Modern Literary Collections

Cover image: Light in August, 1932. (First edition)

The Modern Literary Collections began with several large book donations by Lafayette College alumnus Joseph E. Nechasek ’62 concentrating on first editions by American authors William Faulkner and Robert Stone. The collection expanded to include works by international authors W. G. Sebald, J. M. Coetzee, and J. M. G. Le Clézio, the writings of African American women including Nobel Prize author Toni Morrison and Pulitzer Prize playwright Lynn Nottage, and nearly 100 works of contemporary immigration literature. A number of modern literary first editions of E.L. Doctorow, John Dos Passos, Joseph Heller and others were added from the Rare Books Collection.