Every year, researchers request thousands of items from the Newberry collection. These are the five items that were requested the most in 2022.
#5. America, being the latest, and most accurate description of the New World. John Ogilby, 1671
Cartographer John Ogilby’s “accurate description” doesn’t exactly live up to the claims it makes for itself. Drawing extensively from other sources (notably, Arnoldus Montanus's "De Nieuwe en onbekende weereld: of beschryving van American en 't zuid-land"), the book reproduces many errors about the Indigenous peoples, plants, and animals of the Americas. As a vestige of its time, it represents a stage in Europe’s evolving knowledge about the “New World.”
Catalog record![Ogilby map of Virginia and Florida A 17th-century map of Virginia and Florida includes images representing Indigenous people.](https://www.newberry.org/uploads/transforms/Source-Material/_autoLarge/255453/ayer_135_o3_1671_map_opp_pg_212_o3-1.webp)
#4. Book of hours, use of Rouen, ca. 1470
This book of hours (with prayers to be consulted at different hours of the day) contains some pretty fantastic imaginary hybrid creatures in the margins of its beautifully illuminated pages.
Catalog record![Book of hours, use of Rouen An illuminated page from a medieval prayer book features an illustration of a funeral. In the margins are elaborate decorative flourishes as well as fanciful hybrid creatures.](https://www.newberry.org/uploads/transforms/Source-Material/_autoLarge/255608/case_ms_043_folio_111r_o3-1-1.webp)
![Hybrid creature A creature with the body of a bird and the face of a man appears in the bottom margin of a medieval prayer book.](https://www.newberry.org/uploads/transforms/Source-Material/_autoLarge/255646/case_ms_043_folio_111r_o2-2-1.webp)
#3. Book of hours, use of Salisbury, ca. 1455
This prayer book was owned by one Thomas Mildmay during the reign of Henry VIII—a, shall we say, turbulent time for Christianity in England.
Catalog record![Saint George and the dragon. A soldier wearing medieval armor sits on a horse and stabs a dragon with a lance.](https://www.newberry.org/uploads/transforms/Source-Material/_autoLarge/255698/nby_dig_2492_full-1.webp)
#2. Shakespeare First Folio, 1623
Printed posthumously in 1623, the so-called Shakespeare First Folio is the first published collection of Shakespeare’s works. Without it, several plays—including Macbeth and The Tempest—might have been lost forever. The Newberry’s copy of the First Folio (to our knowledge) is the only one you’ll find in Chicago.
Catalog record![Shakespeare First Folio Shakespeare’s iconic portrait appears on a title page under the words “Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. Published according to the True Originall Copies.”](https://www.newberry.org/uploads/transforms/Source-Material/_autoLarge/255818/case_ys_01_tp_o3-1.webp)
![Inscription in First Folio The words “Ann Park is” appear in handwriting in a page from the Shakespeare First Folio.](https://www.newberry.org/uploads/transforms/Source-Material/_autoLarge/255850/case_ys_01_pg_27_02_o3-1.webp)
#1. Copy of the Popol Vuh, 1700 - 1715
The Popol Vuh is the creation account of the Mayan people. The text weaves together stories about cosmologies, origins, traditions, and spiritual history. (“Popol” can be translated as “woven mat” and “Vuh” [or “Vuj”] as “book.”)
The Newberry’s copy of the Popol Vuh was transcribed between 1700 and 1715 by a Dominican priest named Francisco Ximénez. Some scholars believe that Ximénez’s copy was derived from an earlier version, probably prepared in the 16th century by a native speaker who’d learned Latin characters.
Catalog record![Popol Vuh A book is open. The page to the left is blank, the page to the right is the beginning of the Maya creation story. The text is in Spanish. The first few words are “Empiezan las historias del origen de los indios de esta provincia de Guatemala.”](https://www.newberry.org/uploads/transforms/Source-Material/_autoLarge/256032/CAT125.1R1_39B_o3.webp)