Redwood Library and Athenaeum
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND

This is the oldest circulating library in the country that still operates in its original location. It was built in 1748 by Peter Harrison, the architect of Newport's Touro Synagogue, the oldest surviving synagogue in America. Readers may sit in a cozy corner, surrounded by an important collection of portrait paintings, busts, eighteenth-century furniture, and a book collection with major strengths in the arts and humanities, most of which circulate. Subscribers pay a small annual fee for the privilege of enjoying these amenities.

New York Public Library
NEW YORK CITY

I stood on the sidewalk watching the citizens of America walking by, walking in, walking out, or just hanging around on the steps, people-watching like me. Carriere and Hastings, the library's architects, were once draftsmen for Mckim, Mead and White, who built the Boston Public and Pierpont Morgon Libraries. The New York Library celebrated its 100th birthday in 1995.

Perkins School for the Blind Library
WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS

The book markers give the braille library a unique appearance. The Perkins also has a tremendous selection of unabridged books on tape from the Library of Congress, which it mails to the blind, lending out a four-track tape recorder as well, all free of charge.

The Library of Congress, Main Reading Room
WASHINGTON, D.C..

This view from Shakespeare's foot looks down from under a 160-foot high dome. The Library of Congress, housed in three buildings near the U.S. capitol buildings, is the largest in the world. The magnitude of its holdings and activities is mind-boggling. Each day, 31,000 new items come into its mailroom. Its vast collection includes historical artifacts and documents, photographs, maps, rare books, personal papers, recordings, and other creative products of humanity. Its twenty-one reading rooms are open to the public. With its 110 million items, which includes approximately 20 million books, the Library of Congress is the most comprehensive collection of knowledge in the world. It also administers the operation of the U.S. copyright law, which encourages artistic and literary endeavors, like the making of this book.

Hungarian Library
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL

This library is squeezed into three tiny, cluttered rooms off a small street in downtown Jerusalem. The librarian said it's difficult for Hungarian immigrants to learn Hebrew, and the old people often take out books in Hungarian that they had read in their childhood. 'Perhaps they are looking for their youth,' she said.

Boston Public Library, Bates Reading Room
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

David Osborn was sitting there before the computer screen, another beautiful head among the marble busts of New England worthies. I asked permission to take his photograph and to send his parents a release form, since David was only seventeen. He said sure, but would I please not tell them what time he was in the library as he was supposed to be in school. (His mother now knows he was in the library, and it's OK.)

Biblioteca Marucelliana
FLORENCE, ITALY

One look into this reading room and I knew it wanted to be photographed. Its high walls are lined with vellum-bound books, and on terra firma a hushed mass of students poured over their books under the green lamps. Before I was allowed to photograph I had to answer questions for an hour and a half, and sign a lengthy affidavit. This was in compliance with the new "Law 4," passed by the short-lived Berlusconi government to regulate revenues in the art world, hoping it would help shrink the Italian national debt. The 1702 will of Fr. Marucelli established this library. Since it opened in 1752 it has been supported and amplified with gifts and acquisitions of incunabulae, prints, letters, manuscripts, and books of a general character.

University of California at Berkeley Library, Morrison Reading Room
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA

National and University Library of Bosnia and
Herzogovina in Sarajevo (now destroyed)

In August 1992, the Serbs bombed the library for three consecutive days with incendiary grenades. Only the walls now remain. Almost the entire written record of Bosnia's multicultural heritage went up in flames - one and a half million volumes, including 155,000 manuscripts and rare books. I made my photograph in 1991, not having a clue that very soon the library would be destroyed. Enes Kujundzic, the library's current director, said that this was an extremely reading-oriented population and that the Bosnian Serb forces "knew that if they wanted to destroy('cleanse') this multiethnic society, they would have to destroy the library.'

Bibliothèque Nationale
PARIS, FRANCE

The glorious reading room took my breath away. It was built in 1862 by Henri Labrouste, who also built the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, and has nine domes, each with an "eye" providing natural light from above. The roof is supported with twelve slender iron columns. Currently an enormous modern library is nearing completion in Paris, the infamous TGB("Très Grand Biblioithèque"), and the Bibliothèque Nationale is preparing to merge with it to become the Bibliothèque de France. Perhaps it will be a "very grand bibliothèque," but nothing can have the majesty or the grace of this one.