Books by James Campbell
“James is an architectural historian and this is a book he wrote with photographer Will Pryce, a wonderful photographer…The real strength of his book is in the section on the great European libraries of the 18th and 19th centuries. So it includes institutions I’ve been to like the Strahov Library in Prague, the Mafra in Portugal, the Admont Abbey Library, the Abbey Library of Saint Gall in Switzerland. These are extraordinary Baroque and Rococo creations, which look inside like wedding cakes. They’re absolutely amazing. I think this period is his specialty as an architectural historian, and he writes about them with great passion and interest and depth. I often use it as a way into library history, as a first port of call.” Read more...
Richard Ovenden, Librarian
Interviews where books by James Campbell were recommended
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1
The Care of Books: An Essay on the Development of Libraries and Their Fittings, From the Earliest Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century
by John Willis Clark -
2
Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life
by Eric Klinenberg -
3
The Library Book
by Susan Orlean -
4
The Library: A World History
by James Campbell & Will Pryce (photographer) -
5
The Library at Night
by Alberto Manguel
The best books on Libraries, recommended by Richard Ovenden
The best books on Libraries, recommended by Richard Ovenden
Knowledge is power and nowhere has it been better preserved down the millennia than in libraries. Here Richard Ovenden, author of Burning the Books and the librarian in charge of Oxford University’s Bodleian Libraries, talks us through books that shed light on what libraries are and what they do, and why they remain absolutely vital in our digital age.
