{"product_id":"massimo-listri-the-worlds-most-beautiful-libraries-9783836535243","title":"Massimo Listri. the World's Most Beautiful Libraries","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the mighty halls of ancient Alexandria to the coffered ceilings of the Morgan Library in New York, human beings have had a long, enraptured relationship with libraries. \u003cstrong\u003eLike no other concept and like no other space, the collection of knowledge, learning, and imagination offers a sense of infinite possibility\u003c\/strong\u003e. It's the unrivaled realm of discovery, where every faded manuscript or mighty clothbound tome might reveal a provocative new idea, a far-flung fantasy, an ancient belief, a religious conviction, or a whole new way of being in the world.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In this new photographic journey, \u003cstrong\u003eMassimo Listri\u003c\/strong\u003e travels to some of the \u003cstrong\u003eoldest and finest libraries to reveal their architectural, historical, and imaginative wonder\u003c\/strong\u003e. Through great wooden doors, up spiraling staircases, and along exquisite, shelf-lined corridors, he leads us through outstanding private, public, educational, and monastic libraries, dating as far back as 766. Between them, these \u003cstrong\u003emedieval, classical, baroque, rococo, and 19th-century\u003c\/strong\u003e institutions hold some of the most precious records of human thought and deed, inscribed and printed in manuscripts, volumes, papyrus scrolls, and incunabula. In each, Listri's poised images capture the library's unique atmosphere, as much as their most prized holdings and design details.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Featured libraries include \u003cstrong\u003ethe papal collections of the Vatican Apostolic Library\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eTrinity College Library\u003c\/strong\u003e, home to the \u003cem\u003eBook of Kells \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eBook of Durrow\u003c\/em\u003e, and the holdings of the \u003cstrong\u003eLaurentian Library in Florence\u003c\/strong\u003e, the private library of the powerful House of Medici, designed by \u003cstrong\u003eMichelangelo.\u003c\/strong\u003e With meticulous descriptions accompanying each featured library, we learn not only of the libraries' astonishing holdings--from which highlights are illustrated--but also of their often lively, turbulent, or controversial pasts. Like Altenburg Abbey in Austria, an outpost of imperial Catholicism repeatedly destroyed during the European wars of religion, or the Franciscan monastery in Lima, Peru, with its horde of archival Inquisition documents.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e At once a \u003cstrong\u003ebibliophile beauty pageant\u003c\/strong\u003e, an ode to knowledge, and an evocation of the particular magic of print, \u003cem\u003eMassimo Listri. The World's Most Beautiful Libraries\u003c\/em\u003e is above all \u003cstrong\u003ea cultural-historical pilgrimage \u003c\/strong\u003eto the heart of our halls of learning, to the stories they tell, as much as those they gather in printed matter along polished shelves.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRuppelt, Georg:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - After studying history, German language and literature, education and philosophy, Georg Ruppelt gained his PhD with a doctoral thesis on Friedrich Schiller. He subsequently worked as a librarian, becoming deputy director of the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel in 1987, and director of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek in Hanover from 2002 to 2016. Ruppelt has published over 400 essays and 40 monographs on the subject of books, library science, and cultural history.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSladek, Elisabeth:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Elisabeth Sladek studied Art History in Vienna, Classical Archaeology and Judaic Studies and wrote her dissertation at the Max Planck Institute in Rome. Her special field is the history of the Baroque art and architecture and she is an active researcher and teacher, among others in Vienna, Rome and Zurich. She also publishes regularly on the respective themes.","brand":"Taschen","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50618456998162,"sku":"9783836535243","price":219.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e6ab8ef4-e820-4d3e-91c7-87478751838b.jpg?v=1732536524","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/massimo-listri-the-worlds-most-beautiful-libraries-9783836535243","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}