Phillips Exeter is fortunate to have received a number of rare books and
manuscripts from donors to the Special Collections. Among the most notable
of these is an early edition of Ptolemy's Geographia (1545) containing
54 double maps. Another significant item is a 15th-century French
illuminated manuscript in cursive Gothic script on vellum, De
Vitiis et Virtutibus by Guillaume d'Auvergne, the Bishop of Paris.
This volume was the gift of Imre de Vegh, father of Pierre Jay de Vegh '54.
from Ptolemy's Geographia
image from Der Buchholzschnitt
in 16. jahrhundert..., also known
as the Geisberg Folio
The Codex Manessa is one of 319 facsimile copies of an illustrated
book of folk poetry dating from the 12th, 13th and early 14th centuries.
Published in Germany, the facsimile preserves every detail of the original. The
Codex was given by George M. Schurman and is unusual for its time as
a secular work.
The Geisberg Folio, donated by John A. Hardy '46 and one of only 50 copies published, is a collection of original woodcut illustrations from Dutch, French, German, Italian and Swiss books of the 16th century.
A plate from Microcosm of London
from D'Auvergne's De
Vitiis et Virtutibus