Vintage canada edition, 1998 Copyright 1996 by Alberto Manguel

Sensationalism (New York, 1989).
13. Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (London, 1818), XXV.
14. Graham Balfour, The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson, 2 vols. (London, 1901).
15. “Perhaps improperly so,” comments Professor Simone Vauthier, of the University of Strasbourg, in a
review of the book. “One would rather have expected the ‘King Shahryar Syndrome’ or if, following
American novelist John Barth, we pay attention to Sheherazade’s other listener, her younger sister, ‘The
Dunyazade Syndrome’.”
16. John Wells, Rude Words: A Discursive History of the London Library (London, 1991).
17. Marc-Alain Ouaknin, Bibliothérapie: Lire, c’est guérir (Paris, 1994).
18. Robert Coover, “The End of Books”, in The New York Times, June 21, 1992.

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PLATE
CREDITS
p1.1 Musée d’Orsay, Paris. © photo R.M.N.; top middle: Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und
Kulturgeschichte, Münster/R. Wakonigg. Dauerleihgabe der Gesellschaft für westfälische Kulturarbeit;
top right: photo Scala, Florence; middle left: Bayer.Staatsgemäldesammlungen — Schack-Galerie Munich;
middle: Library of the Topkapi Sarayi Muzesi, Istanbul; middle right: Musée de Unterlinden, Colmar.
Photo O. Zimmermann; bottom left: Musée du Louvre, Paris. © photo R.M.N; bottom middle: reproduced
by courtesy of the Trustees, The National Gallery, London (detail); bottom right: Öffentliche Bibliothek
der Universität Basel.
1.1 Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912 and Picture Fund. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, (detail);
top middle: by kind permission of Korea National Tourism Corporation, London Office; top right: © colour
photograph by Judges Postcards Ltd, Hastings; bottom left: Musée de la Ville de Strasbourg; bottom
middle: Dickens House Museum, London; bottom right: Author’s collection.
1.2 Musée du Louvre, Paris. © photo R.M.N; middle: photo by Eduardo Comesaña; right: Staatliche
Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe (detail).
1.3 Courtesy of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.
1.4 Jewish National & University Library, Jerusalem.
p2.1 © Roland Michaud from the John Hillelson Agency.
2.1 Photograph J. Oates.
2.2 Wellcome Institute Library, London.
2.3 The Royal Collection © 1995 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
2.4 Suleymaniye Library, Istanbul.
2.5 Marcus E. Raichle MD, Washington University School of Medicine.
2.6 © Bibliothèque Royale Albert ler, Brussels. Ms 10791 fol.2r.
3.1 Photo Scala, Florence.
3.2 National Archaeological Museum, Athens. No. 1260 (detail).
3.3 Mary Evans Picture Library.
3.4 Louvre, Paris. © photo R.M.N.
4.1 Photo Scala, Florence.
4.2 Chadwyck-Healey Ltd, Cambridge.

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4.3 © cliché Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.
4.4 Humanist Library, Sélestat.
5.1 © Collection Viollet; right: Musée lorrain, Nancy, cliché Mangin.
5.2 left & right: Humanist Library, Sélestat.
5.3 top: Musée de Cluny, Paris. © photo R.M.N
5.4 Musée de Cluny, Paris, © photo R.M.N.
5.5 Oeffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Kunstmuseum. Photo: Oeffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Martin
Bühler, (detail).
5.6 © cliché Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.
5.7 Library of Congress LC-USZ 62-78985.
5.8 Humanist Library, Sélestat.
5.9 Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin.
6.1 Photo Scala, Florence.
6.2 National Gallery of Prague.
6.3 Franco Maria Ricci.
7.1 Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
7.2 Copyright IRPA-KIK, Brussels, (detail).
7.3 Photograph Alinari-Giraudon.
7.4 Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg.
7.5 Das Gleimhaus, Halberstadt, Germany.
7.6 TBWA/V & S Vin & Sprit AB.
7.7 Swiss National Museum, Zürich. Inv.Nr.LM7211, Neg Nr.11308.
7.8 Schnütgen-Museum, Cologne/Rheinisches Bildarchiv, Cologne.
7.9 © Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris/Archives Seuil.
8.1 Library of Congress LC-USZ 65011.
8.2 Key West Art & Historical Society.
8.3 Archives of the Abbey of Monte-Cassino, Italy/G. Dagli Orti, Paris.
8.4 Musée Condé, Chantilly/Lauros-Giraudon.
8.5 Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice. Photo Toso.
9.1 Author’s collection.
9.2 By permission of The British Library Add Ms. 63493, f.112v.
9.3 Stiftsbibliothek St Gallen, Switzerland
9.4By courtesy of the Board of Trustees of the Victoria & Albert Museum.
9.5 By courtesy of the Board of Trustees of the Victoria & Albert Museum.
9.6 Mary Evans Picture Library/Institution of Civil Engineers.
9.7 Author’s collection.
9.8 By permission of The British Library G.9260.
9.9 By permission of the British Library IB24504.

