Just Like the Library of Congress –
After almost six months of donkey work on the new storefront, today we began the real donkey work of moving the Lost Art Press library to 837 Willard St. I don’t know if we’ll even get a quarter of it moved down there in time for the opening next weekend, but we managed to get the core books in place today.
Most of the woodworking books I refer to every day are in a 7’-tall bookcase I built that is based on Thomas Jefferson’s shelves at Monticello. (See my shelves here; see the reproductions at Monticello here.)
Jefferson sold much of his library to the government in 1815 and it became the backbone of the Library of Congress, a story you can read about here. Because of the modular nature of the bookcases, Jefferson’s slaves were able to stuff the units with paper, nail on lids and put them in carriages bound for Washington, D.C.
Today we moved the books to Willard Street in the same way, but without the nailed-on lids. Or slaves.
Tomorrow is more moving of books. Predictions for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday: moving books. Thursday: Wondering if I have too many books. Friday: Back to scanning AbeBooks.com.
— Christopher Schwarz
