The Original and Only Royal Japanese Troupe Direct From Jeddo, Japan, 1892

The Girl With The Whooping Cough, 1910

The Wonderful Albino Family

The wonderful albino family, Currier & Ives, between 1856 and 1907.

Billy Lester's Big Show, 1895

Kiralfy Bros'. "Michael Strogoff", 1882

Kiralfy Bros'. "Michael Strogoff"
Russians -Performances & portrayals. Punishment & torture -Russia (Federation) Theatrical productions.
Boston : Forbes Co., [c1882]

Bob Manchester's Cracker Jacks, 1899

The Sidewalks of New York, 1899

On the Bowery, 1894

In Search of the Unknown, 1904

 

The King in Yellow

The King in Yellow is a book of short stories by American writer Robert W. Chambers, first published by F. Tennyson Neely in 1895. The book is named after a fictional play with the same title which recurs as a motif through some of the stories. The first half of the book features highly esteemed weird stories, and the book is described by S.T. Joshi as a classic in the field of the supernatural. There are ten stories, the first four of which, "The Repairer of Reputations", "The Mask", "In the Court of the Dragon" and "The Yellow Sign", mention The King in Yellow, a forbidden play which induces despair or madness in those who read it.

Congo Exhibition

Exhibition souvenir bookmark, 1909

 

John J. Burns Library, Boston College

Cosmographia, 1564

This 1564 edition of Sebastian Munster's Cosmographia is the 9th to be printed in German. The work itself was the first German book about the general world published, and is considered a seminal work on geography. It was also one of the most popular books of the 16th century and was published in dozens of editions.

Cosmographia, 1564

"Sea wonders and strange animals" from this 1564 edition of Sebastian Munster's Cosmographia. Woodcut executed and signed by the artist Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch.

Cosmographia, 1564

"The animal called rhinoceros." This woodcut of a Rhinoceros, executed by the artist David Kandel, was based on a famous woodcut created by Albrecht Durer in 1515.

The Pirates Own Book

[Ellms, Charles]. The Pirates Own Book, or Authentic Narratives of the Lives, Exploits, and Executions of the most Celebrated Sea Robbers. Salem, Mass: The Marine Research Society, 1924.

Williams Collection, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Cover Detail

Trench, William Steuart. Realities of Irish Life. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1869.

Irish Collection, John J. Burns Library, Boston College

Cover Detail

O’Rourke, John. The History of the Great Irish Famine of 1847: With Notices of Earlier Irish Famines. Dublin: McGlashan and Gill; London: James Duffy, 1875.
Irish Collection, John J. Burns Library, Boston College

Cover Detail

Irish Collection, John J. Burns Library, Boston College

The Sorcery Club

The Sorcery Club, by O'Donnell, Elliott.
London: W. Rider, 1912.
King's Land Collection
John J. Burns Library, Boston College

Gobbo Bobo

Gobbo Bobo: the Two-Eyed Griffin, by Escott-Inman, H.

London: Frederick Warne and Co., 1900.

King's Land Collection
John J. Burns Library, Boston College

Stories of the Magicians

Stories of the Magicians; Thalaba and the magicians of the Domdaniel, Rustem and the genii, Kehama and his sorceries... with sixteen illustrations.

By Church, Alfred John
London: Seeley, 1887.
King's Land Collection
John J. Burns Library, Boston College

A Honeymoon in Space

A Honeymoon in Space by George Griffith. Illustrated by Stanley Wood and Harold Piffard.
London: Pearson, 1901.
King's Land Collection
John J. Burns Library, Boston College

Happy-Thought Hall

Happy Thought Hall  by F.C. Burnand  ; illustrated by the author.
London: Bradbury, Evans, & Co., 1872.
King's Land Collection
John J. Burns Library, Boston College

A Hundred Anecdotes of Animals

A Hundred Anecdotes of Animals / with pictures by Percy J. Billinghurst.

London: New York: John Lane, the Bodley Head, 1901.
King's Land Collection
John J. Burns Library, Boston College

Mock Beggar Hall

Graves, Robert
Mock Beggar Hall

London: Published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 1924.

