UW-Milwaukee Special Collections
@uwmspeccoll.bsky.social
Expect rare books, zines, fine press editions, comic books, artists books, and the occasional shelfie from the UW-Milwaukee Special Collections staff.
On The Road Again
This week we’re adventuring with The Traveling Musicians by the Brothers Grimm, featuring a donkey, dog, cat, and rooster who decide they’re tired of being underappreciated and overworked, so they hit the road to become musicians.
-Melissa, DCLA
tinyurl.com/5actpbje
This week we’re adventuring with The Traveling Musicians by the Brothers Grimm, featuring a donkey, dog, cat, and rooster who decide they’re tired of being underappreciated and overworked, so they hit the road to become musicians.
-Melissa, DCLA
tinyurl.com/5actpbje
November 7, 2025 at 8:02 PM
On The Road Again
This week we’re adventuring with The Traveling Musicians by the Brothers Grimm, featuring a donkey, dog, cat, and rooster who decide they’re tired of being underappreciated and overworked, so they hit the road to become musicians.
-Melissa, DCLA
tinyurl.com/5actpbje
This week we’re adventuring with The Traveling Musicians by the Brothers Grimm, featuring a donkey, dog, cat, and rooster who decide they’re tired of being underappreciated and overworked, so they hit the road to become musicians.
-Melissa, DCLA
tinyurl.com/5actpbje
A House Sparrow Feathursday
Once again, we highlight one of our favorite common birds, the cheery House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). Besides being a delightfully homey bird, it is also considered a symbol of lust, sexual potency, commonness, and vulgarity. Ooo, la, la!
tinyurl.com/4v79mptr
Once again, we highlight one of our favorite common birds, the cheery House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). Besides being a delightfully homey bird, it is also considered a symbol of lust, sexual potency, commonness, and vulgarity. Ooo, la, la!
tinyurl.com/4v79mptr
November 6, 2025 at 10:16 PM
A House Sparrow Feathursday
Once again, we highlight one of our favorite common birds, the cheery House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). Besides being a delightfully homey bird, it is also considered a symbol of lust, sexual potency, commonness, and vulgarity. Ooo, la, la!
tinyurl.com/4v79mptr
Once again, we highlight one of our favorite common birds, the cheery House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). Besides being a delightfully homey bird, it is also considered a symbol of lust, sexual potency, commonness, and vulgarity. Ooo, la, la!
tinyurl.com/4v79mptr
As October ends, we bid farewell to spooky season with What’s a Ghost Going to Do? (William Morrow & Co, 1966) by Jane Thayer, illustrated by Seymour Fleishman. This heartwarming tale follows Gus; a ghost faced with a haunting dilemma: the only house he’s ever known is being torn down.
Melissa, DCLA
Melissa, DCLA
October 31, 2025 at 5:55 PM
As October ends, we bid farewell to spooky season with What’s a Ghost Going to Do? (William Morrow & Co, 1966) by Jane Thayer, illustrated by Seymour Fleishman. This heartwarming tale follows Gus; a ghost faced with a haunting dilemma: the only house he’s ever known is being torn down.
Melissa, DCLA
Melissa, DCLA
These preening Oystercatchers are from Bird Portraiture (“How To Do It” Series No. 35) by noted British naturalist artist & illustrator Charles Tunnicliffe, published in London & New York by The Studio in 1945. The illustrations come from the chapter on “Poses and Action Studies."
October 30, 2025 at 5:45 PM
These preening Oystercatchers are from Bird Portraiture (“How To Do It” Series No. 35) by noted British naturalist artist & illustrator Charles Tunnicliffe, published in London & New York by The Studio in 1945. The illustrations come from the chapter on “Poses and Action Studies."
A Wicked Wood Engraving Wednesday
In 1985, Barry Moser printed his edition of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz at his Pennyroyal Press. The images shown here are reproductions of Moser's original wood-engraved prints in the 1986 University of California Press edition.
