Friday, January 23, 2009

Behind Closed Doors

One of the fringe benefits of working in a library is access to the Closed Stacks, the collection of books that are not allowed to leave the building. These books are irreplacable and usually too fragile to stand up the the rigors of being handled by the general public.



I love the leather bindings and that "old book" smell.



Most people probably don't even know that these books are here. All you have to do is ask and you will be allowed to look at and read them. You just can't take them home.



Does your library have a collection like this?



I love books!

12 comments:

Jennifer A. said...

No, but everytime I go in The Book Stop in Poulsbo, I have a similar experience. And those books are for sale.

BumbleVee said...

I'm bad. I don't even know... I haven't been to a library in years. I love the look of the old beauties..gold lettering... lovely coloured cloth covers

hey.. thanks Judi for knowing the name of the plank pose...

MaryO said...

I'd love this too, Judi.

Linda Fleming said...

I had no idea!

HElen said...

Love the books! Love those old books, there is something special about old books...
I would love to be there for a little while

Serena Lewis said...

I love the smell of old books. My Mum used to have a really old book that was given to her by our elderly neighbour's husband when she passed away. The book must be over 100 years old now. I used to love reading it as it was filled with old fashioned remedies, behaviour protocol and personal care for young women. My older sister took it when she left home. RATS!

Cheryl said...

I did not know this. What an interesting piece of info. I'll have to check my library. It wuld be interesting just to look through them.

Jennifer Rose said...

The library here might, if not some of the older libraries probably do.

I love seeing old books :D to think how many people have handled the pages, the history behind some of them. its really ineresting

sandy said...

I love old books and the "smell" of them. Nice photos. I haven't been to our library in years, but I do like to go to second hand book stores.

Judi W. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Judi W. said...

This reminds me of one of my favorite used bookstores .. it's owned by the author Larry McMurtry in a one stoplight town in northern Texas. The shop is actually broken up into four different storefronts along two roads. One store had nothing but antique books in it - I loved to spend hours browsing the books and reading the inscriptions people wrote in them. You would pay for the books in store #1 and it was such an odd feeling to be walking out of a building with something you hadn't paid for as you browsed between storefronts. Thanks for the memory jog!

Anonymous said...

The books are lovely, a hidden treaure trove of beauty (: