To Love the Book

Have a look at this splendid article in the NYT by Alberto Manguel about his 30,000 plus volume library. It's a wonderful song of praise for the book, and the joy of collecting a library. Manquel has an ancient barn-like house in the Loire Valley selected specifically because it was the perfect place to house his library.

I remember in the mid-nineties when we were living in Italy, Italo Calvino's library was so huge and so heavy that builders were called in to strengthen the floor of his elegant Milan apartment to accommodate the weight of his collection. We were living on a shoe string -- everything we owned had been packed away, and for the first time, all my books were at home in boxes (very much as they are now!). I was so jealous, wanting to feel that solid mass of words and stories holding up the wall of our little apartment. To make matters worse, it was very difficult for a foreigner to get a library card, so I was cut off from even the voyeur's pleasure of sharing a book that had been held and read by a stranger. In almost every house I have moved into over the years, the first task (after setting up loud music) is to release the books and arrange them in some pleasing fashion.

My mother once worked in the Rare Book Library of a big university library and I used to go there after school to visit her and some of the most amazing books stored in a climate controlled vault. There, I was allowed to open a first edition work of Isaac's Newton's mathematical theories and see where Newton had written his own marginal notes and corrections. And then there were gorgeous life sized plates of Audubon's bird engravings, the incredibly unique "Little Magazine" collection of small press devoted to poetry (and where the four issues of my parents' magazine "Hip Pocket Poems" were also kept), and the gorgeous renaissance Venetian books with their paintings of the canals which became visible only when one fanned the pages of the book.

I was also delighted to see at Bookplate Junkie a reference to John Fowles' huge library -- and the unique bookplate that graced many of his books. Here's another terrific article by James Fergusson in the Times Literary Supplement that discusses Fowles' unique collection of books and the art of bookplates. (I so want some one of these days!) Of his own collection Fowles said " “I collect [books], for reasons that would make most bibliophiles spit – because I want to read them.”" Fergusson couldn't resist adding, "Bibliophiles now, however, collect Fowles’s books just because they were Fowles’s."

Years ago, on Surlalune's discussion board, readers were asked to list the ten books they would want if marooned on a desert island. Of course none of us could conceive of just ten essential books. And as the lists grew (amid feverish justifications), I realized the only reason we might have been marooned on a desert island was because we couldn't get the all books into the life raft.

Comments

[Lindsay]

The article on Manguel's library is beautiful.

On another note, check out these dolls. This is from one of the artists who sells at the gallery where I got Taiko's painting. Thought you would enjoy them.

http://saliwanchik.blogspot.com/2007/10/little-women.html

[Rob Blake]

I'm just sayin' ...

There is simply no way that e-books can compete with walking into one's own personal library, no matter how humble it may be.

It is one of the most moving experiences for me - to sit down with a brand new book in my hands, the simple physicality and weight of the thing, the rough feel of the cover and the sleek smoothness of the dustcover. You open it for the first time, hearing the soft "clunk" sound as bunches of pages flop against each other as you thumb the book, back to front, to get to the beginning. Then the rest of the world fades into the background.

[Rob Blake]

Oh - and that second graphic? It reminds me so much of why I bought Myst, and it's accompanying trilogy of novels.

[Meghan]

"I was cut off from even the voyeur's pleasure of sharing a book that had been held and read by a stranger"

I consider the slips and scraps of paper stuck in library books interesting little delights whenever I stumble onto them.

[Midori]

Meghan: you are right about some of the odd bits we find tucked into a library book -- I have wondered at grocery lists (trying to guess what was on the menu!), birthday cards (was there money in it?), movie ticket stubs (that don't seem to match the taste of the book) and the like. It's always interesting to imagine someone else's experience with the book.

The only thing I really hate finding in a library book (and this seems more common in university libraries) are yellow highlighted passages (never things I would choose) and inane comments scribbled in pen that one can't ignore. I have to resist adding my own snarky comment as an answer to the stupid one and thereby begin an unintended commentary war on the pages!

[Andrea]

I cannot tolerate the idiotic highlighting & comments in the margins either. I consider it sacrilege on two fronts; first to deface a book, and second, the utter lack of comprehension.

Book plates are something I wish I utilized more, if only for the anachronism.

[Tigana]

Please tell us what you want on your bookplate, Midori. :)

[Midori]

Ah Tigana -- a good question! I am not sure of the answer though...I love so many different bookplates -- from classic art nouveau pieces of the early twenties, lavish contemporary color plates, and witty odd bookplates of the 50s. If I could, I would have an array of plates -- plates that would fit the book rather than just me!