Treasures of the New York Public Library

America's attention having recently been drawn to the restoration of the exquisite New York Public Library building, here is a book that celebrates the treasures within. The library is the seventh largest research library in the world and the fourth largest in the United States. Unlike other great libraries, it is committed as much to the general public as to the community of scholars. The book is a breathtaking tribute to its riches, with close to 300 of the library's most important items illustrated. Browsing through it, one can find works as varied as illuminated Renaissance manuscripts and the copy of Alice in Wonderland that Lewis Carroll inscribed to Alice Liddel, the real Alice. Inspiring as the library itself, this book belongs in every library as companion to Herman Viola's National Archives of the United States ( LJ 11/84).