Rosenbach Museum & Library
Encyclopedia
The Rosenbach Museum & Library is located within two 19th-century townhouses at 2008 and 2010 Delancey Place in Philadelphia. The historic houses contain the collections and treasures of Philip Rosenbach and his younger brother Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach
. The brothers owned the Rosenbach Company which became the preeminent dealer of rare books, manuscripts and decorative arts during the first half of the 20th century. Dr. Rosenbach in particular was seminal in the rare book world, helping to build libraries such as the Widener Library
at Harvard
, The Huntington Library and the Folger Shakespeare Library
.
The Rosenbach documents a panorama of American and European culture through its vast historical, literary and artistic treasures.
in recognition of the lasting contributions of museum co-founder, Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach. The commission commemorated Dr. Rosenbach’s legacy as one of America’s greatest rare book dealers and his lasting contributions to Philadelphia and beyond with a marker in front of the museum, located at 2008-2010 Delancey Place in Philadelphia’s historic Rittenhouse Square
neighborhood.
, Vile, Adam, Hepplewhite
and Sheraton
. Other important pieces include an olivewood box with bronze doré mounts made for Charles II
, an American recamier sofa with carving attributed to Samuel McIntire
and a major Philadelphia highboy. A comprehensive collection of English silver and gold from the 17th and mid-18th centuries includes masterworks by Paul Storr
, Hester Bateman
and a choice group of items made for the British royal family. Over one thousand portrait miniatures are included in the collection particularly one by Nicholas Hilliard
of James I
, the only known portrait of Cervantes
as a young man and the renowned self-portrait of Major Andre' done shortly before his execution.http://www.rosenbach.org/exhibitions/online.html Choice collections of 18th century porcelain, glass, paintings, drawings and sculpture are drawn upon to complete the furnishings. The adjacent building, 2008 Delancey Place, was purchased by the foundation in January 1993 and allowed the museum to expand its facilities and exhibition space.
's circumnavigation of the globe and rare tracts relating to the settlement of Virginia
. The books are complemented, as is every other aspect of the collection, by manuscript material. This includes letters of Cortés
, Pizarro
and de Soto
, including the 1532 letters of Cortés to the Council of the Indies seeking permission to form an expedition to explore the coast of California
. The period of colonial settlement is well represented by early accounts and important religious tracts, particularly those relating to the various missions of the Indians, as well as a collection of Indian Captivity Tales.
The first three extant books printed in the western hemisphere are present in the Rosenbach's collections—Mexico 1543-44, Lima 1584-85, and the legendary Bay Psalm Book
, the first book printed in what is now the United States (Cambridge, Massachusetts
1661).
The American Revolution
is documented with over one hundred letters written by George Washington
, the original manuscript resolution of the Continental Congress
, a superb collection of documents by signers of the Declaration of Independence
, Commodore Barry's ship papers, which outline the beginnings of the American navy, and a set of Franklin
's Poor Richard's Almanac
s, including the only known surviving copy of the 1733 first edition, first printing.
The period of western expansion is represented by early diaries and traveler's accounts, printed pocket guides and histories. Of particular importance is the material dealing with the Pacific Northwest, including diaries of the Oregon
pioneers and the document signed by Andrew Johnson
authorizing Seward
to negotiate for the purchase of Alaska
.
Material from the Civil War
is extensive. It consists of more than two hundred letters of Abraham Lincoln
, one hundred and fifty war letters of Ulysses S. Grant
, two of Robert E. Lee
letters and the original Resolution signed by both houses of the United States Congress
proposing the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution
, which abolished slavery.
The majority of major British authors from the 18th century are represented by first editions of their more important works, and many of them by manuscript material as well. Some highlights are; Tonson
's assignment copy of Milton's
Paradise Lost
, a group of Thomas Gray
's letters, five leaves of the manuscript of James Boswell
's Life of Johnson
and the most extensive collection of Robert Burns
manuscripts in existence.
