Last year the Ransom Center received as a gift a bible printed in 1481, in Basel by Johan de Amerbach, that was adorned with a 19th century fore-edge painting by bibliophile John T. Beer. The scene is described in a checklist of Beer’s fore-edge paintings simply as “A scene on… read more
Books + Manuscripts
Texas House investigates purchase of rare books
In celebration of its fiftieth anniversary, the Ransom Center has published Collecting the Imagination: The First Fifty Years of the Ransom Center, a richly illustrated chronicle of its history. The following is an excerpt from Collecting the Imagination. On April 19, 1943, the Texas House of Representatives voted 99 to… read more
Curator’s Pick: Das Kapital
The Ransom Center holds in its collections a first edition of Das Kapital, inscribed by author Karl Marx and published in 1867. The book, purchased by the University in 1969 at an auction, is inscribed to English socialist reformer John Malcolm Ludlow on the title page: “J. M. Ludlow, Esq.… read more