Graham Greene’s Library
John J. Burns Library, Boston College

A treatise of Antichrist

A treatise of Antichrist. : conteyning the defence of Cardinall Bellarmines arguments, which inuincibly demonstrate, that the Pope is not Antichrist : against M. George Downam D. of Diuinity, who impugneth the same.

AUTHOR: Walpole, Michael, 1570-1624?

PUBLICATION: [St. Omer : English College Press], Imprinted ... 1613.

Michael Christopherson was the pseudonym for Jesuit Michael Walpole, who while living in Douai defended the teachings of Cardinal Bellarmine against the attacks of one of England’s royal chaplains. His defense was printed at the English College Press in St. Omer. He dedicates the volume to James I in an attempt to draw the king’s attention to the plight of Catholics in England.

Fuga Saeculi, or, The Holy Hatred of The World

Fuga saeculi, or, The holy hatred of the world : conteyning the liues of 17. holy confessours of Christ, selected out of sundry authors.

AUTHOR: Maffei, Giovanni Pietro, 1536?-1603

 

PUBLICATION: Printed at Paris : [English College Press, St. Omer], MDCXXXII [1632]

DESCRIPTION: Jesuit Henry Hawkins (bap. 1577, d. 1646) translated this study of saintly lives from its original Italian. In his note to the English reader he presents the original author, Giovanni Pietro Maffei, (1536?-1603) “thus clad, and reuersed in our English VVeedes, that he mighte now walke as familiar amongst VS, as in his natiue Vulgar he hath done : As properly Ours, as Theirs from whence he came. Since, besides that Examples and Liues of SAINTS are vniuersall, and common to the whole Church, some of theose are found to be of our Nation.” The title page has a false imprint; it was most likely printed by the English College Press in St. Omer.

Famiglie Celebri Italiane

 

 This multi-volume work is an extensive genealogical survey of the major noble families of Italy. Not only does it contain complex and detailed tracings of family trees, but related biographical information as well. Most breathtakingly, it is extensively illustrated in a variety of formats. Family crests are hand-colored. There are numerous engravings, aquatints, and lithographs that show religious scenes, battles, architecture, and monuments. Many of these sites had already been destroyed by the time of this book's publication (which ranged from as early as 1819, to as late as 1883, nearly 30 years after the author’s death). This fact significantly increases the import of the illustrations, some of which are the only extent documentation of the sites they depict.

Typus seleno graphicus lunae phases et aspectus varios adumbrans

This late 17th-century chart, executed by the Dutch engraver and map maker Johannes van Loon, is beautifully hand-tinted with watercolors. A number of repositories around the world hold copies of their own, each colored by different artists, but the version held here at the Burns Library, with its rich blues and pinks, is unusually pleasing to the eye.

Wild Life Under the Equator

By Du Chaillu, Paul B.

Wild Life Under the Equator: Narrated for young people…with numerous engravings

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1870

John J. Burns Library of Rare Books and Special Collections, Boston College

The Land of the White Elephant

The Land of the White Elephant: sights and scenes in south-eastern Asia. By Vincent, Frank. A personal narrative of travel and adventure in Farther India, embracing the countries of Burma, Siam, Cambodia, and Cochin-China. (1871-2)
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1874
Nicholas M. Williams Ethnological Collection

John J. Burns Library of Rare Books and Special Collections, Boston College

From Nowhere to the North Pole

From Nowhere to the North Pole: A Noah's ark-æological narrative, by Tom Hood with illustrations by W. Brunton and E.C. Barnes

London: Chatto & Windus, 1875
King’s Land Collection

John J. Burns Library of Rare Books and Special Collections, Boston College

Saint Ignatius Beset by Demons

An illustrated leaf from Vita Beati P. Ignatii Loiolae Societatis Iesu fundatoris [Life of blessed father Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus], printed in Rome in 1609.

Vintage Auto Accident Posters

It might happen to you!, 1939

Evite accidentes No se quede en la calle durante una alarma, 1942

'Haiti' A drama of the black Napoleon by William Du Bois, 1938

Assorted Posters 1936-41

If ye break faith, 1936-41

Volpone, 1936-41

Don't mix 'em, 1936

One third of a nation, 1936-39