[lace] Bibliotheca Alexandria (long)

[Margot Walker]

I subscribe to the magazine 'Piecework' and the latest issue has a blurb 
that I think would be of interest to lacemakers who have extra books to 
give away.  Many, many years ago, when I was studying to be a Librarian, 
one of the compulsory courses was about the history of libraries.  The 
most famous historical library was the that of Alexandria, Egypt - one 
of the wonders of the ancient world.  It collected knowledge from what 
is now Europe and the Middle East, and when it was sacked and burnt by 
the Romans, it was reputed to have a collection of over 500,000 books or 
the equivalent.  It has now been rebuilt and they are now starting to 
build the collection.  Here is text of the blurb in Piecework.  [I have 
the permission of the author to reprint it anywhere and everywhere :-) 
and I think it would be a worthy project for Arachneans.

-Books for the Bibliotheca Alexandria-
Seventeen hundred years after its fabled predecessor vanished, a new 
library in Alexandria, Egypt, was opened a year ago.  By all reports, 
the building is beautiful, and the library's aim, to house a monument to 
human knowledge across national boundaries and cultures, is noble.  But 
the library sorely needs books to fill its shelves.

Frustrated with the world situation and wondering what a single 
individual can do to help the Bibliotheca Alexandria, I thought about my 
experience of teaching embroidery and design in other countries.  I 
remembered that even with no language in common, there is joy in 
communicating with our hands, threads, and a shared history and love of 
craft.  I thought about how I honor libraries and books, learning from 
pictures as well as works.

Here's my proposal:  artists, authors, collectors, publishers, and 
lovers of textiles, select a book or books about textiles or craft that 
you've either written or found influential and send it (or them) to the 
Bibliotheca Alexandria for their collection.  I have arranged for your 
donations to be part of the Hand to Hand Project established for the 
library.  I am hopeful that this modest effort by each of us will help 
to establish common ties, reweave, stitch up, and knit together some of 
the world that seems to be unraveling as we watch.

Please send your gift before Sept. 1, 2003, to:  Gift to the Bibliotheca 
Alexandria, Hand to Hand Project, El Shatby, Alexandria 21526, Egypt.  
Include your name and address and any message on a separate sheet of 
paper placed inside the book.  Authors should feel free to sign their 
books.

After you have mailed the package, e-mail me at 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with your name and address and the title(s) 
and author(s) of the book(s) you sent.  I will keep a running list and 
send it to the Donations Committee at the library as a cross-check.  
Barbar Lee Smith, Piecework, July/Aug. 2003, p. 10-11.



Margot Walker in Halifax on the east coast of Canada
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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