In 1985, Barry Moser printed his edition of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz at his Pennyroyal Press. The images shown here are reproductions of Moser's original wood-engraved prints in the 1986 University of California Press edition.
October 29, 2025 at 6:46 PM
A Wicked Wood Engraving Wednesday
In 1985, Barry Moser printed his edition of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz at his Pennyroyal Press. The images shown here are reproductions of Moser's original wood-engraved prints in the 1986 University of California Press edition.
In 1985, Barry Moser printed his edition of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz at his Pennyroyal Press. The images shown here are reproductions of Moser's original wood-engraved prints in the 1986 University of California Press edition.
These initials were designed by Dutch book & type designer Jan Van Krimpen in 1925 for use by Harold Curwen's Curwen Press. The alphabet shown here appears in The Curwen Press Miscellany, edited by Curwen's typographer Oliver Simon, published in London for the Curwen Press by Soncino Press in 1931.
October 28, 2025 at 8:36 PM
These initials were designed by Dutch book & type designer Jan Van Krimpen in 1925 for use by Harold Curwen's Curwen Press. The alphabet shown here appears in The Curwen Press Miscellany, edited by Curwen's typographer Oliver Simon, published in London for the Curwen Press by Soncino Press in 1931.
October 27th, 1923: Roy Lichtenstein was born in New York City. On his birthday, we celebrate the pop artist w/ images from Pop Art One (Publishing Institute of American Art, 1965) & Roy Lichtenstein: Drawing First:50 Years of Works on Paper (Skira, 2015)
Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern
Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern
October 27, 2025 at 6:08 PM
October 27th, 1923: Roy Lichtenstein was born in New York City. On his birthday, we celebrate the pop artist w/ images from Pop Art One (Publishing Institute of American Art, 1965) & Roy Lichtenstein: Drawing First:50 Years of Works on Paper (Skira, 2015)
Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern
Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern
This week, we're going door-to-door looking for candy with Lilly and Billy in Trick or Treat written & illustrated by Louis Slobodkin (Macmillan, 1959). this charming Halloween story captures the excitement & mischief of a classic night of trick-or-treating.
Melissa, DC Library Assistant 🎃🍬🍭
Melissa, DC Library Assistant 🎃🍬🍭
October 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
This week, we're going door-to-door looking for candy with Lilly and Billy in Trick or Treat written & illustrated by Louis Slobodkin (Macmillan, 1959). this charming Halloween story captures the excitement & mischief of a classic night of trick-or-treating.
Melissa, DC Library Assistant 🎃🍬🍭
Melissa, DC Library Assistant 🎃🍬🍭
The 56th Annual Morris Fromkin Lecture is happening next week!
To register to attend this event in person or via Zoom, follow this link! uwm.edu/libraries/sp...
Hope to see you all there!
To register to attend this event in person or via Zoom, follow this link! uwm.edu/libraries/sp...
Hope to see you all there!
October 23, 2025 at 9:39 PM
The 56th Annual Morris Fromkin Lecture is happening next week!
To register to attend this event in person or via Zoom, follow this link! uwm.edu/libraries/sp...
Hope to see you all there!
To register to attend this event in person or via Zoom, follow this link! uwm.edu/libraries/sp...
Hope to see you all there!
This week we present 2 wagtails: the Grey Wagtail & the Pied or White Wagtail. About these images: a color lithograph by Charles Tunnicliffe from his book Bird Portraiture (The Studio, 1945); a wood engraving by Eric Fitch Daglish from his book Birds of the British Isles (J. M. Dent & Sons, 1948)
October 23, 2025 at 7:36 PM
This week we present 2 wagtails: the Grey Wagtail & the Pied or White Wagtail. About these images: a color lithograph by Charles Tunnicliffe from his book Bird Portraiture (The Studio, 1945); a wood engraving by Eric Fitch Daglish from his book Birds of the British Isles (J. M. Dent & Sons, 1948)
For Spooky Month, we bring you these creepy wood engravings by Swiss graphic & stained-glass artist Felix Hoffmann for the 1965 Limited Editions Club production of Bram Stoker's masterpiece Dracula, printed with 33 wood engravings, with eight in three colors, at the Press of A. Colish.
