Help and advice needed

[Jules Levin]

Subj need advice and help

Dear SEELANGers,

When I retired in 2003 my books and papers were all boxed up. The Baltic 
ling collection---better than any library collection west of the 
Rockies-- has found a home in the Indo-European library at UCLA. Some 
books were accepted by the UCLA Slavic Dept library, but I was left with 
many boxes of books and papers. Initially I had a few places to store 
them, but now we have moved into a 4^th floor condo in West Los Angeles 
and all the boxes have wound up here, and since this is our last stop 
before the old folks' home, I must dispose of them before I feel 
pressured to get rid of everything quickly. At this point for health 
reasons I cannot even easily move the boxes around, much less take them 
somewhere else without help. The books are mostly in Russian or English, 
linguistics, language pedagogy, some literature, etc. There are real 
treasures to be found.*

Ideally I would like assistance in sorting, repacking, and removing 
boxes, someone who can also go through old class notes-- discarding 
HO's, saving lecture notes, etc. I envision a Slavic dept grad student 
as the ideal assistant. I am prepared to wait for the December holiday 
to do this if necessary, so it could be someone who normally isn't 
located in Los Angeles. It has been suggested that I could be provided 
with someone to do this---my official status is UCLA emeritus---but I am 
prepared to pay for the labor if necessary. Of course the individual 
will be welcome to build her or his own library from the collection.

Ideally of course I would like to get actual American money for my 
books, but I am not delusional. Failing that, I would like books to go 
to a library that can give me a donation receipt and pay for shipping. 
Failing that... suggestions welcome. It occurs to me that some solid 
plan for disposal of the books will be necessary first to guide the 
assistant in sorting, etc.

*examples of material of real value:

1. In 1961 in Moscow I found a copy of Pasternak's translation of Hamlet 
(Princ datskiy) on a bukinist counter, published in '40 or '41. It is a 
remarkably clean copy, no marginalia, with one exception. One line is 
carefully underlined---his translation of "A man may fish with the worm 
that have eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm" 
But the Russian is a little different. I can't quote it because I don't 
know where it is in the boxes. That's why I need assistance.

2. I have a photocopied collection of the holy books of Rudametkin's 
branch of Molokans (Obshchestvo svyatyx prygunov), published in Los 
Angeles before any Russian books were officially published in America. 
The text is in non-standard Russian, and samples can be seen on line in 
an article I wrote that was posted on line without my 
permission--http://www.molokane.org/molokan/History/Levin/Levin_Merritt.htm. 


3. I have a photo-copy of a hand-written MS by someone who was arrested 
in the 30's and went through the gulag.  Right now they are not 
available separately; I am shamelessly offering them to tempt some eager 
young Slavicist to seize this opportunity.

So, dear colleagues, please advise regarding 2) getting assistance, and 
1) disposing of all the books.

Jules Levin

Los Angeles



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