A colleague this morning shared with me this New York Times article on the Library Company’s acquisition of Dr. Charles Rosenberg’s great collection of American sexual advice literature. It’s wonderful to see one of my favorite collectors and two of my favorite librarians – Rachel D’Agostino and James Green – highlighted, with considerable accuracy, by a major news outlet. It’s pretty rare in my experience that mainstream journalists produce satisfying reportage on the rare book world, with the hyperbole turned down and the focus on the material itself and the collector and librarians who put it together. The author doesn’t even once speculate on what the “most expensive” book in the collection might be! The article appeared in June of this year, but if it was shared I don’t recall seeing it, so I’m offering it here.
I’m pleased to have sold a few of these items to Dr. Rosenberg over the years, but even more pleased to know the satisfaction that my friend Garrett Scott must be feeling. He was one of the collection’s biggest collaborators from the supply side – as is usual (and appropriate, I think) the bookseller’s role isn’t mentioned by the reporter, but in this case it was profound. I know of no individual who can discourse more freely or authoritatively than Garrett on nineteenth-century views on onanism, or on the various editions of the great underground sex manual Aristotle’s Masterpiece.
