Sept. 26-Oct. 21: 'Banned Books'
September 23, 2016
Morris Library Information Room to host exhibition on banned books
The University of Delaware Library will showcase a selection of historic copies of banned and censored books from its Special Collections as part of an exhibition, Banned Books.
The exhibition is curated by Alexander Johnston, senior assistant librarian in the Special Collections Department.
The books on display will range from Renaissance texts that were banned for religious and political reasons to more recent literary texts that were suppressed by government censors on charges of obscenity.
One of the highlights is a 1632 copy of Galileo Galilei’s Dialogo, which was condemned as heretical by the Roman Inquisition for espousing the belief that the Earth revolved around the sun.
The exhibit will be on display in the Information Room on the first floor of the Morris Library from Sept. 26 to Oct. 21.
In addition to the “Banned Books” exhibit, the current Special Collections exhibit “Shakespeare Through the Ages” includes two English histories that were challenged by the state in their day. One, Edward Hall’s chronicle, printed in 1550, was banned outright in 1555 by Queen Mary I. The other, Raphael Holinshed’s chronicle, printed in 1587, was expurgated at the command of Queen Elizabeth I, as she disagreed with the chronicle’s take on contemporary events.
“Shakespeare Through the Ages,” also curated by Johnston, is on view through Dec. 12 in the Special Collections exhibit gallery.
A related event, co-sponsored with the Department of English and Sigma Tau Delta, the English national honor society, is a Banned Book Read-Out on Friday, Sept. 30, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
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