Ever fall, I try to post some information on books Special Collections has added to the collection over the past year.  Here are three examples of books recently acquired.

Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. Hand and Soul. Hammersmith, England: The Kelmscott Press, 1895.
William Morris’s Kelmscott Press was the press that started the book beautiful/fine press movement, using an aesthetic derived from the Arts and Crafts movement.  It produced some of the most beautiful books ever made.

Ficke, Arthur Davison. Specta: A Book of Poetic Experiments. New York: M. Kennerley, 1916.
Arthur Davison Ficke (1883-1945) was born in Davenport, where his parents were important members of the community. After graduating from Harvard, Ficke went to law school and was admitted to the Iowa bar, but he was more interested in writing poetry. Ficke is perhaps best known today for Spectra, a book he wrote with Witter Bynner published under the pseudonyms of Anne Knish and Emanuel Morgan.  A satire on modern experimental verse, it claimed to start the Spectric school of poetry.

Disturnell, John. Tourist’s guide to the upper Mississippi River: Giving all the railroad and steamboat routes diverging from Chicago, Milwaukee, and Dubuque, toward St. Paul, and the falls of St. Anthony; also, railroad and steamboat routes from Chicago and Milwaukee to Lake Superior; together with an account of cities and villages, and objects of interest, on the route and in the upper valley of the Mississippi with tables of distances, etc., and map and illustrations. New York: American News Company, 1866.
An excellent example of a guide to Upper Mississippi Valley region, complete with transportation information for visitors and descriptions of the areas they might visit.

To view these items, or any other Special Collections materials, stop in during our open hours.