LIBRARIES, BOOKS AND BIBLOPHILES

PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE FULL ISSUE PREV FULL ISSUE

V29 2026 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 29, Number 28, 2026, Article 26

Here's a set of additional items in the media recently that may be of interest to our bibliophiles. -Editor

First, here's a New York Times piece about a bibliophile forced from his apartment for having too many books. How is that possible? Thanks to Len Augsburger for passing this along. -Editor

For a young Jewish scholar and writer named Mendel Uminer, books are the wellspring of enlightenment. So when he scored a studio apartment a block away from Central Park on Manhattan's Upper East Side a year ago, he brought his books with him — all 10,000 of them. What followed, at least for a little while, was a charmed existence in his 600-square-foot temple of knowledge.

He worked as a freelance Hebrew translator and used the apartment as the headquarters for his fledgling literary journal, Notarikon Review, hosting parties that gained a reputation among quarters of New York's literary underclass. Striving writers drank beer among the teetering stacks while arguing over foreign affairs and Greek poetry.

The stacks kept rising as Uminer added his hauls from thrift shops, book dealers and eBay deliveries. "I don't think of myself as a hoarder," he said, "but I guess my building did."

This past winter, he received a notice from building management. "You are violating a substantial obligation of your tenancy," it began. "You are maintaining the Premises in a severely overcluttered condition; permitting the over-accumulation of books in the Premises; creating a fire hazard by over-accumulating combustible books in the Premises."

After months of slow legal jousting, Uminer finally resigned himself to moving out of 6 East 65th Street, which is owned by the Hakim Organization, a company founded by the New York real estate magnate Kamran Hakim.

To read the complete article, see:
Too Many Books? (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/style/too-many-books-new-york-city-apartment-scholar-landlord.html)

I've never been here, but what a wonderful place. Here's an excerpt from a Baltimore Fox News segment - see the complete article and video online. -Editor

Hidden in plain sight in the city's historic Mount Vernon neighborhood, the George Peabody Library doesn't give much away from the outside.

But step through its doors, and visitors are met with a space many struggle to put into words.

Some describe it as cinematic. Others say it feels more like Europe than Maryland.

The collection includes rare and historic texts, from early scientific works to a first edition of Edgar Allan Poe, featuring some of the most important short stories in American literature.

Often called Baltimore's "cathedral of books," the library rises six stories high, with natural light pouring in from a skylight above. Ornate cast-iron balconies wrap around each level, along with staircases and shelving— original to the building's 1878 design.

In an interview with the BBC for its 750th birthday, the librarian of the Merton College Library in Oxford describes what makes it so special. Here's an excerpt - see the complete article online. -Editor

At Merton College in Oxford, there is an antique chest. In the Middle Ages, three key-holders had to be summoned to reveal the riches within. But this treasure wasn't gold or jewels. It was books.

Such strict security may sound overly cautious for mere parchment. But in an era before the printing press, books were a valuable commodity. They could take months to produce, as the entire text had to be painstakingly written out by hand. So, just as universities solicit cash from their alumni today, Merton College insisted its 13th-Century fellows donated books.

The Archbishop of Canterbury issued a decree in 1276 introducing this requirement, which marked the beginning of the library at Merton College. It has been running continuously ever since. To put that length of time in context, Merton's library predates the Aztec Empire. Its unbroken history stretches from before the Black Death to beyond the Covid-19 pandemic. And its users have encompassed everyone from famous 14th-Century mathematicians to Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien.

This month marks the library's 750th anniversary. It's a major milestone. But Merton's extraordinary lifespan has been recognised since the Victoria era, when it was routinely described as the oldest library in England.

A Swedish Library Forgot to Close Its Doors
When Anna Carin Elf arrived at the Gothenburg City Library on a Saturday morning, she expected the silence of a building closed for a public holiday. It was All Saints Day—a time typically reserved for quiet reflection and honoring the deceased.

Unbeknownst to the staff, a door had been left unlocked the previous evening. For hours, the library functioned perfectly, without a single employee on-site. All books were borrowed and returned normally.

The visitors were also surprised, when they found out what happened Elf says. "They thought it was a bit empty. But the people in the library behaved as usual. Many were sitting reading newspapers, some families were in the children's section and others were searching for books on the computer."