![From The Book of trades, or Library of the useful arts. Part I. Published by Jacob Johnson, and for sale at his book-store in Philadelphia, and in Richmond Virginia. 1807](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Unacc-Book-of-Trades-Vol2-Brewer-495x400.jpg)
Except New Jersey
All News, Beyond the Reading Room, VCP News
In fall 2013 the Library Company seized upon the tremendous opportunity to acquire the Joe Freedman Collection of Philadelphia Ephemera. A boon to our visual culture holdings, I have recently had the privilege to begin to process…
![From The Book of trades, or Library of the useful arts. Part I. Published by Jacob Johnson, and for sale at his book-store in Philadelphia, and in Richmond Virginia. 1807](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Unacc-Book-of-Trades-Vol2-Brewer-495x400.jpg)
The French High Commission’s Visit to Philadelphia
All News, Beyond the Reading Room
On April 2, 1917, nearly three years after World War I had broken out in Europe, President Woodrow Wilson appealed to the United States Congress to declare war on Germany. President Wilson cited two reasons for seeking a congressional declaration…
![From The Book of trades, or Library of the useful arts. Part I. Published by Jacob Johnson, and for sale at his book-store in Philadelphia, and in Richmond Virginia. 1807](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Unacc-Book-of-Trades-Vol2-Brewer-495x400.jpg)
Tamar Stone: Book Artist
All News, Beyond the Reading RoomIn honor of Women’s History Month, we have invited Tamar Stone to write a guest entry for us.
I make artist books. These are one-of-a-kind pieces that use antique textiles to speak to various issues that women faced in the past. My…
![From The Book of trades, or Library of the useful arts. Part I. Published by Jacob Johnson, and for sale at his book-store in Philadelphia, and in Richmond Virginia. 1807](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Unacc-Book-of-Trades-Vol2-Brewer-495x400.jpg)
Happy Washington’s Birthday on February 22nd
All News, Beyond the Reading Room
There have been prints depicting George Washington with his family since the 1790s, when self-taught artist Edward Savage produced one based on the painting he completed in 1796. Especially numerous in the years surrounding the Civil…
![From The Book of trades, or Library of the useful arts. Part I. Published by Jacob Johnson, and for sale at his book-store in Philadelphia, and in Richmond Virginia. 1807](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Unacc-Book-of-Trades-Vol2-Brewer-495x400.jpg)
A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Fourteen: Antoine Simon Le Page du Pratz’s The History of Louisiana, or of the Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina
All News, Beyond the Reading Room
My favorite thing to show visitors is a copy of Antoine Simon Le Page du Pratz’s The History of Louisiana, or of the Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina (London, 1774). It is the one-volume English translation and abridgement of the three-volume…
![Playground Association of Philadelphia. Tag Day May 20th 1908. I am tagged to help the children of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: E. A. Wright, [1908]](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/feb2014_01_lg-1-495x400.jpg)
![From The Book of trades, or Library of the useful arts. Part I. Published by Jacob Johnson, and for sale at his book-store in Philadelphia, and in Richmond Virginia. 1807](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Unacc-Book-of-Trades-Vol2-Brewer-495x400.jpg)
A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Thirteen: Benjamin Bradley and Six Months in a Convent
All News, Beyond the Reading Room![From The Book of trades, or Library of the useful arts. Part I. Published by Jacob Johnson, and for sale at his book-store in Philadelphia, and in Richmond Virginia. 1807](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Unacc-Book-of-Trades-Vol2-Brewer-495x400.jpg)
A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Twelve: John Jay Smith’s Manuscript Memoir
All News, Beyond the Reading RoomMy favorite thing of the moment is a hefty, three-volume manuscript memoir and scrapbook made by our former Librarian John Jay Smith (1798-1881). Through it I discovered that the man in the portrait with the white beard and red fez had a wonderful…
![From The Book of trades, or Library of the useful arts. Part I. Published by Jacob Johnson, and for sale at his book-store in Philadelphia, and in Richmond Virginia. 1807](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Unacc-Book-of-Trades-Vol2-Brewer-495x400.jpg)
A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Eleven: “Teaching with Capital Success”
All News, Beyond the Reading RoomLike many of my colleagues, I find it impossible to choose just one favorite thing from our collection. Nevertheless, I’d like to shine a spotlight on a humble but intriguing item, an annual report. Since I trained as an archivist, it’s…
![Screenshot from ImPAC Portraits of American Women collection.](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Picture1-495x400.png)
![From The Book of trades, or Library of the useful arts. Part I. Published by Jacob Johnson, and for sale at his book-store in Philadelphia, and in Richmond Virginia. 1807](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Unacc-Book-of-Trades-Vol2-Brewer-495x400.jpg)
A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Nine: Thanksgiving 1864 – A Spectacle of Giving
All News, Beyond the Reading RoomToday, November 26, 2013, is the 150th anniversary of what many regard as the first official national celebration of Thanksgiving, as proclaimed by Abraham Lincoln. In fact, Lincoln proclaimed many days of national thanksgiving during his time…
![From The Book of trades, or Library of the useful arts. Part I. Published by Jacob Johnson, and for sale at his book-store in Philadelphia, and in Richmond Virginia. 1807](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Unacc-Book-of-Trades-Vol2-Brewer-495x400.jpg)
A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Eight: Marriott C. Morris Photograph Collection
All News, Beyond the Reading Room, Graphic Art Department News, Marriott C. Morris CollectionOne of my Print Department favorites is the Marriott C. Morris collection of photographic prints and negatives. Morris (1863-1948) was an amateur photographer who lived in Philadelphia, and the more than 1,500 photographs in this collection…
![From The Book of trades, or Library of the useful arts. Part I. Published by Jacob Johnson, and for sale at his book-store in Philadelphia, and in Richmond Virginia. 1807](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Unacc-Book-of-Trades-Vol2-Brewer-495x400.jpg)
A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Seven: Happy Birthday, Marines!
