The London Library : Mecca Of Book-Lovers
मुसाफ़िर हूँ यारों :
The London Library: Mecca Of Serious Book Lovers as well as Writers
The real progress of a nation is to be judged not only on the basis of GDP but also on so many other parameters, one of such parameter is overall enlightenment of people about their environment, governance, human rights and social awareness. Books play a very important role to achieve this, in the time when young to old are busy on their mobiles in India and accepting the posts on Whatsup and twitter as final truth, it is really heartening to see people still trying to search facts in books and old documents in the western countries.
Here in London, there is a very important landmark of city is London Library, a real Mecca of book enthusiasts.
I recently took a guided tour of this Library situated at St. James's Square in London. It boasts to possess more than a million books and documents on important subjects especially humanities .
It was established in 1841 , noted literary personality Thomas Carlyle was instrumental in making it possible. Another big wig of literature TS Eliot was its President for a very long time. He argued in 1952 in an address to the members that, "Whatever social changes come about, the disappearance of the London Library would be a disaster to civilization.’
Looks are some time deceptive, the phrase is 100% true in case of London Library. From outside it looks like some richman’s house, it does not give a feel of a library. But inside the book storage is done in a smart way. The library's million books sit on 19 miles of shelves, and 17 miles of them — the length of the Circle line ! This has become possible by acquiring Dutches House on the northern side of library in 2005.
Over a period of 178 years, the library keeps on procuring books on variety of topics and the number grown to more than a million,some of the possessions are very very rare, subjects range mainly within the humanities, and the collection is particularly strong in history, literature including fiction, biography, art, philosophy, religion and related fields.
You have to be a member of library to access it’s facility, I decided to take different route and took guided tour. My host was a petite lady from East Coast USA, now working for this library. She took me to the large reading room on first floor. She informs me that this magnificent area was opened in 1896 by novelist Virginia Woolf's father and is s special place in London’s literary life.
It has an exclusive Writers' Room, one of the most intensively-used areas of the Library and has become a favoured space for industrious writing and study. It can seat up to 26 people at any one time and offers members state-of-the art working and studying facilities in a setting that strikingly balances modern and traditional design features.
Countless authors - from Arthur Conan Doyle and Joseph Conrad to EM Forster and Antonia Fraser - were regular over here, the opening chapter of AS Byatt's "Possession" is set here.
She has also shared with me an elaborate list of some other famous works set up here.
Aldous Huxley's comic novel Antic Hay (1923) includes scenes set in and around the library.In "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client", a Sherlock Holmes short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (published in 1924 but set in 1902), Dr. Watson visits the Library in order to gain sufficient expertise to pose as an authority on Chinese pottery.In Roy Fuller's The Second Curtain (1953), part of the plot turns on the Library's system of recording loans, and the bookstacks are the setting for a chase scene.
In Ian Fleming's On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963), James Bond borrows a copy of Burke's General Armory from the Library in order to pose as a representative of the College of Arms.
lA. S. Byatt's novel Possession (1990) opens with the discovery of a Victorian letter hidden within the pages of a rare book in the Library.
In Michael Frayn's novel Headlong (1999), the protagonist carries out research at the Library in order to establish whether or not the painting at the centre of the plot is truly by Brueghel.
In the continuation of the detective stories of Dorothy L. Sayers by Jill Paton Walsh, Lady Peter Wimsey (the writer Harriet Vane) uses the Library to research her study of Sheridan Le Fanu.In Alan Bennett's novella The Uncommon Reader (2007), the Library supplies books on loan to Queen Elizabeth II.
In Sebastian Faulks's novel Where My Heart Used to Beat (2015), the protagonist, Dr Hendricks, obtains key information about his host from a book posted to him in Paris by the Library.
In David Hare's TV film Heading Home (1991), one of the central characters, played by Joely Richardson, works in the Library, and scenes were filmed there.In the BBC series New Tricks, Series 7, Episode 2 (2010), "It smells of books", there is a murder in the Library.
This library was bombed by Germans during World War. It happened in February 1944, with the result, the northern bookstacks suffered considerable damage due to direct hit from a bomb, 16,000 volumes were destroyed. I asked her, as to why Germans were after this library, she says that the real target was a very important diplomat staying in nearby building.
