Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Gibran Manuscripts Donated to Princeton

From the Princeton Weekly Bulletin, word that "significant portions of the working manuscripts and notebooks of four well-known books, including The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran have been donated to the Princeton University Library." The William H. Shehadi Collection of Kahlil Gibran contains notebooks showing "he author's many textual changes and deletions. The collection also includes fragments of other manuscripts, photographs of his New York studio and published editions of his works."

"Aside from Gibran's works and the published love letters and private journal of his American friend and muse Mary Haskell, the manuscripts in the Shehadi Collection are one of the main sources on Gibran, [saidDon Skemer, curator of manuscripts in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections]. The collection was amassed by Shehadi, a Lebanese-American physician, researcher and professor who was educated at American University of Beirut. Shehadi, who admired Gibran's compassionate concern for others, published several articles on Gibran and, in 1991, a book based on the collection titled Kahlil Gibran: A Prophet in the Making."

Library officials said they expect cataloging and conservation work to be completed by the fall.