Bibliophiles in a house of books
Today, I was fortunate enough to attend the fall meeting of the Eastern PA region of JASNA (the Jane Austen Society of North America). I'm the Regional Coordinator for the region, and our meeting was a tour of the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia. We had nearly 40 members attend the tour, during which the librarian in charge of the Rosenbach's collection of rare and antique books spent time showing us a first edition of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice from England, and another of Elizabeth Bennett, or Pride & Prejudice, the first edition of the novel printed in the United States. And yes, it was actually retitled for the first U.S. edition.
We also saw a first edition of Samuel Richardson's Sir Charles Grandison, one of the novels that Austen re-read to the point where she'd nearly memorized it, as well as copies of other books, such as a first edition of Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott and the original manuscript of Byron's poem, Prometheus. That's right. I had my face about 10 inches from the paper with Byron's actual handwriting on it. It was very much a working copy, owing to all the strikeouts. And it was so, so cool to see it. (To those of you wondering why Scott and Byron: both authors are discussed in Austen's final completed novel, Persuasion.)
While we were there, we also toured the museum, which included two rooms with an amazing library full of rarities. In a special glass-case display were some pretty famous banned books: the Decameron, a fourteenth century book that was a collection of bawdy novellas by Giovanni Boccaccio, which was frequently banned off and on. A first edition and part of the original manuscript of Ulysses by James Joyce (the Rosenbach owns the full ms). The oldest complete book published in the Americas (the title of which escapes me). There were other books in the banned books display case, and there were shelves full of first editions of wonderful books. The works of Lewis Carroll. The works of Jane Austen. The works of Robert Burns, Cervantes, Sir Walter Scott, Joseph Conrad, Emily Dickinson, Daniel Defoe, Marianne Moore, and more.
I honestly think that had we only done the one-hour presentation by the librarian, who showed us fewer than a dozen books, everyone would have been thrilled. That is what happens, after all, when you get a bunch of Janeites together and show them first editions of books associated with Jane Austen. I rather suspect that many of my blog readers would have been similarly satisfied with the time spent in the presence of first editions of so very many classics.
We also saw a first edition of Samuel Richardson's Sir Charles Grandison, one of the novels that Austen re-read to the point where she'd nearly memorized it, as well as copies of other books, such as a first edition of Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott and the original manuscript of Byron's poem, Prometheus. That's right. I had my face about 10 inches from the paper with Byron's actual handwriting on it. It was very much a working copy, owing to all the strikeouts. And it was so, so cool to see it. (To those of you wondering why Scott and Byron: both authors are discussed in Austen's final completed novel, Persuasion.)
While we were there, we also toured the museum, which included two rooms with an amazing library full of rarities. In a special glass-case display were some pretty famous banned books: the Decameron, a fourteenth century book that was a collection of bawdy novellas by Giovanni Boccaccio, which was frequently banned off and on. A first edition and part of the original manuscript of Ulysses by James Joyce (the Rosenbach owns the full ms). The oldest complete book published in the Americas (the title of which escapes me). There were other books in the banned books display case, and there were shelves full of first editions of wonderful books. The works of Lewis Carroll. The works of Jane Austen. The works of Robert Burns, Cervantes, Sir Walter Scott, Joseph Conrad, Emily Dickinson, Daniel Defoe, Marianne Moore, and more.
I honestly think that had we only done the one-hour presentation by the librarian, who showed us fewer than a dozen books, everyone would have been thrilled. That is what happens, after all, when you get a bunch of Janeites together and show them first editions of books associated with Jane Austen. I rather suspect that many of my blog readers would have been similarly satisfied with the time spent in the presence of first editions of so very many classics.