18th-Century English Materials
Illustration from Designs by Mr. R. Bentley, for Six Poems by
Mr. T. Gray (1753).
The Center's collection of 18th-century English books, the sixth largest in American and Canadian libraries, are eclipsed only by our 20th-century holdings. The Alexander Pope Collection, assembled by his bibliographer, Prof. R. H. Griffith, is the most comprehensive author collection from this period, but there are also strong holdings in Pope's colleagues and contemporaries, principally Defoe, Addison and Steele, Gay, and Arbuthnot. The Queen Anne Collection has works by all of these authors in addition to many thousands of publications by other authors, all revealing the economic, cultural, and historical background of Anne's reign.
The important religious history of the century is uniquely documented by the strong Recusant Collection of books and manuscripts written or published by and for the proscribed Catholic community in Britain. Towards the end of the century we have manuscripts and books by two prominent millenarians, Richard Brothers and Joanna Southcott.
Additional noteworthy 18th-century holdings are exceptional early Louisiana imprints from the Parsons library and architecture and gardening books from the Weinreb and Lundell Collections.
Registration for the Flair Symposium, November 13-15, 2008, is now open. Registration is open to the public with a limited number of spaces available to students at a discounted price. Members of the Harry Ransom Center also receive a discount.
Watch broadcast journalist Mike Wallace's interviews from the television program The Mike Wallace Interview. Wallace donated the show's footage on 16mm kinescope to the Ransom Center in the early 1960s. Most episodes have not been seen since they aired.
Where do you live: Squaresville or Beatnik Boro? Sunnyville or Crazyville?
