The Library

• The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders is a love letter to libraries not just as mere collections of books, but as magical, fabled places • Explores libraries, both real and fictional, that have captured our imaginations, e.g. the Bodleian, the Folger and the Smithsonian, as well as Umberto Eco’s mediaeval library labyrinth in The Name of the Rose • A highlight is the chapter ‘A Library with No Books’, which traces the sharing of stories—oral libraries—in indigenous Australian cultures • Stuart Kells is a Melbourne-based authority on antiquarian books • Kells has previously published a critically acclaimed biography of antiquarian bookseller Kay Craddock, Rare, and a history of Penguin Books, Penguin and the Lane Brothers, which won the 2016 Ashurst Australian Business Literature Prize • Research for this book included a world tour of libraries of note, and Kells is about to embark on another library tour with his wife and two young daughters • Will appeal to anyone who has ever lost hours to a library, as well as to general readers of history