Extract:
Talking of the British Library Round Reading Room on page 228:
As
we have seen in previous chapters, the idea of a round reading room was
far from new. What was revolutionary was the scale, Panizzi’s idea of
having the librarians at the centre and the readers rangedaround
them, and placing huge stacks adjacent to the reading room on the same
level. The Bibliothèque Nationale took up the latter idea and went one
stage further: since its stacks were visible from the reading room, it
made the act of fetching the books into a
spectacle.
The round reading room became a theme that occurred again and again in
the following century in libraries such as the Picton Library in Liverpool,(1879), the Library of Parliament, Ottawa (1880),
the Königliche Bibliothek in Berlin (1914), Stockholm City Library
(1924) and Manchester Central Library (1934). The most famous library
inspired by Panizzi’s round reading room is the Library of Congress
in Washington DC.
The Library: A World History
by James W. P. Campbell (Author) and Will Pryce (Photographer)
About the book: A library is not just a collection of books, but also the buildings that
house them. As varied and inventive as the volumes they hold, such
buildings can be much more than the dusty, dark wooden shelves found in
mystery stories or the catacombs of stacks in the basements of academia.
From the great dome of the Library of Congress, to the white façade of
the Seinäjoki Library in Finland, to the ancient ruins of the library of
Pergamum in modern Turkey, the architecture of a library is a symbol of
its time as well as of its builders’ wealth, culture, and learning.
Architectural historian James Campbell and photographer Will Pryce
traveled the globe together, visiting and documenting over eighty
libraries that exemplify the many different approaches to thinking about
and designing libraries. The result of their travels, The Library: A
World History is one of the first books to tell the story of library
architecture around the world and through time in a single volume, from
ancient Mesopotamia to modern China and from the beginnings of writing
to the present day. As these beautiful and striking photos reveal, each
age and culture has reinvented the library, molding it to reflect their
priorities and preoccupations—and in turn mirroring the history of
civilization itself. Campbell’s authoritative yet readable text recounts
the history of these libraries, while Pryce’s stunning photographs
vividly capture each building’s structure and atmosphere. To read about the Author, click here
What others say about the book:
Boston Globe:
"... survey the world's
libraries, from the expansive new National Library of China to the
Tripitaka Koreana, which was built in 1251 in South Korea and is one of
the oldest intact libraries in the world. The book is full of
interesting asides."
Financial Times:
“... takes us
on a global tour . . . from the clay tablet storehouses of ancient
Mesopotamia and the beautiful repositories of Buddhist sutra blocks and
paper prints in Korea and Japan, to the grandiose designs and multimedia
extravaganzas of the 21st century. . . .The Library: A World History
puts such creations into long perspective, showing how book technology,
readers’ needs and architectural solutions have co-evolved (or,
occasionally, been at loggerheads).”
Times Literary Supplement
“The photographs by Will
Pryce are technically flawless, and they give point and purpose to a
text which is not only informative but persuasive. The message is clear:
of the making of libraries there can be no end."
Book contents:
1. Lost Beginnings: Libraries in the Ancient World
2. Cloisters, Codices, and Chests: Libraries in the Middle Ages
3. Cupboards, Chains, and Stalls: Libraries in the 16th Century
4. Walls, Domes, and Alcoves: Libraries in the 17th Century
5. Angels, Frescoes, and Secret Doors: Libraries in the 18th Century
6. Iron Stacks, Gaslights, and Card Catalogues: Libraries in the 19th Century
7. Electricity, Concrete, and Steel: Libraries in the 20th Century
8. The Future of Libraries in the Electronic Age
Pictures of sixteen libraries, info courtesy:
Bookwyrme's Lair: "This article in
The Telegraph,
"The Most Spectacular Libraries in the World" has some of the images with brief descriptions of the libraries in question."
See also books by James W. P. Campbell :
On the same shelf (library buildings):
