[SOA] Lloyd Library and Museum - Rousseau Exhibit

[Anna Heran]

Apologies for cross-posting

For Immediate Release

February 12, 2007

Lloyd Library and Museum to Exhibit Book
Once Owned by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

	The exhibition "In Rousseau's Own Hand-His Book, His Notes, and Botany" will be on display at the Lloyd Library and Museum from March 10 through May 31, 2007.  It will feature Dominique Chabrey's 1678 Omnium Stirpium Sciagraphia et Icones, a book recently verified as having once belonged to famous 18th century French philosopher and writer, Jean-Jacques Rousseau.  Within are his signature on the title page and hundreds of annotations in his handwriting.  Rousseau was an enthusiastic student of botany and at one time his library contained a great number of botanical works.  Worldwide there are only eight botanical books verified as having belonged to him-two in the United States (one at Harvard and one at the Lloyd); three in the United Kingdom; one in France; and two in private collections.  This discovery added important new knowledge about Rousseau and his study of botany as well as the dissemination of his library.  The 1678 Chabrey was known to have belonged to Rousseau at the time of his death, but its whereabouts was unknown until early in 2006 when the volume was brought down from Lloyd's stacks, examined, and investigated.
	On display with the Chabrey will be several books known to have been in Rousseau's library and used by him in his study of botany.  Rousseau expert Takuya Kobayashi, who verified that the Chabrey had been owned by Rousseau, commented during his visit to the Lloyd that nowhere else had he had an opportunity to research a book owned by Rousseau and at the same time examine so many other titles important to the context of Rousseau's botanical studies.  For example, Jean Bauhin's 1650-51 three-volume Historia Plantarum Universalis that Chabrey edited and abridged for his Omnium Stirpium will also be exhibited, along with other books owned and used by Rousseau, such as Carolus Linnaeus' famous Species Plantarum in which he established the system of plant nomenclature in use today.  In addition, several botanical works written by Rousseau will be on display, including the 1805 edition of La Botanique de J. J. Rousseau with plates by the famous botanical illustrator Pierre Joseph Redouté and Rousseau's Letters on the Elements of Botany: Addressed to a Lady.
In conjunction with the exhibition Rousseau scholar Kobayashi from the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland and Pierre Sotteau, Professor Emeritus of French at Miami University, will deliver lectures about the book and Rousseau's study of botany on March 10, 2007 beginning at 5:30 p.m.  For more information about the Lloyd Library and Museum, see below.
The Lloyd Library and Museum, located at 917 Plum Street, downtown Cincinnati, is a local and regional treasure.  The library was developed in the nineteenth century by the Lloyd brothers-John Uri, Curtis Gates, and Nelson Ashley to provide reference sources for Lloyd Brothers Pharmacists, Inc., one of the leading pharmaceutical companies of the period.  Today the library is recognized worldwide by the scientific community a s a vital research center. The library holds, acquires, and provides access to both historic and current materials on the subjects of pharmacy, botany, horticulture, herbal and alternative medicine, pharmacognosy, and related topics.  Although our collections have a scientific focus, they also have relevance to humanities topics, such as visual arts and foreign languages through resources that feature botanical and natural history illustrations, original artworks, and travel literature, thereby revealing the convergence of science and art.  The Lloyd is open to anyone with an interest in these topics.  Free parking is available for patrons and visitors behind the library building.  For more information, visit the Lloyd website at www.lloydlibrary.org. 

Lloyd Library and Museum
917 Plum Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
513-721-3707
www.lloydlibrary.org
Open Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Open the third Saturday of the month, September through May, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.


Bringing Science, Art, and History to Life
 
Anna K. Heran
Lloyd Library and Museum
917 Plum Street
Cincinnati OH 45202
(513) 721-3707
www.lloydlibrary.org <http://www.lloydlibrary.org/>