Keats's Poems is Library's 6-millionth volume
Presenting John Keats
On exhibit in the Rare Book Collection of Wilson Library
Nov. 20, 2008 - Mar. 15, 2009
Information: 919-962-1143 or rbcref@email.unc.edu
John Keats penned some of the most quoted lines in English poetry–"A thing of beauty is a joy forever;" "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter." On Nov. 20, the poet who would "sooner fail than not be among the greatest" will take a place of honor at UNC's Library, with the dedication of Keats's Poems, published in 1817, as the 6-millionth volume in the Library's collection.
The first edition is part of a 500-item Keats collection, purchased in 2008 with support from the John Wesley and Anna Hodgin Hanes Foundation of Winston-Salem. Through its foundation, the Hanes family has funded each of the Library's millionth volumes, in an arrangement that UNC librarians believe to be unique.
With the addition, UNC marks its status as the 19th university library in North America to achieve the 6-million-volume milestone.
A program on Nov. 20 will mark the milestone, and an exhibit, Presenting John Keats, in the Rare Book Collection of the Wilson Special Collections Library Nov. 20 through Mar. 15, 2009, will feature highlights from the new collection. It will include Poems, along with first editions of the two other books that Keats published during his short lifetime (1795-1821).
"This collection is a gem that provides precious finds for specialist scholars and graduate students," said Jeanne Moskal, professor of English at UNC and editor of the Keats-Shelley Journal.
Moskal said that the collection will fortify undergraduate education, noting that she regularly brings classes to the Rare Book Collection. "With each visit, four or five students catch intellectual fire when they see early editions of authors they have studied. Keats is already a favorite among my students, who see him sharing their own emerging-adult issues of articulating a vocation and of discovering love and sexuality. These books will strengthen the vividness of that affinity."
The exhibit will draw on both the new Keats collection and the Library's other strong collections of the English Romantic writers of the late-18th and early-19th centuries to provide context for Keats and his work, said Libby Chenault, Rare Book Collection librarian.
While Keats was little appreciated in his day, said Chenault, a proliferation of elegant "gift books" and anthologies in the 19th and 20th centuries eventually placed Keats back in the eye of the public. Increased critical attention beginning in the second half of the 19th century cemented his place in the literary canon. A selection of Keats editions will be on display, along with works by writers who inspired Keats; remembrances of the poet by contemporaries such as Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron; and notable editions of authors influenced by Keats.
In a 21st-century twist, the Library will digitize selections from the 6-millionth volume gift and will make them freely available on the Internet through an ongoing arrangement with the Internet Archive.
"Books are our special heritage," said Sarah Michalak, University Librarian and Associate Provost for University Libraries. "By celebrating this remarkable collection as our 6-millionth volume, we honor a major milestone and a truly generous tradition of the Hanes family."
Related Links
- Keats's "Poems" is UNC Library's 6 millionth volume (release from UNC News Services)
Keats and His Circle Reading Shakespeare
