Oh oh oh …how could I have left this out! I cannot thank you enough for this wonderful piece on the Library in Amsterdam that you so eloquently write about and thanks for the wonderful pictures too. You’ve just inspired me to consider making a trip there in the next few months…I could take the train from London…..thanks so much.
Happy Birthday! 🎈🎁 ❤️ Thank for introducing me to a new library to add to my list of awesome places to visit!! Just wow!!! When I was a student at Berkeley, I totally remember that austere feeling of being in the Bancroft Library and following all the special rules for reviewing and handling manuscripts in the collection. So special! And the time I walked into the hallowed library at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland…. Oh my!! It literally took my breath away. Thank you for sharing…. I love this post!!! Great thoughts to mull over ❤️
This retired library director thanks you for this gorgeous piece! You transported me from our comparatively ho-hum library experiences here in northern Indiana into what felt like a 10-minute holiday escape into a library nirvana.
Thanks for this post. We are going to go to Amsterdam in the summer of 2026 and this is now on the list of things to see, especially for my book loving teen.
My favourite library is the Cambridge University Library where I returned a while back for the first time in decades. Catching sight of the long corridors lined with antique index card chests, then the main Reading Room, further passages and open plan rooms, all lined with books. But also with memories. It felt overwhelmingly like returning to the embrace of a long lost, and very dear, friend.
I was transported back to those precious, formative years when the whole (or at least main!) point was to lose oneself in reading, thinking, writing and talking about the stuff we enjoyed most. I re-lived the excitement of unexpected discoveries while working on dissertations, unearthing obscure off-the-syllabus stuff and works by women writers only available (at the time) on microfiche or, if the author was particularly lucky to still be remembered, facsimile.
And the privilege of working in the rare books and manuscripts room... Or to rely on index cards to locate books, on slips of paper to request them. To fill your time reading and writing while waiting for the fresh pile to be brought up for you from curated storage.
I hope so too. Even if they end up mainly virtual :( And bookshops too. Here’s one of my favourite quotes from Arcadia:
“THOMASINA: ....the enemy who burned the great library of Alexandria without so much as a fine for all that is overdue. Oh, Septimus! -- can you bear it? All the lost plays of the Athenians! Two hundred at least by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides -- thousands of poems -- Aristotle's own library!....How can we sleep for grief?
SEPTIMUS: By counting our stock. Seven plays from Aeschylus, seven from Sophocles, nineteen from Euripides, my lady! You should no more grieve for the rest than for a buckle lost from your first shoe, or for your lesson book which will be lost when you are old. We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up by those behind. The procession is very long and life is very short. We die on the march. But there is nothing outside the march so nothing can be lost to it. The missing plays of Sophocles will turn up piece by piece, or be written again in another language. Ancient cures for diseases will reveal themselves once more. Mathematical discoveries glimpsed and lost to view will have their time again. You do not suppose, my lady, that if all of Archimedes had been hiding in the great library of Alexandria, we would be at a loss for a corkscrew?”
Beautiful! I've been meaning to read this play. I'm writing a novel inspired by Borges's The Library of Babel, and there are some overlapping themes for sure.
I spent one of my birthdays in Amsterdam - but as it was New Year's Day, the best place for it was actually the zoo! I still remember it as one of the best birthdays.
I loved this post! I hadn't thought about it quite the way you put it before, but I have to agree, every childhood library was/is my favorite library. And I'd add too that, that would include the libraries where my children spent their earliest years. We visited the library a lot when they were small, just as I did growing up. One of my favorite memories is going with my second-born to get his library card but because he was less than a year old, really just a few months old, he couldn't be entered into the system because they hadn't added the year of his birth yet! Making sure they all had library cards was just as important to me as making sure they had birth certificates and SSNs :-) I still dream of becoming a librarian one day or opening a little bookshop though I am not sure if either will ever come to pass but I do love libraries and book stores and I thank you for such a pleasurable read. I will absolutely visit that library in the Netherlands next time I am there and will head to your shop if I ever make it to Italy! Thanks :-)
Gosh those photographs, what a treat to have on your doorstep and to use so openly. It does pain me that so often academic institutions restrict access to their libraries. (I understand there are challenges with open door policies but wouldn’t it be nice if there was a middle ground to allow access for those seeking knowledge.)
