Bentley Rare Book Gallery
Encyclopedia
The Bentley Rare Book Gallery is a rare book library housed on the lower level of the Horace W. Sturgis Library at Kennesaw State University
in Kennesaw, Georgia
. It is one of only three certified, museum-grade rare book libraries in Georgia, the others located at the University of Georgia
in Athens and Emory University
in Atlanta. However, the Bentley Rare Book Gallery is the only one of the three that invites students and the community in for hands-on lectures. Named after Mr. Fred D. Bentley, Sr, one of its principal benefactors, and his wife Sarah Bentley, the library currently has more than 20,000 volumes, including recent acquisitions of a Fourth Folio Shakespeare (1685) and a first edition of the complete works of Chaucer.
by the name of Fred D. Bentley, Sr. Bentley was a book collector who was interested in donating some items to the library. Williams determined that this was an appropriate time to look into the unidentified boxes and was disappointed to find they contained nothing more valuable than a set of Reader's Digest
condensed books.
In 1986, Richard Leakey, then the featured speaker for Kennesaw State's Chautauqua program, was overheard mentioning that he had to spend large amounts of time in the restroom because it was the quietest place on campus. It was decided that a quieter place needed to be created to house the small collection of rare books. Thus, the idea for a rare book room was born. This room was not only the ideal environment for conservation of the books, but a quiet place in the form of a traditional library that was designed to foster a sense of respect and appreciation for the intellectual products of the past.
's description of her ideal home in her autobiography, the Edwardian imagery of E. M. Forster
, and Edith Wharton
's "The Decoration of Houses."
The site of the gallery was formerly a staff smoking lounge in the basement of the library. To facilitate construction and to prevent damage to the works, all water pipes surrounding the room had to be moved to the opposite side of the building. In addition, the gallery was built so that none of its walls are exterior library walls. To further protect the works, the gallery is designed to regulate temperature and humidity.
s, private journals
and papers, and various literary publications and resources. The works are separated into two divisions: those works originally donated by Mr. Bentley, which include mainly first edition
s of works written between the 18th and 20th centuries, and those works which Mr. Williams has selected and added throughout his term as curator
of the gallery.
s, internal audits, budget and expenditure documents, election records, development records, and other commission documents from Dr. Secrist's term in office.
The Kennesaw State University Oral History Project is a collaboration with the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences
. Its goal is to collect oral histories
from all past recipients of the KSU Distinguished Professor, Teaching, Scholarship and Service Awards. The interviews were conducted by Dr. Thomas Scott and Dr. Dede Yow, with transcript editing and indexing assistance by Susan Batungbacal, Josh Dix and Jan Heidrich-Rice.
Kennesaw State University
Kennesaw State University, also referred to as KSU, Kennesaw, or Kennesaw State, is a public, coeducational, comprehensive university that is part of the University System of Georgia. The university's main campus is located in Kennesaw, Georgia, United States, approximately north of Atlanta...
in Kennesaw, Georgia
Kennesaw, Georgia
Kennesaw is a city in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. It had a population of 29,783 according to the 2010 census. It is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. Founded in 1887, Kennesaw has a past surrounded with railroad history...
. It is one of only three certified, museum-grade rare book libraries in Georgia, the others located at the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
in Athens and Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
in Atlanta. However, the Bentley Rare Book Gallery is the only one of the three that invites students and the community in for hands-on lectures. Named after Mr. Fred D. Bentley, Sr, one of its principal benefactors, and his wife Sarah Bentley, the library currently has more than 20,000 volumes, including recent acquisitions of a Fourth Folio Shakespeare (1685) and a first edition of the complete works of Chaucer.
History
The idea for the rare book room was a result of many different circumstances. It originally began when Robert B. Williams, then the new director of the library, discovered eight unidentified boxes in the library vault. He soon ascertained that the boxes were a gift to the library from the former director and were believed to be valuable. Also during this time, Kennesaw State President Betty Siegel introduced Williams to a Cobb County attorneyLawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
by the name of Fred D. Bentley, Sr. Bentley was a book collector who was interested in donating some items to the library. Williams determined that this was an appropriate time to look into the unidentified boxes and was disappointed to find they contained nothing more valuable than a set of Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...
condensed books.
In 1986, Richard Leakey, then the featured speaker for Kennesaw State's Chautauqua program, was overheard mentioning that he had to spend large amounts of time in the restroom because it was the quietest place on campus. It was decided that a quieter place needed to be created to house the small collection of rare books. Thus, the idea for a rare book room was born. This room was not only the ideal environment for conservation of the books, but a quiet place in the form of a traditional library that was designed to foster a sense of respect and appreciation for the intellectual products of the past.
