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Creator
Rich, O. (Obadiah), 1777-1850
Call number
MssCol 2568
Physical description
.5 linear feet (1 box, 2 v.)
Language
Materials in English
Preferred Citation

Rich provenance collection, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

Obadiah Rich (1783?-1850) was an American book dealer who dealt extensively in Americana. In 1844 he bought Henri Ternaux de Compans's collection of American early printed books and manuscripts, then sold it through Henry Stevens to James Lenox in 1848. Collection consists of negative photostats of letters and accounts, original printed catalogs, and a photostat of an annotated catalog. Letters (from Obadiah Rich to Henry Stevens) and accounts concern the sale of rare books and manuscripts to James Lenox, John Carter Brown, the British Museum and others. Catalogs are of the Rich collection of manuscripts as offered for sale. Photostat is of catalog with Lenox's manuscript annotations (transferred from original by library employee).

Biographical/historical information

Obadiah Rich (ca. 1783-1850 (DAB gives Rich's birth as around 1783, determined by church documents)) was a successful bookseller who dealt extensively in Americana. In 1844, he made the greatest purchase of his career, Henri Ternaux de Compans' collection of American early printed books and manuscripts. He augmented the manuscripts portion of the collection with material purchased from Lord Kingsborough and then sold it through Henry Stevens to James Lenox in 1848. With the consolidation of the Lenox and Astor libraries and the Tilden Trust in 1897, these documents, known today as the Rich Collection, became part of the holdings of The New York Public Library. Ternaux de Compans' printed Americana was sold through Stevens to Lenox and other collectors, principally John Carter Brown.

Scope and arrangement

The collection; Brownrigg, Colonial Latin American Manuscripts and Transcripts in the Obadiah Rich Collection, x-xviii; DAB VII, 549; Stevens, Recollections of James Lenox, 85-86.

The Rich Provenance Collection includes negative photostats of letters and accounts, original printed catalogs, and a photostat of an annotated catalog. [$b] The letters are from Obadiah Rich to Henry Stevens, and they and the account statements relate to the sale of rare books and manuscripts to James Lenox, John Carter Brown, the British Museum, and others. The catalogs are of the Rich Collection of manuscripts as offered for sale. The catalog photostatted bears a library employee's transfers of James Lenox's manuscript annotations. The catalog with Lenox's original annotations, another with Appleton P. C. Griffin's notes, and a third with Wilberforce Eames' are in NYPL's rare book division, location *KAY.

Arrangement

Two series: I. Letters and Accounts; II. Catalogs

Administrative information

Processing information

Accessioned by CF, August 5, 1988

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328

Access restrictions

Original catalog with annotations not to be served to readers. Bound photostat copy to be served. Original manuscript letters, here available in photostats, are the property of the William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan.