The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World

Jacques Bosser

ISBN 10: 0810946343 / ISBN 13: 9780810946347

Published by Abrams Books, 2003

About this Item

All pages and the cover are intact, but shrink wrap, dust covers, or boxed set case may be missing. Pages may include limited notes, highlighting, or minor water damage but the text is readable. Item may be missing bundled media.

Seller Inventory # WNCTV.0810946343.A

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World
• Publisher: Abrams Books
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0810946343
• ISBN 13: 9780810946347
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: acceptable

About this title

Synopsis

The gift book for fans of libraries and gorgeous interior design—a lush volume to explore, display, and share.

The extraordinary collection of images in The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World is from Guillaume de Laubier, one of France’s foremost photographers of interior design.
 
All of the libraries in the world—whether small or large, public or private—serve the same purpose: to preserve, cherish, or show off the riches of human knowledge. Now, for the first time, an internationally renowned photographer takes the reader on a journey to more than 20 of the most historic of these magical places, all architectural treasures.
 
From the dramatic, baroque Library of the Institut de France in Paris to the splendid Vatican Library in Rome; from the majestic Royal Library in El Escorial, Spain, to the famed New York Public Library, a Beaux-Arts masterpiece—here are some of the most exquisite libraries of the Western world. Included are national, scholarly, and religious libraries from 12 countries, which have in common a distinguished heritage and an architectural setting that emphasizes art and culture.
 
Journalist Jacques Bosser’s accompanying text traces the history of libraries to the present day and describes how they came to serve famous personalities and men and women of letters. Libraries must be counted among civilization’s crowning achievements; this elegant book is a fitting tribute to that accomplishment.

Foreword by James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress

About the Author

Guillaume de Laubier is one of France's foremost photographers of interior design. He has undertaken projects all over the world for magazines such as Elle Décoration, Architectural Digest, and Madame Figaro. Jacques Bosser, journalist and translator, has written for Architectural Digest and Connaissance des Arts as well as contributing to Le Dictionnaire international des arts appliqués et du design and Le Dictionnaire international du bijou. James H. Billington has been the Librarian of Congress for more than 15 years.