Struppa's Book Donation Marks Libraries' "One-Millionth Volume"
By Robin Herron
Acquiring one million print volumes in a library is cause enough for celebration, but George Mason's symbolic millionth volume is actually a collection of rare and historic books and autographs of classical musicians donated by Daniele Struppa, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, from his personal library. The gift was announced at the kickoff dinner for the Campaign for George Mason in April.
"We are delighted and honored to receive this remarkable gift of rare and early imprints, as well as the autographed memorabilia of leading figures in classical music, from Dean Struppa," says John Zenelis, university librarian. "This is a significant gift by any measure: It is not only an extraordinary and valuable collection of books and other materials in its own right, but it also has immense symbolic value for the university and its libraries."
The university's library system has developed rapidly, especially during the past decade, reaching the one-million-volume milestone this spring. "It is especially gratifying to be able to commemorate this historic occasion through the extreme generosity of our own faculty member and dean," notes Zenelis.
Struppa, a professor of mathematics, collected the books over 20 years, mostly
in Italy and France. All titles but one are about mathematics, primarily geometry.
The works include Euclid's Evclidis Elementorvm Libri XV (1627) and Clavius's
Aritmetica Practtica (1671). Perhaps the most notable book in the collection
is the Roman poet Juvenal's Satires (1515). It is the earliest imprint
in the collection, and the quality of its printing, paper, and woodcuts are outstanding,
says Paul Koda, librarian for Special Collections and Archives.
Koda expects to use the books in a class he teaches on rare book librarianship, and he plans to scan the woodcuts and use them as part of a book illustrations project. The library is developing plans for an exhibit of the collection once the books undergo a professional restoration.
"We want these books to be used and usable," he says. "The library is very sensitive to the need that its entire collection can be used for study and instruction in some form or another."
Struppa, who joined the university in 1989, says, "I felt the university is now my home. I like to have the books to look at, and I can still look at them in the library where they'll be well taken care of. I don't lose anything and other people gain."
Struppa says he collected these particular books because "mathematics is one
of my great passions, and I enjoy reading about the fundamental ideas when they
first originated. It's interesting to see these ideas at the beginning, before
they evolved over hundreds of years." He selected the Satires text because
Juvenal was one of his favorite authors as a student.
Reflecting another of his interests, Struppa also donated several autographs
and autographed pictures of important musicians to the libraries. One item is
a long handwritten and signed letter of Arrigo Boito, author of the opera Mefistofele
as well as many librettos for Giuseppe Verdi. "The letter is particularly interesting"
says Struppa, "because it deals with the creation of a collection of autographs
of the great writer Stendhal. I found intriguing the idea of collecting a manuscript
that talks about collecting." Struppa has also promised the libraries autographs
of composers Gustav Mahler, Giacomo Puccini, and Pietro Mascagni.
The books and classical music memorabilia will form the Daniele C. Struppa Rare Books Collection and will be housed at the Fenwick Library's Special Collections and Archives Department. The department holds a variety of original and scholarly materials, including rare books, manuscripts, Playbills, musical scores, audio and videotapes, architectural drawings, photographs, and slides. The department also offers several digitized collections that can be searched online.
Visit library.gmu.edu for more information.
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