SOURCE!!!

 

“The Hereford Cathedral Chained Library
is an interesting one!
The practice of chaining books was the normal
practice for reference libraries starting in the
Middle Ages until the 18th century.
The Chained Library has been
around since the 1100′s.
MORE INFO HERE!

A library is like an island in the middle
of a vast sea of ignorance,
particularly if the library is very tall
and the surrounding area has been flooded.

by Lemony Snicket

 .
Real Gabinete Português de Leitura
(Royal Portuguese Reading Room)
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
.
The interior of Real Gabinete Português is four stories tall,
capped with a stained-glass cupola and illuminated
by an elaborate chandelier. Created in 1837 by
the Portuguese, the reading room contains
over 350,000 volumes, many of them from
the 17th and 18th centuries.