The Rosenbach 2008-2010 Delancey Place Philadelphia, PA 19103 Contact: Sara Davis Phone: 215-732-1600 x 132 Email: [email protected] The Rosenbach Presents Recent Acquisitions from the Bequest of Maurice Sendak Rare Books From the Beloved Illustrator’s Personal Library Shed Light On His Literary Imagination PHILADELPHIA, January 18, 2017— The Rosenbach is proud to present Recent Acquisitions from the Bequest of Maurice Sendak, on view January 31 – April 30, 2017. …
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 …
Although Thanksgiving wouldn’t be formally established as an official annual holiday until 1862, the practice of setting aside days of Thanksgiving goes back much further. Colonial legislatures, especially in New England, issued periodic Thanksgiving Proclamations and the Continental Congress designated a day of Thanksgiving every year from 1777 to 1782. You can find the full …
I remember as a child being fascinated with my baby book; I would periodically pull it off the shelf in my mother’s study to look at it and compare it with my brother’s. When I became a parent, I, in turn, bought baby books for my children, although I wasn’t always consistent in filling them …