The core of the Penn Libraries’ outstanding linguistics collection is the library of August Friedrich Pott (1802-1887), professor of general and comparative linguistics at the University of Halle and first librarian of the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft.
From 1583 to 1712, the Dutch firm of Elzevier (sometimes written Elsevier or Elzevir), with additional offices in France and Scandinavia, published a wide variety of books, and notably small-format books, for circulation throughout Europe.
The Kislak Center holds over 560 exemplars of books printed in Europe from movable type before 1501.
The Penn Libraries is purchasing widely and in multiple languages in areas of research related to economy and everyday life in Ancient Greece and Rome.
The Ross Bible Collection includes three medieval manuscripts and over one hundred printed editions of the Bible and related Biblical texts.