The Great Geek Manual

Back in July 2009, I posted a photo gallery of The World’s Most Beautiful Libraries, mainly for my own gratification. If you think about it, even if you are one of the many online students in distance learning MBA programs and you never actually step foot in a classroom, there is still a good chance that you will have to eventually go to an actual library like everyone else. So if almost every has the need to go to real libraries, then why not enjoy the more beautiful ones when you are in them? There are few things I enjoy as a hardcore bibliophile more than a good book, but when I’m not reading, browsing photos of books comes in a close second.

For about eighteen months, the gallery was pretty much ignored, the same as all of my other posts, but a few days ago StumbleUpon kicked in. Since then, traffic has been flooding and with it, a lot of suggestions as to other libraries deserving of recognition. So, I’ve decided to compile a second gallery of beautiful libraries, this time, just from around the states. Here they are, in no particular order. Enjoy!
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This is an amazing shot, but I’m not sure where it was taken. If anyone has any clue, drop me a line. Update: This does indeed seem to be Galerie Bortier in Brussels‎. Thanks to
JLA_be!

Source: Nada Filipha’s Flickr Feed

This is a shot of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto, the largest repository of publicly accessible rare books and manuscripts in Canada. Among the collection’s items are the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493), Shakespeare’s First Folio (1623), Newton’s Principia (1687), and Darwin’s proof copy (with annotations) of On the Origin of Species (1859). Other collections include Babylonian cuneiform tablet from Ur (1789 B.C.), 36 Egyptian papyrus manuscript fragments (245 B.C.), and Catholicon (1460).

I think they’d have to taser me if I ever got loose in there.

Source: 001FJ’s Flickr Feed

I can’t find any mention of where this photo was taken or even who originally took it, but it looks very professional. I’d love a print of this on my wall.

Source: We ♥ It

If I lived anywhere near the John Rylands Library, I think that I would periodically sneak in just to check if it weren’t secretly a wizard school… then, I think I would accuse of them being a wizard’s school just to see if I could rattle their cage.

Also, I think if I lived anywhere near the John Rylands Library, they’d probably take a restraining order out against me in pretty short order.

Source: gary995′s Flickr photostream

If I ever design a super-bunker to ride out the apocalypse, this is exactly what it would look like. Except, maybe I’d have a few aisles’ worth of Oreos stacked about. I wouldn’t survive very long, mind you, but I would enjoy myself while I lasted.

Source: “Stockholm Library interior” by Olivier Charles

If I ever took up a hobby as rustic as camping, this is exactly what it would look like. Seriously, am I the only one here with childhood fantasies of living in a library/bookstore?

Source: The Telegraph