Select a region
The public are invited to celebrate the remarkable story of the Guille-Allès Library from today with artefacts on show including one of the rarest, and most expensive books in the world.
The exhibition, titled ‘Boundless Curiosity’, tells the story of the Library's founders, Thomas Guille and Frederick Allès, childhood friends who left Guernsey in the 1830s to seek their fortune in New York.
Amazed by the libraries they encountered there, they shared a dream to return home and start one of their own.
In 1882 they made the dream a reality, creating an iconic Guernsey institution that continues to serve the community.
Watch: A video about the exhibition produced by the Library.
Islanders can learn more about the origin story and view a vast collection of books and items including James Audubon’s The Birds of America – a collection of hand-coloured prints of every species of bird in North America.
The Library’s copy of the book is a ‘Bien Edition’, a special reissue of Audubon’s work produced by his youngest son, some 20-years after the original was published.
Although not as valuable as an original edition, the Bien Edition is even rarer. Less than 100 volumes were printed, and it’s thought that only around 70 survive today - making it the rarest edition of one of the world's rarest books.
The exhibition opens today and runs until Saturday 21 January.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.