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Library Magic: Alberto Manguel
May 19, 2008

Anyone with 30,000 books in his library can come sit by me any time. Alberto Manguel, author of The Library at Night, wrote a paean to his large, diverse collection last week:

"The library as it now stands, between long walls whose stones carry in some places the signature of their 15th-century masons, houses the remnants of all those previous libraries, including, from my earliest one, the fairy tales of the Grimm brothers in two volumes, printed in somber Gothic script, and a scribbled-over copy of 'The Tailor of Gloucester.' There are few books that a serious bibliophile would find worthy: an illuminated Bible f'om a 13-century German scriptorium (a gift from the novelist Yehuda Elberg), half a dozen contemporary artist’s books, a few first editions and signed copies. But I have neither the funds nor the knowledge to become a professional collector, and in my library, shiny young Penguins sit happily alongside severe-looking leather-bound patriarchs."

There are many remarkable things Manguel says in his piece; I chose this paragraph because for me it illuminates the bibliomane within, the person who adores books not simply as objects, but as repositories -- and not simply of knowledge, but of a kind of magic. As Manguel says, "Superstition and the art of libraries are tightly entwined."

I have many fond childhood memories of libraries, but I think my favorite library memories revolve around the months I spent writing my master's thesis in my school's research library. Somehow, the combination of afternoon sunlight, a stack of volumes to peruse, and the hoop-backed chairs added up to time out of time (or perhaps I just nodded off a lot...). What's your favorite library memory -- especially one that has a touch of magic to it?

P.S. Apologies to the folks at Yale University Press; their release of The Library at Night was the occasion behind Manguel's column...here's the proper jacket to view, and here's a bit of a blurb from them, too:

"Inspired by the process of creating a library for his fifteenth-century home near the Loire, in France, Alberto Manguel, the acclaimed writer on books and reading, has taken up the subject of libraries. “Libraries,” he says, “have always seemed to me pleasantly mad places, and for as long as I can remember I’ve been seduced by their labyrinthine logic.” In this personal, deliberately unsystematic, and wide-ranging book, he offers a captivating meditation on the meaning of libraries.

 

Manguel, a guide of irrepressible enthusiasm, conducts a unique library tour that extends from his childhood bookshelves to the “complete” libraries of the Internet, from Ancient Egypt and Greece to the Arab world, from China and Rome to Google. He ponders the doomed library of Alexandria as well as the personal libraries of Charles Dickens, Jorge Luis Borges, and others. He recounts stories of people who have struggled against tyranny to preserve freedom of thought—the Polish librarian who smuggled books to safety as the Nazis began their destruction of Jewish libraries; the Afghani bookseller who kept his store open through decades of unrest. Oral “memory libraries” kept alive by prisoners, libraries of banned books, the imaginary library of Count Dracula, the library of books never written—Manguel illuminates the mysteries of libraries as no other writer could. With scores of wonderful images throughout, The Library at Night is a fascinating voyage through Manguel’s mind, memory, and vast knowledge of books and civilizations.

Alberto Manguel is an internationally acclaimed anthologist, translator, essayist, novelist, and editor, and the author of several award-winning books, including A Dictionary of Imaginary Places and A History of Reading. A native of Buenos Aires, he lives in France."

Posted by Bethanne Patrick on May 19, 2008 | Comments (1)