Schelling, Felix E

English

Kosmopolis

The Library Chronicle
Volume 1
Number 1 University of Pennsylvania Library
Chronicle
Article 4
3-1-1933
The Horace Howard Furness Memorial
Felix E. Schelling
This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. http://repository.upenn.edu/librarychronicle/vol1/iss1/4
For more information, please contact libraryrepository@pobox.upenn.edu.
THE HORACE HOWARD FURNESS MEMORIAL
By Dr. Felix E. Schelling
Confronted with the somewhat difficult question, how to house and
care for a sizeable addition of books on a specific topic, donated with the
proviso that they be kept an integral collection, and a liberal financial provi-
sion that suggested a new building, the Trustees of the University of Penn-
sylvania solved this problem by building a new and finely proportioned room,
a part, yet an extension, of the present University Library building; and they
have so accomplished this that it adequately houses the Horace Howard
Furness Memorial collection, allowing for prospective growth, and forms,
both outwardly and within, the first section of a plan for the architectural
regeneration of the entire Library building.
The Horace Howard Furness Memorial was donated by the late Horace
Howard Furness, Jr., and Louise Brooks Winsor Furness, his wife, as a
monument to the memory of the distinguished Shakespearean scholar whose
name it bears; and it consists of something approaching 12,000 books "relat-
ing to Shakespeare and to Elizabethan dramatic literature," a valuable
and interesting collection of Shakespeare relics and mementoes of the stage,
and the correspondence of the two Furnesses, father and son, both editors
of the Variorum Shakespeare, with many eminent scholars English, American,
and continental, in this most fertile field. It was the wish of the donor that
the interior might in some wise follow the design of the interior of Merton
College, Oxford; and this has been done, allowing for modern conditions.
The room is admirably lighted with four casement windows, it is adequately
furnished for the needs of the specific scholarship to which it is devoted,
and becomingly decorated with certain of the mementoes alluded to above,
among them fine oil portraits of the donors and the elder Dr. Furness. The
handsome Gothic exterior suggests, as already stated, what may ultimately
transform architecturally the whole University Library building.
The Furness Memorial constitutes no ordinary collection. Private
libraries are only too often little more than museums of pleasing antiquities,
gathered as trophies of industrial success : testimonies of taste at their best,
at their worst mere evidences of the power of the purse. This new acquisition
of the University of Pennsylvania is the library of a scholar, a library of
scholarship in a specific field, collected through years of loving solicitude to
further a definite scholarly project. The value of these books lies neither
in their rarity nor in their costliness, though there are volumes both costly and
rare among them. Their worth is in their nature as invaluable texts of a
great dramatist and as the contributions of generations of scholars to the
understanding of the greatest of our English classics. Out of this library has
come the New Variorum edition of Shakespeare, the diligent labor of father
and son to one end throughout a period of time exceeding fifty years ; and it
is the urgent wish of the University of Pennsylvania that under its auspices
and in the hands of younger scholars this work may happily continue. For
such has been the scholarly activity of editors of Shakespeare since Nicholas
Rowe first undertook a scholarly edition of the great dramatist's work that
it is no discredit to the activity and the diligence of the two Doctors Furness
that they left but half of the plays to those who come after.
As to the many interesting books which constitute the treasures of this
collection it is not possible to say much in the space here at command. Prime
among them of course are the four precious folios of Shakespeare's collected
plays and a number of those priceless original editions of individual plays
known as the quartos, the importance of which to our understanding of the
Shakespearean text, where they exist, is coming more and more to be acknowl-
edged and understood. As to texts, the Furness Memorial possesses prac-
tically a complete series of the earlier editions from Rowe, Pope, and Theo-
bald to the later days of the accepted modern text of the Cambridge editors.
The dramatists, Shakespeare's fellows, are here too, with innumerable editions
of poets and prose writers his contemporaries, many of them in contemporary
editions. And there are the books of Shakespeare sources and mentions, the
heavy tomes of history and science down to pamphlet and song-book. The
collection is rich in Shakespearean criticism and commentary, in stage history
and in the memoirs of eminent actors, and there is a choice corner devoted
to that inexhaustible theme, London. Besides all this the collection affords
the scholar the necessary apparatus of bibliography, dictionary, biography,
without which his labors even among the choicest treasures would go unaided
and without a guide. It may be added that in many particulars the general
librar> of the University is able to help out and add to the efficiency of this
collection, especially in the line, for example, of original quartos of many of
Shakespeare's fellow dramatists, a valuable collection of which of earlier
acquisition is conveniently housed close to the hall of the Furness Memorial.
As a library on a specific subject and therefore definitely limited, it is
the purpose of the University to continue the collection along the definite
lines already set, so far as the means available may permit such a growth.
And it is further in the plan that the use of the collection shall be reasonably
restricted to such scholars and students as may be fitted to avail themselves
of its opportunities. It is the University's earnest hope that, attracted by
so precious a nucleus and the attractive housings and conditions that surround
it, there may be those who will feel moved to add by gift to this interesting
and valuable foundation.


