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[Suite de quinze estampes représentant des oiseaux]
French engraver Marie Briot was the daughter of Isaac Briot, an engraver and draughtsman, and trained in his studio. In addition to this work, she also contributed numerous engravings to a book of emblems published in 1638 and 1639. This volume includes fifteen plates of birds in their natural environment. She signs her plates Marie Briot, Fecit identifying herself as the maker. -
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[Flowers]
The collection contains a significant gathering of materials written by and relating to Charlotte, Ann, and Emily Brontë. Charlotte used the newly fashionable style of embroidery known as “Berlin woolwork” to create this needlework in wool yarn on canvas. The style was being promoted at a time when a greater number of women had leisure time that might be devoted to decorative needlework. The single sheet patterns were inexpensive and easy to translate to the canvas. The design relates to a watercolor by Charlotte Brontë, circa 1831–1832, now in the Brontë Parsonage Museum. -
Letter to Ellen Nussey
Charlotte Brontë begins this letter to her lifelong friend with an update on her efforts to secure work as a governess. She goes on to relate a visit from the wife of a curate whose husband ruined their family through his drinking and “treated her and her child savagely.” Brontë attests to her own distaste for the curate even before she knew about his abusive character. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell quotes this section of the letter in her biography of Brontë, noting that it “shows her instinctive aversion to a particular class of men, whose vices some have supposed she looked upon with indulgence.” -
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Sonnets from the Portuguese
Annie S. Macdonald’s embossed designs, inspired by German monastic bindings, were traced and worked onto the undressed leather after it covered the boards. She invented this technique, describing her method in “Modelled Bookbindings,” published in Book-Lovers Magazine in 1907. The lower cover with its splendid winged angel incorporates her initials. The binding leather, originally an ivory color, has darkened with age. This binding was included in the Guild Exhibition at Karslake and Company (1898) and is listed in the catalogue. Macdonald inspired Frank Karslake to establish the Guild of Women Binders, and with Jessie R. MacGibbon, Phoebe Anna Traquair, and other craftswomen came together as the Edinburgh Arts and Crafts Club, meeting to discuss and exhibit their work.Tags Bookbindings -
A Compendious System of Astronomy [...]
Keenly aware that she was venturing into a new sphere for women, Margaret Bryan included mathematics and science in the curriculum to be taught to girls at her schools in Blackheath, London, and Margate. Bryan wrote on physics and optics, using straightforward language and everyday examples. The subscribers for this title included celebrated mathematicians and astronomers as well as Bryan’s former pupils. This copy has two manuscript letters from Dr. William Kitchiner tipped in, related to his book on telescopes. -
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The Fairy-land of Science
In 1864 at age twenty-four, Arabella Buckley became the secretary for geologist Charles Lyell. From this position she gained connections to other important Victorian-era scientists such as Alfred Wallace, Charles Darwin, and Thomas Huxley. Upon Lyell’s death in 1875, she pursued her own career writing popular scientific works, including many for children. She wrote over ten books on science, some published in multiple editions and translated into other languages. Her publishing success was due to her ability to describe major scientific ideas with rich literary imagery, as in Fairy-land of Science. -
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Mrs. Benjamin N. Duke
Mrs. Benjamin N. Duke (Sarah Pearson), in crystal anniversary dress, 1894, Oil on canvas, 36" x 50", by Norval H. Busey
Mrs. Benjamin N. Duke wears the crystal anniversary dress which is now on display at the Washington Duke Inn. In 1960, this portrait was transferred with three other Duke family portraits from Four Acres, Benjamin N. Duke's home in Durham. This portrait hangs behind the Public Services Desk in Lilly Library's Main Lobby. This portrait is currently not on display. Another portrait of her hangs in the north foyer of the second floor.
Mrs. Benjamin N. Duke helped establish the Sarah P. Duke Gardens located on the West Campus of Duke University. She also joined with Trinity faculty to establish literary clubs comprised of community and campus members.
Norval H. Busey, the artist, was born in 1845, in Christiansburg, Virginia. He studied painting with Bouguereau in Paris. Around 1871 he became a member of the Salmagundi Club in New York, an early important art club that held regular exhibitions and formed a collection. Busey also painted portraits of Benjamin N. Duke, Master Angier B. Duke, and Miss Mary Duke, which hang in Lilly Library's Main Lobby, and The Reapers, which hangs in the south foyer on the second floor. -
Mary L. Duke
Mary Duke as Young Girl, 1895, Oil on canvas, 33" x 59," by Norval H. Busey
Mary Lillian Duke, born in 1887, was the daughter of Benjamin and Sarah Duke. She later became Mary Duke Biddle. Mary Duke graduated from Trinity College in 1907 and beginning in the early 1920s, she and her brother, Angier, began making significant contributions to Trinity College. In 1938, Biddle provided funding for the Sarah P. Duke Gardens (a memorial to her mother). After World War II, she gave a gift of $1.5 million for the expansion of the West Campus Library (Perkins Library). In 1960, this portrait was transferred with three other Duke family portraits from Four Acres, Benjamin N. Duke's home in Durham. Young Mary Duke's portrait hangs on the wall directly across from the Public Services Desk in Lilly's Main Lobby. Currently not on display.
Norval H. Busey was born in 1845, in Christiansburg, Virginia. He studied painting with Bouguereau in Paris. Around 1871 he became a member of the Salmagundi Club in New York, an early important art club that held regular exhibitions and formed a collection. Busey also painted portraits of Benjamin N. Duke, Mrs. Benjamin N. Duke, and Master Angier B. Duke which hang in Lilly Library's Main Lobby, and The Reapers, which hangs in the south foyer on the second floor. -
Benjamin N. Duke
Benjamin N. Duke, 1894, Oil on canvas, 36" x 50", by Norval H. Busey
Benjamin Newton Duke (1855-1929), son of Washington Duke, was a director of the American Tobacco Company, which was headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, and made many gifts to Trinity College, which was later renamed Duke University. Benjamin married Sarah P. Duke; they had one son, Angier, and one daughter, Mary [later Mary Duke Biddle]. In 1960, this portrait was transferred with three other Duke family portraits from Four Acres, Benjamin N. Duke's home in Durham. This portrait hangs behind the Public Services Desk in Lilly Library's Main Lobby. Currently not on display.
Norval H. Busey was born in 1845, in Christiansburg, Virginia. He studied painting with Bouguereau in Paris. Around 1871 he became a member of the Salmagundi Club in New York, an early important art club that held regular exhibitions and formed a collection. Busey also painted portraits of Mrs. Benjamin N. Duke, Master Angier B. Duke, and Miss Mary Duke, which hang in Lilly Library's Main Lobby, and The Reapers, which hangs in the south foyer on the second floor. -
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