In the rare book and manuscript trade, G.T.T. â€" “gone to Texas†â€" has long been slang for treasures snapped up by the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, Austin. Soon, Stephen Enniss, the head librarian of the Folger Shakespeare Library, will become the latest rarity to get the designation.
In August, Mr. Enniss will take over as director from Thomas F. Staley, a James Joyce specialist who in his 25-year tenure is credited with turning the Ransom Center into one of the world’s major literary depositories, as well as the frequent destination for archives of contemporary writers like J.M. Coetzee, David Foster Wallace, Don DeLillo and Norman Mailer. Today, it houses 42 million literary manuscripts, nearly 1 million rare books (including a Gutenberg Bible), 5 million photographs (including the earliest permanent photographic image from nature, taken in 1826-27), 100,000 works of art, and not a few unclassifiable objects, like a graffiti-covered door from a Greenwich Village bookshop that was the focus of a recent exhibition last year.
Mr. Enniss also comes with experience that spans the old and new worlds of rare books. Before tending the folios and quartos at the Folger, he was the curator and director at Emory University’s rare book and manuscript collection, where he was the lead negotiator on the acquisition of the papers and hard drives of Salman Rushdie.