The Horace Howard Furness Memorial

ScholarlyCommons@Penn

The Library ChronicleVolume 1Number 1 University of Pennsylvania LibraryChronicleArticle 43-1-1933The Horace Howard Furness MemorialFelix E. SchellingThis paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. http://repository.upenn.edu/librarychronicle/vol1/iss1/4For more information, please contact libraryrepository@pobox.upenn.edu.THE HORACE HOWARD FURNESS MEMORIALBy Dr. Felix E. SchellingConfronted with the somewhat difficult question, how to house andcare for a sizeable addition of books on a specific topic, donated with theproviso that they be kept an integral collection, and a liberal financial provi-sion that suggested a new building, the Trustees of the University of Penn-sylvania solved this problem by building a new and finely proportioned room,a part, yet an extension, of the present University Library building; and theyhave so accomplished this that it adequately houses the Horace HowardFurness Memorial collection, allowing for prospective growth, and forms,both outwardly and within, the first section of a plan for the architecturalregeneration of the entire Library building.The Horace Howard Furness Memorial was donated by the late HoraceHoward Furness, Jr., and Louise Brooks Winsor Furness, his wife, as amonument to the memory of the distinguished Shakespearean scholar whosename it bears; and it consists of something approaching 12,000 books "relat-ing to Shakespeare and to Elizabethan dramatic literature," a valuableand interesting collection of Shakespeare relics and mementoes of the stage,and the correspondence of the two Furnesses, father and son, both editorsof the Variorum Shakespeare, with many eminent scholars English, American,and continental, in this most fertile field. It was the wish of the donor thatthe interior might in some wise follow the design of the interior of MertonCollege, Oxford; and this has been done, allowing for modern conditions.The room is admirably lighted with four casement windows, it is adequatelyfurnished for the needs of the specific scholarship to which it is devoted,and becomingly decorated with certain of the mementoes alluded to above,among them fine oil portraits of the donors and the elder Dr. Furness. Thehandsome Gothic exterior suggests, as already stated, what may ultimatelytransform architecturally the whole University Library building.The Furness Memorial constitutes no ordinary collection. Privatelibraries are only too often little more than museums of pleasing antiquities,gathered as trophies of industrial success : testimonies of taste at their best,at their worst mere evidences of the power of the purse. This new acquisitionof the University of Pennsylvania is the library of a scholar, a library ofscholarship in a specific field, collected through years of loving solicitude tofurther a definite scholarly project. The value of these books lies neitherin their rarity nor in their costliness, though there are volumes both costly andrare among them. Their worth is in their nature as invaluable texts of agreat dramatist and as the contributions of generations of scholars to theunderstanding of the greatest of our English classics. Out of this library hascome the New Variorum edition of Shakespeare, the diligent labor of fatherand son to one end throughout a period of time exceeding fifty years ; and itis the urgent wish of the University of Pennsylvania that under its auspicesand in the hands of younger scholars this work may happily continue. Forsuch has been the scholarly activity of editors of Shakespeare since NicholasRowe first undertook a scholarly edition of the great dramatist's work thatit is no discredit to the activity and the diligence of the two Doctors Furnessthat they left but half of the plays to those who come after.As to the many interesting books which constitute the treasures of thiscollection it is not possible to say much in the space here at command. Primeamong them of course are the four precious folios of Shakespeare's collectedplays and a number of those priceless original editions of individual playsknown as the quartos, the importance of which to our understanding of theShakespearean text, where they exist, is coming more and more to be acknowl-edged and understood. As to texts, the Furness Memorial possesses prac-tically a complete series of the earlier editions from Rowe, Pope, and Theo-bald to the later days of the accepted modern text of the Cambridge editors.The dramatists, Shakespeare's fellows, are here too, with innumerable editionsof poets and prose writers his contemporaries, many of them in contemporaryeditions. And there are the books of Shakespeare sources and mentions, theheavy tomes of history and science down to pamphlet and song-book. Thecollection is rich in Shakespearean criticism and commentary, in stage historyand in the memoirs of eminent actors, and there is a choice corner devotedto that inexhaustible theme, London. Besides all this the collection affordsthe scholar the necessary apparatus of bibliography, dictionary, biography,without which his labors even among the choicest treasures would go unaidedand without a guide. It may be added that in many particulars the generallibrar> of the University is able to help out and add to the efficiency of thiscollection, especially in the line, for example, of original quartos of many ofShakespeare's fellow dramatists, a valuable collection of which of earlieracquisition is conveniently housed close to the hall of the Furness Memorial.As a library on a specific subject and therefore definitely limited, it isthe purpose of the University to continue the collection along the definitelines already set, so far as the means available may permit such a growth.And it is further in the plan that the use of the collection shall be reasonablyrestricted to such scholars and students as may be fitted to avail themselvesof its opportunities. It is the University's earnest hope that, attracted byso precious a nucleus and the attractive housings and conditions that surroundit, there may be those who will feel moved to add by gift to this interestingand valuable foundation.

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