In the early 1930s, Mary McDonald (1848-1935), concerned with the preponderance of scientific and technical books at most land grant universities, donated a rare book collection to the Oregon State University library. In 1934 the McDonald Rare Book Room was established with gifts to the library of items from her collection. Since then, the McDonald endowment has enabled the acquisition of over 2,000 rare books and fine bindings. Included in the collection are numerous incunabula (books printed before 1501) and pre-1600 manuscripts. Among the exceedingly rare items housed in the McDonald Collection is Bernard de Gordon's Lilium Medicinae, Lyons, 1480, as well as three cuneiform tablets, the oldest of which dates to 2041 BCE.
Quantity
55 linear feet; 2,680 items

![Stanley, Thomas. The history of philosophy: containing the lives, opinions, actions and discourses of the philosophers of every sect. Illustrated with the effigies of divers of them. London, Printed for W. Battersby [etc.] 1701. Stanley, Thomas. The history of philosophy: containing the lives, opinions, actions and discourses of the philosophers of every sect. Illustrated with the effigies of divers of them. London, Printed for W. Battersby [etc.] 1701.](images/B111.S7.1701-150w.jpg)



