Brown University Library News

The John Hay Library at Brown University has received the latest in a series of extraordinary gifts from Daniel G. Siegel ’57, proprietor of M & S Press and M & S Rare Books. Mr. Siegel, who in the past has made gifts to Brown including a first edition of The Great Gatsby inscribed by F. Scott Fitzgerald to T. S. Eliot, has given 130 historically significant texts and manuscripts to the John Hay, which houses the University Library’s collections of rare books and manuscripts, the University Archives, and special collections.

Within the collection donated by Mr. Siegel, the greatest strengths are in the history of science, including major works in astronomy, mathematics, medicine, chemistry and physics; American, British and European history and literature; and philosophical and religious thought. The works, many of which are rare and inscribed or annotated by their authors or distinguished previous owners, are of great scholarly and artifactual value. Director of Special Collections Samuel Streit says that the gift “adds depth to library strengths” in areas such as the history of science “while extending them in new directions.”

… Brown University Receives Major Gift of Rare Books from Alumnus