St. Paul's Cathedral Library

The current incarnation of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, designed by architect Christopher Wren, was completed in the early 18th century, the library of which is housed in one of two rooms designed for that purpose. The collection is overseen by the wonderfully charming and witty librarian, Joseph Wisdom.

Mr. Wisdom showed us how artwork and design were used in various spaces in the cathedral to indicate the purpose of the space, including in the rooms intended for the library. Sculpted design elements built into the room are rife with books and scrolls.
While not all the books in the library are on theology, these, as well as related materials - such as liturgical texts, bibles, ecclesiastical history and law, and books on the lives of the saints - do form the core of the collection. Other subjects represented in the collection include Greek & Roman classics, civil history and law, political texts, and a small number of books on science and medicine.
The books in the library are arranged generally by subject, but are not confined to a strict classification system, being shelved by size within their subject areas, largest to smallest from the bottom to the top. The stacks are numbered, the individual shelves labeled with letters, which are used for locating books.

A major issue in a historical library such as St. Paul's is, obviously, preservation. Mr. Wisdom drew a distinction between conservation and restoration, making it clear that conservation is the goal of the library - that is, keeping the books intact and usable - as opposed to restoration, the purpose of which is appearance. His philosophy of conservation is "as much as necessary, as little as possible" (J. Wisdom, 2008). He also made clear that anything done to a book should be reversible. Some of the problems the library faces involve environmental limitations of the past, such as south-facing, opening windows (having been necessary for light and air), as well as technological shortcomings like badly-tanned leather (accounting for the beef jerky-like smell of the place).

A couple of particularly special books in the collection are a 12th/13th-century illuminated psalter and a very large 17th-century illustrated bible, which we unfortunately were not able to see the inside of, due to a cracking cover.

On a personal note, as Mr. Wisdom spoke of the interesting items he finds in old books, I was struck by the great difference in the two worlds of historical libraries and public libraries. For his goose-feather quills, old letters and pressed flowers, dutifully recorded and returned to the book, we get dead cockroaches, utility bills and dog poo. If we're lucky, a really cute bookmark.