What did you miss the most during March and April when you were home-bound?
The hugs from loved ones? The ability to come and go as you pleased? Meeting friends for lunch at a favorite restaurant? Tickets to a concert or event that you had purchased? Visiting loved ones in nursing homes?
I found very quickly that I missed the library most of all.
I had picked up two books the day prior, but they were read in two days. I was hungry for new books to read and could not wait for the library to re-open. So I thought I would choose some world libraries where I have visited and that are included in the coffee table book “The Most Beautiful Libraries In the World.” This spectacular book was translated from the French in 2003 with photographs by Guillaume de Laubier and text by Jacques Bosser. The book is a stunning achievement. The written word endures.
The history of libraries began with the advent of the written word. In Egypt an inscription dating from 2500 B.C. mentions the existence of a scribe at “the house of books” where rolls of papyrus were kept. In Ancient Greece, Pisistratus founded the first public library in 560 B.C..
The great library of the Hellenic world and antiquity in general was the one of ancient Alexandria. There poets, philosophers, scholars, mathematicians, students and priests could gather and exchange ideas, write, and compose. It soon possessed 200,000 papyri. However, the library was lost to flames about 47 B.C.. Under the auspices of UNESCO in 2002, the library was rebuilt and it was inaugurated that April.
Let’s first look at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.. The largest library in the world and considered by many as the most beautiful public building in America, the Library of Congress began as the intellectual creation of Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) who was the third president of the United States.
Jefferson was a man of “encyclopedic intellect” and his vision would provide all fields of knowledge for the members of Congress. To date, the Library has 17 Million books, 95 Million maps, manuscripts, photographs, films, tapes, prints, drawings, and other collections in 460 languages. In this America Triumphans architectural style is the Great Hall with its extraordinary marble staircase and the Members Reading Room strictly for members of Congress.
In the words of Jefferson, “Enlighten the people and tyranny and oppression of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.”
Another beautiful campus is at Trinity College in Dublin. The college was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I. The library was created in 1601. But it was not until 1733 that a payment of 70 pounds to a Mr. Hudson to “arrange the books” on new shelves was recorded. The glorious Book of Kells is included
The third library we discuss today is the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue which is within walking distance to Times Square. Its first stone was laid in 1902 and construction took nine years at a cost of $9 Million. Inauguration day was on May 23, 1911. Ten Million visitors each year can read from the catalog of 12 million items in 26 languages. The Library has 85 branches. I walked right in to the Fifth Avenue location, signed up for a library card on the spot and did my research.
Among its valued items are the first Gutenberg Bible brought to America, George Washington’s farewell address, Vladimir Nabokov’s notes, and scenery from Broadway’s West Side Story.
So, this is the way it is and forevermore shall be. I could live my life in a library with attached gardens and be content.