An Odyssey in Print: Adventures in the Smithsonian Libraries

Thomas, Mary Augusta

Published by Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 2002

About this Item

As new condition navy blue cloth boards with silver front cover and spine lettering/embossed front cover butterfly illustrations, contained in an as new condition color illustrated dust jacket. Includes Foreword by Nancy E. Gwinn, Essays by Michael Dirda and Storrs L. Olson; Index; and Acknowledgments. Illustrated with color photographs and map illustrated front and rear endpapers. Includes a bound-into-the-volume silver satin ribbon page marker. "This book was published on the occasion of the exhibition Voyages: A Smithsonian Libraries Exhibition, on view at the Grolier Club.New York, May 16 - August 4, 2001. Under the name An Odyssey in Print: Adventures in the Smithsonian Libraries, the same exhibition [opened].in the Smithsonian Institution Libraries Gallery.Washington, D.C., May 2002 - May 2003." - from the copyright page "Situated at the center of the world's largest museum complex. the Smithsonian Institution Libraries links the twenty-two libraries that support Smithsonian museums and research centers into one system encompassing 1.5 million books and manuscripts. The expansive collection includes many rare and unusual works equal to the celebrated art and artifacts of the Smithsonian's museums. This elegantly illustrated accompaniment to a new Smithsonian Libraries exhibition of the same name provides a three-part expedition through the collection. The first presents works such as a 1511 edition of Ptolemy's Liber geographiae (Book of geography) and the pop-up book Buck Rogers, 25th Century, featuring Buddy and Allura in "Strange Adventures in the Spider Ship" to illustrate how the world has been imagined, seen, and recorded by Europeans and Americans. The second journey explores how scientists have extended our understanding of the world, and includes a 1641 edition of Galileo's Systema cosmicum (System of the world) and a copy of Walden inscribed by Henry David Throeau to Spencer Baird, then assistant secretary of the newly founded Smithsonian Institution. The final section journeys through the imaginations of artists, architects, and book designers, presenting among many pictorially rich selections a 1535 edition of Albrecht Durer's Institutionum geometricarum (Geometric instruction) and Doxford Opposed Pistion Oil Engine, a paper-and-board pamphlet with movable pistons and levers from 1922." - from the inner front and rear jacket flaps. Seller Inventory # 002155

Bibliographic Details

Title: An Odyssey in Print: Adventures in the ...

Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

Publication Date: 2002

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: As New

Dust Jacket Condition: As New

Edition: 2nd Edition