Pages From the Past: Original Leaves From Rare Books and Manuscripts

The leaf book represents a unique and controversial practice in book collecting. In the early twentieth century, some organizations began to deal in portfolios that they constructed from individual leaves, or pages of rare books and manuscripts. Each leaf would be attached to a backing page and accompanied by a short essay describing the work the leaf was taken from, its history and provenance. This offered a way for less well-endowed collectors to possess pieces of history they might otherwise not be able to afford, as well as providing documentary surveys of historical printmaking in an encapsulated format.

While the objects in this collection fulfill the latter objective, they also offer an unintentional lesson in poor custody of rare and valuable materials. This set, collected and mounted by the now-defunct Society of Foliophiles, Inc., is in several respects an irresponsible act of scholarship. Many of the leaves here would have been cut from complete volumes, destroying the original object in the process. They were also affixed to portfolios with tapes and glues that caused irreversible damage to the leaves, particularly in the upper corners. The archive has removed each item from the portfolios and placed them in separate enclosures to ensure their preservation.

However, none of this damage has erased the scholarly and aesthetic value of the pieces themselves. The items in the collection display a wealth of artistry, craftsmanship, and intellectual content from across millennia of Western print history. There are numerous examples of hand press printing and engravings, as well as illuminated and rubricated manuscripts and even artifacts from the ancient societies of Mesopotamia and Egypt.

It is unknown how this particular portfolio set found its way to the holdings of Queens College. A document from 1978 mentions it in the former Paul Klapper Library, so it has resided here for at least that long.