About the Collections
EARLY PRINTING
Bridwell Library
actively collects incunabula (books printed with movable type before 1501).
The collection began in 1962 with the acquisition of more than 200 Italian imprints from the collection of Frank V. DeBellis.
The collection now numbers more than 1000 volumes, most of
which are in the fields of theology, philosophy and religion. More than one-third of the books represent the first printed editions of their texts, and many are housed in original bindings, feature early woodcuts, or are handsomely illuminated. Among the holdings are a 31-leaf fragment of the Gutenberg Bible, the
Catholicon of 1460 (believed to be the same printer's work), several early editions printed by Fust and Schoeffer in Mainz, all seventeen of the fifteenth-century editions of Augustine's
De Civitate Dei, William Caxton's first English edition of the Golden Legend, and the earliest editions of the works of Aristotle, Aquinas, Dante, and Savonarola. Bridwell Library has sought particular breadth in the editions of the Latin and German Bible, theological and devotional works, illustrated books, and the Greek and Roman classics.
Click here to see a list of
Incunabula at Bridwell Library.
BIBLES
In 1996, Bridwell's Bible holdings were enhanced by the generous gift of the Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Bible Collection, a
comprehensive survey of the printed Bible that is notably strong in early English editions. Combined with recent purchases and with the Thomas J. Harrison Bible Collection, the library's Bible holdings
now include the first printed Bible (Gutenberg fragment), the second
printed Bible (B-36), the first dated printed Bible (1462), the
earliest European vernacular Bible (c.1466), the Greek New Testament of Erasmus (1516), the first English
translation of the Bible (1535), the 1611 King James Version , the
Aiken Bible (1782), etc. Bridwell Library actively seeks to include vernacular translations,
and holdings currently include the Wycliffite English New Testament (c. 1400), the first German Bible (c. 1466) and Dutch New Testament (1477), Luther's German "December Testament" (1522), the
earliest vernacular Spanish New Testament (1543) and Bible (1569), and the Eliot Bible translated for Native Americans in Massachusetts (1685). Early Latin Bibles include three fine manuscripts of the thirteenth century.
Biblical material in original scriptural tongues includes early sixteenth-century Hebrew and Greek Bible and polyglot editions, the Torah Scroll from Kaifeng China (17th century), and
a 6th-century Greek papyrus fragment of Romans I:1-16.
REFORMATION AND RENAISSANCE STUDIES
In addition to the Greek, polyglot, and vernacular Bibles of the Reformation, Special Collections also houses approximately five
thousand sixteenth-century imprints pertaining specifically to the Reformation movements. These encompass Reformation theology and polemics, scriptural study, more than one hundred first editions of sermons and pamphlets by Martin Luther, early confessional literature of the Lutheran, Anglican, and Reformed churches, and important Counter-Reformation publications pertaining specifically to the Reformation movements.
Renaissance studies center around the incunabula and sixteenth-century editions, many of which strongly reflect contemporary study of the classics and the works of Augustine, Jerome, and Thomas Aquinas, as well as works by Antoninus of Florence, Ficino, Valla, Poliziano, Bruni, and Vasari. The
Library houses a substantial collection of titles by and about the fifteenth-century Italian reformer, Girolamo Savonarola.
Bridwell also collects illustrated books, including several works by Albrecht Dürer.
REFORMED THEOLOGY
Primary and secondary literature that documents the major issues of the reform movements from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, with particular strength in systematic theology, the Eucharist, baptism, marriage, evangelicalism, and anti-Catholic movements.
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN RELIGION AND LIFE
Approximately 5,000 sixteenth- to nineteenth-century imprints reflecting major religious and philosophical trends in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, tracts, sermons and other denominational writings printed in America from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries.
WESLEY AND METHODISM
Nearly all of the works of John Wesley (1703-91), the founder of Methodism, and many by Charles Wesley and other religious and historical figures are present in first and early editions. In addition there are over 150 manuscript letters by the Wesley family. Some printed works also bear John and Charles Wesley's handwritten annotations.
Sixteenth- through eighteenth-century holdings that support the study of the early Methodist movement include numerous works on English church history, theology, liturgy, hymnology, religious polemic, and philosophy. The Bridwell also houses a Methodist Reference Collection containing nineteenth- and twentieth-century editions of Methodistica, the Journals and Minutes of the United Methodist Church and its historical antecedents, American and British. The Director of the Center for Methodist Studies provides access to and reference service for this collection and the Methodist Archives. Included in the Archives are the papers of over a dozen United Methodist bishops and several eminent Methodist scholars as well as the records of the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church and its North Texas and Rio Grande conferences.
A portion of this collection is available online:
Bridwell Wesleyana at ATLA.
See also the
Center for Methodist Studies.
DEVOTIONAL LITERATURE
Bridwell
Library holds devotional works dating from the thirteenth to the twentieth-first century.
Among these are a number of manuscript and early printed
editions of Books of Hours.Other holdings include prayer books,
multiple editions of the Imitation of Christ attributed to Thomas à Kempis, works of moral instruction, and illustrated tracts on the art of dying, such as the
Ars Moriendi and the Dance of Death, beginning with the first edition of Hans Holbein's famous woodcut series of 1538.
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LIFE AND LETTERS
A number of collections reflects the philosophical, scientific, and social issues of the eighteenth century. For example, Bridwell
holds imprints of most of the works of Joseph Priestley, the complete illustrated first edition of Diderot's Encyclopédie, and essays, poetry, and novels of the day. An extensive collection of contemporary imprints reflects the pamphlet wars on such topics as women's education, divorce, free press, and American independence.
THE BOOK ARTS AND FINE PRIVATE PRESSES
Most of the collections feature books that are notable for their original fine
bindings, or illustrations by noted artists. Imprints by Aldus, Plantin, Baskerville, Bodoni, and their contemporaries trace the history of typographical artistry. The modern Private Press movement is represented by
imprints of the first British private presses, established in the late nineteenth century: Kelmscott, Ashendene, Doves, Eragny, Vale, and Essex House. Twentieth-century British, North American, South American and Continental private presses
also appear in the collection. Other typographical collections house
the work of Eric Gill (1882-1940) and Bruce Rogers (1870-1957).
Also included in Bridwell Library's collections relating to printing
and publishing is a collection of over 450 Victorian publishers bindings, 150 of which are signed by their designers. Among the
related archival holdings are the records and papers of Charles H. St John Hornby's (1867-1946)
Ashendene Press.
Livres d'artiste comprise a related set of holdings. Bridwell Library houses examples of twentieth-century
livres d'artiste designed and executed by artists
including Picasso, Rouault, Matisse, Chagall, Leger, Dali, Johns, and Schmied.
Bridwell Library also collects prints includes woodcuts, engravings, and etchings by Albrecht Dürer, Martin Schongauer, Lucas van Leyden, Claude Mellan, Rembrandt van Rijn, and their contemporaries.
