Author Philip Roth plans to donate his personal library to the Newark Library system.
The collection includes 4,000 books, which have taken over his Connecticut home. The books will be shelved in the same order they are in his house.
“I’m 83, and I don’t have any heirs,” Roth told The New York Times. “If I had children it might be a different story. It’s not a huge library, but it’s special to me, and I wanted it preserved as it was, if only for historical interest: What was an American writer reading in the second half of the 20th century.”
The library’s trustees believe that the donation will help breathe new life into the system.