The Seven Storey Mountain Bookshelf exhibit was created by Mark C. Meade and launched in 2023 for the 75th anniversary of the publication of Thomas Merton's autobiography. The scans of 99 distinct editions in 22 languages of the book are representative of the diversity of holdings of the Thomas Merton Center at the time of the exhibit, though not every printing is in the collection is represented in the exhibit. Selections were made to highlight the diversity in cover art, binding, translation, and other unique details. The Merton Center Collection does not have a representative copy of every printing and even a small number of differing editions and translations are not represented in the Center's holdings.
The Thomas Merton Center is grateful to Patricia A. Burton for her many years of bibliographic work. Her book, More Than Silence: A Bibliography of Thomas Merton was a valuable guide in helping to identify and distinguish editions of The Seven Storey Mountain for this exhibit. It serves as an essential guide for serious collectors of Merton's books. It was published in 2008 by The Scarecrow Press (Lanham, MD; Toronto; and Plymouth, UK) and the American Theological Library Association (ATLA Bibligraphy Series, No. 55). Copies are available for purchase:
In addition to More Than Silence and her bibliographic contributions made available to Merton scholars online (click here), Patricia Burton edited and introduced Merton's Peace in the Post-Christian Era. The book, censored in its day, was written in 1962 and published for the first time in 2004. She is the recipient of the "Louie" award and a Shannon Fellowship from the International Thomas Merton Society. In 2014, she wrote an article for The Merton Seasonal regarding Merton's publication in mass-market paperbacks, including a discussion of cover artwork for many editions of The Seven Storey Mountain:
