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Special collections
Religious Studies
- The Rare Books and Special Collections housed in the McLennan Library Building includes some materials related to Religious Studies, including early Islamic printed books, lithographs, and manuscripts as well as Incunabula.
Islamic Studies
- The Rare Books Collection (now housed in the Rare Books and Special Collections) contains many early printed books and lithographs, as well as 226 volumes of manuscripts. Among the early printed books published in Europe there are at least six dating from the 16th century, 36 titles printed in the 17th century and some 144 from the 18th century. Specimens of early Arabic typography include 16 items published in the early 18th century in Constantinople (Istanbul) by the celebrated Turkish printer Ibrahim Müteferrika, and a sizeable number of Bulaq imprints. Furthermore, the ISL has a collection of approximately 700 books printed by lithography in the 19th and early 20th century in Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Iran and India. The first catalogue covering Arabic lithographed books was published in 1996 (see Fontanus Monograph Series).
- The manuscript collection consists of texts in Arabic (126 vols), Ottoman Turkish (68 vols) and Persian (31 vols). Though small in size, this collection is rich in Shi`ite texts. There are 127 individual Arabic texts alone, with Jurisprudence, Philosophy and Theology accounting for over 50% of them. Among the manuscripts there is a beautifully calligraphed collection of prayers (Majmû` ad`iyah), mostly by the famous Sufi master 'Abd al-Qâdir al-Jîlânî (d.561/1167) executed in 1094/1683, an illuminated copy of Man lâ yahduruhu al-faqîh by Ibn Bâbûyah (d.381/991) copied in 993/1585, and a recently acquired early 12/18th century composite codex executed for Sharaf al-Dîn al-Haymî (d.1140/1727).
- These and other Arabic and Persian manuscripts held by McGill Library are described in the journal Fontanus and in two catalogues published in the Fontanus Monograph Series The most outstanding examples of the arts of the book from McGill collections are also included in Treasures of Islam (a recently published CD-ROM).
Government Information
- After more than 150 years of acquiring Canadian government documents, and more than 80 of those as a depository, the McGill Library possesses a world-class collection of this material. Similarly impressive collections are available for Québec, the League of Nations, the United Nations, the European Union and the International Labour Organization. The Government Information Service also houses several rare items from Great Britain, Lower Canada, the United States and others, with imprints dating back to the mid-18th century.
Chinese, Japanese and Korean Collection
- Materials in the Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages are shelved separately on the 2d floor of the McLennan Library Building.
- In the 1980's, the collection was enriched through use of special funds which supported the purchase of retrospective materials in English and Chinese (the latter consisting largely of microfilmed newspapers and sets). A substantial donation of Chinese books by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China in 1989 enhanced the collection, as did a very important gift from the National Palace Museum of Taiwan, the Si ku quan shu zhen ben (MCL CJK AC149 S82 1969).
- The Japanese collections, on the other hand, do reflect interests in Japan over the past 150 years and are surprisingly strong in retrospective material on, in particular, Japanese theatre, traditional poetry and religion and travel.
- Annual proposals for Japanese-language materials by the Department of East Asian Studies on behalf of the libraries have been rewarded by the Japan Foundation.
Window of Shanghai
- Montreal and Shanghai became sister cities in 1985 and since then many cooperative activities have been carried out between the two cities. "Window of Shanghai" is a program initiated by the Shanghai Library to promote friendly relationships with overseas libraries which either have cooperative programs with the Shanghai Library or are in the sister cities of Shanghai.
- To start the "Window of Shanghai" project, the Shanghai Library sent approximately 500 books to the McGill Library as the first batch of gifts. The titles were selected by the faculty members of the East Asian Studies Department at McGill. These books cover various subject areas such as literature, culture, arts, economy, architecture, religion and history. To acknowledge receipt of the gifts, a gift plate has been placed in each book.
- About the “Window of Shanghai” ceremony
Digital collections