All News, Beyond the Reading RoomAs Curator of Printed Books, trying to identify a favorite item in the Library Company’s collection feels like being asked to pick a favorite from among my children. The fact is that my favorite item in the collection is the collection.…
![From The Book of trades, or Library of the useful arts. Part I. Published by Jacob Johnson, and for sale at his book-store in Philadelphia, and in Richmond Virginia. 1807](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Unacc-Book-of-Trades-Vol2-Brewer-495x400.jpg)
A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Six: Men in Jaunty Aprons
All News, Beyond the Reading RoomWe had not yet added our visual material holdings to our online catalog when I discovered this print in our portrait collections through the tried and true hunt and peck method. I was immediately smitten when I came across this trimmed and annotated…
![From The Book of trades, or Library of the useful arts. Part I. Published by Jacob Johnson, and for sale at his book-store in Philadelphia, and in Richmond Virginia. 1807](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Unacc-Book-of-Trades-Vol2-Brewer-495x400.jpg)
A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Five: Uzbek Connection
All News, Beyond the Reading RoomLast summer, the International Visitor’s Council in Philadelphia asked the Library Company to host a group from Uzbekistan visiting the US for a State Department-sponsored program on library conservation. On July 23, I welcomed a delegation…
![Exposed sewing.](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/sewing-PS-495x400.jpg)
A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Four: Learning from a Damaged Book, Margarita Philosophica (Basel, 1508)
All News, Beyond the Reading Room, Bookbinding Research, The Living Book![From The Book of trades, or Library of the useful arts. Part I. Published by Jacob Johnson, and for sale at his book-store in Philadelphia, and in Richmond Virginia. 1807](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Unacc-Book-of-Trades-Vol2-Brewer-495x400.jpg)
A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Three: William Jennings’s Ralph, Sara, and Bill Jennings at Fern Rock Camp
All News, Beyond the Reading RoomHow does one pick a favorite from a collection of nearly 100,000 graphic items? (I refused to even consider selecting a favorite from our book, manuscript, or art and artifact collections in order to make the task at least a little bit more…
![“The Lady of the Lake,” from The Judge, ca. 1883. Chromolithograph.](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/helfand-p-2012-29-98_lg-1-495x400.jpg)
![From The Book of trades, or Library of the useful arts. Part I. Published by Jacob Johnson, and for sale at his book-store in Philadelphia, and in Richmond Virginia. 1807](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Unacc-Book-of-Trades-Vol2-Brewer-495x400.jpg)
A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part Two: The Book of Trades
All News, Beyond the Reading Room, Bookbinding Research
One of my favorite books in the Library Company’s collection is The Book of Trades (Philadelphia: George S. Appleton, 1851). Produced in many English-language editions in the 19th century, the book of trades reflects a trend in early childhood…
![From The Book of trades, or Library of the useful arts. Part I. Published by Jacob Johnson, and for sale at his book-store in Philadelphia, and in Richmond Virginia. 1807](https://librarycompany.org/wp-content/uploads/Unacc-Book-of-Trades-Vol2-Brewer-495x400.jpg)
A Few of Our Favorite Things, Part One: Charles Knowlton’s Fruits of Philosophy
All News, Beyond the Reading RoomThis is the first of a series of blog posts by Library Company staff about their favorite things in the collection. Picking a favorite book is like picking a favorite child, except that we have half a million to choose from. But here goes.
Charles…