Gifts to Library
A collection of inscribed first editions by the late Roark Bradford, America's foremost writer of Negro dialect, has been presented to Baker Library by George Matthew Adams of New York City, according to a recent announcement by Prof. Herbert F. West '22, secretary of the Friends of the Dartmouth Library. Bradford, who died last November, is best known as the author of the book upon which the play Green Pastures is based.
Beginning with the Harper Brothers edition of Ol' Man Adam An' His Chillun, the collection includes This Side of Jordan;John Henry, Tracking Down A Negro Legend; How Come Christmas; O' King DavidAn' The Philistine Boys; Kingdom Coming; Let the Band Play Dixie; The ThreeHeaded Angel and Shark Sense.
Richard H. Mandel '26, vice chairman of the Friends, has also recently augmented his Norman Douglas Collection in Baker Library with Douglas' letters to his literary agent, J. B. Pinker of London, and a series of 85 holograph letters and 13 postcards written by the author to Walter Lowenfels.
The February issue of the DartmouthCollege Library Bulletin paid tribute in general to the work of the Friends during the past ten years and in particular to Professor West, pointing out that the activity of this small group of men had transformed what was a fine undergraduate library in 1939 to a distinguished library now also serving the needs of the advanced scholar.
During the past decade under the guid- ance of Professor West, the Friends have made contributions to the Dartmouth College Library whose value has been conservatively estimated at nearly $l00,000. These include 20 rare books and approximately 2,000 distinctively scarce individual volumes.
