OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTIONS

Annotated List of Selected General Collections

A number, though by no means all, of the outstanding author, subject, and archival collections are briefly noted below. Among the British authors represented by strong collections, in addition to those separately listed, are Matthew Arnold, Bacon, Bede, Breton, the Brownings, John Buchan, Byron, Carlyle, Chaucer, Sir Winston Churchill, Coleridge, Austin Dobson, Dryden, Maria Edgeworth, Galsworthy, Garrick, Gay, Goldsmith, Samuel Johnson, Landor, Wyndham Lewis, Milton, George Moore, Sir Thomas More, Pope, Allan Ramsay, Samuel Richardson, G. B. Shaw, Sheridan, Spenser, Swift, Swinburne, Tennyson, Thackeray, Trollope, and Wordsworth. In the paragraphs that follow, YULG denotes the Yale University Library Gazette.

INDEX
(for information about recent collection development, click here)

American Children's Literature
Annotated Books
Audubon, John James
Barrie, Sir James Matthew
Baskerville, John
Beckford, William
Betjeman, Sir John
Boswell, James
British newspapers
Bryher
Cartography
Cassirer, Ernst
Congregationalism
Conrad, Joseph
Crane, Walter
Dada
Defoe, Daniel
Dickens, Charles
Douglas, Norman
Edwards, Jonathan
Eliot, George and George Henry Lewes
Elizabethan Club Collection
Erasmus and His Contemporaries
Ernst, Max
Fielding, Henry
Franklin, Benjamin
French Illustrated Books
Gissing, George
Greek and Latin Literature
Hardy, Thomas
Humanism
International Center for Finance
Incunabula
Yale Association of Japan
Joyce, James
Judaica
Kipling, Rudyard
Lawrence, D. H.
Macdonald, George
McFee, William
Manuscripts, Near Eastern
Manuscripts, Pre-1600
Marinetti, Filippo Tommaso, and Futurism
Masefield, John
Mellon Collection of Alchemy and the Occult
Meredith, George
Ornithology
Papyrus Collection
Pequot Library
Playing Cards
Polish Literature
Prints
Richardson, Dorothy
Rochambeau Family
Rogers, Bruce
Romanov Family
Ruskin, John
Russian Literature
Sixteenth-Century Literature
Spinelli Archive
Sporting Books
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Stiles, Ezra
Taylor Collection
Tibetan Collection
Tinker Collection
Tocqueville, Alexis de
Vanderbilt Collection
West, Rebecca
Yale Library of 1742

American Children's Literature. The Betsy Beinecke Shirley Collection of American Children's Literature is one of the world's largest and most diverse in scope. It is particularly rich in colonial imprints, nineteenth-century chapbooks, classics of juvenile literature, amateur journalism, and American illustrators, and includes manuscript material and original artwork. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Shirley.

For more information, see: Betsy Beinecke Shirley, Read Me a Story. Show Me a Book. American Children's Literature 1690-1988 from the Collection of Betsy Beinecke Shirley: An Exhibition at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (New Haven, 1991).

Annotated Books. A large group of fifteenth- and sixteenth century printed books containing manuscript annotations by early readers, including commentaries, editorial emendations, translations, glosses, or other indications of how the texts were studied and interpreted. Books in all fields are represented, but the greatest number are editions of the major Greek and Latin authors, especially those read in the schools of the period.

Audobon, John James. An archive of family correspondence, including a dozen letters by Audubon himself and hundreds of letters by his wife Lucy and his sons Victor and John Woodhouse. Other correspondents include William Lizars and Robert Havell, Jr. (who engraved the drawings for Birds of America ), Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Washington Irving, Thomas Sully, and Daniel Webster. Also included are financial papers, subject files, and writings of Audubon. Gift of Morris Tyler, 1924. The Beinecke houses two copies of the double elephant folio of Birds of America : one of them came in 1934 as a bequest from Henry Farnam; the other, deposited by the Yale University Art Gallery, was the gift of Francis Patrick Garvan, 1897. One volume of each set is on permanent display in a specially built exhibition case on the mezzanine floor of the library.

Barrie, Sir James Matthew. The world's largest, most varied collection of material by and about Barrie: letters, manuscripts, notebooks, diaries, contributions to periodicals, printed books (including many American pirated editions, presentation copies, and variant bindings), scripts, prompt copies, illustrations, photographs, clippings, and original artwork, including Peter Scott's painting of Barrie, costume drawings by William Nicholson for the premiere of Peter Pan , and several of Arthur Rackham's watercolors for Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens . Among the important manuscripts are Margaret Ogilvy , The Little White Bird , Peter Pan , The Boy David , and Dear Brutus ; the vast collection of letters includes large correspondences with Scribner's, Thomas Lennox Gilmour, and the Llewellyn Davies family, prototypes of the children in Peter Pan . Gift of Walter Beinecke, Jr.

For more information, see: Marjorie G. Wynne, "The James Matthew Barrie Collection [of Henry C. Taylor, 1917]," YULG 23:4 (April 1949), 184-88. Howard S. Mott, "The Walter Beinecke, Jr., J. M. Barrie collection," YULG 39:4 (April 1965), 163-67.

Baskerville, John. More than 300 volumes printed by Baskerville or from his types are included in this collection formed by Perry W. Harvey, 1891, and presented to the university in memory of Mrs. Kate Hanna Harvey, Mrs. Melanie Harvey Cushing, Allyn F. Harvey, 1893, Mervin C. Harvey, 1899, and E. Harvey Cushing, 1919.

For more information, see: Volume 11:3 of the YULG (January 1937) is devoted to the Baskerville collection.

Beckford, William. A large collection of books by and about Beckford and Fonthill Abbey, containing approximately 265 letters by Beckford and over 100 books with his annotations. The gifts of James T. Babb, 1924, Ray Livingston Murphy, 1948, and an anonymous donor.

For more information, see: James T. Babb, "William Beckford of Fonthill," YULG 41:2 (October 1966), 60-69.

