by We both love reading and we both love old books (downsizing our antiquarian book collection was one of the hardest parts of transitioning to van life). So while a visit to the home of someone who collected rare books might not be the most visually appealing of stops, it was definitely something we both wanted to do.
The Rosenbach Museum and Library is located in two 19th-century townhouses in Philadelphia. Some of the space is where the Rosenbach brothers, Simon (1876-1952) and Philip (1863-1953), lived, and some is where their historic book collection is. The brothers were owners of the Rosenbach Company, which dealt in rare books, letters and manuscripts, as well as decorative arts
Simon was the driving force behind the rare book side of the business, and he helped build renowned libraries such as Widener Library at Harvard, the Huntington Library in California, and the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. (which we had just recently visited).
Simon was a frequent attendee at Sotheby’s auctions, where he was known as “The Terror of the Auction Room.” His Paris auction antics earned him the nickname “Le Napoléon des Livres” (“The Napoleon of Books”). Over the course of his career, he bought and sold eight Gutenberg Bibles and 30 of Shakespeare’s First Folios.
The Rosenbach collection is wide ranging, from a Canterbury Tales manuscript to hundreds of letters by George Washington to an extensive collection of Robert Burns manuscripts. There’s an excellent Dickens collection, and a handwritten manuscript of James Joyce’s Ulysses. The living room of an American poet, critic, translator, and editor Marianne Moore has been recreated in one room. You get the picture.
The house is furnished as the Rosenbach brothers would have had it during their 1926 to 1952 residence, with 18th century English pieces. There’s a thorough collection of English silver and gold from the 17th and mid-18th centuries, along with more than one thousand portrait miniatures. “Choice collections of 18th century porcelain, glass, paintings, drawings and sculpture are drawn upon to complete the furnishings.”
