Rare Books Collection

The Counter-Reformation Collection includes over 1000 volumes of primary source materials showing the Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation up to the early 1700s. It embraces apologetic works by Catholic theologians such as Johannes Cochlaeus, Johann Eck and Nicholas Sanders. Many of these works are in Latin; there are also items in German, Italian, French, Spanish and English. The Collection also includes treatises on prayer and the spiritual life, catechetical works, manuals for confession, sermons and lives of the saints. 

The collection was organised in 1969, building upon materials already present in the Library; since that time it has benefitted from several major grants. The collection is complemented by the Library’s significant number of general theological works and works about English recusancy. 

All items in the Counter-Reformation Collection are listed in the University of Toronto Libraries catalogue

The John Henry Newman Collection includes over 1000 volumes connected with the life and work of the nineteenth-century English theologian, Blessed John Henry Newman. It embraces virtually all the works of Newman (most in the first edition), as well as anthologies and published collections of his letters and autobiographical writings. The collection includes some of Newman’s pamphlets and periodical articles, two autograph letters by Newman, photographs, and scrapbooks of clippings. The collection is complemented by the significant holdings of secondary materials about Newman available in the Library’s circulating collection. 

All items in the John Henry Newman Collection are listed in the University of Toronto Libraries catalogue

Among the highlights of the Newman Collection are the following: 

Autograph letter to Sir George Bowyer, Bt. 

Sir George Bowyer, Bt. (1811-1883) was a leading English jurist. Having converted to Catholicism in 1850, he was then elected to the House of Commons and became a champion of Catholic causes. In February 1875 Newman sent Bowyer a copy of his recently published A Letter Addressed to His Grace the Duke of Norfolk. This work was a reply to William Gladstone (later Prime Minister) on the question of papal infallibility. Enclosed in the book is a letter written by Newman to Bowyer. This item was formerly in the collection of the Reverend Cyril W. Sullivan, of Brampton. 

Autograph letter to Walter William Ouless 

Walter William Ouless (1848-1933) was a painter who first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1869. On the advice of Sir John E. Millais, Ouless switched from painting subject pictures to portraiture. The National Portrait Gallery includes five of his works. In 1880-81 Ouless painted a portrait of Newman now in the collection of Oriel College, Oxford. The Newman letter to Ouless was formerly in the collection of Miss Mary G. Stevens of Toronto. In 1934, Miss Stevens had bought a first edition of Newman’s Apologia from a Boston bookseller; by chance the Newman letter was found inside. 

Tennyson association copy 

Cardinal Newman and Alfred, Lord Tennyson, never met. A mutual friend, Lady Simeon, tried to arrange a meeting in 1877. Then in Augst 1882 the Irish poet Aubrey de Vere invited Newman to visit the Tennysons in Surrey, but Newman declined the invitation on account of old age. Several years later de Vere gave Tennyson a copy of the book Characteristics from the Writings of John Henry Newman, a popular anthology compiled by William Samuel Lilly, the convert secretary of the Catholic Union. The book is inscribed to Tennyson by de Vere, has Tennyson’s signature on the verso of the half-title page, and includes a number of annotations in Tennyson’s hand. 

First edition of The Arians of the Fourth Century 

The Arians of the Fourth Century was Newman’s first important theological work. In March 1831 Newman was invited to write a history of church councils as part of a new “Theological Library” to be published by Rivington. Newman soon discovered that the subject as envisaged would require several volumes. Eventually he chose to write a work, both historical and theological, on the early Eastern councils. The book was published by Rivington in November 1833 (but not as part of the “Theological Library”) and dedicated to John Keble who, like Newman, was a Fellow at Oriel College. The Library’s first edition of The Arians of the Fourth Century was formerly in the collection of the Reverend Cyril W. Sullivan, of Brampton. 

Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) was a French-English writer and historian.  He was a close friend of G.K. Chesterton; George Bernard Shaw called the two men “Chesterbelloc”. Chesterton drew many of the illustrations for Belloc’s novels. At over 250 items, the Belloc collection includes most of Belloc’s book-length publications, many in their first edition. 

All items in the Belloc Collection are listed in the University of Toronto Libraries catalogue

Description under development. 

