This month, I wanted to bring you inside one of my favorite places on earth - and it's right outside my home town. We'll take a tour of The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library – quite a mouthful, but once you see it, the name will become an afterthought.
Located in New Haven, Connecticut – the home of venerable and prestigious Yale University - ‘Beinecke is essentially where the Yale library system houses all of the good stuff. It’s also one of the largest libraries or buildings in the entire world dedicated to rare books, manuscripts, and historical documents.
Located in New Haven, Connecticut – the home of venerable and prestigious Yale University - ‘Beinecke is essentially where the Yale library system houses all of the good stuff. It’s also one of the largest libraries or buildings in the entire world dedicated to rare books, manuscripts, and historical documents.
In fact, the Beinecke Library houses more than one million books. But that’s just the beginning, as their collection also includes millions of pages of manuscripts, tens of thousands of papyri (scrolls), and countless photos, maps, drawings, paintings, other art and artifacts, and even digital and audio-visual content.
It also hosts endless seminars, conferences, research projects, and visiting exhibits, including from modern and living authors.
The featured piece in Beinecke’s collection is The Gutenberg Bible, which was the first book ever created using movable type back in the 1450s (they actually have two in their collection). Only 48 of these bibles still exist, and they’re considered the most valuable books on earth.
It also hosts endless seminars, conferences, research projects, and visiting exhibits, including from modern and living authors.
The featured piece in Beinecke’s collection is The Gutenberg Bible, which was the first book ever created using movable type back in the 1450s (they actually have two in their collection). Only 48 of these bibles still exist, and they’re considered the most valuable books on earth.
But its books and contents aside, the attraction of the Beinecke Library is the building itself, which is as unique and breathtaking as anything you’ll see in the world.
Built in 1963, the building rises six stories from a stone-lined sunken courtyard that's typical for Yale University. But the structure is anything but typical, a rectangular white box that sits on inverted triangular "pylons." Those pylons only stand a few feet from the ground to the base of the library's structure, but they extend down a full 50 feet beneath the earth, all the way down to bedrock.
Within the rectangular metal structure sits a honeycomb-like frame, with 15 individual frames running lengthwise, five vertically, and ten deep. The layout of these “cells” follows the Golden Ratio, which is prevalent in mathematics as well as the layout of early books: 3:1:2.
Within each of those frames is a piece of white translucent marble.
There are no windows and only one front entrance, the structure completely uniform and without variation otherwise. The veined marble façade is actually made of special marble and granite from a quarry in Danby Vermont. Although each piece is massive, they’re milled to a thickness of only 1.25 inches, allowing sunlight to filter through so they’re translucent when you’re standing inside.
Built in 1963, the building rises six stories from a stone-lined sunken courtyard that's typical for Yale University. But the structure is anything but typical, a rectangular white box that sits on inverted triangular "pylons." Those pylons only stand a few feet from the ground to the base of the library's structure, but they extend down a full 50 feet beneath the earth, all the way down to bedrock.
Within the rectangular metal structure sits a honeycomb-like frame, with 15 individual frames running lengthwise, five vertically, and ten deep. The layout of these “cells” follows the Golden Ratio, which is prevalent in mathematics as well as the layout of early books: 3:1:2.
Within each of those frames is a piece of white translucent marble.
There are no windows and only one front entrance, the structure completely uniform and without variation otherwise. The veined marble façade is actually made of special marble and granite from a quarry in Danby Vermont. Although each piece is massive, they’re milled to a thickness of only 1.25 inches, allowing sunlight to filter through so they’re translucent when you’re standing inside.
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Depending on the time of day and how sunny it is, you'll see an endless array of colors and subtle patterns on each piece of marble, essentially glowing with natural light even though it's windowless.
Due to its aesthetics as much as its contents, the Beinecke Rare Book Library has been called a “jewel box” and “laboratory for the humanities.”
Inside the library, the visual is no less jaw-dropping, dominated by a massive central tower that runs the whole six stories from floor to ceiling, with glass walls encased in stark black metal frames.
This library-within-a-library safeguards 180,000 of the rarest and most precious volumes in the world.
Due to its aesthetics as much as its contents, the Beinecke Rare Book Library has been called a “jewel box” and “laboratory for the humanities.”
Inside the library, the visual is no less jaw-dropping, dominated by a massive central tower that runs the whole six stories from floor to ceiling, with glass walls encased in stark black metal frames.
This library-within-a-library safeguards 180,000 of the rarest and most precious volumes in the world.
   | Aside from two Gutenberg Bibles, the Beinecke Library collection also includes original works by: Charles Dickens Faust Benjamin Franklin Goethe Thomas Hardy Langston Hughes Incunabula (collection of first printed books from 15th century) James Joyce Rudyard Kipling D. H. Lawrence Sinclair Lewis Thomas Mann Eugene O'Neill, Jr. the Papyrus Collection Ezra Pound Papers The Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas Collection Robert Louis Stevenson Vanderbilt Collection The Thornton Wilder papers and far more that aren’t recognizable to the average person who’s not a super nerdy Indian Jones-type. |
The glass-encased central tower is perfectly climate controlled with the temperature/humidity etc. to preserve these ancient manuscripts.
