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Penguin Group has settled with the Department of Justice over the e-book pricing lawsuit; Roxane Gay reminds us there are writers who live places other than New York City; the Los Angeles Times has a reading list for the Maya apocalypse; and other news.
The Fales Library, comprising nearly 200,000 volumes, close to 9,000 linear feet of archive and manuscript materials, and about 65,000 media elements, houses the Fales Collection of rare books and manuscripts in English and American literature, including the papers of writers such as E. L. Doctorow, Erich Maria Remarque, and William Zinsser.
Established in 1936, the Rare Book & Manuscript Library has grown to over 300,000 books and over 7,130 linear feet of manuscripts. Particular strengths lie in early printing and the Elizabethan and Stuart periods in England, with works by Shakespeare, various important editions of the Bible, and renaissance school books standing out as distinctive and deep collections. The Library is also renowned for its collections of incunabula and emblem books, the collections in the history of Mark Twain and his age, as well as the papers of such notable figures as William Maxwell, W. S.
A complex of buildings in the heart of New York City, the Morgan Library & Museum began as the private library of financier Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913), one of the preeminent collectors and cultural benefactors in the United States. As early as 1890 Morgan had begun to assemble a collection of illuminated, literary, and historical manuscripts, early printed books, and old master drawings and prints.
Founded in 1997, the Hugo House offers writing classes and events, including the annual Hugo Literary Series, which invites established and up-and-coming writers to create new work and debut it at the house, and the Zine Archive and Publishing Project, which maintains a library of more than 20,000 handmade and independent publications. Residencies, one for an established writer and one for a youth writer, are also offered.
The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library is Yale University’s principal repository for literary papers and for early manuscripts and rare books in the fields of literature, theology, history, and the natural sciences. In addition to its general collection of rare books and manuscripts, the library houses the Yale Collection of American Literature, the Yale Collection of German Literature, the Yale Collection of Western Americana, and the Osborn Collection.
The Lilly Library hosts exhibitions and special events such as poetry readings and receptions as well as lectures, tours, and class presentations. Its holdings include about 400,000 books and more than 7.5 million manuscripts, such as the Gutenberg Bible, Shakespeare folios, and the papers of writers F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Galway Kinnell, Sylvia Plath, Ezra Pound, Upton Sinclair, William Carlos Williams, and Edith Wharton.
The Harry Ransom Center houses extensive collections of rare books and manuscripts, including the Gutenberg Bible, Shakespeare folios, and the papers of writers such as Lewis Carroll, J. M. Coetzee, Don DeLillo, James Joyce, Jack Kerouac, D. H. Lawrence, Doris Lessing, Norman Mailer, Carson McCullers, Anne Sexton, and David Foster Wallace. The center also supports research through symposia and fellowships and provides education and enrichment for scholars, students, and the public through exhibitions and programs.
Created by former Texas Tech University Regent James Sowell, this collection contains the personal papers of some of the country’s most prominent writers on the natural world. Writing with a profound respect for the grandeur and fierceness of the land, these writers are deeply engaged with questions of land use and the nature of community, the conjunction of scientific and spiritual values, and the fragility of wilderness.
In this regular feature, we offer a few suggestions for podcasts, smartphone apps, Web tools, newsletters, museum shows, and gallery openings: a medley of literary curiosities that you might enjoy. This issue’s 3 for Free features the Poetry Foundation’s new app, Google’s online Art Project, and Project Gutenberg.
