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FrontRangeLiving.com -> Home Design -> Rare Books
JUDGED BY A COVER—THE WORLD OF RARE BOOKS
By Niki Hayden
 Hold a book of poetry by Katibi
of Nishapur in your hands and you might guess
where it originated. The design of the page resembles the intricacies of a
Middle Eastern carpet. A fluid, stylized script floats delicately on paper
in ink, gold leaf and blue lapis lazuli. The date is 1605. The place is Persia.
Contrast that small, personal book to one by William Morris. It’s a large
hand set printed book in heavy black font resembling Gothic lettering. Dated
1896 by Kelmscott Press, only 425 copies were printed. Fewer have survived.
 These beauties are among the thousands in the Special Collections room at the
University of Colorado’s Norlin Library. It’s a museum for books—from the
collection of late 18th century British women poets to the prints of
20th century American landscape photographer Ansel Adams.
 The
rest of this story is now contained in "Colorado Antique Lover's Guide" by
Front Range Living and Fulcrum Publishing. It can be purchased through www.fulcrum-books.com
or at bookstores, such as: www.tatteredcover.com,
www.barnesandnoble.com,
www.borders.com
or www.amazon.com.
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