Back in time

Last week I mentioned that I couldn’t talk about my Special Collections internship. Well, that’s no longer the case. I realized that perhaps I’d given the confidentiality agreement a slightly more conservative reading than necessary, so I talked to my supervisor and found out (much to my relief!) that pretty much everything I wanted to say, I can. ~rubs hands excitedly~

So, I’m working on an inventory and valuation project. It sounds boring when you put it that way, but it’s far from it. You see, they’ve got lots of valuable stuff down there in the vaults — books, manuscripts, photographs, etc. A leaf from the Gutenberg Bible. Lots of incunabula (books printed before 1501). A large Aldine collection (books printed by Aldus Manutius, who was the fellow running the press that invented italic type). First editions of books like Huck Finn, Dracula, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Treasure Island, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and scads of others.

There was an inventory done a while ago, but it’s out of date, so they’re having me and another guy go through the whole list (of valuables, that is, not of everything — there’s a cutoff price) and do a few things: (1) make sure the item in the inventory list matches the item in the catalog; (2) have the item retrieved from the vault and physically verify that it matches the description in the catalog; (3) check prices online and elsewhere and adjust the value if necessary.

It’s pretty much the coolest job imaginable. All I do is deal with rare and valuable books, which are fascinating in and of themselves, but most of what I’m going through is literary in nature, so I’m in absolute heaven. Not only am I learning about the rare book trade (both what makes a book valuable and all the terms used to describe books), but I’m soaking in a veritable sauna of literary history. One of the Wordsworth books has a letter by Wordsworth himself tipped in at the back of the book, for example. I’ve seen all sorts of signatures — Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, just to name a few. And while we haven’t gotten to the manuscripts yet, there’s a handful of original manuscripts of revelations from the Doctrine & Covenants which I’m looking forward to seeing.

I could go on forever. I won’t, but I sure would like to. :) (But then I guess that’s what the rest of my life is for, isn’t it.)

Aw, Ben… I knew I’d be jealous when I found out what you were doing there.

Any chance you might be able to, um, sneak me down there to have a look?

The Clandestine Collection, eh? Or at least you could call it that. That’s really cool Ben, that you can actually see those relics, as it were. And how appropriate for you! :D

Katherine: Hehehe. :) When I signed on, there was a rule listed that said we’re not allowed to sneak people down there. But fear not, it’s possible to schedule a tour. (So if enough of you wanted to do a tour sometime, I could do that.) The other alternative is to request to see some of the things yourself. I’d assume they would let you, since they do encourage people to use Special Collections. If you’re interested in seeing whether they have a particular 1st edition, just go to the catalog and search for the book, but make sure to set the library to “Special Collections.” And then go to the last page, since that’ll be the chronologically earliest. Usually the catalog record will state whether it’s a first edition or not.

Mali-Wan: Mmm, yes. :)

Ben,
Your internship in special collections is making me drool…LOL. To be working with the books, manuscripts, and photographs that you are…For someone who loves literature and history as much as I do, that job sounds like heaven. Could you really schedule a tour? If so sign me up.

[…] It’s been a while since my last post about my job, so here’s an update on what’s been happening. […]