"Sundays at Two" Series Concludes with Lecture on Rare Books Collection

Martin Antonetti, curator of rare books at Smith College, will present the third and final lecture in this year's series, "Sundays at Two," sponsored by the Friends of Forbes Library and Smith College. The program, which will include a slide-lecture and a visit to the Mortimer Rare Book Room at Smith, will begin at 2 p.m., Sunday, April 25, in the Neilson Library Browsing Room on the Smith campus.

Smith's rare book collection includes nearly 25,000 volumes and covers the history of printing from the 15th century to the present. All phases of the book arts are represented in the collection: fine examples of illustrations in original media, private press books, fore-edge paintings and decorative bindings. Among the author collections of bibliographic distinction are those of Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Eudora Welty and Virginia Woolf.

In addition to showing samples from the collection, during his talk Antonetti will discuss the importance of the rare book collection to Smith College and the ways the college uses the collection. A visit to the Mortimer Rare Book Room will follow.

A specialist in the history of books and printing, Antonetti was director of New York's Grolier Club before coming to Smith in 1997. He also teaches at the University of Virginia's Rare Book School.

The event is free and open to the public. Neilson Library is wheelchair accessible.