5 Rare Books
Rare Books had another successful year with a total of 3,592 items from the
collection being used, with continued support from the Friends of the Library
and its loyal donors. The Monash Rare Book Collection is the only rare book
collection in Australia still participating in the interlibrary loan scheme.
The year began with the "Sexpectations" exhibition still on display.
This display is on the Monash Rare Books home page, and the Women's Studies home
page.
On 19 March the exhibition, "AIDS", was opened at a Friends' of the
Library function. The Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Robinson
officiated at the opening of this exhibition, which consisted partly of books
from Dr. Richard Travers, and partly of books from the Goller Collection
formerly housed at Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital Library. This
exhibition ran until mid-May.
Mark Peel of the History Department opened the exhibition on the
"Occult" on 4 June. Also present at the opening were Kerry Kulkens and
her daughter who performed a witch's blessing and gave readings. The Exhibition
featured items from the large collection of material by and about Aleister
Crowley, as well as books on witchcraft and spiritualism.
On 30 July Dr. Colin Hope of the Classics Department opened an exhibition on
archaeological excavations in Egypt. This focused on Dr. Hope's own excavations
at Dakhleh Oasis. The Exhibition was entitled, "From the Sands of the
Sahara - Ancient Kellis and Its Texts: Monash University Excavations at Ismant
el-Kharab Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt." The Exhibition ran from 30 July to 2
October 1998.
The current Rare Books Exhibition, "French Theatre", was opened by
the French Consul on 7 October. Works on display include Beaumarchais, Voltaire
and Diderot, as well as some of the volumes of plates and text of the French Encyclopédie
published during the 1750s and 1760s. As well as this Racine, Corneille, and
Molière are strongly represented, as are many of the lesser lights such as
Rotrou. The display also includes collections of farces and plays performed by
wandering troupes, as well as examples of contemporary accounts by visitors to
France. The exhibition runs from 7 October 1998 to 26 February 1999.
All of the 1998 exhibitions have been mounted on the Rare Books home page.
Visual highlights from the exhibitions are there as well as the full text of the
catalogues. The catalogues were advertised on Ex-Libris, the international rare
books e-mail list and the response in terms of demand for catalogues was very
good, especially for the "Sexpectations" and "Occult"
catalogues.
The major emphasis this year has been cataloguing as much of the collection as
possible onto the OPAC. Without the records on PALS it is impossible to know
what is in the collection. As very few people now consult the card catalogue,
the Library has been trying to have retrospective cataloguing work done. This
will continue to be the major emphasis in 1999.
The Library has continued to concentrate on cataloguing Australiana to assist
the National Centre for Australian Studies in their Bibliography of
Australian Literature Project. The work done includes the retrospective
conversion of the Australiana already in the collection. More work was done late
in the year on cataloguing the Lindsay Shaw Collection backlog. The
retrospective conversion project as it relates to rare books has now taken in
Australian literature, Australian description and travel, and Australian
history. The Library's extensive collection of early science fiction magazines
has also been catalogued.
The Hargrave Rare Book Collection has been amalgamated with the main Rare
Book Collection. A great deal of work has been done in adjusting the records to
show this on the online catalogue.
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