Famous and Forgotten

The University of Virginia's Rare Book School is presenting an exhibition that uses card games to examine the rise and fall of literary fame. 

Famous & Forgotten: The Game of Authors

Date: 19 May 2025 – 12 November 2025

Location: Held by Rare Book School on the second floor of the Edgar Shannon Library of the University of Virginia

The exhibition displays nearly 100 original decks of the educational parlor game that first emerged in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1861. Similar to Go Fish, players collected sets of cards featuring an author and their works—for example, gathering all four Charlotte Brontë cards showing "Charlotte Brontë," "Jane Eyre," "Shirley," and "Villette" to complete a "book." 

The show offers a perspective on changes in literary reputations, as well as the shifting tastes of readers: the east side of the gallery features authors who were famous during the nineteenth century and who remain household names to this day; the west side of the gallery tells the story of writers who were lauded during their lifetimes, but who are no longer recognized as literary celebrities.

Charlotte Brontë appears throughout the exhibition as one of the enduring literary celebrities whose fame has persisted across decades. Her presence in Authors card games reflects her sustained popularity, with her portrait appearing alongside her most celebrated novels. The exhibition includes rare translations and wartime editions of Jane Eyre, demonstrating the novel's continued circulation across different cultures and historical periods. 

Dante. Shakespeare. Dickens. Brontë. Eliot. Twain. Baldwin. It will come as no surprise that these major literary figures appear in the game of Authors. These writers and their iconic portraits will be we
ll known to most visitors. Charles Dickens, for instance, appears in every deck in RBS’s collection, which contains more than a hundred examples.

But many would be hard pressed to identify a work written by Robert Southey, who served as Britain’s Poet Laureate for three full decades (1813–1843). It is perhaps ironic that he advised Charlotte Brontë (then aged 20) that “Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life & it ought not to be.”

The exhibition's examination of the Brontë legacy extends beyond the cards themselves to address broader questions about literary canonization and cultural memory. While Charlotte Brontë's works like Jane Eyre remain recognized today, positioned on the "famous" east side of the gallery, the exhibition also traces how the representation of women writers in these games evolved from a handful of 19th-century figures to more inclusive 20th-century decks. Special events on September 12 will include exhibition tours and film screenings, providing visitors with the opportunity to examine this intersection of literary fame and the forces that determine which authors are remembered and which are forgotten.

Further information in Fine Books & Magazines.