Woodruff Library staff at Elton John’s condo reviewing his book collection. Source: Emory Libraries
Woodruff Library came to acquire these unique materials out of happenstance. Elton John recently sold his Atlanta condo, which he had lived in since the 1990s. He reportedly often purchased three copies of a photography book – one for each of his residences in Atlanta, London, and Los Angeles. Upon selling his Buckhead home, the artist’s curation team contacted several local libraries to inquire about donating his thousands of photography books. The email Woodruff Library received from John’s staff noted that “Elton suggested the idea of donating to the Emory library so that his books could have an impact after leaving his collection.” Art history librarian Kim Collins and Randy Gue, Rose Library’s assistant director of collection development, had a unique opportunity to visit Elton John’s condo to select approximately 2,000 items for the Emory Libraries collection.
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Many of the books are limited editions and difficult to acquire. Beyond their rare nature they were also filled with fascinating details. Some books had their own custom clamshell cases, sticky notes left on certain pages, or letters from publishers about Elton John himself.
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This project is ongoing, as there are hundreds of books that need to be sorted through and added to the Emory Libraries catalog. More books will become available for checkout as they are cataloged; all of the Elton John books currently in the collection can be found with the search query “gift of Sir Elton John.”
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.
