wearing the uniform she has a two month window she can still hold the jobs issue will be looking for another job she cannot keep working in that job when no longer a member of the military says she is in transition right now but she is so good with technology she already has a friend that is recruiting her to work at his company. they're all doing really well. and uc desma in the book getting a lot of their paid for ptsd in two different forms that is successful and why. i will sign some books. thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> it is said to our of the

new york public library joined by isaac gewirtz what do you do here at the library? >> i am curator of henry and albert berg collection of english literature. worked in the new york public library in the past and was later a curator at methodist university and downtown at the theological seminary and got a doctorate and renaissance history at columbia and that led to me being here. >> host: how long have you been at the new york public library? >> as curator september 2000. >> host: you brought up things to show us. >> the berg has 2,000 linear feet of archives and printed items and $400 but this is

what i like to call the tip of the berg. we have the only surviving manuscript of police on it satires and paradoxes done in his lifetime. not in his hand but in the hand of his secretary and personal assistant. this has the highest authority deriving directly from his own manuscript. you can see the differences between the text that were made in the first edition them perpetuated but in this on at all who wore burst a each all of those have been destroyed by this will be resurrected on the day of judgment.

and this word is transcribed as death and only 20th century was read it correctly. john donne was a great metaphysical poet in the 17th century to used wit, a philosophical inquiry in order to create highly formal and complex sonnets and other forms of poetry. >> host: what else? >> a wonderful dickens collection the what is really remarkable is we have 13 of the copies used to give public readings and this was the first one he ever did. the first reading was 1853

and this is the performance copy for a christmas carol. he first read it in birmingham in 1853 it was not yet in end existence. that people could listen to over a period of one hour or 10 minutes so if you have of binder tear out the leaves and then he went through over a couple of years and you can see that he wrote passages because of you would have deleted then would have to somehow introduce said. lend you also find the pages

you can see the postage stamps broken off using to turn the pages quickly so they were broken over much use. and the last group of photos and then hand them a great second final reading tour of the united states. >> how did the library get the material? >> the dickens, the performance copies came into a the berg to the purchase of the two greatest collections of english and american collections at the of history back in 1940's.

one was from cincinnati n then they had the performance copies. and then the founder general electric. these performance copies came from their collection this one came from a believe the house collection. but this belonged to dickens and this is his pen you may want to hold in there is his inkwell and there is the ivory letter opener. and she had inscribed

endless is from his recently deceased cat and the story has it that dickens had trained dog to put out the night candle with his paw and likely the same paw. >> host: not to be crass but how much is this worth? >> we don't like to discuss prices but in one sense it is invaluable i like to think in terms of financial value because they are priceless and cannot be duplicated. certainly the manuscripts you could find another letter opener but not with dickens cat's paw. >> but the library has insurance for the holdings. yes. >> this is the first volume of manuscript volume as we

have the vast majority of virginia woolf's papers here. she was one of the great pioneers of the modernist and novel. it was published in 1927. this isn't her own binding by the way. it is not pretty she could do that with a private press that she ran with her husband. and here you can see she has the names of characters some of which don't appear in the published version and she always true a blue crayon line on the left hand margin and to right and notes to herself as she went along. in this particular case she has a couple of diary entries and down here 1926

she writes i observed today i am writing exactly opposite of my other books very views have first but then will have to tighten finally is always the four and three times the speed. most of her traps are grammatical and very tight and formal productions and in this case is under finished it was a cathartic experience writing about her childhood and adolescence relationship with her parents. >> host: we want to see one more thing over here with the berg collection. is this available for everybody? >> you get a special tour the collection is here for researchers to lead to study the papers or main description of rare books.

>> you have to apply to see that manuscript? >> bound manuscripts we don't even bring a halt for researchers because of their fragility. it is on micro fell use them for presentations and exhibitions and i do many presentations for the public that is how they get access. >> host: would it you like to see those online? >> yes. there is a substantial robust virginia woolf website which does contain those digital images of that manuscript and others. here is one of charles

dickens tasks. his chair, his lamp retrofitted for electricity and his calendar set to the date he died. june 9th. . .