MLibrary’s First Book
In 1838, the Regents of the University of Michigan authorized the purchase of John James Audubon’s Birds of America. Held in the Special Collections Library, the eight-volume, double-elephant-folio edition is the single most valuable printed book in the MLibrary collections.

al-Jazūlī's Dalā'il al-khayrāt This richly decorated incipit page is from a celebrated 18th century book of prayers and devotions for the Prophet Muḥammad, and one of the most widely copied Islamic texts. The manuscript, from the Library's Abdul Hamid Collection, features a beautifully illuminated headpiece with vegetal decoration and a cartouche carrying the title of the work. The illuminated rosettes within the text mark phrase endings and, along with the marginal decoration marking textual division into ḥizbs, serve to guide the reader.

The image is one of the approximately 20,000 lantern slides held in the Art, Architecture & Engineering Library Special Collections on North Campus.

The introduction of lantern slides in 1849, ten years after the invention of photography, allowed photographs to be projected onto a surface where they could be seen, not only by individuals and small groups, but also by a substantial audience. This new, larger scale expanded the utility of photography, changing it from an intimate medium to one that was appropriate to entertainment and educational purposes.

The University of Michigan Library extends its warmest congratulations and best wishes to the graduating class of 2010.  It has been said that no one ever graduated from a library, but nobody graduated without one.  It is equally true that the library is continually renewed by the curiosity and spirit of intellectual inquiry that you, our students, provide.