Annual News&Financial Report - The Mount

The Books Come Home
Edith Wharton’s Library: A Short History
When you see Edith Wharton’s books arrayed on her shelves
at The Mount, you are first struck by the “expanse of
warm lustrous color” created by the bindings, an effect
she recommended in The Decoration of Houses. But as you study
the titles, and delve into the books themselves, you realize that this
is far more than a decorative assemblage of beautiful volumes. It
is, in fact, a history of Wharton’s intellectual and emotional life – her
autobiography in books.
The chronological history of the collection begins well before
Wharton’s birth, in the gentleman’s library compiled by her father,
George Frederic Jones, beginning in the mid-19th century. There
among her father’s books of philosophy, poetry and the classics,
young Edith gave herself the education that, because she was a girl,
she was not allowed to receive formally. She cherished his books to
the end of her life and they come to us as a testimony to her native
intelligence and her fierce desire for knowledge.
Wharton began to amass her own library as a young girl, and she
mentions many of these formative books in her memoir, A Backward
Glance. On one memorable birthday, she received an especially
meaningful gift:
…I woke to find beside my bed Buxton Forman’s great
editions of Keats and Shelley! Then the gates of the realms
of gold swung wide, and from that day to this I don’t believe I
was ever again, in my inmost self, wholly lonely or unhappy.
In the collection we find books from every period of Wharton’s life,
written in the languages she learned as a child and spoke fluently—
English, French, German, and Italian. There is even a volume of
Anglo-Saxon, which she taught herself at age 14 to impress the
minister of her church, on whom she had a secret crush. Still
preserved in the book is her hand-written translation from one of the
Saxon chronicles.
Included in the library are a significant number of Wharton’s own
works, many with corrections penciled in. In her first edition of
The House of Mirth, for example, she crossed out the name of the
illustrator and removed all of the plates, apparently because she
disliked them (future printings of the book continued to include the
illustrations, however). There are also quite a few books written
by her friends, many containing personal inscriptions. Perhaps
the most interesting (and valuable) is a first edition of The Golden
Bowl, with the cryptic hand-written dedication, “To Edith Wharton / in
sympathy / Henry James / November 1904.” The date coincides with
James’ first visit to The Mount, and biographers have speculated
that his expression of sympathy relates to the mounting difficulties
of her marriage to Edward “Teddy” Wharton, whose behavior was
becoming increasingly erratic.
The range of subjects represented is remarkable, demonstrating
Wharton’s wide-ranging curiosity. In addition to areas with which
she was associated, such as literature, gardening, and travel, there
are numerous volumes of history, philosophy, religion, and science.
Several books on astronomy attest to her love of stargazing, which
she would enjoy from the terrace of The Mount, and studies of
evolution show her interest in the great scientific and philosophical
debates of her day.
Even more revealing is the fact that Wharton often annotated
her books – gently marking in pencil using ticks, check marks,
Volumes from the library of George Frederic Jones, Edith’s father
Edith Wharton’s Library at The Mount circa 1910
Henry James’ inscription in The Golden Bowl, among other books
from Wharton’s collection.
underlining, and, very occasionally, words. In some books that are
heavily marked, it seems almost as if one is following Wharton’s
thoughts as she reads. These markings will provide a fascinating
resource for scholars, and The Mount hopes to eventually make them
all available on the internet.
Wharton died in 19 7 at the age of 75, and her will divided the library
between William Royall Tyler and Colin Clark, the sons of two close
friends. To Tyler, who was in his twenties and had known Wharton all
his life, she left most of the books dealing with art, archaeology, and
art history. These volumes, perhaps 1400 in number, were tragically
destroyed during the London Blitz in 1940. The rest of the collection—
the portion now at The Mount comprising some 700 books—was
left to art historian Kenneth Clark in trust for his six-year-old son (and
Wharton’s godson), Colin. The elder Clark integrated them into his
own extensive library, where, divided among several residences, they
remained for over 40 years. After Kenneth Clark’s death in 198 , Colin
sold the books to the London booksellers, Maggs Brothers, who in turn
sold them to George Ramsden, a book dealer in York, England.
The sale to Ramsden could not have been
more fortuitous, for in him the library found
a champion and protector. Studying his
purchase, Ramsden quickly realized that
the real value of the collection lay in its
intactness, despite the fact that he could
have made a quick profit selling off valuable
individual volumes. He also suspected
that he had not gotten all the Wharton
books that the Clarks owned, and over
the next few years was able to work with
the three Clark children, Colin, Colette,
and Alan, to retrieve another 600 volumes
that were scattered among their libraries.
Ramsden then began to meticulously
catalog the collection, in the process
transforming himself into a Wharton
scholar. He published the catalog in 1999,
and continued to hold onto the books until
a buyer appeared who would agree to keep
the collection intact after the sale.
The Mount was in communication with
Ramsden about the library for many years,
but was never able to meet his asking price
until the fall of 005, when, with the help
of Lord Christopher Tugendhat, benefactors
were found who would advance the money
for the purchase. (See pp. 14-15). Robert
and Elisabeth Wilmers were already good
friends of The Mount, and saw in the library
acquisition an opportunity to generate
significant donations for the restoration by
using the books as a fundraising tool. With
their generous commitment, things moved
quickly, and the transaction was completed
on December 1 , with the books arriving
in Lenox in early January of this year.
The books were carefully unpacked and
cleaned, and Ramsden arrived in time to
arrange them on the shelves for the grand
celebration on April 4 with The Mount’s
honored guest, First Lady Laura Bush.
Stephanie Copeland and George Ramsden sign the contract that transfers
ownership of the books to The Mount on December 12, 2005.
Wharton’s godson Colin Clark Colin’s father, Art Historian
Kenneth Clark
George Ramsden among Wharton’s
books in his Yorkshire library
Cadogan Tate, a British fine arts moving firm, delivers the books on a
frigid day in January.
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