Books for Devotion: Private Prayer and Piety Through Eight Centuries

Start date: Monday, February 2, 2009
Event is ongoing: Until Friday, May 1, 2009

“Books for Devotion” highlights sixty books that were intended to direct the soul heavenward in prayer and inward in spiritual contemplation. Easily held in one’s hands, these books reflect a devotional intimacy that helps us to understand the meaning of personal daily prayer and piety in centuries past and to imagine what it was like to own and use such books in their own time. The selected books, dating from the 13th through the 20th centuries, include manuscript Psalters, Breviaries, and Books of Hours of the late Middle Ages, early printed manuals for personal devotion in various languages, illuminated manuscripts for Muslim prayer, and a variety of modern publications designed for individual Christian prayer. The exhibition is free and open to the public during regular library hours. For tours and further information, please call 214-768-3483.