“A LIBRARY IS, AT ITS most essential, a space that holds a collection of books. A dedicated room or building is not technically necessary. In his Book of Book Lists, recently released in the United States, author Alex Johnson offers examples of portable libraries—‘sturdy wooden cases’ of books and magazines that ‘were passed between lighthouses around the United States,’ for instance. He includes the library #robertfalconscott took on board the Discovery in 1901, when the ship left for Antarctica, with a catalogue that specified which cabin a volume could be found in. Napoleon, he writes, had a traveling collection of French classics that was ported with him to war. It included five volumes of #voltaire’s plays and Montesquieu’s work on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and Their Decline. But whatever form a library takes, someone had to have chosen the books in it, which reveal the secrets of heart and mind—their cares, their greeds, their enthusiasms, their obsessions.” - @atlasobscura on @thebritishlibrary_ new A Book of Book Lists available this month, 📸 here with one of our favorite @wordupbooks bookmarks! ✊✍️🖌🖍📖✊ . . #wednesdaywisdom #booksonbooks #booksonbooksonbooks #igreads #bookstagram #amreading #whattoread #librarylove #bookcollector #booklist #tbr #bookstore #shelfie #lifeinbooks #stories #britishlibrary #famouspeople #history #atlasobscura #newbook (at Chicago, Illinois)