'Libraries are filled with magic. From the Bodleian, the Folger and the Smithsonian to the fabled libraries of Middle Earth, Umberto Eco’s mediaeval library labyrinth and libraries dreamed up by John Donne, Jorge Luis Borges and Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Stuart Kells explores the bookish places, real and fictitious, that continue to capture our imaginations.'
'The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders is a fascinating and engaging exploration of libraries as places of beauty and wonder. It’s a celebration of books as objects and an account of the deeply personal nature of these hallowed spaces by one of Australia’s leading bibliophiles.' (Publication Summary)
'Stuart Kells is a young (some might say middle-aged, but these things are relative) bibliophile, just hitting his straps as an author. He served his apprenticeship as a book-runner, book collector, dealer, scholar and academic, and has previously written two books : Rare A Life Among Antiquarian Books (Folio 2011), a biography of bookseller Kay Craddock; and Penguin and the Lane Brothers (Black Inc,., 2015), the history of the famous imprint and its founders, which was the winner of the 2015 Ashurst Business Literature Prize, administered by the State Library of New South Wales. Wit his wife Fiona, he was part of the team which edited Outback Penguin - Richard Lane's Barwell Diaries (Black Inc. & The Lane Press, 2016).' (Introduction)
'In 2002, journalist Guy Rundle published a piece devoted to the little-known visit by Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges to Melbourne in May 1938. During his ten-day stay, Borges spent time in the domed reading room of the State Library, a place he found ‘awe-inspiring, even overwhelming’. As a long-term reader of Borges, and having spent much of my working life at the Library, I felt elated by this connection. Alas, the story turned out to be a hoax, though not before it circulated widely on the internet. With hindsight, I realise that I – and others – believed it because we wanted to believe that this writer who composed such eloquent stories about books and libraries, and who later held the position as director of the National Library in Buenos Aires, had been awestruck by our library.' (Introduction)
'Stuart Kells gives us an entertaining and enlightening history of the pursuit, collection and housing of books.'
'There are plenty of people claiming to be book nerds these days. On Instagram, for example, there are more than three million images under the #booknerd hashtag, most of them cutesy scenes of paperbacks arranged around vintage teacups or stacked in piles and photographed with snoozing cats. In The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders, Melbourne book trade historian Stuart Kells storms on to this embarrassing scene, shattering the pretenders’ non-prescription spectacles and toppling pretentious book stacks on sight. Here, kids, is what a real book nerd looks like.' (Introduction)
'In 2002, journalist Guy Rundle published a piece devoted to the little-known visit by Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges to Melbourne in May 1938. During his ten-day stay, Borges spent time in the domed reading room of the State Library, a place he found ‘awe-inspiring, even overwhelming’. As a long-term reader of Borges, and having spent much of my working life at the Library, I felt elated by this connection. Alas, the story turned out to be a hoax, though not before it circulated widely on the internet. With hindsight, I realise that I – and others – believed it because we wanted to believe that this writer who composed such eloquent stories about books and libraries, and who later held the position as director of the National Library in Buenos Aires, had been awestruck by our library.' (Introduction)
'Stuart Kells is a young (some might say middle-aged, but these things are relative) bibliophile, just hitting his straps as an author. He served his apprenticeship as a book-runner, book collector, dealer, scholar and academic, and has previously written two books : Rare A Life Among Antiquarian Books (Folio 2011), a biography of bookseller Kay Craddock; and Penguin and the Lane Brothers (Black Inc,., 2015), the history of the famous imprint and its founders, which was the winner of the 2015 Ashurst Business Literature Prize, administered by the State Library of New South Wales. Wit his wife Fiona, he was part of the team which edited Outback Penguin - Richard Lane's Barwell Diaries (Black Inc. & The Lane Press, 2016).' (Introduction)
'There are plenty of people claiming to be book nerds these days. On Instagram, for example, there are more than three million images under the #booknerd hashtag, most of them cutesy scenes of paperbacks arranged around vintage teacups or stacked in piles and photographed with snoozing cats. In The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders, Melbourne book trade historian Stuart Kells storms on to this embarrassing scene, shattering the pretenders’ non-prescription spectacles and toppling pretentious book stacks on sight. Here, kids, is what a real book nerd looks like.' (Introduction)
'Stuart Kells gives us an entertaining and enlightening history of the pursuit, collection and housing of books.'
