Synopsis
This work chronicles the development of the library from 3000 BC to 1600 AD. Beginning with the clay tablet libraries of the ancient Sumerian and Assyro-Babylonian empires, to those inspired by the Italian Renaissance, the history of these great depositories of human knowledge is examined, together with that of the scholars and librarians who struggled to increase and preserve their precious holdings. The scope of the book is threefold: to analyze the motives that prompted the people of the Mediterranean and the West to create a room or building in which books were kept; to outline the development of libraries, and the ways in which their evolution was affected by intellectual and historical circumstances; and thirdly to examine the factors that influenced not only the spread of libraries throughout the civilised world, but also their design, layout and overall architectural style.
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