Julius S. Held Collection of Rare Books

The Julius S. Held Collection of Rare Books is a research collection of 283 volumes which is held in the Library[7] of the Clark Art Institute.

Noah's Ark with Noah's dove. From: Vita beatæ Mariæ Vir[ginis] matris Dei, emblematib[us] delineata.[1]
[Detail] Regola delli cinque ordini d'architettura di M. Jac. Barozzio da Vignola (1736).[2]
[Detail] Proteus, ofte, Minne-beelden verandert in sinne-beelden (1627).[3]
[Detail] Della fisionomia dell'huomo (1644).[4]
View of Delft from the direction of Rotterdam. From: A picturesque tour through Holland, Brabant, and part of France; made in the autumn of 1789 (1790).[5]
[Detail] Description des principales pierres gravées du cabinet de S. A. S. Monseigneur le duc d'Orléans, premier prince du sang (1780).[6]

The collection was assembled over the course of his career by art historian Julius S. Held (1905–2002), a longtime professor at Barnard College, Columbia University (1937–1970),[8] who was renowned internationally for his scholarship in sixteenth and seventeenth century Dutch and Flemish art and as a scholar of Rubens and Rembrandt. Volumes include illustrations by artists such as Peter Paul Rubens, Albrecht Dürer, and Anthony van Dyck. The books include works by Virgil and Ovid, versions of Aesop's Fables, as well as titles on astronomy, religion, natural history, and anatomy dating from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century, in a range of languages, including Greek, Latin, German, Italian, English, and French. The collection also includes important art histories and early treatises on the emblem and iconology.[9]

Of note are the approximately 80 books that form the working core of Held's scholarly collection. These texts include his manuscript annotations and commentary concerning provenance and identification of illustrations present in the texts and appear on the inside of covers, as marginalia, and as end notes on the fly leaves. Also included are separate ephemera consisting of Held’s notes on images within the works, along with letters, invitations, annotated dealer’s catalogs and offprints.

The collection is currently being digitized;[10] recently added volumes can be viewed in the Clark Library Digital Collections. According to the Institute of Museum and Library Services press release of Grants to Museums in 2014: "The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute will digitize significant volumes from the Julius S. Held Collection of Rare Books, in the Clark Library, and make these materials available through the library's digital collections interface, the Internet Archive, the Getty Research Portal, the Massachusetts Digital Commonwealth, and the Digital Public Library of America. The museum will digitize 185 of the collection's 283 volumes and enhance cataloging and metadata for the more than 107,000 images in the collection, including a significant number of rare titles and unique volumes dating from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century. The project fulfills the museum's goal of collections stewardship by allowing access to these exceedingly rare volumes, ensuring their physical preservation while facilitating access and knowledge."[11]

Accessibility

The collection is non-circulating. The digitized volumes of the Julius S. Held Collection of Rare Books are available online through the Clark Digital Collections,[12] and at the Internet Archive.[13] Collection titles can be viewed in the Library Catalog.[14] To access rare volumes at the Clark Art Institute Library, it is necessary for researchers to telephone, email,[15] or write in advance of their visit; contact information[16] is located on the home page.

References

  1. Callot, Jacques (1 January 2000). "Vita beatæ Mariæ Vir[ginis] matris Dei, emblematib[us] delineata / F.L.D. Il Ciartres excudit Callot, fec". [s.n.] via Internet Archive.
  2. "Regola delli cinque ordini d'architettura di M. Jac. Barozzio da Vignola". 1736.
  3. "Proteus, ofte, Minne-beelden verandert in sinne-beelden". 1627.
  4. "Della fisionomia dell'huomo". 1644.
  5. "A picturesque tour through Holland, Brabant, and part of France; made in the autumn of 1789". 1790.
  6. "Description des principales pierres gravées du cabinet de S. A. S. Monseigneur le duc d'Orléans, premier prince du sang". 1780.
  7. "Clark Art - LIBRARY". Clarkart.edu. Archived from the original on 3 September 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  8. Johnson, Ken (13 January 2003). "Julius Held, 97, Art Historian and Expert on Rembrandt and Rubens". The New York Times. p. 7. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  9. "Clark Art Institute acquires 16th-18th century library from Julius S. Held". Iberkshires.com. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  10. "Clark Art Receives $118,000 to Digitize Book Collection". Iberkshires.com. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  11. "2014 All OMS Grants List". Imls.gov. 2014-09-18. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  12. "Julius S. Held Collection of Rare Books". Cdm16245.contentdm.oclc.org. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  13. "Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library : Free Texts : Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  14. "Clark Art Institute / All Locations". francine.clarkart.edu.
  15. "Clark Art - Contact Library".
  16. "Clark Art - LIBRARY". Archived from the original on 2016-09-03. Retrieved 2014-11-11.
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