The Georgetown Library’s Booth Family Center for Special Collections recently received a collection of rare materials related to famed Russian-American author Vladimir Nabokov donated by longtime associate, passionate art collector, and Georgetown alum Dave Barbor (IL ’64).
“This collection is an extraordinary gift on Dave’s part and a wonderful addition to the Library’s holdings,” said Keith Gorman, the Associate University Librarian for Special Collections. “Nabokov is one of the biggest names in literature, and thanks to this donation, we not only have the honor of preserving these rare materials but also making them available to our students, faculty, and staff.”
The collection includes rare books, letters, news clippings, and a typescript of a musical version of “Lolita,” Nabokov’s most popular and controversial novel. Barbor first encountered Nabokov’s fiction in his undergraduate Russian studies on the Hilltop in the early 60’s as the polyglot author’s books were still making waves in the international literary scene.
In the decades following his time at Georgetown, Barbor found a deeper appreciation for Nabokov’s mastery of languages, inspiring his own study of Russian and French and even a sojourn to Montreux, Switzerland, to try and intercept the author to no avail.
After Nabokov’s death in 1977, Barbor’s publishing career at Doubleday (which published the author’s early works) brought him in contact with Vladimir’s widow, Véra, and son, Dmitri, to whom Barbor proposed a publishing contract in 1982. It wasn’t until later in life that Barbor would work to build a collection on the author with the intention to gift the materials to his alma mater.
You can explore materials from the collection and read Barbor’s personal comments on notable pieces here and explore similar collection of materials donated from Barbor on the iconic filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock in 2023 here.