Betjeman, Sir John. A virtually complete collection of first and important editions of works by the poet laureate, books prefaced or edited by him, and books with his contributions, together with manuscript drafts of poems, notebooks, and correspondence, including all surviving letters from Betjeman to his wife Penelope. The collection was formed by Duncan Andrews and has been since added to by purchase.

For more information, see: Vincent Giroud, "A John Betjeman Collection," YULG 67:1-2 (October 1992), 75-77.

Boswell, James. His private papers, including the journals, the manuscripts of Tour to the Hebrides , and the Life of Johnson , more than 1,000 of his own letters, about 3,000 letters to him, his legal papers and records, and a large collection of Boswell's printed works. The Boswell collection includes extensive family papers, beginning with the fifteenth-century Boswells of Fife. The family archive richly documents six centuries of Scottish social, legal, agricultural, and economic history. Acquired by purchase from Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph H. Isham, 1914, through a grant from the Old Dominion Foundation established by Paul Mellon, 1929, and through the sale of the publication rights to the McGraw-Hill Company. The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell, in process, include both trade and research editions.

For more information, see: Frederick A. Pottle, Pride and Negligence: The History of the Boswell Papers (New York, 1982). Diane J. Ducharme, "The Rest of the Boswells," YULG 62:1-2 (October 1987), 42-55. Marion S. Pottle, Catalogue of the Papers of James Boswell at Yale University (3 volumes, Edinburgh and New Haven, 1993).

British Newspapers. The Beinecke houses one of the world's outstanding collections of early British newspapers, especially from the eighteenth century, many of them in unique copies. Among recent acquisitions is the bulk of the recently dispersed early newspaper collection of the London Press Club.

For more information, see: Jeremy Black, "The Beinecke Collection of Late Eighteenth-Century English Provincial Newspapers," YULG 65:3-4 (April 1991), 159-82.

Bryher. Papers, including manuscripts of her works, correspondence, and large files concerning her cinematographic ventures and collecting interests. In addition to a substantial run of letters by H.D., the archive includes letters from Sylvia Beach, Norman Douglas, Havelock Ellis, Robert Herring, Adrienne Monnier, Dorothy Richardson, and the Sitwells. The Beinecke also houses the collection of "Dusty Diamonds," boys' books gathered by Bryher and Norman Holmes Pearson, written by such authors as Henty, Robert M. Ballantyne, William Gordon Stables, and Mayne Reid. Bequest of Norman Holmes Pearson, 1932, and gift of Perdita Schaffner.

Cartography. The combined resources of the Beinecke Library and the Map Collection at Sterling Memorial Library include over 200,000 map sheets, more than 2,000 pre-1900 atlases, important works on cosmography and extensive materials on voyages, travel, and exploration. The Map Collection is particularly strong for the American colonial period and in American maps of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, while the Western Americana Collection holds specialized materials on the Trans-Mississippi West. The Taylor Collection contains books and manuscripts on navigation and the exploration of America.

For more information, see: Barbara B. McCorkle, America Emergent. An Exhibition of Maps and Atlases in Honor of Alexander O. Vietor (New Haven, 1985).

Cassirer, Ernst. Manuscripts, corrected typescripts, and drafts of books, essays, and lectures, as well as correspondence and personal papers by the German philosopher. Gifts from the Toni Cassirer estate (1964) and from Charles Hendel (1971), and library purchase (1987).

Congregationalism. Acquired by bequest from the Reverend Henry M. Dexter, 1840, the collection contains nearly 2,000 volumes illustrating early Congregational history and politics, and the English and Dutch life of the Plymouth pilgrims.

Conrad, Joseph. A substantially complete collection of first and early editions, with important manuscript material and letters. Presented to the library by George T. Keating. Important additions include books, letters, and manuscripts by Conrad from the collection of his friend and biographer G. Jean-Aubry, the gift of the Library Associates.

For more information, see: George T. Keating, A Conrad Memorial Library (Garden City, 1929). See also the special Conrad issue of the YULG 13:1 (July 1938).

Crane, Walter. About 200 books written or illustrated by Crane, together with proofs, drawings, letters, and manuscripts. Gift of Mrs. Catherine Tinker Patterson.

For more information, see: Anthony Crane, "My Grandfather, Walter Crane," YULG 31:3 (January 1957), 97-109.

DADA . The Jedermann Collection of printed and manuscript material relating to the Dada movement, including a valuable series of periodicals and ephemera. Acquired by purchase and through a gift from Frank and Patti Kolodny.

Defoe, Daniel. An extensive collection of works by Defoe, including more than 300 editions of Robinson Crusoe , given by Henry C. Hutchins, 1913 Grad., in memory of Erminie Bridgman Hutchins.

For more information, see: Henry C. Hutchins, "The Yale Robinson Crusoe," YULG 8:3 (January 1934), 85-94, and "Robinson Crusoe at Yale," YULG 11:2 (October 1936), 17-37.

Dickens, Charles. A large collection of material by and about Dickens--books in parts, first and early editions, sets of collected works, manuscripts, letters, and clippings--collected and given by Richard Gimbel, 1920.

For more information, see: John D. Podeschi, Dickens and Dickensiana: a Catalogue of the Richard Gimbel Collection in the Yale University Library (New Haven, 1980)

Douglas, Norman. A bequest by Douglas's executor, Kenneth Macpherson, received in 1972, includes first editions, with numerous variants, of all of Douglas's works, 80 books and periodicals with contributions by him, and more than 40 books about Douglas or from his library, many with extensive biographical or bibliographical notes by the author. In addition, there are 64 manuscripts and corrected typescripts or proofs of works by Douglas, 266 letters to and 312 letters from Douglas, 8 working notebooks, and 44 volumes of his daily diaries from 1907 to 1951. The library had previously purchased 1,300 letters from Douglas, his wife's journal for 1901-02, and many inscribed and annotated books, and has since added a substantial number of letters and early, chiefly ornithological diaries from the years 1885-98.

