The LuEsther T. Mertz Library of The New York Botanical Garden houses one of the greatest collections of botanical and horticultural works on the planet. Eight centuries of rare books, stunning botanical artworks, illustrated manuscripts, medieval herbals, exquisite garden prints and flower books, nursery catalogs, explorers’ notebooks, and more are contained within. First printed illustration of Anthrium gladifolium. Colored lithograph based on W. Liepoldt, 1879 American Bog Plants. Aquatint with additional hand coloring by Thomas Sutherland from Robert Thornton's Temple of Flora, 1807 To commemorate the treasures contained in the library an exhibition Flora Illustrata is underway featuring more than 50 books and objects...
German university unveils what may be the world’s oldest Qur’an
With about 95% certainty the team at the Coranica Project, part of the University of Tübingen, have placed a manuscript of the Qu'ran to between 649-675 AD. Using carbon-14 dating on select samples of the manuscript parchment researchers conclude that the manuscript, which is written in Kufic script, one of the oldest forms of Arabic writing, originated between 20-40 years after the death of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad making it one of the earliest known copies. The Coranica project, is a collaboration between the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Paris and the Berlin-Brandenburgischen Academy of the Sciences and Humanities. It is sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and...
Change has come to the library: Four architects imagine the Obama presidential library
Sketch by Richard Dattner of a potential Obama Presidential Library. As President Barack Obama's tenure winds down and we mourn the lack of promised change that was to come to America perhaps it is time to look ahead to the future presidential library to be built in his honor. Enter the folks at Guardian US Opinion. They asked four award-winning, firm-founding architects "to sketch and describe their unofficial visions for a possible Obama Presidential Library. Their ideas expand our perceptions of what a library can be – indeed, what a building can be. Maybe even what the Obama presidency could’ve...
A Little Free Library loving third-grader on the power of books
"They fuel our minds like cars and gas" - Madison I think we might have met the poster child for the Little Free Library phenomenon. Her name is Madison and she is a third grader at Wade Park, a Cleveland public school. She was interviewed as part of a feature on the "huge impact" of Little Free Libraries for WKYC. Needless to say she stole the show. [youtube]http://youtu.be/GGHeh6OPhg4[/youtube] Full story at WKYC h/t The Root
Book saves student from Florida State University gunman!
Saved by The Great Medieval Thinkers Jason Derfuss is a lucky man. The 21-year-old senior at Florida State University was leaving Strozier Library after midnight when he heard gunshots. Seeing a student falling to the ground, Derfuss bolted towards his car and headed home. Little did he know he was intended victim #1. Upon checking his backpack later that morning Derfuss uncovered bullet holes in two of the books in his backpack. A bullet had gone entirely through one and partially through another. Oh and he was at the library working on a paper for his Christian Tradition class! Oy! Full story at Tallahassee Democrat