Princeton Receives Largest Donation In Its History That Includes the First Six Printed Editions of the Bible

Princeton University received nearly $300 million worth of rare books and manuscripts, marking the largest donation in the school's history, reports CNBC.

Musicologist and philanthropist William H. Scheide left his collection—which includes the first six printed editions of the Bible, a handwritten music sketchbook from Beethoven, and the original printing of the Declaration of Independence—to his alma mater after his death in November, the school announced this week.

The documents and books had been housed in the privately owned Scheide Library on Princeton's campus, but ownership was transferred to the university after the philanthropist's death.

The collection began with Scheide's grandfather, William T. Scheide, who made his fortune in Pennsylvania oil.

"At its core, the Scheide Library is the richest collection anywhere of the first documents printed in 15th-century Europe," Anthony Grafton, a specialist in the cultural history of Renaissance Europe and Princeton's Henry Putnam University Professor of History, said in the release. "But its magnificent books and manuscripts illuminate many areas, from the printing of the Bible to the ways in which the greatest composers created their music."

Scheide graduated from Princeton in 1936, and passed away last year at the age of 100.