Word: houghtons
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...Autumn, the collection contains two-thirds of the bulk of Keats' surviving manuscripts. About one-half of the collection was given to Harvard by Amy Lowell, along with many rare books from her own library; an addition, equal in size to the original gift was given later by Amory Houghton who occasionally adds new material...
...oldest piece of literature in Houghton is a fragment of Egyptian hieroglyphic material which experts date somewhere between 1500 and 2000 B.C. Houghton does not own much really ancient material, but its collection of medieval work, much of it in the form of medieval manuscripts, is particularly strong...
...only other portion of the library accessible to the casual visitor is a series of rooms displaying samples from Houghton's unmatched theater collection. "Playbills, posters, prints, photographs, pamphlets, broadsides, sheet music, letters, documents, clippings"--everything pertaining to the theater in any form fills the theater section of the Houghton stacks. Old poster and playbills of Kean and Booth, the playbill for the Ford theater on the night of Lincoln's assassination, are some notable examples. One piece, P.T. Barnum's first advertisement, tells of his original sideshow: "Joice Heth . . . born on the island of Madagascar on the coast...
...justifiably so, for its facilities are adequate, even superb, but only for the sort of literary aristocracy which has a need for primary material. If anyone has a particular interest in an author or work it may be possible for him to see it in manuscript form at Houghton, but not to use it, if it is at all possible for him to use a secondary work...
...library, however, does not exist solely for these few or the many groups of these few which accumulate over the years. Scholars come to Houghton from all over the world to study the manuscripts and rare editions. Houghton represents a major center for rare books and ranks with the British Museum and similar organizations in the eyes of international book dealers. Though Houghton is perhaps the organ of the university most entirely devoted to the intellectual aristocracy, its function is essential, and its contents will continue to grow at the present swift rate throughout the coming years.INCUNABULA in the first...