If These Walls Could Talk Part 2

I would remiss if I did not mention the fact that my inspiration for this subject was the effervescent, the energetic, the always entertaining Cipriano of Bookpuddle fame. It was his series of posts Walls which got me thinking about the artwork that hangs on my own walls.

About a year ago I came across this lovely little book of postcards entitled For the Love of Libraries: Photograph s and Anecdotes by Diane Asseo Griliches. It's quite an astounding little book of the most beautiful black and white photos of libraries I have ever seen. A n d I could tear out the postcards, and frame them! So th a t's just what I did. In this post, I'll discuss my first framed four images, along with their anecdotes and quotes.

The first image is from the Biblioteka Ivan Pastric, in Split, Croatia.

The Communists closed the seminary that housed this library but allowed the seminarians to keep the library in two small, windowless rooms.

We had that peculiar thrill which comes from going into a room redolent with the faint mustiness of old calf and feeling that almost any volume may turn out a treasure.
– Harold J. Laski

The second image is from the Widener Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massa chusetts.

... the studious silence of the library ... Tranquil brightness.
– James Joyce.

A poster of Berenice Abbott's photograph of James Joyce is inside an office door, illuminated by daylight from the office windows. The Widener houses the Harvard College Library and is the largest university library in the world.

The third image is also from the Widener Library.

They kiss in cubicles; for all we know they breed down there in the twelfth centur y.
– Larry Rubin

And the final image is from Kobe University Library, Kobe, Japan.

An af ternoon nap, while not exactly condoned, is at least tolerated in the spirit of humanitarian laissez-faire.

The university library survived the devastating earthquake in Kobe, although thirty-nine students lost their lives.

Comments

[Pete]

Patricia, I'm going to have to dig up and send you an old photo I got out of The Atlantic a few years ago. It depicts three men browsing the bookshelves of a partially-destroyed library, presumably during the London Blitz in WWII. Nothing says "the love of reading" quite like that photo.

[Pete]

The library photo link is here if anyone's interested:

http://home.comcast.net/~pete_anderson/library.jpg

[patricia]

Thanks, Pete!

[mark macnaughton]

Pete,
I love this photo of the three men browsing the war torn library bookshelves in London. Would you happen to know where I could get a print of this photograph?
Thanks
Mark

[Joe Fay]

I would also like a print of the bombed out library. Please let me know where I can get one. Thanks.