Late in Michael de Larrabeiti’s The Borribles (1976), two of our heroes come across the library of their mortal enemies, the Rumbles: There’s a library in the book I was there to work on. But there’s lots to be said about the library as an institution, as a site for tourism about the fact that lists of the most beautiful libraries in the world are a phenomenon in the first place (for example, ‘ The Most Spectacular Libraries Around the World‘, ‘ Best Libraries Around the World‘, ‘ 16 Breathtakingly Beautiful Libraries from Around the World‘, ‘ 15 of the Most Beautiful Libraries in the World‘). This is not a complaint about tourists-at least part of my smugness was borne of being allowed a shortcut through spaces I’ve had to queue up to see in the past. (You may be, as I was, told off by an indignant small child.) You are repaid, however, with the chance to flash your reader’s card and walk smugly through the cordoned-off door at the end of the room. This isn’t quite as wonderful as it sounds-it also means that you have to navigate your way through a crowd of tourists, often walking in the opposite direction, many of whom probably think you’re jumping the queue. To get to the archives at Trinity College, Dublin, you have to walk through part of what is generally considered one of the most beautiful libraries in the world.
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