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The Graphic Arts collection contains over 20,000 books on the history of printing and publishing, and related topics such as illustrative techniques, bookbinding, calligraphy, and book collecting. It thus overlaps significantly with the Book Arts Collection, though the books tend to be newer (post-1850). Created in the 1950s within the Library Service Library to serve the needs of library school students learning about the history of the book, the collection was transferred to RBML in 1991 when the library school was closed. The books, classed in the Library of Congress system, are found in CLIO.

The collection displays the diverse artistic venues that a comics artist pursued in order to make a living. For more on Meskin, see the book From shadow to light: the life and art of Mort Meskin: https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/7982354.

These files have been compiled by the Rare Book and Manuscript Library from its origin in 1930 through the present day. The material derives largely from gifts, and the occasional purchase; much of the subject file in particular is made of ephemera included in the American Type Founders, Co. Library, purchased in 1942. Prospectuses and information sent by fine presses and book artists are added to the relevant files in an ongoing fashion. The files cover subjects from the beginning of printing to the current day.

Business and editorial records of Granary Books. The collection includes the production files for these limited edition and trade titles, as well as Steve Clay's extensive correspondence with writers and printers, and other artist book press proprietors. Electronic records include almost two decades of email, editorial and production files, and the "Archaic Smile Lecture Series".