Books older than everyone in your family are on display in the Boca campus library right now.
Tiny books that lost their covers after years of putting up a good fight lay alongside them. And one big red book, “Printing and the Mind of Man” sits proudly on the librarian’s desk. This year, the S.E. Wimberly Library welcomes a new book exhibit, honoring a collection of historical novels that have been sought after for quite some time.
“It’s really nice,” Freshman business major Aaron Jiles said of the exhibit on display. “It’s welcoming and takes away the feeling of a stereotypical library where books are cluttered around.”
On the third floor of the S.E Wimberly Library, there’s a blue pamphlet available that tells us about history. Marvin Weiner spent much of his life collecting over 12,000 original copies of books and newspapers. Most of the writing came from the Revolutionary War era. Weiner retired to Boca in his old age and donated his collections to our very own university.
This year, the Wimberly Library welcomes a new book exhibit, honoring Weiner’s collection.
In 1963, the International Printing Machinery and Allied Trades Exhibition (IPEX) held an exhibition in London entitled: ‘Printing and the Mind of Man’ (PMM). The PMM catalog is considered an essential framework for many private collectors and libraries.
The theme of this year’s exhibit is “Printing and the Mind of Man,” and FAU librarian Victoria Thur, who chose the theme, took the opportunity to go through Weiner’s library and pick out 58 works that we have here at FAU, thanks to Weiner. The books are currently on display in the lobby of the Wimberly Library.
“[The exhibit features] everything from Edmund Burke, Thomas Payne, Mary Wollstonecraft, Archimedes. Literally books that shaped modern Western thought,” said Thur. “Mr. Weiner’s vision was to collect the materials that were in the libraries of our founding fathers — he took great effort to make sure the editions he purchased were the same books that were in the libraries of Franklin, Adams, Jefferson or Washington.”
And even though most FAU students don’t know Weiner by name, they see his contributions whenever they walk into the library. “I look at the displays here, whenever I’m in the library,” freshman political science major Janan Issa said. “I think they are definitely important, because people do look at them. It brings something more to our library.”
Kaitlyn Dady — a freshman medical health administration major — hasn’t heard of Weiner either. But she still appreciates what he’s brought to Wimberly. “Looking at the display and reading about the books’ histories teaches me a lot of important, crucial knowledge that you can’t really learn through one book,” Dady said.
“The remarkable display of texts is a direct reflection of the hard work, skill, and creativity of letterpress printers, illustrators, and authors,” the exhibit’s press release stated. “To celebrate the 50th anniversary of PMM, Special Collections and Jaffe Center for Book Arts offer an exhibition showcasing the most influential texts that have greatly contributed to Western Civilization over the past 500 years since the invention of the printing press. The display features 58 historical documents from the Marvin & Sybil Weiner Spirit of America Collection.”
Victoria Thur, the librarian who put together the exhibit, sits in her office, looking at the big red book that she has invested months in studying — “Printing and the Mind of Man.”
“I think [the] ‘Printing and the Mind of Man’ catalog is important as it lists all of the books that have altered and transformed the way we think,“ Thur said.
Thur has been on staff of the FAU library for 11 years.
“I have always been interested in reading historical letters, documents and books,” she said of her past.
Thur is thrilled to present her beloved exhibit to the FAU community.
The “Printing and the Mind of Man” book exhibit will be displayed in the lobby of the Wimberly Library until Oct. 4
