Founded by Allan Marquand in 1908 to support the newly established program in Art and Archaeology, Marquand Library is among the oldest and most extensive art libraries in America. We serve the Princeton University community and scholars from around the world, attracting over 150,000 visitors a year. The collection of over 500,000 volumes covers world art, architecture, and archaeology from antiquity to the present. More than 40 classes per year use our materials in teaching, and our rare book reading room allows the viewing of Marquand’s distinguished collection of rare books. We also participate in international digitization projects such as the Digital Cicognara Library and display local projects in the Digital Princeton University Library (DPUL).

Building on Marquand’s existing strengths in books on western architecture, garden design, photography, avant-garde art, and fine facsimiles of illuminated manuscripts and drawings, recent acquisitions include artistic anatomy books, such as Govard Bidloo’s innovative Anatomia humani corporis (1685), shown here, which combined naturalistic depictions of a physician’s dissections in dramatic compositions.

Marquand holds one of the finest collections of Japanese art, architecture and photography books. In the exhibit, the book, Gifts from the Ebb Tide (ca. 1789), is a masterpiece of design and execution by the famous woodblock print artist Kitagawa Utamaro. We also hold significant collections in Chinese painting and calligraphy; recent acquisitions include teaching facsimiles and periodicals that illuminate the intersection of arts and political satire in modern China.

Holly Hatheway, Head Librarian, Marquand Library

Nicola Shilliam, Western Bibliographer

Nicole Fabricand-Person, Japanese Art Specialist

Kim Wishart, Chinese Art Specialist