Press Release

H. George Fletcher Appointed Brooke Russell Astor Director for Special Collections at The New York Public Library, a New Position

William Walker, Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Research Libraries of The New York Public Library, has named H. George Fletcher the first Brooke Russell Astor Director for Special Collections at The New York Public Library, a newly created position with responsibility for all the collections of rare books, manuscripts, art, prints, and photographs in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, as well as the Library's Archives. In addition, he will oversee public exhibitions in this Library, and will serve on the Research Libraries Management Team.

Mr. Fletcher was formerly the Astor Curator of Printed Books and Bindings at the Pierpont Morgan Library from 1991 until 1998. He is a noted bibliophile with a special interest in Medieval and Renaissance printed books and Latin paleography (the study of ancient scripts), who has organized a number of significant exhibitions at the Morgan Library, including Gutenberg and the Genesis of Printing, In Praise of Aldus Manutius, and Being William Morris.  The current exhibition at the Morgan Library, The Wormsley Library, is one he also helped to organize, and for which he edited the catalogue.

During his tenure as Astor Curator at the Morgan Library, Mr. Fletcher was responsible for preserving and safeguarding some 100,000 rare books and historic book bindings from the fifteenth to the twentieth century.  He was simultaneously administrative supervisor of the Conservation Bookbindery, and Head of the Department of Printed Books. Earlier, he was Director and Editor-in-Chief of the Fordham University Press. He received an A.B. and an M.A. from Fordham University, and, on a fellowship from the German Academic Exchange Service, undertook postgraduate studies at the University of Munich. Mr. Fletcher periodically teaches a seminar on Medieval and Renaissance Studies at New York University. He is a member of  the Grolier Club, The Baker Street Irregulars, the Five Orange Pips, and the Typophiles.

Paul LeClerc, President of The New York Public Library,  said, "The addition of George to our already outstanding staff marks a key change for this great institution. The consolidation of the entire special collections and manuscripts area of the Library under one vision will enable us to emphasize the book arts in our own collecting and exhibition programs. I have admired George's work for many years and am delighted that he is now part of our team."

George Fletcher is a native New Yorker who was steered to book collecting as a teenager through a felicitous encounter with an elderly book seller, who took a delight in passing on the sum of his knowledge to the young man. "Books have always spoken to me." Mr. Fletcher said, "I see them as conversations with people, even those dead for thousands of years."

William Walker, Andrew W. Mellon Director of The Research Libraries, who chaired the search committee for this position, said, "George is a true bibliophile. He has distinguished himself not only in countless lectures, publications, and exhibitions over his career, but also in his approach to collecting with a constant eye on the history of the printed word. The Library is fortunate to be able to call upon his services"

The Humanities and Social Sciences Library's Special Collections, now  headed by Mr. Fletcher, include the following notable units:
 

  • The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature: one of America's most celebrated collections of literary first editions, rare books, autograph letters, and manuscripts.  Among its treasures are the typescript of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land and the holograph diaries of Virginia Woolf.

  • The Arents Tobacco Collection: the largest, most comprehensive collection in the world on the history of tobacco, including medicinal use, literature and government edicts.

  • The Arents Collection of Books in Parts: over 1,200 books in parts and works published over a period of time, dating from the 16th century. The collection includes well-known works by Thackeray, Dickens, and Trollope.

  • Manuscripts and Archives: includes 700 cuneiform tablets, Renaissance illuminated manuscripts, George Washington's Farewell Address, Civil War historical papers, papers of Washington Irving, James Joyce, and The New Yorker.

  • The Carl H. Pforzheimer collection of Shelley and His Circle: one of the leading repositories of English literary romanticism.

  • Rare Books: especially early Americana, such as the Bay Psalm Book, the first Gutenberg Bible brought to America, eighteenth century newspapers, first editions of Shakespeare and Isaac Walton, as well as the Martin J. Gross collection of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot.

  • The Spencer Collection of Illustrated Books, Manuscripts, and Fine Bindings: more than 10,000 manuscripts and printed books highlighting the arts of illustration and book binding, including the Tickhill Psalter and Lady Murasaki Shikibu's Genji Monogatari.

  • The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints, and Photographs: published works on fine art and architectural history; about 300,00 original photographs representing all photographic processes;  prints encompassing the history of Western and Japanese printing, especially American historical prints and special impressions by Manet, Cassatt and Whistler.

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