Current Exhibition
Jun 16 – Sep 23, 2018
Mon–Sat: 10am–5pm | Sun: noon–5pm
Dive deep into one of the world's greatest technologies—the book. Discover a history beyond what’s printed on the page, seen in the structure, craftsmanship, and beauty of this often-overlooked marvel. Curated by Renate Mesmer, the Folger's head of conservation, Form and Function shows the Folger collection from a completely different perspective.
Discover the key parts of a book, and find out the many ways they can be combined. View the hidden details revealed by ultraviolet, infrared, transmitted, and raking light. And examine the small elements that a microscope can expose, including the fine touches of a richly embroidered 17th-century binding. A Shakespeare First Folio that was rebound in the late 1700s by Roger Payne, a well-known bookbinder, is also displayed, together with copies of Payne's descriptive notes.
While the rare books are at the heart of the display, Genius of the Book also offers many other ways to explore, enjoy, and appreciate books and bookbinding. You can touch and feel some of the materials used in books, including leather, fabric, and parchment, and see an early bookbinder's tools or a conservator's modern equipment.
As the exhibition shows, there are many reasons for the choices that were made in creating rare books. Ornamental features can also serve a functional purpose. Decorative or gilt edges can help to protect the edges from becoming dirty as a book is handled.
Knowledge of the art and craftsmanship of rare books helps us explore the history of how books were made, makes it possible to repair and conserve them, and gives us the insight and expertise to appreciate them. In this exhibition, the books speak for themselves—not through the information stored inside them, but as unique, hand-crafted objects in their own right.
Renate Mesmer
Curator
156669-sm.jpg
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Item Title:
[Sammelband of four Lutheran doctrinal publications]
Item Call Number:
218- 705q
Luna Link:
Item Date:
[1578]
156651-sm.jpg
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Item Title:
[Sammelband of two publications on letter writing]
Item Call Number:
PA8517 .D2 1549 Cage
Luna Link:
Item Date:
[between 1549 and 1598]
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Item Title:
Disputationes de triplici vniuerso, coelesti, elementari, et mixto, paruo homine
Item Call Number:
157- 564q
Luna Link:
Item Creator:
Zanardus, Michael
Item Date:
1619
156709-sm.jpg
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Item Title:
The third booke: declaring by examples out of auncient councels, fathers, and later writers, that it is time to beware of M. Iewel. By Iohn Rastel master of art and student of diuinitie.
Item Call Number:
STC 20728.5
Luna Link:
Item Creator:
Rastell, John, 1532-1577, author.
Item Date:
[1566]
156650-sm.jpg
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Item Title:
...XII. Caesares...
Item Call Number:
PA6700.A2 1537 Cage
Luna Link:
Item Creator:
Suetonius, author.
Item Date:
1537
156765-sm.jpg
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Item Title:
Lelio bandito: tragicomedia boschereccia / di Gio. Battista Andreini fiorentino; all’ill.mo sig. patron mio oss.mo il signor Francesco Nerli, ambasciatore del serenissimo sig. duca di Mantoua in Milano.
Item Call Number:
259- 981q
Luna Link:
Item Creator:
Andreini, Giovanni Battista, 1578- author.
Item Date:
[1620]
Meet the Curator
Renate Mesmer
Curator
Renate Mesmer is the J. Franklin Mowery Head of Conservation at the Folger Shakespeare Library. She is a book and paper conservator with more than twenty years of experience in the field. She formally trained as a master bookbinder in Germany and has pursued further conservation training at renowned institutions throughout Europe and the U.S. She has held previous positions conserving and restoring books and manuscripts at the University Library in Mannheim, the Speyer State Archives in Germany, and the Centro del Bel Libro in Ascona, Switzerland.
