University Library News Release
Date: October 21, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (575) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu
NMSU Library Program to Honor J. Phelps White
The New Mexico State University Library announces that donor J. Phelps White III of Roswell will be honored at a program on Friday, November 7, from 3 to 5 p.m. The free public event will be held on the fourth floor east of Branson Library.
White, who has given his collection of rare nineteenth century books to the Library's Special Collections, will give a talk about the collection. The program will be followed by a reception.
The collection consists of 431 volumes from the library of Mr. and Mrs. James Phelps White. James Phelps White (1856-1934) was a prominent rancher and businessman in the Roswell area. A number of the titles had been previously owned by the industrialist, miner and rancher J.J. Hagerman (1838-1909).
Special Collections Librarian Dr. Laurence Creider said, "As a collection, the books provide a valuable snapshot of the library of a wealthy family in small town New Mexico around 1900."
The collection consists primarily of sets of literary and historical works from the middle and late nineteenth century. The literary works include sets of the writings of George Eliot, John Ruskin, Carlyle, Longfellow, Poe, Thomas de Quincy and other major literary figures. There are first editions of The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1836-1839) and James Gillman's The Life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1838).
The historical works include works on ancient and medieval history, England and France in the eighteenth century and American history. Especially noteworthy is a set of volumes focusing on the history of India. There are several books on the Middle Ages, ranging from the Crusades and Charles the Bold to an early copy of Henry Charles Lea's History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages (1888). Many of the books are bound or half-bound in leather with gold stamping or tooling and marbled endpapers. Others are in nineteenth century cloth.
For more information on the program, please contact the Archives and Special Collections staff at (575) 646-3839.
-30-