E. M. Rose, "Books for Virginia 1620: America's First Public Library?" 2025 NEH-SHARP Lecture

Rare Book School

This NEH-SHARP Living American History in Primary Documents Lecture by E. M. Rose was part of Rare Book School's 2025 Summer Lecture Series. You can watch the full recording of the lecture on YouTube at https://youtu.be/VaN2qqFnPto?feature=shared. 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸: What did American colonists need to know? What should they believe? The Virginia Company had clear ideas about such things as demonstrated by the significant sums spent on books for the use of the colonists. A recently unearthed list details 50 titles the Company purchased in December 1620 for shipment to America, most likely for a public library. E. M. Rose has been able to identify the author, title, edition, number of copies purchased, and cost per copy for most of the titles acquired for the benefit of the newest Americans. In this talk, Rose will review the assortment of religious texts for what they indicate about conventional Anglican orthodoxy in this period and will examine the agricultural and scientific texts intended for use in the colonies to get a sense of the technological interests and capabilities of the new Americans. Additionally, she will consider the books as a collection and library in contrast with other such collections and donations, discussing the medium of the printed book as an object for the light it throws on contemporary readers, book history, and the book trade. This lecture will further consider the role of the Virginia Company as an important publisher as well as a consumer of books and other printed ephemera. 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿: E. M. Rose is a scholar of medieval and early modern Europe, whose work has been hailed as “a model of thoroughgoing historical scholarship presented to a general audience and should be studied by scholars who wish to bring the humanities to the public square." Rose has taught at five universities in America and is currently Visiting Fellow at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge University. For the past three years, she was a Visiting Scholar at Oxford University. Her previous work in book history, “Books owned by a Renaissance Queen,” an essay on 80 books sent by James I to his daughter, appeared in 𝘋𝘦𝘳 𝘎𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘳 (2020). Rose’s articles have appeared in 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, the 𝘏𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘓𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘘𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺, the 𝘝𝘪𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘢 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘳, the 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘎𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘗𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺, and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯. Her most recent essay on America’s first chart maker will appear in 𝘔𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 this summer. Rose’s first book, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘪𝘤𝘩 (2015) was named one of the “Ten Best History Books of the Year” by the 𝘚𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 of London and described by the 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 as “a landmark of historical research.” The 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 called it “a significant achievement” and the 𝘈𝘑𝘚 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 described it as “a truly excellent book. It deserves to be read and studied by scholars in many if not all fields of medieval studies.”