The
following was prepared for the Emily Dickinson International Society
Bulletin by Daniel Lombardo of Westhampton, who for many years was
curator of the Emily Dickinson collection at the Jones Library in
Amherst.
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Robert
F. Lucas
January 21, 1942 - February 9, 2001
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It is with great sadness that I report the passing of Bob Lucas.
For 25 years, Bob was one of the finest antiquarian booksellers
in New England. He specialized in Emily Dickinson, Henry David Thoreau,
Edgar Allen Poe, and 19th Century Americana. Born in Westfield,
Massachusetts, he studied forestry as an undergraduate at the University
of Massachusetts at Amherst, and received a Master's Degree in botany
there. His abiding love of the outdoors kept him botanizing, fishing
and hunting for endless content hours.
Bob developed a deep interest in antique books, paper, etc., while
working as education director at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural
History, and as director of the Children's Museum at Dartmouth,
Massachusetts. In 1977, he moved to Blandford, in the Berkshires
of Western Massachusetts, and established Robert Lucas Antiquarian
Books. Over the years, Bob's expertise and generosity became legendary.
The catalogues he created for special offerings of Dickinson, Thoreau,
and Poe are invaluable reference sources. He located many a rare
treasure for Emily Dickinson International Society members, and
liked nothing more than to place "an Antique Book - In just the
Dress his Century wore" in the hands of the eager book lover.
Bob was one of those rare booksellers for whom the words and the
lives of the poets shaped how he lived his life and how he conducted
his business. It was more important for him to see Dickinson material
return to her town, and be available to scholars and poetry lovers,
than to maximize profit. Bob didn't deal in merchandise, he searched
the undergrowth for overlooked treasures of the poets and brought
them to light, just as he searched the forests of Western Massachusetts
for rare mushrooms.
Many of you will remember the treasures he and fellow bookseller
Fred Marks of Amherst presented at the 1992 E.D.I.S. Conference
in Washington, D.C. Bob drove both Fred and me to Washington, laughing
as he pulled into the Walt Whitman Rest Stop along the hideous New
Jersey Turnpike.
During my last year as curator at the Jones Library, it was only
with the generous assistance of Bob Lucas that we acquired the Norcross
Family Letters. He helped me, and so many of us, in myriad ways.
Bob succumbed to lymphoma on Feb. 9. On Feb. 25, a memorial service
was held in Huntington. Despite the worst ice storm of the season,
people came from as far away as Pennsylvania. Many couldn't make
it, including Doris Abramson, who was to read six Dickinson poems.
Bob's daughter, Jessica, stepped in and did a spirited reading.
It included "Each that we lose takes part of us" (Fr1634), and the
very appropriate "A precious - mouldering pleasure - 'tis - / To
meet an Antique Book" (Fr569).
Daughter Sheila read Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven," and Bob's wife
Pat read passages from the nature writings of Bob Lucas himself,
found in his desk.
Memorial gifts may be sent to the Friends of the Library Endowment
Fund, W.E.B. DuBois Library, University of Massachusetts, 154 Hicks
Way, Amherst, MA, 01003.
Daniel Lombardo
Westhampton
Massachusetts |
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