Rare books and archival materials including diaries, letters, literary manuscripts, printed ephemera, maps, scrapbooks and pictures can be viewed in the Marilyn & Charles Baillie Special Collections Centre on the 5th floor of the Toronto Reference Library.

Some highlights from our Special Collections are:

Canadiana

• books, periodicals and government publications printed before 1900
• unpublished documents about important local institutions and influential individuals and families, dating back to the 18th century
• portraits, paintings, and photographs documenting Toronto's early history
• maps of early Toronto and Upper Canada
• posters, broadsides, tickets, programs, buttons and other printed material that portrays Toronto's social and cultural history

For more information see the Baldwin Collection of Canadiana

Literature

Maria Chapdelaine Collection

• 87 editions in French and in English of this Canadian classic by Louis Hémon
• includes the 1933 limited edition with beautiful illustrations by Clarence Gagnon

Rasselas Collection

• 206 editions of Samuel Johnson's Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, from the first edition published in 1759 to 1979.
  Donated by Thomas G. Wood
• 3rd edition of Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language.
  From the collection of Thomas G. Wood, donated by his nephew

Other Subjects

• incunabula (books printed before 1501)
• 18th and 19th century travel narratives
• costume fashion books and periodicals dating from the 16th century
• court festival books documenting British and European court culture dating from the Renaissance
• North American Native language hymnals
• 19th and early 20th century Canadian trade catalogues
• examples of fine printing through the ages

For more information see Special Collections in the Visual Arts, and Special Collections in the Performing Arts

Genre Collections

The Arthur Conan Doyle Collection (Toronto Reference Library, 5th floor)

• unpublished notebooks, letters and journals by the famous author
• items related to Sherlock Holmes including rare editions, printed ephemera, film posters, theatre programs, and unique memorabilia

The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books (Lillian H. Smith Branch)

• a 14th century manuscript of Aesop's fables on vellum
• Florence Nightingale's childhood library and Queen Mary's collection of children's books
• book art, archives, movable books and miniatures
• early Canadian children's books and manuscripts

The Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy (Lillian H. Smith Branch)

• A first edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula, published in 1897
• Extensive holdings of 'pulp' magazines from the 1920s onward
• the Benghis Collection of Jules Verne materials

Unique materials from all these collections have been digitized and organized into virtual exhibits.