Mary Eccles, Viscountess Eccles
Mary Eccles | |
|---|---|
Eccles in her library at Four Oaks Farm in Somerville, New Jersey | |
| Born | Mary Morley Crapo 8 July 1912 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | 26 August 2003 (aged 91) Branchburg, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Education | |
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| Years active | 1941–2003 |
| Spouses | |
| Relatives | Henry H. Crapo (great-grandfather) |
Mary Morley Eccles, Viscountess Eccles (née Crapo; 8 July 1912 – 26 August 2003) was an American-British book collector and author. She was renowned for establishing one of the largest private collections of 18th century literature with her first husband, Donald Hyde. This includes works from Samuel Johnson and James Boswell. She also created an Oscar Wilde Collection which was bequeathed to the British Library in 2003. An obituary described her as 'one of the great American collectors of the last century, combining wealth, scholarship, and sensibility in a way that became rare to the point of extinction in her lifetime'.