As far back as the early 16th Century, horses served an important ceremonial role in the political and social life throughout Europe. In addition to satisfying the basic needs of transportation in civil and military life, the ability to ride became an essential mark of the nobility. So strong was the link, royal displays of horses […]
Read More Tableau of the Procession at the Queen’s Coronation, 1838Happy World Book Day! In celebration, I’m going to share with you the books that make the biggest impression when I give tours: the fore-edge painting books. Fore-edge painting is the very old practice of painting tiny images on the edges of the pages. The book block is angled and clamped while the tiny watercolor painting […]
Read More Fore-Edge Painting BooksOur recent Fellow, Collin McKinney, has left the NSLM and returned to Bucknell University. We asked Collin to share some of his experiences over the last two months in Middleburg and in our collections. Here’s what he had to share. I arrived in Middleburg on a sunny day at the beginning in January. I think […]
Read More Collin McKinney departs the NSLMIn the F. Ambrose Clark Rare Book Room, I came across a rare gem, tucked away in the John H. Daniels Manuscripts Collection. It’s a poem called “The Bonie Moorhen: A Hunting Song.” The manuscript is an autograph manuscript by Robert Burns (1759-1796), the foremost national poet of Scotland. Burns wrote poetry and composed songs, and […]
Read More The Bonie Moorhen, 1788A short one today! Izaak Walton (1594 – 1683) is best known for writing the influential The Compleat Angler, a guide to the culture and spirit of fly fishing that grew and expanded over the course of Walton’s life. It’s considered a major classic in the fly fishing world, and NSLM is lucky enough to possess […]
Read More The Compleat Angler, 1655The NSLM manuscripts collection is in the F. Ambrose Clark Rare Book Room, which houses the Library’s rare books collection as well as the John H. Daniels Collection. One of the manuscripts donated by John and Martha Daniels is a letter from Edith Somerville to Virginia sportsman Harry Worcester Smith in 1924. Somerville was a prominent author […]
Read More Somerville Letter, May 4, 1924Today I get to share an item of which we’re very proud at NSLM. This is the original manuscript of “Riding to Hounds on Long Island,” an essay written by Theodore Roosevelt in July 1886 for the Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine. I’m always certain to bring this out for viewing when we have visitors on […]
Read More Riding to Hounds on Long Island, 1886Our next item of interest is in a small green box, labeled with the mysterious title, “A Peep at a Fox Chase – Ephemera – 1829.” Let me explain why this is intriguing. Merriam-Webster defines ephemera as “paper items (as posters, broadsides, and tickets) that were originally meant to be discarded after use but have […]
Read More A Peep at a Fox Chase, 1829
Drawing Covert 