The London Library: Mecca Of Serious Book Lovers as well as Writers
The real progress of a nation is to be judged not only on the basis of GDP but also on so many other parameters, one of such parameter is overall enlightenment of people about their environment, governance, human rights and social awareness. Books play a very important role to achieve this, in the time when young to old are busy on their mobiles in India and accepting the posts on Whatsup and twitter as final truth, it is really heartening to see people still trying to search facts in books and old documents in the western countries.
Here in London, there is a very important landmark of city is London Library, a real Mecca of book enthusiasts.
I recently took a guided tour of this Library situated at St. James's Square in London. It boasts to possess more than a million books and documents on important subjects especially humanities .
It was established in 1841 , noted literary personality Thomas Carlyle was instrumental in making it possible. Another big wig of literature TS Eliot was its President for a very long time. He argued in 1952 in an address to the members that, "Whatever social changes come about, the disappearance of the London Library would be a disaster to civilization.’
Looks are some time deceptive, the phrase is 100% true in case of London Library. From outside it looks like some richman’s house, it does not give a feel of a library. But inside the book storage is done in a smart way. The library's million books sit on 19 miles of shelves, and 17 miles of them — the length of the Circle line ! This has become possible by acquiring Dutches House on the northern side of library in 2005.
Over a period of 178 years, the library keeps on procuring books on variety of topics and the number grown to more than a million,some of the possessions are very very rare, subjects range mainly within the humanities, and the collection is particularly strong in history, literature including fiction, biography, art, philosophy, religion and related fields.
You have to be a member of library to access it’s facility, I decided to take different route and took guided tour. My host was a petite lady from East Coast USA, now working for this library. She took me to the large reading room on first floor. She informs me that this magnificent area was opened in 1896 by novelist Virginia Woolf's father and is s special place in London’s literary life.
It has an exclusive Writers' Room, one of the most intensively-used areas of the Library and has become a favoured space for industrious writing and study. It can seat up to 26 people at any one time and offers members state-of-the art working and studying facilities in a setting that strikingly balances modern and traditional design features.
Countless authors - from Arthur Conan Doyle and Joseph Conrad to EM Forster and Antonia Fraser - were regular over here, the opening chapter of AS Byatt's "Possession" is set here.
She has also shared with me an elaborate list of some other famous works set up here.
Aldous Huxley's comic novel Antic Hay (1923) includes scenes set in and around the library.In "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client", a Sherlock Holmes short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (published in 1924 but set in 1902), Dr. Watson visits the Library in order to gain sufficient expertise to pose as an authority on Chinese pottery.In Roy Fuller's The Second Curtain (1953), part of the plot turns on the Library's system of recording loans, and the bookstacks are the setting for a chase scene.
In Ian Fleming's On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963), James Bond borrows a copy of Burke's General Armory from the Library in order to pose as a representative of the College of Arms.
lA. S. Byatt's novel Possession (1990) opens with the discovery of a Victorian letter hidden within the pages of a rare book in the Library.
In Michael Frayn's novel Headlong (1999), the protagonist carries out research at the Library in order to establish whether or not the painting at the centre of the plot is truly by Brueghel.
In the continuation of the detective stories of Dorothy L. Sayers by Jill Paton Walsh, Lady Peter Wimsey (the writer Harriet Vane) uses the Library to research her study of Sheridan Le Fanu.In Alan Bennett's novella The Uncommon Reader (2007), the Library supplies books on loan to Queen Elizabeth II.
In Sebastian Faulks's novel Where My Heart Used to Beat (2015), the protagonist, Dr Hendricks, obtains key information about his host from a book posted to him in Paris by the Library.
In David Hare's TV film Heading Home (1991), one of the central characters, played by Joely Richardson, works in the Library, and scenes were filmed there.In the BBC series New Tricks, Series 7, Episode 2 (2010), "It smells of books", there is a murder in the Library.
This library was bombed by Germans during World War. It happened in February 1944, with the result, the northern bookstacks suffered considerable damage due to direct hit from a bomb, 16,000 volumes were destroyed. I asked her, as to why Germans were after this library, she says that the real target was a very important diplomat staying in nearby building.
Library is still evolving every year more than 8000 books are added to its kitty.
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