Die Zerstörung der Bibliothek von King’s Inns in Irland 1972 als Ensemble

Colum Kenny hat 2002 ein lesenswertes Buch über die Verkäufe aus einer Rechtsbibliothek in Dublin publiziert. Es ist möglicherweise die einzige monographische Fallstudie zur Zerstreuung einer traditionsreichen Bibliothek in den letzten Jahrzehnten.

“Kenny recounts a major cultural controversy that marked the recognition of the King’s Inns Library as an important part
of the heritage of modern Ireland. In 1972 thousands of non-law books from King’s Inns were sold at Sotheby’s in
London. The row that ensued involved many well-known people including Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, Mary Robinson and
Charles J. Haughey. The sale was criticized as the ‘random dispersal of an irreplaceable collection’ and it raises vital
questions about the proper care of libraries, about the relationship of general knowledge to professional expertise and
about the problematic nature of Irish identity in a post-colonial era. The books were sold because King’s Inns was in financial difficulty, a difficulty exacerbated by the fact that the
benchers had recently renovated their kitchens. The government was kept informed by the benchers of their plans but
failed to respond to a proposal that might have resulted in all of the volumes remaining in Ireland. Kenny suggests means
of avoiding acrimony or major controversy in connection with any possible disposal of books by King’s Inns Library in
the future.”
http://www.fourcourtspress.ie/product.php?intProductID=452
http://log.netbib.de/archives/2003/04/19/kings-inns-and-the-battle-of-the-books-1972
http://webpages.dcu.ie/~kennyc/books.html
http://www.dcu.ie/alumni/winter02/p42.html

Colum Kenny: King’s Inns and the battle of the books, 1972 : cultural controversy at a Dublin library. Dublin [u.a.] : Four Courts Press [u.a.], 2002 (Irish Legal History Society series ; 11). XVII, 192 S. : Ill. ISBN: 1-85182-686-6

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