Exhibition "Inter folia: The Hidden Histories of Books"

The Rare Books and Manuscripts Reading Room of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania presents the exhibition "Inter folia: The Hidden Histories of Books", inviting visitors to see a book not only as text, but as a material object that accumulates traces of time. Every book holds more than what is written in it. Between its pages lie forgotten letters, dried flowers, drawings, tickets, apologies for late returns, and sometimes documents. These finds turn a book into a witness to everyday life — an object that accompanied people through their personal histories. The exhibition also reveals the book as a recycled object. One 17th-century work contained no fewer than 46 fragments from earlier books, among them a leaf from an incunable illustrated in the workshop of the renowned German graphic artist and painter Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528). Alongside it are fragments of a pericope collection by the Jesuit Georg Elger (c. 1585–1672) with portions of Latvian text, used to reinforce the cover of a manuscript booklet. Here, different eras, languages and craftsmen meet within a single volume. Traces of reading tell individual stories: inscriptions, dedications, and here — a note left by active public and cultural figure Marija Piaseckaitė-Šlapelienė (1880–1977), stating that she is keeping this book as a personal memento. The book becomes not just reading material, but a place of memory. Another section of the exhibition reveals the book as a hiding place — somewhere to keep money, documents, family trees. Alongside these are children's drawings, photographs, religious images, and dried plants. This is a space where text meets everyday life. A separate segment is dedicated to books from a Benedictine convent. The objects found within them reveal the reading practices and relationship with books of a cloistered religious community — restrained, yet deep. "Inter folia" invites visitors to rethink the book as a multilayered cultural object whose history is shaped not only in the printing house, but also between the pages — where text and person meet. The exhibition will be open from 18 May to 4 July in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Reading Room (5th floor) of the National Library. Reading Room hours: Monday–Friday 10:00–19:00 Saturday 10:00–18:00 Exhibition curators: Justyna Sadovska, Agnė Suchodolskytė; exhibition designer: Jokūbas Zovė.

Adresas: Lietuvos nacionalinės Martyno Mažvydo bibliotekos retų knygų ir rankraščių skaitykla