Wednesday, May 28, 2014
I like big books and I cannot lie..
The Bibliotheca Thysiana was one of the most interesting libraries that I've seen. The process of checking out a book is quite different that what we are accustomed to. First, the books are not organized by their subject but by their physical properties. Therefore you have to look in a catalog to find the topics and retrieve the call number of the book you wish to read. Next, you have to ask the custodian to go beyond the gate and retrieve the book for you. Lastly, you prop the book on one of the reading desks that are basically only exposed to the natural light from the windows as there was usually not much artificial light in the room. The books were to remain in the room so you would have to do your research there. This makes me appreciate how convenient our libraries actually are and how nice it is to just use Google!
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For sure! With Google you don't have to worry about damaging history!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't believe how small that one book was! I was surprise that it never got lost.
ReplyDeleteModern books are so small and seeing the historical aspect of where we've progressed from is very intresting to see. One of the major things thats tood out was the bibles they were extremly heavy, and how there were two seprete books for the old and new testament. I just could not imagine ior even understand how I would read the book. One thing that was intresting was the text in the books was very small even though the book were so laorged. In modern books if the books are big the text is as well.
ReplyDeleteSome of the detail in those books was just amazing. The pictures were so intricate and it was just amazing that it is still possible to see them and even the original colors there stupidly visible.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to know that that library was unique in its time in that most libraries had the books chained down and you has to read them by the shelves.
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