Exhibitions

Since 1992, Rare Book School has curated a wide range of exhibitions at the University of Virginia, as well as at the Grolier Club in New York. We invite you to browse the exhibitions below to learn more about each one.

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The cover of the Cuban children's book, "Compas de Fantasia," showing waves with the yellow title on leaping black outlines of dolphins.

Objects of Poetry

May-November 2026 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

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

2022 at the Grolier Club

Dome Room Exhibitions in UVA’s Rotunda

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.

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

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

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

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

A handwritten letter in cursive script

The Lives of the Autograph Collectors

January-May 2003

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

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

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

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

Pen drawing of a hand holding a quill pen

In His Own Hand: Editing the Papers of George Washington

February-April 1999

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

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

Separate Pieces: All Printed Books are Different

January-May 1998

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

September-December 1997

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

June-September 1997

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

February-May 1997

A Doré Gallery: Wood-Engravings by Gustave Doré

September-December 1996

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

April-September 1996

UVa in 1921: The Corks & Curls View

January-April 1996

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

October-December 1996

Woodcuts of Rural America by J. J. Lankes

September-October 1995

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

June-September 1995

Charlottesville: A Book Town

March-June 1995

Daniel Melcher on Melcher: From Boyhood to Bowker and Beyond

January-March 1995