Former St. Bonaventure Univ. president Robert J. Wickenheiser's collection of some 6,000 items related to English poet John Milton has been sold to the University of South Carolina for $1 million, the Buffalo News reports.
Patrick G. Scott, head of special collections at the Thomas Cooper Library at the University's Columbia campus, calls the Wickenheiser trove "a very valuable collection. One million is a very, very conservative appraisal. But his aim was to find someone to value the collection as a whole."
The collection was begun when Wickenheiser was in graduate school, and has been added to greatly in recent years. It now contains more than 6,000 pieces, including early Milton imprints, catalogues, illustrations and other items. Scott noted "it is probably the best collection of Milton illustrations that has ever been formed."
South Carolina's purchase of the material was assisted by a $500,000 grant from the William L. Richter Foundation.
