Exploring the Bancroft Library: The Centennial Guide to Its Extraordinary History, Spectacular Special Collections, Research Pleasures, Its Amazing Fu

Founded in 1860 by San Francisco bookseller, publisher, and collector Hubert Howe Bancroft, The Bancroft Library became one of the premier research institutions anywhere in the world and the repository of a collection on the American West that is unsurpassed. In 1906, this private institution was acquired by the University of California and expanded to include the Mark Twain Papers and Project, the Tebtunis Papyri, Rare Books and Manuscripts, significant collections in the history of science and technology, the Regional Oral History Office, and representative materials showcasing and illustrating the sweep of Western civilization in general. "Exploring The Bancroft Library" is a collaborative production of The Bancroft Library (courtesy of the University of California) and Signature Books (an established and respected publisher based in Salt Lake City, Utah). Under the informed editorship of Charles R. Fayulhaber (Professor of Medieval Spanish Literature, University of California, Berkley, and the James D. Hart Director of The Bancroft Library) and Stephen Vincent (poet, essayist, and the director of Book Studio), "Exploring The Bancroft Library" is a centennial celebration of one of America's finest reference and resource libraries for academic scholarship. Enhanced with contributions by ten leading scholars in their respective fields, "Exploring The Bancroft Library" is a welcome addition to Library Science collections in general, and of immense interest to non-specialist general readers with respect to the Bancroft Library in particular.