Raymond R. Borst; Thoreau Collector and Bibliographer
Raymond R. Borst, 91, a farm equipment dealer who became an accidental but voracious collector of works by 19th century naturalist Henry David Thoreau, died April 27 in Rochester, N.Y., of a stroke.
Ironically, Borst first encountered Thoreau (who despised trains) in the mid-20th century when he read the 1854 classic “Walden” while returning by train to his Auburn, N.Y., home. He had bought the book during a business trip to Chicago.
“I wanted more,” he said of Thoreau’s works. And he found them: obscure magazine articles, letters, journals, lectures, poems and the first 16 editions of “Walden.”
Borst also wrote four books, including a bibliography and a day-to-day account of Thoreau’s life that have become library staples.
In 1996, Borst donated more than 1,000 Thoreau-related items to his alma mater, the University of Rochester, for its Rush Rhees Library.
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