====== REQUEST FOR HELP FROM THE NOBEL LIBRARY ======
Dear list members,
Dr. Raymond Stock, of the American University in Cairo and the University of
Pennsylvania, has taken the initiative to have a bibliography prepared of
the holdings of the Nobel Library at the Swedish Academy relating to Middle
Eastern and "Oriental" literatures. As Dr. Stock points out in his letter
(part of which you will find below), the Nobel Library is eager to expand
these collections to help the members of the Nobel Committee in Literature
in their deliberations. Dr. Stock's request is to circulate the Nobel
Library's call for help and the bibliography of its oriental holdings among
other libraries and specialists in these fields. I strongly second Dr.
Stock's and the Nobel Library's request for obvious reasons.
Arnoud Vrolijk
Leiden University Library
----
>From Dr. Raymond Stock's letter, dated April 12, 2000:
"At the Swedish Academy, the staff of the Nobel Library, at my request,
prepared a bibliography of all their holdings in literary works from Middle
Eastern and related languages [...] The purpose was to circulate this
material among other libraries and specialists in these fields in an effort
to solicit suggestions to improve the library's collections. As the Nobel
Library is a primary resource that members of the Nobel Committee in
Literature use in their readings of "exotic" literatures, what is available
to them can greatly, if indirectly, affect the outcome of their
deliberations, and help determine who and when will be the next Middle
Eastern (or other) winner.
This is evidently the first time the Nobel Library has tried to so
document these holdings. The library staff who presented this bibliography
to me, Chief Librarian Mr. Ake Erlandsson and Librarian Mr. Mikael Svanberg,
as well as their colleagues are very eager to expand their collections of
works by and about modern non-Western writers, and in non-Western
lexicography. They especially hope to receive ideas for titles to acquire,
and the names of booksellers in the region (and elsewhere) whom they may
deal with directly. Their top priority is for works in high-quality
translation to Western languages (principally English), but they are also
interested in vernacular editions when satisfactory translations are not
available. (Gifts are also welcome). They intend to send me periodic updates
of these lists to keep abreast of progress. In any case, given your own
expertise in the fields (and issues) involved in this project, I hope that
you can help.
The Nobel Library may be reached via the information provided on page one of
the bibliography, attached (please also see footnote on same page for more
about the document). Or suggestions may be sent to me for forwarding to
Stockholm, whichever is more convenient."
Dr. Raymond Stock may be reached through the following addresses:
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Attachment: file NobellibraryMiddleEast.doc, edited December 29, 1999
<<NobellibraryMiddleEast.doc>>
Dr. A.J.M. Vrolijk
Asst. Curator, Oriental Collections
Leiden University Library
P.O. Box 9501
2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
Phone: + 31 (0)71 527 2867
Email: [log in to unmask]
ATTENTION!!: My old email address: [log in to unmask]
is no longer valid. Messages to this address will be forwarded
for a limited period only.
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