Rare Book Room

The Rare Book Room of McCabe Library, located on level 3, houses rare books and journals. From the outside, it looks dark and mysterious, but inside, with the lights on, it's a wonderful collection of unique items. Rare books, old books, limited-edition books, books that don't look like books, bound volumes of magazines and newspapers, Swarthmore publications such as the College Bulletin and the Phoenix, collections on William Wordsworth, O. Henry, W.H. Auden, James Michener '29, and Seamus Heaney. All this and more is kept in the Rare Book Room on the top floor of McCabe Library, where we aim to preserve and promote the use of these exceptional and distinctive materials for research, scholarship, and enjoyment. Search Swarthmore's special collections in Tripod.