The world from here

Essays by Nicholas Barker, Kenneth Breisch, Anthony Grafton Few people are aware of Los Angeles' vast collective resource of rare books, manuscripts, and related objects, housed in Los Angeles-area libraries. Featuring more than three hundred selections from area collections, The World fromHere explores this treasure trove of rare books and ephemera. Included are materials ranging from a 1482 atlas of the known world to fiction classics, early botanical and scientific texts, letters, posters, and artists' books. Selections were culled from nearly forty institutions, including theHuntington Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles Public Library and the libraries at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California. Essays on libraries in the American West, the history of book collecting in Los Angeles, and library buildings in LosAngeles during the twentieth century make The World from Here an engaging study of this impressive, yet little-known, cultural resource. It catalogues an exhibit at the UCLA Hammer Museum until January 13, 2002.