Posted on 03/23/2006 11:53:14 AM PST by Physicist
Law librarian Rick Ramponi's collection of 3,000 regional cookbooks --including "Talk About Good" from the Lafayette, La., Junior League and "Shalom on the Range," which celebrates southwestern Jewish cuisine -- was manageable while he lived in a large house in Kalorama.
But when he moved to a one-bedroom Dupont Circle apartment with a partner who collects large art and architecture books, Ramponi had to exile those cherished culinary texts to a pair of rented storage units several blocks away.
Since 2002, he has spent more than $5,000 to keep them there, which "may be more than they are all worth," he concedes. "But there is a sentimental attachment and I associate them with places I've been, people I know."
Accountant Jennifer Kimball, who is studying for a master's degree in English, and policy analyst Matt Cail, who has a pair of master's degrees, call themselves "huge bibliophiles." Thus their chief requirement when condo shopping two years ago was enough wall space for shelves to hold their books. Already they have run out of space in their Alexandria flat. "Next year we will start looking for a house to buy that has room for children," she says. And books.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Repost to add Malacoda to the ping.
Super Size Version here:
http://www.jenskleemann.de/wissen/bildung/media/0/04/carl_spitzweg_021.jpg
424 kb.
That's not sad at all! One of my retirement plans is finally getting my library into one specifically-planned room. I fantasize about its future design the way most people fantasize about - well, whatever they fantasize about.
My fantasy is based on the library at the Lutheran Seminary in Germantown, Philadelphia, PA, where I've gone to do genealogical research. The building is of stone, like a cathedral. There are enormous windows that go from the roof almost to the ground. The interior is essentially a cavernous space within which the floors and bookshelves are an integrated steel structure, with the floor tiles made of glass to let the light through from one floor to the next. There are also fluorescent lights, but for a multi-story library, the amount of natural light is extraordinary.
It also has an impressive, circular, stone atrium where they put choice texts and historical documents on display. Furthermore, the staff is enormously knowledgeable and eager to help.
Isn't he a great writer? I use to email him before he died,
My plans are a little simpler than that, with about four thousand volumes to house - shelves all around the room to a height of five feet or so (since I don't like being up on ladders), then another four feet of empty space above to house our growing collection of World War I posters, gallery-style.
A fireplace with a large stone hearth would showcase the pride of the collection, which was done by Joseph Pennell for a Liberty Loan campaign:
http://www.english.emory.edu/LostPoets/Liberty-note.html
And good on you. Those bones impart a deeper flavor to the cooked meat. As well as come in very handy to make a broth.
If you were asking about spoken I would have recommended Rosetta Stone's Latin program, unfortunately written and reading is not quite on their agenda.
There's something about being surrounded by books that makes me so darned happy. I hope to have a room like this one of these days. Thank you so much for the photo, it's put me in the mood for a book and some coffee.
Fimus! ...but thanks anyway.
Full Disclosure: I hope the online translator got that right...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.