About The Rare Book Collection
The rare book collection in the Grosvenor Room of the Library is one of only nineteen public rare book collections in the United States and consists of significant collections of Americana, first edition books, Bibles, Shakespeare literature, anti-slavery literature, pre-Civil War Buffalo imprints and pre-1852 Buffalo newspapers, and more than 5,000 literary and historic manuscripts and letters. Items such as the first folio of William Shakespeare, Thomas Jefferson’s personal copy of The Federalist, the original manuscript of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, and The Milestones of Science collection, from which the map comes, are all invaluable treasures that this great public institution holds.
About The Milestones of Science Collection
Assembled in an incredibly short span of time, the 196 titles of the Milestones of Science collection were brought together by Chauncey Hamlin of Buffalo's Museum of Science, with the financial and moral support of many of the ethnic groups in Buffalo, who paid for the acquisition of many of the items written by their fellow countrymen. Thus, many nationalities are represented in this collection – Copernicus-Polish; Galileo-Italian; Archimedes-Greek; Tycho Brahe-Danish; Kepler-German.
By coordinating a great all-nations Mardi Gras held at the Broadway Auditorium in Buffalo, Hamlin, despite the hard economic times, was able to rally the people of Buffalo together and by their insistence, raised additional money that permitted the completion of the Milestones of Science collection. A comparable collection would be all but impossible to assemble today without vast financial resources and a great deal of time.
In the early 1990s, when the Buffalo Museum of Science was faced with financial hardships and seeking buyers to purchase the Milestones Collection, the Library Foundation stepped in and organized a trade with the Museum of Science that brought the Milestones here and sent an incomplete duplicate volume from the library’s Audubon Collection (of which the library still holds the completed collection) for the Museum to sell and use those funds to continue operations. The Library Foundation, following in the footsteps of Mr. Hamlin, understands the intrinsic value of these historical treasures and seeks to preserve, exhibit, and educate the community on the importance of both this special collection and the philanthropic work of Chauncey Hamlin.