New York City - more than any other urban center in the world - teams with experts - curators at the Met, MoMA, the Frick, Guggenheim, Whitney, Morgan; Bankers everywhere, Philanthropists also everywhere - my next door neighbor gives away $10,000,000 every day, historians at Columbia, 1000 genius phychaitrists in the Pardes Building, Musicans on Broadway, the Opera, the Philharmonic, Dancers in the Koch Building, Artists, Chefs, Librarians, Police, Perfumers (the best ever was my father's great friend.) And doctors - certainly the best Spine surgeon, Cancer, Heart, Sports - the world centers. And teachers - no where else even close. Jewelers, Fashion, Technology, Diplomacy = #1. And yes for 12 years we had the best Mayor in all of American History. His example is now taught throughout the world.
And nou are invited to visit three experts at 1016 Madison Avenue in the only pristine, Beaux Arts Mansion left on Madison Avenue - Alison Petretti for Natural History Watercolors of the last 460 years, Seth Kaller for manuscripts and Jonah Rosenberg (a former Oxford Professor) for Rare Books.
The best bibliogrphic essay ever for me is Jonah's stunning, highly entertaining exposition below:
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Bibliophilic Essay #8: People of the Books
Bibliophily might be thought to be its own kind of religion, though that veers toward blasphemy. Rather, religion runs through the history of book like a spine, or better still, like a network of arteries. It is no accident that the first major European printed book is Gutenberg’s ca. 1455 42-line Bible (from Greek τὰ βιβλία, tà biblía, little pieces of papyrus (βίβλος, bíblos), i.e., books (subdivisions of a larger work)). A botanical book doesn’t become a flower, but a religious book becomes sacred; that merits some thought about how essential religion is to books, and books, in turn, are to religion. Easter is tomorrow, Passover was last week, Ramadan ended about three weeks ago; Spring has been thoroughly colonized by religion, whereas Autumn and even Winter maintain some of their pagan festal flavor. “People of the Book” is a term used by Muslims to refer to Christians and Jews (inter alios) who are united with them in regarding the Old Testament as emanating from (the same) god.
Below please find some highlights of the collection, or click here to read the full essay on our holdings of religious books.
Jonah Rosenberg Head of Rare Books |
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A 1727 Office of Holy Week for the usage of the French royal household. With a fanfare binding centering the arms of Cardinal de Fleury, principal minister of Louis XV, at center. $5,800. |
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Arader Books | 1016 Madison Avenue | New York, NY 10075 US |
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