The pierpont morgan library: The Master's Hand - Tapa dura

The Pierpont Morgan Library is recognized as one of the finest collections of priceless works from the realms of art, literature, music and history. It came into being in the 1890s as the private collection of the American banker Pierpont Morgan. On his death in 1913 it passed into the hands of his son who then declared it a public institution in 1924. Since then the Morgan Library has been both a center for research and a museum of fine art. This illustrated volume provides a tour through the Morgan, and gives its readers an inside view of the rich holdings of a private, passionate collector. The book features essays on the collection's priceless incunabula and illuminated manuscripts from both the high Renaissance and Middle Ages, as well as examples from the collection's pre-1825 master drawings, and its unique collection of musical scores -- by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Cage. The Morgan is also home to manuscripts and letters by writers, artists and scientists from the 15th to 20th century. This informative, detailed, and elegantly conceived book perfectly compliments the Pierpont Morgan Library.