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The Library
Stuart Kells
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Samuel Pepys fetish of straightness. His lib had little leather bound wooden blocks so that the row of books would be exactly same height.
Some libs shelved books spine in, so that you saw thefore-edge of the books. One collector commissioned an artist to paint fore-edges of 172 of his books with scenes from the books. He got 170 of them right way up ...
Papermaking reasonably simple. First, rags are boiled with lime, then washed and beaten to a pulp. A fine wire screen is dipped into the pulp and shaken to spread the fibres. The raw paper is pealed off and pressed between layers of felt. The sheets are then hung out to dry.
Sunlight destroys leather, and even more destructive of vellum. Tinted glass is answer, but pale yellow or olive green best. Blue and violet just as bad as untinted. And yellow bathes lib in divine light.
Disappearing ladders swivel, then slide into pockets between shelves.
Both Hofbibliothek in Vienna, and Biblioteca Casanatense in Rome play tricks of perspective and height. Higher shelves set closer together, with the very top shelf so narrow that need fake books.
Secret door to delux marble-clad bathroom, or to hide stairways.
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