For more information, see: Mark Holloway, "The Norman Douglas Collection at Yale," YULG 50:1 (July 1975), 1-14.

Edwards, Jonathan. A large collection of books and manuscripts by and about Edwards and his family. The manuscripts include letters, diaries, notebooks, essays, and over 1,200 sermons. Among the most important manuscripts are the "Miscellanies," sometimes called "Miscellaneous Observations on Theological Subjects," "Notes on the Scriptures," "Essay on the Trinity," and "Images of Divine Things." Publication of the collection in the Yale University Press edition of the Works of Jonathan Edwards is proceeding.

Eiot, George, and George Henry Lewes. The collection, formed over several decades with the advice and assistance of Gordon S. Haight, 1923, contains first editions of both authors' works, association volumes, manuscripts, correspondence, dramatizations, photographs, and clippings. George Eliot's earliest extant attempt at fiction is her "School Notebook" written at Coventry when she was fourteen years old. Other important manuscripts are her short story "Brother Jacob," her long poem "A College Breakfast-Party," and her translation of Spinoza's Ethics . All her extant journals and diaries (except for 1879) and all of Lewes's (except for 1878) are in the collection, together with over 1,000 letters by George Eliot, about 225 by George Henry Lewes, and several hundred to or about them.

For more information, see: Gordon S. Haight, "The George Eliot and George Henry Lewes Collection," YULG 46:1 (July 1971), 20-23.

Elizabethan Club Collection.Founded in 1911 by a gift of books from Alexander Smith Cochran, 1896. About 300 volumes of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literature, including the first four folios of Shakespeare, the Huth Shakespeare quartos, and first or early quartos of all the major dramatists. The books are kept in a vault at the clubhouse, 459 College Street, but may be brought to the Beinecke Library for the use of qualified scholars.

For more information, see: Stephen Parks, The Elizabethan Club of Yale University and Its Library (New Haven and London, 1986).

Erasmus and his Contemporaries. Early editions of the works of Desiderius Erasmus, Thomas More, Philipp Melanchthon, Beatus Rhenanus, Johann Reuchlin, Otmar Nachtigall, Sebastian Muenster, and other members of the early humanist movement in northern Europe, particularly documenting their editorial work on the Bible and on patristic texts, and their promotion of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew studies.

Ernst, Max.Approximately 350 books from his library, including a virtually complete collection of his own books and books by his wife, Dorothea Tanning, as well as works by his friends and contemporaries Aragon, Arp, Artaud, Breton, Caillois, Char, Crevel, Desnos, Duchamp, Éluard, Lebel, Leiris, Michaux, Péret, Picabia, Ribemont-Dessaignes, and Tzara. Illustrators include Arp, Giacometti, Hausmann, Lam, Matta, Miró, and Tanguy. More than 150 books were bound by Georges Leroux. Gift of Dorothea Tanning.

For more information, see: Dorothea Tanning, Worlds in Miniature: Max Ernst and his Books (New Haven, 1983). Vincent Giroud, The Max Ernst Library (New Haven, 1989).

Fielding, Henry.All editions of the novels published during the author's lifetime, with first and important editions of the more ephemeral pieces. The collection was formed and given to the library by Frederick S. Dickson, 1871S.

For more information, see: Wilbur L. Cross, "The Fielding Collection," YULG 1:3 (January 1927), 31-34.

Franklin, Benjamin.An extensive collection of books, pamphlets, prints, and manuscripts by and about Benjamin Franklin, his contemporaries, and his times. Orginally formed by William Smith Mason, 1888S, the collection came to Yale in 1935. Mason's gift consisted of more than 11,000 books, 850 pamphlets, 400 broadsides and a large group of manuscripts. At present, all manuscripts as well as books, pamphlets, and broadsides published before 1765 are housed in the Beinecke Library. Serial titles as well as books, pamphlets, and broadsides printed after 1765 are housed in the Franklin Collection rooms in Sterling Memorial Library.

For more information, see: George Simpson Eddy, "A Ramble Through the Mason-Franklin Collection," YULG 10:4 (April 1936), 65-90. Additions to the original collection are described in brief notes in later issues of the Gazette including 15:1 (July 1940), 16-19; 16:1 (July 1941), 1-3; and 20:2 (October 1945), 23-28.

French Illustrated Books. A collection of several hundred volumes from the eighteenth to the twentieth century representing the finest printing, binding, and illustration of each period. Illustrators well represented include Bonnard, ale R. Roylance appeared in the YULG : "Royal Association Books in the Bliss Collection," 4O:3 (January 1966), 160-67; "A Collection of Modern French Illustrated Books," 42:1 (July, 1967), 1-7; with Donald Gallup, "The Altschul Collection: The Arts of the French Book, 1838-1967," 44:2 (October 1969), 45-102; and "The John Hay Whitney Collection: Some Recent Additions," 46:1 (July 1971), 3-9.

Gissing, George.First editions, notebooks, and manuscripts of poems and short stories, as well as a large group of letters. The collection was formed and given to the library by George Matthew Adams in memory of Harriet Breese Adams.

For more information, see: Richard F. Niebling, "The Adams-Gissing Collection," YULG 16:3 (January 1942), 47-50.

Greek and Latin Literature. This collection covers literary, philosophical, historical, scientific, and religious writings by Classical, Hellenistic, and Byzantine Greek authors. Of particular note are the ancient literary manuscripts in the papyrus collection; Greek manuscripts of the fourth to the seventeenth century, largely the gift of the Jacob Ziskind Charitable Trust; the Ionides collection of Greek classics presented by Chauncey Brewster Tinker, 1899, in memory of Anson Phelps Tinker, 1868; and the collection of editions printed and edited by Aldus Manutius, nearly complete through 1528, and with many editions of later date, the gift of Dr. Arthur E. Neergaard, 1904. First editions and important early editions of all the ancient authors are collected, as are commentaries and translations. Particular emphasis is placed on the transmission and reception of Aristotle in the West. A major focus is on grammar, linguistics, and the teaching of Greek, particularly the editions of ancient authors produced as school books.

