Chicago garden buys rare books
From Associated Press
The Chicago Botanic Garden has purchased one of the world’s premier collections of rare botanical books and journals.
The 30-year-old museum park in Glencoe, Ill., bought 2,219 books and 2,000 horticultural journals from the financially strapped Horticultural Society in Boston. Both institutions declined to disclose the sale price, but letters filed with the Massachusetts attorney general’s office in July put it at about $3 million.
Library and rare book experts say the purchase establishes the suburban Chicago institution as a major academic research center. “Books like this just don’t turn up on the market anymore,” said Peter Forstas, a Chicago rare book dealer who appraised the Massachusetts collection before the sale.