October 22, 2025 at 9:24 PM
For Spooky Month, we bring you these creepy wood engravings by Swiss graphic & stained-glass artist Felix Hoffmann for the 1965 Limited Editions Club production of Bram Stoker's masterpiece Dracula, printed with 33 wood engravings, with eight in three colors, at the Press of A. Colish.
Here are some calligraphic initials by the German calligrapher & type designer Anna Simons, pared with a proprietary typeface designed by German type designer & fine press publisher Willy Wiegand. These examples are from an Italian edition of Dante's La Divina Commedia (Munich: Bremer Presse, 1921)
October 22, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Here are some calligraphic initials by the German calligrapher & type designer Anna Simons, pared with a proprietary typeface designed by German type designer & fine press publisher Willy Wiegand. These examples are from an Italian edition of Dante's La Divina Commedia (Munich: Bremer Presse, 1921)
Today we celebrate the poet Robert Pinsky, born October 20th, 1940.
The images are from Pinsky's 1998 fine press edition of The Rhyme of Reb Nachman, designed and printed in a limited edition of 125 by Caryl Seidenberg of the Vixen Press.
Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern
The images are from Pinsky's 1998 fine press edition of The Rhyme of Reb Nachman, designed and printed in a limited edition of 125 by Caryl Seidenberg of the Vixen Press.
Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern
October 21, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Today we celebrate the poet Robert Pinsky, born October 20th, 1940.
The images are from Pinsky's 1998 fine press edition of The Rhyme of Reb Nachman, designed and printed in a limited edition of 125 by Caryl Seidenberg of the Vixen Press.
Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern
The images are from Pinsky's 1998 fine press edition of The Rhyme of Reb Nachman, designed and printed in a limited edition of 125 by Caryl Seidenberg of the Vixen Press.
Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern
Ghost Lake Energy 👻🌊
This week, we’re diving into Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes That Dot Our Planet, written and illustrated by Milwaukee-based artist, author, and educator Geo Rutherford.
tinyurl.com/ya549v4h
—Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant
This week, we’re diving into Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes That Dot Our Planet, written and illustrated by Milwaukee-based artist, author, and educator Geo Rutherford.
tinyurl.com/ya549v4h
—Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant
October 17, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Ghost Lake Energy 👻🌊
This week, we’re diving into Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes That Dot Our Planet, written and illustrated by Milwaukee-based artist, author, and educator Geo Rutherford.
tinyurl.com/ya549v4h
—Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant
This week, we’re diving into Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes That Dot Our Planet, written and illustrated by Milwaukee-based artist, author, and educator Geo Rutherford.
tinyurl.com/ya549v4h
—Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant
A Stonechat Feathursday
The European Stonechat has been reclassified in Muscicapidae, the family of Old World Flycatchers, following genetic DNA analysis. The common name for the bird derives from its call, which sounds like two stones knocked together.
tinyurl.com/4hczwtxd
The European Stonechat has been reclassified in Muscicapidae, the family of Old World Flycatchers, following genetic DNA analysis. The common name for the bird derives from its call, which sounds like two stones knocked together.
tinyurl.com/4hczwtxd
October 16, 2025 at 7:25 PM
A Stonechat Feathursday
The European Stonechat has been reclassified in Muscicapidae, the family of Old World Flycatchers, following genetic DNA analysis. The common name for the bird derives from its call, which sounds like two stones knocked together.
tinyurl.com/4hczwtxd
The European Stonechat has been reclassified in Muscicapidae, the family of Old World Flycatchers, following genetic DNA analysis. The common name for the bird derives from its call, which sounds like two stones knocked together.
tinyurl.com/4hczwtxd
For Indigenous Peoples' Day, we have Speaking with Light (Radius Books & Amon Carter Museum of Art, 2022) curated by Will Wilson & John Rohrbach. This work brings together Indigenous photographers who are redefining how their cultures, histories, & communities are seen.
