What a place to be in is an old library! It seems as though all
the souls of all read more

What a place to be in is an old library! It seems as though all
the souls of all the writers that have bequeathed their labours
to these Bodleians were reposing here as in some dormitory, or
middle state. I do not want to handle, to profane the leaves,
their winding-sheets. I could as soon dislodge a shade. I seem
to inhale learning, walking amid their foliage; and the odor of
their old moth-scented coverings is fragrant as the first bloom
of those sciential apples which grew amid the happy orchard.
- Charles Lamb (used pseudonym Elia),

'Tis well to borrow from the good and the great;
'Tis wise to learn: 'tis God-like to create!

'Tis well to borrow from the good and the great;
'Tis wise to learn: 'tis God-like to create!

It is a vanity to persuade the world one hath much learning, by
getting a great library.

It is a vanity to persuade the world one hath much learning, by
getting a great library.

Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future

Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future

A public library is the most enduring of memorials, the trustiest monument for the preservation of an event or a read more

A public library is the most enduring of memorials, the trustiest monument for the preservation of an event or a name or an affection; for it, and it only, is respected by wars and revolutions, and survives them

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.

The first thing naturally when one enters a scholar's study or
library, is to look at his books. One read more

The first thing naturally when one enters a scholar's study or
library, is to look at his books. One gets a notion very
speedily of his tastes and the range of his pursuits by a glance
round his book-shelves.

All round the room my silent servants wait,
My friends in every season, bright and dim.

All round the room my silent servants wait,
My friends in every season, bright and dim.

To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse.

To a historian libraries are food, shelter, and even muse.