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Boston Public Library Press Release News and Events |
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BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY EXHIBIT CELEBRATES 400TH ANNIVERSARY OF DON QUIXOTE March 29, 2005 In celebration of the 400th anniversary of the publication of Miguel de Cervantes’ masterpiece of the Spanish Renaissance, Don Quixote, the Boston Public Library will exhibit rare books and manuscripts from its George Ticknor Collection of Spanish and Portuguese literature. Miguel de Cervantes and the Spanish Golden Age will be on display in the Cheverus Room on the third floor of the Boston Public Library’s McKim Building in Copley Square from April 16 to July 15, 2005. The exhibit is divided into four parts: the emergence of Spanish literature in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance; Cervantes, his life and work; Cervantes’ literary influence and legacy; and George Ticknor’s life and career introducing Hispanic literature and culture to America. Items on display will include documents and letters signed by the kings and queens of Spain, illuminated Spanish manuscripts of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, and many works of Spanish literature written and published in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Lope de Vega’s signed manuscript of the play El Castigo sin Venganza (1632), containing copious additions and cancellations in his hand, is a highlight of the exhibit. In all, over 100 items, dating from the Spanish Renaissance to the nineteenth century will be on display. George Ticknor was a founding trustee of the BPL and an avid collector of rare books and manuscripts. Ticknor acquired most of his 9,000 volumes while writing his groundbreaking three-volume History of Spanish Literature (1849). He left the collection to the BPL. The exhibit is a collaborative effort between the Boston Public Library, the Boston Public Library Foundation, Boston University, the Consulate General of Spain (Boston), the Real Colegio Complutense of Harvard University and the Complutense University of Madrid. The opening of the exhibit coincides with a symposium, “One More Crossroads: Don Quixote at Four Hundred,” from April 14-16 sponsored by the Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures and the Humanities Forum of Boston University. The Boston Public Library, established in 1848, was the first publicly supported municipal library in America, and the first library to allow people to borrow books and materials, a truly revolutionary concept at the time. In 1870, the BPL opened the East Boston branch, the first branch library in the country. In 1895, it opened a children's room, making it the first library in the country to establish a space specifically designed for children. Today, the BPL has more than 6 million books and serves more than 2 million people annually in its central library in Copley Square and in its 27 branch libraries around the city. The BPL is also one of only two public libraries in the country that are members of the Association of Research Libraries. All of its events are free and open to the public. At the Boston Public Library, books are just the beginning! -30-
Prepared by the Boston Public Library's Communications Office. For more information about news, programs and events at the BPL, call 617-859-2212 or send a message to the Communications Office. |
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