Meredith Mann, NYPL

There used to be a big reservoir where the NYPL and Bryant Park are now, and Edgar Allan Poe wrote that it provided a "delightful scene at night, with the moonlight dancing on the water."

By the 1980s, Wolfe had decided to embark upon his own novel. His starting point was not characters or plot, but setting: New York City.

"The New Yorker will be the magazine which is not edited for the old lady in Dubuque," the magazine's original prospectus, circa the mid-1920s, announced.

The ball drop tradition began in 1907, and from its very first outing until 1996, the design firm Artkraft Strauss constructed the ball and managed its operation.

The reader witnesses brief moments in the lives of neighbors and passersby, as though a guest at an exclusive dinner party or resident of a New York City brownstone.

At a gathering around the laying of the new library’s cornerstone, Mayor Low was presented with this Tiffany trowel.

As part of our Dear NYC series, we're digging into some New York City gems hidden away at the NYPL.

As part of our monthlong Dear NYC series, we're looking at New York City gems hidden away at the New York Public Library.