View a Page From the First Printed Book and Many More Rare Documents

Remnant Trust exhibit in Mullins Library.

A page from the King James Bible “HE” Version, first edition, 1611.

The Federalist, first edition, 1788.

Magna Charta Manuscript, ca. 1350.

Photo Submitted

Title Page from first edition of 1640 work by Lord Francis Bacon.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University Libraries, the Division of Student Affairs and the School of Social Work are hosting an exhibit of rare books and materials from the Remnant Trust in Mullins Library from Tuesday, Jan. 21 to Monday, May 12. The Wisdom of the Ages Athenaeum exhibit represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for visitors to view extremely rare materials, ranging from a cuneiform tablet dating to 2200 B.C. to the first printing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862.

Collections of this magnitude and quality are usually found deep in the archives of prestigious institutions, under lock and key and accessible only to a privileged few. However, the Remnant Trust exists to elevate educational standards and the public’s understanding of individual liberty and human dignity through the precedent-setting, hands-on availability of the world’s great ideas in their original form. With the guiding principle that great ideas belong to everyone, the Remnant Trust offers for display a world-class collection of manuscripts and first and early edition works in original form.

The Wisdom of the Ages Athenaeum provides the public with the opportunity to view seminal works that changed the world by Aristotle, Augustine, Cicero, Copernicus, Galileo, Hippocrates, Newton, Ovid, Plato, and Virgil. The exhibit also contains a page from the first printed book, the Gutenberg Bible (1455), Queen Marie de Medici’s personal copy of Archimedes’ Opera (1675), the Articles of Confederation (1789), the Magna Carta (ca. 1350), an Egyptian scroll fragment of the Torah (ca. 1600), a Koran manuscript from the late 18^th century, Shengji Ti’s The Illustrated Life of Confucius (1592), Marco Polo’s Travels (1627), Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (1793), and Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto (1848). For more detail, see the full list of works in the exhibit.

To complement the exhibit, several University of Arkansas professors will give lectures on specific works, authors, or topics. For an updated list of lectures, please check the Libraries’ events page. These lecturers include:

• Professor Daniel John Kennefick of the physics department: Nicolai Copernicus' On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres, 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11.
• Professor Ben Fagan of the English department: Frederick Douglass's My Bondage & My Freedom, 3 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12.
• Professor Jeannie Whayne of the history department: slavery and emancipation in America, referencing the works Notes on the State of Viriginia by Thomas Jefferson, My Bondage & My Freedom by Frederick Douglass, and the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln, 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18.
• Professor Beth Schweiger of the history department: Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, 1:30 p.m.Tuesday, March 4.
• Professor Liang Cai of the history department: Shengii Ti's The Illustrated Life of Confucius, 2 p.m.Thursday, March 6.
• Professor Jennifer Hoyer of the world languages, literatures and cultures department: Martin Luther’s To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 11.
• Professor Lissette Szwydky of the English department: Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women, Wednesday, March 19, time to be announced.
• Professor Scott Burcham of the School of Social Work: Thomas Paine's Common Sense, 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 9.

The Remnant Trust in Winona Lake, Ind., is a place where everyone – from scholars to school-age children – can handle, read, and learn from the wisdom contained in their extensive collection of rare materials representing ideas that span over 2,500 years. Segments of the collection are loaned to universities, colleges, secondary schools, and other venues to host multidisciplinary exhibits.