The winners of the 2025 Elmer Adler Book Collecting Prize were announced at the Friends of the Princeton University Library annual dinner on April 27. 

The undergraduate division's top prize was awarded to two co-winners, both receiving the top prize amount. Eojin Park ’28, a major in politics with minors in Spanish and creative writing, collects Korean historical fiction. She seeks works that give voice to diverse characters and viewpoints that are often overlooked in traditional histories.

Patrick Newcombe ’25, a major in ecology and evolutionary biology with minors in African studies and the history and practice of diplomacy, collects field guides for bird identification. His collection traces the development of the field guide as a form as well as his own extensive travels as a birder.

The Selection Committee also awarded two co-winners in the graduate division, both receiving the top prize amount. Elizabeth Rouget is graduating this spring with a Ph.D. in historical musicology from the Music Department. She collects playbills, advertisements, and other performance ephemera related to opéra-comique, which is an extension of her collecting interests in late eighteenth-century French musical scores and libretti. 

Alex Fisher is a Ph.D. student in the history and theory of architecture at the School of Architecture. Alex collects original artworks and other printed matter such as artists’ books, catalogs, and postcards by artists from Eastern Europe. He focuses on artists whose work engages with state socialism, its collapse, and its legacies.  

Judges for the 2025 Elmer Adler Book Collecting Prize were Graphic Arts Librarian Molly Dotson (chair) and Friends of Princeton University Library (FPUL) representatives Randy Hill ’72 and John Leger. The Selection Committee congratulates all the finalists this year on their thoughtfully curated and highly competitive collections.