LIBRARY NOTES
NYSL Excursion for Bibliophiles
Monday, October 17, 1994 at 9:00 AM
Library Company of Philadelphia; $35 per person
Great Bustard in The Birds of Great Britain (1862-1873) by John Gould.
From the Cope Collection, The Library Company of Philadelphia
The Library Company of Philadelphia was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1731 and today contains 450,000 books, 50,000 graphics, and 160,000 manuscripts. The Rosenbach Museum and Library were created only forty years ago in the townhouse of the great book collector, A.S. W. Rosenbach, yet its holdings number more than 300,000 books and manuscripts. Both institutions will open their doors on October 17 to New York Society Library members.
Members leave by bus at 9:00 a.m. from the NYSL and return by 6:00 p.m., visiting the Library Company first. Librarian John C. Van Horne will show some of the rarities of printing, illumination, provenance, and binding display and lead members on a behind-the-scenes tour of the stacks and library operations. The tour will offer a chance to view the Library Company's recent acquisition of the late Francis R. Cope, Jr's 70 ornithological titles, which include the works of 19th century artists John James Audubon, Daniel Giraud Elliott, and John Gould.
After lunch at the Philadelphia Club, where curators from both libraries will join the group, members will visit the Rosenbach. Curate of Collections, Wendy Van Wyck Good, and Librarian Elizabeth E. Fuller will talk about some of the Rosenbach's treasures: among them a first edition of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, the original manuscript of James Joyce's Ulysses and Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim, and the complete set of drawings from the children's books by Maurice Sendak.
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