As you enter into the 19th and 20th centuries the collection strengthens. There are manuscripts of Walter Scott
, William Wordsworth
, Charles Lamb, Shelley
and Keats
(including a celebrated love letter to Fanny Brawne) and the only surviving fragment of Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
. The Rosenbach also has a supreme Dickens collection extending from the earliest extant manuscript to a carte-de-viste photo signed on the day before his death. The collection also includes Dickens' manuscripts of Nicholas Nickleby and the Pickwick Papers. Lewis Carroll
is represented by over six hundred letters, early drawings, presentation books, photographs and his own first-edition copy of Alice in Wonderland. Other manuscripts include the work of Oscar Wilde
, Aubrey Beardsley
, Conan Doyle
, Joseph Conrad
and Dylan Thomas
One of the Museum's most valuable items is the handwritten manuscript
of James Joyce
's Ulysses
. In honor of the work, the Museum hosts a Bloomsday
celebration every year, including readings from excerpts of the book.
Also included at The Rosenbach Museum & Library is recreation of Marianne Moore
's living room just as she lived in it. It was in this room that she lived and worked for more than forty years. Moore's complete library, with many personally inscribed and annotated books from her friends and contemporaries including Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot and Elizabeth Bishop, is part of the Rosenbach collections as well as all of her correspondence and drafts of her poetry and unpublished memoirs.
chose the Rosenbach to be the repository for his work in 1968 thanks to shared literary and collecting interests. Sendak is the author and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are
and 108 other books. His collection of nearly 10,000 works of art, manuscripts, books and ephemera, has been the subject of many exhibitions at the Rosenbach and has been enjoyed by visitors of all ages. One of the most famous creators of contemporary children's books, Sendak’s work has challenged the norms of children's literature over time and continues to entrance both children and adults to this day. His innovative techniques and honest portrayal of childhood emotion are celebrated worldwide and have earned him several prestigious honors, including the Caldecott Book Medal (1964), the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal (1970), the National Medal of Arts (1996), a Library of Congress "Living Legend" medal (2000), and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature (2003). The Rosenbach Museum & Library will present There’s a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak from May 6, 2008 through May 3, 2009. This major retrospective of over 130 pieces pulled from the museum’s vast Sendak collection – the biggest collection of “Sendakiana” in the world – is the largest and most ambitious exhibition of Sendak’s work ever created and will feature original artwork, rare sketches, never-before-seen working materials and exclusive interview footage. The exhibition will draw on a total of over 300 objects, with new works on display every four months, providing a unique experience with each set of illustrations.
, Jean-Honoré Fragonard
, Jean-Baptiste Le Prince
and Hubert Gravelot.
A. S. W. Rosenbach
Abraham Simon Wolf Rosenbach was an avid American collector, scholar, and seller of rare books and manuscripts....
. The brothers owned the Rosenbach Company which became the preeminent dealer of rare books, manuscripts and decorative arts during the first half of the 20th century. Dr. Rosenbach in particular was seminal in the rare book world, helping to build libraries such as the Widener Library
Widener Library
The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, commonly known as Widener Library, is the primary building of the library system of Harvard University. Located on the south side of Harvard Yard directly across from Memorial Church, Widener serves as the centerpiece of the 15.6 million-volume Harvard...
at Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, The Huntington Library and the Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library
The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materials from the early modern period...
.
The Rosenbach documents a panorama of American and European culture through its vast historical, literary and artistic treasures.
State historical marker
On April 2, 2008, the Rosenbach Museum & Library received an official State Historical Marker by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum CommissionPennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission is the governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania responsible for the collection, conservation and interpretation of Pennsylvania's historic heritage...
in recognition of the lasting contributions of museum co-founder, Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach. The commission commemorated Dr. Rosenbach’s legacy as one of America’s greatest rare book dealers and his lasting contributions to Philadelphia and beyond with a marker in front of the museum, located at 2008-2010 Delancey Place in Philadelphia’s historic Rittenhouse Square
Rittenhouse Square
Rittenhouse Square is one of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn and his surveyor Thomas Holme during the late 17th century in central Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The park cuts off 19th Street at Walnut Street and also at a half block above Manning Street. Its boundaries are...
neighborhood.
State Historical Marker Text:
"Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach
(1876–1952)
Among America’s most influential rare book dealers, he helped build many of the nation’s great libraries. He and his brother Philip established the Rosenbach Museum & Library to share their personal collection with the public. They lived on this block from 1926 to 1952."
Decorative arts collections
The greater part of the house is furnished much as the Rosenbach brothers lived in it. The furniture is mainly 18th century English with notable examples of the work of ChippendaleThomas Chippendale
Thomas Chippendale was a London cabinet-maker and furniture designer in the mid-Georgian, English Rococo, and Neoclassical styles. In 1754 he published a book of his designs, titled The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director...
