Rare books, special collections & manuscripts

Overview

The rare book collection located in the Menzies Library holds over 40,000 items. These items are listed in the Library Catalogue and include a wide spectrum of disciplines and formats.

Items from the rare book collection cannot be borrowed, but are available to view upon request. Items in the ANU and Acton Press archive are only available for consultation where the Library holds no other copy.

In this collection

ANU Press collection »

This ANU Press collection consists of all ANU Press publications since 1952. The titles cover across a wide variety of academic disciplines and include monographs, journals and...

Brissenden collection »

This collection of over 1,450 volumes is being developed as a memorial to R.F. Brissenden (1928-1991), one of Australia's best known literary figures and a former Reader of...

Chinese Digital Archive 1966-1976 »

The ANU Library holds a number of unique, and in some cases rare and fragile, collections in both print and microfilm relating to the Chinese Cultural Revolution period (1966-1976...

Drawings of Bun Heang Ung: Life under the Khmer Rouge 1975-1979 »

This collection is a series of 90 original black and white drawings in Indian ink on art paper by Bun Heang Ung depicting his personal experience under the Khmer Rouge regime from...

Elizabeth Durack, an artist in Papua and New Guinea, 1968 »

Elizabeth Durack (later Durack Clancy), eminent Australian artist, was invited by the Australian Federal Minister for Territories and Minister for External Territories to travel...

Handleiding ten dienste van de inlandsche bestuursambtenaren No. 13/0. E. Epidemie-Ordonnantie en Ontsmettingsreglement »

Uitgave van het Department van Binnenlandsch Bestuur. Weltevreden - Landsdrukkerij, 1919 Introduction Produced by the Netherland East Indies department responsible for...

His Imperial Majesty's Shoot in Nepalese Terai, December 1911 »

These 50 photographs depict scenes of the shikar, or hunt; the hunted animals, and the hunting camps of King George V in the Tarai in December 1911. The photographs feature the...

Joseph Needham collection »

This small collection of Chinese books, and serials on mathematics and physics, is located in the Hancock Library. Brief Romanized catalogue entries are available on the...

Juan Davila special collection »

The Juan Davila special collection comprises over 1,000 monographs and more than 60 serials in several languages. The collection is maintained in the broad sequence and...

Kapper collection »

The Shirley Kapper Collection-a collection of approximately 1250 volumes -reflects the selection available on the shelves of a small town Australian bookshop about 100 years ago....

Kohler collection »

The Kohler Collection consists over 500 Edwardian novels. The Kohler Collection is held in the Menzies Library Rare Books Room. Items can be requested from the Rare...

La Nauze collection »

The La Nauze Collection consists of over 500 volumes on political economy. The Collection contains many early works in this field including a first edition of Adam Smith's...

Lord Lao's Eighty One Transformations, Illustrated 
老君八十一化图 »

Introduction to Lord Lao's Eighty One Transformations, Illustrated by Dr. Benjamin Penny Laojun bashiyi huatu is an illustrated hagiography of Laozi showing his supposed...

Mortlake collection »

The Mortlake Collection represents all types of material read in England during the Victorian age, and consists of approximately ten thousand volumes and covers almost all fields...

Notice respecting the Natives of New Guinea »

About the notice by William Marsden, Esq., F.R.S., M.R.A.S., &c. in: Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. III London: J.L. Cox,...

Petr Herel collection of artist’s books & limited editions portfolios »

The Petr Herel collection of artist's books and limited editions portfolios contains works created in the Graphic Investigation Workshop (GIW) (1978-1998), initially instigated at...

Some Notes on Java and its Administration by the Dutch »

About by Henry Scott Boys
Late Bengal Civil ServiceAllahabad: Pioneer Press, 1892 Introduction by Dr. Ann Kumar, Faculty of Asian Studies, ANU This modestly titled...

The Giles Pickford Collection »

Most of the early photographs, especially those relating to the siege of the Legations in Beijing (June–August 1900), were apparently the handiwork of Lancelot Giles (grandfather...

Xu Dishan collection »

The Xu Dishan [许地山 (1893-1941)] collection consists of approximately 469 titles in 1,224 volumes and comprises many rare editions and suspected orphaned sacred books on Buddhism,...