To commemorate 700 years since the death of renowned Florentine poet and scholar, Dante Alighieri, the State Library of Victoria is exhibiting a spectacular display focused on one of the most influential poems of the Middle Ages, The Divine Comedy. The display forms a part of the unparalleled new exhibition, World of the Book, which invites visitors to ponder the unique and impactful role that books have played in our lives for hundreds of years.
Curated by rare book experts, Des Cowley and Anna Welch, the exhibition boasts a rich collection of literary gems and illustrations dating back to the 16th century — including medieval manuscripts, sacred texts, botanical art and an impressive range of first-editions. Amid the wonders you can expect to find in this impressive showcase, there is something magnetically haunting about the display dedicated entirely to Dante’s Comedy.