One of the great American art collectors of his day, Henry Walters purchased manuscripts and printed books with the same passion that led him to acquire some twenty-three thousand works of art dating from about 3000 B.C. to his own time. His more than 730 medieval and later manuscripts, the second largest collection of its kind in the United States, was complemented by more than twelve hundred incunabula and almost as many later titles. His interest in rare books must be seen as an integral part of his life as an art collector: the illuminated manuscripts, illustrated books, and fine bindings are works of art in their own right, and his collecting of unadorned volumes of diverse medieval, classical, and modern texts reflects a broad interest in the civilizations from which his other acquisitions emerged.

Henry Walters was born in Baltimore on 26 September 1848 to William Thompson and Ellen Harper...