Sphraera Mundi by Joannes de Sacrobosco

Impresso in Venetia per Francesco Brucioli, & i Frategli, 1543. call no. Hon Spcl Wagner QB 41 B78 1543. The Sphaera Mundi ( The Sphere of the World) is Sacro Basco’s main work on spherical astronomy of the Ptolemaic system, first written in Latin circa 1230. It became one of the most popular scientific works from the European Middle Ages. As many as twenty-four editions were published during the incunabula period only, and it remained in print well into the 17th century. Johannes de Sacrobosco, or John of Holywood, or Halifax, probably was an Englishman, although even his nationality is uncertain.

Special Collections copy was a gift from bibliographer and historian Henry Raup Wagner. It is profusely illustrated by a past user, probably from the 16th century, who couldn’t resist providing his own cartoon depictions of Sacrobosco’s text.

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Construction of dam on the Yellow River, China

O. J. Todd was a member of a group of engineers involved with dam building on China’s Yellow River in the 1940s. This photo is one of several in a photo album created by Todd that documents the project, along with memoranda, correspondence, clippings, and ephemera. Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library.

yellow river dam

Antoinette monoplane

The Antoinette monoplane was built in France in 1908 for military purposes; here it is on exhibit at the first Paris Aeronautical Salon in 1909. This image is from a glass negative in our Aviation Collection.
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Can you identify this image?

This slide is one of a small group of World War I era glass slides depicting aviation activities that were found among a much larger collection of glass negatives and lantern slides in our old vault. As you can see, the slide is broken. Can you help us identify this image?

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Thanks to a Special Collections friend, we have preliminary identification: WWI airplane appears to be a variation of the Vickers Biplane vintage about 1912-1913, certainly an early recon aircraft with a pusher engine.

New exhibition created by CGU History seminar on Britain’s Wars of Religion

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Special Collections at Honnold/Mudd owns a significant number of 17th century pamphlets, primary sources that are invaluable for scholarship and that form the highlight of this show. Using these pamphlets as documentary evidence, graduate students of Dr. Lori Anne Ferrell’s course “Britain’s Wars of Religion, 1642-1649” examine various aspects of Charles I’s life leading up to, and beyond, his execution. Categories considered are Charles as Exile, Charles as Traitor, Charles as Criminal, Charles as Absolute King, and Charles as Saint.

The exhibition will be on view November 24, 2008-January 30, 2009, in Honnold/Mudd Library. In conjunction with the exhibition, a discussion and presentation of the pamphlets will take place as part of CGU’s History Forum Series, December 4, 2008 at 4:00 pm, in the Founders Room of the Honnold/Mudd Library. The presentation is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Max Beerbohm sonnet

This unpublished manuscript was found among Beerbohm’s papers and acquired by William W. Clary for the library on Oxford that he collected, inspired by the similarities between the Claremont Colleges plan or organization to that of Oxford. Clary gave his Oxford library to The Claremont Colleges for study and teaching in 1952.
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