For more information, see: Robert Babcock and Mark Sosower, Learning from the Greeks. An Exhibition commemorating the Five-Hundredth Anniversary of the Founding of the Aldine Press (New Haven, 1994).

In Classical Latin literature there are representative collections, in manuscript and in printed form, of almost all authors, those of Tacitus, the gift of Clarence W. Mendell, 1904, and of Juvenal, the gift of Thomas E. Marston, 1927, being especially extensive. Other authors represented by excellent collections are Apuleius, Caesar, Catullus, Cicero, Horace, Livy, Lucan, Martial, Petronius, Plautus, Pliny the Elder, Propertius, Seneca, Statius, Suetonius, Terence, Tibullus, and Vergil. There are strong holding of patristic Latin texts, medieval theological, mystical, and exegetical texts, as well as Latin works of the Renaissance in all fields.

Hardy, Thomas. First, early, rare, and significant editions of his works, many of them inscribed; more than 200 volumes from Hardy's library, some with annotations; manuscripts, corrected typescripts, and proofs of poems and essays; a 1865 notebook, the only such notebook to survive, entitled "Studies, specimens, etc."; and numerous letters to, from, about about Hardy and immediate members of his family. Bequest of Richard Little Purdy, 1925. Also first editions, letters, and books about Hardy, collected by Augustine Healy, 1917, and given in memory of Walter Jennings, 1880, by Henry C. Taylor, 1917. The library also holds the manuscript of Far From the Madding Crowd , the gift of Edwin Thorne, 1935, and his family in memory of Helen Grand Thorne.

For more information, see: Richard L. Purdy, "The Thomas Hardy Collection," YULG 10:1 (July 1935), 8-9. Vincent Giroud, "The Richard Little Purdy, 1925, Collection," YULG 66:3-4 (April 1992), 169-72.

Humanism. Manuscripts and printed works document the humanist movement, especially in Italy, France, and Germany, with particular emphasis on the rediscovery of classical texts and on philology and linguistics. The major Italian figures, including Bruni, Valla, Guarino, and Bembo, are collected in depth.

International Center for Finance. This collaborative undertaking with the International Center for Finance reflects the recognition that the preservation and study of historical documents is vital to the broader scholarship on the role of capital markets in society. The collection was founded in 2001 with an initial matching gift from an anonymous donor. Recent acquisitions include documents relating to the development of capital markets in Europe, Colonial America and the United States. Highlights of the early European material include a 1621 bond issued by the first modern corporation, the Dutch East India Company and a1648 perpetuity that continues to pay interest until today, the Lekdijk Bovendams water board. The early American financial documents include a significant portion of the former Donaldson, Lufkin, Jenrette Collection of materials relating to the financing of the American Revolution.

Incunabula. One of the world's major repositories for books printed in the fifteenth century, the Beinecke Library has over 3100 incunabula, with approximately 425 elsewhere at Yale. Highlights of the collection are the Melk copy of the Gutenberg Bible, the gift of Mrs. Edward S. Harkness in memory of Mrs. Stephen V. Harkness, as well as the 200 titles in the Edwin J. Beinecke Memorial Collection. Holdings are strong in Greek and Latin classics, Italian humanist literature, historical texts, biblical literature and exegesis, and Hebrew printing. More recent areas of concentration are secular vernacular texts, illustrated books, and works by fifteenth-century authors. Copies in early bindings, notably a large group in German monastic bindings, or with evidence of early readership or provenance are prominent in the collection and in current collecting. Rare presses or typographically significant or innovative volumes document the history and spread of printing. Holdings are strongest in Italian, German, and French imprints, but English and Spanish presses are well represented.

For more information, see: Herman W. Liebert and Thomas E. Marston, "The Edwin J. Beinecke Memorial Collection," YULG 45:2 (October 1970), 37-52. A record of Yale's holdings is available online through the British Library's Incunable Short Title Catalogue .

Japan, Yale Association of.About 350 items illustrating the evolution of Japanese culture. The manuscripts, printed books, and pictures cover history, literature, religion, education, social life and customs, amusements, and occupations over a period of a thousand years. The collection was made by Professor Katsumi Kuroita of the Imperial University of Tokyo at the request of the Yale Association of Japan (Yale alumni in Tokyo) and was given by the association in 1934.

For more information, see: K. Asakawa, "The Evolution of Japanese Culture. Gift from the Yale Association of Japan," YULG 9:2 (October 1934), 29-37.

Joyce, James.An outstanding collection of books and pamphlets by and about Joyce, as well as manuscripts, including the most complete surviving manuscript of Dubliners and Exiles , letters, clippings, and photographs. Established by gift from Eileen and John Slocum of a portion of their collection, and augmented subsequently by them, by other friends of the library, and by purchase. More material relating to Joyce is to be found in the papers of Eugene and Maria Jolas, acquired in 1989 by purchase and through a gift from Betsy and Tina Jolas.

For more information, see: John J. Slocum and Herbert Cahoon, A Bibliography of James Joyce (New Haven, 1953).

Judaica.Books and manuscripts in Hebrew and many other languages dealing with the history and literature of the Jews, and including the Selah Merrill Collection of Josephus, the Goodhart Collection of Philo Imprints, the Alexander Kohut Memorial Collection, and the Sholem Asch Collection. The last, acquired in 1944 through the gift of Louis M. Rabinowitz, contains eighty editions of the Yiddish novelist's works, together with related manuscripts, typescripts, and correspondence, as well as Hebraic manuscripts, incunabula, and rare books collected by Asch. A particular focus of the collection is Hebrew linguistics and the study and teaching of Hebrew in the West.

For more information, see: Leon Nemoy, "The Alexander Kohut Memorial Collection of Judaica," YULG 2:2 (October 1927), 17-25. Rabbi Arthur A. Chiel, "George Alexander Kohut and the Judaica Collection in the Yale Library," YULG 53:4 (April 1979), 202-10.

