Editing Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

{{Short description|Library in the University of Toronto housing a collection of rare books and manuscripts}}
[[File:Seminar room and mezzanine.jpg|thumb|At one of the open atria at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, a seminar room is situated at the base under a mezzanine and upper-level shelving.]]
The '''Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library''' is a [[library]] in the [[University of Toronto]], constituting the largest repository of publicly accessible [[rare book]]s and [[manuscript]]s in Canada. The library is also home to the university archives which, in addition to institutional records, also contains the papers of many important Canadian literary figures including [[Margaret Atwood]] and [[Leonard Cohen]].

==History==
The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections was founded in November 1955 by the Chief Librarian, Robert H. Blackburn. Blackburn hired Marion E. Brown who was working in the special collections department at Brown University. Brown's first responsibility was to deal with the items that had been accumulating since 1890. Some of these items in the collection included medieval manuscripts, early printed books, and special volumes of later periods that had been presented by Queen Victoria to the university. Between the accumulated items and items found in the stacks of the main library, there was enough to open up the Rare Book Room in 1957.<ref>{{cite web|last=Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library|title=Brief History of the Department|url=http://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/about-us/brief-history-department|access-date=3 September 2013}}</ref>
[[File:Robartslibrary.jpg|thumb|The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library (foreground) was opened in 1973, and forms a part of a larger building complex with [[Robarts Library]] (background)]]
The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections and the University Archives didn't have a permanent home until 1973 when the Thomas Fisher Rare Book library was opened. The library is named in honour of [[Thomas Fisher (Upper Canada)|Thomas Fisher]] (1792–1874), who immigrated from [[Yorkshire]], settled along the [[Humber River (Ontario)|Humber River]] in 1822, and became a successful merchant–miller.  In 1973 his great-grandsons, Sidney and Charles Fisher, donated to the library their own collections of Shakespeare, various twentieth-century authors, and etchings of [[Wenceslaus Hollar]]. Since the opening of the library, it has grown to approximately 740,000 volumes and 4,000 metres of manuscript holdings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/about-us|title=About Us {{!}} Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library|website=fisher.library.utoronto.ca|language=en|access-date=2018-04-01}}</ref>

The Fisher building was designed by Mathers and Haldenby, Toronto with design consultant Warner, Burns, Toan and Lunde, New York. It forms part of a complex with the [[Robarts Library|John P. Robarts Research Library for the Humanities and Social Sciences]], and the Claude Bissel Building which houses the Faculty of Information.<ref>{{cite web|last=Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library|title=Brief History of the Department|url=http://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/about-us/brief-history-department|access-date=3 September 2013}}</ref>

Richard Landon, the director until his death in 2011,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://utlibrarians.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/obituary-for-richard-landon-1942-2011-director-of-thomas-fisher-rarebooks-library-university-of-toronto/|title=Obituary for Richard Landon (1942-2011), Director of Thomas Fisher Rarebooks Library, University of Toronto|date=26 October 2011 }}</ref> organized two or three exhibitions of rare books and other materials annually.

==Collections==
Among the collection's items are the ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'' (1493), [[Shakespeare]]'s [[First Folio]] (1623), and [[Isaac Newton|Newton]]'s ''[[Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica|Principia]]'' (1687). Contrary to widespread internet claims,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.wikicollecting.org/thomas-fisher-rare-book-library-toronto |title=Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library |publisher=Wikicollecting |access-date=2014-07-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110410183919/http://en.wikicollecting.org/thomas-fisher-rare-book-library-toronto |archive-date=2011-04-10 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.allancho.com/2014/02/thomas-fisher-rare-book-library.html | title=Allan's Library: An Academic Viewpoint | access-date=2014-07-22}}</ref> 
the library does not have [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]]'s proof copy with annotations of ''[[On the Origin of Species]]'' (1859); the library does however have annotated proof sheets of: ''[[The Power of Movement in Plants]]'',<ref>{{cite web| url=http://search.library.utoronto.ca/details?198264 | title=The power of movement in plants [proof sheets] / University of Toronto Libraries | publisher=University of Toronto | access-date=2014-07-22}}</ref> ''[[The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals]]'',<ref>{{cite web| url=http://search.library.utoronto.ca/details?1773956 | title=The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals [proof sheets] / University of Toronto Libraries | publisher = University of Toronto | access-date=2014-07-22}}</ref> and ''[[The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.library.utoronto.ca/details?810961 | title=The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom [proof sheets] / University of Toronto Libraries | publisher=University of Toronto | access-date=2014-07-22}},</ref> Other collections include [[Babylonia]]n [[cuneiform]] tablet from [[Ur]] (1789 BC), 36 Egyptian [[papyrus]] manuscript fragments (245 BC), and [[Catholicon (religious dictionary)|Catholicon]] (1460).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.library.utoronto.ca/fisherold/collect.htm |title=Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library Collections |publisher=[[University of Toronto]] |access-date=2008-08-15}}</ref>

