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Arthur Miller’s personal library returns to New York



The New York Public Library has just acquired the Arthur Miller collection of books. Among the 692 volumes we find plays, books and translations relating to his work, but also rarer documents such as a work dedicated to Marylin Monroe.

It is thanks to the family of the writer and playwright that the collection was able to join the shelves of the new york public library. Known for his pieces like The Crucible (The Witches of Salem translation Marcel Aymé) and Death of a Salesma (Death of a salesman, Raymond Gerome translation) Miller had also hit the headlines by briefly becoming Marilyne Monroe’s husband.

In addition to editions of the author’s writings in English, the acquisition includes a large collection of translations in many European languages, but also in Arabic, Hebrew or Japanese. Some volumes have personal annotations scribbled in the margins – opening, as for the personal library of Philip Roth, a real window on his work.

Miller’s collection also contains audiotapes, magazines and other material spanning the 1930s to 2012. Also featured are a small number of works by other writers, including four scripts by playwright Harold Pinter. The books will be added to the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, which contains some 35,000 printed volumes, brochures and plates representing the work of more than 400 authors.

Among the rarest documents in the collection are personalized copies of the playwright’s works such as a 1951 edition of An Enemy of the People, by Henrik Ibsen, dedicated to Marilyn Monroe or a box of newspaper clippings, theater programs and other ephemeral brochures mainly related to a tour between 1949 and 1950.

«The New York Public Library is the perfect place to house Arthur Miller’s personal library. These are books that lived in the shelves lining Arthur’s desk, and that he read and handled regularly in his life; these are books that have been lovedThe Miller family said. “We could not be happier to know that Arthur’s precious collection is in the New York Public Library and is now owned by the people of the big city who raised him. “

Photo credit: Arthur Miller, American playwright – Public domain

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