Special Collections- Ellis library

Special Collections

            I found the trip to special collections very interesting on Wednesday.  I never even knew that Ellis library had books exclusive to only this library.  The most interesting pieces, to me, were the Latin book from Constantinople and the book of Shakespeare’s sonnets.  The reason I found the book from Constantinople so interesting was because it was made from parchment paper and Ellis library is the only library that has it.  It is 1000 years old and was used in a Greek speaking environment to teach them, what was then one of the universal languages, Latin.  It was so incredible to me that no other place has this piece and to think of the places is been, how many people have read it and how useful it must have been to people at that time.  The other piece of literature that caught my attention the most was the book of Shakespeare’s sonnets.  It says in the title page of the book that no other book created is the same as another.  Each book has its own designs and illustrations.  This book was also made with parchment paper.  I thought it was amazing to see the designs on each page and think of how much time had to of been put into creating each book.  Having all original illustrations makes each piece exclusive and special in its own way and we have one of them at our very own Ellis library.