Years ago as an undergraduate student of literature, I ended up in a class that focused solely on the work of William Blake and I wasn’t exactly thrilled about it. I had just discovered the vivid trove of Latin American magical realism and the last thing I wanted to spend my time reading was the …
This guest post is an excerpt of “Dr. Rosenbach, Robert Burns, and The Interleaved Scots Musical Museum: Song Collection and Bibliophilia” by Steve Newman, Associate Professor of literature at Temple University. It’s always exciting for us to read about the discoveries made by researchers! To make an appointment in our reading room, click here. Robert Burns devoted …
We are delighted to participate in #ColorOurCollections week, February 6-10, 2017! We love any occasion for art and literature lovers to look as closely at our collection as we do. Download and enjoy–and if you post any snapshots of your colorations online, don’t forget to include #ColorOurCollections and tag us–@RosenbachMuseum on Facebook and Twitter, @TheRosenbach …
Awhile ago I came across this charming drawing by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which was included in the biography of the bookseller and bibliophile Sylvia Beach. Sylvia Beach owned and operated Shakespeare & Company, an English-language bookstore in Paris which played a critical role in the development of many key literary figures in the early twentieth century. …
Sense and Sensibility was the first of Jane Austen’s novels to be published. Released in 1811 by Thomas Egerton, Sense and Sensibility—along with three other novels during Austen’s short lifetime—was published anonymously. This humorous first novel by “A Lady” had a higher-than-normal print run of 750 copies, and those sold out by 1813, prompting a …
Yesterday marked the centenary of the U.S. publication of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. Originally issued serially in a magazine titled The Egoist, the novel was published on December 29, 1916 by a New York publishing house, B.W. Huebsch. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man …
As we wrap up the year, here are a few vintage Christmas and New Year’s cards to enjoy from the Rush-Biddle-Williams family papers. Some of them are quite different from our modern cards. To my eye, the 1910 example sent by Mary B. Deedes to Marion Biddle seems more spring-like than holiday, and the idea …
This post was cross-posted at the Free Library of Philadelphia blog, where our affiliates have been celebrating their One Book One Philadelphia selection, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Christopher Boone’s investigation into the death of a neighborhood dog is inspired by …
Whenever I give presentations involving 19th-century manuscripts, people are always fascinated by the practice of cross-writing. This is the practice of writing a letter and then turning it 90 degrees and writing the opposite way. We have a number of examples of this from our collection, such as this Civil War letter from Alexander Biddle …
Although this 1824 print by George Cruikshank was doubtless intended as a dig at the stereotypically spoiled French dandy, I often find myself admiring the dandy’s set up, especially as we head into the craziness of the holiday season. The idea of relaxing in a brimming full hot bathtub while getting to enjoy a hot …