Rare Book School Speakers to Discuss Book Collecting and Their Own Collections

Book dealers, collectors and others can hear Edward R. Leahy and Garrett Herman talk about their different experiences in assembling their collections at two events sponsored by the Rare Book School next week.

Leahy, co-founder of AEG Capital LLC, based in Washington, will talk about “The Chase That Never Ends” on Monday at 5:30 p.m., and Herman, chairman and CEO of Loewen Ondaatje McCutcheon Ltd., of Toronto, will focus on “Collecting Darwin: A Journey Through My World of Evolution” on Wednesday, also at 5:30 p.m.

Both lectures will be held in the auditorium of the Mary and David Harrison Institute for American History, Literature and Culture/Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. A reception will follow both days at the Rare Book School in Alderman Library, room 112.

Leahy has been collecting books for nearly a half century, not counting the collection of Landmark books (true stories from American history for youth) that he assembled between the ages of 8 and 10. His lecture will relate some of the high – and low – points of his collecting career, including buying from, and learning from, some of the greatest rare book dealers of the age and bidding at some of the greatest auctions of the period, as well as some that were virtually unknown. He will discuss the rationale behind the collecting urge – or “mania,” as some would call it – and some of his favorite items in his collection.

Herman will begin with an account of his origins as a book collector and also describe how he assembled one of the largest collections of Charles Darwin in private hands. He will include describing the physical layout of his collection, which he has strategically organized to create a “cerebral experience,” he said, specifically one that encourages a dialogue between science and religion.

For a complete list of summer lectures, click here.

Media Contact

Anne E. Bromley

Office of University Communications