incunabulum

There are the incunabula — very early books, printed before 1500 — and, in a class by itself, the Kelmscott Chaucer, after the Gutenberg Bible probably the most famous feat of book printing ever.

“I know what incunabula are,” I said testily.

Collectors’ interest will be piqued by the incunabula – books printed before 1501 – which is described as one of the most important collections ever assembled.

But too often Mr. Foy’s prose is portentous and clumsy: “The incunabula of travel and boat repair swirl in my brain.”

The exhibition’s “reimagining” of the research library is meant to lure visitors who may not be drawn to 15th-century incunabula.