All items in the Comper Collection are listed in the University of Toronto Libraries catalogue

The G. K. Chesterton Collection includes over 3000 volumes connected with the life and work of the English journalist, G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936). It embraces virtually all the works of Chesterton (many in the first edition): novels, pamphlets, works to which he contributed a chapter or forward, works for which he did the illustrations, and a complete set of the serial G.K.’s Weekly. Also included are numerous works about Chesterton, both biographical and critical. The basis of the collection was a donation in 1973 from the Reverend Kevin Scannell. The collection is supplemented by the broad holdings of the Rare Book Collection in the works of several of Chesterton’s colleagues including Hilaire Belloc and Maurice Baring. 

The Kelly Library owns over a dozen sheets of original Chesterton sketches as well as one of his sketchbooks. Most of the sketches date from his period at the Slade School of Art, but there are several from even earlier. They were originally in the collection of the Reverend Kevin Scannell, having been given to him by Chesterton’s secretary and literary executor, Dorothy Collins. 

Chesterton’s papers were held in trust for many years by his secretary, Dorothy Collins, near his home in Beaconsfield, England. At her death the papers were acquired by the British Museum; this is the largest collection of Chesterton manuscripts in the world. The Kelly Library owns microfiche copies of the entire collection (over 1500 fiche): manuscripts of many published works, illustrations from Chesterton’s time at the Slade School of Art and later, correspondence with family and friends, and albums of press clippings. There are also microfiche copies of the papers of Chesterton’s wife Frances, including her plays and poems. 

Chesterton’s first work, Greybeards at Play: Literature and Art for Old Gentlemen, appeared in 1902. It is a book of three satirical poems: “The Oneness of the Philosopher with Nature,” “The Dangers Attending Altruism on the High Seas”, and “The Disastrous Spread of Aestheticism in All Classes.” The book is illustrated with Chesterton’s own sketches. It did not receive a particularly warm response from the public. Chesterton himself said of this work, “To publish a book of my nonsense verse seems to me exactly like summoning the whole of the people of Kensington to see me smoke cigarettes.” 

The Library has two copies of the first edition. One of these was given by Chesterton’s uncle Arthur to Dorothy Charlotte Corbin. Arthur Chesterton was one of the five younger brothers of Chesterton’s father (and the only one of his uncles to remain in England). Chesterton’s sister-in-law describes Arthur as “an extremely charming handsome man, … always well dressed with a marvellous taste in ties and literature.” 

All items in the G.K. Chesterton Collection are listed in the University of Toronto Libraries catalogue

Among the highlights of the Newman Collection are the following: 

Original Sketches 

The Library owns over a dozen sheets of original Chesterton sketches as well as one of his sketchbooks. Most of the sketches date from his period at the Slade School of Art, but there are several from even earlier. They were originally in the collection of the Reverend Kevin Scannell, having been given to him by Chesterton’s secretary and literary executor, Dorothy Collins. 

Chesterton Papers on Microfiche 

Chesterton’s papers were held in trust for many years by his secretary, Dorothy Collins, near his home in Beaconsfield, England. At her death the papers were acquired by the British Museum; this is the largest collection of Chesterton manuscripts in the world. The Kelly Library owns microfiche copies of the entire collection (over 1500 fiche): manuscripts of many published works, illustrations from Chesterton’s time at the Slade School of Art and later, correspondence with family and friends, and albums of press clippings. There are also microfiche copies of the papers of Chesterton’s wife Frances, including her plays and poems. 

First edition / association copy of Greybeards at Play 

Chesterton’s first work, Greybeards at Play: Literature and Art for Old Gentlemen, appeared in 1902. It is a book of three satirical poems: “The Oneness of the Philosopher with Nature,” “The Dangers Attending Altruism on the High Seas” and “The Disastrous Spread of Aestheticism in All Classes.” The book is illustrated with Chesterton’s own sketches. It did not receive a particularly warm response from the public. Chesterton himself said of this work, “To publish a book of my nonsense verse seems to me exactly like summoning the whole of the people of Kensington to see me smoke cigarettes.” 

The Library has two copies of the first edition. One of these was given by Chesterton’s uncle Arthur to Dorothy Charlotte Corbin. Arthur Chesterton was one of the five younger brothers of Chesterton’s father (and the only one of his uncles to remain in England). Chesterton’s sister-in-law describes Arthur as “an extremely charming handsome man, … always well dressed with a marvellous taste in ties and literature.” 

