The Books Arts Collection is devoted to the history and art of the book. The research component of the collection consists of over 3,500 volumes documenting all aspects of book production: papermaking, printing, illustration, binding, bibliography, and publishing. In addition, there are over 4,000 volumes of specimens, ranging from the great typographers such as Aldus, Baskerville and Bodoni up to the twentieth-century renaissance of modern fine printing. Here, for example, one can find works from the Kelmscott Press side by side with works by contemporary book artists, such as Claire Van Vliet and Ron King, including limited editions, innovative binding structures, handmade papers, and unique artists' books.
Several large gifts have enriched the Book Arts Collection. Annis Van Nuys Schweppe, class of 1903, gave her Grabhorn Press Collection of over 580 volumes and a large group of ephemera.
