Ricker Library of Art and Architecture has special collections located in the Vault, including artists' books, folios, facsimiles of sketchbooks, catalogues raisonnés, other rare and more unique materials. These materials can be viewed in the the Library Monday-Friday 9am to 5pm without any prior appointment, but you are more than welcome to schedule an appointment by contacting rickerlibrary@library.illinois.edu.
The items in the section above are just a few examples of the type of material featured in the Ricker Vault and closed stacks collections. They can be used as inspiration for color, typography, and overall design of any graphic design project.
To learn more about what is in our collection, you can look at the Research section of the Ricker website. To learn more about the closed stacks collection, Ricker has a Research Guide to help patrons navigate the material.
The Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RBML) of the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign is one of the largest repositories for rare books and manuscripts in the United States. Within their collection they have have a wealth of materials related to art and design as well as digital collections such as the examples below.
Materials must be requested prior to visiting RBML. More details about using RBML are available on their website.