Melissa, Stockbridge-Munsee
Melissa, Stockbridge-Munsee
October 15, 2025 at 3:35 PM
For Indigenous Peoples' Day, we have Speaking with Light (Radius Books & Amon Carter Museum of Art, 2022) curated by Will Wilson & John Rohrbach. This work brings together Indigenous photographers who are redefining how their cultures, histories, & communities are seen.
Melissa, Stockbridge-Munsee
Melissa, Stockbridge-Munsee
Glow Your Own Way
This week’s eerie spotlight is on Mystery of the Lonely Lantern (1976), a Halloween mystery written by Florence Parry Heide and her daughter Roxanne Heide, with shadowy illustrations by Seymour Fleishman.
--Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant
tinyurl.com/3usw6rxs
This week’s eerie spotlight is on Mystery of the Lonely Lantern (1976), a Halloween mystery written by Florence Parry Heide and her daughter Roxanne Heide, with shadowy illustrations by Seymour Fleishman.
--Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant
tinyurl.com/3usw6rxs
October 10, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Glow Your Own Way
This week’s eerie spotlight is on Mystery of the Lonely Lantern (1976), a Halloween mystery written by Florence Parry Heide and her daughter Roxanne Heide, with shadowy illustrations by Seymour Fleishman.
--Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant
tinyurl.com/3usw6rxs
This week’s eerie spotlight is on Mystery of the Lonely Lantern (1976), a Halloween mystery written by Florence Parry Heide and her daughter Roxanne Heide, with shadowy illustrations by Seymour Fleishman.
--Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant
tinyurl.com/3usw6rxs
A Swan Upping Feathursday
The annual British Swan Upping, an annual ceremony and census of all unmarked Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) on the River Thames, occurred this year July 14-18.
tinyurl.com/bdat4j2u
The annual British Swan Upping, an annual ceremony and census of all unmarked Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) on the River Thames, occurred this year July 14-18.
tinyurl.com/bdat4j2u
October 9, 2025 at 8:24 PM
A Swan Upping Feathursday
The annual British Swan Upping, an annual ceremony and census of all unmarked Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) on the River Thames, occurred this year July 14-18.
tinyurl.com/bdat4j2u
The annual British Swan Upping, an annual ceremony and census of all unmarked Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) on the River Thames, occurred this year July 14-18.
tinyurl.com/bdat4j2u
👻Fairytale Friday: Spooky Edition🎃
Spooky season (my favorite) is upon us! This week, we're diving into the first American edition of Maurice Sendak's Seven Little Monsters, published in New York by Harper & Row in 1977. It's spooky, silly, and oh so Sendak.
👹Melissa, DC Library Assistant
Spooky season (my favorite) is upon us! This week, we're diving into the first American edition of Maurice Sendak's Seven Little Monsters, published in New York by Harper & Row in 1977. It's spooky, silly, and oh so Sendak.
👹Melissa, DC Library Assistant
October 3, 2025 at 4:36 PM
👻Fairytale Friday: Spooky Edition🎃
Spooky season (my favorite) is upon us! This week, we're diving into the first American edition of Maurice Sendak's Seven Little Monsters, published in New York by Harper & Row in 1977. It's spooky, silly, and oh so Sendak.
👹Melissa, DC Library Assistant
Spooky season (my favorite) is upon us! This week, we're diving into the first American edition of Maurice Sendak's Seven Little Monsters, published in New York by Harper & Row in 1977. It's spooky, silly, and oh so Sendak.
👹Melissa, DC Library Assistant
Here are wood-engraved birds by Spokane, Washington printer & printmaker W. Gale Mueller from his Forty Years of Birds ‘n Blocks, printed from the original blocks at his Millstone Press in 2009 in an edition of 53 copies. Today we show engravings from 2004-2008, the final engravings in the book.
