Do you have Great Expectations?
We do.
In fact, we now have the first incarnation of this Charles Dickens classic as serialized in the weekly journal, All the Year Round, which was also “conducted” or edited by Dickens himself. It is now possible to read about Pip and the gang in the highly anticipated weekly installments that characterized popular story-telling in the 1860’s. Equally engaging are the other stories, articles, and social gossip such as “Cheating at Cards,” “Election Time America,” Chinamen’s Dinners,” and “The Queen of the Blue Stockings” that sandwich each new chapter. And as with Miss Havisham and her wedding dress, this version of Great Expectations will spend the rest of its life in Special Collections Room 314 along with the rest of our premier Dickens collection.

SPCD 805 A416d vols. 4 & 5, 1860-1861

With titles like Thought Bombs, who wouldn’t be tempted to take a peek and turn a few pages? For those of you interested in taking a walk on the wild side, the Anthony Rayson Zine Collection serves up a bit of contemporary anarchy, a healthy political rant or two, and an impressive collection of writings and artwork created by incarcerated persons from all over the United States. All of these zines are published and distributed by Rayson through his South Chicago ABC Zine Distro. By one of those fabulous twists of fate, the most radical materials in this library now reside side-by-side with all of those very serious rare old books in the Special Collections and Archives, Room 314.

Thought Bombs, Rayson’s personal zine, blends a generous dose of rebellion into articles on every conceivable topic from the Iraq War to racism to the prison system to the safety of toll booth operators (Rayson’s day job) with covers illustrated by his children. Best of all, he is married to a librarian. His devotion to free speech and education drives his mission to distribute materials to prisoners and to support their creative efforts through publication.

As an active collection, we here in the Special Collections department are always surprised by the content and format of materials we continue to receive in this collection. Rayson, well-known for his crop circle protests against the Peotone Airport expansion, immediately took a copy of the finding aid we created for his collection and turned it into a zine. How’s that for a marketing initiative?