Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prologue. Curating the ruins -- Part 1: Inception and survival. A confusion of scrolls -- Sanctuary -- Little monkeys and letters of gold -- Part 2: The crisis of print. The infernal press -- Coming of age -- Reformations -- Part 3: The new collectors. The professionals -- Idle books and riff raff -- Mission fields -- Part 4: Between public and private. Grand designs -- Cardinal errors -- The antiquarians -- Part 5: Fictions. Orderly minds -- Building empires -- Reading on the job -- Part 6: The war on books. Surviving the twentieth century -- Wrestling with modernity -- Libraries, books and politics -- Postscript: reading without books.

Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over centuries, destroyed in a single day, ornamented with gold leaf and frescoes, or filled with bean bags and children's drawings--the history of the library is rich, varied, and stuffed full of incident. In The Library, historians Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen introduce us to the antiquarians and philanthropists who shaped the world's great collections, trace the rise and fall of literary tastes, and reveal the high crimes and misdemeanors committed in pursuit of rare manuscripts. In doing so, they reveal that while collections themselves are fragile, often falling into ruin within a few decades, the idea of the library has been remarkably resilient as each generation makes--and remakes--the institution anew. Beautifully written and deeply researched, The Library is essential reading for booklovers, collectors, and anyone who has ever gotten blissfully lost in the stacks.