TY  - BOOK
AU  - Laubier,Guillaume de
AU  - Bosser,Jacques
TI  - The most beautiful libraries in the world
SN  - 0810946343 :
AV  - Z679 .L37 2003
PY  - 2003///
CY  - New York
PB  - Harry N. Abrams
KW  - Library buildings
KW  - Library architecture
KW  - Libraries
KW  - Pictorial works
N1  - Includes bibliographical references and index; Vienna, Austria - National Library of Austria -- Admont, Austria - The Benedictine Abbey Library of Admont -- Ulm, Germany - The Monastic Library at Wiblingen -- Metten, Germany - The Benedictine Abbey Library of Metten -- Weimar, Germany - The Herzogin Anna Amalia Library -- Rome, Italy - The Vatican Library -- Florence, Italy - Riccardiana Library -- Paris, France - The Mazarine Library -- Paris, France - The Institute Library -- Paris, France - The Senate Library -- Chantilly, France - The Cabinet Des Livres of the Duc D'Aumale -- Saint Gall, Switzerland - The Abbey Library of Saint Gall -- Oxford, England - Bodleian Library -- Cambridge, England - Wren Library, Trinity College -- Manchester, England - The John Rylands Library -- Dublin, Ireland - Trinity College Library -- Prague, The Czech Republic - The National Library -- San Lorenzo del Escorial, Spain - The Library of the Royal Monastery of El Escorial -- Mafra, Portugal - The National Palace Library in Mafra -- Boston, United States of America - Boston Athenaeum -- Washington, DC, United States of America - The Library of Congress -- New York, United States of America - The New York Public Library -- Saint Petersburg, Russia - The National Library of Russia
N2  - 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 general public of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, shares a personal association with libraries in his foreword. As repositories of history, ever growing and fed upon by hungry minds, libraries continue to occupy a central place in our civilization -- and this sumptuous volume of photographs pays fitting tribute to that tradition
ER  -