The Redwood Library & Athenaeum announces the opening of its latest exhibition, “The Best Editions of Several Volumes: John J. Slocum, His Library and The Redwood”. The fifty volumes featured in this show are a fraction of the collection the Redwood Library was generously given by the family of the late John J. Slocum and will serve as a resource for scholars and for the Redwood Library for years to come. Benedict Leca, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Redwood said, “The Slocum family has been central to culture in Newport and to the Redwood specifically for generations. I want to thank them sincerely for giving us this incredible trove, which has enriched our Special Collections significantly.”
The private library of John Jermain Slocum was the culmination of a lifelong devotion to books, nurtured by his family, his education, his relationships, his travels, and his own character. Through a selection of volumes from his library, the exhibit traces his life and his intellectual journey as a book collector of both skill and passion.
Anchored by a large portrait of John J. Slocum, the exhibit features highlights from his professional years of travel, his involvement with the avant-garde literary circles he was first introduced to at Harvard, his particular interest in the Latin and Neo-Latin poetry of Catullus and Secundus, the genealogy of his own family and of his wife’s and an assortment of miscellany ranging from modern fine press imprints to the poetry of Thomas Parnell.
Of special note:
Holy Bible of the Brown family, 1709 with family annotations and history recorded by Nicholas
Brown in 1793
The marriage certificate of Nicholas Brown and Rhoda Jenckes dated May 2,1762
1651 edition Collected Works of Johannes Secundus
First edition of George Orwell’s Homage to Cataloni, 1938
1961 Fine Press edition of Bibliophile’s Delight: A Book About Books
Special Collections Librarian, Patrick Crowley commented, “It was a real pleasure to work with John Slocum’s erudite and wide-ranging collections. We have only been able to display a small fraction of their depth, and we look forward to making them more accessible as a research collection in the days to come. We are deeply honored that the Slocum Family chose the Redwood as a place to hold, interpret, and make available John Slocum’s collections.”
Organized by the Redwood Library & Athenaeum’s Special Collections staff, interns and volunteers, the exhibit will be on view in the Redwood’s Peirce Prince Gallery until August 1, 2018.
