A Collector’s Collection:The Rosenbach Museum & Library
none
MB: Harry Widener is a great example. He came from a suburban Philadelphia family who made its money selling meat to the Civil War army troops. Harry Widener was mentored by Rosenbach, and through Rosenbach he developed a taste for book collecting. In 1912 Harry Widener went to London with a list of people to see at Quaritch and Maggs provided to him by Rosenbach. We have a letter here from Widener to Rosenbach that is fascinating on many levels. It is a letter filled with excitement. In it, Widener tells Rosenbach something like: “I’ll let you see what I bought” and he mentions that he will be traveling on the Titanic the next week. Well of course that ship went down, and Harry Widener and his purchases went down with the ship. The next week [Editor’s note: actually, the biography is unclear about the amount of time that passed; see Rosenbach, pp.74-79], the Widener family decided to build a library at Harvard in Harry’s honor. They called on Dr. Rosenbach to help build this rare book library. This was an extremely important commission for Rosenbach as it allowed him to amass a great range of the best and rarest materials, all in the name of education.
AT: Can we switch gears and talk about the Museum’s relationship to Americana for a moment? I know that some of the Museum’s non-Americana holdings, like the manuscript of Ulysses and of Alice in Wonderland, have received a lot of attention (and rightly so). But I must admit that I don’t know much about the Museum’s holdings in the Americana area.
MB: It’s true that our collection of Americana – as opposed say to our collection of British literature – has not experienced as much publicity. But this is not to say that we don’t have extremely significant Americana holdings: we do. Americana in particular was very important to Dr. Rosenbach. We have Americana items ranging from the earliest known Poor Richard’s Almanac to 100 or so George Washington and Thomas Jefferson letters, Robert E. Lee’s resignation from the Union Army, a pencil draft of a telegram from Grant to Stanton announcing the surrender at Appomattox, etc. I could go on and on. We have Americana that goes back to Cortez, collections relating to Central and South America. We also have one of the only copies in original binding of the Bay Psalm Book, although unfortunately our copy is lacking 3 or 4 pages.
Other Americana treasures are books relating to the establishment of the American colonies, books relating to settlements in the U.S., the first Bible printed in Massachusetts in the Algonquin language. This last item has an interesting provenance. It is from the library of York Cathedral in England. They needed money for capital expenses, to fix their roof in specific I believe. So they called Rosenbach, who had made a name for himself by paying outrageous prices for books, a strategy that gave him the run of many libraries, including that one.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.
Heritage Auctions Rare Books Signature Auction December 15, 2025
Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9a74d9ff-42dd-46a1-8bb2-b636c4cec796.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.")
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
