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),

A library implies an act of faith

A library implies an act of faith

Libraries are as the shrines where all the relics of the ancient
saints, full of true virtue, and that read more

Libraries are as the shrines where all the relics of the ancient
saints, full of true virtue, and that without delusion or
imposture, are preserved and reposed.

I love vast libraries; yet there is a doubt,
If one be better with them or without,--
read more

I love vast libraries; yet there is a doubt,
If one be better with them or without,--
Unless he use them wisely, and, indeed,
Knows the high art of what and how to read.

Shelved around us lie
The mummied authors.

Shelved around us lie
The mummied authors.

Food for the soul.
[Lat., Nutrimentum spiritus.]

Food for the soul.
[Lat., Nutrimentum spiritus.]

Thou can'st not die. Here thou art more than safe
Where every book is thy epitaph.

Thou can'st not die. Here thou art more than safe
Where every book is thy epitaph.

Every library should try to be complete on something, if it were
only the history of pinheads.

Every library should try to be complete on something, if it were
only the history of pinheads.

A library is but the soul's burial-ground. It is the land of
shadows.

A library is but the soul's burial-ground. It is the land of
shadows.