07 July 2006

Online Exhibition About the Written Word

Here's an interesting exhibition about "the visual and tactile aspects of the written word": Paper, Leather, Clay, and Stone. The creators of the exhibition were interested in how written texts have been displayed over the years:
far from being a uniform box of rows and columns, the written word has been recorded historically in a variety of shapes, sizes, and materials. Books were embellished, handsomely illustrated, jealously guarded, and moralistically expurgated. When the contents were too charged, impious, or explicit, the book might even be destroyed—ample indication of how content depends upon the physical vehicle for survival.
There are images and discussions of cuneiform tablets, vellum, palm-leaf manuscripts, a jade book, the Life of the Buddha recorded on mulberry bark, a sample of a book censored by having the images of the devil blotted out, and much more.

2 Comments:

Blogger Heather said...

This is so interesting! I have to tell my book club about this!!

7/07/2006 07:50:00 a.m.  
Blogger Amy said...

Isn't it great? It's a wonderful browse, and there's so much to learn.

7/07/2006 07:54:00 a.m.  

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