Princeton University has been left a donation of rare books and manuscripts with an expected appraised value of nearly $300 million, the largest such gift ever given to the school.
William H. Scheide, a 1936 Princeton alumnus, made the donation to the university. He died in November at 100,
according to a statement by school officials on Monday.
Scheide's grandfather, William Taylor Scheide, started the rare book and manuscript collection in 1865. His son, John Hinsdale Scheide, a member of Princeton's Class of 1896, continued to add to the collection and built a library for it in Titusville, Pennsylvania,
according to The Times of Trenton.
William H. Scheide, started acquiring books and manuscripts for the collection in 1954 and moved the collection to Princeton, according to university officials.
Princeton said the Scheide collection includes the first six printed editions of the Bible, starting with the 1455 Gutenberg Bible, the earliest substantial European printed book; the original printing of the Declaration of Independence; Beethoven's autograph music sketchbook for 1815-16, the only one outside Europe; Shakespeare's first, second, third and fourth folios; autograph music manuscripts of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Wagner; an autographed speech by Abraham Lincoln from 1856 on the problems of slavery; and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's letter and telegram copy books from the last weeks of the Civil War.
"Through Bill Scheide's generosity, one of the greatest collections of rare books and manuscripts in the world today will have a permanent home here," said Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber.
William H. Scheide's grandfather made his fortune with Standard Oil in Pennsylvania and used it initially to build the collection,
noted the Daily Princeton.
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