Kipling, Rudyard.The Tyler Kipling Collection comprises first, early, and rare editions (especially copyright issues), manuscripts, autograph letters, association items, and memorabilia. Gifts and bequest of Matilda Tyler, 1953 Grad. Another fine Kipling collection, formed by Ganson Goodyear Depew, 1919, and presented by his father to the Elizabethan Club, is on permanent deposit at the Beinecke.

For more information, see: Gilbert M. Troxell, "The Ganson Goodyear Depew Memorial Collection," YULG 1:4 (April 1927), 53-55. Matilda Tyler, "A Few High Spots: Thoughts on Collecting Kipling," YULG 67:3-4 (April 1993), 158-60.

Lawrence, D. H.First editions, letters, manuscripts, and notebooks. The collection was formed and given by H. Bacon Collamore. The Lawrence materials are supplemented by books in the Linda and Cole Porter Collection.

For more information, see: Reva R. Barez, "The H. Bacon Collamore Collection of D. H. Lawrence," YULG 34:1 (July 1959), 16-33.

Macdonald, George. First editions and personal papers, with about 900 letters from Macdonald to his family and more than 2,500 letters from relatives and friends, 50 photographs (some by Lewis Carroll), and a scrapbook. Purchased on the Beinecke Fund.

For more information, see: Muriel Hutton, "The George MacDonald Collection," YULG 51:2 (October 1976), 74-85.

McFee, William. A large collection of manuscripts, proofsheets, printed books, correspondence, and clippings. Gift of James T. Babb, 1924.

Manuscripts, Near Eastern. Over 2,500 Arabic manuscripts and several hundred each in Persian and Turkish are the core of the Near Eastern collection, which is supplemented by small groups of Ethiopic, Armenian, Syriac, Urdu, and Coptic manuscripts. The foundation of the Near Eastern holdings at Yale are the collections assembled by Count Landberg of Munich, E. E. Salisbury of Yale, and Oskar Rescher (Stuttgart and Istanbul). The Landberg material is particularly strong in history, poetry, philology, law, religion, and belles lettres, while the Rescher collection features rare texts and a large number of early copies of manuscripts made by scholars for use in their own studies.

The manuscripts of the American Oriental Society, deposited in the Beinecke Library, are described in the Catalogue of the Library of the American Oriental Society , edited by Elizabeth Strout (New Haven, 1930).

For more information, see: Leon Nemoy, Arabic Manuscripts in the Yale University Library (Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences vol. 40; New Haven, 1956); and "The Rescher Collection of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish Manuscripts," YULG 47:2 (October 1972), 57-99.

Manuscripts, Pre-1600. The library holds more than 1,100 medieval and Renaissance codices and several hundred manuscript fragments, dating from the fourth century through the Renaissance. The particular strength of the collection is in documenting the variety of texts and types of books preserved from the early period. Manuscripts from most parts of the Latin West are found in the collection, the greatest number coming from Italy, France, and England. Manuscripts of German monastic origin are also well represented. The majority of the items are in Latin, Italian, English, or French, with a few manuscripts in German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and other languages of Western Europe. In addition to biblical, theological, and liturgical texts, the reading matter of ancient, medieval, and Renaissance societies is documented by noteworthy holdings of classical and medieval Latin works, as well as numerous vernacular and neo-Latin texts of the Renaissance. The library's holdings document the history of the codex, with examples that record various stages in the development of manuscript books. The library attempts to add works or authors not otherwise represented, or to acquire items of textual importance.

The collections reflect three areas of medieval culture with particular distinction: twelfth-century monastic libraries, scholastic/university literature of the thirteenth century, and the Italian Renaissance, the last being probably the single most important area of the collection. In this field we have not only the representative items, but minor figures, texts, and genres as well. The Beinecke Library holds important alchemical manuscripts in the Mellon Collection, major items of travel and exploration--largely sixteenth-century--in the Taylor collection, and significant holdings in hunting and fishing, many of them in the Wagstaff collection.

Many of the manuscripts are splendid examples of illumination--the Savoy Hours, the Albergati Bible, the De Lévis Hours, the Rothschild Canticles, the East Anglia Psalter--while others, less prepossessing in appearance, contain texts of particular importance: the ninth-century Capitularies of Charlemagne, the Decretals of Pseudo-Isidore, a volume of Anglo-Norman poetry, and an English commonplace book containing the earliest extant text of the morality play "Abraham and Isaac." The collection also includes over 30 Bibles and numerous biblical commentaries and concordances, more than 35 Books of Hours, Antonio Pigafetta's journal of his voyage around the world with Magellan, the Voynich manuscript (a scientific text in cipher), the Vinland Map, the Mellon Chansonnier, and 234 manuscripts from the collection of Thomas E. Marston.

For more information, see: Barbara Shailor, Catalogue of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University . Vol. 1, MSS 1-250; vol. 2, MSS 251-500; vol. 3, Marston MSS. (Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, Binghamton, NY, 1984-92). Walter Cahn and James Marrow, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts at Yale: A Selection

( YULG 52:4, April 1978). Barbara Shailor, The Medieval Book, Illustrated from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching 28, Toronto 1991 and 1994). Robert G. Babcock, ed., Beinecke Studies in Early Manuscripts ( YULG 66, Supplement, 1991 and 1994). Robert G. Babcock, Reconstructing a Medieval Library: Fragments from Lambach (New Haven, 1993).

Marinetti, Filippo Tommaso, and Futurism.The papers of the founder of Futurism, comprising all his extant manuscripts, among them the manuscript of the Manifeste du futurisme , which appeared in 1909 in Le Figaro , diaries, and a large correspondence, including his letters to his wife Benedetta, and letters and manuscripts by Guillaume Apollinaire, Francesco Cangiullo, Bruno Corradini, Fortunato Depero, Corrado Govoni, Emma Gramatica, Gustave Kahn, Gian Pietro Lucini, Ada Negri, Anna de Noailles, Giovanni Papini, Enrico Prampolini, and Gino Severini, among others. The collection also contains broadsides from Marinetti's library, many of them inscribed.

