A close-up of the architectural details that, aside from the books and our wonderful library users, makes the George Peabody Library so beautiful — Corinthian pilasters, gilt work, and lovely florets!

Photograph taken by N. Barker

Surely we are not the only ones to recite Chaucer’s Prologue to The Canterbury Tales whenever the month of April strikes, right?  Hmmm … maybe we are!  At least everyone can appreciate the beauty that is the Kelmscott Press edition of the The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Printed by William Morris in 1896 and featuring lovely wood engravings by Burne-Jones (such as the one depicted showing Chaucer being all poetic and totally rockin’ some medieval robes), the Kelmscott Chaucer is surely a dandy’s delight to read!

Location: George Peabody Library

Call No.: 821 C496 1896 QUARTO

Happy Mardi Gras from Hopkins’ very own Lester Levy Collection of Sheet Music!

GPL Presents: Love Letter Advice from the Past!

Though today it would be rather creepy to receive, say, an email or a tweet requesting a lock of hair, it used to be the height of romance! So popular indeed was the amputation of hair in the pursuit of love that stock letters were created for the terse of word!

From: Frost’s Original Letter Writer (1867)

Call No.: 808.6 F9296 1867
Location: George Peabody Library

Psycho Victorian Santa & the Start of the Christmas Tree?

Let’s forget for a moment that this cover depicts a Kriss Kringle who is clearly on a murderous rampage (look, for instance, at his sack full of victims), and concentrate instead on a rather interesting tidbit regarding the tradition of Christmas trees in America from this book’s preamble (ca. 1845):
“The practice of hanging up stockings in the chimney corner for Kriss Kringle to fill with toys, pretty books, bon-bons for good children, and rods for naughty children, is being superseded by that of placing a Christmas Tree on the table to await the annual visit of the worthy Santa Klaus.”

Call No.: 398.2 K93
Location: George Peabody Library

Happy Halloween!!!!
Behold the Peabody’s very own cackling witch and her cauldron of evil from an edition of the Ingoldsby Legends (1866)!  Just what were these here Ingoldsby Legends? It’s a collection of humorous and macabre spooky tales and verse that were all the rage in the 19th century, including the awesomely-titled “Bloudie Jacke of Shrewsberrie.”

Call No.: 827.8 IN 46 1866
Location: George Peabody  Library

View from the Stacks!

This is a view from the third floor of the George Peabody Library.  It’s kind of cool because you can see the contrast between the opulent Victorian architecture and the rather drab and utilitarian bookcases.

What Would You Do?

The Delsarte Technique of Expression strikes again. Sauciness! Thy name is a young lady in a toga! And for all these years we thought it was a lady dressed as a Gibson Girl riding a velocipede whilst smoking a cigar!

Call No.: 808.5 D365M
Location: George Peabody Library

Completely Frivolous, Yet Totally Awesome!

Ornate revolving book cases requiring the strength of over a thousand Hercules to operate were on display at the 1851 Great Exhibition.  While we are quite happy that the George Peabody Library is chock full of traditional upright cases, we nonetheless but wish to have one revolving book case simply for the opportunities for mischief such a storage unit naturally creates.

From page 202 of History and Description of the Crystal Palace and the Exhibition of the World’s Industry in 1851, Volume 2. Printed in London by John Tallis and Co.
Call No.: 606 L847GT V.2
Location: The George Peabody Library