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9.10 by permission of The Folger Shakespeare Library
9.11Courtesy of the Royal Ontario Museum.
9.12 © cliché Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.
9.13 Mary Evans Picture Library.
9.14 WH Smith Ltd.
9.15 Penguin Books
9.16© cliché Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.
9.17 Courtesy of the Fogg Art Museum. Harvard University Art Museums, Bequest of James P. Warburg.
9.18 Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
9.19 By permission of The British Library, NL.Tab.2
9.20Associated Press
9.21© The Dakhleh Oasis Project. Photo Alan Hollet.
9.22 Photo Jean-Loup Charmet.
10.1 AKG, London/Erich Lessing.
10.2 National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden.
10.3 Bibliothèque Mazarine, Paris. Photo Jean-Loup Charmet.
10.4 By courtesy of the Board of Trustees of the Victoria & Albert Museum.
10.5 Paris-Match/Walter Carone.
10.6 Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
11.1 Library of Congress LC-USZ62-70956.
11.2 By permission of The British Library LR413G1 798(31).
11.3 Mary Evans Picture Library.
p3.1 © Iraq Museum, Baghdad; courtesy J. Oates.
12.1 (both): copyright British Museum.
12.2 Bibliothèque Nationale/ photo © Collection Viollet.
13.1 Mary Evans Picture Library.
13.2 Author’s collection.
13.3 © cliché Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.
13.4 Mary Evans Picture Library.
13.5 Giraudon.
13.6 AKG, London.
14.1 By permission of The British Library IB9110.
14.2 © Estate of André Kertész.
15.1 Photo Scala, Florence.
15.2 Photo Scala, Florence.
15.3 © Bibliothèque Royale Albert Ier, Brussels. Ms IV.111 fol.13r.
15.4 Museo del Prado, Madrid.

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15.5 Sygma.
15.6 Copyright British Museum.
16.1 Bibliothèque des Arts Decoratifs, Paris/Jean-Loup Charmet.
16.2 Kyoto National Museum.
16.3 Éditions Tallandier Photothèque, Paris.
17.1 AKG, London.
18.1 The Master and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
18.2 The Dickens House Museum, London.
18.3 Rilke Archive, Gernsbach, Germany.
19.1 © cliché Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.
19.2 By permission of The British Library C 35 L 13(1).
19.3 Detail of “Aunt Betsy’s cabin in Aiken, South Carolina”, photograph attributed to J.A. Palmer, 1876.
Collection of The New York Historical Society.
20.1 By permission of The British Library Or 74 D.45. Vol 5.
20.2 © Hulton.
20.3 By permission of The British Library 010884 h.23.
20.4 Corbis-Bettmann.
20.5 Author’s collection.
20.6 Humanist Library, Sélestat.
21.1 AKG, London.
21.2 Museum of the Abbey of Klosterneuburg, Austria.
21.3 Humanist Library, Sélestat.
21.4 Humanist Library, Sélestat.
21.5 The Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London.