Religion

Benton, Josiah (1843-1917) Collection of the Book of Common Prayer

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) The Benton Collection of Editions of the Book of Common Prayer is one of the most extensive existing collections of its kind and includes first-edition copies of the Prayer Book of 1549, King Edward’s second Prayer Book of 1552, Queen Elizabeth’s Book of 1559, King James' of 1604, and five copies of the final alteration of 1662, in addition to hundreds of other editions. There are also nearly 100 translations of The Book of Common Prayer into the languages of peoples from around the world. The "American" portion of the collection contains the first edition of of The Book of Common Prayer printed in America (1710), the "Mohawk Prayer Book" of 1715, Benjamin Franklin’s abridgment of 1773, and the liturgy of the first Episcopal Church in Boston, 1785. The multiple editions and revisions of The Book of Common Prayer brought together by this collection represent not only the history of the Church of England, but also the history of early modern European printing and Anglo-American bookbinding more generally. A majority of the books are in contemporary bindings, with material evidence of provenance entirely intact. In addition to The Book of Common Prayer itself, the collection also contains some of the scarcest English Primers, prayers books, and religious tracts, including the Scottish liturgy of 1637, and the first Prayer Book of the Church of Ireland of 1721, The original collection was bequeathed by Boston Public Library trustee Josiah H. Benton in 1919. It began with 658 volumes and now numbers well over 1,500.  Online access Those items that have been electronically cataloged are retrievable through either of the online catalogs, opens a new window through a title search for "Benton Collection of Editions of the Book of Common Prayer." Digitized materials from this collection can be accessed through both Internet Archive, opens a new window and Digital Commonwealth, opens a new window. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Incunabula

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) Books, pamphlets, and broadsides printed with moveable type in Europe before December 31, 1500 are generally referred to as incunabula. This term is borrowed from the Latin word for "cradle," or "swaddling clothes." Books dating from this period thus represent the infancy of modern printing in Europe. Primarily acquired via purchase, but substantially fortified by donations of individual books and complete libraries, BPL's incunabula collection closely documents the inception and spread of printing throughout Europe and the West. As of November, 2020, the collection is comprised of​​​ 560 discrete 15th-century editions. Within this group, there are a small number of duplicates, as well as a number of multi-volume sets. The total number of physical items in the collection printed during the 15th century -- counting duplicates and individual volumes -- is 587. Information and online access Visit the BPL research guide, opens a new window for more information, including a history of the collection, links to digitized BPL incunabula, new acquisitions, and a guide to finding incunabula in the BPL online catalogs. Images: (above left): a woodcut from Koberger's 9th German Bible; (above right) a passage of text in the BPL Gutenberg Bible leaf. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Joan of Arc Collection

(Special Collections) This collection comprises books, manuscripts, prints, objets d’art, and historical realia relating to the history and representation of Joan of Arc and her legacy throughout the world, from the Middle Ages through the late twentieth-century. In particular, the collection documents Joan of Arc as an historical figure, religious icon, and warrior. The collection contains approximately 7,000 monographs and 3,000 artifacts. These materials include early Latin and French texts, histories, biographies, plays, novels, poetry, scores, and children’s books. The collection is particularly rich in visual representations of Joan of Arc, and includes statuary, etchings, paintings, medals, ceramic tiles, jewelry, and porcelain. The bulk of the materials were gathered and maintained by John Joseph Cardinal Wright (1909-1979), who donated his collection to the Boston Public Library in 1976. In 1985, John D. McKenna, of Plainfield, New Jersey, made a significant contribution to the collection, via a donation of monographs, rare books, and objects. Prior to his elevation to the Cardinalate, Cardinal Wright had served as Bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts, and of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. An important figure in the hierarchy of the Roman Curia, Wright was also an active bibliophile who maintained a life-long interest in Joan of Arc. He was a member of Boston’s Club of Odd Volumes and a charter member of the Pittsburgh Bibliophiles. Owing in part to his ecclesiastical appointments, Wright travelled extensively throughout the United States and Europe and at each place added to his growing collection of items relating to Joan of Arc. Today, care and maintenance of the Joan of Arc Collection is supported in part through a trust fund established by Cardinal Wright.  Information and online access