For more information, see: Marjorie G. Wynne and Luce Marinetti Barbi, F. T. Marinetti and Futurism. Catalogue of an Exhibition in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University (New Haven, 1983).

Masefield, John.First editions, manuscripts, and letters given by Sumner McKnight Crosby, 1932, with additions from the estate of Julia Ellsworth Ford and from William V. Griffin, 1912.

For more information, see: Fraser Bragg Drew, "John Masefield in New Haven: The Sumner McKnight Crosby Collection," YULG 32:4 (April 1958), 151-57.

Mellon Collection of Aalchemy and the Occult. About 330 books and manuscripts relating to alchemy, astrology, magic, witchcraft, and the occult generally, with a particular emphasis on texts of relevance to Jungian psychology. The books range from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century and the manuscripts from about 1200 to the early twentieth century.

For more information, see: Ian MacPhail, Laurence C. Witten, 2d, and Richard H. Pachella, Alchemy and the Occult, a Catalogue of Books and Manuscripts from the Collection of Paul and Mary Mellon given to Yale University Library (4 volumes, New Haven, 1968-77).

Meredith, George. About 300 volumes by and about Meredith with many manuscripts and letters. Given by Frank Altschul, 1908. Important additions include the manuscripts of The Egoist , the gift of Arthur A. Houghton, Jr., Celt and Saxon , One of Our Conquerors (the final draft), and Modern Love , the gifts of Frank Altschul and the Library Associates.

For more information, see: Bertha Coolidge, A Catalogue of the Altschul Collection of George Meredith in the Yale University Library (Boston, 1931).

Ornithology.A large collection of books about birds, as well as manuscript descriptions of birds by Audubon and original drawings by many of the principal artists in the field. Given by William Robertson Coe, 1949 Hon. The collection has been considerably extended by subsequent purchases.

For more information, see: S. Dillon Ripley and Lynette L. Scribner, Ornithological Books in the Yale University Library (New Haven, 1961). Marjorie G. Wynne, "The World of Birds," YULG 52:1 (July 1977), 10-29.

Papyrus Collection.The Yale papyrus collection began in 1889 with a gift of papyri from W. M. F. Petrie's excavations at Hawara. In the following decades, as a participant in the Egypt Exploration Fund, Yale received from the excavations of that society a number of papyri, many of them from the discoveries of Grenfell and Hunt at Oxyrhynchus. Purchases in Egypt and in Europe from the 1930s through the 1960s, the acquisitions made by Michael Rostovtzeff in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and important gifts from E. J. Beinecke and from H. P. Kraus, brought the collection to over 10,000 items. The papyri, in Greek, Latin, Demotic, Coptic, and Arabic, include private letters, official and religious documents, legal deeds and contracts, biblical texts, and literary works by known and unknown authors. Included in the collection but numbered separately are the papyri excavated at Dura-Europos, a Hellenistic, Parthian, and Roman city on the Euphrates River in southern Syria where extensive remains of civil and military archives were found in the 1930s.

For more information, see: Yale Papyri in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library , American Studies in Papyrology, vol. 2 (by John F. Oates, Alan E. Samuel, and C. Bradford Welles; New Haven and Toronto, 1967) and vol. 24 (by Susan Stephens; Chico, California, 1985). The Excavations of Dura-Europos (8 volumes, New Haven, 1943-67). Stephen Emmel, "Antiquity in Fragments: A Hundred Years of Collecting Papyri at Yale," YULG 64:1-2 (October 1989), 38-58.

Pequot Library.The Monroe, Wakeman and Holman Loan Collection of the Pequot Library Association, Southport, Connecticut, contains about 850 books and more than 1,000 manuscripts dealing with the discovery and early history of America. Formed by the Reverend William H. Holman with the support of Mrs. Virginia Marquand Monroe and Mrs. Catherine Hull Wakeman, it is the property of the Pequot Library and was deposited at Yale in 1952.

For more information, see: Catalogue of the Monroe, Wakeman and Holman Collection of the Pequot Library (New Haven, 1960).

Playing Cards. The Cary Collection of Playing Cards, formed by Melbert B. Cary, Jr., 1916, and by his wife, Mary Flagler Cary, includes about 2,600 packs, 40 sheets, and 150 wood blocks, representing productions of the last 500 years. Over 900 packs come from Germany, 450 from France, 300 from the United States, 160 from England, and 130 from Italy. Cards in smaller numbers come from China, Japan, Persia, Russia, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, and Latin America. The collection also includes over 200 books about playing cards, almost a hundred edicts, declarations, and proclamations relating to cards, and many engravings, several made in the fifteenth century, of cards and card games. Bequest of Mrs. Cary. The Cary Collection is complemented by the Fisher Collection of Playing Cards, representing many of the same countries and spanning the same centuries. Gift of Mrs. Samuel H. Fisher.

For more information, see: Margaret Sargent Fisher, "The Devil's Picture Books," YULG 20:3 (January 1946), 41-47. William B. Keller, A Catalogue of the Cary Collection of Playing Cards in the Yale University Library (4 volumes, New Haven, 1981). "A Supplement to the Catalogue of the Cary Collection of Playing Cards: Preliminary Descriptions," YULG 65:1-2 (October 1990), 46-97.

Polish Literature.The archive of Czeslaw Milosz, the 1980 Nobel Prize for Literature, was acquired in 1987, and since then has been joined by additional material, including the papers of his contemporaries and friends Aleksander Wat and Konstanty Jelenski, to form the most substantial grouping of papers relating to émigré Polish literature in the West. Josef Czapski, Witold Gombrowicz, Zbigniew Herbert, and Gustaw Herling-Gurdzinski are also represented.

Prints. A collection of nearly 2,000 satirical prints by Thomas Rowlandson and James Gillray, including 4 original Rowlandson watercolor drawings and a profile drawing of him by his friend John Bannister, a pen-and-ink drawing by Gillray of Isaac D'Israeli, and unique or rare impressions. Bequest of Hugh Dudley Auchincloss, 1920.

