Product Details

This is an exceptionally extensive multi-decade collection of The Princeton University Library Chronicle, spanning approximately 60 years, from November 1939 through Spring 1999. The collection brings together a remarkable quantity of individual issues documenting the intellectual, bibliographical, and collecting history of Princeton University Library across much of the twentieth century. The earliest material dates to November 1939, followed by numerous wartime-era issues from 1940–1945, including issues from 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, and 1945. Additional issues continue through 1946–1948, followed by material from the early and late 1960s. Of particular importance is the collection's depth beginning in the 1970s. There is a large, continuous-looking run from 1970 through Autumn 1978, followed by Winter, Spring, and Autumn 1979 and a substantial run extending through Winter 1987. The collection continues with issues from 1988 through the 1990s, concluding with Spring 1999. Across its long publication history, The Princeton University Library Chronicle served as a scholarly record of Princeton's library collections and activities, presenting material concerning rare books, manuscripts, bibliography, printing and book history, literary and historical scholarship, notable acquisitions, exhibitions, and special collections. Viewed together, these issues provide a substantial primary record of how one of America's major university libraries documented and interpreted its collections throughout the twentieth century. The approximately 1939–1999 span is especially compelling as a single assembled archive. Early issues retain the distinctive Princeton Library building device and period-colored wrappers, while later decades introduce a wide variety of illustrated and specially designed covers. The changing appearance of the publication itself provides a visual history of the Chronicle across generations. This collection is particularly notable not simply for the number of issues present, but for its chronological breadth and substantial runs. Reassembling a comparable archive individually would require locating issues scattered across many different years and volumes, including considerably earlier numbers from the 1930s and 1940s. The issues have been individually housed in protective clear sleeves with backing boards, as shown in the photographs. Because of the size of the collection, buyers should rely on the photographs and supplied issue information to determine the exact contents. The collection is not represented as a completely uninterrupted 1939–1999 run; rather, it contains substantial runs and numerous individual issues across that approximately 60-year period. Issues represented include material from: 1939–1948; 1961–1969; a large run from 1970–1978; substantial holdings from 1979–1987; and additional issues from 1988–1999, with the earliest identified issue dating to November 1939 and the latest to Spring 1999.