Of course, if you’re the caretaker of a rare library, preventing fires is a special concern, but you definitely can’t just turn on the sprinklers. So, in the event of a blaze, that glass-enclosed central tower can also be flooded with a mixture of Halon 1301 and Inergen fire suppressant gas, squelching any fuel the fire needs to burn.
At first, the central stack was flooded with a carbon dioxide mixture if the fire alarm went off, but they changed that with the realization that any unfortunate librarians working in that area would be instantly asphyxiated.
Of course, if you’re the caretaker of a rare library, preventing fires is a special concern, but you definitely can’t just turn on the sprinklers. So, in the event of a blaze, that glass-enclosed central tower can also be flooded with a mixture of Halon 1301 and Inergen fire suppressant gas, squelching any fuel the fire needs to burn.
At first, the central stack was flooded with a carbon dioxide mixture if the fire alarm went off, but they changed that with the realization that any unfortunate librarians working in that area would be instantly asphyxiated.
But fires aren’t the only threat. In 1977, an infestation of death watch beetles was discovered within the library, so they developed a unique method of controlling the pests before they are their way through invaluable tomes. In case of any insect outbreak, the library’s caretakers can actually freeze the books and other documents at −33 °F (−36 °C) for three days, a method that’s now been adopted for libraries with special collections around the world.
Fires and pests accounted for; nefarious human intentions are sometimes harder to police. In 2005, a well-known antique dealer named Edward Forbes Smiley III was caught cutting maps from rare volumes with an X-acto knife! Since the library welcomes tens of thousands of scholars and special guests from academia every year, Smiley almost got away with cutting out these maps while in the reading room, which he intended to hide, smuggle out of the library, and sell on the black market.
Fires and pests accounted for; nefarious human intentions are sometimes harder to police. In 2005, a well-known antique dealer named Edward Forbes Smiley III was caught cutting maps from rare volumes with an X-acto knife! Since the library welcomes tens of thousands of scholars and special guests from academia every year, Smiley almost got away with cutting out these maps while in the reading room, which he intended to hide, smuggle out of the library, and sell on the black market.
Thankfully, Smiley’s plot was foiled when he dropped the X-acto knife on his way out, and he was arrested and thrown in prison for several years. Of course, security was ramped up after the incident, and you can’t bring any objects, bags, or cell phones into the library.
(Do I need to mention that you can't simply check out the first bible ever printed and just pay late fees if you don't return it?!)
While you think we may have all bases covered, remember that the library was built in the 1960s, the height of the Cold War and atomic age. At the time, there were real concerns about what would happen to humanity's most treasured books in case of a Soviet nuclear attack. So, the myth is that in the event of a nuclear bomb hitting nearby New York City, for instance, the whole central stack could be mechanically lowered into the ground and then sealed up, serving as a bomb shelter for the books.
However, that myth has since been dispelled. In reality, there are two levels of basement floors under the library that extend out under the Hewitt Quadrangle, containing secured reading and research rooms, offices, and storage areas. Further down, there's also an underground stream, so it seems impossible that the central tower lowers into the ground in the event of a nuclear attack!
So, you might be wondering where the name ‘Beinecke’ comes from? The library was a gift from three members of the Beinecke family who were Yale alumni, endowing the university and building to serve as “a source of learning and an inspiration to all who enter.”
I’d say they definitely succeeded, and I try to visit the Beinecke Library for inspiration every time I’m back visiting my hometown of Hamden, Ct, which is only a couple of miles away from Yale.
If you’re ever in the area, give it a visit!
(And say ‘what’s up’ if I happen to be around, too!)
-Norm :-)
(Do I need to mention that you can't simply check out the first bible ever printed and just pay late fees if you don't return it?!)
While you think we may have all bases covered, remember that the library was built in the 1960s, the height of the Cold War and atomic age. At the time, there were real concerns about what would happen to humanity's most treasured books in case of a Soviet nuclear attack. So, the myth is that in the event of a nuclear bomb hitting nearby New York City, for instance, the whole central stack could be mechanically lowered into the ground and then sealed up, serving as a bomb shelter for the books.
However, that myth has since been dispelled. In reality, there are two levels of basement floors under the library that extend out under the Hewitt Quadrangle, containing secured reading and research rooms, offices, and storage areas. Further down, there's also an underground stream, so it seems impossible that the central tower lowers into the ground in the event of a nuclear attack!
So, you might be wondering where the name ‘Beinecke’ comes from? The library was a gift from three members of the Beinecke family who were Yale alumni, endowing the university and building to serve as “a source of learning and an inspiration to all who enter.”
I’d say they definitely succeeded, and I try to visit the Beinecke Library for inspiration every time I’m back visiting my hometown of Hamden, Ct, which is only a couple of miles away from Yale.
If you’re ever in the area, give it a visit!
(And say ‘what’s up’ if I happen to be around, too!)
-Norm :-)
Watch this short video about the Beinecke Library or check out their website here.
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