January 29, 2008
3 Rare Books Given to Brown
A Rhode Island book dealer has donated three rare books to his alma mater, Brown University: a first edition of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald; a first English-language edition of Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, by Ludwig Wittgenstein; and The Quadrupeds of North America, by John James Audubon.
University officials did not specify the books’ value, but, according to a news release, the Gatsby contains an inscription from T.S. Eliot and marginalia, probably from Eliot, which add to the book’s “value and importance to scholars and researchers.”
The donor, Daniel Siegel, recalled that after he had given an original manuscript of George Orwell’s 1984 to Brown, five years ago, another donor couple decided to give their collection of Orwell first editions to the university as well.
“This sort of synergy is the plea and the wish of all donors,” he said in a written statement, “and I hope that my present gifts, representing three entirely different areas of book collection, will have a similar effect in the next few years.”
Erin Strout | Posted on Tuesday January 29, 2008 | PermalinkComments
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Thank you Mr. Siegel; such books are better in institutions open to the public that in private hands. T. Feininger Ph.D. (Geology) 1964.
— Tomas Feininger Feb 13, 09:04 AM #