Arthur Koestler had left his collection of books to the London Library. His library consists of inscribed and annotated books by a variety of authors as well as English-language editions and translations of his own works into many languages. The collection of about 1000 books was given to Edinburgh University Library by the London Library. The works present a wide variety of subjects and titles from In the belly of the beast : letters from prison (1981) by Jack Henry Abbott, with an introduction by Norman Mailer, to Then and now: a novel (1946) by W. Somerset Maugham, and Evidence submitted to the Palestine Royal Commission (1937) by V. Jabotinsky on behalf of the New Zionist Organisation. The library also contains works bequeathed by Harold Harris.
Koestler. Library
Archive Unit
- This material is held at
- ReferenceGB 237 Edinburgh University Library JA 3904-3908; SC 3875-4988; SD 4026-4034
- Dates of Creation20th century
- Physical Descriptioncirca 1000 books
Scope and Content
Other Finding Aids
The titles within Koestler's library have been entered on Edinburgh University Library Catalogue. Browse in the University Library catalogue's Simple Search by entering a Shelfmark search using SC 3875 and onwards, SD 4026 onwards, or JA 3904 onwards.