Junius Spencer Morgan, Virgil, and “The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton”

Junius Spencer Morgan, Virgil, and “The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton”

By Will Noel

Junius Spencer Morgan gave a phenomenal collection of materials to the Princeton University Library, so last year I decided to create a small online exhibition on items from that collection that we have digitized already.  With very many thanks to Steve Ferguson and our Library Systems staff, here it is:

Online Exhibition of Junius Spencer Morgan Materials

Virgil of course features prominently. You will find the beautiful first edition of Virgil published by Sweynheym and Pannartz (1469), and an even more colorful first dated edition by Vindolinus de Spira (1470), as well as two other Virgil manuscripts, one illustrated.  

Morgan’s Virgil collection is famous, but he gave many other things to the Library, which is why this post falls on July 4.  Among the Morgan donations are various sketches of a painting by “the artist of the Revolution,” John Trumbull. The sketches are of the “Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton.”

The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton
Sketch of “The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton,” by John Trumbull, 1896. Graphic Arts Collection.

I do hope you enjoy perusing these materials.