Edelstein Collection

Jerome Melvin Edelstein, a distinguished bibliographer and member of staff at the Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities, developed his passion for book production and collecting books and archives over the course of a long and accomplished career. He worked as a librarian and expert bibliographer at some of the most prestigious libraries in the United States, including the Library of Congress, specialising in the curation of collections and taking on senior roles in the area of special and rare book collections. In 1986, he joined the Getty Research Institute as senior librarian and resource coordinator, later becoming associate director for collection development. Among the numerous acquisitions he secured for the Research Institute are a substantial collection of books on the Italian Renaissance and Baroque; the archives of several small presses which helped to launch a collection of artists’ books; other major holdings such as the André and Oleg Grabar Library of Islamic and Byzantine art and architecture; the DDR Collection (1950–91), comprising archival materials documenting the history of East German artistic institutions and cultural policy in the 20th century; the archive of Count Panza di Biumo; the Fischer Collection of Max Ernst, including 496 books and graphic works by Ernst; and the papers of the Italian Futurist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Edelstein was a member of numerous professional organisations, including the American Antiquarian Society (from 1978), the Bibliographical Society of America, the Association Internationale de Bibliophile, and the American Printing History Association. He was also affiliated with the Grolier Club and the Century Association in New York, and the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. 

The Edelstein Collection comprises around 1,800 volumes and is focused on the history of the book in all its dimensions. It encompasses a wide range of editions reflecting the attention devoted to the book in the United States during the rise of modern communication tools. Alongside key works on books and numerous rare and finely produced editions—concrete expressions of the typographic arts—the collection includes essential research tools and reference works published by specialist publishers, bibliophile associations, public libraries, and universities: bibliographies, surveys, guides and repertories. Many of the works included in the collection are difficult to obtain, having been published in limited runs and often restricted to bibliophile collections or rare book libraries at American universities.