To Accept a Gift of Books or Not. A Dilemma for Libraries
- by Michael Stillman
Northeast Harbor Library (from their website).
This story from the rocky shores of Down East Maine throws a light on a dilemma that increasingly is ensnaring both libraries and book collectors these days. In the digital age, with decreasing use of libraries, particularly their physical collections, what do we do with all of these books?
The Mount Desert Islander recently reported on a gift opportunity offered to the Northeast Harbor Library. For those not familiar with the geography, Northeast Harbor is a community on a large island (Desert Island) off the eastern coast of Maine. It's near the better known Bar Harbor. The population is small in the wintertime, Maine requiring hardy souls to live there year round. In the summer, the population swells, easterners coming to escape the heat. Some are among the very wealthy, including members of the Rockefeller family. While one rarely associates the word "desert" with Maine, early explorer Samuel de Champlain so named the island as its rocky peaks look barren and desert like.
According to the Islander, the Northeast Harbor Library has been offered a collection of 5,000-6,000 books on sailing by an anonymous Mount Desert resident. The prospective donor has offered both the books and to pay for the necessary construction or renovation needed to house the collection. The donor is requiring the collection be held in a separate space, secure and climate controlled. The donor has also asked for two plans, a budget version and a more expensive one.
The less expensive option being considered would involve renovating the basement. It is currently used as storage space. Books would not be permitted to leave the room. A table and chairs would be set up and visitors would have to be escorted to the room by a librarian.
The more expensive choice would be to build a new room on top of an older, existing section of the library. The Islander describes this as a "much more expensive" choice. It would require eliminating the older room's vaulted ceiling and altering the outside appearance of the structure, in particular, its historic section.
However, there is a third option, to which the Islander alluded in the last sentence of the article - " [Library Director Elly] Andrews said the library is still 'just exploring' the possibility of housing the collection of sailing books and that 'it might not happen.'"
That last sentence is the key. You might think it a no-brainer to take the collection, especially since the donor is willing to pay for creating the space to house it. Unfortunately, that doubly generous gift does not let the library off the hook in terms of costs. It will still have to maintain the room and the collection, an estimated 216 linear feet of shelf space, from here to eternity. That won't be inexpensive. After all, it is required to be secure and climate controlled. The regular flow of library theft stories, and occasional fires, attest to the ongoing expenses for security. And, when it comes to climate control, good luck doing that cheaply in Maine. "Desert" Island notwithstanding, the Maine coast is damp. The humidity runs high. Preservation of books in this environment will need a combination of air conditioning, heating, and dehumidifying running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Humidity doesn't take off even Christmas in coastal Maine.
Then, there is the balancing act. How many people will use the collection? Will it be enough to justify the cost of maintenance? This will be a limited access collection. There won't be children thumbing through the pages to see the illustrations. This is more for scholars, or perhaps a not yet entirely scholarly student writing a report. What we know from the limited amount of traffic seen these days in the rare book rooms even of highly prestigious institutions is that visitors will likely be small. Maintenance costs per visitor in such institutions is often a number no one really wants to look at too carefully. So, how many visitors will visit the sailing books room of a library in a small town in rural eastern Maine? Perhaps, if there are unique items, digitization would bring virtual visitors to the library via the internet, but live ones could be hard to find. The library may be hard-pressed to get even the yacht sailing Rockefellers to drop by.
DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.