TRENTON, N.J.
The Princeton University Library has received a donation of working manuscripts and notebooks for four well-known Kahlil Gibran books, including the Lebanese-American’s best-selling The Prophet.
The donation was made to the university by the family of the late William H. Shehadi, a Lebanese-American physician, researcher and professor who was an admirer of Gibran. Using the collection of manuscripts, Shehadi in 1991 published the book, Kahlil Gibran: A Prophet in the Making.
Both Shehadi’s son and brother are Princeton University alumni.
Born in what is now Lebanon, Gibran moved to the United States in 1912 and spent most of his creative life in New York City, where he wrote in both Arabic and English, and also painted.
Decades after his death in 1931, Gibran’s writings gained popularity in the 1960s and 1970s during the counterculture movement, which responded to his lyrical language and mystical treatment of such subjects as love, death, nature and longing for the homeland.
“The iconic value of this collection is significant,” said Don Skemer, curator of manuscripts in the library’s Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.
