Houghton Library Blog

[This is the first in a monthly series of Houghton books and manuscripts which have recently been digitized. Thanks to Emilie Hardman, Public Services/Metadata Assistant, and Susan Pyzynski, Associate Librarian for Technical Services, for contributing this post.]

Bach, Johann Christian, 1735-1782.
The favourite songs in the opera call’d Zanaida / by Sigr. Bach.
London : Printed for I. Walsh, in Catharine Street in the Strand, [1763].
HTC LC M1505.B14 Z3 1763
J.C. Bach’s 18th century opera for soprano soloists with chamber orchestra accompaniment.
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4464207

—

Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827.
Sonata pour le piano et le vio[lo]ncelle : composée et dediée à son ami Mr. Charles Neate / par Louis van Beethoven : manuscript, [ca. 1815]
MS Mus 135
A fair copy manuscript for Beethoven’s Sonata pour le piano et le violoncello, possibly in the hand of W. Rampl, with autograph corrections and revisions.
Piano score: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4482479
Violoncello score: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4482480

—

Blake, William, 1757-1827.
The book of Thel.
Visions of the daughters of Albion.
[Lambeth] : The author & printer Willm. Blake, 1789.
Lowell EC75.B5815.793va

Songs of innocence and of experience shewing the two contrary states of the human soul.
[London] : The author & printer W. Blake, [1789-1794]
HEW 1.4.4
Printed and hand-colored by the author, three of Blake’s greatest and most beautiful illustrated works.
Thel: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:5095231
Albion: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4907402
Songs: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4430720

—

Bradstreet, Anne, 1612?-1672.
Meditations divine and morall : manuscript, 1664-1672?
MS Am 1007.1
Discovered in a New Haven junk shop in the late 1930s, poet Anne Bradstreet’s notebook contains aphoristic prose paragraphs dedicated to her son, Rev. Simon Bradstreet as well as notes by Simon Bradstreet made after his mother’s death in 1672, including his transcriptions of Bradstreet’s “To my dear children.”
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.Hough:4465803

—

Compagnie des Indes.
Description of a set of 16 engravings entitled Conquêtes de l’empereur de la Chine : manuscript, 1775.
MS Typ 607
This 18th century manuscript was created when the 16 engravings it describes were deposited in the Bibliothèque du Roi.
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4455009

—

Dunoyer de Segonzac, André, 1884-1974.
Vingt-quatre dessins sur Schéhérazade (ballet russe) / par Dunoyer de Segonzac.
Paris : Se trouve “A Schéhérazade”, [1910]
TS C66
24 captivating design drawings by Dunoyer de Segonzac representing moments from the performance of Shéhérazade.
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4505768

—

Elphinstone, Hester Maria , Viscountess Keith, 1780-1783.
Correspondence with Fanny Burney.
MS Hyde 5 (1-9)
Viscountess Keith, affectionately dubbed “Queeney” by poet Samuel Johnson, a family friend, was also a friend of novelist and playwright Frances (Fanny) Burney, with whom she shared a lively correspondence.
http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/19434916

—

Fine, Oronce, 1494-1555.
Le sphere de monde : proprement dicte Cosmographie : manuscript, 1549.
MS Typ 57
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4435151

—

Hollis, Thomas, 1720-1774.
Diary : manuscript, 1759-1770.
MS Eng 1191
See this earlier post discussing Hollis’s gifts to the Harvard College Library in the 18th century.
v. 1 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4375343
v. 2 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4375664
v. 3 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4375996
v. 4 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4388728
v. 5 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4376392
v. 6 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4376913

—

Langford, Mr. (Abraham), 1711-1774.
A catalogue of the curious and valuable library of Ebenezer Mussel, Esq; of Bethnal Green, lately deceas’d : among which are many original manuscripts, and several missals finely illuminated, as likewise great numbers of the books of the first printers …
[London] : Mr. Langford’s … , [1766]
*EC7.M2963.Q766c

Molyneux, Samuel, 1689-1728.
A catalogue of the library of the Honble Samuel Molyneux, … to be sold by auction on Tuesday the 20th of January, 1729-30.
[London, 1729]
B 1827.578
Rare annotated auction catalogs documenting of the sales of two extensive 18th century libraries.
Langford http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4461153
Molyneaux: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4435984

—

Lieber, Francis and Matilda.
Letters to Dorothea Dix, 1846-1883.
MS Am 1838 (415-416)
Letters of Francis Lieber, the German-American jurist and political philosopher, and his wife, Matilda, to humanitarian Dorothea Dix.
http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/18782241

—

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1807-1882.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow papers. Lectures
MS Am 1340 (106-107)
Longfellow’s notes for a series of his lectures on Dante.
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4502151

—

Mexico.
Constitucion federal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos sancionada por el Congreso general constituyente el 4. de octubre de 1824.
LMC8.M5745C.1824c
A series of 19th century Mexican national documents bound together, including the Constitucion federal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Acta Constitutiva de la Federacion Mexicana, Ley de Convocatoria para el Congreso del Estado de Durango, and Constitución política del estado libre de Durango.
http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/19608319

—

Stillman, James, 1850-1918.
Diaries : typescript, 1865-1918.
MS Am 2041
Almost 1,000 pages of daily detail, comments on the weather, supper, health, and more from this American financier and banker:
Friday, October 29, 1897
Cloudy in morning, cleared off before noon and grew very cold in afternoon and evening. Very busy. Saw Rockefeller, Reed, Geo. Baker, H.W. Cannon, Gawtry and Olcott. Bicycled in afternoon. … Dinner so poor obliged go to Club.
Vol. 1 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4451184
Vol. 2 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4451185
Vol. 3 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:4451186