Stephen A. Schwarzman Building > Collections & Reading Rooms > The Rare Books Division

Finding Materials

In undertaking your research in the Rare Books Division, it is recommended that you begin your search in the Library’s online Catalog. Other valuable New York Public Library catalogs, available in print format and described below, may be utilized as a complement to the Catalog.

Please note that the Rare Books Division possesses numerous specialized guides, catalogs, card files, and checklists which are only available onsite.  Readers are encouraged to contact us whenever they have questions concerning our collections or holdings.

Website

The Library’s online Catalog contains records for over 6 million items, including materials held by the Rare Books Division. Be aware, however, that some materials cataloged prior to 1972 can only be located in the 800 volume Dictionary Catalog of The New York Public Library, noted below.

Printed Catalogs

Dictionary Catalog of The New York Public Library, 1911-1972. 800 vols. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1979.

The 800 volume Dictionary Catalog of The New York Public Library, 1911-1972 contains records of books and periodicals acquired by the Library prior to 1972. It is a photographic copy, in book form, of the Library's card catalog.

Dictionary Catalog of the Rare Books Division. 21 vols. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1971.

Indexing approximately 90,000 books, pamphlets, and newspapers, the Dictionary Catalog of the Rare Books Division is current through the late 1960s.  The Dictionary Catalog does not list the Division's broadsides, eighteenth-century newspapers, or American Almanacs through 1820; broadsides are indexed in vol. 21, the appendix to the Dictionary Catalog. Newspapers can be located via several checklists available in the Rare Books Division, as well as through the Library’s online Catalog.  A supplement to this catalog, published in 1973, lists an additional 14,500 items, making this catalog current through December, 1971.

Imprint Catalog in the Rare Book Division. 21 vols. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1979.

Current through the late 1970s, the Imprint Catalog in the Rare Book Division indexes entries first according to their geographic place of printing, then by the year of imprint and, thereafter, by author. When no date is known, the entry is placed at the beginning of its geographic location; when no location is known, the entry is filed at the end of the catalog. Ship's presses will be noted under the name of the ship, unless the ship is in port, whereupon the name of the port is used.

With the exception of the entries under London and other English cities through 1640, the Catalog does not make an attempt to present a complete record of printing in any single geographic location. Nevertheless, the Catalog serves as a multifaceted research tool. Not only does it identify the imprints specific to a certain location, it also provides a handy gauge of the kinds of materials that were printed and read in a certain location during a given period.

Published Guides

Williams, Sam P., comp. Guide to the Research Collections of the New York Public Library. Chicago: American Library Assc., 1975.

Despite having been published in the mid 1970s, Williams's Guide remains surprisingly current. Of present interest is the section dealing with the Rare Books Division. Here, one can locate concise descriptions of the Division's history, scope, and particular collection strengths.

Bulletin of the New York Public Library. 80 vols. New York: Readex, 1897-1977.

Periodical includes articles about specific collections, notable items, exhibitions, gifts, and biographical information about staff and donors.

Continuations include:

Bulletin of Research in the Humanities. New York: Readex, 1978-89.

Biblion: The Bulletin of the New York Public Library. New York: New York Public Library, 1992-2001.