Association copy of The Secret of Father Brown 

Chesterton’s fourth collection of Father Brown mystery stories, The Secret of Father Brown, was published in 1927. The character Father Brown was based on one of Chesterton’s friends, Monsignor John O’Connor. The Library’s copy of the first edition of The Secret of Father Brown is a signed presentation copy from Chesterton to O’Connor. It includes a hand-written poem by Chesterton, “Six Detectives went fishing.” 

Manuscript notes for The Surprise 

Among the many works written by Chesterton but not published in his lifetime is a two-act play, The Surprise. It was eventually published in 1952 sixteen years after his death. The Library owns the manuscript notes for the play written in a school exercise notebook. The manuscript was given by Chesterton’s literary executrix, Dorothy Collins, to the Reverend Kevin Scannell who donated it to the Library. 

Papers of Monsignor John O’Connor 

John O’Connor (1870 – 1952) was the Catholic priest who became the model for Chesterton’s character “Father Brown.” In February 1903 O’Connor wrote to Chesterton, and the following year the two men met for the first time. They formed an immediate bond of friendship which was to last more than thirty years. In 1921 O’Connor was present at Chesterton’s reception into the Catholic Church. The papers of Monsignor O’Connor are various. They include a number of manuscripts of his poems and essays, Christmas greetings from the Chesterton’s, and a number of personal letters (including one from Cardinal Hinsley about Chesterton). 

The Dante Collection was begun in 2013 by a donation by Alberto Di Giovanni and Caroline Morgan Di Giovanni. It is comprised of books by and about Dante Alighieri, especially works which illustrate La Divina Commedia. The Dante Collection continues to grow. The collection includes: 

• facsimile editions of early manuscripts of the Divine Comedy 

• printed editions of the Divine Comedy, many with illustrations 

• critical works about Dante 

• works about the artists who have depicted the Divine Comedy (including Botticelli, Dali, Füssli, Giotto, Guttuso, Michelangelo, Raphael, Rossetti, Signorelli, and Sughi) 

The collection of books is supplemented by a collection of fine art including oil and acrylic paintings, lithographs, and engravings. Among the artists represented are Laura Barbarini, Alberto Sughi, Renato Guttuso, Mauro Bordin, Raffaella Domestici, Malek Pansera, Giovanni Bernardi and Amos Natini. 

All items in the Dante Collection are listed in the University of Toronto Libraries catalogue

The Soulerin Collection represents the pre-Confederation library of St. Michael’s College. It is named in honour of the Reverend Jean Mathieu Soulerin who was the first Basilian Superior of the college from 1852 to 1865. The collection numbers almost 900 volumes (some 700 titles), most of which date from the late 18th or the early 19th century. 

The collection is strongest in British and European history, English and French literature, and Catholic theology. A number of 18th century journals are represented in the collection: The Tatler and The Spectator (1709-1714), The Historical Register(1714-1743), The Universal Magazine (1747-1753), and The Annual Register (1758-1798). Many of these works were formerly in the personal libraries of Father Soulerin, other pioneer teachers at the college, or the Hon. John Elmsley. 

All items in the Soulerin Collection are listed in the University of Toronto Libraries catalogue

College. It includes works published from 1813 to the present. 

St. Michael’s College counts among its current and former faculty, staff and students, numerous major authors in many different fields. Represented among former faculty are communication theorist Marshall McLuhan and theologian Gregory Baum. Represented among former students are psychologist John Bradshaw, novelist Hugh Hood, theologians Vernon J. Bourke and Alan Schreck, art historian Karal Ann Marling, and children’s author Michael Bedard. 

Click on one of the following links to browse the U of T Library Catalogue for works produced, in full or in part, by a member of the St. Michael’s College community: 

• St Michael’s College Professor 
• St Michael’s College Student 
• St Michael’s College Staff Member 
• Faculty of Theology Professor 
• Faculty of Theology Student 
• PIMS Professor 
• PIMS Student 
• PIMS Staff Member 

Most items in the USMC Publications Collection are shelved in the circulating collection on the second and third floors of the Library. Rare items are housed in the Special Collections: Archives and Rare Books. 

The Sablé Collection for 19th Century French Studies is comprised of some 12,000 volumes on French Romanticism and French history and society in the 19th century. The collection also contains a number of period journals available in printed editions and on microfilm.  

The Zola Collection includes over 500 books by and about Émile Zola as well as those by other Naturalists. 

All items in the Sablé Collection are listed in the University of Toronto Libraries catalogue

The cabinet de lecture, a commercial rental or subscription library, was a popular source of reading materials in nineteenth century France. 

