From Library Assistant Lauren Zuchowski Titus Oates was a clergyman with a knack for perjury and by the end of his life was known as a shame to mankind. Oates, the man behind the Popish Plot, was responsible for creating anti-Catholic hysteria in London from 1678-1681.  During this period fifteen innocent men were executed and…

The William Andrews Clark Lecture on Oscar Wilde “Green Carnations: Wilde, Culture, and Crime” given by John Wilson Foster at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library Saturday April 2,  3:00 p.m. Oscar Wilde’s fiction and criticism are laced with poison, both as theme and motif, both “real” and vicarious. Before his incarceration for criminal wrongdoing,…

Our friend Jim Gilbert from Curating L.A. has posted a lovely article promoting the Enso Quartet’s upcoming April 17th performance at the Clark Library!  Information on how to join the lottery for this performance is at Curating L.A. and on the website of the Center for 17th- and 18th-century Studies.

The Clark recently acquired a letter to Oscar Wilde from Charles Godfrey Leland, American author, arts educator and folklorist, written during Wilde’s North American tour in 1882.  Leland (1824-1903), the founder of the Public Industrial Art School of Philadelphia, was writing to Wilde to thank him for discussing the school during a recent lecture, in which…

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Clark has acquired a very rare chapbook published by George Smeeton, entitled “The Lover, or Cupid’s Mirror.” Chapbooks were small, cheap booklets that dispensed writings that were political, religious, poetical, literature or popular to the general public. Because they were so cheap to make and distribute, not many…

Oscar Wilde is remembered for many things, his writing, his poetry, and his infamous trial for gross indecency in 1895.  But what few remember are his crime-solving exploits with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Although Wilde was (as far as historians can tell) never an actual sleuth, he plays one in three new novels by Gyles…

The Clark’s Paul Landacre Archive is highlighted in a new post today on KCET’s SoCal Focus blog!  This post and others like it, written by USC’s Nathan Masters, are part of a new collaboration between LA as Subject, a local group of which we are a part, and KCET, a local non-profit television channel (formerly…

Mao, Zedong, 1893-1976. Mao zhu xi yu lu. [Beijing] : Zhongguo ren min jie fang jun, [1964] Call number: DS778 .M3 * First edition. Illustrations are a portrait of Mao and a facsimile of calligraphy by Lin Biao. Clark Library copy 1: first issue of first edition; bound in tan paper wrapper, printed in red…

The Clark acquired today’s item of the week in 1996, but it’s been sitting in our manuscript backlog since then.  Completely charming and pretty funny, this album of over 500 caricatures and drawings was executed in the late 18th century by an amateur artist probably from the Cheshire area. Some of the drawings in this…

A new show at the Clark opens tomorrow, featuring highlights from last year’s new purchases! Curated by our head librarian emeritus, Bruce Whiteman, before his departure in August, the show brings together new acquisitions from all of the Clark’s varied collecting areas. Images below show only a small selection of the works now on display….