Exhibitions

Boasting 400,000 objects and an acquisition program over two centuries old, PEM's Phillips Library is one of the largest, oldest and most significant museum libraries in the world. Through over 30 exquisitely rare and storied objects from the library's holdings, this exhibition presents works including: a visually stunning leaf from the Gutenberg Bible, an elaborately detailed sketchbook from the Civil War, 19^th-century Japanese teahouse pop-ups, the earliest example of paper currency in the Western world, and a signed first edition of The Scarlet Letter. Equal parts aesthetically and intellectually engaging, the works on view offer a glimpse into historical documents that were acquired for their power to both delight the eye and change the world.

Support for the exhibition has been provided in part by members of the Library Visiting Committee including Katherine H. Duffy, Tom and Monica Healey, Mr. and Mrs. James F. Hunnewell Jr., Tim and Joanie Ingraham, George Lewis, Mr. and Mrs. Scott E. Offen, Mr. and Mrs. Stuart W. Pratt, Robert N. Shapiro, and Mr. and Mrs. William S. Strong, as well as by the East India Marine Associates of the Peabody Essex Museum. 

Additional generous support provided by EBSCO Publishing. 

Images

A leaf from the Gutenberg Bible

Leaf from the Gutenberg Bible (Isaiah XVII-XIX)

Printed by Johannes Gutenberg and Peter Schoeffer

Circa1450

Mainz, Germany

Ink on paper, in commemorative portfolio
Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum

Photo by Walter Silver/PEM

Anti-Slavery Map, circa 1858

United States

53" x 56"

Manuscript, hand colored, with a printed strip at bottom.

On paper, mounted on linen backing.

Gift of John E. Lawrence Jr.; Susanna Colloredo-Mansfield; and David T. Lawrence, 2008.

Peabody Essex Museum

Paper Currency

Massachusetts Five Shilling Note, December 10, 1690

Ink on paper

Paper, 5" x 4"

Courtesy Peabody Essex Museum.

Dried and hand-painted pipal leaves, early 1900s

4 5/8" x 6"

India

Gift of Mrs. Richard H. Thompson, 1970

Peabody Essex Museum.

 

 

 

 

 

Beethoven Portrait, progressive images, 1870

Louis Prang Company, Boston

One sheet from a set of 49 images comprised of 25 single-color lithographic prints and 24 "progressive" prints; printed on proof papers, mounted on boards

Gift of John Curuby in memory of Frederick Rush Innes, 2011

Peabody Essex Museum

 

Salesman's Sample Book of Broaderies, circa 1890

Paris

19 3/4" x 23 1/4" x 6"

Lace and fabric trim samples, with beads, sequins, and embroidery

Library purchase, 2009

Peabody Essex Museum