Ancient Libraries Save Precious Collections
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| Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK (detail) |
Once upon a time I belonged to the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England, and earned a permanent card, I believe, if memory serves me.
In any case, I have held the Bodleian in my memory with affection, though my time at the library itself was short. My female protagonist Elaina in my novel Finer Spirits is a library aide and aspiring artist who likes to work in the rare book rooms at libraries in Washington. D.C. and in New Jersey. I myself worked briefly in libraries, learned how to use the Bodleian itself in classes, attended Oxford University (helped found the medical library at Green Templeton College), and spent time in the Bodleian Library following my research interests at the time which were more academic than writing fiction is now.
In any case, it is with interest and joy that I noticed today the Bodleian Library has joined in a project with the Vatican Library to digitize certain early (mostly 15th Century) printed books, Greek and Hebrew manuscripts. Some of these books, formerly inaccessible to all but the most determined, are now readily available online and the list will continue to be updated as the collection is digitized in a process described here. Hallelujah, the feat seems miraculous to me! Not only are these works a challenge for scholars to access, they must be kept in extremely fragile climate-controlled conditions and will benefit from reduced circulation. Benefiting too will scholars and interested researchers around the world. They will finally be able to research with speed and ease before these rare books possibly become extinct in real life from wear and tear. Information about the project is described in the blog on the website.
It's marvelous to skim an antique leather book, and now it's a clean and swift process. The conservators taking images of the priceless collections of rare books at the Bodleian have had at least six years of practice. I hope they are being very, very careful. Here's a link to an example of a fine book from the fifteenth century.
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