• An abbreviated finding aid for the objects and realia can be accessed through the bibliographic record for the collection in the BPL online catalog
• A selection of monographs, rare books, and manuscripts from the collection can be retrieved in the online catalog via a title search for Joan of Arc Collection (Boston Public Library)
• A selection of BPL books related to Joan of Arc has been digitized and can be accessed online via Internet Archive
• A major exhibition, titled 10,000 Joans: treasures from the Joan of Arc Collection of the Boston Public Library, was held in 2006. An illustrated catalog was published to accompany the exhibition

Parker, Theodore (1810-1860) Library

, opens a new window (Rare Books & Manuscripts) A leading American intellectual born in Lexington, Massachusetts in 1810, Theodore Parker was ordained a Unitarian minister in 1836. Parker was a notable religious reformer, a scholar, a member of the transcendentalist movement, and a major voice in the anti-slavery movement. The Theodore Parker Collection comprises approximately 12,800 volumes, 4,600 pamphlets, and many manuscripts. The collection includes grammars, dictionaries of foreign languages, encyclopedias, Latin and Greek classics, literary histories, books on jurisprudence, philosophy, theology, and material on the anti-slavery movement, including broadsides, scrapbooks, and associated ephemera. After his death in 1860, Parker's books came to the BPL via bequest. The second major donated collection of rare materials after the Bowditch Collection, opens a new window, Parker's library brought with it the first medieval manuscript acquired by the BPL, and many of the finest and most important incunabula, opens a new window in the collection. Online access: Those items that have been electronically cataloged can be retrieved in either of the online catalogs, opens a new window via a title search for "Theodore Parker Library (Boston Public Library)." Many items from the collection have been digitized. Most of the volumes and pamphlets are included in the index to the Catalogue of the Books in the Bates Hall of the Boston Public Library., opens a new window For an early description of the collection, see: Thomas Wentworth Higginson, “Report to the Trustees of the Boston Public Library on the Parker Library” in The works of Theodore Parker (Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1907) vol. 15, pp. 1-10., opens a new window (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Paul Sabatier Franciscan Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) This, the working collection of the scholar Paul Sabatier (1858-1928), contains approximately 2,000 volumes focused on the life of St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) and the Franciscan order. The collection comprises early manuscripts (both original sources and Sabatier’s many careful copies of those in European collections), 38 volumes from the 15th and 16th centuries, as well as hundreds of important later works, Franciscan periodicals, and numerous off-prints and presentation copies of books from students of St. Francis throughout the world. Many of these items contain Sabatier’s extensive manuscript notes. A description of the collection can be found in More Books (1931), pp. 273-286, opens a new window. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Prince, Thomas Library of the Old South Church

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) The Thomas Prince Collection and Library of the Old South Church -- usually just referred to as the Prince Collection -- is a group of approximately 3,500 books and 950 manuscripts assembled primarily by Old South pastors Thomas Prince (1687-1758) and Joseph Sewall (1688-1769). One of the few colonial American libraries to survive largely intact, the Prince Collection is a major resource for studies in the history of early New England. It is also an important resource for historians of the colonial American book. The collection preserves rare and sometimes unique pieces of evidence from the earliest presses in British North America, while contemporary inscriptions, annotations, and marginalia document the reception and circulation of texts in Boston, New England, and throughout the early modern Atlantic world. Holdings are particularly rich in early New England history and literature, along with theological works of the 17th and 18th centuries. Among other highlights, it includes the Bay Psalm Book, opens a new window (1640), and John Eliot's Indian Bible, opens a new window (1663), with many other editions representative of both the varied outputs of the early Cambridge and Boston presses, and of the intellectual life of colonial New England. Throughout the collection, evidence of book production and readerly intervention is rich and varied. Early Boston bookbinders are particularly well represented, with specimens from the workshops of Edmund Ranger and John Ratcliffe, among others. Contemporary bindings made with recycled paper preserve many fragments of early manuscripts and printed books. Many volumes, too, are annotated by successive generations of owners, while duplicate copies held throughout the collection facilitate close comparison and bibliographic study.  In addition to printed materials, the collection also contains a significant body over manuscripts, including a major collection of historical papers gathered and preserved by Prince himself. These manuscripts include papers of the Mather family, papers of the Cotton family, a group of papers relating to both the Cotton and Prince families, opens a new window, papers of the Hinckley family, and papers related to the case of Torrey v. Gardner (1734). Information and online access

• The BPL research guide for this collection contains a detailed history of the collection, information about how to search for materials, links to related BPL collections, and other useful resources.