Thursday, October 8, 2009

Buffalo New York as Rare Books Paradise?

Mark Twain Room
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library

Link to October 7 Buffalo News article, "Group will seek way to showcase rare books".

Excerpt: For added effect, Buffalo & Erie County Library Director Bridget Quinn-Carey cradled, in white-gloved hands, the library's copy of the first folio of William Shakespeare's plays … one of just 228 still in existence.

The library's extensive holdings and those of the University at Buffalo, Buffalo State College, the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society and the Buffalo Museum of Science, among others, have long been a point of pride for Buffalonians and a magnet for scholars from around the globe.

Many of these priceless collections were assembled privately 100 years ago, when this city had more millionaires per capita than any other in America.

The challenge for the Rare Books Commission, headed by Victor Rice, will be to make sure the rest of the world now finds out about these jewels and beats a path to Buffalo's cultural doorstep.

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