Area libraries will convene to show off some of their rare books from their collections Thursday at C.R. library

Rare books are coming out of the woodwork, literally you might say, this week.

As part of a Rare Book Showcase, lovers of old books and good stories are invited to visit the Cedar Rapids Public Library's Whipple Auditorium on Thursday afternoon to see and learn more about antique titles housed in unique library collections in Linn and surrounding counties.

'Book lovers from around the area are sure to be surprised by the books included in the showcase,” said Jessica Rilling, director of Iowa Valley Resource Conservation & Development in Amana, one of the event's organizers. She noted that the set of books is diverse, ranging from the Benjamin Franklin 1734 edition of 'Constitutions of the Freemasons,” which guided the establishment of Masonic lodges in America, to a children's story titled 'Peter and Polly,” which was inspired by Grinnell native Cornelia Clarke's photographs of her pet cats dressed in clothing.

As part of the showcase presentations, an excerpt from each feature book will be read. The audience will enjoy hearing German spoken aloud by Amana Heritage Museum Director Jon Childers as he shares ecstatic speech from the 1719 'Wohl und Weh” and Czech spoken aloud by Jenda Vana in a reading of 'Arabesky” from the library at Clutier's ZCBJ Lodge & Museum.

Julie Piper, a 1982 graduate of the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School, will read aloud from 'Gospel of Matthew and Mark,” a Braille Bible used in chapel services when Mary Ingalls was a student at the school.

Lois Kovar, great niece of Mildred Benson, will share her early edition of 'The Secret of the Old Clock” as well as personal memories of Mildred who practically no one has heard of but whose pen name, Carolyn Keene, is quickly recognized.

'We want this event to be more than just a lecture,” said Rilling. 'The readings, personal stories and idiosyncrasies are an integral part of the event because we wanted to make it dynamic and fun.”

Marilyn Kennett, library director of the Drake Community Library in Grinnell, said they are thrilled to be showing off their book, 'Peter and Polly,” a children's book published in 1912. It features photographs by Cornelia Clarke (1894-1936), nature photographer from Grinnell.

'The photographs, which have been colored and look more like illustrations than photographs, are among the first taken by a young Cornelia, who was to become a well-known nature photographer after teaching herself photography.”

'The book is a poignant tribute to a woman who, long before women had the right to vote, taught herself the art and skills of photography through what she had at hand on an isolated Iowa farm,” Kennett added.

'And Clarke's nature studies, which were published in numerous journals and newspapers throughout the 1920s and 1930s, contributed greatly to early 20th-century understanding and appreciation of the natural world.”

Nancy Beckman of the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton is bringing 'Gospels of Matthew and Mark” from a King James Braille version of the Bible that was published in 1923 as well as a New York Point version of the same Gospel books from the late 1800s. 'The Braille/New York Point Bible is an integral part of the Braille school's history,” she said, noting that chapel was held two times a day throughout the 1800s and early 1900s. 'In the 1920s Braille was very expensive to purchase so many blind individuals could not afford to have it in their own homes. The school made many books and materials available to visually impaired children that individually many would not have been able to access. And our Braille readers state for its age the Braille dots are in great shape and still easy to read despite the many hands that have passed over them.”

Beckman pointed out that during the 1920s Braille was expensive and not mass-produced making the collection that has survived at the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School so special and making their further preservation more important as time passes.

'We consider it an honor to preserve and read from this vintage book,” she said. 'In this age of electronic texts, we hope people will take with them a special appreciation for hard copy materials that have been preserved through the decades.”

Sonya Darrow, another event collaborator, chose two books from the ZCBJ Lodge Hall and Museum in Clutier: Jan Neruda's 'Arabesky” and Mark Twain's 'Tom Sawyer” (in Czech language) - just two of the 800 Czech books housed at the museum.

'I wanted to choose books that reflect the time period of Czech immigrants in Iowa. What did they bring with them or what were their literary desires? For Clutier, it is their immigrant story told through books.”

Jon Childers with the Amana Heritage Society Archives agreed that the books and this event will help shed light on these communities of Iowans and their rich histories. The book he's sharing, titled 'Wohl und Weh” and published in 1719, is a compilation of ecstatic speech that the Amana Church Society believes to be the direct word of God and was recorded in real time during prayer meetings.

'There are only perhaps two dozen of this book in existence and this particular copy remains in our archive to remain preserved for perpetuity,” he said. 'These spoken prophetic utterances were recorded as they were spoken in real time, giving historic linguists the opportunity to observe and study a language as it was actually spoken nearly 200 years before audio recording were made. There is a larger, deeper, and wider story to our group than the common visitor to Amana would understand.”

The Rare Book Showcase is free of charge by the recently formed Iowa Valley Cultural Council, which includes volunteers from a six-county area (Linn, Johnson, Benton, Iowa, Tama and Poweshiek counties) with support from Iowa Valley RC & D as well as a Partnership Grant from the Iowa Arts Council/Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs and a USDA Rural Community Development Initiative grant.

'What ties this event together is both a love of books and a love for the places that house them,” said Rilling, who admitted that she herself was surprised by what she found while prepping for the event. 'Even though I work in this region … this event will showcase tons of cool stuff that I think flies way under the radar. Thanks to coordinating this event, I saw the ZCBJ Lodge Museum & Library for the first time. What a secret, rural treasure. It is charming and mysterious and hardly anyone knows about it.”

Organizers hope that attendees of the showcase might be inspired to later visit the permanent homes of the books in lesser known libraries and communities. 'We want to try and connect a new audience to these places that are less than an hour drive away,” said Rilling. 'We want people to connect with the special books of course, but I also want them to connect to the book caretakers.”

'The showcase will increase their awareness of the types of treasures that are held by these institutions,” added Kennett. 'Sometimes we don't know the significance of saving artifacts at the time they are stored away. The significance comes later when we realize how rare something has become over time and through discovery it becomes relevant to our lives today.”

If you go

l What: Rare Book Showcase

l When: 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday

l Where: Cedar Rapids Public Library Whipple Auditorium, 450 Fifth Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids

l Cost: Free

l More info: (319) 622-3264