Book Mania!

The Library of Castle Detmold, Germany (Photo by Candida Höfer)

Christmas in Chatsworth House (by Gary Burke)

A library in Hermitage of St. Bernardine, Stroud, New South Wales. The Hermitage is a group of Anglican Franciscan brothers of the world wide Society of Saint Francis. (Photo by Christopher John)

Herzog August Library, Wolfenbüttel, Germany. Wolfenbüttel is famous for its Herzog August Bibliothek (Library), located on Lessingplatz. This large building houses over 900,000 books and volumes of various ages and covering all topics. 350,000 of these date from the 15th to 18th centuries. It is most notable, however, for containing the world’s most valuable book – Heinrich der Löwe’s Gospel Book. This was created between 1174 and 1189. The library has existed in various forms since the Middle Ages.

Austrian National Library (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) (Photo by Feemail)

The library of Charles Dickens, as rendered via woodblock engraving and sepia ink on paper by Sir Samuel Luke Fildes, 1870. (via “A Peek Inside the Libraries of Famous Writers”)

The library at Trinity university in Dublin. (Photo by Sean Yates)

Strasbourg (Photo by Rengim Mutevellioglu)

Á la Bibliothéque du Château de Groussay. Built in 1815, The private library of the Château de Groussay is located in Montfort-l’Amaury, France. The Château was by the duchesse de Charest, a daughter of Louise Elisabeth de Croÿ-Havré, marquise de Tourzel, the governess of the royal enfants de France of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

The Codrington Library, All Souls College, Oxford, United Kingdom. The Codrington Library is a private, reference only library at All Souls College, Oxford. Sir William Blackstone was a fellow, and the library bears his imprimatur. Built with a bequest from Christopher Codrington, Blackstone oversaw its completion in 1756. Its archival holdings are vast, with especially rich holdings in law, legal history, incunabula, and association copies of Blackstone’s works. The Amesbury Psalter has pride of place in its collection of codices and early manuscripts. All Souls also possesses the largest number of incunabula of any college, including the Nuremberg Chronicle, of which 18 copies are extant at the university.