Virtual Books
To view these virtual books from the Rakow Library, click on the cover or title.
Instructions | System Requirements (Note: These virtual books may take a few minutes to load.)
Mappae Clavicula
Among the oldest of the Rakow Library’s holdings, this 12th century Latin manuscript might be described as an organic chemistry book for the Medieval artist. In fact, it presents more than two hundred natural formulas for making various elements used in painting, writing, and ornamentation during the middle ages. While different versions of this text were created over the course of several centuries, this particular copy is considered the most complete. It probably originated in northern Europe and was produced by scribes writing in Latin, gothic style lettering.
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Glass 1959: A Special Exhibition of International Contemporary Glass
Glass 1959: A Special Exhibition of International Contemporary Glass examines what is now recognized as a landmark period in glass design. Many of the designers who participated in the exhibition came to be regarded as some of the most influential personalities in postwar design. Of the small number of unique, “artistic” works included in the exhibition, Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová’s Head I stands out as an important pioneering effort in the development of glass as a material for sculpture.
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New Glass: A Worldwide Survey
New Glass: A Worldwide Survey gives a very different picture of how glass was put to use for the purposes of craft, art, and design. Of the 400 pieces of glass chosen for the exhibition, approximately 90 percent were made by studio glass artists. This was the opposite of Glass 1959, in which only 10 percent of the glass shown represented the work of individual makers. New Glass documents early studio glass made in the United States and abroad, and it illustrates how quickly the Studio Glass movement grew after its inception in 1962.
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Instructions
To turn the pages, click the page and hold your mouse or click, hold, and drag your mouse across the book. The slider or arrows at the bottom center of the screen can also be used to move quickly through a book. Click and drag the round ball forward to quickly move through a series of pages. The book’s content can be magnified and the book itself can be rotated a full 360 degrees. Zoom in or out depending on your reading needs.
If you have questions, click on the Get help icon at the bottom far right of the screen. The Menu icon, on the bottom far left, will give you a full listing of Corning Museum of Glass virtual books.
System Requirements
- Requires Silverlight (a download from Microsoft)
- Xbap application (3D version)
- Windows Vista with Internet Explorer browser.
OR
Windows XP with at least .NET Framework 3.0, Internet Explorer
AND
Recommended 256MB dedicated graphics
- Can be viewed in Firefox if users have .NET Framework 3.5 installed.