Videos

For our Centennial, we asked some of our friends and collaborators to speak about what they love about the Morgan Library & Museum. Watch writer and iconic New Yorker Fran Lebowitz describe some of her favorite letters and manuscripts in our collection by her favorite writers.

Sheelagh Bevan, our Andrew W. Mellon Associate Curator of Printed Books and Bindings, discusses Blaise Cendrars, born Frédéric Louis Sauser, a catalyst in some of the explosive artistic innovations of the early twentieth century.

The incredible Prayer Book of Anne de Bretagne has a compelling story behind the beautiful craftsmanship. Our Melvin R. Seiden Curator and Department Head Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Roger S. Wieck describes the work in detail.

Jesse R. Erickson, our Astor Curator and Department Head of Printed Books & Bindings, tells us about a popular Victorian novelist, Maria Louise Ramé, better known as Ouida. We look closely at the Morgan’s first edition of Ouida’s “A Dog of Flanders,” her 1872 novel, which has gained worldwide acclaim as a children's book.

Take a closer look at this 900 year old English manuscript with Dei Jackson, Assistant Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts as she tells the story of St. Edmund.

Hendrick Goltzius was one of the greatest Dutch printmakers and draftsmen of the sixteenth century. Our Annette and Oscar de la Renta Assistant Curator of Drawings and Prints Austeja Mackelaite describes his work in detail.

The original ideas for many of Beatrix Potter's stories can be found in the manuscript picture letters she wrote to children of friends and family members.

Albrecht Dürer's engraving Adam and Eve is one of the most celebrated of the artist's career. It complements the Morgan's drawing of Adam and Eve by Dürer (I, 257d). Dürer produced the Morgan drawing while trying to resolve the composition, which he then translated into the engraving.

Maurice Ravel’s Bolero started out as a ballet score commissioned by dancer Ida Rubenstein. Her troupe danced the composition's first performance at the Paris Opera in 1928. It was an instant hit. Our Assistant Curator of Music Manuscripts and Printed Music Robinson McClellan has more on this iconic piece of music.

Take a closer look at three touching, humanist drawings by Rembrandt (1606–1669) in the Morgan's collection. John Pierpont Morgan loved Rembrandt. He owned 500 prints by Rembrandt, and in 1909 acquired his first drawings by the artist.

Listen to Roger S. Wieck, the Melvin R. Seiden Curator and Department Head of Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts share his insights on the Hours of Catherine of Cleves.

Long before becoming one of the most celebrated figures in the history of science, Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) kept this pocket-sized memorandum book, filling it with notes distilled from his reading.

In this video, Robinson McClellan, Assistant Curator of Music Manuscripts and Printed Music, explains why Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" remains a cut above the rest