Rare Books and Manuscripts Department

Our complete run of William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator is unique in two ways: first, this was Garrison's own copy, which he maintained in The Liberator's printing offices in Boston. Now it is also the only complete copy to be digitized fully and made freely available online. 

The City of Boston has funded a $15.7M capital project to perform a full renovation, including extensive environmental and mechanical improvements to the Library’s Rare Books Department. The renovation includes improvements to public spaces, collection storage areas, staff spaces, and conservation lab to ensure the long-term preservation of the library’s exceptional rare book and manuscript collections. 

Our early manuscripts collection contains manuscripts that date from the 900s through the 1600s. The collection is strong in liturgical and devotional works, along with classical Latin and Greek texts, works of philosophy, science, law, geography, and a variety of other subjects and genres. Learn more about this collection in a guide by our staff.

Deposited with the Boston Public Library in 1894, the John Adams Library includes over 3,000 volumes collected by the second president during his lifetime (1735-1826) as well as many volumes donated by members of his family. One of the major private collections of its day, the Adams Library remains one of the largest colonial American libraries still intact.

Comprised chiefly of individual editions of English-language stage plays issued between 1594 and 1799, the Boston Public Library's collection of early English playbooks is extensive and diverse. Numbering well over 1,500 items, the collection also includes masques, pageants, and other dramatic entertainments, as well as collections of plays.

We hold five rare printings of the Declaration of Independence issued in July, 1776. In addition, the library also holds an extremely rare proof copy of William Stone's 1823 engraving of the original document, which preserves details no longer easily visible to the naked eye.

Acquired in 2003, this collection includes an extensive array of Rockwell Kent's published artwork and writings. Materials include original pen and ink drawings, wood engravings, lithographs, watercolors, zinc engraving, sketches, textiles, ephemera, and signed limited editions.

Our Incunabula Collection contains hundreds of books documenting the emergence and spread of typographical printing in Europe during the 15th century. Learn more and see highlights from the collection in this guide from our staff!

We processed and digitized the papers of George W. Forbes (George Washington Forbes), a journalist, civil rights advocate, librarian, and scholar who was for many years a prominent voice in two of Boston’s earliest Black newspapers -- the Courant and the Guardian. He was a member of the Massachusetts Racial Protective Association and played an ancillary role in the founding of the Niagara Movement, which was a forerunner of the NAACP. In 1896, he became the first Black librarian in the Boston Public Library system.

Now available online: One of the first national magazines written and edited by and for Black women, the Boston-based Woman's Era featured everything from literature reviews to articles on civil rights activism, current events, and health and beauty tips. BPL's copy was apparently owned by one of the editors of the magazine, Florida Ruffin Ridley.