HISTORY A"BOUND"

Bentley Rare Book Museum Offers Research Opportunities

By Kennesaw State University

January 29^th, 2021

A Place in History

Nestled on the first floor of Kennesaw State University’s Sturgis Library is a wood-paneled room where time stands still.

Known as the Bentley Rare Book Museum, this quiet and unassuming space is home to ancient and rare items ranging from Sumerian clay tablets and medieval manuscript leaves to modern fine press books and literary first editions.

Tracing its roots to the late 1980s, when local lawyer and avid book collector Fred D. Bentley Sr. donated an initial batch of 1,000 first-edition texts, the collection has expanded to include more than 10,000 items in support of its mission to serve as a teaching instrument for thousands of Kennesaw State students each year. It’s a place where students come face-to-face with artifacts representing several eras of human existence as they participate in class assignments, workshops and exhibitions. Likewise, the museum supports KSU faculty in their scholarly research by acquiring texts that align with their expertise and interests.

Below, you will find several examples showcasing some of the museum’s most prized possessions. Some of the items offer a glimpse into the world of yesteryear while others are otherworldly. Some are being researched as a connection to the not-so-distant past while others are studied to understand a time long since forgotten.

Regardless of their place in history, they all share something in common: You can find them at the Bentley Rare Book Museum.

Rare Lunar Bible

Many dream about flying to the moon. This item in the Bentley’s collection has actually done it.

Donated to KSU by NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell in 2008, this Lunar Bible flew on the Apollo 14 mission in 1971 and is one of only 12 flight-certified Lunar Bibles in existence. The idea to fly a Bible to the moon was first spawned by the Apollo Prayer League following the ill-fated Apollo 1 mission. However, due to restrictions in space and weight, the entire text of the Bible had to be printed on microfiche, making reading them almost impossible without a magnified lens.

“It’s quite incredible that KSU can lay claim to such an item. This is, without a doubt, one of the rarest items in our entire collection.”

Fore-edge Painting

As the saying goes, “You should never judge a book by its cover.” You should never judge it by its fore-edge, either.

The Bentley has many works in its collection that bear ornate bindings and colorful illustrations. However, this particular 1889 edition of Lord Tennyson’s poems has an image that only reveals itself when held a certain way. When the book is opened and the pages are fanned out, an image of two women will appear along the edges of the pages.

“The Bentley Rare Book Museum has a great collection of fore-edge paintings and we’ve had scholars from a variety of places come to study them.”

Want to Visit?

The Bentley Rare Book Museum is open by Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Museum is free and open to the public, and no reservations are required to visit the Museum's exhibitions. Research visits are scheduled by appointment only. Please contact Museum staff for more information.

Strength To Love

Though far from being one the oldest books in the collection, the Bentley’s first-edition copy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Strength to Love carries significant historical relevance.

Upon flipping the book open, readers are greeted by a handwritten message from the late civil rights icon to his mother in which he thanks her for her love and support in his fight for equality. The book is one of many in the Bentley’s African-American literature collection and is one that caught the attention of KSU freshman Sydni Zackery, who is studying black history as part of her first-year experience.

Illuminated Manuscript

One of the marquee experiences of Daniel Sachs’s History of Illustration course every semester is a visit to the Bentley Rare Book Museum to view a collection of illustrations. While it is convenient to observe artifacts in the digital environment, Sachs argues that nothing can replace the experience of seeing art in its original form. The students, in return, are often awestruck by what they find in the museum and return several times to gather references and inspiration for works of their own.

Among the most popular items are the Bentley’s collection of ancient illuminated manuscripts, which are often decorated in gold or silver foil with vibrant colors throughout.

“It might sound cliché, but it really is an awesome moment in their lives when students get to interact with these books. When you get to touch something like that and use it, you become a part of the legacy of what you are studying.”

Dante’s Divine Comedy

In ancient times, people didn’t just read books. They used them. This is best illustrated in the Bentley’s 1502 edition of Alighieri Dante’s Divine Comedy, in which the original owner inscribed his musings in the margins of the text, known among scholars as marginalia.

KSU history professor Paul Dover, who has written several publications on marginalia, has researched the annotations in order to gain a better understanding of how people read Dante’s work at the time. In addition to thoughts on the text itself, the notes include several references to historical events, such as the 1506 discovery of the statute Laocoön and His Sons, and critiques of Pope Alexander VI.