Julius S. Held Collection of Rare Books

The collection was assembled over the course of his career by art historian Julius S. Held (1905–2002), a longtime professor at Barnard College, Columbia University (1937–1970),[8] who was renowned internationally for his scholarship in sixteenth and seventeenth century Dutch and Flemish art and as a scholar of Rubens and Rembrandt.

Volumes include illustrations by artists such as Peter Paul Rubens, Albrecht Dürer, and Anthony van Dyck.

The books include works by Virgil and Ovid, versions of Aesop's Fables, as well as titles on astronomy, religion, natural history, and anatomy dating from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century, in a range of languages, including Greek, Latin, German, Italian, English, and French.

Also included are separate ephemera consisting of Held’s notes on images within the works, along with letters, invitations, annotated dealer’s catalogs and offprints.

[14] To access rare volumes at the Clark Art Institute Library, it is necessary for researchers to telephone, email,[15] or write in advance of their visit; contact information[16] is located on the home page.