Restricted collections are always amazing to browse. In the Bay Area, for example, the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley is a fantastic resource for browsing extr

Restricted collections are always amazing to browse. In the Bay Area, for example, the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley is a fantastic resource for browsing extremely old and rare books. I believe it's open to the public but you have to register[0], and you have to specifically request the items from circulation. Want to see a Mark Twain manuscript, or an original Dürer print? You will be able to "check" these items out in a time-box, and browse them on-site. It's amazing how available these resources can be, and not many non-academic researchers assume you can see these items with adequate permission. Having been to many rare book conventions, I've seen the librarians from the Bancroft Library purchasing items often upwards of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. The rare book world is very fascinating. [0] http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/libraries/bancroft-library/plan-a-visit http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/libraries/bancroft-library/plan-...