The Rare Book collection, located in the Menzies Library, holds over 40,000 items. These items are listed in the Library Catalogue and include a wide spectrum of disciplines and formats.

Items from the Rare Book Collection cannot be borrowed, but are available to view upon request. Items in the ANU and Acton Press archive are only available for consultation where the Library holds no other copy.

Included in the collection:

ANU Press collection
Brissenden collection
Chinese Digital Archive 1966-1976
Drawings of Bun Heang Ung: Life under the Khmer Rouge 1975-1979
Elizabeth Durack, an artist in Papua and New Guinea, 1968
Handleiding ten dienste van de inlandsche bestuursambtenaren No. 13/0. E. Epidemie-Ordonnantie en Ontsmettingsreglement
His Imperial Majesty’s Shoot in Nepalese Terai, December 1911
Joseph Needham collection
Juan Davila special collection
Kapper collection
Kohler collection
La Nauze collection
Lord Lao’s Eighty One Transformations, Illustrated 
老君八十一化图
Mortlake collection
Notice respecting the Natives of New Guinea
Petr Herel collection of artist’s books & limited editions portfolios
Poems of the late Kang Youwei relating to travel in the ‘South Sea’ in manuscript
Some Notes on Java and its Administration by the Dutch
The Giles Pickford Collection
Xu Dishan collection

To request a book from the Rare Book Collection:

1. Search the Library Catalogue and request the item online OR
2. Complete a request card at the Menzies Library Information Desk.

Requests must be submitted by 10am in order to be collected the following day.

Rare books are retrieved daily during the week. No retrievals will take place on weekends or public holidays.

Items are held for seven calendar days from the date of the request.

For further information please email the Menzies Library User Services Coordinator or call (+61) 2 6125 2005.