The Kelly Library owns the partial collections of three such libraries: 

The Desbois cabinet collection consists of over 260 works (approximately 600 volumes) from the cabinet de lecture owned by Emma Desbois in Bourdeaux from 1872 to 1911. Some of the volumes were formerly in the cabinet de lecture of Jean-Baptiste Magen. The collection was acquired by Father Joseph Sablé who gave it to the Kelly Library. List of titles. Most titles have been digitized. 

The Domfront cabinet collection consists of approximately 440 volumes which formed part of a cabinet de lecture from the town of Domfront in Orne. It was acquired by the Kelly Library in 1998. List of titles. Most titles have been digitized. 

The Bourgueil collection contains almost ninety volumes from a parish library – une biliothéque paroissiale – from the town of Bourgueil (Indre-et-Loire).  All of the volumes were published by the same company, Louis Lefort, in Lille.  The collection includes pious fiction, biographies of saints, meditations, and theology. List of titles. 

In addition to novels, these cabinets often included periodicals, memoirs, and travel literature, and sometimes religion, history, and philosophy. 

World War. The diversity of the production makes it possible to take the measure of the extraordinary success of periodicals in France, throughout the 19th century: Catholic collections, collections for children, journals reproducing, collections of large diffusion, collections of literary, artistic and musical, large journals, scientific journals etc. 

To access the available numbers, simply click on the desired title. Please note that some collections are incomplete. 

List of 19th century French periodicals

• Bindings 
• Clasps 
• Edge treatments 
• Engravings 
• Manuscripts 
• Woodcuts 

The Rare Books Collections function as an effective laboratory for book history courses in the St. Michael’s College Book & Media Studies Program. Students can use items in the collections to learn more about bindings, paper, fonts, illustration formats, and provenance:

• Alum tawed bindings
• Armorial bindings
• Armorial bookplates
• Armorial stamps
• Bevelled edge boards
• Binding errors
• Blind tooled bindings
• Book-worm damage
• Booksellers’ labels
• Chromolithographs
• Chronograms (wordplay where certain letters when read as Roman numbers represent a date)
• Damaged bindings
• Diced leather bindings (decorative design of diamonds or squares)
• Discolored paper
• Doublures
• Dutch gilt papers
• Edge titles
• Embossed bindings
• Embossed cloth bindings
• Engraved books
• Engravings
• Errata lists
• Etchings
• Furniture
• Gauffered edges
• Gilt edges
• Gold blocked bindings
• Gold tooled bindings
• Half bindings
• Integral errata lists
• Leather thongs
• Lithographs
• Loop-and-ball fasteners
• Manuscript waste
• Marbled edges
• Marbled papers
• Marginalia
• Metal clasps
• Paper repairs
• Paste papers
• Pictorial bindings
• Pictorial cloth bindings
• Pigskin bindings
• Printers’ devices
• Printing in multiple colors
• Prize bindings
• Publishers’ advertisements
• Quarter bindings
• Rubrication
• Separate errata lists
• Signature registers
• Sprinkled calf bindings
• Stained edges
• Stained vellum bindings
• Steel engravings
• Stipple engravings
• Talmudic layout
• Ties
• Tree calf bindings
• Unrealized initials
• Vellum bindings
• Vellum printings
• Vellum wrappers
• Velvet bindings
• Visible structure
• Wood engravings (relief prints made from wood blocks incised on the end grain)
• Wooden boards
• Woodcuts (relief prints made from wood blocks incised on the plank side)

The Marshall McLuhan Collection was created in 2010 from material within the John M. Kelly Library to mark the centenary of McLuhan’s birth and to celebrate McLuhan’s tenure with the University of St. Michael’s College from 1946-1980. The bulk of the collection was formerly part of the University of St. Michael’s College Publications Collection (a collection of publications by members of the faculty, staff, or student body of St. Mike’s). The remainder of material comes from the estate of James Feeley, a former assistant to McLuhan. Feeley, a librarian, was working on a bibliography of McLuhan’s work. His extensive collection of material by and about McLuhan was donated to the Library in 2008. A small collection about Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller, an American engineer, author, designer, inventor, futurist and McLuhan collaborator was also donated by Feeley and is included in the McLuhan Collection. 

Highlights include rare collector’s items such as a complete set of the newsletter, the McLuhan Dewline, as well as inscribed first editions, variant copies and dust jackets. 

