The Library: A Fragile History

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Libraries have always held the information of the age and that still holds true today, even in the digital age. A refuge, a quiet place to learn and reflect, that also hasn’t changed. What this book gave was a deep dive into the subject – from how libraries formed, how the information they contained was created and stored (from papyrus onwards) to how it was collected, catalogued and managed. Clearly, the history of Christianity is one of bibliophilia, although that love does not extend to all books in the same way: Pettegree and der Weduwen highlight the willingness of medieval monks to preserve pre-Christian literature, the readiness of early modern Protestants and Catholics to burn rival Christian texts, and later, the desire of (some) French revolutionaries to purge Europe of theological literature in general. The article for the German-speakers here (or if you want to have google translate it for you): https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/bi... The educated and affluent part of our community takes it for granted that public funding of the arts and the facilitation of recreational reading is part of the core functions of government. But the public library – in the sense of a funded collection available free to anyone who wants to use it – has only existed since the mid nineteenth century, a mere fraction of the history of the library as a whole. If there is one lesson from the centuries-long story of the library, it is that libraries only last as long as people find them useful.” And let's not forget that royal patronage was as essential to the scholar as to the ruler (a kind of symbiosis) since the ruler profited from insights or even scientific breakthroughs that meant they could establish or even expand their rule while the scholar had the means to pursue the sciences and in relative safety.

What I might have enjoyed more would have been if the authors had mentioned truly modern forms of the book. It seemed as if the authors weren't too impressed or in favour of ebooks and audiobooks weren't mentioned at all despite their influence on both literature and libraries. Pity. Naturally, this book is choke-full of names and dates since it recounts history and has to cover one hell of a lot of it. However, the names and dates don't necessarily have to mean too much to you so you don't have to feel intimidated by them. So long as you keep in mind how long the written word and libraries have been around and marvel at the evolution of both, you'll be fine.

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When I heard about this book, I was surprised. It hadn’t occurred to me that there was enough to say about libraries. However, the library is inextricably linked with books and publishing, giving lots of scope. Over the centuries, there have been two main problems. This book takes its role as a narrative of library history very seriously, like a true library lover would, of course. It’s detailed and serious, paying attention to details and minutiae. It requires patience and attention and tolerance for academic narration style. The vast majority of it is dedicated to the pre-20th century history of libraries and book trade, so if your goal is to learn more about the library as we know the concept now, you may be a bit impatiently frustrated for a while. But if you care about how libraries used to be before they became what they are — well, then it’s a treat. Most of all , by empowering the digital revolution, librarians have given up the one unique selling point which they defended so tenaciously for almost as long as we have had libraries: the right to apply their knowledge, taste and discrimination to assisting the choice of their patrons. This has been the key to understanding so much in this book: the idea that in an age of plenty there will always be helpmates to assist readers in making the right choice of book. Can the internet, in all its enormous variety, ever replace this reflective process of deliberation, the slow choosing the eager anticipation, the slow unfolding of plot?" (and while impressive algorithms have made it easy to find "more of the same" - "What if we want something different, rather than more of the same? What if we do not know that we want something different, but a chance encounter sparks our interests?") However, while more and more towns seem to finally modernize their libraries and work hard to make more people want to come, some threats have never truly gone away:

Live at The London Library, Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen discuss their beautifully illustrated new book, the first major history of its kind, which explores the contested and dramatic history of the library, from the famous collections of the ancient world to the embattled public resources we cherish today. Along the way, they introduce us to the antiquarians and philanthropists who shaped the world's great collections, trace the rise and fall of fashions and tastes, and reveal the high crimes and misdemeanours committed in pursuit of rare and valuable manuscripts.This is not a cursory glance or an overview. It is a caring, in depth exploration into the history of collecting words on whatever material was used by human kind. And then how these collections of materials containing words were organized or managed, be it in a box, a trunk or, eventually a shelf or shelves or a room or a building. This book is a different approach to history. In case you missed it, this week (the week of Sept 6, 2021) a man tweeted about how people virtue signal with large libraries and that you really shouldn’t own more than x number of books (or have x number of shelf space) and that he didn’t believe people read more than two books a week. Needless to say the vast amount of book lovers called him out - and then he accused them of bragging about the number of books they read and virtue signaling. Then accused them of not going to the library. Which is strange because most readers buy a lot of books and borrow from the library. Not to mention, in some areas, local libraries are either very small or very far away. One caveat to consider whether this book is for you. The Library is intended for the reader who is interested in the minutiae of books and their history of collections, a reader who would enjoy learning of the details of collecting over the millennia and the people, collections and libraries involved.

So lots of thought provoking questions here as well as history and bibliphilism (and as a true book lover and collector I also loved the portions about private collectors and the building of their collections). The subtitle comes because the focus is on the tragedies of losing libraries. The loss of Alexandria is covered, of course; but the authors include other, less well known losses. The modern era could use a bit more development in terms of the section about the attempts of book challenges and bans that occur, not just in the US. It should be noted that bans and challenges are covered as are librarcides. Here are some recommendations for further reading from Andrew Pettegree, with a brief explanation of each book in his own words: Eventually, newspapers, penny dreadfuls, book mobiles and more emerged and they all made reading cheaper, easier and generally accessible to the masses. Literature slowly but surely had made its way to every part of society (more or less, it still had ways to go). The written word had gone from mystic force to public resource. Dr Wheeler is a Visiting Professor of English at the University of Southampton and author of The Athenaeum: “More than just another London club” (Yale, 2020).Its only true rival lay in the east, where the Parthian and then Persian empires ruled over great cities and the trade routes to mysterious lands beyond. This was the region Alexander the Great had swept through, creating a dream of glory and conquest that tantalized Greeks and Romans alike. Tracing seven centuries of conflict between Rome and Persia, historian Adrian Goldsworthy shows how these two great powers evolved together. Despite their endless clashes, trade between the empires enriched them both, and a mutual respect prevented both Rome and Persia from permanently destroying the other. There was one story I really wanted to hear about in this but which was unfortunately left out: that of Jella Lepman, who fled Nazi Germany in the 1930 but returned at the end of WW2 to provide children with education and books. She's the founder of the Children's Library in Munich. While others dropped medical and food supplies from planes, she arranged for the same to be done with books, saying that stories are just as vital (which I agree with). To this day, the Children's Library at Munich is one of the best in my opinion with a great creation story to boot.