- Text from the Introductory Panel -

One of the most transformational events in human history was the invention of the book as a vehicle for communication. This student-curated exhibit, which features facsimiles -- detailed reproductions of medieval manuscripts and early printed books -- focuses on a diverse group of transformational books. From an ancient atlas reimagined in the Age of Exploration to a copy of the Gospels made by monks on the remote Scottish island of Iona in the ninth century, each of the volumes reproduced in facsimile here has transformed human history.

From papyrus and stylus, to parchment and quill, to printing press and paper, and now to screen and keyboard, the book has adapted itself to new technologies through time. The facsimiles in this exhibit represent the marriage of old and new: detailed reproductions of ancient works, many of them were created with digital imaging and advanced printers. Because the books they reproduce are so rare (many of them unique), these facsimiles give student and scholars at USU the opportunity to work with some of the great treasures of book history without having to travel farther than the center of campus.

Not only have books changed over time; they have brought about enormous changes in the way people interact with one another, understand the physical and spiritual worlds, and imagine themselves. This is where we found the sub-themes of our exhibit: transfigure, transmit, translate, and transform. Books have changed everything: science, religion, language, art. The invention of the book, and each new technological advance in its production, allowed information to move in a way that never would have been possible before.

Trans is the Latin word for across. As you move through this exhibit, beginning with the Gutenberg Bible, the first book to be printed on a moveable-type press, consider how books moved across time, across space, across languages, and transformed the world. How have books, and the technologies of information they embody, transformed your own life?