For more than two decades, renowned antiquarian book collector Maury Bromsen contributed his time and expertise to the John Carter Brown Library, alternately serving as a dealer, unofficial adviser and, later, honorary curator and bibliographer of the library's Latin American collection. Then, in 2000, Bromsen gave the library his entire collection of materials relating to the life of South American revolutionary Simón BolÃvar. The collection is widely considered the finest such grouping outside Latin America.
But his largest contribution was yet to come.
When he died Oct. 11 at the age of 86, the Boston-based collector left the bulk of his estate to the library - a bequest of cash and books valued at more than $5 million. Library Director Norman Fiering said the bequest represents the largest contribution the library has received in over 100 years.
In addition to enhancing the library's collection of materials related to colonial Latin America - already renowned as one of the world's finest - the donation will also fund a new position, curator of Latin American books; a research fellowship; an annual Maury A. Bromsen lecture; an annual concert to be named after his sister, Freda Bromsen Bolster; and general operating activities.
"Four million dollars is a lot of money, in any terms," said Fiering, who served as executor of Bromsen's will. "For us, it's a terrific gift - comparable to Sidney Frank ('42)'s donation to the University."
Fiering first met Bromsen over 20 years ago, when he sought him out for his expertise in books about colonial Spanish America. Over the years, the pair's relationship developed and about 10 years ago Bromsen first told Fiering that he was considering leaving his entire estate to the library.
"When you get to be a certain age, you start thinking about what your legacy will be," Fiering said. "You invest your whole life in this antiquarian book world and then you wonder what you do after your death so you feel it isn't all wasted."
Recently, Fiering has been spending up to two days a week in Boston sorting through the more than 10,000 books that Bromsen left the library. Those that Fiering is interested in keeping - generally those published before 1825 - will be brought to Providence within the next year, while the rest will be sold at auction, with the proceeds going to the library.
The John Hay Library also stands to benefit from Bromsen's donation. On Thursday, Fiering and Bromsen's long-time assistant plan to transport Bromsen's collection of engravings, prints and portraits of Abraham Lincoln to the Hay, which already holds a sizable Lincoln collection.
A lifetime collecting
Bromsen's interest in colonial Latin America stretched back to his childhood. While most other boys in the 1930s idolized Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, Bromsen found himself fascinated with the life of BolÃvar, who led the fight for independence in Spanish South America in the early 1800s.
After graduating from City College of New York, Bromsen did graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard University before pursuing a career in bibliography. In 1953, Bromsen moved to Boston, where he set up a firm specializing in the sale of rare books and manuscripts.
Among Bromsen's prized acquisitions were a first-edition copy of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass," which he purchased in 1969 for what was then the highest price ever paid for a volume of American literature and an 1827 portrait of BolÃvar purchased from the family of William Randolph Hearst Jr. In 1986, Bromsen discovered a letter from the secretary of the Continental Congress in 1787 that is considered the first document in the making of the U.S. Constitution and is now housed in the Library of Congress.
Bromsen received many honors during the course of his career. In 1987 Northeastern University awarded him an honorary doctorate, and in 2003 President Ruth Simmons recognized Bromsen with a President's Medal, the highest honor a Brown president can bestow. The governments of Venezuela and Chile also chose to honor Bromsen for his contributions to Latin American bibliography.
Though many institutions had an interest in Bromsen's collection, he ultimately decided that the John Carter Brown Library would be the best repository for it.
"Brown's library is by far the largest collection ever assembled of books about colonial America," Bromsen told The Herald in 2003. "My collection fit in like a glove."
Bromsen had nothing but praise for Brown students and administrators.
"I have a very great relationship with Brown," he said. "I love Brown, and I love the quality of the students at Brown."
Bromsen had no immediate survivors.
