Not all of the items in Special Collections are particularly old, but they are all pretty amazing.
Pictured above is a collector’s edition of Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. This book was personally signed by the author and also contains an inscription addressed to Loree Rackstraw, a long-time friend of Kurt Vonnegut’s with whom he also had a brief romantic relationship. These two friends met when Vonnegut first began teaching at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and remained close until Vonnegut’s death in 2007.
If you are interested in learning more about the relationship between Loree Rackstraw and Kurt Vonnegut, feel free to check out Love as Always, Kurt, a memoir published by Rackstraw in 2009.
-Kelly
Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat’s cradle Norwalk, Conn. : Easton Press, c2000.