On the first Friday of each month, grab a coffee and a cookie with our staff at an informal presentation of themed picks from the library's renowned archival and rare books collections.

The books that we see in modern bookstores are finished products, already bound and ready to be put on our bookshelves. But hundreds of years ago, when people bought books, they often only bought the printed pages! It was up to the purchaser, not the bookseller, to bring the pages to the bookbinder and have the pages bound. These bindings range from the simple to the spectacular, but no two are identical.

On Friday, June 7, come to the Archives and Rare Books Reading Room to take a look at some of our most spectacular book bindings and see how the practice has evolved over time.