, Vile, Adam, Hepplewhite
George Hepplewhite
George Hepplewhite was a cabinetmaker. He is regarded as having been one of the "big three" English furniture makers of the 18th century, along with Thomas Sheraton and Thomas Chippendale...
and Sheraton
Sheraton Style
Sheraton is a late 18th century neoclassical English furniture style, in vogue ca 1785 - 1820, that was coined by 19th century collectors and dealers to credit furniture designer Thomas Sheraton, born in Stockton-on-Tees, England in 1751 and whose books, "The Cabinet Dictionary" of engraved...
. Other important pieces include an olivewood box with bronze doré mounts made for Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
, an American recamier sofa with carving attributed to Samuel McIntire
Samuel McIntire
Samuel McIntyre was an American architect and craftsman, Chestnut Street District, a legacy to one of the earliest architects in the United States, Samuel McIntyre is a primary example of Federal style architecture....
and a major Philadelphia highboy. A comprehensive collection of English silver and gold from the 17th and mid-18th centuries includes masterworks by Paul Storr
Paul Storr
Paul Storr was an English silversmith, sculptor, and designer working in the Neoclassical style during the late eighteenth and early nineteentch centuries...
, Hester Bateman
Hester Bateman
Hester Bateman was an English silversmith who successfully ran her family business for thirty years following the death of her husband...
and a choice group of items made for the British royal family. Over one thousand portrait miniatures are included in the collection particularly one by Nicholas Hilliard
Nicholas Hilliard
Nicholas Hilliard was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some larger cabinet miniatures, up to about ten inches tall, and at least two famous...
of James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
, the only known portrait of Cervantes
Cervantes
-People:*Alfonso J. Cervantes , mayor of St. Louis, Missouri*Francisco Cervantes de Salazar, 16th-century man of letters*Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban composer*Jorge Cervantes, a world-renowned expert on indoor, outdoor, and greenhouse cannabis cultivation...
as a young man and the renowned self-portrait of Major Andre' done shortly before his execution.http://www.rosenbach.org/exhibitions/online.html Choice collections of 18th century porcelain, glass, paintings, drawings and sculpture are drawn upon to complete the furnishings. The adjacent building, 2008 Delancey Place, was purchased by the foundation in January 1993 and allowed the museum to expand its facilities and exhibition space.
Rare books and manuscripts from the Americana Collection
The Americana collection begins with accounts of early voyages and tales of exploration, which includes a copy of Antonio Pigafetta's account of Ferdinand MagellanFerdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer. He was born in Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" ....
's circumnavigation of the globe and rare tracts relating to the settlement of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. The books are complemented, as is every other aspect of the collection, by manuscript material. This includes letters of Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
, Pizarro
Francisco Pizarro
Francisco Pizarro González, Marquess was a Spanish conquistador, conqueror of the Incan Empire, and founder of Lima, the modern-day capital of the Republic of Peru.-Early life:...
and de Soto
Hernando de Soto (explorer)
Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who, while leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States, was the first European documented to have crossed the Mississippi River....
, including the 1532 letters of Cortés to the Council of the Indies seeking permission to form an expedition to explore the coast of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The period of colonial settlement is well represented by early accounts and important religious tracts, particularly those relating to the various missions of the Indians, as well as a collection of Indian Captivity Tales.
The first three extant books printed in the western hemisphere are present in the Rosenbach's collections—Mexico 1543-44, Lima 1584-85, and the legendary Bay Psalm Book
Bay Psalm Book
The Bay Psalm Book was the first book, that is still in existence, printed in British North America.The book is a Psalter, first printed in 1640 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Psalms in it are metrical translations into English...
, the first book printed in what is now the United States (Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
1661).
The American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
is documented with over one hundred letters written by George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, the original manuscript resolution of the Continental Congress
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....
, a superb collection of documents by signers of the Declaration of Independence
Declaration of independence
A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...
, Commodore Barry's ship papers, which outline the beginnings of the American navy, and a set of Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
's Poor Richard's Almanac
Poor Richard's Almanac
Poor Richard's Almanack was a yearly almanac published by Benjamin Franklin, who adopted the pseudonym of "Poor Richard" or "Richard Saunders" for this purpose. The publication appeared continually from 1732 to 1758...
s, including the only known surviving copy of the 1733 first edition, first printing.
