Despite its recent foundation, the Ahmanson-Murphy collection at the University of California Los Angeles counts the highest number of Aldine books outside Europe, and it is one of the richest collections in the world.
This paper retraces the steps of its development and cataloguing, placing the collection among the main rare books collections in Los Angeles. Franklin D. Murphy (1916-1994), who was the sixth chancellor at UCLA, emerges at the real promoter of this great cultural venture.
