Architectural treatises from the Renaissance to the 18th century are at the core of the Blackader-Lauterman Collection. First and early editions of Vitruvius, Alberti, Serlio, Palladio, Scamozzi, Vasari, Vignola, du Cerceau, Blondel, Perrault, and Ledoux are among the most important titles. These treatises are complemented by several significant volumes on architecutre held earlier by the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, most notably the 1750 edition of Piranesi's Opere Varie.
Other strengths of th Blackader-Lauterman Collection are modernism and the avant-garde, including a number of original journals and publishing series from the first hslf of th twentieth century, such as Alfred Stieglitz's pioneering Camera Work, the Bauhausbücher or E. Tériade's Verve.