The Thomas Hughes Public Library absolutely took my breath away. It contains over 7,000 books from the Victorian era, most donated new by the publishers.
This is the best preserved of the Rugby buildings with all the original furniture.
And the books! Books were so beautiful back then. . .
I could spend hours looking through the collection.
The cane backed chairs look quite comfortable . . .
How I'd like to peek into this volume . . .
Oh, well done! to those far-sighted folks who preserved this treasure of a library
for so many years!
20 comments:
To someone like you, who has such a deep affinity for books, this is a field day!
wow...as i said the other day...i could get lost there for a while...smiles...
That is fantastic Vicki. I remember beautiful covers on books when I was young, with the art pressed into the cover material. I remember placing paper over the picture and rubbing with a pencil. I haven't explained myself very well!
Great place where it would be more than interesting to spend a week vacation!
..a month vacation!
What a lovely and quaint library. Reminds me somewhat of our little library in my hometown in Arkansas. Our library was housed in a building from the late 1800's that once was my great-aunt's office when she was Superintendent of County Schools in the fifties.
Sam
My kind of place, too, but you weren't allowed to touch the books, were you?
OH, my. I could just plain move in.
As for touching the books, I didn't try to. But I believe that scholars can get permission to use the library for research.
That charming library is the stuff that dreams are made of!
I think that you would also love the member-supported library that I regularly visit here in NYC. You may have been there yourself.
www.nysoclib.org
It is heavenly! xo
a slice of book heaven
Oh my goodness, what a treasure of a place! I love the covers of old books and have often bought books like that at yard sales just for the cover. How wonderful that this place was preserved!
What a treasure of a building which includes the contents. Question, was there a musty smell about the place? I always attribute that to old books, somehow.
That looks wonderful. There's beauty in those old book bindings. I suppose our modern day covers are enticing but these have real craftsmanship.
What a fascinating place! -- barbara
Thank you, Vicki, for this very interesting series about Historic Rugby!
Alas, Frances, I've only been in NYC twice -- both very brief trips around fifty years ago.
Not a musty smell, Barbara R., but a book-ish smell. The sort of smell I remember from the libraries of my youth...
What a treasure! You're making me want to visit Rugby. Wow.
My favorite so far is this tour of the library! I can just imagine stepping into it, with the smell of books and sunlight and old wood. Love it. My kind of place..and you are right the old books are so lovely.
Tammy
Since I haven't been by in a few days, I had to go back and start at the beginning of the Rugby posts and work my way forward. I passed by Rugby many times on the way from Knoxville to Nashville and points west. Or wait... maybe I passed it on the way to Big South Fork park. Can't remember now (I have a sieve memory, and that's a good thing - just ask Darla, LOL!). But anyway, I was always passing by - never stopping. I've enjoyed seeing your "tour," and am just fascinated with this library! I love old books, and collected them when I was in my 20s... until I got to a certain age and realized "wait, I can't just keep collecting old books - what am I going to do with a gazillion old books???" I have only a select few now, the rest I passed on to other collectors. A visit to this library might be just what I need!
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