Frontispiece from an early edition of WaldenThe American Letters collection offers first editions and personal papers of leading authors from the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection includes a first edition of Moby Dick by Herman Melville (1851), given by Peter G. McNally, father of Aaron McNally ’87, and a complete set of Melville’s works (London: Constable and Company, 1922-1924). Henry David Thoreau is represented by a first edition of Walden (1854), a 20-volume set of the complete works under the title Writings (1906), and first editions of other works.

An author’s edition of The Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (1876) is signed by Whitman. Works by Sarah Orne Jewett include a signed first edition of Deephaven (1877), her first published work, first editions of other books, and letters from the author.

Pages from an illustrated version of Cather's Death Comes for the ArchbishopAn extensive collection of works by Henry James, given by David Granger ’19, offers a number of first editions and limited editions, including one signed, and personal papers or letters signed by the author. The H.L. Mencken Collection and the Willa Cather Collection were both given by Alfred A. Knopf, Jr. ’37. The Mencken Collection consists of 49 early editions, many inscribed, and a selection of Mencken’s letters to Knopf between 1943 and 1947. The Cather Collection features 24 first editions, many signed by the author.

Other volumes of note include inscribed and first editions by Cover of O'Neill's The Hairy ApeRobert Frost and first editions by T.S. Eliot, including a signed first edition in a limited print run of Ash Wednesday (1930).

The British Letters collection is represented by valuable editions of works by novelists, poets and biographers. Among the most notable is A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson (1755). The Library owns a first edition of Volume I of the dictionary and a third edition of Volume II. The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell (1791) is another significant first edition. Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift (1726), is a second, corrected edition.

A particularly valuable item is the complete first edition of Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens, as issued serially in monthly parts by Dickens - Dombey and SonChapman and Hall (1864-1865), with illustrations by Marcus Stone. The collection also features Dombey and Son as originally issued (1846-1848), given by George Clough ’40, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, the final and unfinished work by Charles Dickens, as originally issued in monthly parts (April-September, 1870), in addition to scrapbooks of newspaper clippings about Dickens’ public appearances and photographs of the author.

The John Masefield collection, given by Corliss Lamont ’20, contains an extensive collection of first editions, many signed, and personal correspondence of the poet laureate of Great Britain from 1930 to 1967. The Virginia Woolf collection, given by William N. Bates, Jr. ’24, features first editions of almost all of Woolf’s works, including some signed copies, and a letter from Woolf.

Virginia Woolf's autograph