(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Princeton University Library’s new exhibition explores the transformation of text production and distribution across Europe during a revolutionary 20-year period, featuring the Gutenberg Bible and an unprecedented selection of early printed books held by Princeton’s Scheide Library, as well as loans from nine leading libraries in the United Kingdom and North America. The exhibition is on display now through December 15, 2019, in the Ellen and Leonard Milberg Gallery, located in the Firestone Library lobby.
Scheide Librarian Paul Needham describes “Gutenberg & After: Europe’s First Printers 1450-1470” as “the greatest exhibition of earliest European printing...that's ever been mounted anywhere in the world at any time.”
Visitors to the gallery will walk through the chronological story of early printed book production in Mainz, from the invention of typography and the proliferation of text production across Europe, to first editions of volumes still read today, such as Dante and Virgil. The exhibition showcases 62 items, including Princeton University’s Gutenberg Bible of 1455 and 1457 Mainz Psalter, as well as incredibly rare scraps and fragments that reflect broader aspects of early printing.
The majority of the selection belongs to Princeton University through a spectacular bequest by William H. Scheide (1914–2014, Princeton 1936), the largest gift in the University’s history valued at nearly $300 million. The exhibition has been immeasurably widened and enriched through loans from England, including treasures of early printing that have never before been seen in America, as well as loans from American libraries that have never before gone beyond their walls.
According to Eric White, Princeton University Library’s Curator of Rare Books, the exhibition is “a unique opportunity for people to come to Princeton and learn about an essential aspect of European and world history...and to see an unprecedented selection of books.”
The exhibition is free and open to the public, daily from noon to 6:00pm. Princeton University Library is located at One Washington Road in Princeton, New Jersey. For more information, click here.
