Listen to co-curator Erica Ciallela discuss Belle Greene’s acquisitions for the Library and actor Andi Bohs read a passage from a letter Greene wrote in 1909.
Clarence H. White (1871–1925)
Belle da Costa Greene, 1911
Platinum print
9 3/8 × 7 5/8 (23.9 × 19.2 cm)
Biblioteca Berenson, I Tatti, the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies; Bernard and Mary Berenson Papers, Personal Photographs, Box 12, Folder 37.
The Bernard and Mary Berenson Papers. Biblioteca Berenson I Tatti - The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies.
ERICA: Only a few years into her role at the Morgan Belle Greene was making major acquisitions for the collection and had earned Pierpont Morgan’s trust. One of her most famous quotes about her future ambitions for the collection comes from a letter she wrote her boss in 1909, announcing her purchase of the earliest surviving manuscript of Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem, “The Raven.”
ANDI: I also bought the only existing manuscript of the Raven by Poe. The manuscript consists of a letter to Poe's friend Shea—enclosing the eleventh stanza of the famous poem and corrections for the 10th stanza. I think it one of the most important items in American literature and it is almost certain that the main draft of the poem was destroyed in the printing office of the Whig Review (as no trace of his has ever been found). I felt that this belonged with your other Poe manuscripts. It was offered by Hellman for $2500—I bought it at $1500. I have bought other books to fill gaps—one aim is to make the Library preeminent, especially for incunabula, manuscripts, bindings, and the classics. Our only rivals are the British Museum and the Bibliothèque Nationale. I hope to be able to say some day that there is neither rival nor equal.