The period of western expansion is represented by early diaries and traveler's accounts, printed pocket guides and histories. Of particular importance is the material dealing with the Pacific Northwest, including diaries of the Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
pioneers and the document signed by Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
authorizing Seward
William H. Seward
William Henry Seward, Sr. was the 12th Governor of New York, United States Senator and the United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson...
to negotiate for the purchase of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
.
Material from the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
is extensive. It consists of more than two hundred letters of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, one hundred and fifty war letters of Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
, two of Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
letters and the original Resolution signed by both houses of the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
proposing the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, passed by the House on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865. On...
, which abolished slavery.
Irish, British and American literature
Chronologically this collection begins with a fine group of English literary manuscripts from the 15th century including Thomas Hoccleve's poems (1410) which contain a celebrated portrait of Chaucer. There is a major manuscript of the Canterbury Tales and a noble fragment of another illustrated version. A small and equally choice collection of books of the pre-Elizabethan and Elizabethan period is complemented by a collection of commonplace books. There is an extremely rare first edition of Pilgrim's Progress which was first owned by one of Bunyan's acquaintances from debtor's prison.The majority of major British authors from the 18th century are represented by first editions of their more important works, and many of them by manuscript material as well. Some highlights are; Tonson
Tonson
Tonson was the name of a family of London booksellers and publishers in the 17th and 18th centuries.Richard and Jacob Tonson , sons of a London barber-surgeon, started in 1676 and 1677 independently as booksellers and publishers in London...
's assignment copy of Milton's
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
, a group of Thomas Gray
Thomas Gray
Thomas Gray was a poet, letter-writer, classical scholar and professor at Cambridge University.-Early life and education:...
's letters, five leaves of the manuscript of James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
's Life of Johnson
Life of Johnson
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. is a biography of Dr. Samuel Johnson written by James Boswell. It is regarded as an important stage in the development of the modern genre of biography; many have claimed it as the greatest biography written in English...
and the most extensive collection of Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
manuscripts in existence.
As you enter into the 19th and 20th centuries the collection strengthens. There are manuscripts of Walter Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
, William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
, Charles Lamb, Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
and Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
(including a celebrated love letter to Fanny Brawne) and the only surviving fragment of Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is the title that Edward FitzGerald gave to his translation of a selection of poems, originally written in Persian and of which there are about a thousand, attributed to Omar Khayyám , a Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer...
. The Rosenbach also has a supreme Dickens collection extending from the earliest extant manuscript to a carte-de-viste photo signed on the day before his death. The collection also includes Dickens' manuscripts of Nicholas Nickleby and the Pickwick Papers. Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
is represented by over six hundred letters, early drawings, presentation books, photographs and his own first-edition copy of Alice in Wonderland. Other manuscripts include the work of Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
, Aubrey Beardsley
Aubrey Beardsley
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley was an English illustrator and author. His drawings, done in black ink and influenced by the style of Japanese woodcuts, emphasized the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the Aesthetic movement which also included Oscar Wilde and James A....
, Conan Doyle
Conan Doyle
Conan Doyle is a rugby player. His club is Garryowen. His usual position is inside centre, but he also plays out-half. He has made two appearances for Munster Rugby in the Magners League, but was released by Munster at the end of the 2008/2009 season. While at Munster he was selected for the...
, Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
and Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
One of the Museum's most valuable items is the handwritten manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
of James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
's Ulysses
Ulysses (novel)
Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...
. In honor of the work, the Museum hosts a Bloomsday
Bloomsday
Bloomsday is a commemoration observed annually on 16 June in Dublin and elsewhere to celebrate the life of Irish writer James Joyce and relive the events in his novel Ulysses, all of which took place on the same day in Dublin in 1904...
celebration every year, including readings from excerpts of the book.
Also included at The Rosenbach Museum & Library is recreation of Marianne Moore
Marianne Moore
Marianne Moore was an American Modernist poet and writer noted for her irony and wit.- Life :Moore was born in Kirkwood, Missouri, in the manse of the Presbyterian church where her maternal grandfather, John Riddle Warner, served as pastor. She was the daughter of mechanical engineer and inventor...
's living room just as she lived in it. It was in this room that she lived and worked for more than forty years. Moore's complete library, with many personally inscribed and annotated books from her friends and contemporaries including Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot and Elizabeth Bishop, is part of the Rosenbach collections as well as all of her correspondence and drafts of her poetry and unpublished memoirs.
