Given both the cold and snowy weather we're currently experiencing in Toronto, along with recent geopolitical news about control over the Northern Hemisphere, the opening of the Fisher's newest exhibition couldn't be more timely.

Arctic Fever: Image and Narrative in North Circumpolar Voyaging of the Long Nineteenth Century gathers items from the library's collections to explore accounts of the circumpolar Arctic in the nineteenth century, including Western discoveries, fictive literature, displays of technology, and descriptions of panoramic spectacles. The display is both impressive and expansive: from important early texts detailing some of the first explorations and explorers of the north, to expeditions of the Northwest Passage and the Bering Strait, to works that explore the "idea" of the north. Don't just take our word for its relevancy to current world affairs - The Guardian seems to think so as well.

The exhibition, expertly organized by Mark A. Cheetham, University of Toronto, and Isabelle Gapp, University of Aberdeen, runs through the rest of the winter, to April 24. There are three curator-led tours scheduled, all beginning at 6pm: February 12, March 12, and April 16. Fisher tours are always free, so please come and join us.

Did you miss the last exhibition, which celebrated 70 years of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections? Good news: it has been recreated in digital form. Thank you to one of our Graduate Student Librarian Assistants, Megan Belisle, for putting this together.

If you're looking for a list of our past exhibitions, along with links to their accompanying catalogues, they have a new home on the web site.

New Exhibition Open, Old Exhibitions Have a New Home