Exhibitions
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Icons of Western Literature
Treasures from the collections of Senate House Library, University of London
7th November 2005 - 7th April 2006
This exhibition celebrates some of the greatest fictional works in western culture, illustrated from the collections of Senate House Library. They are true landmarks, instantly recognisable, dating from antiquity to the nineteenth century, with some twentieth century texts demonstrating responses to earlier works. Many works are in the English language, complemented by great works in the French, German, Italian, Spanish as well as the Latin and Greek classics which have become common property.
Selecting literary icons is a difficult task because there are so many choices. Drawing upon the Library’s collections, we have chosen
- Homer and the Homeric tradition
- Poetry and drama
- The novel
- Fairy tale and fable
- Shakespeare.
In the individual cases you will find, for example, the works of Chaucer, Dante, Defoe and Jane Austen. There are first editions of famous works and imaginative responses to them, chosen for the translator, the publisher or the illustrations. William Blake and Gustave Doré rub shoulders with fifteenth-century woodcuts and twentieth-century graphic art. Translators include Alexander Pope and Tobias Smollett; publishers represented include the seventeenth-century Dutch dynasty of the Elzevirs, the tiny Diamond Classics of William Pickering, and William Morris’s Kelmscott Press.
The exhibition takes a broadly chronological survey through these literary lions and illustrates transmission, reception, authorship and reinterpretation. This is our selection from the collections of Senate House Library – we welcome your comments and feedback.
‘Landmarks of Western Literature’ was researched by Alun Ford, Manuscript Studies Librarian (Beowulf) and Dr Karen Attar, Rare Books Librarian, with the assistance of Mike Mulcay, Team Leader, Special Collections and Christine Wise, Head of Special Collections. It was mounted by Angela Craft, Conservator, with the assistance of Alexandra Bruce. John Moore, Library IT Officer, designed the exhibition poster.
