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The Library |
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emo’s library contains
twelve thousand books, although Aronnax initially guesses half as many.
Both Bob Farrell and Sylvain St-Pierre have done analysis to determine the
shelf area needed to hold a collection that large. The professor describes
the books as uniformly bound and indicates they are written in many
languages, raising the possibility that Nemo had them specially printed
and bound to fit.
The library of the restored late 19th century Calhoun Mansion in Charleston, South Carolina, which Karen an I toured during a recent visit, has uniformly bound books with sets in several colors. I’ve interpreted "uniformly" this way to provide additional visual interest. |
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| I have several small format books from the
mid-nineteenth century. Two volumes about Pompeii from The
Library of Entertaining Knowledge are 2 cm thick and 16½ high.
An un-illustrated Hetzel edition of Vingt
Mille Lieues is just a little larger. I assumed most of the books
in this library are such a
small format, but added shelves below the couches for some
oversized volumes.
I've placed a small movable slat on each shelf to secure the books. The shelf inlays are gold, rather than copper, a mistake I'm a bit too lazy to correct. The Maltese motif of the inlays is my contribution, picked up in my travels. |
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The ceiling is high to fit the many shelves required,
and I have restricted the couches to just one side of the room to provide
more shelf area. The room has the five meter length described by
Aronnax. I made it five meters wide and four meters high to accommodate
the collection.
The basic decor of the room, especially the ceiling, is based on details of the interior of the First Congregational Church in Binghamton, New York, built in the 1800s. As pictured, the room contains about 11,000 volumes. The shelves near the lights need to be filled and shelves will be added to the remaining bare wall area. I used a velvet texture for the couch upholstery, but I'm not satisfied with it. I may try a brocade, more like that pictured in the woodcut. |
| More to come... |
What do you think? E-mail me |
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to the Salon |
to the Dining Room |
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This page and its contents
© Copyright 2001 Michael & Karen Crisafulli. All rights reserved.
Revised 18 Feb 01.