Skip to main content

The Great Literary Trip: Day 4

 I'm back! Welcome to the day 4 recap.



Day 4

CITIES

Or, make that heading "city" singular. We spent all of our time in Philadelphia today. Today was a good day. So much so that I began calling this city, which I have been to only a handful of times, "Philly." Philly was kind to us today. We ate great food, walked some beautiful streets, and viewed hundreds of impressive books. 

LIBRARIES

The Rosenbach
Located in Rittenhouse Square, the Rosenbach is an elegant 19th-century townhome filled with one of the greatest collections of manuscripts, first editions, artwork, and rare works of literature. The list of priceless items collected by the Rosenbach brothers in the 1900s is long: the original manuscripts of James Joyce's Ulysses, first edition Jane Austen books and Don Quixote, and Lewis Carroll's own copy of Alice in Wonderland. Dr. Rosenbach was "the Napoleon of the auction room," where he bartered and fought for priceless manuscripts to collect and supply to high-paying clients. I was quite honestly stunned and awed. I have been looking forward to this experience for a couple of months; however, my expectations were entirely exceeded. 

I found all of my interests and loves intertwined and interconnected by the works and pieces amassed by the Rosenbach brothers. One of the first 17th-century, British theatre licenses that allowed women to officially act on the stage hangs on the wall of the first floor of the townhouse. I feel deeply connected to this item as an amateur actress and lover of theatre myself.  Additionally, books that I've read and reread stood in their original forms and book slips on Dr. Rosenbach's shelves in his east and west libraries. The Rosenbachs also have a collection of newspapers, magazines, and publications, including copies of the New Yorker and the Saturday Evening Post where Dr. Rosenbach appeared with his famous collections. 

Journalism, theatre, and literature: it was all there. I felt especially affirmed by this experience, as Dr. Rosenbach had a very similar start in the book world to me. Our tour guide began our day with a story. Dr. Rosenbach, the most literarily minded of the two brothers, began attending book auctions in Philadelphia alone when he was 10 years old. The first book he ever bid on and won was Reynard the Fox. His winning bid was $24; however, when he arrived to pick up his book, the auctioneer found out that Rosenbach only had $10 in his pocket. He still got the book and never stopped reading, chasing, and buying books. 

When I was around 10 years old myself, I had a very similar experience; however, the closest place to a book auction in my life was none other than the Scholastic Book Fair that came to my elementary school once a year. I arrived at the counter with a big stack of books; however, I was, as I remember, $1.67 short. I walked out of the small, school library with all of the books I selected, and like Rosenbach, I have never stopped chasing books. They have never stopped chasing me. 






University of Pennsylvania Libraries
I visited two libraries on UPenn's campus today: the Fisher Fine Arts Library and the Van Pelt Library. Both were beautiful, and I had a *grand* time climbing iron, winding staircases and digging through the deepest stacks of books that smelled like the 70s. (my favorite scent...)





I took 11,631 steps today. See you tomorrow!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Author Spotlight: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Kimberly Brubaker Bradley At my school, I am a Library Leader. (Library Leaders promote reading in the middle school and recommend books for the younger grades.) The Library Leaders had the fortunate opportunity of eating lunch and meeting with Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. We got to ask her questions and just talk with her. Mrs. Bradley also spoke to the whole seventh and eighth grade in assembly about her research. 1)      When/How does she write? Mrs. Bradley writes in the morning, but this depends on her chores for the day. She got into her routine when her children, now graduating college and out of college, were small and went to school. She would always wait until her husband took them to drop them off at school. She likes for her writing space to be very quiet. She prefers typing when she when she writes as to writing. (This may be pretty common; I do not know what the common format among writers is today. I just thought I would include eve...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Great Literary Trip: Day 1

Hello everyone, and welcome to 16 days on the road with Between the Pages! I am traveling the east coast for around two weeks finding the best bookstores, exploring literary sites, and plundering my way through roughly 2,000 miles of land, through hamlets and cities, through rain and sun. This reader is up to the challenge. Are you? As promised, I will supply a daily report of my wanderings including the cities we explored, the sites we discovered, and the shops we visited. Without further adieu, here is day 1! (More exciting reports are to come, as driving was today's main {*only*} activity.) Day 1 CITIES We made it to three main cities today: Bristol, TN , Knoxville, TN , and Charlottesville, VA . Again, today's main activity was driving (and driving and driving and driving). Today was not my first journey to any of the three cities; however, this road trip shed new light on each one. BOOKSTORES Our first literary stop of the entire trip was a spontaneous one. The original pl...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Southeast's Best Bookstores

      Southern Living's  The South's Best Bookstores highlights five bookstores in the southeastern United States that the publication deems noteworthy based on a wide range of traits. While the article does not go into much detail nor has a central theme besides telling readers of good bookshops, the bookstores look credible after further research. While I have only been to one of the stores (Sundog Books in Seaside, which I love), I did research on the others and found four more bookshops to put on my bucket-list.        THE ALABAMA BOOKSMITH      While not very old, The Alabama Booksmith in Birmingham has a long history of literary predecessors. Even so, The Alabama Booksmith holds its own among its successful precursors considering it opened its doors in 1999. The shop makes it its mission to sell all signed copies.  "Every book in the store is now signed!" - The Alabama Booksmith, About Our Store.  Additiona...
Post a Comment
Read more