Copyright, Flavia Reed Owen Special Collections & Archives, McGraw-Page Library, Randolph-Macon College
The Casanova Collection was given to Randolph-Macon College by J. Rives Childs, class of 1912. Childs' collection of Casanoviana and related 18th century authors is considered to be one of the most comprehensive in existence, with over 2000 items including numerous rare volumes of Casanova’s Memoires in many languages. In addition to the Memoires and writings of Casanova, the collection contains numerous bibliographies, biographies, sales catalogs, correspondence, playbills, and illustrations.
Ambassador Childs served for thirty years in the American Foreign Service and published volumes on a variety of topics but was best known for his annotated world bibliography of Casanova, Casanoviana : An Annotated World Bibliography of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, and of Works Concerning Him (1956) and the periodical publication Casanova Gleanings. He also wrote the definitive Casanova: A Biography (1961) and was a self-proclaimed "defender of Casanova as something other than the caricatures drawn of him by the mythmakers."
All books in the Casanova collection are cataloged and can be found using the search box on the library's home page.
