The Latest Intelligence

Russell Bowen was one of Lauinger Library's most generous donors. His extraordinary collection of books on intelligence, spying, and covert activities amounts to almost 18,000 titles, and a substantial endowment fund which he also gave enables us to continue to collect, as well as ordinary works in the field, such more rarified items as the first edition of Baring's Clavis diplomatica (Hamburg, 1738). The Bowen Collection is deservedly well known, and on two occasions Fulbright scholars from Great Britain have spent a semester at Georgetown in order to make extended use of its riches.

Now, thanks to the generosity of Elizabeth Bancroft, the Bowen Collection will undergo a dramatic expansion, the result of her recent gift of nearly 5,000 printed items dating primarily from this decade, but including a substantial number of earlier books as well. The most notorious of these is undoubtedly the first edition of Compton Mackenzie's Greek Memories (1932), withdrawn from publication as being in violation of Britain's Official Secrets Act. Among the fictional works in the gift are a fine American first edition of Ian Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me (1962) and the much rarer Pauline vom Potomac: General Siegel's Spionin, an 1863 translation of Charles Alexander's classic Pauline of the Potomac, acquired for the collection two years ago by purchase. A number of the more modern works carry inscriptions from the author to Ms. Bancroft, some with accompanying letters as well.

Her gift goes well beyond books and journals, however. More than 100 videos provide both documentary and fictional looks at various aspects of spying and the Cold War; more than 50 "talking books" are included, too, a number read by their authors. Audio CDs provide theme music from James Bond movies; instructional CDs provide introductions to such topics as the Vietnam War, to the Kennedy assassination, and to the Watergate scandal. A series of wooden wall plaques record the emblems of the most significant intelligence agencies around the world; small sculptures record the likenesses of Felix Dzerzhinsky, "Wild Bill" Donovan, and Russell Bowen; and a set of 15 Russian nesting boxes record those of each of the heads of the various secret service agencies from Dzerzhinsky to the near-present. A variety of other related items round out the gift, but the dress cap and other small mementos of Russell Bowen's service in the military make a fitting tribute to a great collector and generous donor.