The Rosenblog
“What is your favorite book?”
When getting to know new people, I love to ask the question, “what is your favorite book?”
What I’m hoping to learn is not their favorite story, although this may factor into their answer, but rather their favorite book-as-an-object. As someone who is surrounded by books every day, I am always curious to learn what people find meaningful about specific volumes. I’ve gotten a few memorable answers: a particular copy of Winnie-the-Pooh, chosen for the memories it carries of a childhood home; a leather-bound planner that serves as a daily companion; a grandparent’s cookbook that still smells like frying onions and potatoes…
Government Funding and the Rosenbach
Like many museums and libraries across the country, late last week we received notice that our two federal grants—one from the Institute of Museum & Library Services (IMLS) totaling $248,953 and one from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) totaling $330,977—were canceled…
In Conversation with Rebecca Romney, author of Jane Austen’s Bookshelf
Thanks to rare book dealer Rebecca Romney, I am more than halfway through Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, a book I would have never picked up if it weren’t for Rebecca’s new book, Jane Austen’s Bookshelf…
Governess Glam: Marianne Moore’s copy of Jane Eyre
When the American poet Marianne Moore (1887–1972) picked up this copy of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, the cover must have caught her eye. A robust beauty gazes at the reader…
An interview with Joyce scholar Vicki Mahaffey on her new book The Joyce of Everyday Life
Vicki Mahaffey has been teaching and writing about James Joyce for decades, at the Rosenbach but also at University of Pennsylvania and University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. And yet she has more to say on the topic…
The Portrait of a Lady: Reparative Cataloging at the Rosenbach
On the stairwell of the Rosenbach Museum & Library’s historic house hangs a portrait of a woman and her child (1954.1882). The woman’s elbow rests on a plush sofa while the child combs her mother’s dark hair. The identity of the woman has long been a source of confusion, and our limited documentation on the portrait is often contradictory…
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