Title page of the Exposicion of Daniel the

Prophet, published in 1545, by George Joye.

General Collection

The General Collection of the Smith Rare Book Room contains a wide array of unique and interesting books. Of particular note is a parchment-bound edition of Seneca printed in 1492. This book is one of the library's two incunabila, or books printed in the second half of the fifteenth century. The second is the Life of St. Thomas a Becket, a small book in heavy Gothic type printed on Paris in 1495. It is one of only six known copies in the world.

Also located in the General Collection of the Smith Rare Book Room are several books with fore-edge paintings and a large collection of autographed books. A three volume edition of Cicero's Orations printed in Venice at the Aldine Press in 1546, is also found here. Each volume of the Orations is entirely in italics and is very small. The work is typical of the printer Aldus Manutius, the first person to use italic type and to popularize the small book.

Thanks to the generosity of Colonel C.W. Carlton, the General Collection contains one of the last works of English Protestant Reformer George Joye. The Exposition of Daniel the Prophet was published in 1545, a year before a proclamation was issued ordering the public burning of all Joye's books. A rare 1668 edition of Milton's Paradise Lost is also located in the General Collection of the Smith Rare Book Room.

Rare Book Room / Library

For more information contact: Jan Blodgett
Davidson College Library
PO Box 7200
Davidson, NC 28035-7200
(704) 894-2632 Fax: (704) 894-2625