01 March 2010

A Man and his legacy: 40,000 books


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The legacy of the entrepreneur, philanthropist, lawyer and bibliophile José Ephim Mindlin

Most important part of his private collection was donated to the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil. About 17 thousand shares, or 40 thousand volumes, will form the "Library Brasiliana Guita and José Mindlin", placed in a building being built between the building, the provost and the Faculty of Arts, Philosophy and Human Sciences.

The works are literature, literary and historical manuscripts, journals, scientific books and textbooks, iconography (illustrated prints and albums) and artists' books (prints).

The collection includes rarities such as "In Search of Lost Time" by Marcel Proust (seven volumes in the original French), the first edition of "Grande Sertão: Veredas," by Joao Guimaraes Rosa, the first edition of "O Guarani" Jose de Alencar, documents of the sixteenth century with the first impressions that the Jesuits had in Brazil, newspapers prior to Independence and manuscripts which highlight the genesis of major literary works such as "Sagarana", Guimaraes Rosa, and "Vidas Secas" of Graciliano Ramos. He donated much of his collection to the USP - University of Sao Paulo, making it the "Library Brasiliana Guita & José Mindlin".

"...And I do not take myself seriously. I take seriously the things I do, but do not take me seriously. So, the life is very simple "

José Elphim Mindlin - (son of Jews born in Odessa, Ukraine)
(in memory, September 8, 1914 until February 28, 2010)

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Adelle.

This is another great way to contribute to a better world and available to all. Are welcome all these noble actions.

Yes, because even though many goods, a person could be in your corner and not share anything with anyone ... But it feels good to feel the soul of giving :)

Kisses.

Anonymous said...

Yes and a Small gift for you :)

Anonymous said...

Hello to you both,

Sunshine here, and I am sure Baba will love this story. We been busy with work and haven't been on blog for few days. Thank you for sharing the story.

Hugs from Chennai

subu.ps said...

Thanks for introducing this great man to us. His philosophy on making life simpler is to be taken seriously for making life simpler.