On the many pages written about how to organize a library Italian Roberto Calasso added his some time ago, a small work entitled, “How to Organize a Library,” has the simplicity of what a treasure hides. Published in Italy by Adelphi in 2018 and now edited in Spanish by Anagrama, Calasso’s essay is an erudite and humorous lesson on this exercise that all the owners of a book collection have undertaken at some point in their lives – their bookstore lives, perhaps literary. that difficult task which the person involved postpones ad eternum until he ran out of excuses, he surrendered at the feet of those hundreds or thousands of volumes calling for immediate redistribution. But then it turns out, oh, it’s a happy undertaking. A puzzle, a game, a journey through your own biography, that the books indicate both relentlessly and lovingly.
A metaphysical theme
“It is an extremely metaphysical subject,” Calasso writes on the front page of his essay. “I am surprised that Kant did not dedicate a short treatise to him.” Computers in his personal libraries around the world are ready to agree with him: it’s not a trivial thing. “Organizing a home library, no matter how small, involves work,” he writes Lluís Agustí, professor at the Faculty of Information and Audiovisual Media of UB (or, what is the same, professor of future librarians), in his article “Organizing a personal or family library”. In it, he reviews from practical issues, such as furniture and lighting (capital letters, any bibliophile knows), to the main question: how to order. “It involves work and you have to have some time to do it, but it is usually a pleasant task. It strengthens the memory of the readings and there are small jewels to read or reread ”. Sort your own library it presupposes an encounter with himself, with the past reader and possibly with the past in general. It is an important activity.
A mind map
for a personal library is a map, anyone knows that. Calasso writes that “when he enters a room, he is quickly recognized, even just by the color and typography of his spine, what the mental landscape of the homeowner is made of ”. Or, as Gabriela Olmos writes in the splendid issue that “Artes de México” magazine dedicated to libraries a few years ago: “What fits in a personal library? Everything the man who brought her together proposed. The library is an extensive and eloquent portrait ”. Therefore, some are extremely modest at the prospect of someone rummaging through their books. Since it is an exercise in mental naturism, see biographical, the best thing is that he is someone you trust.
At Central, the “ideal bookstore”
Plural, full of labyrinths and twists, Calasso’s essay stops for a moment on the concept of “ideal bookstore”, which for the Italian is none other than La Central de Barcelona. “I remember buying a few Italian books at La Central that I had never seen before,” the author writes in the middle of a handful of complementary paragraphs. For Italians, The central fulfills the rule that, according to him, defines the ideal library: “The one where you buy at least one book every time and very often not the one (or not only the one) that someone thought to buy when I entered.
“Calasso – remembers the director of the bookstore, Antonio Ramírez – I first visited the bookstore about 15 years ago. And then, a few times when he returned to Barcelona, he came to visit us. The first comment about us appeared at an article published in “La Stampa” in Turin, on the occasion of the book fair in this city. It was quite shocking, as it was preceded by another article by Umberto Eco at the top of the page, in which he wondered what the “ideal bookstore” should look like; below, Calasso replied: “It exists, it is in Barcelona and it is called La Central.” After the article was published, booksellers in Rome, Catania, Padua and other places in Italy traveled to Barcelona to meet her. “It was our moment of glory, suddenly I was the most famous bookstore in Italy ”. In general, Ramírez says that Calasso’s formula can be applied today “to some of the bookstores that have recently opened in the city” and adds that all this is based on criteria such as “careful selection” or presentation of the proposal. “Like someone who designs a harmonious landscape.” Ramírez highlights French bookstores as references and above all Ombres Blanches, Toulouse.
Infinite patterns
Regarding the specific way to order a personal library, the only consensus is that there is no better way than another, and that in the end it is a personal matter. Alphabetical order, sort by genre, by country, by publisher, by color … “Inevitably in some areas, the alphabetical order would be lethal if applied to everyone,” Calasso writes. “From some books – about mushrooms, about the plants in Cornwall, about the famous chess games and countless other cases – the subject is remembered, but the author is often forgotten. Inserting them in a general alphabetical order would be equivalent to losing sight of them. In “High Fidelity,” Nick Hornby’s novel, the protagonist proposes to classify his discs in the order in which he acquired them, with the intention of thus forming a kind of autobiography, a criterion that could be perfectly applied to books (some have done it or at least boast of it). In any case, it must be borne in mind that, as Rafael Vargas writes in his own contribution to this issue of ‘Artes de México’, “A library is not just a bookstore. You need to give him an address. Without it it grows like weeds. It’s about designing a garden. “
The writer’s library
Ask: Enrique Vila-Matas, how do you think the ideal library should be organized? Answer: “The way you want to order it from its owner.” Question: What criteria do you use to order your library? Have you always assumed the same thing or changed it? “I do not remember ever changing my mind. Over time, I created an unclassifiable order, rather as a geographer than as a librarian or bookseller. A secret classification, far from the alphabetic tyrannies and protected by a visual memory that allows me to remember every backbone and locate it, at a glance, on the shelves. And I estimate I have more than 5,000 books at home. ” Question: Are your books in a separate place or are they incorporated in the established order? Answer: “They are modestly incorporated into the general order.” All of these are issues to consider at any time Writers’ libraries are a special world in the world of libraries. For example, about Carlos Monsiváis, Rafael Vargas writes that it was “a self-proliferating jungle in which only he himself could orient himself well.”
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To conclude
As a highlight, access Calasso’s comment the criteria of Aby Warburg, founder of the Warburg Library of Cultural Studies, in ordering the books: “An attempt to reproduce in space the plot of Warburg’s own thought.” Visit and visit Vila-Matas the personal library of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and remembering how easily he found copies of Shakespeare. “Some mythical copies for me, because the author of” El Gatopardo “(what a wonderful novel!) Would take them for a walk on his trips to Palermo. The truth is that I liked playing them “. And leaves the way Lluís Agustí, our library expert, arranges the books yours: “I have literature arranged alphabetically by authors, regardless of languages, genres and periods the novel coexists with poetry, the Catalan with Spanish, French and Portuguese. History books, once upon a time, from prehistory to contemporary times. Books on Spanish exile, on specific topics. Books about books, libraries, bookstores and reading, on specific topics. Philosophy books also in the past and within them, in alphabetical order, starting with the Greek authors. Books about religion, according to traditions: Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, heterodoxy … Reference books (dictionaries and encyclopedias), according to formats and manual. Finally, the ancient books from 16 to 18, by formats ”.