Digital  Facsimiles
Bridwell Library & Octavo Corporation

Bridwell Library of Southern Methodist University and the Octavo Corporation have joined forces to publish and preserve books, manuscripts, and antiquarian printed materials with state-of-the-art digital tools and formats. The digitized facsimiles allow everyone to experience the texts and images of rare materials in a way that nearly replicates the thrill of holding the book in one's hands. You might have seen these priceless books in an exhibition, neatly placed behind the glass, each with its little name tag. But the digitized format allows you to turn the pages, as it were, and examine every word and every detail. It becomes a book again, not just a showpiece.

Bridwell Library was the first rare book library in the country to establish a partnership with Octavo. Now, other major libraries are now beginning to sign on to the project.

Digitized Rare Books from the Collections of Bridwell Library

Amico, Fr. Bernardino. Trattato delle Piante & Immagini de Sacri Edifizi di Terra Santa, Florence, 1620.

Bodoni, Giambattista. Mmanuale Tipografico, Parma, 1818.

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Works Now Newly Imprinted, Kelmscott Press, London, 1896.

Holbein, Hans. Icones Historiarum Veteris Testamenti, Lyon, 1547.

Merbecke, John. The Booke of Common Praier Noted, London, 1550.

Milton, John. Areopagitica, London, 1644.

Sanford, Francis. The History of the Coronation of James II, London, 1687.

Smith, Joseph. The Book of Mormon, Palmyra, 1830.

Wycliffite Manuscript: The New Testament, England, 1400 - 1450