Chocolate in the Library, a new exhibition celebrating the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, showcases UC Davis' unusual collection of antique and modern publications about chocolate.

Located in Shields Library, the exhibition's crown jewel is a small but significant book, "Chocolata Inda," recently acquired by the library to commemorate the groundbreaking of the Robert Mondavi Institute today (June 23).

Written in 1644 by an Andalusian physician, Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma, the book is the fourth edition of the second oldest printed book on chocolate. The edition was printed in Latin in Nuremburg, Germany, and is bound with another work on balms and pulmonary medicine. It was most likely first owned by a physician.

The General Library's chocolate collection includes technical works on the growing and processing of cocoa beans; culinary works on chocolate desserts, candy and beverages; rare antiquarian works on chocolate; chocolate in popular culture as depicted in both films and novels; and scholarly publications highlighting the contributions of UC Davis researchers on the subject.

On display are several research publications on chocolate and health that demonstrate UC Davis' research influence on the topic by Professors Carl Keen, Louis Grivetti and Andrew Waterhouse.

UC Davis gets in its chocolate licks beyond academic journals. In the "Making of 'Chocolat' " featurette that accompanies the 2000 motion picture "Chocolat" on DVD, Keen's research on chocolate and health is mentioned.

Also on display is a facsimile of the "Florentine Codex" by Bernardino de Sahagún. This codex, based on interviews of Nahuatl elders in ancient Mexico, is an early source of information on cacao cultivation and is thought to date from about 1577.

Other rare items from Shields Library's special collections include a selection of pamphlets from the Hurty-Peck Library on chocolate that range in date from 1876 to the 1960s.

The exhibition, which will continue through September, was assembled by Axel Borg, a university food and beverage bibliographer, with assistance from UC Davis student Yazmin Arreguin-Reyes and Rosemont High School student Laura Borg. It is located in exhibit cases near the entrance to Special Collections on the first floor.