The Pierpont Morgan Library is recognised as one of the finest treasure troves of priceless works from the realms of art, literature, music and history. It came into being in the 1890s as the private collection of the American banker Pierpont Morgan. On his death in 1913 it passed into the hands of his son who then declared it a public institution in 1924. Since that time the Morgan Library has been both a centre for research and a museum of fine art. This publication gives its readers an inside view of the rich holdings of a passionate, private collector, with informative essays on the collection's priceless incunabula and illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, on drawings by European masters from before 1825, and on the unique collection of musical scores - by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and John Cage - as well as manuscripts and letters by writers, artists and scientists from the 15th to the 20th century. This finely illustrated volume provides an excellent guide to one of the most outstanding libraries in the USA.