Arthur Kingsley Porter University Professor John Keats. To Autumn ca.1818 My favorite object is the priceless manuscript of Keats’s great ode To Autumn, It reveals the poet’s intense scrutiny of his page even in the rush of creation; in every stanza, in every instance, we see Keats deleting the inert

Professor of English C.B. Cinzio Girald Hecatommithi Venice, 1580 This book of one hundred stories by an Italian scholar is a favorite because of other stories—about a French king, Henry III, who may have read it in the evening with his mistress; and an English playwright, Shakespeare. It’s from the

Robert M. Beren Professor of Government Wilhelm Schickard Mishpat ha-Melekh Leipzig, 1674 Wilhelm Schickard’s Mishpat ha-Melekh (originally published in 1625) is one of the most important works of early-modern political thought that no one has ever heard of. Schickard, an astronomer and Christian Hebraist who may well have invented the

Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and General Theory of Value; Harvard College Professor Three Miniature Books from Charlotte Brontë juvenilia, 1829-1830. These three miniature books by 13-year-old Charlotte Brontë contain handwriting so small it would seem to be scratched by the toe of a tiny bird. Out of the

Bartlett Research Professor of New England Church History Emeritus A Short Story of the Rise, Reigne, and Ruine of the late Antinomians and Familists London, 1644 Owned by Charles Deane, LL.D 1886, a Boston businessman and amateur scholar of early American history, this unique copy contains his analysis of the

Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of History Chronicles of England ca. 1430 Almost every manuscript will give clues as to how it was understood and used by subsequent generations. MS Richardson 35 is particularly evocative in this regard. Preserved toward the end of this manuscript is an extensive album of

John P. Marquand Professor of English Leaf from an Anglo-Saxon Benedictional 10th century Even in its damaged, fragmentary state, this folio from tenth-century England has a story to tell. It comes from a Benedictional: a book of Latin blessings reserved specifically for a bishop. With ample margins, a bold hand,

Henry B. and Anne M. Cabot Professor of English Literature Julian of Norwich Revelations of Divine Love London, 1670 The first printed edition of the earliest woman writer in English, Julian of Norwich (1343–ca.1416), was made in London in 1670 by Serenus Cressy, a Roman Catholic convert, Benedictine monk and

George Vasmer Leverett Professor of Mathematics Euclid. Elements Venice: Erhardus Ratdolt, 1482 Euclid’s Elements are probably the second most important book in history (after the Bible) but it took some time after Gutenberg to print them, as people had to figure out how to set the geometric figures. I frequently

Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and University Librarian, Emeritus Ralph Waldo Emerson. Essays Boston, 1847 While a freshman at Harvard in 1957, I visited Houghton Library to view Melville’s copy of Emerson’s Essays. Melville had written extensive notes in the margins, and the bit of marginalia on this page has