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Rare Books Move Update

By Jason Paul Bourgeois, Ph.D., Librarian-Theologian, Marian Library

The Marian Library at the University of Dayton has recently completed a move of its rare book collections. More than 12,000 rare books were moved to a secured and climate-controlled space on the third floor of the university library building. Since rare books can be harmed by variations in temperature and relative humidity, the new space ensures that the books will be housed in a stable and appropriate environment. 

The rare books are contained in two separate collections:

1) The Br. William Fackovec, S.M., Rare Book Collection is named in honor of the late Br. Bill, who served as librarian of the Marian Library from 1960 to 2011. He acquired many of the books in this collection during frequent visits to rare book dealers in Europe. The more than 5,800 books in this collection are devoted primarily to the Blessed Virgin Mary, including theological treatises, sermons, biblical commentaries, prayers and devotions, liturgical texts, biographies, and histories of shrines, apparitions, and religious orders with a strong Marian charism. Most of them were printed between 1500 and 1800, and the primary languages of the collection are French, Italian, Spanish, English, and especially Latin.

2)  The Clugnet collection is named in honor of the late Leon Clugnet, a French bibliographer who collected more than 6,500 books and other items related to Marian shrines throughout the world. The Marian Library acquired this collection from the Clugnet estate in 1954. The books in the collection were published between 1572 and 1947, in a variety of languages including several non-European languages. 

The Marian Library is recognized nationally and internationally as a center for scholarship on the Blessed Virgin Mary. These rare book collections help fulfill the mission of the Marian Library to preserve and provide access to materials that foster Marian scholarship and sound Marian devotion.

Items from these rare book collections can be discovered through the UD catalog tab at https://www.udayton.edu/libraries/index.php, or by consulting one of the librarians in the Marian Library. 

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