The Rake's Progress The Rake's Progress The Rake's Progress is an English-language opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings "A Rake's Progress" (1733–1735) of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on 2 May 1947, in a Chicago exhibition. The story concerns the decline and fall of one Tom Rakewell, who deserts Anne Trulove for the delights of London in the company of Nick Shadow, who turns out to be the Devil. After several misadventures, all initiated by the devious Shadow, Tom
William Hogarth Tower he was named curator by the university. With the assistance of the Society of Philatelic Americans he was able to solicit philatelic material to be used in the stamp room. Tower was named to the American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame in 1951. Upon his death, Tower bequeathed his valuable collections of postage stamps and postal history item to the Princeton University Library. William Hogarth Tower William Hogarth Tower (1871–1950), of New Jersey, USA was a postage stamp collector who endowed a "stamp room" at Princeton University. Tower created a number of stamp collections, each focused on one aspect of