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The Sept. 21 reception and lecture by distinguished Milton scholar John T. Shawcross in the Graniteville Room of Thomas Cooper Library in Columbia provided the first look at what library officials are referring to as "a major new treasure" for its collections.
The Robert J. Wickenheiser Collection of John Milton was purchased for the University with leading support from William L. Richter and the William L. Richter Family Foundation, which contributes to various philanthropic and educational causes.
An exhibit from the collection, which contains more than 6,000 volumes and materials by and pertaining to the 17th-century English poet, opened with the lecture by Shawcross, a professor emeritus of English at the University of Kentucky and a leading American Milton scholar.
The exhibit will be on display through Nov. 1.
"The Wickenheiser Collection brings the library its first major 17th-century research collection," said Paul Willis, dean of libraries. "It is a collection that will draw faculty and scholars to South Carolina, to the continuing benefit of the academic community here."
"The breadth of Milton's own interests make this a collection that will stimulate an equally broad range of research projects across a variety of disciplines," said Patrick Scott, the library's director of special collections.
"Being in the same room as Dr. Wickenheiser's collection is like being in paradise for a scholar of 17th-century English literature," said Roy Flannagan, founding editor of Milton Quarterly and editor of the Riverside edition of Milton who is now scholar-in-residence at USC-Beaufort.
The collection, compiled during a period of more than 35 years while Wickenheiser was a college professor and administrator, includes holdings of first and other 17th-century editions of Milton's writings, which place USC's collection among the top 10 in North America.
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| The Expulsion, from the first illustrated edition of Paradise Lost, 1688 |
Its special focus on illustrated editions makes it perhaps the most comprehensive collection of Milton illustration ever amassed. From the first illustrated edition of Paradise Lost (1688) through all the major illustrators that follow, it includes original drawings by several prominent artists, including John Martin (1789-1854) and Gustave Dore (1832-1883).
The collection's 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century Milton editions preserve a comprehensive record of the poet's continuing impact, while holdings of Milton biography, scholarship, and criticism document knowledge of Milton's writings and influence.
Milton (1608-1674), author of the epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), is regarded as the most important English-language poet of the 17th century. He was active in politics as the author of the first major text on the freedom of the press, Areopagitica (1644) and as Latin secretary to Britain's revolutionary government in the late 1640s and 1650s.
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| A page from the 1645 edition of Milton's poems |
He was also deeply involved in the same religious debates as the Pilgrim Fathers, and a pioneer in his writings on education and on marriage law. For centuries after it was written, his poetry drew responses from poets, learned scholars, ordinary readers, musicians, artists and illustrators.
The Wickenheiser Collection includes not only the first American editions of Milton's poetry, but also rare printings of political pamphlets that were influential in debates on the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Wickenheiser started collecting Milton and other 17th-century poets as a graduate student at the University of Minnesota in the late 1960s. As a professor at Princeton in the early 1970s, he began focusing on the history of Milton illustration, and, with his wife Pat and the late Robert H. Taylor, past president of the Grolier Club, established friendships with many antiquarian book dealers on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Wickenheiser Collection's major donor, William L. Richter, is president of Richter Investment Corp. and senior managing director of Cerberus Capital Management in New York. In recognition and appreciation of his gift, the University's Board of Trustees has approved naming a room for him in the new Special Collections library.
9/06
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Items from the Robert J. Wickenheiser Collection of John Milton include a 19th-century Milton bust,...
...an 1824 original oil painting,...
...scores of rare books, including...
...this 19th-century publisher's 1871 edition of Milton's Poetical Works with a decorated cloth binding , and...
...this 1876 edition of his Poetical Works.
