Category Archive

Normally I like to use the “Splendid Libraries” category on my blog to showcase a spectacular library. This is a public library in Barton, Vermont certainly has a spectacular problem. Some kids broke in overnight and re-arranged the furniture. At first glance it seems like a harmless prank. The problem is that the kids rearranged the books, too.

As a librarian, I can tell you that this is likely to cost the library days of staff time to get those books back in order. It is tedious, unpleasant work, and patrons can’t find the books they are looking for while it happens.

I feel like one of those grim, joyless librarians, but what were those kids thinking!!

Off my soapbox now…..

Books were so valuable in medieval and renaissance times that libraries often chained their books to the shelves.  Even today, an occasional medieval book will come up for auction at rare book sales with a bit of the chain attached.  Those bits of chain cause the price of the book to skyrocket.

The library pictured here is on the grounds of St. Walburga’s church in the Netherlands.  Originally built in 1561, it has opted to keep the chains in accordance with tradition.   What a wonderful memory of a bygone era!

The Kinsey Institute in housed in Morrison Hall at Indiana University, where I got my Library Science degree.  While I was plugging away in graduate school, I had an internship at the library of the Kinsey Institute, the world famous research facility for sexuality and reproductive health.  Now that was an interesting place to work!

As you can imagine, the library was closed to the public unless you had authorization.  The library itself was very hard to find, as it is on one of the top floors, there is no signage, and the only means of access is through a locked stairwell.  My job was to catalog the medical journals, which was generally pretty tame, but the library also collected art, artifacts, photography, and just about anything that related to human sexuality.  I must say…..every day was a surprise when I showed up to work!

Normally I reserve the Splendid Library entries for photographs of spectacular libraries I can drool over, but there are quite a few interesting paintings of Saint Jerome, usually depicted in a library.

Saint Jerome (c. 327-420 A.D.) was best known as the man who translated the Bible into Latin. He was born in rural Italy, but converted to Christianity when he went to study in Rome. He lived in semi-seclusion most of his life, working on his translations and studying ancient texts.  Legend has it while living in the desert he removed a thorn from the paw of a lion, who loyally stayed with Jerome for many years….thus, the frequent depiction of a lion in these pictures.

Saint Jerome is also the patron saint for librarians, so without further ado, here are some spectacular renderings of his library.  The first is my favorite by Albrecht Durer:

The Sterling Memorial Library at Yale certainly needs to be on the list of most spectacular lbraries, as it is simply staggering, not only in its beauty but in its collections.  What a magnificent library. 

Incidentally, some really terrific people work there.  Once upon a time I was in desperate need of a rare book about colonial medicine, and Yale was the only library in the entire country with a copy.  The terrific folks spent a good deal of time working with me over the phone so I got exactly the information I needed.  

Take a close look at the photograph below.  The carvings on the outside of the building depict scholars throughout the ages, with writing in several different languages and alphabets.

And here we have a picture of the inside of the library:

Many thanks to Yale University and altopower for permission to use the photos!

Today’s Splendid Library entry is actually a bookstore, but I can’t resist adding it to the list.  The architecture of this building features a love affair with carving wood.  It is impossible to miss the joyous carving, spiraling, tracery, sheer, uninhibited joy in the woodwork.  It is the Livraria Lello bookstore in Porto, Portugal.  Build in 1906, this neo-gothic bookstore sells new, used, and antiquarian books.  The pictures are courtesy of Peter Rukavina and Matthew Furtado.

.

.

Did you know there are websites where you can browse French castles and chateaux for sale?  Click here if you’ve got a spare 10 or 20 million.

I had fun cruising around this website.  Naturally, I flocked straight to the ones that had libraries in them.  There weren’t that many, but the castle pictured to the left is a charmer for the “just reduced” price of 7.4 million dollars.  It is a 14th century castle, and folks….. it has the original front doors!  The castle overlooks the Dordogne Valley and features a respectable library:

Time for more libraries from famous people!  Here is a really fabulous library from Rod Stewart:

This one isn’t really to my taste, but for those who like modern architecture, designer Karl Lagerfeld’s is impressive:

And finally….one from Frank Sinatra:

Hope you had fun with these little sneek peeks!

I suppose everyone has fantasies of what they would do if they had a ton of money.  At the top of my list would be a home with a spectacular library.  It would need to have plenty of natural light, and windows overlooking some sort of view (woods, a lake, anything but the wall of my next-door neighbor’s house ten feet away!)

Let’s take a look at some celebrities who appear to have lavished a tidy sum on a personal library:

This was Greta Garbo’s library:

And here is Woody Allen’s:

And finally, a really terrific one from the late Michael Jackson:

Yes, the library pictured below is in a man’s private residence.  Jay Walker is the founder of priceline.com, and he designed his home to accomodate this spectacular library.  It is 3,600 feet of pure, eccentric fabulocity. 

I also have a real thing for incorporating gorgeous windows into a library.  Jay Walker’s library windows are some of the best I’ve ever seen:

Thanks to Wired magazine for the picture.  There are lots more images of Mr. Walker’s spectacular library at the Wired wesbite here.