The Rare Book Department offers free access to historically important books, art, and objects ranging in date from 3000 BCE to the present. Among its many collections are illuminated medieval manuscripts, first editions, notable collections of writers including Charles Dickens and Edgar Allan Poe, early American children’s books, original artwork by Beatrix Potter, Robert Lawson, and other illustrators, manuscripts from the Muslim world, cuneiform tablets, and Pennsylvania German manuscripts and printed books.