Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1292

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.2 linear_foot (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Lyman W. Riley typescripts of Aristotle texts and commentaries to 1700 in the University of Pennsylvania Library, 1961, 1987, Ms. Coll. 1292, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1961, 1987 (inclusive)

Creator:

Riley, Lyman W.

Form:

Citations (bibliographic references), Typescripts, and Writings (documents)

Abstract:

Lyman W. Riley was the rare book bibliographer of Van Pelt Library's original Cataloging and Special Collections center. Riley authored Aristotle Texts and Commentaries to 1700 in the University of Pennsylvania Library, the bibliography referencing all of the early prints, summaries, paraphrases and translations of Aristotle's works at the University of Pennsylvania created prior to 1700. This collection includes the typescripts of and later supplements to Lyman W. Riley's bibliography of Aristotle works.

Lyman W. Riley was a librarian and the rare book bibliographer of Van Pelt Library's original Cataloging and Special Collections center. He served the University of Pennsylvania Libraries for 32 years and was the Head of Original Cataloging and Special Collections until 1983. Among his other notable work at the Library, Riley authored Aristotle Texts and Commentaries to 1700 in the University of Pennsylvania Library in 1961, a work to which he added supplemental information in 1987. He was also an ordained minister and a librarian at Swarthmore Friends Library. Riley retired in 1985 and passed away on February 3, 2000.

Aristotle Texts and Commentaries to 1700 in the University of Pennsylvania Library is the bibliography referencing all of the early prints, summaries, paraphrases and translations of Aristotle's works created prior to 1700. The Aristotle Collection of the University of Pennsylvania was gifted by Dr. Charles W. Burr, a professor in the University's Medical School in 1932, and further funded by him at the time of his death in 1944, ensuring that the Library could make important purchases and additions to the collection. There are over five hundred early printed editions in this catalog, attesting to the importance of Aristotle in the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. According to the University of Pennsylvania Press, "the list of commentators, translators, and editors of the Aristotelian tradition include the names of many well-known humanists from all over the continent ... protagonists of the new learning, [who] nevertheless concerned themselves with that same philosopher who so dominated the teachings of the medieval schools."

University of Pennsylvania Press. Description. (accessed April 24, 2017)

This collection includes the typescript and supplement (including corrections) of Lyman W. Riley's bibliography of Aristotle works, Aristotle Texts and Commentaries to 1700 in the University of Pennsylvania Library. The original typescript of this work, which is present in this collection, dates to 1961--however, there are some pages missing. The supplement can be found in two folders with corrections and related correspondence between Riley and a Kate Reed that date to January 6, 1987 and January 12, 1987. In addition to the original typescript and following corrections are undated xeroxes, corrected pages, and copies of Aristotle card catalog cards from the University of Pennsylvania Van Pelt Library.

It is unclear why certain pages are missing from the original typescript--although it is possible that they were removed in order that the supplemental pages with corrections could be inserted. There are no complete versions of the work contained in this collection.