The [https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/collections/robert-s-kenny-collection Robert S. Kenny Collection] resides in the library. This immense collection of books, documents, and other materials pertaining to the radical and labour movements, particularly in [[Canada]], contains approximately 25,000 items collected by [[Robert S. Kenny]], who was a member of the [[Communist Party of Canada]]. The Canadian section, which has 382 books and 768 pamphlets, was acquired by the library from Kenny in 1977. The international section of the collection was donated by Kenny in 1993.

In addition, there is a collection of etchings by [[Wenceslaus Hollar]] (1607–1677) from the collection of Sidney Thomson Fisher. The collection consists of etching plates, original prints and published works by [[Wenceslaus Hollar]].<ref name="The Wenceslaus Hollar Collection 2017">{{Cite web|title=About the Fisher Hollar Collection|url=https://hollar.library.utoronto.ca/about/fisher|website=The Wenceslaus Hollar Collection|date=18 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518152137/https://hollar.library.utoronto.ca/about/fisher|url-status=live|archive-date=2023-05-18|access-date=2023-05-22}}</ref>

The library has a collection of 500 [[Valentine's Day|Valentines]].<ref>{{cite news |author=Dan Lytwyn |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-47203715/valentine-s-day-how-do-you-say-i-love-you-to-a-buttoned-up-victorian |title=Valentine's Day: How do you say 'I love you' to a buttoned-up Victorian? |publisher=BBC News |date=13 February 2019 |access-date=2019-02-14 |type=video, 1&nbsp;min 51&nbsp;sec}}</ref>

In April 2018, it was announced that the library had acquired the oldest English-language book in Canada, and its 15 millionth item, known as the ''[[Caxton Cicero]]'', which was printed in 1481 by the Englishman [[William Caxton]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://alumni.utoronto.ca/news-and-stories/news-and-articles/u-t-library-acquires-oldest-english-language-book-Canada|title=U of T library acquires the oldest English-language book in Canada|publisher=[[University of Toronto]]|date=23 April 2018|access-date=16 May 2018}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Wenceslas Hollar - The ant and the grasshopper (State 2).jpg|Illustration of [[Aesop's Fables|Aesop's Fable]] ''[[The ant and the grasshopper]]'' by [[Wenzel Hollar]]
File:Indian River Yukon Gold Panning 1904.jpg|Panning for gold on the [[Indian River (Yukon)|Indian River]], 1904; photo by [[Joseph Tyrrell]]
File:Wenceslas Hollar - Jesus, after Leonardo (State 1) cropped.jpg|Etching by [[Wenceslaus Hollar]] (1607–1677) of the [[Salvator Mundi (Leonardo)|''Salvator Mundi'']] by [[Leonardo da Vinci]]
File:Bride On Her Way To Wedding, Fuzhou Fujian China (c1911-1913) Ralph G. Gold (RESTORED) (4073567279).jpg| 	Bride On Her Way To Wedding, Fuzhou Fujian China ({{circa|1911-1913}}); Ralph G. Gold
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library}}
*{{Official website|https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/}}
* {{YouTube|id=0a5PJR_lwSE|title=University of Toronto : Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library}}
* {{Internet Archive|thomasfisher}}

{{University of Toronto}}{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:University of Toronto libraries]]
[[Category:Academic libraries in Canada]]
[[Category:University of Toronto buildings]]
[[Category:Brutalist architecture in Canada]]
[[Category:Libraries in Toronto]]
[[Category:Literary archives]]
[[Category:Rare book libraries]]
[[Category:Special collections libraries]]
[[Category:Archives in Ontario]]