A Looted Bible, Returned to the Library
The Library of Congress » Rare Books and Special Collections
by Neely Tucker
2w ago
A family Bible in Washington, looted by a British soldier during the War of 1812 and kept in his family for generations, was eventually returned to the nation more than a century later. It is now preserved by the Library, an artifact of two nations of war and then in peace ..read more
Visit website
The Season of Edgar Allan Poe: Autumn, Halloween and The Falling Darkness
The Library of Congress » Rare Books and Special Collections
by Neely Tucker
4M ago
Edgar Allan Poe died 175 years ago today, on Oct. 7, 1849. Here, we revisit the first publication of his poetic masterpiece, "The Raven" and the tragic circumstances (his dying young wife) that led to him writing it ..read more
Visit website
Eliot’s Bible
The Library of Congress » Rare Books and Special Collections
by Neely Tucker
6M ago
Printed in Cambridge between 1660 and 1663, the Eliot Indian Bible today represents a landmark in printing history: It was translated into the Wampanoag language of the region’s Algonquin tribes and was the first Bible printed in North America in any language. In recent decades, the Wampanoag nation has used the Eliot Bible as a tool to help resurrect its ancestral language. The Library preserves a 1685 copy ..read more
Visit website
Gerrymandering: The Origin Story
The Library of Congress » Rare Books and Special Collections
by Neely Tucker
7M ago
—This is a guest post by Mark Dimunation, the former chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. The term for the political tactic of manipulating boundaries of electoral districts for unfair political advantage derives its name from a prominent 19th-century political figure — and from a mythological salamander. The term, originally written as “Gerry-mander,” first was used on March 26, 1812, in the Boston Gazette — a reaction to the redrawing of Massachusetts state senate election districts under Gov. Elbridge Gerry. Though the redistricting was done at the behest of his Dem ..read more
Visit website
Treasures Gallery: The First Italian Cookbook
The Library of Congress » Rare Books and Special Collections
by Neely Tucker
8M ago
—This is a guest post by Lucia Wolf, a reference specialist in the Latin American, Caribbean and European Division. In the late 1400s, Maestro Martino, a chef from Como, in Lombardy, created the first Italian cookbook, “Libro de arte coquinaria,” or “The Art of Cooking.” The full, translated title reveals more of Martino’s background and qualifications: “Book of the art of cooking composed by the extraordinary Maestro Martino, former cook of the Most Reverend Monsignor Chamberlain and Patriarch of Aquileia.” Martino’s recipes presented clearly written instructions on how to manipulate basic in ..read more
Visit website
Treasures Gallery: What Did Lincoln Have in His Pockets the Night of His Assassination?
The Library of Congress » Rare Books and Special Collections
by Neely Tucker
9M ago
—This is a guest post by Mark Dimunation, former chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. It also appears in the May-June issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, which is devoted to the June opening the David M. Rubenstein Treasures Gallery. Soon after Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., he was carried across the street to a boarding house. At 7:22 the next morning, the 16th president of the United States took his last breath. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton is reported to have said, “Now he belongs to the ag ..read more
Visit website
Library Treasures: New Gallery Shows Off Premier Holdings
The Library of Congress » Rare Books and Special Collections
by Neely Tucker
9M ago
This piece is adapted from articles in the May-June issue of the Library of Congress Magazine. The Library preserves collective memories representing entire societies as well as intimate records of of important moment and rites of passage in individual lives. This June, the Library will open “Collecting Memories: Treasures from the Library of Congress,” an exhibition that explores the ways cultures preserve memory. The exhibition is the first in the Library’s new David M. Rubenstein Treasures Gallery. Rubenstein — a co-executive chairman of the Carlyle Group and chair of the James Madison Coun ..read more
Visit website
An 800-Year-Old (Tiny) Book of Hours
The Library of Congress » Rare Books and Special Collections
by Neely Tucker
11M ago
— This is a guest post by Marianna Stell, a reference specialist in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. It also appears in the March-April issue of the Library of Congress Magazine. In the medieval world, impossibly small, cleverly constructed objects made of precious materials were appreciated for their craftsmanship and their inherent miraculous quality. The Edith Book of Hours, a handwritten 14th-century volume of prayers, is such an object, one that today still prompts viewers to ask: How could anyone create something so small? The book, which measures just 25/8 inches tall and ..read more
Visit website
My Job: Nathan Dorn, Curating Rare Books in the Law Library
The Library of Congress » Rare Books and Special Collections
by Wendi Maloney
1y ago
Nathan Dorn is the curator of the rare books collection in the Law Library. Describe your work at the Library. I am the curator of the rare books collection at the Law Library of Congress, which is mostly a collection of historical printed law books from Europe, the British Isles and the Americas. That role includes a handful of different tasks. I’m the recommending officer for the collection, which means I spend a lot of my time analyzing the collection and shopping for books to acquire that would grow it in useful directions. I’m the reference librarian for questions that relate to objects i ..read more
Visit website
Proclaiming a New Nation: The Library’s Copies of the Declaration of Independence
The Library of Congress » Rare Books and Special Collections
by Mark Hartsell
1y ago
After the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, the delegates wanted to spread word of their momentous action throughout the Colonies as quickly as possible. The president of Congress, John Hancock, ordered the document to be printed as a broadside, a single-sheet format popular in that era for quickly distributing important information. That first printing of the Declaration today is known as the Dunlap Broadside, named for the man who produced it for Congress, Philadelphia printer John Dunlap. Original copies are extremely rare: Only about two dozen su ..read more
Visit website

Follow The Library of Congress » Rare Books and Special Collections on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR