John Meeus, in the December 1961 issue of Sky and Telescope magazine, page 320, describes 15 planetary groupings that occur between 1007 AD and 2100 AD within 30 degrees of longitude from the sun. The most recent was on February 5, 1962 when the sun was in total eclipse, and you could see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn all within 13 degrees of the eclipsed Sun! An even tighter grouping occurred on September 15, 1186 AD where the sun was partially eclipsed and the planets were within 12 degrees of the sun. The next Grand Conjunction will occur on May 5, 2000 with the planets within 16 degrees of the sun, but there will be no eclipse so you will have to see them in two installments just before sunrise and just after sunset. The most interesting visual presentation occurs on September 8, 2040 when Mercury through Saturn will be at longitudes from 20.4 to 29.8 degrees to the east of the Sun. Just after sunset, these planets will appear like a swarm of objects within a region 9.5 degrees or so in diameter. The Moon will be 15.7 degrees from the Sun in the same region, and in a First Crescent phase.