October 2, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Here are wood-engraved birds by Spokane, Washington printer & printmaker W. Gale Mueller from his Forty Years of Birds ‘n Blocks, printed from the original blocks at his Millstone Press in 2009 in an edition of 53 copies. Today we show engravings from 2004-2008, the final engravings in the book.
Here are 4 engravings of rural Wisconsin by Wisconsin born & educated artist Curt L. Carpenter from An Innocence of Prairie by Wisconsin educator, writer, & folklorist Robert E. Gard published by arborist R. Bruce Allison. Curt Carpenter made these prints from engraved end grain maple.
October 2, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Here are 4 engravings of rural Wisconsin by Wisconsin born & educated artist Curt L. Carpenter from An Innocence of Prairie by Wisconsin educator, writer, & folklorist Robert E. Gard published by arborist R. Bruce Allison. Curt Carpenter made these prints from engraved end grain maple.
Typography Tuesday
Feral Font was created by Kalmyk-American poet, artist, and AI researcher Sasha Stiles and American artist, writer, and UW-Milwaukee art professor Nathaniel Stern using the Neural Network Font Type (NNFT), a custom AI typeface.
tinyurl.com/2w2t6jz3
Feral Font was created by Kalmyk-American poet, artist, and AI researcher Sasha Stiles and American artist, writer, and UW-Milwaukee art professor Nathaniel Stern using the Neural Network Font Type (NNFT), a custom AI typeface.
tinyurl.com/2w2t6jz3
September 30, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Typography Tuesday
Feral Font was created by Kalmyk-American poet, artist, and AI researcher Sasha Stiles and American artist, writer, and UW-Milwaukee art professor Nathaniel Stern using the Neural Network Font Type (NNFT), a custom AI typeface.
tinyurl.com/2w2t6jz3
Feral Font was created by Kalmyk-American poet, artist, and AI researcher Sasha Stiles and American artist, writer, and UW-Milwaukee art professor Nathaniel Stern using the Neural Network Font Type (NNFT), a custom AI typeface.
tinyurl.com/2w2t6jz3
On September 29th, 1547, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born in Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid. To celebrate we have The Dialogue of the Dogs (The Allen Press, 1969)) originally collected in Novelas ejemplares, published in 1613.
Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern
Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern
September 29, 2025 at 10:03 PM
On September 29th, 1547, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born in Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid. To celebrate we have The Dialogue of the Dogs (The Allen Press, 1969)) originally collected in Novelas ejemplares, published in 1613.
Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern
Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern
L'Amour qui Pousse sur les Arbres
Yesterday marked Shel Silverstein’s (1930-1999) birthday, which makes this the perfect week to share his timeless work, The Giving Tree.
tinyurl.com/mwz89dn7
–Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant–Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant
Yesterday marked Shel Silverstein’s (1930-1999) birthday, which makes this the perfect week to share his timeless work, The Giving Tree.
tinyurl.com/mwz89dn7
–Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant–Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant
September 26, 2025 at 6:20 PM
L'Amour qui Pousse sur les Arbres
Yesterday marked Shel Silverstein’s (1930-1999) birthday, which makes this the perfect week to share his timeless work, The Giving Tree.
tinyurl.com/mwz89dn7
–Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant–Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant
Yesterday marked Shel Silverstein’s (1930-1999) birthday, which makes this the perfect week to share his timeless work, The Giving Tree.
tinyurl.com/mwz89dn7
–Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant–Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant
Here are some wood engravings that serve as short-story title illustrations by American wood engraver & painter Gillian Tyler from the 1978 publication Banquet: Five Short Stories, published by Michael McCurdy's Penmaen Press. The
title-page calligraphy is by American calligrapher Margaret Shepherd.
title-page calligraphy is by American calligrapher Margaret Shepherd.
September 24, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Here are some wood engravings that serve as short-story title illustrations by American wood engraver & painter Gillian Tyler from the 1978 publication Banquet: Five Short Stories, published by Michael McCurdy's Penmaen Press. The
title-page calligraphy is by American calligrapher Margaret Shepherd.
title-page calligraphy is by American calligrapher Margaret Shepherd.