The auction notice that I just sent requires a note of explanation about the
materials from Leonard Hill estate. Last year the Academy of Natural
Sciences reached an agreement with Ed Paul about Len's bequest of Olividae
to the Academy.
 
On November 21-23 I sorted through about 10 large cartons of Olividae at Ed
Paul's apartment. I was able to find about 100 figured specimens from Petuch
& Sargent book, Atlas of the Living Olive Shells, and about 20 lots of
paratypes of species named by Petuch and Sargent. I found specimens of all
but eleven of the species and subspecies treated in the book. All of this
material is now in Philadelphia. Combined with the specimens we already had
of Olividae, I am convinced that the Academy of Natural Sciences now has the
world's best collection of Oliva. The business stock of Olividae remains
with Mr. Paul, and he is free to sell that material.
 
In addition to bequeathing Olividae to the Academy, Len also bequeathed his
Pectinidae to Barbara Haviland, along with his stamp collection. Barbara
very generously assigned her interest in the Pectinidae to the Academy.
Unfortunately, because of lack of a guide such as the olive book, Mr. Paul
and I were not able to agree on which specimens of Pectinidae represented
the business stock, and which represented Len's personal collection. As a
compromise, we agreed that I could take Len's library of books on shells for
the Academy in lieu of the Pecten collection.
 
The library consisted of 265 items, about 40 of which we did not previously
have in our library. Some of these were recently published items like
Henning & Hemmen (1993, Ranellidae & Personidae) that we just hadn't
acquired yet. Others were items that must have slipped through the cracks:
e.g. MacMillan (1968, British Seashells). A few I had never heard of
(Charles Christensen, 1992, Kauai's Native Land Shells). Some are items that
are nice to have, but we wouldn't have purchased (Shohei Shirai, Pearls and
Pearl Oysters). The remaining items that duplicate our holdings are the ones
that are being auctioned, with proceeds going into an endowment fund for the
Academy's malacology department.
 
The Academy did not receive Len's entire library. Mr. Paul retained some
books for his own reference, and journals, reprints and correspondence were
excluded from the materials that came to Philadelphia. Mr. Paul is free to
sell dispose of these as he chooses.
 
Gary
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Gary Rosenberg, Ph.D.                     [log in to unmask]
Malacology & Invertebrate Paleontology    gopher://erato.acnatsci.org
Academy of Natural Sciences               http://www.acnatsci.org
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway            Phone 215-299-1033
Philadelphia, PA 19103-1195 USA           Fax   215-299-1170