Library: An Unquiet History

Library: An Unquiet History
Author: Matthew Battles
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2011-02-07
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0393078620

"Splendidly articulate, informative and provoking....A book to be savored and gone back to."—Baltimore Sun On the survival and destruction of knowledge, from Alexandria to the Internet. Through the ages, libraries have not only accumulated and preserved but also shaped, inspired, and obliterated knowledge. Matthew Battles, a rare books librarian and a gifted narrator, takes us on a spirited foray from Boston to Baghdad, from classical scriptoria to medieval monasteries, from the Vatican to the British Library, from socialist reading rooms and rural home libraries to the Information Age. He explores how libraries are built and how they are destroyed, from the decay of the great Alexandrian library to scroll burnings in ancient China to the destruction of Aztec books by the Spanish—and in our own time, the burning of libraries in Europe and Bosnia. Encyclopedic in its breadth and novelistic in its telling, this volume will occupy a treasured place on the bookshelf next to Baker's Double Fold, Basbanes's A Gentle Madness, Manguel's A History of Reading, and Winchester's The Professor and the Madman.

Art Dog

Art Dog
Author: Thacher Hurd
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 36
Release: 1997-12-17
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0064434893

Oh, no! Someone has stolen the Mona Woofa from the Dogopolis Museum of Art and the police don't even realize that they are barking up the wrong tree when they collar their number one suspect. So it's up to Art Dog, the mysterious, masked painter who roams the streets of Dogopolis, to find the missing masterpiece. Zip! Splash! Smoosh! He paints himself a Brushmobile, and he's off––on a wild and funny chase to capture the dastardly crooks. With the same deft touches of high-spirited fun and adventure that have made Mystery on the Docks and Mama Don't Allow (both Reading Rainbow Featured Selections) such perennially popular stories, Thacher Hurd serves up a new action-packed tale that will delight young readers. 1996 ‘Pick of the Lists' (ABA) Children's Choices for 1997 (IRA/CBC) 1998 Red Clover Book Award (VT)

The Card Catalog

The Card Catalog
Author: The Library of Congress
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2017-04-04
Genre: Antiques & Collectibles
ISBN: 1452158584

From the archives of the Library of Congress: “An irresistible treasury for book and library lovers.” —Booklist (starred review) The Library of Congress brings book lovers an enriching tribute to the power of the written word and to the history of our most beloved books. Featuring more than two hundred full-color images of original catalog cards, first edition book covers, and photographs from the library’s magnificent archives, this collection is a visual celebration of the rarely seen treasures in one of the world’s most famous libraries and the brilliant catalog system that has kept it organized for hundreds of years. Packed with engaging facts on literary classics—from Ulysses to The Cat in the Hat to Shakespeare’s First Folio to The Catcher in the Rye—this is an ode to the enduring magic and importance of books. “The Card Catalog is many things: a lucid overview of the history of bibliographic practices, a paean to the Library of Congress, a memento of the cherished card catalogs of yore, and an illustrated collection of bookish trivia . . . . The illustrations are amazing: luscious reproductions of dozens of cards, lists, covers, title pages, and other images guaranteed to bring a wistful gleam to the book nerd’s eye.” —The Washington Post

Acquired Tastes

Acquired Tastes
Author: Boston Athenaeum
Publisher: Boston Athenaeum Library
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2006
Genre: Antiques & Collectibles
ISBN:

A stunning commemoration of 200 years of collecting, study, and debate at this venerable Boston institution