From The Library Of Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe owned a book about pet turtles. Since 2017, I have been reading, researching, and purchasing the same editions of the books that she kept on her bookshelf, and documenting the process on my blog The Vintage Book Club (formerly the Pinup Book Club). At the time of her death in 1962, Marilyn Monroe had over 400 books. Her collection featured a variety of authors, from Aristotle to Zola, and about as many genres as one can find in a well-stocked bookshop. Of all these books, it is not the first American edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses, nor the copy Das Kapital by Karl Marx, nor the three 18th-century volumes of Plutarch that I find most intriguing. The book that sat on Marilyn Monroe’s bookshelf that I think about most often is the small green booklet titled Pet Turtles, written by Julien Bronson, Hobart Smith, and illustrated by Eileen Hill.
Did Marilyn Monroe want a pet turtle? As far as we know, she never had one. Perhaps it was an unrealized hope for the future. One can almost imagine Marilyn Monroe sitting next to the swimming pool at her Hacienda-style Brentwood home, debating whether or not she finally had the space in her life for a little hard-shelled companion to wander about the yard. And while we may never know the real reason why Marilyn Monroe had Pet Turtles on her shelf, this book reveals an endearing side to her that is not really known or widely discussed.
Research has shown that what a person reads can reveal their desires, emotions, and even self-esteem. While investigations of her wardrobe and makeup show how she crafted her external appearance (for which she was famous), Marilyn Monroe’s bookshelf contains the ingredients that helped shape her internal character.
One aspect of her internal character that does get discussed periodically in media is her passion for social and racial justice. Along these lines, there is a well-known story about Marilyn Monroe using her privilege and fame to support Ella Fitzgerald. Marilyn Monroe told the owner of the LA nightclub Mocambo that if they booked Ella Fitzgerald, she would be in front of the audience every night of the singer’s performances. In 1955 Ella Fitzgerald was booked, and Marilyn Monroe kept her promise. From that point on Ella Fitzgerald said she “never had to play another small jazz club again.”
This story makes the rounds periodically—during the BLM movements in 2020, many Instagram accounts, for instance, shared it as an example of how to be a good ally. But what many people don’t know is that sitting on Marilyn Monroe’s bookshelf was an anthology of essays and short stories by black authors on their experiences, research, and struggles published ten years before the Mocambo nightclub incident. It was edited by Sylvestre C. Watkins and includes works by Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. DuBois and Langston Hughes. While we may never know if Marilyn Monroe read this particular anthology, her actions in combination with this book on her shelf make clear her passion for racial justice. It was a fundamental part of who she was.
What I find almost heartbreaking is that photoshoots of Marilyn Monroe, especially those that took place in her home, often featured her posing with or next to books. She wanted people to see that she was well-read. And while her beauty is admired to this day, the photos of her reading or sitting next to a full bookshelf show that she wanted the world to know she was also smart. It is perhaps for this reason that I feel most compelled to work on The Vintage Book Club and make a replica of Marilyn Monroe’s book collection.
Though I have been reading books from her library for nearly four years, I feel as though I have barely scratched the surface—and yet, I can see trends that show us some of her interests. Poetry seemed to be a favourite genre, as did humour. She had two copies of Madame Bovary, as well as two copies of Nana. She owned a book on Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement, had multiple works by Steinbeck, and perhaps unsurprisingly kept a large number of plays.
We know about her books primarily from the Christie’s Catalogue for the Marilyn Monroe estate auction in 1999. Several blogs have made the titles and authors of these books available in lists online, which are easily found through a search engine. Frustratingly, however, this auction catalogue does not provide photographs of the majority of the books, and inconsistently provides information on the publisher and cover type. Additionally, I have found several errors in the catalogue, which adds a level of complication when it comes to recreating her library. As part of my project, I must look beyond the Christie’s catalogue—at photographs of her bookshelves and through libraries and bookselling databases—to fill in the missing (and amending the incorrect) information.
I am in the process of compiling my research onto a spreadsheet, which is useful to use when looking to purchase the same editions that Marilyn Monroe owned. One day, I hope to write a book that looks at this library and shares what we can learn about Marilyn Monroe from the books that she read.
