Within Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) in the Thomas G. Carpenter Library are books that don’t circulate because they are either rare, old and/or expensive. Non-circulating books include books by local authors, about local history, or they support specific SCUA collections. These books are located in SCUA on the first floor of the Library and may be used under supervision in the Reading Room.
Appointments to view books and materials from SCUA must be made in advance at lib-special@unf.edu. Please check the library calendar for SCUA hours.
Rare books include those that are old, have historic value, or are valuable. Many of these books were donated or purchased early in the university's history and are limited editions or signed.
The Library's oldest work is Epistolae sancti Hieronymi [The Letters of St. Jerome]. It is an incunabulum (a book printed before 1501) and is dated 1496. This Latin work was printed in Venice by J. Rubeus Vercellensis. An interesting fact: St. Jerome is the patron saint of librarians and libraries, as well as archivists.
Special Collections owns two facsimile limited editions of Leonardo da Vinci manuscripts. The collection known as the Codex Atlanticus was published in Milan from 1894-1904 and consists of unbound notebooks, sketches, drawings, and other manuscripts written by Leonardo da Vinci between 1483 and 1518. The 1,384 oversized plates show his remarkable versatility and gifts as an artist, inventor, engineer, and mathematician.
The Madrid Codices were discovered in 1965 in the National Library in Madrid. These manuscripts reveal Leonardo da Vinci's wide-ranging impact on the Renaissance, with varied sketches and designs ranging from mechanical inventions and cartography to proposals for new musical instruments, and lessons for painters.
The facsimile Leonardo da Vinci editions have particular historical relevance for UNF: they complemented the University' early Venture Studies program, an innovative component of interdisciplinary studies offered by the College of Arts and Sciences during the University's first decade. Venture studies courses were designed to provide the student with a broader perspective and background in both the humanities and sciences. Leonardo da Vinci's accomplishments were chosen as the motivating inspiration for the Venture program.
Special Collections has a non-circulating collection of classic Florida histories and books of Northeast Florida history, with special emphasis on Jacksonville and its immediate geographical vicinity (Duval, Baker, Clay, Nassau, Putnam, and St. Johns counties). The collection includes:
SCUA is starting a new collection of artists’ books, which in the simplest definition are books created by artists. As with any piece of art, artists’ books are multifaceted and one-of-a-kind items. The stories artists’ books carry can be poetry, political statements, literature, historical, inspirational, ecological, philosophical, and psychological. These books often have interesting and complex structures, changing the concept of the book to one of sculpture. These books can be viewed in the SCUA Reading Room as the collection develops.
The poetry books SCUA collects consist primarily of limited/signed editions by Twentieth Century poets and printed by small literary presses.
Some of the small presses represented include:
The core of this collection was donated to Special Collections by Distinguished Professor and Professor Emeritus of English Richard Bizot. From 1986 through 2008 Doctor Bizot coordinated the Irish Studies Program at UNF, which was a diverse academic program including courses about Irish fiction, poetry, and drama as well as community events including poetry readings, concerts, lectures, film series, exhibits, and symposia.
