From May 3rd until June 19th visitors to Boston’s sublime Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum will get a chance to see seven rare Venetian manuscripts from the museum’s extensive rare books collection.

The exhibition , called Illuminating the Serenissima: Books of the Republic of Venice , is being presented in the museum’s Long Gallery where Gardner kept her most prized books.

The seven Commissioni are presentation copies of contracts for Venetian aristocrats selected to be provincial governors, or to be elected administrators of the city of Venice for life. From the mid-14th century until the fall of La Serenissima, the office holders traditionally had had their Commissioni elaborately illuminated and artfully bound.

The museum’s rare collection of Commissioni reflects Isabella Stewart Gardner’s passion for Venice—as also evidenced by the Venetian-style palazzo that was her home.

Gardner’s actually began collecting rare books, incunabula and manuscripts before she began buying art.