Exhibitions

Since 1992, Rare Book School has curated a wide range of exhibitions featuring books and other materials drawn from the RBS collections, supplemented by items from the UVA Library and occasional loans by other institutions and individuals. We invite you to browse the exhibitions below to learn more about each one.

Current
Exhibition

Poster for Objects of Poetry exhibition, with the title, location, and sponsor details overlaid against a collage image of a tall, snow-covered mountain, a splash of dark red, and, at the bottom, a plate of text turned on its side

Objects of Poetry

  • Exhibition Dates
    May through November 2026
  • Curated by
    Barbara Heritage & Zoe Langer
  • Sponsor
    The Pine Tree Foundation of New York
  • This exhibition highlights the tangible forms that make poetry possible. From metal to silk parchment to paper pulp, calligraphy to typography, this show is a feast for the senses.
Explore Objects of Poetry

Past Exhibitions

Beginning in 1992, Rare Book School was responsible for an ongoing series of exhibitions in the Dome Room of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia. The summer 1996 exhibition, Books Go to War: Armed Services Editions in World War II, was the first Rotunda exhibition to have an undergraduate student curator (Daniel J. Miller ’96), and our first show to be mounted on the World Wide Web. Since then, RBS has hosted exhibitions in other locations, including at the Grolier Club in New York and in Edgar Shannon Library (formerly Alderman Library) at the University of Virginia.

A vertically oriented rectangular graphic has a pale green background edged by a light blue and green frame. At the bottom of the graphic is a horizontal red box. Against the green, large decorative text reads "Famous & Forgotten: The Game of Authors", with the text surrounding a fanned set of playing cards showing author portraits. The red box below has further details of the exhibition.

Famous and Forgotten: The Game of Authors

May-November 2025 at the University of Virginia

Poster for "Building the Book" exhibition at the Grolier Club

Building the Book from the Ancient World to the Present Day

September-December 2022 at the Grolier Club

Poster for the Rare Book School exhibition "Comics in Circuit"

Comics in Circuit

June 2018–May 2019 at the University of Virginia

Flyer for the 2017–18 Rare Book School exhibition, "An Archipelago of Readers: Forming a Literary Culture in Digital Media", showing a bird's-eye plan view of the UVA Rotunda.

An Archipelago of Readers: Forming a Literary Culture in Digital Media

June 2017–April 2018 at the University of Virginia

Poster for the RBS exhibition "Shaping Eyre", showing the profile of a woman's head with a collage of paintings of nineteenth-century women overlaid on it, against a pink background.

Shaping Eyre: Charlotte Brontë’s Classic Novel in 200 Objects

September 2016–May 2017 at the University of Virginia

A red-bound book about Paris overlaid on a map showing a river running through a city. An old photograph lies on the book.

Books That Take Us Lands Away: Tourism and Print Culture in the Nineteenth Century

March 2013–February 2014 at the University of Virginia

A graphic with multiple cells illustrating the various stages of book production in the nineteenth-century

Turning the Page: Technology & Innovation in 19th-Century Books

November 2012–March 2013 at the University of Virginia

The flyer for RBS's exhibition "How to Judge a Book by Its Cover", with an illustration of two books in a pendulum scale

How to Judge a Book by Its Cover: 19th- and 20th-Century Cloth Bookbindings

February-May 2009 at the University of Virginia

A postage stamp for 32 cents showing a still of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein

The Monster Among Us: Frankenstein from Mary Shelley to Mel Brooks

April-November 2008 at the University of Virginia

The poster for the RBS exhibition "The Fine Line Between Genius & Inanity," with an image of the Leaning Tower of Pisa overlaid against an open book.

The Fine Line Between Genius & Inanity: Innovation in Contemporary American Publishing

May-October 2007 at the University of Virginia

The poster for the RBS exhibition "Bound to Please", with a black background on which is a grid of bright book covers.

Bound to Please: American Cloth Bookbindings, 1830–1910

November 2006–May 2007 at the University of Virginia

A Spanish advertisement for the 1944 Orson Welles/Joan Fontaine movie version of JE, retitled “Alma Rebelde,” or “Rebellious Soul.”

Eyre Apparent: An Exhibition Celebrating Charlotte Brontë’s Classic Novel

November 2005-May 2006 at the University of Virginia

The most striking difference between earlier editions of the Handbook and the 10th edition (1990-1998) is the use of color photographs (as opposed to drawings), not only on the cover but also throughout the book. This edition is also packed with information on camping, cooking, fire building, and other recreational Scouting activities.

The Call of the Wild: Character Building and the Boy Scout Handbook

May-October 2005 at the University of Virginia

Cover of Corks & Curls 1915, 3rd ed., with black stamped-leather image of a house behind a tree-lined avenue

116 Years of Corks & Curls

April-November 2004 at the University of Virginia

Picture of a seated boy with his back to the viewer as he holds open a newspaper.

Reading with and without Dick and Jane: The Politics of Literacy in c20 America

June-October 2003 at the University of Virginia

A handwritten letter in cursive script

The Lives of the Autograph Collectors

January-May 2003 at the University of Virginia

Cover of Washington Irving's "Sleepy Hollow," designed by Margaret Armstrong. The background is cream, with gold, green, red, and orange floral motifs and a scrolling title font.

Printed Flower Gardens: The Bookbindings of Margaret Armstrong

July-October 2002 at the University of Virginia

A diagram showing how to fold the exhibition brochure into an envelope pouch

Intentional Miscataloging: The Pedagogical Uses of Ephemera in the Rare Book School Collections

July-October 2001 at the University of Virginia

Drawing of a man in a link shirt, knee-high black books, fitted pants, and a yellow hat. He is holding a pickax in one hand and a book in the other

Eureka! There’s Gold in Them Thar Books

June 2000-January 2001 at the University of Virginia

Graphic showing instructions for making a paper airplane out of a picture of two $2 bills, which are pictured below and labeled with the different fold edges

Two for a Nickel: Ephemera Concerning Thomas Jefferson and Monticello

May-October 1999 at the University of Virginia

Pen drawing of a hand holding a quill pen

In His Own Hand: Editing the Papers of George Washington

February-April 1999 at the University of Virginia

Cover of book "John D: A Portrait in Oils" showing a man in a hat speaking to a boy acting as a golf caddy

You CAN Sell a Book by Its Cover: Optimism in American Publishing

October 1998-February 1999 at the University of Virginia

Line drawing of a carnivorous dinosaur. Adaptation of line drawings by C. B. Davis that appeared in Jennie Irene Mix's 1912 book, Mighty Animals: Being Short Talks about Some of the Animals Which Lived on This Earth before Man Appeared (New York: American Book Company, 1912).

The Boy Who Never Grew Up: Dinosaur Books and Realia from the Collection of Edward J. Valauskas

May-October 1998 at the University of Virginia

Separate Pieces: All Printed Books are Different

January-May 1998 at the University of Virginia

Only in Cloth: Publishers’ Bookbindings, 1830-1910, from the Collections of Calvin P. Otto

September-December 1997 at the University of Virginia

Devil’s Toyshop: The Teaching Resources of the Book Arts Press

June-September 1997 at the University of Virginia

It Is Impossible to Sell Animal Stories in America, Mr Orwell: George Orwell and His Publishers

February-May 1997 at the University of Virginia

A Doré Gallery: Wood-Engravings by Gustave Doré

September-December 1996 at the University of Virginia

Books Go to War: Armed Services Editions in World War II

April-September 1996 at the University of Virginia

UVa in 1921: The Corks & Curls View

January-April 1996 at the University of Virginia

Wastebasket Archaeology: American Ephemera 1876-1995 from the Collections of Calvin P. Otto

October-December 1996 at the University of Virginia

Woodcuts of Rural America by J. J. Lankes

September-October 1995 at the University of Virginia

Lucile’s Adventures in America, 1860-1910: Orchids, Gold Leaf, and Padded Leather

June-September 1995 at the University of Virginia

Charlottesville: A Book Town

March-June 1995 at the University of Virginia

Daniel Melcher on Melcher: From Boyhood to Bowker and Beyond

January-March 1995 at the University of Virginia