Maurice Sendak Collection
Famed author and illustrator Maurice SendakMaurice Sendak
Maurice Bernard Sendak is an American writer and illustrator of children's literature. He is best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963.-Early life:...
chose the Rosenbach to be the repository for his work in 1968 thanks to shared literary and collecting interests. Sendak is the author and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are
Where The Wild Things Are
Where the Wild Things Are is a 1963 children's picture book by American writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak, originally published by Harper & Row. The book has been adapted into other media several times, including an animated short in 1973 , a 1980 opera, and, in 2009, a live-action feature film...
and 108 other books. His collection of nearly 10,000 works of art, manuscripts, books and ephemera, has been the subject of many exhibitions at the Rosenbach and has been enjoyed by visitors of all ages. One of the most famous creators of contemporary children's books, Sendak’s work has challenged the norms of children's literature over time and continues to entrance both children and adults to this day. His innovative techniques and honest portrayal of childhood emotion are celebrated worldwide and have earned him several prestigious honors, including the Caldecott Book Medal (1964), the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal (1970), the National Medal of Arts (1996), a Library of Congress "Living Legend" medal (2000), and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature (2003). The Rosenbach Museum & Library will present There’s a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak from May 6, 2008 through May 3, 2009. This major retrospective of over 130 pieces pulled from the museum’s vast Sendak collection – the biggest collection of “Sendakiana” in the world – is the largest and most ambitious exhibition of Sendak’s work ever created and will feature original artwork, rare sketches, never-before-seen working materials and exclusive interview footage. The exhibition will draw on a total of over 300 objects, with new works on display every four months, providing a unique experience with each set of illustrations.
Book illustration
The archive of book illustration contains many fine medieval illuminations and drawings by the great 18th century French masters such as François BoucherFrançois Boucher
François Boucher was a French painter, a proponent of Rococo taste, known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories representing the arts or pastoral occupations, intended as a sort of two-dimensional furniture...
, Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Jean-Honoré Fragonard was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific artists active in the last decades of the Ancien Régime, Fragonard produced more than 550 paintings , of which only five...
, Jean-Baptiste Le Prince
Jean-Baptiste Le Prince
Jean-Baptiste Le Prince was an important French etcher and painter. Le Prince first studied painting techniques in his native Metz. He then travelled to Paris around 1750 and became a leading student of the great painter, François Boucher...
and Hubert Gravelot.
- An important group of pencil drawings, watercolors and books by William BlakeWilliam BlakeWilliam Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
. - Drawings to illustrate Don Quixote by Honoré DaumierHonoré DaumierHonoré Daumier was a French printmaker, caricaturist, painter, and sculptor, whose many works offer commentary on social and political life in France in the 19th century....
, Gustave DoréGustave DoréPaul Gustave Doré was a French artist, engraver, illustrator and sculptor. Doré worked primarily with wood engraving and steel engraving.-Biography:...
, Claude Joseph Vernet and Eugène LamiEugène LamiEugène Louis Lami was a French painter and lithographer. He worked at the studio of Horace Vernet then studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris with Camille Roqueplan and Paul Delaroche under Antoine-Jean Gros...
. - Drawings by Thomas RowlandsonThomas RowlandsonThomas Rowlandson was an English artist and caricaturist.- Biography :Rowlandson was born in Old Jewry, in the City of London. He was the son of a tradesman or city merchant. On leaving school he became a student at the Royal Academy...
and George CruikshankGeorge CruikshankGeorge Cruikshank was a British caricaturist and book illustrator, praised as the "modern Hogarth" during his life. His book illustrations for his friend Charles Dickens, and many other authors, reached an international audience.-Early life:Cruikshank was born in London...
. - Sketches by William Makepeace ThackerayWilliam Makepeace ThackerayWilliam Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
for his own work. - John TennielJohn TennielSir John Tenniel was a British illustrator, graphic humorist and political cartoonist whose work was prominent during the second half of England’s 19th century. Tenniel is considered important to the study of that period’s social, literary, and art histories...
's drawings for Alice and Through the Looking Glass - Aubrey BeardsleyAubrey BeardsleyAubrey Vincent Beardsley was an English illustrator and author. His drawings, done in black ink and influenced by the style of Japanese woodcuts, emphasized the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the Aesthetic movement which also included Oscar Wilde and James A....
, and Ernest Shepard. - This collection has been enhanced by the addition of over two thousand drawings by Maurice SendakMaurice SendakMaurice Bernard Sendak is an American writer and illustrator of children's literature. He is best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963.-Early life:...
.