What a place to be in is an old library! It seems as though all
the souls of all read more

What a place to be in is an old library! It seems as though all
the souls of all the writers that have bequeathed their labours
to these Bodleians were reposing here as in some dormitory, or
middle state. I do not want to handle, to profane the leaves,
their winding-sheets. I could as soon dislodge a shade. I seem
to inhale learning, walking amid their foliage; and the odor of
their old moth-scented coverings is fragrant as the first bloom
of those sciential apples which grew amid the happy orchard.
- Charles Lamb (used pseudonym Elia),

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.

Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future.

Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future.

To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse.

To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse.

It is a vanity to persuade the world one hath much learning, by
getting a great library.

It is a vanity to persuade the world one hath much learning, by
getting a great library.

"A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life."

"A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life."

Some book there is that she desires to see.
Which is it, girl, of these? Open them, boy.
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Some book there is that she desires to see.
Which is it, girl, of these? Open them, boy.
But thou art deeper read and better skilled:
Come and take choice of all my library,
And so beguile thy sorrow, till the heavens
Reveal the damned contriver of this deed.

A library is an arsenal of liberty.

A library is an arsenal of liberty.

Shelved around us lie
The mummied authors.

Shelved around us lie
The mummied authors.