I’ve
been to some pretty interesting literary sites this summer and I was going to
write about them, but I realized I never wrote about the pretty interesting
literary sites I went to last summer.
Most of the pretty interesting literary sites I went to last summer are
in Washington, DC. Some of them are
obviously literary, like this bookstore.
I didn’t actually go here. We passed by, and I thought it looked pretty
interesting, but certain people I was with were in kind of a hurry.
Some
are less obvious, but I think you’ll get the connection.
Gary,
Adrien, and I started out by touring the Capitol building. While we were there getting drinks of water
and waiting to go through the secret underground tunnel that leads to the Library of Congress, I overheard some children talking
to their parents. One of them, a boy about 9 or 10
years old, said, "Remember in National
Treasure, he goes to buy a copy of the Decoration of Independence from the
gift shop and it cost $35? Well in this
gift shop it only cost $4!" Like you’d think someone as familiar
with the byways of the Capitol as Benjamin Gates was would know where the
bargain souvenirs were sold. And I'll probably call it the Decoration of
Independence from now on.
Soon
enough, we took the secret tunnel and found ourselves in the Library of Congress.
The
walls and ceilings of the Library of Congress look like how I imagine the
inside of my brain does when I think about my favorite authors and books: so colorful and symbolic and really kind of
overwrought and frenetic because you just can’t leave even a single impression alone.
I kind of wish this was my bedside lamp.
There
were various displays in the library, but we didn’t have time to see them all because
we only had about an hour and a half to spend there. We saw
Thomas Jefferson's original book collection, or what's left of it after it was
partially destroyed in a fire in 1850-something. No photography was
allowed. I can understand no flash
photography, but not no photography at all.
Jefferson had a very interesting system for organizing his books. I don’t think I’d use it, though, because his categories don't quite cover what I have in my library. For instance, there's not a single steampunk novel in his entire collection. Anyway, Jefferson’s library is probably the
thing I like best about the man. I’m a John
Adams fan, myself.
We
also saw a display of Civil War photographs, and of early Maya, Aztec, Mixtec,
and Inca artifacts and documents. No photography allowed. Some of the documents were created by the
Spaniards themselves when they first came into contact with those cultures. Adrien
said she wanted a Maya codex really bad. So if you ever see one, get it
for her, please.
We wanted to see their copy of the Gutenberg Bible, but it was off display while they were working on the fire suppression system within the case. I was a little disappointed, but I've seen Gutenberg Bibles at the Huntington and the British Library so I wasn't enraged.
We wanted to see their copy of the Gutenberg Bible, but it was off display while they were working on the fire suppression system within the case. I was a little disappointed, but I've seen Gutenberg Bibles at the Huntington and the British Library so I wasn't enraged.
We
also went upstairs to the Reading Room overlook which you may recall from the
movie National Treasure 2. No photography allowed. But that didn’t stop Adrien.
Next
stop: the Folger Shakespeare Library!
2 comments:
I *do* really want a Maya codex! I think it would be cool. And I forgot I took that picture of the reading room...haha. I can't wait to see what you have to say about Dad taking a video of the reading room at the Folger!
Jay-louse.
Post a Comment