For more information, see: John C. Riely, "Rowlandson and Gillray in the Auchincloss Bequest," YULG 55:4 (April 1981), 177-94.

Richardson, Dorothy. A collection of letters, manuscripts, annotated books, subject files, and photographs relating to the author of Pilgrimage , established in 1958 by a gift from Richardson's sister-in-law, Rose Odle, and augmented by gifts from Mrs. John Austen, Bryher, Bernice Elliott, John Cowper Powys, Mrs. Harold Tomkinson, and others.

Rochambeau Family. Papers of Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, the head of the French expeditionary corps which joined forces with the troops of George Washington to defeat General Cornwallis at Yorktown in October 1781. The archive includes letters to Rochambeau from Washington, Lafayette, Admiral de Grasse, and many other actors in this crucial episode of the American War of Independence. With the maps and atlases used by Rochambeau during the Yorktown campaign, and hundreds of maps collected by three generations of the Rochambeau family. Gift of Paul Mellon, 1929. Also the papers of Rochambeau's son, Donatien Marie Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau, dealing with his military command in the French West Indies. Gift of Hans P. Kraus.

For more information, see: Vincent Giroud, The Road to Yorktown (New Haven, 1992).

Rogers, Bruce, 1928 Hon.More than 500 books and ephemera designed by Mr. Rogers, and a number of his letters. Given by H. M. Marvin.

For more information, see: Adelaide B. Lockhart, "The H. M. Marvin Bruce Rogers Collection," YULG 35:2 (October 1960), 53-60. H. M. Marvin, "Bruce Rogers and His Work," YULG 36:1 (July 1961), 13-23.

Romanov Family. Six photographic albums, the gift of Robert D. Brewster, 1939, containing between 2,000 and 3,000 informal photographs of the Russian Imperial Family taken from about 1906 to 1914, and about 35 letters to Anna Vyrubova during the period of their imprisonment by the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks in 1917-18.

For more information, see: Robert K. Massie and Marilyn Pfeifer Szezey, The Romanov Family Album, assembled by Anna Vyrubova (New York, 1982).

Ruskin, John.A substantially complete collection of his published works, with much important manuscript material, and more than 2,500 letters. Established by R. B. Adam, 1930 Hon., and supplemented by purchase and by gifts from Charles E. Goodspeed and other friends of the library.

For more information, see: Robert D. French, "The R. B. Adam Collection of Ruskin," YULG 4:1 (July 1929), 1-7. Charles Beecher Hogan, "The Yale Collection of the Manuscripts of John Ruskin," YULG 16:4 (April 1942), 61-69.

Russian Literature. In addition to first and early editions of works by the great nineteenth-century Russian authors, poets, and novelists of the Silver Age, and the Russian avant-garde, the Beinecke houses large collections of papers of authors who went into exile at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution. These include papers of Georgii Adamovich, Lidiia Alekseeva, Nina Berberova, Boris Filipov, Roman Gul', George Ivask, Lev Lunts, Irina Odoevsteva, IUrii Ofrosimov, Gennadii Panin, Leonid Rzhevsky, Andrei Sedykh, Fedor Stepun, IUrii Terapiano, and Mark Weinbaum, as well as several hundred letters from Konstantin Bal'mont.

Sixteenth-Century Printed Books.Sixteenth-century books, collected both for their texts and for the history of printing, include significant holdings in Greek and Latin classics, historical works (contemporary and earlier), biblical literature, religion in general and Reformation theology in particular, English, French, and Italian belles lettres (with smaller but significant holdings in Spanish and German), travel and exploration, history of science including the natural sciences and mathematics, Judaica, philology and linguistics, especially early studies of non-European languages and printing in non-European types, philosophy, Scandinavian history, Neo-Latin poetry, sporting books, and drama. Art and architecture are well represented, and there is growing strength in the areas of business history, trade, labor, banking, politics, a Over 100,000 documents, dating from the fourteenth century to the eighteenth, from the palace archive of a Florentine family distinguished for their international banking and mercantile interests in the fifteenth century, their political activities in the city for several centuries, their patronage of religious institutions in Florence and Rome, and their association with the local silk guild. Included are the records of family members who served as papal bankers in the fifteenth century, ambassadors to the courts of Henry VII and Charles V, churchmen, senators, and ducal employees. The collection documents social and family history, recording the day-to-day concerns of merchants, farmers, workmen, slaves, women, and children in thousands of wills, marriage contracts, personal diaries, family correspondence, grocery lists, household inventories, farm reports, tax statements, and business ledgers.

Spinelli Archive. For more information, see: Robert Babcock, The Spinelli Family. Guide to an Exhibition at the Beinecke Library (New Haven, 1989).

Sporting Books. An extensive collection on almost all aspects of sport, including files of rare periodicals. A number of donors have contributed to the collection: among notable gifts have been the Garvan Collection on natural history, exploration, hunting, and sport, including the collection formed by Charles Seldon, 1890, the gift of Francis P. Garvan, 1907; the collection of the works of Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton, formed by Dr. Samuel W. Lambert, 1880, and given by his children, Mrs. Gillet Lefferts, Mrs. J. Ogden Bulkley, and Samuel W. Lambert, Jr., 1919; the Wagstaff Collection formed and given by Dr. and Mrs. David Wagstaff; the Robert Sterling Clark Collection of Books of Horses and Military History, the gift of H. P. Kraus; the books on boxing collected and given by Herbert Z. Lazarus, 1927; and the collection of fishing books donated by Lindley Eberstadt and augmented by gifts from Ralph Keeler.

For more information, see: Tucker Brooke, "The Lambert Walton-Cotton Collection," YULG 17:4 (April 1943), 61-65. Marjorie G. Wynne, "The Wagstaff Sporting Books and Manuscripts," YULG 20:1 (July 1945), 6-14. Thomas E. Marston, "Books on Horses," YULG 39:3 (January 1965), 105-34. Vincent Giroud, "The Fishing Book Collections of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library." Discovery 23:2 (Fall 1992), 27-31.

