To download podcasts of the lectures, select the additional files below. Files in .mp4 format include images; files in .mp3 format are audio only. To download the symposium program, select download button at right.

In April 2011, the University of Pennsylvania Libraries acquired a copy of the uncommon second edition of Francesco Colonna’s Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (Venice 1545). Since the appearance of the first edition in 1499, the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili has been heralded as the most beautiful book to appear in the Italian Renaissance. Printed in Venice by Aldus Manutius, “The Dream of Poliphily” was admired by Aldus’s contemporaries for its scholarship and value as an architectural treatise. Forty-six years after the publication of the first edition, Aldus’s heirs printed a second edition in 1545. This second edition suggests a renewed interest in the work, within Italy and beyond, for within a year a French translation appeared, followed by an English translation in 1592. Celebrated for its typographical design and illustrations, the Hypnerotomachia continues to attract the interest of scholars, typophiles, and collectors; it remains available in modern scholarly editions in both print and electronic format.

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries' acquisition came at the suggestion of John Dixon Hunt, Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture at the University. Funds for its purchase came from the G. Holmes Perkins Books and Archives Fund, established by G. Holmes Perkins, Professor of Architecture and Urbanism and former dean of the Graduate School of Fine Arts (now the School of Design). The Libraries and the School of Design administer this fund jointly.

On February 11, 2012, the Anne and Jerome Fisher Fine Arts Library, the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and the School of Design collaborated on a one-day symposium to celebrate the acquisition of the Hypnerotomachia. Presentations took place in the Class of '55 room, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library.

Program:

10:30am-11:30am Movement 1: Books and Histories

Welcome: David McKnight

William B. Keller, "Hypnerotomachia Joins the Perkins Library: Collecting to Support Persuasion in Architectural Design and History"

Eric Pumroy, "Remarks on the 1499 Hypnerotomachia Poliphili at Bryn Mawr Special Collections"

John Dixon Hunt, "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: A Child's Guide to the Story Line and a Look at its Afterlives"

Lynne Farrington, "'Though I could lead a quiet and peaceful life, I have chosen one full of toil and trouble': Aldus Manutius and the Printing History of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili"

11:30am-1:00pm Movement 2: Words and Interpretations

Victoria Kirkham, "Hypno What? A Dreamer's Vision and the Reader's Nightmare" Ann Moyer, "The Wanderings of Poliphilo through Renaissance Studies"

Ian White, "Multiple Words, Multiple Meanings in the Hypnerotomachia"

2:00pm-3:00pm Movement 3: Art and Illustration

Chris Nygren, "The Hypnerotomachia and Italian Art Circa 1500"

Larry Silver, "Not Hypnerotomachia: Venice's Other Early Woodcut Illustrations"

3:00pm-4:30pm Movement 4: Imagined Architectures

Raffaella Fabiani Giannetto, "'Not before either known or dreamt of': The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili and the Craft of Wonder"

David Leatherbarrow, "What Fragments are to Desire, Elements are to Design"

Ian White, "Mathematical Design in Poliphilo's Imaginary Building, The Temple of Venus"

4:30pm-5:00pm Break and Interlude

Shushi Yoshinaga, "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: A Modern Heritage": a display of objects and images

5:00pm-6:00pm Movement 5: Contemporary Resonances and Final Observations

Session 1. Beginnings: Collecting in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Session Chair: Emily Steiner, Department of English, University of Pennsylvania

Claire Richter Sherman, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art, "The Manuscript Collection of King Charles V of France: The Personal and the Political"

David Rundle, History Faculty and Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, "The Butcher of England and the Renaissance Arts of Book-Collecting"

Session 2: Civic Service: The Legacies of Philadelphia-Area Collectors

Chair: Peter Stallybrass, Department of English, University of Pennsylvania

James Tanis, Director of Libraries and Professor of History Emeritus, Bryn Mawr College, "Migrating Manuscripts"

Derick Dreher, Director, The Rosenbach Museum & Library, "Of Private Collectors and Public Libraries: Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach and John Frederick Lewis"

