The Lewis Walpole Library in

Farmington, Connecticut Farmington is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County in the Farmington Valley area of central Connecticut in the United States. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region. The populati ...

, is part of the

Yale University Library The Yale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Originating in 1701 with the gift of several dozen books to a new “Collegiate School," the library's collection now contains approximately 14.9 m ...

system. It holds important collections of 18th-century British literary remains, including an unrivalled quantity of

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...

's papers and effects from his estate at Strawberry Hill in

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

in west London. The collections include 18th-century British books, manuscripts, prints, drawings, and paintings, as well as important examples of the decorative arts. They were gathered by Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis (1895–1979, a graduate of Yale in 1918) and his wife Annie Burr Lewis (1902–1959) in a group of 18th-century buildings at Farmington. The Lewises subsequently donated the collection to

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, of whose

Library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

it forms a department. Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis also left two volumes of memoirs, much of them relevant to the library: ''Collectors Progress'' (1946) and ''One Man's Education'' (1967). The correspondence of Lewis and Alan Noel Latimer Munby is available in the library and provides insight into the bibliophile world of the 20th century. The Library offers residential fellowships and travel grants, along with exhibitions, lectures, seminars, and colloquia.Yale University advertisement: ''London Review of Books, 8 March 2018, p. 45.

Publications

*''The Age of Horace Walpole and Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis: an exhibit marking the fortieth jubilee of the Yale Edition of Horace Walpole's Correspondence and the fiftieth of the Lewis Walpole Library at Farmington tthe College Library and the Watkinson Library, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, October 29 through November 19, 1973.'' *''The Yale Edition of Horace Walpole’s Correspondence'' (48 volumes)

References

Yale University Library Farmington, Connecticut Art museums and galleries in Connecticut Walpole, Horace Libraries in Hartford County, Connecticut Special collections libraries in the United States {{library-struct-stub