Sophocles arrivesIn the summer of 1923, King’s College London was enriched by a generous and wholly unexpected gift, consisting of two large marble statues, and a collection of manuscripts, paintings, drawings, books and other memorabilia relating to the German poets Goethe and Schiller.

This bequest came from the estate of the late Mrs Frida Mond, of The Poplars, Avenue Road, St John’s Wood, who had died in May of the same year; the Executors responsible for administering it were her sons, Robert and Alfred, and her nephew Emile.

Professor Gollancz The choice of King's College appears to have stemmed from Frida Mond's friendship with Israel Golancz, Professor of English Language and Literature at King's.

On their arrival, the statues were placed immediately in the Entrance Hall of the Strand Campus’s Main Building, where they have remained ever since, becoming a familiar and cherished part of the College’s ceremonial centre.

The Goethe and Schiller material went first to the Department of German, where it was catalogued by the then Professor of German, H.G. Atkins, and is now divided between the College Archives and the Maughan Library Special Collections.

This on-line exhibition (along with an associated temporary exhibition in the Strand Entrance Hall) reunites the various elements of the bequest for the first time in over eighty years, and celebrates the Mond family’s gift to King’s.

References:

• Frida Mond - collection description, King's College London Archives 
• Henry Gibson Atkins, 'The Frida Mond Collection at King's College: a Descriptive Catalogue' (1923-1924)
• M.B. Trapp, 'A Tale of Two Statues', In Touch, Spring 2006, 18-19

Dec 2007; refreshed March 2011

Further information

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