Julia Parker Wightman (December 25, 1909 – July 11, 1994) was an American

bibliophile A bookworm or bibliophile is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books. Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Bibliophiles may have large, specialized book collections. They may highly value old editions, aut ...

and

book collector Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given collector. The love of books is '' bibliophilia'', and some ...

Biography

Wightman was born on December 25, 1909. She was the daughter of a prominent New York City physician, Dr. Orrin Sage Wightman (1873-1965), and Purl Parker. She was noted for her impressive collection of rare books. The collection was especially known for its

miniature book A miniature book is a very small book. Standards for what may be termed a miniature rather than just a small book have changed through time. Today, most collectors consider a book to be miniature only if it is 3 inches or smaller in height, wid ...

s and children's books, but also included

herbals A herbal is a book containing the names and descriptions of plants, usually with information on their medicinal, tonic, culinary, toxic, hallucinatory, aromatic, or magical powers, and the legends associated with them.Arber, p. 14. A her ...

incunabula An incunable or incunabulum (: incunables or incunabula, respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or broadside (printing), broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. The specific date is essentiall ...

illuminated manuscripts An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...

and fine bindings. In 1965, following her father's death, she converted his offices at the family home into a bindery, where she created bindings and cases for some of the volumes in her library. She had previously studied bookbinding with Edith Diehl. She was a longtime member of the

Hroswitha Club The Hroswitha Club was a membership-based club of women bibliophiles and collectors based in New York City, active from 1944 to 2004. Founding The Hroswitha Club was founded in 1944 by a group of women bibliophiles: Sarah Gildersleeve Fife (who c ...

, which she joined in 1955, and was its president from 1978 to 1994, and often hosted club meetings at her home. She was also a member of the

Grolier Club The Grolier Club is a private club and society of bibliophiles in New York City. Founded in January 1884, it is the oldest existing bibliophilic club in North America. The club is named after Jean Grolier de Servières, Viscount d'Aguisy, T ...

to which she was elected in 1977, and was one of the first women to be admitted. After Wightman's death on July 11, 1994, her collections and her bookbinding equipment were bequeathed to the

Morgan Library & Museum The Morgan Library & Museum (originally known as the Pierpont Morgan Library and colloquially known the Morgan) is a museum and research library in New York City, New York, U.S. Completed in 1906 as the private library of the banker J. P. Morg ...

. She had been a fellow of the Morgan for 40 years, and a trustee for over 20 years.

References

1909 births 1994 deaths American book and manuscript collectors American bibliophiles Place of birth missing Place of death missing {{US-bio-stub