The Lilly Library from A to Z

Book excerpt: A beautifully illustrated look inside of Indiana University Bloomington’s renowned library of rare books, manuscripts, and related oddities. What do locks of Edgar Allan Poe’s hair, Sylvia Plath’s attractive handmade paper dolls, John Ford’s Oscars, and Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 cigars have in common? They are just a few of the fascinating objects found in the world-famous Lilly Library, located on the campus of Indiana University Bloomington. In this beautifully illustrated A-to-Z volume, Darlene J. Sadlier journeys through the library’s wide-ranging collections to highlight dozens of intriguing items and the archives of which they are a part. Read about life and death masks of John Keats, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Dreiser; Walt Whitman’s last pencil; and vintage board games, mechanical puzzles, and even comic books. Among the more peculiar items are a pair of elk teeth and an eerily realistic wall-mount bust of Boris Karloff. Sadlier writes engagingly about the Lilly Library’s major historical collections, which include Civil War diaries and a panopticon of the war called the Myriopticon; War of 1812 payment receipts to spies; and the World War II letters and V-mail of journalist Ernie Pyle. This copiously illustrated, entertaining, and educational book will inspire you to take your own journey and discover for yourself the wonders of the Lilly Library.