Ken,
I am interested in how many books he might have had as immediate reference.
Ptolomy II had a goal of 500,000 scrolls when he commissioned the great
library at Alexandria.  Antony is said to have given Cleopatra 200,000
scrolls as a wedding gift.  And Colleen McCollough allows that when
Alexandria fell to Caesar Augustus (Octavian) that he removed over a million
scrolls to Rome.  Speaking of fires, if I remember correctly, that the
aforemention library burned at least three times.  
I wonder, in what year could a scholar be able to read everything written?
I listened to Details of a Butcher, but you cant' argue with those about to
pass on to find follis.
Best,
Leland 

Leland R. S. Torrence
Leland Torrence Enterprises and the Guild
17 Vernon Court, Woodbridge, CT  06525
Office:  203-397-8505
Fax:  203-389-7516
Mobile:  203-981-4004
E-mail:  [log in to unmask]
www.LelandTorrenceEnterprises.com
 

-----Original Message-----
From: plz practice conservation of histo presto eye blinks
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gabriel
Orgrease
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2007 10:23 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [BP] Thomas Edison's Library

Leland Torrence wrote:
> Ken,
> How many books did he have in the library?
> Best,
> Leland
Leland,

Good question. As it is an NPS site open to visiting scholars I assume 
that is information that we could find out.

The underground storage vault I was told holds 1 M documents. It was an 
interesting place to work as there was no smoking or eating allowed on 
site. A great deal of paranoia over fire/smoke and when we were digging 
holes concern over dust lest it all set off the sprinkler system. The 
archivist had cataloged 10,000 prototype gadgets on the 3rd floor and 
was beginning on the 2nd floor. During the progress of the project 
someone (not us) in the chemistry lab broke some bottles of 'unknown' 
chemicals. The place was immediately shut down with an emergency 
chemical response team to do clean-up. I was not there but it is 
reported as an exciting day on the job.

For a different kind of library right outside of his office, on the way 
into the prototype fabrication shop he had a collection of what was 
intended to be one of every material then known.

][<en

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