970."

Labadie Photograph Collection LPF.2036

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"I believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those who do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the system of exploitation. I believe that there will be that kind of clash, but I don't think it will be based on the colour of the skin... Malcolm X"

Political Posters, Labadie Collection, SCLP0163

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Tartlets of Almond Paste (1872) for Pi(e) Day!

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Historic Petite Pi(e) Day!

It's time for the 7th annual Great Library Pie Bake-Off! #GLPBO

Join our curator Juli McLoone and colleagues from Virginia Tech Special Collections & Archives, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Clements Library for a Pi(e) Day chat this afternoon!

"Registration is live! Want to join us for a 2025 Petite Pi(e) Day Zoom chat? We'll be talking recipes, crust, and fillings for our small pies and tartlets at 3pm E/2p C/1p M/12p P on Friday, March 14. If you can't join us, we'll be sharing out our whiteboard here on the guide after the event." 

Find more details on the on the Pi(e)Day guide!

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Happy Holi to those who are celebrating this holiday.

Holi is celebrated to mark the arrival of spring and a time for new beginnings.

The traditional color for Holi was made from the leaves of the ‘tesu’ tree (Butea monosperma), which is known as the ‘flame of the forest’ and produces bright red flowers. They are dried and grounded to give a saffron color when mixed with water. The yellow power was probably turmeric, and the red dye may be red sandalwood powder. (summarized from V&A website)

Today, the range of colors used for Holi include reds and yellows, and also blues and greens. It’s the Festival of Colors!

Radha celebrating Holi (V&A IS.9-1949). (1775). Opaque watercolor on paper 15.5 cm x 25.8 cm Indian c. 1788 Repository: Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Greater London, England, United Kingdom HOLLIS number: 8001073116

This image is part of FAL’s Digital Images and Slides Collection (DISC), a collection of images digitized from secondary sources for use in teaching and learning. FAL does not own the original artworks represented in this collection, but you can find more information at HOLLIS Images

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Next week : Fashion, Food, and Flowers in Georgian England

Bath, illustrated by a series of views, from the drawings of John Claude Nattes; with descriptions to each plate (1806) by Nattes; held in the U-M Library Special Collections Research Center.

Join us next Thursday, 20 March, between 4-6p for our next "Third Thursdays at the Library" event of the semester!

Explore ladies' magazines, novels, landscaping books, and more from 18th and 19th century England. Learn how landscape architect Humphrey Repton marketed renovations to wealthy landholders through "before and after" illustrations; find out what the well-dressed London debutante was wearing (and reading) in 1817; and peruse recipes for delicacies like almond soup, eel pie, and pink pancakes.

We hope to see you there!

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شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ

Blessed early days of Ramadan…

183 You who believe, fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may be mindful of God. 184 Fast for a specific number of days, but if one of you is ill, or on a journey, on other days later. For those who can fast only with extreme difficulty, there is a way to compensate – feed a needy person. But if anyone does good of his own accord, it is better for him, and fasting is better for you, if only you knew. 185 It was in the month of Ramadan that the Qur’an was revealed as guidance for mankind, clear messages giving guidance and distinguishing between right and wrong. So any one of you who is present that month should fast, and anyone who is ill or on a journey should make up for the lost days by fasting on other days later. God wants ease for you, not hardship. He wants you to complete the prescribed period and to glorify Him for having guided you, so that you may be thankful.” [The Qur’an 2:183-185, translation of M. A. S. Abdel Haleem]

Sūrat al-Baqarah (2) 183-185 in Isl. Ms. 168 an illuminated pocket-sized manuscript of the Qur'an, copied in Istanbul by Hafız Mehmet b. Kasım el-İmam with transcription completed in 1627.

Browse / download the entire manuscript here

Ramadan Mubarak... wishing everyone ease and refuge, further along the path of liberation