Ten fascinating books, manuscripts, collections…to see before you graduate. This list incorporates and expands on our 2013 Beinecke Bucket List.

 

Bible, New Testament, Ephesians

Rome, 3rd century CE papyrus codex fragment

Call number: P.CtYBR inv. 415

 

Arthurian Romances

France, 13th century illuminated manuscript, parchment

Call number: Beinecke MS 229

 

Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, also known as the “Devonshire Chaucer” or “Gentleman’s Chaucer”

England, c. 1440-1460, illuminated manuscript

Call number: Takamiya MS 24

 

Sir Thomas More

Book of Hours with prayer inscribed by More in margins in early-modern hand, in English

Paris, 1530

Call number: MS Vault More

 

Voynich Manuscript

16th century cipher manuscript

Call number:  Beinecke MS 408

 

Shakespeare’s First Folio

London, 1623

Call number: 1978 +83

 

Hannah Craft’s The Bondwoman’s Narrative

Manuscript novel, fictionalized autobiography of a fugitive slave, c. 1853-1861

Call number: JWJ MSS 29

 

Lincoln’s pen used to sign the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863

GEN MSS 257

 

Walt Whitman Collection

Manuscripts and photographs, 19th century

Call number: YCAL MSS 202

 

Rachel Carson Papers

Letter from Olga Huckins to Rachel Carson, Jan. 27, 1958, that inspired Silent Spring

Call number: YCAL MSS 46

 

J. M. Barrie and Peter Llewelyn Davies’ Boy Castaways, the basis for Peter Pan

Call number: Ip B276 B64

 

E. H. Shepard’s watercolor frontispiece for The Wind in the Willows

Call number: GEN MSS 764

 

Beinecke Top Tens gather (approximately) ten related items to give an at-a-glance look at some of the Library’s interesting, important, strange, compelling, beautiful holdings. To see more lists, click here: Beinecke Top Tens. To suggest a list subject, contact us: Top Ten Ideas.