Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

Today we are featuring a new acquisition in the area of Middle Eastern studies related to military life in the early nineteenth century. Created in the wake of the Vak’a-i Hayriyye, this remarkable Ottoman military work was produced for presentation to high-ranking officers of the newly established elite army. Following the dissolution of the centuries-old Janissary corps by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826, a new imperial force emerged—disciplined, modern, and directly loyal to the throne. This volume offers a detailed portrait of that transformation. It outlines the structure of the “Victorious Army,” from uniforms and weaponry to codes of honour and financial organization. The text also explores military tactics and strategies, illustrated through accounts of major historical battles. Includes 17 finely executed copper-engraved maps, depicting army formations, encampments, and sieges bringing the mechanics of early 19th-century warfare vividly to life Title: [ʻAsâkir-i Mansûr] (The Victorious Soldiers) Date: 1245 H [1829/30 CE] Language: Ottoman Turkish

Registration is now open for a workshop on radical and independent publishing in Latin America. This workshop will introduce key concepts and practices emerging from the work of independent, artisanal, radical, and community-focus editors and publishers in the region, and provide an opportunity to participants to work with books and printed matter, while reflecting on topics such as autonomy, democracy, rights, and other possible futures through the book arts. Saturday, 6 June 2026 | 1:30-3:00PM Printing with the Current: Independent Publishing in Latin America Today Instructor: David Fernández Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library Free. All welcome. Register online (link on bio) Image: “+ books - bullets”, in Henry Güiza. Yo paro, yo produzco. Bogotá: Big Sur Books, 2021. #ThikingThroughPrinting #printing #bookarts #rarebooks #specialcollections

Our ephemera collections contain material on *the other* Star Wars. The nickname for President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, the ‘Star Wars’ program was the reason for protests in Canada by the Toronto Peace Education Centre, Toronto Disarmament Network, The Regina and Saskatoon Peace Councils and many others. #maythe4th #starwars

We are treated to printed and real-life views of cherry blossoms in the reading room today. View of Kiyomizudera from the Illustrated Guide to Kyoto and its Suburbs by Yoshii Tsunetaro. Osaka: T. Nakashima, 1891. 🌸

For World Book Day 2026, we’re presenting materials from our collections that promote democratic access to books, reading, writing, and orality inspired by the Agenda LLEA (2025) @cerlalc and @segibdigital of the @UNESCO This display is organized by students in the graduate course INF2162: Rare Books and Manuscripts (Winter, 2026) at the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto. Thursday, 23 April 2026 | 12–7 pm Maclean Hunter Room | Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library Free. All are welcome. @ischool_to @uoftlibraries @uoft Image: Spread from Bolom chon. San Cristóbal de Las Casas, México: Taller Leñateros, 2008.

A quick burst of short poems for #poetrymonth 2026: Industrial Sabotage #47/CURVD H&Z 404, edited by jwcurry, 14 January 1990. The issues of Industrial Sabotage held at Fisher vary from crumpled poems in a film canister to this issue of 35 rubber-stamped cards held in a business card holder. Each short poem is by a different author whose name is stamped on the verso of each card. Fisher call number K-11 00155

A fabulous book talk today by Amelia Ackerman discussing ‘Archiving Machines: From Punch Cards to Platforms’

Have you experienced Arctic Fever? In just a a few weeks, our current exhibition Arctic Fever: Image and Narrative in North Circumpolar Voyaging of the Long Nineteenth Century will disappear like the winter snow. Visit the exhibition during our opening hours until 24 April! Free and Open to all!

CBC's The National featured a segment yesterday about unlocking the mystery of a parchment fragment from @massey_college using the Multispectral Imaging System for the Humanities and Archives (MISHA) at the Fisher Library! Link in bio

“First started bird study 10 years ago today…” In special collections, we think even the smallest anniversaries matter, and that the little moments can be noteworthy. This entry from Canadian naturalist and ornithologist James Little Baillie’s journal made almost exactly 96 years ago commemorates the tenth anniversary of when he began to study birds in 1920. Baillie joined the staff at the Royal Ontario Museum in 1922 and served in many positions there until his death in 1970. He wrote a weekly column on birds in the Toronto Evening Telegram beginning in 1931 which would continue for 39 years. A prolific lecturer and writer on the topic of ornithology, he also wrote over 300 articles. James Little Baillie papers. Ms Coll 00127

Various clovers from Gerard’s Herbal for St. Patrick’s day. St. Patrick is often depicted holding clover. The herball, or, Generall historie of plantes by John Gerard. London : Printed by Adam Islip, Joice Norton and Richard Whitakers, 1636. #stpatrick

Friday the 13th two months in a row? If we were superstitious we might worry that the year is off to an unlucky start! 2026 will have the maximum possible Friday the thirteenths in a single year, with one more to come this November. Henry Hammond’s tract criticizes the ridiculous superstition of ‘making groundless observations of ominous things, inauspicious events, unlucky days, and such like old-wives divinations’ among other things. Of svperstition. By Henry Hammond. Oxford : Printed by Henry Hall, printer to the Unviersitie, 1645 #fridaythe13 #superstition