I think the Rijksmuseum Library hits that middle ground nicely. You can’t just wander in off the street. You have to sign up for a card, then reserve books from the online catalog, then sign up for a study place in advance. Materials can only be consulted inside the library.
There’s an observation deck above the library where museum goers can peer down on us. Which is also kind of great, because you don’t have visitors disrupting, and the view from up top (the first I posted) is really nice.
Lovely!! This is a special place. And great photographs to boot! You know that feeling when you can smell a library. I can smell this one. Fabulous....
This is an interesting read Sarah and particularly interests me in your various homes, love of books and locale of the Rijksmuseum.
As a keen observer of many things European, a few languages to boot, there is a constant call to voyage and visit. You have added more than the museum for my need to spend time in Amsterdam.🤗💖
How wonderful you have visited so many libraries. Books are so much fun especially when you feel a part of the story. I love the wonderful pictures you have taken and think you should make that a book of Sarah’s Excotic adventures. I would love a signed copy. Keep reading and writing. Love Aunt Debra
Oh oh oh …how could I have left this out! I cannot thank you enough for this wonderful piece on the Library in Amsterdam that you so eloquently write about and thanks for the wonderful pictures too. You’ve just inspired me to consider making a trip there in the next few months…I could take the train from London…..thanks so much.
Definitely worth a visit! You’re lucky to live so close. I’m always wishing California were closer to Amsterdam.
Happy Birthday! 🎈🎁 ❤️ Thank for introducing me to a new library to add to my list of awesome places to visit!! Just wow!!! When I was a student at Berkeley, I totally remember that austere feeling of being in the Bancroft Library and following all the special rules for reviewing and handling manuscripts in the collection. So special! And the time I walked into the hallowed library at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland…. Oh my!! It literally took my breath away. Thank you for sharing…. I love this post!!! Great thoughts to mull over ❤️
Thank you, and you’re welcome! There’s just nothing like the feeling of being in a library, especially these old, beautiful ones.
I can’t agree more..
This retired library director thanks you for this gorgeous piece! You transported me from our comparatively ho-hum library experiences here in northern Indiana into what felt like a 10-minute holiday escape into a library nirvana.
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Of course, the best thing about any library is the books. ❤️
Thanks for this post. We are going to go to Amsterdam in the summer of 2026 and this is now on the list of things to see, especially for my book loving teen.
Enjoy! If you’re here on a Friday, she might also like the book market in Spui Square, near Waterstones.
Noted!!! Thanks for that tip. It is going on my planning list.
What a lovely tribute to a beautiful library!
Thank you!
My favourite library is the Cambridge University Library where I returned a while back for the first time in decades. Catching sight of the long corridors lined with antique index card chests, then the main Reading Room, further passages and open plan rooms, all lined with books. But also with memories. It felt overwhelmingly like returning to the embrace of a long lost, and very dear, friend.
I was transported back to those precious, formative years when the whole (or at least main!) point was to lose oneself in reading, thinking, writing and talking about the stuff we enjoyed most. I re-lived the excitement of unexpected discoveries while working on dissertations, unearthing obscure off-the-syllabus stuff and works by women writers only available (at the time) on microfiche or, if the author was particularly lucky to still be remembered, facsimile.
And the privilege of working in the rare books and manuscripts room... Or to rely on index cards to locate books, on slips of paper to request them. To fill your time reading and writing while waiting for the fresh pile to be brought up for you from curated storage.
Sometimes I think libraries are the entire point of civilisation. I hope they last forever.
I hope so too. Even if they end up mainly virtual :( And bookshops too. Here’s one of my favourite quotes from Arcadia:
“THOMASINA: ....the enemy who burned the great library of Alexandria without so much as a fine for all that is overdue. Oh, Septimus! -- can you bear it? All the lost plays of the Athenians! Two hundred at least by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides -- thousands of poems -- Aristotle's own library!....How can we sleep for grief?
