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Modern Literary Manuscripts in the Morgan Library

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Pierpont Morgan Library
Affiliation:
29 East 36 Street New York 16, N.Y

Extract

The Pierpont Morgan Library divides its manuscripts, somewhat arbitrarily, into two principal groups, the “Medieval and Renaissance” and the “Autograph.” Though neither term correctly describes all the materials classified in its group, the division serves well enough to distinguish the handwritten books of the period prior to the spread of printing from the more varied manuscripts of the modern era.

The Morgan “Autographs” comprise the originals of literary and historical writings (with some others of primarily artistic, musical, philosophical, or scientific interest), all letters, and all documents save only those which are in effect illuminated manuscripts. Among these “Autographs” are many manuscripts which are not strictly autograph at all: some are original, though not in the author's hand (Book i of Paradise Lost being an illustrious example of this class, which includes many letters and most documents); others are copies which, for one reason or another, have a particular importance (manuscripts of Crashaw, Sterne, or Keats, for example).

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 67 , Issue 1 , February 1952 , pp. 3 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1952

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References

1 A recent description of the Library and its collections will be found in the Library Quarterly, xxii (Jan. 1952), 21-35.

2 Seymour De Ricci and W. J. Wilson, Census of the Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada (New York, 1935-40), ii, 1359-1503 (illuminated and textual codices), 1504-1636, 2343 (autographs).