The Winter Show, one hundred years of Winnie-the-Pooh, and the civilizing power of the book amNewYork

"Long before museums, long before fairs and vitrines, culture was measured by manuscripts carried across borders, libraries guarded through wars, and books copied by hand because the ideas inside them were deemed essential to human continuity. Winter in New York, at its most elevated, still understands this instinct. The Winter Show does not merely assemble objects. It convenes history, scholarship, and the quiet authority of intellectual inheritance, reminding us that refinement is not taste alone, but memory made visible."

"Framed too casually, Pooh risks being dismissed as sentimental. Read properly, he belongs to a lineage of literary humanism, one that understands imagination as a serious instrument for moral formation. A. A. Milne's world offered refuge without retreat, whimsy without frivolity, and language capable of holding both wonder and melancholy. That a century later Pooh still endures is not an accident. It is evidence of literature's capacity to civilize gently and persistently over time."

"Within this historical register, the presence of Peter Harrington Rare Books as an exhibitor at The Winter Show feels not only appropriate, but necessary. Their presentation reads as a syllabus rather than a sales offering, advancing a rigorous argument for preservation, scholarship, and the physical book as an intellectual artifact. Photo courtesy of the Winter Show Among the most consequential works on view is The Science of Climate Change, a landmark collection assembled by David L. Wenner over more than a decade."

Civilization reveals itself through what it preserves. Long before museums, culture was measured by manuscripts carried across borders, libraries guarded through wars, and books copied because their ideas were essential to continuity. The Winter Show convenes history, scholarship, and intellectual inheritance, making refinement visible as memory. The centenary of Winnie‑the‑Pooh underscores literary humanism, showing imagination as an instrument of moral formation and offering refuge, whimsy, and melancholic depth. Peter Harrington Rare Books presents materials as a syllabus advocating preservation and the physical book as an intellectual artifact. The Science of Climate Change, assembled by David L. Wenner over a decade, spans five centuries and traces the emergence of climate science to texts articulating the greenhouse effect.

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