Trees in Fact and Fable: An Exhibition of Illustrated Books at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

The spreading chestnut, the Charter Oak, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Yggdrasil, the olive branch, the laurel wreath. Trees and images of trees pervade our language, our history, our poetry, and our mythologies. This unsystematic romp through the collections of the Beinecke Library gathers books with representations of trees. Included are botanical books from four centuries, first trees, biblical trees, sacred trees, mythological trees, family trees, emblematic trees, and literary trees, from Ovid, Dante, and Shakespeare to Goethe, Longfellow, and Joyce Kilmer. [ca. 150 items]