2023 Webster Library Exhibitions

Journey Through the Stacks: Illustrated Travelogues and the Orientalist Imagination

Two man and a woman dressed in historical Japanese clothing, seated on a mat.

January 31 – March 22, 2023

Webster Library, Vitrines and Discovery Counter on LB-2

Curated by: Stéphanie Hornstein

The project featured historic material from Concordia, McGill, and the Université de Montréal's library collections.

The exhibition was curated by Stéphanie Hornstein, Concordia Library's Researcher-in-Residence for 2022-2023. The project explored how photography was employed to illustrate and confirm a Western view of Asia and the Middle East as exotic destinations. The books gathered for this exhibition were common items in the middle-class bookshelf of the late 1800s and were hugely influential in shaping modern perceptions of actual places.

View the digital book display