Search

      Buy tickets

      Past Exhibition

      Unbound: Highlights from the Phillips Library at PEM

      On view November 12, 2011 to July 15, 2012

      Today's hours:

      Closed

      Monday

      10 am–5 pm

      Tuesday

      Closed

      Wednesday

      Closed

      Thursday

      10 am–5 pm

      Friday

      10 am–5 pm

      Saturday

      10 am–5 pm

      Sunday

      10 am–5 pm

      Monday

      10 am–5 pm

      Tuesday

      Closed

      Wednesday

      Closed

      Thursday

      10 am–5 pm

      Friday

      10 am–5 pm

      Saturday

      10 am–5 pm

      Sunday

      10 am–5 pm

      PEM's Phillips Library is one of the largest, oldest and most significant museum libraries in the world.

      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, 19th-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 Equal parts aesthetically and intellectually engaging, the works on view offer a glimpse into historical documents that were acquired for their power to both delight the eye and change the world.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.

      Keep exploring

      Let None Be Excluded: The Origins of Equal School Rights in Salem

      Exhibition

      Let None Be Excluded: The Origins of Equal School Rights in Salem

      On view through April 28, 2024

      Exhibition

      Let None Be Excluded: The Origins of Equal School Rights in Salem

      On view through April 28, 2024

      A black and blue butterfly on an orghid, book print

      Visit

      Phillips Library

      Visit

      Phillips Library

      The Creative Legacy of Nathaniel Hawthorne: Selections from the Phillips Library Collection

      Past Exhibition

      The Creative Legacy of Nathaniel Hawthorne: Selections from the Phillips Library Collection

      September 28, 2019 to March 12, 2020

      Past Exhibition

      The Creative Legacy of Nathaniel Hawthorne: Selections from the Phillips Library Collection

      September 28, 2019 to March 12, 2020