Design
The gallery is designed to resemble a "domestic library in a middle-class household during the reign of King George III (1760-1820)." Other cited sources for the design were Agatha ChristieAgatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
's description of her ideal home in her autobiography, the Edwardian imagery of E. M. Forster
E. M. Forster
Edward Morgan Forster OM, CH was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society...
, and Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton , was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer.- Early life and marriage:...
's "The Decoration of Houses."
The site of the gallery was formerly a staff smoking lounge in the basement of the library. To facilitate construction and to prevent damage to the works, all water pipes surrounding the room had to be moved to the opposite side of the building. In addition, the gallery was built so that none of its walls are exterior library walls. To further protect the works, the gallery is designed to regulate temperature and humidity.
Volumes and Collections
The Bentley Rare Book Gallery houses approximately 20,000 works. These include bookBook
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
s, private journals
Diary
A diary is a record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person's experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Someone...
and papers, and various literary publications and resources. The works are separated into two divisions: those works originally donated by Mr. Bentley, which include mainly first edition
First edition
The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed “from substantially the same setting of type,” including all minor typographical variants.- First edition :...
s of works written between the 18th and 20th centuries, and those works which Mr. Williams has selected and added throughout his term as curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
of the gallery.
Notable Volumes and Literary Items
- Franciscan breviaryBreviaryA breviary is a liturgical book of the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church containing the public or canonical prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notations for everyday use, especially by bishops, priests, and deacons in the Divine Office...
from northern ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
(1450) - A leaf from the Golden LegendGolden LegendThe Golden Legend is a collection of hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that became a late medieval bestseller. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived, compared to twenty or so of its nearest rivals...
(c. 1470) - A leaf from Tractatus et Sermones (1490)
- A leaf from Recollections on the History of EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
(c. 1470) - Voi chascoltate inrime sparse (1472)
- The Divine ComedyThe Divine ComedyThe Divine Comedy is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature...
(1502) - The Complete Works of Chaucer (1542)
- Aesopi Phrygii Fabulae Graece Latine Conversae (1544)
- Newe Testament of Our Lord Iesus Christ [sic] (1583)
- Fourth Folio of William ShakespeareFolios and Quartos (Shakespeare)The earliest texts of William Shakespeare's works were published during the 16th and 17th centuries in quarto or folio format. Folios are large, tall volumes; quartos are smaller, roughly half the size...
(1685) - Paradise RegainedParadise RegainedParadise Regained is a poem by the English poet John Milton, published in 1671. It is connected by name to his earlier and more famous epic poem Paradise Lost, with which it shares similar theological themes...
(1758) - Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886)
- TrilbyTrilby (novel)Trilby is a novel by George du Maurier and one of the most popular novels of its time, perhaps the second best selling novel of the Fin de siècle after Bram Stoker's Dracula. Published serially in Harper's Monthly in 1894, it was published in book form in 1895 and sold 200,000 copies in the United...
(1895) - Tristram Shandy (complete nine volumes)
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (first edition)
- Up From SlaveryUp From SlaveryUp from Slavery is the 1901 autobiography of Booker T. Washington detailing his slow and steady rise from a slave child during the Civil War, to the difficulties and obstacles he overcame to get an education at the new Hampton University, to his work establishing vocational schools—most notably the...
(original copy - signed by Booker T. WashingtonBooker T. WashingtonBooker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...
)
Department of Museums, Archives & Rare Books
The Bentley Rare Book Gallery is part of Kennesaw State University's Department of Museums, Archives & Rare Books. In addition to the rare book collection, the department is responsible for the University Archives and Special Collections, Records Management, and the Museum of History and Holocaust Education.Special Collections
The Secrist papers are commission papers donated by Dr. Phillip L. Secrist, former Cobb County Commission Chairman (1988–1992) and current professor in the Kennesaw State University department of history and philosophy. The collection includes invoiceInvoice
An invoice or bill is a commercial document issued by a seller to the buyer, indicating the products, quantities, and agreed prices for products or services the seller has provided the buyer. An invoice indicates the buyer must pay the seller, according to the payment terms...
s, internal audits, budget and expenditure documents, election records, development records, and other commission documents from Dr. Secrist's term in office.
The Kennesaw State University Oral History Project is a collaboration with the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Kennesaw State University College of Humanities and Social Sciences
The College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Kennesaw State University was founded in 1983 and is the largest college at Kennesaw State University with over 4,200 students.-Departments, Centers and Institutes:*Department of Communication...
. Its goal is to collect oral histories
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
from all past recipients of the KSU Distinguished Professor, Teaching, Scholarship and Service Awards. The interviews were conducted by Dr. Thomas Scott and Dr. Dede Yow, with transcript editing and indexing assistance by Susan Batungbacal, Josh Dix and Jan Heidrich-Rice.