1611 Edition of ‘The Faerie Queene’ Part of National Library Week at Duquesne

A rare and valuable edition of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, a landmark work in English literature, will be among the rare books on display at Gumberg Library as part of National Library Week.

The 1611 first-edition of The Faerie Queene and Shepheards Calendar, which was printed in London for the bookseller Matthew Lownes, will be one of the books at the center of Enduring Value: Rare Books at Duquesne University on Thursday, April 14, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Gumberg Library.

In addition to its age, this edition of The Faerie Queene and Shepheards Calendar also is exceptional in that it marks the first time that Spenser’s primary works were printed together.

Dr. Robert Giannetti, a poet and the former owner of Bob’s Olde Books, an antiquarian bookstore in Lewiston, N.Y., donated the 405-year-old edition to the University last year in honor of his late dissertation advisor, Dr. Foster Provost. Giannetti earned his Ph.D. in English from Duquesne in 1979.

During the event, Giannetti will join Dr. Danielle St. Hilaire, assistant professor of English and an expert in British Renaissance poetry, to discuss The Faerie Queene.

The program also will feature a discussion about rare books—including a selection from The Rabbi Herman Hailperin Collection at Duquesne—readings and a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly remodeled Rare Book Reading Room at Gumberg Library.

Of Enduring Value: Rare Books at Duquesne University is free and open to the campus community and the public. To RSVP, visit http://bit.ly/ofenduringvalue.