Valbuena donates 4,000 books to library

A. Julian Valbuena, Elias Ahuja Professor Emeritus of Spanish

4:25 p.m., Sept. 7, 2004--A. Julian Valbuena, Elias Ahuja Professor Emeritus of
Spanish, donated more than 4,000 books and numerous microfilms on Spanish, Spanish-American and comparative literatures to the Morris Library in August.

Appraised at a value of $30,000 by the Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts Co., the collection contains works by the most renowned authors and literary critics of the 17th to 20th Centuries, particularly the “Dramas,” “Comedias” and “Autos” of Don Pedro Calderon de la Barca. The books come from the major publishing houses of Madrid, Barcelona, Buenos Aires and Mexico, and many are bound in leather and are rare and difficult to find. Valbuena has collected the books in Spain and New York, and some belonged to his father, Angel Valbuena Prat, catedratico of literature at the University of Madrid.

Susan Brynteson, director of libraries, said, “The University of Delaware Library is pleased to be the new home for the extensive personal research library of so eminent a scholar as Julian Valbuena. His library, which he built over many years and which is not in current library holdings, will be a valuable asset for anyone studying or doing research in literature in Spanish.”

Craig Wilson, assistant director for library collections, who worked with Valbuena on the implementation of the gift, said, “Dr. Valbuena’s collection of over 4,000 books on Spanish, Latin American and comparative literature will significantly enrich the library’s collections in those areas.”

An internationally known expert on the theatre of the Spanish Golden Age, the 20th-Century Spanish novel and Spanish American literature, Valbuena is the author of 14 books on Golden Age theatre and Latin American literature, plus a CD on Golden Age theatre, and more than 200 articles in refereed journals. He has lectured extensively in the United States, Latin and South America, Europe and Canada and served as a visiting professor in Madrid, New York, Mexico and Bogotá.

Valbuena chaired the Golden Age Division of the Modern Language Association of America and served on the Fulbright national screening board and on National Endowment for the Humanities research projects.

Valbuena joined the UD faculty in 1960 and founded UD’s Kappa Upsilon chapter of the national honor society, Sigma Delta Pi. He received UD’s excellence-in-teaching award in 1988 and the Outstanding Scholar Award in the College of Arts and Sciences in 1996.

Article by Sue Moncure
Photo by Kathy Atkinson

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