Rare Books Living

A tiny Bible in the palm of a hand
A tiny Bible, strange denizen of the A.M. Todd Rare Book Room

It’s time for me to start living, which means a visit to the Upjohn Library’s rare book room. Detroit Free Press Staff Writer Zlati Meyer makes it a priority to discover and visit interesting locations on the campuses of Michigan’s colleges and universities. She often writes about these must-sees in her column “You haven’t lived here until:” The November 3 column’s feature is none other than K’s A.M. Todd Rare Book Room and its curator Paul Smithson ’68. Because I’ve visited the rare book room, one could say I do “live” in Kalamazoo, but perhaps that purchase is more precarious than I thought. After all, there are many artifacts about which I had no knowledge until reading Meyer’s column–the hand-lettered “Raven,” Pope’s Homer, and the discovery of oxygen, to name just a few. Time to reinvigorate my lease on life; a rare book visit! Stat! The collection is open 1 PM to 3 PM, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, or by appointment with Paul. The current exhibit–“What the Dickens? Victorian England in the A.M. Todd Rare Book Room Collection”–continues through November 26.