Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Reviews

Reviews Library History, Vol. 16, November 2000 P. R. HARRIS, J.\ history of the British Museum Library I753-I973. London: British Library, 1998. xx, 833p. ill. £50.00. ISBN a 71234562 a Note: Two reviews of this major volume were commisioned for this issue. The perspectives of the reviewers vary widely, and it was thought by the editors that this would benefit the readers of this journal. In the Introduction to his monumental history of the British Museum Library, Philip Harris describes the post-war Museum as having 'to some extent the atmosphere of a village'; 'people were proud to work for it'. Then somehow he plays down this sense of intimacy, of belonging, of involvement, by writing 'this might involve the charge of elitism'. But there was such a village in Bloomsbury, with its strange local customs, and its share of eccentric inhabitants, perhaps more vividly apparent to one who spent only sixteen years there, compared with the historian's thirty-nine. Elitism maybe, but the sense of privilege and wonder at that extraordinary institution has never left me, and it remains with many others who served it. For a long time, I never thought to leave it, though the reading of Harris's final http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Library History Edinburgh University Press

Reviews

Library History , Volume 16 (2): 15 – Nov 1, 2000

Loading next page...
 
/lp/edinburgh-university-press/reviews-pIOGRunsOV

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Copyright
Copyright © Edinburgh University Press
ISSN
0024-2306
DOI
10.1179/lib.2000.16.2.153
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Library History, Vol. 16, November 2000 P. R. HARRIS, J.\ history of the British Museum Library I753-I973. London: British Library, 1998. xx, 833p. ill. £50.00. ISBN a 71234562 a Note: Two reviews of this major volume were commisioned for this issue. The perspectives of the reviewers vary widely, and it was thought by the editors that this would benefit the readers of this journal. In the Introduction to his monumental history of the British Museum Library, Philip Harris describes the post-war Museum as having 'to some extent the atmosphere of a village'; 'people were proud to work for it'. Then somehow he plays down this sense of intimacy, of belonging, of involvement, by writing 'this might involve the charge of elitism'. But there was such a village in Bloomsbury, with its strange local customs, and its share of eccentric inhabitants, perhaps more vividly apparent to one who spent only sixteen years there, compared with the historian's thirty-nine. Elitism maybe, but the sense of privilege and wonder at that extraordinary institution has never left me, and it remains with many others who served it. For a long time, I never thought to leave it, though the reading of Harris's final

Journal

Library HistoryEdinburgh University Press

Published: Nov 1, 2000

There are no references for this article.