Theatrum Animalium brings together old and new, master and student - a place of inquiry and experimentation. In spring of 2019, students from two disciplines gathered in the archive to view the Gerald F. and Marjorie G. Fitzgerald Fish Book Collection. The monographs offered the students a rare opportunity to view some of the most exquisite examples of printmaking in a single collection. The stellar examples of five centuries of Western printmaking, typography, and bookbinding provided the foundation for creative writing students to interpret animal and mythical themes through poetry and prose. Utilizing the principles of typography and the works of master printmakers, such as Catesby, Renard, and Salviani as inspiration, design students then adapted their peers’ writing into both two- and three-dimensional works. Theatrum Animalium offers a bit of theater with students’ reinterpretation of the masters through a contemporary lens.
The Library’s sincerest gratitude to Professors Jesse Millner and Sasha Minsky for their collaboration and to their students for their creative contributions. Gerald F. and his wife Marjorie G. Fitzgerald graciously donated the Fish Book Collection to Florida Gulf Coast University Library in 2009. The beauty and scope of the collection has the Florida Gulf Coast University community indebted to the Fitzgerald family for providing our students, faculty, and the Southwest Florida community access to these rare books for decades to come.
