Sender: Rare Books and Special Collections Forum <EXLIBRIS@RUTVM1.BITNET>
The Brown University Library celebrated the acquisition of its
1-millionth book in 1954 and its 2-millionth book in 1988. The
honorary 1-m-th book was a copy of Descartes' De Homine Figures
(Leyden, 1662), given by Albert E. Lownes, Brown Class of 1920.
For the 2-m-th book, we purchased a copy of Pavlov's Lektsii o ...
Pishchevaritelnykh Zhelez (St. Petersburg, 1897), otherwise known
as "Lectures on the Function of the Main Food-Digestion Glands."
For those of you who might find this an unlikely choice for such an
august occation, I should add that we were looking for something
relating to medicine to show our on-going appreciation to the
Rhode Island Medical Society (founded in 1812) who had given us its
library in 1987. (Also, Pavlov's work went far beyond salivating dogs
since he introduced the method of long-term study of an entire
organizm within its natural conditions. His work also marked the
beginning of the objective treatment of human psychological problems.)
By good fortune, we were able to publish a heavily-illustrated book,
Special Collections at Brown University, A History & Guide, in time
for our 2-millionth book celebration at Commencement, 1988. Although
the History & Guide was too far into production to include the
Pavlov, we thought of it as relating to the 2-m-th events. During
April and May of 1988 we exhibited most of the items illustrated in
the book, as well as the Pavlov.
Our 2-millionth event during Commencement Weekend '88 was an
address given by then President and CEO of the New York Public Library,
Vartan Gregorian, on May 28. Rumors flew that day concerning Gregorian
as the next President of Brown University. We did not learn of his
acceptance for some time. The rest is history.
Jennifer B. Lee
Curator of Printed Books
John Hay Library
Brown University
401-863-1511