Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, guys – I have been on vacation in New York. I’m pausing my vacation to write this because I just had to share an experience I had today…
This morning, I visited The Morgan Library & Museum. It was JP Morgan’s (yes, that JP Morgan) personal library. He built it as a lavish getaway from his hectic life and thus satisfied a lifelong passion for books and history. The displays are changing all the time and they usually have one or two special exhibits going on as well.
Entering his personal library is like walking into a king’s private quarters. The first room is decked out in red silk “wall paper,” personal portraits, artwork, and huge stone fireplaces. Mr. Morgan’s giant desk and red velvet chair sit grandly before more red velvet lounge chairs. I mean come on – who wouldn’t want a room like this?? The bookshelves are this gorgeous dark wood and are stacked with books on books on books – and I don’t mean regular, run of the mill paper backs. Every single book in his library (consisting of two main rooms and connecting room) is an historical treasure. I’m talking about first edition Gutenberg Bibles and manuscripts of Charles Dickens novels. But that’s just the regular bookshelves – attached to this first room is a secret vault (with steel, re-enforced doors and everything) that holds the really important stuff.
This is the vault in the first room – it is a lot larger than you can see here, going up another story and deeper in to the left.
So then we move into what I am calling the “passageway room.” This room is made completely of marble and it holds about three items on display at a time. Most exciting for me was to see a manuscript in Noah Webster’s own hand of the first ever English dictionary! His handwriting is like beautiful, if a little cramped, calligraphy.
Here’s a page from Noah Webster’s first manuscript – his dictionary is not only the first English dictionary, but it’s also the only dictionary ever to be compiled by a single person
And last, but perhaps most impressive, is the third room. This is where most of the books are stored. The room again houses an enormous stone fireplace, capped with a giant tapestry. The books are arranged on shelves in panel-like cabinets, covering the majority of the room and each of the three stories. Of course, the bookcases are protected by glass so that they can be better preserved in temperature-controlled environments. But as a stood there in awe, I realized something — there was no way to get up to the second and third floors! The docent saw me gaping like a fool and enlightened me thus…One of the panel-like bookcases actually doubles as a door! With a discrete handle and hidden hinges, this corner panel swung outward to enable access to a hidden stairwell that goes up to the top two floors and down to more book storage. I mean are you kidding me?? Unfortunately, only certain privileged staff members can open this bookcase-door-panel at certain times, so I could only see the stairwell through the small gap between the door and the perpendicular (and real) bookcase. What I did see reminded me of the passageway room – all white marble and dark wooden railing.
This gives you a view of one of the corner’s of the third room – as you can see, there is no external staircase. Behind my grandfather (the one that seems to touch his back) is the bookshelf that leads a double life as a hidden doorway to the secret staircase.
Another highlight in this room struck a personal chord in me. In the center of the room are display cases, which allow us Plebians to gain an intimate look into some of the books, sheet music, letters, etc. in the collection. On display today, side by side, were a letter written by Ernest Hemingway and an original manuscript of Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey. In his letter, Hemingway declines an interview George Plimpton, editor of The Paris Review, by blunting stating, “I might say ‘Fuck the Art of Fiction’ which would give a wrong impression as what I would really mean was Fuck talking about it. Let us practice it and shut up.” Amazing to see Hemingway’s characteristic bluntness written in his own hand!!
Hemingway’s letter – written on March 5, 1954. His handwriting is exactly as I expected!
Have any of you visited The JP Morgan Library & Museum? What’d you think? What’d you see?? If you haven’t had the chance to visit yet, GO!! And then, GO AGAIN!!
Churning Pages 