Philip Hyman Rosenbach was born in Philadelphia. His father, Morris (who changed his name from Meier), emigrated from Germany in 1844; their mother, Isabella Polock Rosenbach, was a native Philadelphian. The family belonged to a Sephardic Jewish congregation.
Following the failure of the father's drygoods business, Philip went out on his own, eventually establishing a gift shop. It was expanded into a large antiques business, with stores and warehouses in Philadelphia and New York, that handled furniture, silver, china, paintings, and prints. This was the beginning of the Rosenbach Company; the antiques were liquidated at auction in 1942.
In 1903 Philip was joined by his brother (called A. S. W. , Doctor R. , or the Doctor). The firm then began selling rare books, a business that brought the Rosenbachs to prominence. Philip, the company's president until his death, ran the antiques portion of the business, goaded his inherently lazy brother into action, and remained frequently the first--but always the final--voice of authority on all matters except book sales.
After World War II Abraham Rosenbach's health began to fail, and Philip took over the total management of even the book business. Few purchases were made, sales at vastly reduced prices were ordered. He died in Los Angeles less than after his brother's death. The firm and its name ended with Philip's death, and the trustees of the foundation sold the remaining book assets to John F. Fleming.
Philip Hyman was prominent as the founder of the Rosenbach Company. Together with his brother they set up the Philip H. and A. S. W. Rosenbach Foundation, establishing their Philadelphia townhouse at 2010 DeLancey Place as a library and museum for the books, fine furniture, objets d'art, paintings, and drawings that perpetuate their grand and florid style.
