Runaways: The Story of Larry McMurtry’s Collection of Books by Women Travelers

Join us for a reception to welcome John Crichton, followed by his talk, “Runaways: The Story of Larry McMurtry’s Collection of Books by Women Travelers,” in the Fondren Library Texana Room. In this lecture, Crichton will highlight works by women travelers drawn from the remarkable collection assembled by Larry McMurtry.

John Crichton, proprietor of the Brick Row Book Shop in San Francisco, has been a leading figure in the antiquarian book world for more than forty years. In addition to buying and selling books and entire collections, he brings a deep appreciation for the cultural significance of collecting.

In his talk, Crichton will trace how the McMurtry collection grew to nearly 2,000 volumes, spanning 320 years of travel narratives from 1690 to 2010. He will share the story of the collection, its ultimate fate, and the women travelers who made it so compelling, women whom McMurtry sometimes called his “runaways.”

5:30 p.m. reception | 6 p.m. talk