The spring rotunda exhibit, “Pause Awhile: A Rare Books Exhibit,” highlights selections from the school’s extensive rare books collection. The collection, curated by Parth Jain ’24 and Ms. Joan Baldwin, curator of special collections, will be on display from April 15 to May 15.
Jain’s fascination with the rare books collection began during a research project when he sought help from Ms. Baldwin. Special Collections houses over 1,200 volumes in the Edsel Ford Memorial Library in the form of graphics, maps, scrolls, and folios.
Realizing that she had not curated a rare books exhibit in years, Ms. Baldwin invited Jain to work with her on designing one. Ms. Baldwin said, “I was just the sous chef. Parth did the design, writing, and book selection.”
Jain said, “I was able to get volumes that spanned a great range of lengths, geographic origins, and historical periods.” The oldest book shown in the exhibit is a 1625 edition of The Luther Bible, the first translation of the Bible from Latin into German.
The exhibit showcases complete books, fragments, pages, and photographs of books. Ms. Baldwin said, “Many books from our rare books collection could not be put in the exhibit because of conservation reasons.”
George Van Santvoord, class of 1908 and head of school from 1926- 1955, collected many of the books on display and gifted them to the school when he retired.
A portrait of Mr. Van Santvoord and a collection of drawings he made on an African safari are included in the display. Many of the exhibit’s volumes include Mr. Van Santvoord’s marginalia.
Jake Glazer ’27 said, “I remember seeing one of the first copies of Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan in my Global Thinking class, and this exhibit encouraged me to learn more about rare books.”
