An exhibition of rare books at University of Macau Museum of Art invites visitors to rediscover the printed word and reflect on books’ enduring value in the digital age. 

When was the last time you finished reading a printed book? In today’s fast-paced digital world filled with social media, videos and endless streams of electronically conveyed information, they can seem like relics of a bygone era. But a new exhibition at the University of Macau (UM) Museum of Art offers a chance to rediscover the beauty and purpose of books through showcasing some of the rarest and most significant titles being preserved right here in Macao.

“Regarding Books” features over 50 rare Chinese and Western publications from the UM Library’s collection. Most are original copies, not reproductions; their great age adds historical weight and authenticity to the exhibition. Among the highlights is a 1491 edition of Euclid’s Elements – the oldest known copy of the book currently held in China.

UM librarian Helen Xu Hong, one of the exhibition’s curators, tells Macao magazine that while the university’s collection of rare books is the most extensive in Macao, it’s seldom shown to the public. “People don’t often get to see the bindings, illustrations, or the marks left by readers – like notes or signs of wear from frequent use,” she says. The reason is simple: very old books are incredibly fragile. They must be kept in spaces with carefully controlled temperature and humidity levels.  

In an effort to share these treasures, Xu and her co-curator Li Jun, the director of UM’s Department of Arts and Design, began planning this exhibition in late March. “We want people to feel that books have warmth,” Xu explains. “They offer a full sensory experience – you see their shape, feel their texture, smell the ink and notice the traces left by others.”

Adding further depth to viewers’ experience, the exhibition includes videos demonstrating how books are made and replicas created. Its rooms are also infused with a custom-made scent that evokes the smell of antique books.

Seeds of Knowledge on the Wind

Inside the museum, before entering the main gallery, visitors are confronted by a peach pink wall adorned with a large black-and-white dandelion clock. This artwork, the exhibition’s poster image, was inspired by the 1908 cover of the Petit Larousse Illustré, a famous French dictionary included in “Regarding Books”.

The Swiss decorative artist Eugène Grasset (1845–1917) used that dandelion to illustrate the spread of knowledge across the Earth, painting an Art Nouveau-style woman blowing pappi off the fluffy seedhead and onto the breeze. The image has become an enduring symbol of France and is often accompanied by the phrase “Je sème à tout vent” (“I sow to all winds”). It’s a fitting motif for an exhibition of books that have successfully ferried ideas far and wide, across cultures and generations.

Religious coexistence

Books in the exhibition span a broad range of subjects, including religion. One of the first volumes visitors encounter is a 1566 edition of the Benoît Bible, edited by French priest René Benoît (1521–1608), confessor to Mary, Queen of Scots, and King Henry IV of France. Bound in embossed calfskin and adorned with intricate floral tooling, the book features a luxurious binding technique that was highly refined for its time.

The Benoît Bible is exceptionally rare, as most copies were burned by papal decree in the late 16th century. That’s because the Catholic Church deemed its Calvinist leanings heretical; as result, the Pope ordered all copies to be burned. UM’s copy survived through being safely hidden and preserved in the Rhineland.

The exhibition also features literature from other faiths, including Taoist texts. Among them are Taoist talismans known as fu. These hand-drawn symbols and inscriptions written in red ink on yellow paper are traditionally created by Taoist priests. Fu are used in rituals to ward off evil, invite blessings or promote healing. Their inclusion in the exhibition reflects Macao’s long-standing status as a city of religious coexistence.

The Wanyou Wenku wall

Perhaps the most eye-catching part of the exhibition centres on the Chinese encyclopaedic collection Wanyou Wenku, a series published between 1924 to 1939. Hugely popular in 1930s China, editions span philosophy, science, literature, social sciences and more.

It’s not their design that makes these books stand out (in fact, their covers are quite plain), but the way in which they’re presented: the curators arranged over 2,000 volumes – half the UM Library’s Wanyou Wenku collection – into a towering wall intended to resemble a tombstone. “This exhibit has a shocking power,” says Xu. “It makes you think about the impact of the digital age on us; whether the role and meaning of printed books is changing; and how people’s reading habits are evolving.”

Likening the exhibit to a tombstone is a metaphor: “The digital age has already changed a lot for us, especially for younger people who have grown up surrounded by phones and computers,” the librarian notes. Indeed, the Wanyou Wenku display can be viewed as reluctant acknowledgement that people rarely open real books when seeking knowledge these days. Instead, they turn to a search engine or chatbot.

Macao’s Printing Milestones

Some exhibits reflect Macao’s own history with books, like A Dictionary of the Chinese Language – published in the early 1800s. The book is widely regarded as the world’s first bilingual English–Chinese and Chinese–English dictionary. It was originally produced here in Macao by a printing press affiliated with the British East India Company. Notably, the dictionary was the first Chinese publication to utilise Western movable type printing technology. 

Compiled by Robert Morrison, a Protestant missionary to China, the work spans six volumes and is divided into three sections: the first organised by the radicals and stroke order of Chinese characters; the second by their rhyme scheme; and the third as an English–Chinese dictionary. This groundbreaking publication remains an important resource for exploring the linguistic and cultural connections between China and the West.

“Regarding Books” also touches on the world of cartography by posing the question: when did the name ‘Macao’ first appear on a map? The answer is 1571, via Fernão Vaz Dourado’s map of East Asia in his Atlas Universal. The exhibition includes a 1989 modern mechanical print based on the Portuguese cartographer’s hand-coloured original. Dourado, who was born and lived in Goa, India, had a deep familiarity with Asia that is reflected in the accuracy and detail of his work.

Atlas Universal is considered one of the most remarkable works of European Renaissance cartography, known for its vivid colors and refined artistry. Departing entirely outdated views of Asia promulgated by Ptolemy in the 2nd Century, Dourado incorporates fresh geographic knowledge gathered by Portuguese explorers during their voyages. As a result, it presents an impressively near-accurate depiction of the coastlines of Southeast Asia and southeastern China. 

Euclid’s Elements: The Exhibition’s Crown Jewel

The more-than-530-year-old edition of Euclid’s Elements, printed on vellum using metal engraved plates, is the exhibition’s centrepiece. The original treatise was written around 300 BCE in ancient Greece, and was the first known work to establish a logical system of deduction through self-evident methods – encapsulating the core achievements of ancient Greek mathematics. It is widely regarded as one of the most significant legacies of Greek civilisation and a foundational text in human intellectual history, with a level of influence surpassed only by the Bible.

The edition acquired by the UM Library is a reprint produced in Vicenza, Italy, in 1491. It was revised using early Latin translations along with newly translated Arabic sources. Notable features include a redesigned decorative border on the first page – replacing the original Arabic-style motifs with imagery of Cupid, animals and plants – and a shift from the Gothic typeface of earlier editions to a more refined Roman font.

“Regarding Books” places other copies of Euclid’s Elements published in different years on the left and right sides of the 1491 edition, allowing readers to see changes made to this important educational volume’s appearance across  the eras.

Reflecting on the deeper message of “Regarding Books”, Xu notes that a book can simultaneously be a tool for learning, a work of art and a piece of history. “While it would be impossible to read every one of the books on display, just seeing them helps us appreciate their beauty and their role in passing down knowledge,” she says. “[The exhibition] truly allows us to see the inheritance of culture and civilisation.”

“Regarding Books” is on display at the UM Museum of Art and is co-curated by UM’s Department of Arts and Design and the UM Library. It’s open 10 am to 7 pm daily until 31 August. Admission is free. 

Text Don Lei | Photos Lei Heong Ieong