LOST LIBRARIES: THE DESTRUCTION OF GREAT BOOK COLLECTIONS SINCE ANTIQUITY; ED. BY JAMES RAVEN

This Volume Of Essays Explores The Destruction Of Great Libraries Since Ancient Times And Examines The Intellectual, Political And Cultural Consequences Of Loss. The Resonances Of Loss / James Raven -- Lost Libraries Of Ancient Mesopotamia / Jeremy Black -- Aristotle's 'peripatetic' Library / T. Keith Dix -- Text To Trophy: Shifting Representations Of Regiomontanus's Library / Richard L. Kremer -- The Corvina Library And The Lost Royal Hungarian Archive / Martyn Rady -- Habits Of Manuscript-collecting: The Dispersals Of The Library Of Humfrey, Duke Of Gloucester / David Rundle -- 'the Manuscripts Flew About Like Butterflies': The Break-up Of English Libraries In The Sixteenth Century -- Secularization And Monastic Libraries In Austria / Friedrich Buchmayr -- Lost Royal Libraries And Hanoverian Court Culture / Clarissa Campbell Orr -- Revolutionary Seizures And Their Consequences For French Library History / Dominique Varry -- A Plague Of Books: The Dispersal And Disappearance Of The Diocesan Libraries Of The Church Of Ireland / Margaret Connolly -- The Lost Jewish Libraries Of Vilna And The Frankfurt Institut Zur Erforschung Der Judenfrage / Sem C. Sutter -- China's Roosevelt Library / Rui Wang And Yulin Yang -- China's Destruction Of The Libraries Of Tibet / Rebecca J. Knuth -- Burn The Books / Robert J. Fyne. Edited By James Raven. Based On Papers Originally Delivered Sept. 2000 At A Cambridge Project For The Book Trust Conference Held At Magdalene College, Cambridge. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 10 List of Tables......Page 11 Acknowledgements......Page 12 Notes on the Contributors......Page 13 1 Introduction: The Resonances of Loss......Page 16 2 Lost Libraries of Ancient Mesopotamia......Page 56 3 Aristotle’s ‘Peripatetic’ Library......Page 73 4 Text to Trophy: Shifting Representations of Regiomontanus’s Library......Page 90 5 The Corvina Library and the Lost Royal Hungarian Archive......Page 106 6 Habits of Manuscript-Collecting: The Dispersals of the Library of Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester......Page 121 7 ‘The Manuscripts flew about like Butterflies’: The Break-Up of English Libraries in the Sixteenth Century......Page 140 8 Secularization and Monastic Libraries in Austria......Page 160 9 Lost Royal Libraries and Hanoverian Court Culture......Page 178 10 Revolutionary Seizures and their Consequences for French Library History......Page 196 11 A Plague of Books: The Dispersal and Disappearance of the Diocesan Libraries of the Church of Ireland......Page 212 12 The Lost Jewish Libraries of Vilna and the Frankfurt Institut zur Erforschung der Judenfrage......Page 234 13 China’s Roosevelt Library......Page 251 14 China’s Destruction of the Libraries of Tibet......Page 262 15 Burn the Books......Page 276 A......Page 290 B......Page 291 C......Page 293 E......Page 295 F......Page 296 G......Page 297 H......Page 298 K......Page 299 L......Page 300 M......Page 301 N......Page 303 P......Page 304 R......Page 305 S......Page 306 T......Page 307 V......Page 308 Z......Page 309 Cover 1 Contents 8 List of Illustrations 10 List of Tables 11 Acknowledgements 12 Notes on the Contributors 13 1 Introduction: The Resonances of Loss 16 2 Lost Libraries of Ancient Mesopotamia 56 3 Aristotle’s ‘Peripatetic’ Library 73 4 Text to Trophy: Shifting Representations of Regiomontanus’s Library 90 5 The Corvina Library and the Lost Royal Hungarian Archive 106 6 Habits of Manuscript-Collecting: The Dispersals of the Library of Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester 121 7 ‘The Manuscripts flew about like Butterflies’: The Break-Up of English Libraries in the Sixteenth Century 140 8 Secularization and Monastic Libraries in Austria 160 9 Lost Royal Libraries and Hanoverian Court Culture 178 10 Revolutionary Seizures and their Consequences for French Library History 196 11 A Plague of Books: The Dispersal and Disappearance of the Diocesan Libraries of the Church of Ireland 212 12 The Lost Jewish Libraries of Vilna and the Frankfurt Institut zur Erforschung der Judenfrage 234 13 China’s Roosevelt Library 251 14 China’s Destruction of the Libraries of Tibet 262 15 Burn the Books 276 Index 290 A 290 B 291 C 293 D 295 E 295 F 296 G 297 H 298 I 299 J 299 K 299 L 300 M 301 N 303 O 304 P 304 Q 305 R 305 S 306 T 307 U 308 V 308 W 309 X 309 Y 309 Z 309 This pioneering volume of essays explores the destruction of great libraries since ancient times and examines the intellectual, political and cultural consequences of the loss of books. Fourteen original studies, introduced by a re-evaluative history of lost libraries, offer the first ever comparative discussion of the greatest catastrophes in book history from Mesopotamia and Alexandria to the dispersal of monastic and monarchical book collections, the Nazi destruction of Jewish libraries, and the recent pillage and burning in Tibet, Bosnia and Iraq. Leading international scholars ask what it means to lose the literary heritage and accumulated knowledge of a nation or people, why the devastation of library buildings and collections have stayed in the imagination, and why certain losses and the myths created about them are often not as simple or even as extensive as might at first seem. This collection represents a fresh appraisal of library history, offering both a highly topical and innovative cultural study in the history of books and knowledge Annotation This pioneering volume of essays explores the destruction of great libraries since ancient times and examines the intellectual, political and cultural consequences of loss. Fourteen original contributions, introduced by a major re-evaluative history of lost libraries, offer the first ever comparative discussion of the greatest catastrophes in book history from Mesopotamia and Alexandria to the dispersal of monastic and monarchical book collections, the Nazi destruction of Jewish libraries, and the recent horrifying pillage and burning of books in Tibet, Bosnia and Iraq