An important collection of books, donated by writer Stratis Tsirkas’s widow to the state-funded National Book Center (EKEBI) in 1977, has been damaged virtually beyond repair due to neglect, the organization’s librarian said.

In an internal letter which Kathimerini has seen a copy of, librarian Magda Tsoumi says Tsirkas’s collection of some 3,000 books has suffered damage worth 4,838 euros. Tsoumi recommends the library be moved to EKEBI’s new headquarters near the Acropolis, which would cost up to 20,000 euros. She says the books have suffered severe damage from damp and some have become moldy.

The collection had been left in an abandoned villa in the northern Athenian suburb of Politeia, once EKEBI’s premises. Tsirkas was one of the most popular writers of the Greek postwar period and his work includes the acclaimed trilogy “Drifting Cities.”