Treasures from the Rosenbach’s Collection: Literature of Great Britain & Ireland
The Rosenbach is one of the world’s great libraries containing literature of the British Isles. In this brand-new, permanent exhibition, you’re invited to explore highlights from the Rosenbach while you cozy up with a book next to the gallery’s fireplace and enjoy your favorite work of literature! Authors and topics featured in the Treasures gallery include Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Robert Burns, Phillis Wheatley, Ignatius Sancho, the African diaspora, Oscar Wilde and LGBTQ literature, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, Lewis Carroll, Bram Stoker and Dracula, and, of course, James Joyce and Ulysses. This immersive, welcoming gallery will take you on a literary voyage to the British Isles and introduce you to some of the Rosenbach’s thought-provoking treasures, with a few surprises along the way.
Admission to the Treasures exhibition is included with your ticket to the historic house tour, or as a special ticket paired with a visit to our garden. Secure your ticket here. We look forward to welcoming you soon!
Featured Collection Items
This Treasures gallery is the first of three permanent exhibitions the Rosenbach will create. The second Gallery will open on June 14, 2025. Each is designed to showcase a themed selection of works from the museum’s singular collection. The items below have been featured in the Treasures from the Rosenbach's Collection: Literature of Great Britain & Ireland gallery along with examples of other celebrated works. All collection photos by John Flak.
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), The ballad of Reading gaol London, 1898 EL3 .W672b copy 2
Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright, author and poet who lived during the second half of the 19th century, challenged the prevailing notions of Victorian society that believed art and literature should be didactic. A proponent of the Aesthetic and Decadent movements, he believed in “art for art’s sake. He and fellow artists sought to celebrate beauty, foreground sensuality and promote artistic, sexual and political experimentation. Popular for his wit and work as a playwright, he by turns captivated and shocked his audiences.
Jane Austen (1775–1817), Pride and prejudice: a novel London, 1813 EL3 .A933p v.1
Arguably one of the most well-recognized first lines in English literature, Jane Austen’s opening to Pride and Prejudice tells the astute reader what to expect from her novel. Rather than a straightforward romance, or a sentimental novel of the late eighteenth century, Pride and Prejudice, like the rest of Austen’s novels, is one of subtle, playful and tongue-in-cheek critique and commentary on her social world, that of the British landed gentry. Her use of irony, realism, and satire allowed Austen to deftly highlight the inconsistencies and hypocrisies of polite society and the ways in which this society, its laws, manners, customs and duties, constrain and shape her heroines.
Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1340–1400), The Canterbury Tales England, ca. 1440–1450 MS 1084/2
Written between 1387 and 1400 by Geoffrey Chaucer, an English royal court poet, The Canterbury Tales legitimized the literary use of Middle English, since most texts at the time were written in Latin. Chaucer is considered the father of English literature. The Canterbury Tales describes the journeys of a group of pilgrims from all levels of medieval society who are traveling to St. Thomas Becket’s shrine in Canterbury. Although there are 24 tales in total, Chaucer never completed The Canterbury Tales and never noted an overall order for the tales. The page displayed here is one of just eleven leaves in the collection of the Rosenbach, which are almost all that remain of the Oxford manuscript. The tales that remain are the Cook’s Tale, the Reeve’s Tale, and the Man of Law’s Tale.
Ignatius Sancho (1729–1780), Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, An African, to which are Prefixed, Memoirs of his Life, by Joseph Jekyll, Esq. M.P. London: William Sancho, 1803 EL2 .S211l 803
The Rosenbach’s copy of Ignatius Sancho’s Letters is a remarkable artifact of resilience in the face of suffering, a testament to the horrors of human trafficking, and an important primary source documenting the global history of enslavement in the 1700s.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616), Comedies, Histories & Tragedies London, 1632 EL1 .S527 632a
The First Folio, printed in 1623, represented the first time that nearly all of William Shakespeare’s plays were published together. It is also the first time that nearly half of his plays appeared in print, and the first time that the plays were sorted into the categories of “comedy,” “tragedy,” and “history” that are still used today. The Rosenbach does not have a First Folio. (Dr. Rosenbach sold his copy in 1952 a few months before his death.) We own two Second Folios, one of which you see here. The Second Folio was published in 1632 and includes almost 1,700 language changes from the First Folio.
Robert Burns (1759–1796),“The Rights of woman: an occasional address. Spoken by Miss Fontenelle on her benefit night, November 26, 1792” Great Britain, 1792 EL2 .B967 MS1
The Rosenbach's Robert Burns collection documents the poet's many achievements, including his authorship of some of the most romantic poems and song lyrics ever written. However, Burns had a complex relationship with women that has called some to question his status as Scotland's national poet. This satirical poem, written for public recitation by an accomplished actress in the midst of revolutionary fervor sweeping Europe, highlights how Burns, an emerging political radical, nevertheless espoused attitudes toward gender that reinforced the status quo rather than challenged it.