New Exhibition Case for Rare Materials on the First Floor of Pius

An original 1853 copy of Frederick Douglass’ Newspaper; an early edition of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass; a fine-press edition of the Gospels printed and illustrated with wood engravings by sculptor, typographer, and print-maker Eric Gill; Limited-edition facsimiles of the world’s greatest medieval manuscripts—these are just some of the rare materials from the SLU Libraries’ Department of Special Collections that students, faculty, and visitors have been seeing every day since January in the newly installed exhibition case on Pius level 1. This custom-built, museum-quality case allows the library to place items from its rare collections directly in front of the public in a highly trafficked and visible space. Access to rare materials through digital images is easier all the time, but seeing the originals up close is a unique experience! Exhibits rotate every two weeks so please stop by to see what’s new—or, even better, visit Rare Books (Pius 307) or the Vatican Film Library (Pius 110) to view the collections yourself!

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