FARMINGTON (AP) – The University of Maine at Farmington will be the first institution in New England to play host to a collection of original and first-edition works that relate to liberty and human dignity.

For this collection, “look but don’t touch” rules do not always apply.

Visitors will be permitted to run their fingers over the vellum of a 460-year-old copy of the Magna Carta, the first English language edition of Plato’s “The Republic” or a rare 1777 printing of the Declaration of Independence.

“Being able to touch books that thousands of people have looked at and held through the ages will be a sensory experience that we hope will be impressive,” said Frank Roberts, director of the university’s Mantor Library.

The books will be kept inside glass cases that will be opened at certain times to allow visitors to run their fingers over the aged skin and cloth vellum material and “smell the dust of the ages,” Roberts said.

The collection of more than 40 significant historical documents is scheduled to arrive next month and remain at the library through the fall semester.

The exhibit belongs to The Remnant Trust, a public education foundation based in Indiana that shares its collection with colleges and other organizations.

The nonpartisan trust seeks to spur thought about the origins of liberty and freedom.

“As a society, we do not have a good understanding of the concepts of liberty and freedom,” said Kris Bex, president of the trust, which was founded a dozen years ago by his father, Brian Bex. “There are many people who think those ideas started in this country 200 years ago. Not true.”

“The ideas of liberty and dignity have roots in the blood, sweat and tears of thousands of people over the centuries,” he said.