The Collection will continue to grow through purchases and donations. It does not include the Marshall McLuhan Papers, which were donated to Library and Archives Canada in 1984 by McLuhan’s widow, Corinne McLuhan. 

All items within the McLuhan Collection are listed in the University of Toronto Libraries catalogue

McLuhan acted as advisor on Sheila Watson’s dissertation: Wyndham Lewis and Expressionism completed in 1961. In addition, Watson acted as a teacher and general assistant to McLuhan. The Watson Library Collection reflects her close association with him. These items are also listed in the Marshall McLuhan Material in the John M. Kelly Library: Finding Guide. 

121 items in the Watson collection that have the word McLuhan somewhere in the record 

52 items in the Watson collection about McLuhan: 

66 items in the Watson collection written by McLuhan 

McLuhan and his secretary frequently forwarded correspondence to Sheila Watson to manage and respond to. Watson became a good friend of Marshall and Corrine McLuhan and other members of the McLuhan family. There are 75 cm of textual records related to McLuhan in the Watson fonds, most notably 217 letters from McLuhan to Watson. It includes: 

Correspondence 

• 217 letters and notes from Marshall McLuhan writing from Canada, the United States, France and England.  
• Forwarded correspondence regarding McLuhan’s letters to the editor of various publications 
• Letters from Anne Wyndham Lewis’, the painter’s widow 
• Comments to McLuhan from readers of Watson’s Ph.D. thesis 
• Letters from scholars who had ideas he thought would be of interest to Watson, and submissions for a Festschrift for Watson 
• Photocopied excerpts and newspaper clippings on Wyndham Lewis 
• Theatre, music, media and news articles regarding his children and family 
• Correspondence from Corrine McLuhan (199 letters) and other members of the McLuhan family 47 letters from Cornell University between McLuhan and Wyndham Lewis that Watson had copied for her thesis research 

Notebooks 

Watson created notebooks in the course of her personal and professional activities as a writer, Ph.D. student and professor of English. These notebooks tend to contain brief page references and quotations from books, journal articles and magazine columns. Of the 40 notebooks in the Watson fonds eight pertain to McLuhan (ranging in date from 1969-1986). 

Collected Material 

Watson collected material on McLuhan while he was alive and after his death in 1980, including articles, obituaries, etc. See the published works section of the Finding Guide for a complete listing of Watson’s library items that relate to McLuhan. 

Other material 

Fonds also contains McLuhan’s annotations on some Watson typescripts, Watson’s manuscripts about McLuhan as well as essays written about McLuhan for a critical anthology edited by Watson (and not published). 

Sheila Watson fonds finding guide. 

In the early 1960s, Wilfred Watson made contact with Marshall McLuhan and developed a growing interest in McLuhan’s theories, culminating with their collaboration on the study, From Cliché to Archetype. The Watson fonds contains four letters as well as an annotated typescript of Watson’s article “McLuhan’s Wordplay” published in The Canadian Forum, v.61, May 1981. 

Wilfred Watson fonds finding guide. 

Fred Flahiff, literary executor for Sheila Watson, wrote the Watson biography Always Someone to Kill the Doves: A Life of Sheila Watson (2005). The fonds contains photocopies and other research material collected by Flahiff in the preparation of the biography, including correspondence between Sheila Watson and Wilfred Watson with Marshall McLuhan. Itincludes some transcriptions as well as inventories of letters in the Wilfred Watson fonds. 

Fred Flahiff fonds finding guide. 

The Feeley material consists of publications, research notes and correspondence regarding James Feeley’s activities as a bibliographer, specifically his efforts to complete a bibliography of McLuhan’s published articles as well as administrative and working files from Feeley’s position as Explorations Administrator, 1966-1970. Fonds includes 12 Letters to Feeley from Marshall McLuhan, 1964-1965, and 1977. 

James Feeley fonds finding guide. 

The USMC Archives has very few archival records related to McLuhan as the Marshall McLuhan papers and audio-visual material was donated in 1984 to Library and Archives Canada by his widow, Corinne McLuhan. See the finding guide to these records. 

Material in the USMC Archives and PIMS includes:  

• Film about McLuhan on “Heritage Minute” 
• Three photographs 
• Pamphlets and William David Sharpe’s notes from “History of English Literature from Dryden to Keats”, taught by McLuhan, 1948-1949.  
• The Pontifical Institute for Mediaeval Studies archives contains two letters of correspondence between McLuhan and Etienne Gilson and L.K. Shook.