About the Collection
As a tribute to the great Roman poet Vergil, former acting Headmaster Charles Henry Forbes and generous alumni curated a vast collection of more than a thousand editions and commentaries on Vergil’s works. The collection itself showcases rare examples of early book binding, typography, bookplates, and illustrations. When Forbes wrote about the collection in October, 1930, it contained about 700 items, including 43 sixteenth-century texts. Today, the Forbes collection has expanded with additions from the Bancroft Collection of English Versions of Virgil’s Poems and the Ballard Collection of Translations, now numbering more than 1,100 items. Notable works include six incunabula (books printed before 1500) and one of two known copies of a Cento by Proba Falconia, an illustrious fourth-century female poet. This Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi is especially notable as it is one of the earliest, and perhaps the first, printed reproduction of a woman’s work. Other works include the first Italian translation of the Eclogues by Venetian printer Antonius Bartolomaeus in 1476, a beautiful 1492 folio with hand-colored initials printed in Nuremberg by Anton Koberger, a set of five 1493 commentaries printed by Bartholomeus de Zanis, and a 1494 Italian edition of the Eclogues.
Professor Forbes’ personal works, among them “Caesar’s Gaelic Wars” and “Eight Orations of Cicero,” can also be found in this collection. As Forbes writes, the purpose of this collection is “to furnish an ample working library for the student of any stage of scholarly attainment who may wish to come to Andover and find at his elbow the material for many fields of research in Vergil” (9, The Phillips Bulletin). Our goal is to continue Forbes’s effort to share this collection not only to those who can make their way to Andover, but to any interested individual across the globe.
Forbes: Educator and Classist
Professor Forbes’ interest in Classics was believed to originate from the influence of Mr. Peck, Principal of Classical High School, who prompted Forbes to change his studies heading into college from Architecture to the Classics. After graduating as the valedictorian of his class at Brown University, Forbes came to Phillips Academy in 1891 as a classical scholar. In 1894, he was named the John Phillips Professor of Latin and Latin Department Chair, a position he held until 1927. During this time, Forbes also became involved with the New England Classical Association, becoming its president from 1907 to 1908. As the association’s past programs reveal, Forbes repeatedly delivered a speech titled, “What is the Good of Latin?” Forbes staunchly defended the importance of learning Classics, most notably against Abraham Flexner of the New York City General Education Board.
During his time serving as a teacher and Acting Headmaster, Forbes was well-loved by his students. As a faculty member wrote in his memory, “To us and to the Town of Andover he gave lavishly of himself and of all he possessed. To his class-room he carried a firm but genial discipline, a rare skill of instruction, a wealth of learning, a sure knowledge and an unfailing love of boys, a radiant cheerfulness; these made him for his associates the standard by which to measure their own accomplishment, to his boys the outstanding figure of their education, a teacher revered and beloved.”
Many letters from past students warmly recall the cherished moments they shared with Forbes. At the time of his sudden passing, funeral services were held at the Cochran Chapel, and students stood out in the snow, delivering speeches and paying tribute. Charles Henry Forbes passed away March 12, 1933 at the age of 66 and rests in the Chapel Cemetery behind Samuel Phillips Hall.
Phillipian, October 10, 1931, “Prof. Forbes, Of Latin Department, Writes on Virgil Collection Which Bears His Name,” Charles Henry Forbes
The Phillips Bulletin, October, 1930, “The Vergil Collection,” Charles Henry Forbes.
The Phillips Bulletin, “Death of Charles Henry Forbes,” 18-20.
The Phillips Bulletin, Charles Henry Forbes, Amantissmus Amatissimus, Horace M. Poynter, 20-23.
Program of the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Eastern Massachusetts Section of the Classical Association of New England Join Meeting With The Classical Club of Greater Boston Harvard University.
Newspaper Clipping: April 25, 1917, “Forbes Defends Academic Study.”
Clipping from New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, Education, May 1918, “Address of Professor Charles H. Forbes Assumptions of the ‘Modern School’.”
Phillipian, March 15, 1933, “Professor Forbes Was Outstanding Both at Brown And In After Life As Classical Scholar And Author.”
Phillipian, March 15, 1933, “Dr. C. H. Forbes’s Collection Of Vergiliana is World-Famed.”
Phillipian, March 15, 1933, “Served On Faculty For Forty-One Years.”
By Cindy Zhou ’27, edited by Bailey Xu ’26 and Dr. Paige Roberts.