Session 3: Keynote address

Welcome: H. Carton Rogers, Vice Provost & Director of Libraries, University of Pennsylvania

Chair: Robert Maxwell, Department of the History of Art, University of Pennsylvania

Christopher de Hamel, Gaylord Donnelley Fellow Librarian, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, "The Manuscript Collection of C. L. Ricketts (1859-1941)"

Session 4: The Hunters and the Hunted: A Roundtable Discussion with Private and Institutional Collectors

Chair: David Wallace, Department of English, University of Pennsylvania

Moderator: Richard Linenthal, Bernard Quaritch Ltd.

Panelists:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg, Private Collector

Gifford Combs, Private Collector

Toshiyuki Takamiya, Private Collector, Keio University

Consuelo Dutschke, Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, Columbia University

William Noel, Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books, The Walters Art Museum

[Reminiscences of Leopold Stokowski], John de Lancie

[Reminiscences of Leopold Stokowski], Bernard Jacobson

[Reminiscences of Leopold Stokowski], Mason Jones

[Introduction to symposium], James Primosch

[Reminiscences of Leopold Stokowski], Sol Schoenbach

[Reminiscences of Leopold Stokowski], Howard Scott

[Reminiscences of Leopold Stokowski], Stewart Warkow

Welcome, H. Carton Rogers, Vice Provost and Director of Libraries: 00:00-04:30

Presentation by Peter Stallybrass:04:30-22:54

Presentation by Brooke Palmieri: 22:54-36:08

Concluding remarks by Peter Stallybrass: 36:0-40:49

Concluding remarks by H. Carton Rogers: 41:06-42:02

To download an audio podcast of the presentation, select one of the mp3 format files below. To download an audio podcast with accompanying images, select the m4a format file below.

Welcome and introduction, H. Carton Rogers, 01:17-05:06:30

Remarks by panel moderator Ann N. Greene, 06:35-20:15

Remarks by Herbert Moelis, 20:33-28:58

Remarks by Ellen Moelis, 28:58-39:45

Remarks by Dean Richardson, 39:45-46:45

Remarks by Douglas Kemmerer, 46:45-1:07:45

Questions and answers, 1:07:45-1:10:18

Concluding remarks, Lynne Farrington, 1:10:18-1:11:19

To download a podcast of this event, choose either the standard quality mp3 file (shorter download) or the high quality m4a file (longer download), below. To view the exhibition poster, select Download button at upper right.

Johnson holds a special place in the history of American music. Although a free African American, he lived in an age when racial segregation and prejudice were commonplace. Despite these obstacles, he was able to achieve extraordinary renown and respect among the elite of Philadelphia through performances of his band at balls, parades, and promenade concerts. Following a series of concert tours late in his life, Johnson's fame eventually extended through the Midwest and across the Atlantic to London. His music survives today in piano arrangements published during his lifetime.

The lecture marked the opening of an exhibition in the Otto E. Albrecht Music Library. The exhibition included a selection from the over forty pieces of Johnson sheet music in the collection of the late Kurt Stein. Also part of the exhibition were prints, period newspaper articles, and a Kent bugle like that favored by Johnson.

To download a podcast of the lecture, select one of the additional files below.

Welcome, H. Carton Rogers, 00-04:52

Introduction, Richard Griscom, 04:52-13:06

Lecture, Guthrie P. Ramsay, Jr., 13:15-37:27

The event announcement is also available for download, by selecting the download button, at upper right.

The exhibition is available in an online version, at:

http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/music/fjohnson/

To download the lecture, select the mp3 file below.

Introduction, Michael Ryan, 00:00-04:01

Lecture, Mark Frazier Lloyd, 04:09-34:14

Questions and Answers, 34:30-37:23


In the lecture, Dr. Lloyd discusses the following texts, available online:
Franklin, Observations Relative to the Intentions of the Original Founders of the Academy in Philadelphia, June 1789
Franklin, "Idea of the English School."

The event poster is also available for download, by selecting the download button, at upper right.