Report: ‘Zany’ For Proust: Brazilian Builds Massive Manuscript Library
From Agence France-Press (via Digital Journal)
Stepping through the piles of books and fireproof document cases that line his overflowing three-storey home library, Brazilian collector Pedro Correa do Lago is the first to admit his life’s passion is a bit crazy.
“I ought to be in a straightjacket,” laughs the 64-year-old art historian as he gives a tour of his house in Rio de Janeiro, home to what he says is the world’s largest private collection of manuscripts.
“It’s a virus, an illness… My wife says manuscript sellers are my ‘dealers,’” he says, showing a visitor around the home in the upscale Gavea neighborhood where he recently moved, along with the more than 100,000-piece collection he has spent his life amassing.
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In 2018, the Morgan Library in New York dedicated an exhibit to his collection, putting 140 of his documents on display, including a Michaelangelo drawing, a letter from Gustave Flaubert to Victor Hugo, another that Mozart wrote to his father, manuscripts by Einstein, Newton and Darwin, and a 12th-century parchment.
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
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