Stevenson, Robert Louis.The world's largest collection of books, manuscripts, and letters by and about Stevenson, with memorabilia, formed and given by Edwin J. Beinecke, 1907.

For more information, see: George L. McKay, A Stevenson Library, Catalogue of a Collection of Writings by and about Robert Louis Stevenson formed by Edwin J. Beinecke (6 volumes, New Haven, 1954-64). Marjorie G. Wynne, "The Edwin J. Beinecke Collection of Robert Louis Stevenson," YULG 26:3 (January 1952), 117-36.

For more information, see: Vincent Giroud, R.L.S.: A Centenary Exhibition at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Commemorating the Death of Robert Louis Stevenson (New Haven, 1994).

Stiles, Ezra.A vast collection of the papers of Ezra Stiles, president of Yale College from 1778 to 1795, including his Literary Diary (1769-95) in 15 volumes; his Itineraries (1760-94) in six volumes; a Thermometrical Register (1763-95) in six volumes; dozens of sermons; notebooks relating to college affairs, silk culture, Hebrew and Arabic, comets, the Stamp Act, surveying, New England churches and pastors, and other matters; and hundreds of letters to him as well as copies of many of his replies.

For more information, see: "A Note on the Stiles Papers," in Edmund S. Morgan's The Gentle Puritan, a Life of Ezra Stiles, 1727-1795 (New Haven, 1962), pp. 465-72. Harold E. Selesky, A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Ezra Stiles Papers at Yale (New Haven, 1978).

Taylor Collection. Books and manuscripts relating to the science and technique of navigation and to the discovery and exploration of the coasts and lands of America. Formed and given by Henry C. Taylor, 1917.

For more information, see: John C. Kebabian, The Henry C. Taylor Collection (New Haven, 1971).

Tibetan Collection.One of the most comprehensive libraries of Tibetan books outside Asia, the Yale collection contains the Lhasa edition of the Kanjur in 100 volumes, the gift of His Holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama in 1950; 394 volumes which include the collected works and biographies of the former Dalai Lamas and the voluminous writings of other eminent lamas, from the library of Theos Bernard; the manuscripts, block-printed texts, banner paintings (tankas), and bronze images bequeathed by Mrs. Edna Bryner Schwab; gifts from Tibetans and other donors, which include printing blocks and a remarkable variety of iconographical prints.

For more information, see: The following articles by Wesley E. Needham appeared in the YULG : "The Tibetan Collection at Yale," 34:3 (January 1960), 127-33; "Tibetan Books from a 'Peak Secretary'," 35:3 (January 1961), 126-33; and "Edna Bryner Schwab, Tibetan Scholar and Yale Benefactor," 44:1 (July 1969), 21-29.

Tinker Collection.Over 2,350 books and manuscripts, mainly of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English literature, collected by Chauncey Brewster Tinker, 1899, to supplement his teaching and research. His collection, noted for its superb condition, is particularly strong in Arnold (including his manuscript diaries), Blake (including copy E of the 1789 Book of Thel , copy K of the 1793 America , and copy M of the 1794 Songs of Innocence and Experience ), Byron, George Eliot, Samuel Johnson, Southey, and Trollope, including the manuscripts of Phineas Finn , Phineas Redux , and The Duke's Children . Bequest of Mr. Tinker.

For more information, see: Robert F. Metzdorf, The Tinker Library. A Bibliographical Catalogue of the Books and Manuscripts Collected by Chauncey Brewster Tinker (New Haven, 1959).

Tocqueville, Alexis de. The Yale Tocqueville collection is the largest publicly available group of manuscript material relating to the author of De la démocratie en Amérique , including the manuscripts and drafts for Democracy in America , acquired in 1954 through the generosity of Louis M. Rabinowitz, and the papers of Gustave de Beaumont, Tocqueville's traveling companion in America, purchased from and donated by his descendants between 1955 and 1974. The collection contains numerous letters from and to Tocqueville, and copies made in France in the 1920s and 1930s of documents that have disappeared since. An important number of manuscripts and first or early editions of Tocqueville and Beaumont have joined the collection as gifts from Professor George W. Pierson, 1926.

For more information, see: James T. Schleifer, "Images of America after the Revolution: Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont Visit the Early Republic," YULG 51:3 (January 1977), 125-44. Eduardo Nolla, Tocqueville, Beaumont, and America: Introduction to an Exhibition at the Beinecke Library (New Haven, 1990).

Vanderbilt Collection. Books chiefly relating to early American history, plus several splendidly illuminated French and Flemish Books of Hours. The collection was formed by Cornelius Vanderbilt, M.A. Hon. 1894, and bequeathed to the library by his daughter, Gladys Moore Vanderbilt, Countess László Széchényi.

For more information, see: Wilmarth S. Lewis, "The Cornelius Vanderbilt Collection," 43:3 YULG (January 1969), 129-38.

West, Rebecca. Personal papers, the gift of Dame Rebecca West, including many letters from H. G. Wells and Anthony West, manuscript material relating to The Fountain Overflows , Harriet Hume , The Meaning of Treason , Strange Necessity , The Thinking Reed , and Letter to a Grandfather . The library also has a large collection of books and letters by Rebecca West to various correspondents, acquired by purchase and by gift, especially from Mr. and Mrs. G. Evelyn Hutchinson.

For more information, see: G. Evelyn Hutchinson, A Preliminary List of Writings of Rebecca West, 1912-1951 (New Haven, 1957).

Yale Libray in 1742. President Thomas Clap's catalog of the Yale library in 1742, printed by Thomas Green of New London in 1743, was used to identify the original books still on the shelves in 1930. The books were reassembled into their original shelf order, first in Sterling Library, later in the Beinecke. Of the original 2,600 volumes in the Yale Library in 1742, about 70 percent are in the collection today.