SEPTIMUS: By counting our stock. Seven plays from Aeschylus, seven from Sophocles, nineteen from Euripides, my lady! You should no more grieve for the rest than for a buckle lost from your first shoe, or for your lesson book which will be lost when you are old. We shed as we pick up, like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what we let fall will be picked up by those behind. The procession is very long and life is very short. We die on the march. But there is nothing outside the march so nothing can be lost to it. The missing plays of Sophocles will turn up piece by piece, or be written again in another language. Ancient cures for diseases will reveal themselves once more. Mathematical discoveries glimpsed and lost to view will have their time again. You do not suppose, my lady, that if all of Archimedes had been hiding in the great library of Alexandria, we would be at a loss for a corkscrew?”
―Tom Stoppard,https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1303332
Beautiful! I've been meaning to read this play. I'm writing a novel inspired by Borges's The Library of Babel, and there are some overlapping themes for sure.
Then there's the library in The Name of the Rose, and the bookshop and library in The Shadow of the Wind.
Wonderful to hear you are working on a novel. The thought that one day it would be added to a public shelf 🌷
Oh yes, my favourite play! I quoted a shorter section in my last post! 🥰
https://substack.com/@artemisiawrites/note/p-161815150?r=4vhd6u&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
You know, I've saved this statement by you because I don't want to ever forget it.
I spent one of my birthdays in Amsterdam - but as it was New Year's Day, the best place for it was actually the zoo! I still remember it as one of the best birthdays.
Great place for a birthday trip!
You are blessed to have access to such a beautiful environment to read and write.
I truly am.
I loved this post! I hadn't thought about it quite the way you put it before, but I have to agree, every childhood library was/is my favorite library. And I'd add too that, that would include the libraries where my children spent their earliest years. We visited the library a lot when they were small, just as I did growing up. One of my favorite memories is going with my second-born to get his library card but because he was less than a year old, really just a few months old, he couldn't be entered into the system because they hadn't added the year of his birth yet! Making sure they all had library cards was just as important to me as making sure they had birth certificates and SSNs :-) I still dream of becoming a librarian one day or opening a little bookshop though I am not sure if either will ever come to pass but I do love libraries and book stores and I thank you for such a pleasurable read. I will absolutely visit that library in the Netherlands next time I am there and will head to your shop if I ever make it to Italy! Thanks :-)
What a sweet story about your little one. Library cards are a passport to so much.
Loved reading this ❤️
Glad you enjoyed!
Gosh those photographs, what a treat to have on your doorstep and to use so openly. It does pain me that so often academic institutions restrict access to their libraries. (I understand there are challenges with open door policies but wouldn’t it be nice if there was a middle ground to allow access for those seeking knowledge.)
I think the Rijksmuseum Library hits that middle ground nicely. You can’t just wander in off the street. You have to sign up for a card, then reserve books from the online catalog, then sign up for a study place in advance. Materials can only be consulted inside the library.
There’s an observation deck above the library where museum goers can peer down on us. Which is also kind of great, because you don’t have visitors disrupting, and the view from up top (the first I posted) is really nice.
Thanks for the tip!
Love the interior pictures. Library porn!
Haha, yes, exactly.
Lovely!! This is a special place. And great photographs to boot! You know that feeling when you can smell a library. I can smell this one. Fabulous....
I just reverse engineered my writing goal to “make people smell the library.”
This is an interesting read Sarah and particularly interests me in your various homes, love of books and locale of the Rijksmuseum.
As a keen observer of many things European, a few languages to boot, there is a constant call to voyage and visit. You have added more than the museum for my need to spend time in Amsterdam.🤗💖
Oh yes, Amsterdam is full of wonderful things.
How wonderful you have visited so many libraries. Books are so much fun especially when you feel a part of the story. I love the wonderful pictures you have taken and think you should make that a book of Sarah’s Excotic adventures. I would love a signed copy. Keep reading and writing. Love Aunt Debra
Someday I'll write that book!
I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading!