The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World: Photographs

The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World: Photographs

The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World: Photographs

The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World: Photographs

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Overview

Housing the World's Collective Knowledge, within which reside the milestones of human intellectual achievement, libraries are perhaps the richest of all cultural institutions. Often architectural treasures in themselves, they were constructed in styles that befitted the riches they stored, from Neoclassical temples to Baroque palaces to Jeffersonian athaeneums. Both public in purpose and intensely private in feel, they have served the noble role of preserving and disseminating that key cultural artifact of mankind -- the book -- and in doing so, their role has been central to the nourishment and development of the world's great civilizations. To this day the great libraries of the world remain extraordinary environments for scholarship and enlightenment. Here, for the first time, renowned architectural photographer Guillaume de Laubier takes the reader on a privileged tour of twenty-three of the world's most historic libraries, representing twelve countries and ranging from the great national monuments to scholarly, religious, and private libraries: the baroque splendor of the Institut de France in Paris; the Renaissance treasure-trove of the Riccardiana Library in Florence; the majestic Royal Monastery in El Escorial, Spain; the hallowed halls of Oxford's Bodleian Library; and the New York Public Library, a Beaux-Arts masterpiece. Also included are the smaller abbey and monastic libraries -- often overlooked on tourist itineraries -- each containing its own equally important collections of religious and philosophical writings, manuscripts, and church history. Through gorgeous color photography one can marvel at the grandeur of the great public libraries while relishing the rare glimpses inside scholars-only private archives. The accompanying text by journalist and translator Jacques Bosser traces the history of libraries from the Renaissance to the present day, vividly describing how they came to serve the famous men of letters of centuries past and the genera

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780810946347
Publisher: Abrams
Publication date: 10/01/2003
Pages: 248
Sales rank: 392,849
Product dimensions: 11.25(w) x 11.25(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range: 13 - 18 Years

Table of Contents

Foreword6
Introduction8
Vienna, Austria - National Library of Austria12
Admont, Austria - The Benedictine Abbey Library of Admont22
Ulm, Germany - The Monastic Library at Wiblingen32
Metten, Germany - The Benedictine Abbey Library of Metten42
Weimar, Germany - The Herzogin Anna Amalia Library52
Rome, Italy - The Vatican Library60
Florence, Italy - Riccardiana Library74
Paris, France - The Mazarine Library82
Paris, France - The Institute Library90
Paris, France - The Senate Library98
Chantilly, France - The Cabinet Des Livres of the Duc D'Aumale110
Saint Gall, Switzerland - The Abbey Library of Saint Gall122
Oxford, England - Bodleian Library136
Cambridge, England - Wren Library, Trinity College146
Manchester, England - The John Rylands Library156
Dublin, Ireland - Trinity College Library168
Prague, The Czech Republic - The National Library176
San Lorenzo del Escorial, Spain - The Library of the Royal Monastery of El Escorial188
Mafra, Portugal - The National Palace Library in Mafra198
Boston, United States of America - Boston Athenaeum206
Washington, DC, United States of America - The Library of Congress216
New York, United States of America - The New York Public Library226
Saint Petersburg, Russia - The National Library of Russia236
Bibliography246
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