Rare bibles and Shakespeare folios in $300m ‘wow factor’ Princeton bequest | Culture | The Guardian

The trove of books, manuscripts and music worth about $300m was given to the university by William H Scheide, who died in November at age 100…

The Gutenberg bible editions, printed in 1455, exceedingly rare and beautifully illuminated, represent the first substantial edition of books printed by movable metal type. The process revolutionized the distribution of knowledge throughout Europe, and Princeton may yet make the Gutenberg bibles digital…

The collection also contains Shakespeare’s first, second, third and fourth folios. Shakespeare’s first folio, for example, was the first book of plays published in a format generally reserved for literature. The first folio is sometimes called “incomparably the most important work in the English language”, according to Folger Shakespeare Library…

As a philanthropist, Scheide also financed civil rights work. He was a major funder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s fight in the Brown v Board of Education legal battle, that led the US supreme court to declare segregation in schools unconstitutional.

Rare bibles and Shakespeare folios in $300m ‘wow factor’ Princeton bequest | Culture | The Guardian.