It's A Holiday Miracle! Penn Wins A Random Library

Once upon a time, a super-cool New York-y little bookshop had to close and everyone was wistful and sad about it.  No, we're not talking about our favorite movie, You've Got Mail--NYC literary landmark Gotham Book Mart shut its doors in 2007.  The Inquirer and the New York Times are now reporting that the store's enviable book collection has been donated to Penn.  Highlights of the collection include Truman Capote's and Anais Nin's personal libraries; Allen Ginsburg worked there and Jackie O. shopped there.  Which is to say, it sounds like it was a very cool little shop.

The donation was anonymous, but the collection is reportedly valued at several million dollars.  The NYT seems to think the gift came from Leonard A. Lauder, Penn alum and Gotham fairy godmother. Whoever it came from, the collection will fit in nicely with our library's existing rareties, which include two of Shakespeare's First Folios and several volumes bound in human skin.