Contact: Maridith Geuder
Dating from the 1930s, several first-edition copies of novels by Nobel and Pulitzer prize-winning novelist William Faulkner are being donated to Mississippi State University.
The recent gift by Tupelo physician and MSU alumnus John P. Elliott to the Mississippiana section of Mitchell Memorial Library includes the Oxford writer's "Go Down, Moses," "As I Lay Dying" and a trilogy of works about the Snopes family of his fictional Yoknapatawpha County.
Elliott, a 1952 general science graduate, also is providing his alma mater with some first editions of Jackson novelist Eudora Welty, also a Pulitzer Prize winner, including the limited edition "The First Story." Among other segments of his donation are biographical and critical works about Faulkner and Welty, generally considered among America's finest writers.
Additionally, the Elliott Collection includes a copy of Maud Morrow Brown's "University Greys," first published in 1940.
After more than 20 years diligently gathering first editions and other works related to Mississippi authors, Elliott said the collection has reached the point where its "real benefit would be for scholarly review."
Once catalogued, the works will be available to students and scholars in the library's Special Collections, according to reference librarian Lynne Mueller.
"We are delighted that Dr. Elliott has helped us build our collections of these Mississippi authors with such a significant gift of first editions and other works," Mueller said.
MSU's expanding treasury of Mississippiana includes materials by and about writers either born or residing in the state, as well as official documents, genealogical materials and subject files on state-related topics, she added.
For more information on MSU Mississippiana, telephone Mueller at (662) 325-7679.