The Library: An Illustrated History by Stuart A. P. Murray

Bufkinite@evpl — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:01:00 GMT

This very readable and lavishly illustrated book is a survey of libraries, from the earliest gatherings of clay tablets in the library at Nineveh to the present grandeur of the Library of Congress. It is full of the characters of library history as well: from King Assurbanipal in 700 BCE, Mansa Musa, the sultan of Mali in Timbuktu in the 1300s, and the Mughal emperors Akbar in the late 1500s, to Thomas Bodley, Melvil Dewey, and Andrew Carnegie. All of themhave anecdotes attached to them which help to illustrate and flesh out the development and evolution of those institutions we call libraries today.

The Library: An Illustrated History tends to focus on Europe and the United States, but spends a chapter discussing Asia and Islam and their influence on the history of the book and libraries, and another, called "People of the Book," discussing the interplay between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the history of library development.

One of the themes running through this book is how the libraries of the victors are enlarged and enriched throughout history by the pillaging of the libraries of the vanquished. The Bibliotheque nationale de France, the Vatican Library, and the British Library have all broadened their substantial collections in this fashion. Another theme mentioned frequently was how war influenced which ideas were given currency in a given culture and time: "It was usually the sword that decided whose teachings would be supreme in any given land."

In this regard, this book compliments the message in Matthew Battles's book Library: An Unquiet History, but that book is only marginally illustrated, and does not bring the reader the wonderful survey of world libraries with which Murray's book ends. Anyone wanting a good overview of library history would find their time well spent reading this book.

The Book of William: How Shakespeare's First Folio Conquered the World

Bufkinite@evpl — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:34:00 GMT

Paul Collins writes in a convivial and breezy style, and is the kind of natural storyteller who brings history to life. Nevertheless, in The Book of William, his scholarship and authority are undeniable, and make this book an important entry point for those interested in learning more about Shakespeare.

This telling of the "life story" of what became known as the First Folio of Shakespeare (though the book's title, according to commonly accepted cataloging rules would be Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies) is, quite simply wonderfully done.

Written in five "Acts" subdivided into scenes, it takes the reader from the day in 1617 or 1618 that John Heminge and Henry Condell - two aging men who had actually worked with Shakespeare - approached the printer William Jaggard with the idea of publishing all the known works of the Bard, to 2006 in Meisei University in Tokyo, home of the largest university collection of First Folios in the world; 12 of them, "more than the British Library and the New York Public Library combined."

In between we are introduced to such well-known characters as Alexander Pope and Dr. Samuel Johnson, and a host of lesser-known but nevertheless interesting characters as: Dr. Anthony James West, who conducted a recent worldwide census of First Folios (locating a record 230 copies); Henry Clay Folger, collector extraordinaire and founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library (which owns an astounding 79 copies of the First Folio); Charlton Hinman, inventor of the Hinman collator; and Mitsuo Kodama, past president of Meisei University, and the only reason why Meisei University has so many First Folios.

Spanning three continents and nearly four centuries, this book is a delightful look at the one book that routinely sells for fifty-five times its weight in gold.

Link to the Shakespeare Folio Electronic Library at Meisei University.
Purchase a facsimile of the First Folio from Amazon, and benefit the Public Library Friends.

Books Blog : books and reading, History

The Library: An Illustrated History by Stuart A. P. Murray

The Book of William: How Shakespeare's First Folio Conquered the World