Years ago a friend and I wrote to the
Royal Library in Copenhagen suggesting that they arranged an exhibition of books relating to vampires. Well, we got a polite no, but I still think it is a promising idea. One of the books in the collections of the library that should be included in an exhibition like this one is the magnificent book
Die Ehre des Hertzogthums Crain by
Johann Weichard Valvasor published in 1689.
In
an earlier post I have reprinted a small portion from this book while discussing
the shepherd of Blov, but a digitalized edition of the whole book is available
here. The link goes directly to the page where you will find the excerpt that I reprinted from my old photocopy in my post.
Reading a digital book on the internet certainly isn't like holding the book in your hands, but the digital edition of Valvasor does allow you to study all the nice engravings that are included in this large format book, and you can do so 24/7 all around the globe, so I'm not complaining. But the book would be ideal in an exhibition of vampire books!
The Royal Library in co-operation with libraries in a number of EU countries is offering
eBooks on demand (EOD), which means that the first one to order a book pays a fee to have the digital book made, whereas future users can use the eBook for free! As the fee is pretty low, it is hopefully a very handy way of getting books digitized for the benefit of everyone interested in old books!
Spending a few hours at the reading rooms of the Royal Library in Copenhagen perusing a huge stack of books from the eighteenth century, I took a few photos of the 'old' and 'new' library, a synthesis of old and new, the new part being the so-called Black Diamond lopcated by the Copenhagen harbour.
As you can see, a road kind of intersects the library, and you can pass from one part of the 'diamond' to another above the road. Actually, you collect books on the part connecting the two buildings just above the road.
