What your bookshelves say about you
I was recently entrusted with finding new homes for a large
personal collection of books, and a more modest one belonging to two Parsi
families. Although I knew neither of the
families personally, going through their books I felt I got to know them. One ,
a doctor, with a deep interest in politics, history, literature , travel and
music; the other an avid reader of historical fiction, including war time
escapades, and colourful Raj tales.
Personal libraries can be like a diary of one’s life. Serious collectors
usually start in their teenage years, with a few well-thumbed books, that grow
into larger collections, reflecting the the collector’s changing interests as
life unfolds.
One cannot but feel an almost overwhelming sadness, when
libraries of deceased people are fragmented, however practical or altruistic
the reasons may be. Perhaps one should think of it as spreading the ashes of
the dead to become part of new lives, new inspirations and new collections.
Libraries have a history as old as the invention of writing,
the first being preserved clay tablets of Ugarit in Syria, and ancient
Mesopotamia, Iraq. But along with state libraries that existed in every
civilization, scholars developed personal libraries. The personal libraries of
Aristotle and Plato, were accessible to their students. Fatima El-Fihriya’s al-Qarawiyyan
library in Fez is the world’s oldest continuously working library; Emperor Humayun had his own library in Sher
Mandal. The largest personal library in Pakistan is said to be the Mansur
Jhandir Library in a small town in Punjab.
The most unexpected people have maintained large personal
libraries: the library of designer Karl Lagerfeld’s 300,000 volume library is
legendary; Pop musician Michael Jackson was an avid reader with an
extensive personal library.
While the publication and reading of books has remained
high, there has been a dramatic drop in visitors to public libraries. Perhaps the
slow process of checking out library books is at odds with the fast pace of
life and access to books on Kindle allows people to read on the move. The value
of a library is not just its books but as “place” – an almost magical space of
unexplored possibilities, of silent congregation. The entrance to the library of Ramses II, had “Healing place of the soul” inscribed
above it. Guardian journalist, Simon Jenkins, suggests that libraries should
adapt to the changing nature of public spaces that are increasing event based,
with lectures, debates, readings, plays, music events and coffee shops. Frere
Hall, one of Karachi’s most successful public spaces, is a good example of a
space that combined events and reading rooms.
Reading Rooms developed in the late 19th C were
intended to allow access to knowledge to those who could not afford to buy
books. Karachi had a number of well attended reading rooms, and a few still
exist today. There is still a romance
associated with libraries : Hogwarts library, the Star Wars Jedi libraries, The
Abbey library in Umberto Eco’s the Name of the Rose and the darker image of the burning of books in Ray Bradbury’s
1953 novel, Fahrenheit 451, where people memorized books to keep them alive.
Book shelves have taken on a new importance as the visual
backdrop for online meetings necessitated by the Covid 19 Pandemic , earning
the sobriquet of “shelfies”. A two day conference was organized on “Bookshelves
in the Age of the COVID-19 Pandemic”. Websites advise on bookshelf décor to
achieve what the New York Times calls, the “Credibility Bookcase” . A U.K. Minister faced criticism from the
public for having a book on his shelf by Holocaust-denier David Irvine . Noor
Sobers-Khan made a point of using an empty bookshelf as a background to her
online meetings.
As journalist, Jerry Davich says “You can't judge a book by its cover, but you may be able to
better judge someone by their book collection.”
Durriya Kazi
December 7, 2020
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