Library: The Drama Within - Softcover

Griliches, Diane Asséo; Boorstin, Daniel J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0826322859 ISBN 13: 9780826322852

Publisher: University of New Mexico Press, 2000

Synopsis

Anyone who loves books has a fondness for libraries, but few of us have a sense of their infinite variety. Diane Asséo Griliches has photographed all kinds of libraries, from the grand reading room in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris to the humble remodeled train depot that serves as the library in Cleveland, Mississippi.

Accompanying her exquisite duotone photographs is a wise and witty essay by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Daniel Boorstin, who was Librarian of Congress from 1975 to 1987.

About this title

Review:

For worshipers of books, the library is the ultimate temple. It is also, perhaps, the most democratic of institutions, "one of the very few . . . on earth," writes photographer Diane Asséo Griliches in her introduction to Library: The Drama Within, "where any soul may walk through its doors free, and depart enriched." This collection of Griliches's black-and-white photographs of libraries, full of those rich gray tones that bring to mind late-afternoon sun streaming in on the stacks, is a testament to the sacredness with which we imbue these keepers of the book. Griliches captures quiet intensity at an array of libraries, from the grand Bibliothéque Nationale in Paris to the humble-storefront Emma Yates Memorial Library (formerly Emma Yates's hat store) in Pocahontas, Virginia; from the rare book conservation section at the Library of Congress to the law library at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution; from a tattered seminary library in Split, Croatia, to the Beverly Hills Public Library's sparkling children's wing. The text is complete with an introduction by former Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin and bookish quotes strewn throughout.

From the Publisher:

Published in association with the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0826322859
• ISBN 13: 9780826322852
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 144