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Classics

In 1854, upon surveying the Greek and Latin literature department of the Astor Library, the forerunner of The New York Public Library, one observer deemed it “just about as it ought to be.”[1] From its inception, the Library has been regarded as a substantial repository of classics materials. The early attention paid to the study of ancient thought and culture was partly a function of the subject’s importance at the time. In the nineteenth century, Greek and Latin formed the foundation of an educated person’s intellectual development, and no respectable library lacked the masterworks of antiquity. Still today, the Library retains its strengths in classical scholarship from the period, including numismatics and studies in the field of archaeology, which was emerging as a systematic, scholarly discipline.

Since that time, the Library’s holdings in classics have grown, and today its collection is comparable to that of other major research libraries in the United States. It contains all the known works of classical authors in their original languages. Those in search of Plato’s masterly Greek or Cicero’s eloquent Latin will find copies of the major editions, including such standard series as the Scriptorum classicorum bibliotheca Oxoniensis (otherwise known as the “OCT”); the Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana (the “Teubner editions”); and the Collection des universités de France (the so-called “Budé editions”).

Those in need of classical texts in a more accommodating tongue will not be disappointed, either, as the collection includes translations of most works into a variety of languages. The Library naturally considers it a priority to collect English-language versions of the classics, though one can read Plato’s Symposium also in Icelandic, Homer’s Iliad in Czech, Lucretius’ De rerum natura in Hebrew, and the complete works of Tacitus in Romanian. In addition to these primary texts, the Library collects scholarly studies in classical history, archaeology, philosophy, literature, and other areas. Such revered authorities as Grote (History of Greece) and Gibbon (The decline and fall of the Roman empire) are complemented by innovative treatments of ancient civilization from contemporary critical perspectives. Researchers will be further pleased to know that the Library subscribes to many academic periodicals in the field, including such major journals as Classical quarterly, Hermes, Revue des études anciennes, and American journal of archaeology, among others.

The New York Public Library makes a special effort to provide ready access to classical language and literature by shelving the Loeb Classical Library, a comprehensive series of original ancient texts with English translations, in its Rose Main Reading Room along with the standard array of lexica, dictionaries and grammatical studies of the Greek and Latin languages. The Reading Room also houses a collection of general reference and scholarly works in classics. Surrounded by Doric columns, Corinthian capitals, and other elements of the Library’s neo-classical design, visitors may browse such landmark studies as Jaeger’s Paideia or Dover’s Greek Homosexuality.[2]

The breadth and eclecticism of the Library’s collection present unique opportunities for research. For example, as part of its ongoing effort to collect folklore literature, the Library has acquired an extensive collection of Aesop’s fables. Holdings range from sixteenth-century Greek and Latin editions to lavishly illustrated nineteenth-century incarnations, from rhymed English translations to versions in Latvian, Urdu, Japanese, and even shorthand. In addition, visitors interested in classics are strongly advised to acquaint themselves with the various special collections and divisions within The New York Public Library. The Rare Books Division is home to several early printed editions of Greek and Latin works. Here visitors will find the collected works of Sophocles printed in 1502 and an edition of Ammonius’ commentary on Aristotle’s De Interpretatione from 1503. The jewel of the Library’s materials of the Byzantine period is the Byzantinae Historiae Scriptores Varii (1645-1702), an early and exceedingly rare printing of the works of the Byzantine historians. The Library’s Asian Division, with its facsimiles and studies of Greek and Latin papyri from Egypt, is an excellent resource for those with interests in classical papyrology. Researchers pursuing topics in reception and intellectual history might turn to the Library’s Microform Section, where they can peruse the personal library of classicist-turned-philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, discovering firsthand which texts Nietzsche read and what he thought about them.

All this and more is available to the student of ancient Greek and Latin literature and culture. To learn more about the collection in classics and how to use it, please see the Library’s Research Guide on the subject.

 

[1] Lydenburg, Harry Miller. History of The New York Public Library (The New York Public Library, 1923), pp. 29-30.

[2] Titles subject to change.