Our Growing Collections

KENNETH A. LOHF

AJ.G.A. gift. The American Institute of Graphic Arts has sent,
for inclusion in the depository file in Special Collections, the books
of 1970 production which won places in the "Fifty Books of the
Year" Exhibition in 1971.

Anonymous gift. The poet e. e. cummings is well-known for the
eccentricity of his typography and punctuation, which was in¬
tended to suggest the rhythm of a poem to the eye of the reader.
Not so well known, but allied to this visual sensibility, was his
talent as an artist. He sketched and drew constantly on anything
at hand, such as the backs of checks, envelopes, and pages from
notebooks. His subjects were the same as those he used in his
poems—female nudes, circus performers, his wives and friends,
Paris street scenes, and characters of the 1920's, such as jazz musi¬
cians, prize fighters, and night-club singers. From an anonymous
donor we have received an extraordinary gift of a collection of
twenty-three drawings by e. e. cummings in ink and pencil cover¬
ing the range of his subject matter, and illustrating his skillful
powers of observation. Among them are pencil sketches of Anne
Barton, Edward Nagle (Gaston Lachaise's stepson), Marion
Morehouse, and a self-portrait done in the 1930's. Of considerable
appeal is the evocative pencil drawing of a woman seated at a
cafe table with a jazz band playing in the background, dated,
Paris, September 1922.

Anspacher gift. From the estate of the late F. Harry Anspacher
(A.B., 1905), and through the thoughtfulness and generosity of
Mrs. Blanche Anspacher and Mr. John M. Anspacher (A.B.,
1938), we have received an extensive collection of the papers of
the late Louis Kaufman Anspacher (A.M., 1899; LL.B., 1902),
author and public lecturer. Included among the more than two

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