Author: Frank James Burgoyne

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2015-06-27

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 9781330426319

Excerpt from Library Construction, Architecture, Fittings and Furniture The development of libraries during the latter part of the nineteenth century may be compared with that of cathedrals and abbeys in Norman times, or that of colleges and grammar-schools under the Tudors. In all these cases the age, instinctively discerning its needs, partly by public effort, partly by private munificence, covered the land with edifices for their satisfaction. In so doing it necessarily gave rise to a number of architectural problems. That the libraries of the present day, however smaller in scale, may not be architecturally less honourable to their epoch than the corresponding constructions of the past, must be the earnest aspiration of all who regard them as among the characteristic monuments of the nineteenth century, and a most important manifestation of its intellectual activity. This ideal is the more difficult of attainment, inasmuch as obstacles now exist which were comparatively unfelt in the Middle Ages. The mediæval pious founder was frequently his own architect; at all events, paying the piper, he called the tune. In any case, there was a thorough community of feeling between him and the builders he employed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.