By Will Noel
Sandwiched between Sinclair Hamilton (Class of 1906) and William H. Scheide ’36 in the list of chairs of the Friends of Princeton University Library is Robert H. Taylor ’30, who had an extraordinarily long tenure–25 years. More information about him, and digitized items from his great collection bequeathed to the Library in 1985, can be found in the Digital Princeton University Library.
A while ago, a researcher and I stumbled upon a copy of John Keats’s Poems, published in 1817. It bears the inscription, “To. W. Wordsworth with the author’s sincere Reverence.” Pretty classy, as I’d expect from a Taylor book.
Taylor also gave to the Library one of its two alchemical scrolls. Made in England at the beginning of the 17th century, this scroll was part of the exhibition “Through a Glass Darkly: Alchemy and the Ripley Scrolls 1400-1700” last year. The digitized version of the exhibition is still available, if you didn’t get to see it.
Many more Taylor treasures await digitization, though of course they are available now for study in person.
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