FARMINGTON — The Shiretown Bookers recently announced its summer exhibition “A Thousand Words: Illustrated Books from Members’ Collections,” will run from June 2 through Sept. 12, in the Bookers’ display area in Mantor Library, 116 South St.

In the summer, members of the Bookers are invited to share representative books from their collections. The broad variety of the books in the Members’ Show indicates the wide range of collections and interests in the Farmington area.

Books have been illustrated almost from the beginning of books, but the golden age for grownup book illustrations in the Western world stretched roughly from the 18th century through the first half of the 20th century. In the first decades of the 21st, a tradition of graphic novels (which resemble nothing so much as 15th century woodblock illuminations) has arisen. And children’s literature over the last century has provided an array of creative artwork.

This exhibition will illuminate the Bookers’ premise that a proper collection focuses on some particular theme that is important to the individual collector. A collection only incidentally involves rare or expensive books, and even then only when they are necessary to support a full understanding of a subject.

For more information, email Reid Byers at shiretownbookers@gmail.com.