A Book Lover's Paradise
This is a very informative booklet about one of the most notable private libraries in the world, a book lover's paradise. The major purpose of this work is to give an overview of the evolution of this landmark library, which started from when J. Pierpont Morgan, friend of Mark Twain, collected his first autograph, a franked card bearing President Millard Fillmore's signature and best wishes. The most recent autograph in the collection is one of the late President John Fitzgerald Kennedy from 1962. The background of the Pierpont Morgan family is given to put J. Pierpont Morgan's life and passions in context. Individual manuscripts are covered, including a 1459 Gutenberg Bible; first editions of Keats, Byron, and Dickens; the acquisition of the illuminated manuscripts of Richard Bennett and William Morris (himself an art scholar); the Waverley Manuscript; and later acquisitions, including Coptic texts. A selection of rare illustrations and illuminations are included in the photographs in the back of the book. This introduction will whet the appetite of any book lover and admirer of the famous J. Pierpont Morgan.
