Manuscript Mondays: Dr. Deborah Parker on Belle da Costa Greene’s Travels in Europe

Sponsored by The Manuscript Society

Manuscript Monday – A FREE Webinar provided by The Manuscript Society

Date: Monday, Nov. 17, 8pm EST

Guest Presenter: Dr. Deborah Parker

Host: Gerald “Jay” Gaidmore, The Manuscript Society

Pre-recorded presentation followed by a LIVE Q & A with Dr. Deborah Parker.

Title: A Sensuous Education: Belle da Costa Greene’s Travels in Europe

Overview: In 1905, Belle da Costa Greene (1879-1950) was hired by J. P. Morgan to work in his growing library in New York. When the library was opened to the public in 1924 Greene became its first director, but even before this she had played a central role in shaping its holdings of rare books and manuscripts. Parker’s talk will explore Greene’s relationship with members of the European book trade and the impact of her activities on the international market for rare books and manuscripts.

Presenter: Deborah Parker is Professor of Italian, Emerita at the University of Virginia. Her research and teaching focus on Italian and  visual and print cultures in the medieval and early modern eras. Her books include Commentary and Ideology: Dante in the Renaissance (1992), Bronzino: Renaissance Painter as Poet (2000) and Michelangelo and the Art of Letter Writing (2011). Her most recent book, Becoming Belle da Costa Greene: A Visionary Librarian Through Her Letters (2024) was published by Villa I Tatti -The Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. Parker co-authored “Belle Greene and Literature,” for the exhibition catalogue for the Morgan Library exhibition, Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy. She has given talks on Belle Greene for Villa I Tatti, the Rare Book School, Book Club of California, Caxton Club, and the Beinecke Library. Notices and podcasts have appeared in Humanities Watch, Fine Books & Collections magazine, and the New Books Network.