A. S. W. Rosenbach

Abraham Simon Wolf Rosenbach reduced: ASW Rosenbach (* July 22, 1876; † July 1, 1952 in Philadelphia ) was an American antiquary and bibliophile.

Life

Abraham was the youngest of eight children of Morris Rosenbach (May 14, 1820 - May 8, 1885 ) and Isabella H. Polock (November 26, 1834 - July 25, 1906 ), who married on 11 November 1857. As a child, Abraham spent much time in the workshop of his maternal uncle, Moses Polock (May 14, 1817 - August 16, 1903 ), a well-known and easy eccentric antiquarian. Polock led a bookseller at the 406 Commerce Street in Philadelphia. Abraham started collecting when he went to the University of Pennsylvania. He then founded his own books » Rosenbach " and built the holdings of the Huntington Library and the Folger Shakespeare Library on with. He also worked for private clients such as JP Morgan, Lessing Julius Rosenwald, and Harry Elkins Widener. He has published several articles and books in order to enhance the interest in rare books and manuscripts. Rosenbach was instrumental in popularizing and collecting American literature at a time when almost all the European literature as antiquarian collectibles had validity. He propagated the idea of ​​collecting books as an investment and financial investment.

Collector and patron

Together with his brother and business partner Philip Hyman Rosenbach (September 29, 1863 - March 5, 1953 ), he founded the Rosenbach Museum & Library. By last willing Gift it went in 1954 to the State. He lived from 1926 to 1952 in Philadelphia on Delancey Place in House No. 2006, where close to the Museum (No. 2010) is that he was a collector and scholar, his passion for books and manuscripts to a successful business led, and was dealer of rare books and manuscripts in the first half of the 20th century. He built some of the most important private collections on, and urged it always make them publicly available. Rosenbach received many treasures for his own collection, like the manuscript of James Joyce's Ulysses and the earliest known letter from George Washington.

Works (English)

  • The Unpublishable Memoirs London, Casle 1924.
  • An American Jewish Bibliography: Being A List Of Books And Pamphlets Relating To Them By Jews Or Printed In The United States From The Establishment Of The Press In The Colonies Until 1850 1929 Mansfield Centre Martino. . Reprint, 1999
  • Early American Children's Books. With Bibliographical Descriptions of the Books in the Private Collection. Portland, Maine; Southworth Press, 1933.
  • A Book Hunter 's Holiday. Adventures with Books and Manuscripts; Houghton Mifflin Co. 1936.
J. P. Morgan Lessing J. Rosenwald Integrated Authority File
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