Mathematician and cleric Charles Lutwidge Dodgson published children’s books under the pen name Lewis Carroll. This tour will explore both the man and the author, drawing on letters from Dodgson to his publishers, original drawings by John Tenniel (the illustrator of the Alice books) photographs of children taken by Carroll, and, of course, copies of his books.
American history is the history of dialogues among the many peoples who have called—and call—America home. Highlighting The Rosenbach’s remarkable collection of books, manuscripts, and printed documents that reveal how Native Americans engaged with European and Euro-American peoples, this Hands-on Tour will invite attendees to think in new ways about American culture.
The young widow who kept her husband’s heart in her desk, the author of the first post-apocalyptic novel and the immortal Frankenstein, Mary Shelley was so much more than a goth pin-up!
Calling all pre-schoolers! Come play with us on the last Thursday morning of every month. We’ll read a story together and then embark on a treasure hunt through the Rosenbach brothers’ glitzy Rittenhouse Square home to discover things that relate to the story. Afterward, families are welcome to join us in our activity room for hands-on art making activities, creative play, music and snacks.
Lovers abound in the works of Shakespeare. His characters struggle and play and persist, and sometimes die, in pursuit of love. In this brand new Hands-On Tour, we’ll explore his myriad visions of love in early editions of his poems and plays from our collection. Come love with Will.
Do you prefer to judge a book by its cover, or does the inside matter more? In this tour of book arts, we’ll take a look at various rare books in The Rosenbach collection, their aesthetics, their functions, how the processes in creating books inform how we use them today, and vice versa.
Join us for this rare peek into some of the most personal and emotional writing in our collections. From the aching yearnings of poet John Keats to the dying wishes of a Civil War solider, the Rosenbach is home to a variety of love letters. Spend an hour getting up-close and personal with a variety of treasures, including correspondence from Marlene Dietrich to Mercedes De Acosta and handwritten pages from James Joyce’s Ulysses.
With a warm heart for human nature, a cold eye for the human condition, and prose that would awe a Biblical prophet, Herman Melville was too good for his time. Join us for an odyssey through the Rosenbach’s mighty Melville collection. We’ll chart our course toward the source of Melville’s greatness through original editions of his novels and handwritten letters. “It is not down in any map,” says Moby-Dick’s Ishmael, “true places never are.”
Explore the philosophy and history of some of the first books printed in the Hebrew language.
Reading Shakespeare’s plays aloud offers not only a communal way to enjoy these great works but also promotes a deeper understanding of Shakespeare’s poetry and wordplay. No acting experience is required to participate — just bring a copy of the play we’re reading…and your voice!