Rare Books and Manuscripts

Rare Books and Manuscripts (RBM) is one of the featured collections in ASU's Distinctive Collections. Holdings are strong in early modern herbals, performing arts collections, film and television collections, pop-up and moveable-parts books, contemporary artists' books, and Young Adult literature. RBM also serves as a representative teaching collection that documents major shifts in writing and technology, ranging from a Sumerian clay tablet from roughly 2100 BC to contemporary artists' books. 

One of RBM's primary focuses is introducing students at all levels to working with primary sources and the world of special collections. To fulfill this mission, RBM welcomes students and instructors and anyone interested to visit our reading room. We will introduce you to a variety of formats including books printed during the hand press period (roughly from 1450 to 1800), serials, collections of letters, maps, and other items while showing you how to safely handle them. We hope that you will develop familiarity with what special collections are, develop confidence working with the materials, and, most importantly, discover something that ignites your curiosity.

Do you have specific interests? We welcome those inquiries too, whether it is arranging a session for a class, information about whether we have items related to a particular topic, or even general questions about what we do.