Summer is a particularly nautical season. The idea waves and of cool breezes is particularly appealing during the muggy months of metro delays and broken air conditioners but even those of us who can’t make it to the marina or beach can experience some of the sea’s mystery with the Folger Library’s new exhibit “Lost at Sea: The Ocean in the English Imagination 1550-1750.”

This exhibit will be of particular interest to bibliophiles with the large collection of historical books on display, including Captain John Smith’s “Seaman’s Grammar and Dictionary” a how-to guide for sailing covering everything from the names of the parts of the ship to instructions for fighting at sea. Captain Smith later came to regret his work as, in a first flush of Yankee thrift, English settlers in Massachusetts found it cheaper to buy the book than to hire the author as an advisor. One “book” is a model of a 21 pound atlas which bears the sign “please touch,” allowing visitors to feel the weight of the subject. Such sparks of humor sprinkle the entire showing, the exhibit’s pamphlet folds out with details of the exhibit on one side and a reproduction nautical map on the other.