Out of Print?

Spurred on by jealousy of the boys (who had gone on school field trips to the library), I took Jim on a tour while he was here. It was incredible:

Jim with books...from the 14th century

A wee bit of woodworm

After perusing these books for a while, we were taken to the manuscript shelves, where we could see row after row after row of handlettered books. The librarian showed us a special bookshelf where the first 10 years' worth of printed books were kept (they have a special name which I've already forgotten), and then the later printed books that are, you know, recent: from the 17th century onwards..

We then went to the archives, where we were shown legal books that were in use from the 12th century up until unification, only 150 years ago. One was bound in wood, had a heavy chain to keep it attached to a desk in the Comune...where it was kept for reference by any citizen. The fun part? It had little cartoons in the margins to help the illiterate figure out what the section was about!

The archives just went on and on and on in the basement under the library. There were miscellaneous letters casually wrapped in cardboard and labeled 1567-1571. There were birth and death records. Land deeds. Tax records. What a wealth of information and historical interest! Much of the work was handlettered, and it was with a sense of unreality that we only started to see typing in sections from the 1950s!

Love,

Alexandra