The Morgan Library

Those of you, like Anna Lee, who have read The Personal Librarian by Maria Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray understand why the Morgan Library was a destination for us.  On a brief tour (by someone who has not read the book) we learned that the building was built in 1906 and designed to utilize natural lighting.  The walls are several stories high and covered with books.

We enjoyed wandering around seeing the beautiful building with walls and ceilings adorned with murals and displays of books and classical art.  The walls of the rotunda are covered with paintings not mosaics.

 This is one (1454 AD) of the three Gutenberg Bibles owned by Morgan.

The library is connected to Morgan’s house via a tunnel.  It contains a vault filled with books.  The ceiling is from Florence.  His office and fireplace is as he left it.

   

This Emancipation Proclamation was printed by Rufus Blanchard who printed multiple copies in 1863-1864.

We left the Morgan and, on our way back to the hotel, we passed the New York Public Library that was featuring an exhibit called "Treasures".  We had to stop in and look and it was certainly worth the time.

Ashley Bryan was an illustrator of children’s books written by Langston Hughes.  Hughes wrote after serving in WWII and living in both North and South America.  Bryan’s paintings also included subjects of daily life.  This poem by Hughes is on a painting of San Francisco.

Other items included a burial attire

There was also a copy of the Megillah

 Comments on New York City:       

Contrary to our quiet neighborhood back home, New York City is jammed with noise: horns, sirens, people of all backgrounds speaking many languages.  Crowds on the street at all times.  Kind and friendly people in stores, restaurants, hotels.  Yes, they are paid to be nice but you can’t just fake it.  On this trip, the sky is blue and the sun shines down as we join the innumerable people jamming the streets.  It is an invigorating feeling but cold to the skin.

Our hotel room view includes the ball that will drop on New Year’s Eve and a beautiful older building with great style. 

New York, New York

We planned to stay only a few days in NY before heading up to Saranac and family, but learning about more plays lengthened our stay.  On our first day we hit the strip running, or actually walking through the garment district.  This statue was a reminder of what it was like in the early days here.

On Wednesay we had both matinee and evening performances.  A teasing on the Tony Awards show led us to Strange Loop, a play about a playwright writing a play about a playwright.  He is a gay usher named Usher who is plagued by demons regarding his life and sexuality.  He is also estranged from his religious family.  This is a musical.  Jerry liked it better than Anna Lee, who wanted more in the end about his actually writing and completing the play.

Our dinner had a bonus, Dena, daughter of good friends of ours from home, joined us for a delicious dinner at The Smith.  We probably dominated the conversation but she is a good listener and delightful dinner companion.

Our second play of the day was was a short ride uptown to the Lincoln Center to see Becky Nurse, the story of a descendant from a Salem witch and her travails raising a grand-daughter and trying to work in Salem.  We had visited this complex years ago to see an excellent production of War Horse.  Becky Nurse  It is a multilayered play with some magic and romance tossed in.  Anna Lee was a bit teary-eyed at the end.

The view out our window onto Times Square.   

With his new hearing aids, Jerry says that he can clearly hear the dialog in the plays and Anna Lee has stopped mumbling.