![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/princeton-Aug27.jpg\")
<\/p>\noriginally published: 08\/27\/2025<\/p>\n
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(LEFT) Heike monogatari (Tale of the Heike); Classical Japanese, Kyoto, 1650-99?; Princeton University Library, East Asian Library Rare Books (RIGHT) Opera (Works); Latin, Venice, 1470; Princeton University Library, Special Collections, Rare Books<\/strong><\/p>\n (PRINCETON, NJ) — Princeton University Library (PUL) \u00a0presents a new exhibition, “Forms and Function: The Splendors of Global Book Making,”<\/strong><\/a> on display September 10 to December 7, 2025 in the Ellen and Leonard Milberg Gallery, located in the Firestone Library lobby.<\/p>\n \u201cForms and Function\u201d is curated by\u00a0Martin Heijdra<\/a>, Director of PUL\u2019s East Asian Library, and showcases the diversity and beauty of global book making, focusing on three major traditions of the book form: codex, East Asian, and poth\u012b.<\/p>\n Awash in rich jewel tones and featuring a range of striking visuals, the\u00a0 exhibition features treasures from some of Princeton\u2019s lesser-known collections, as well as items from its renowned collections of Western, Islamic, East Asian, and Mesoamerican manuscripts and printed books. There are also works by modern artists completed in the style of these global traditions.<\/p>\n Among the 73 items on display are an early Egyptian papyrus scroll displaying parts from the work usually called the \u201cBook of the Dead,\u201d dating from 3rd-1st century BCE; a stele discovered in 1625 outside Xi\u2019an, China that revealed that Christianity had been in China as early as 635; examples of texts written on dried and treated leaves from Bali and Myanmar; and examples of works on materials like bark, textiles, shell, lacquer, and copper.<\/p>\n Follow New Jersey Stage on social media To highlight the interconnections and commonalities between items from different traditions dispersed throughout the exhibition, a set of symbols is used to emphasize common forms, materials, technologies, or script cultures. Another feature of the exhibition is a map and timeline that illustrate the global nature of and the many millennia covered by the exhibition.<\/p>\n The exhibition has provided the Library and Heijdra with an extraordinary opportunity to further research many of these objects with specialist colleagues from around the world and to put these rarely-seen items on display.<\/p>\n According to Heijdra, who received a Ph.D. in Ming History from Princeton in 1995, the exhibition will allow visitors to view\u00a0 \u201csuch a wide variety of book forms from these different traditions. They range from the humble to the spectacular, but they all share the purpose of carrying forward knowledge through time.\u201d<\/p>\n A half-day symposium on Friday, October 3 organized by Heijdra will feature experts on some of the more unique aspects of book making. It will be held at Princeton University. The symposium is free and open to the public, but\u00a0registration<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0is required.<\/p>\n The exhibition reflects Princeton University Library\u2019s commitment to make its collections in historically understudied languages, scripts, and forms more accessible. The companion digital exhibition will open concurrently on the\u00a0Digital PUL website<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The exhibition is free and open to the public, Monday to Friday from 10:00am\u00a0to 6:00pm\u00a0and Saturday and Sunday from 11:00am\u00a0to 6:00pm. For additional information about the exhibition and symposium, please visit\u00a0PUL\u2019s news page<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n
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