Is This a Codex I See Before Me?

LAMs (Libraries, Archives, and Museums)
MLIS (Master’s of Library and Information Science)

Week Two
Day Eleven: V&A National Art Library
This Place is Lousy with the Renaissance Men!

“This is the best collection in the world for sales catalogs and exhibition catalogs”

Vicky Worsfold, Senior Librarian, Head of Onsite Access at Victoria and Albert Museum

The main difference between the V&A National Art Library and the other libraries we have visited so far is that the V&A (Victoria and Albert) looks at the book as primarily an object, and then as an information source. The V&A Museum itself is first and foremost an institution based around design and manufacturing, and in Victorian fashion, its original purpose was to allow “the working classes” an opportunity to better themselves in the hours they were not working in the shops, factories, or other non-creative endeavors to support themselves and their families.

Not surprisingly, the V&A suffers from many of the same maladies as any other institution; they are running out of space, building maintenance deferment has become an issue to the safety of the collection(s), and they have a backlog in their digitization efforts. No one will ever finish their digitization project(s), it seems. There will never be enough money or time to get it all done unless an institution comes to an unprecedented decision to “go all in” on digitization and fully staff and fund the effort with goals,  timeline, and realistic plan. These are all issues that are at their foundation budgetary in nature. The catalog is never 100% a priority until someone high above decides it is.

The eclectic nature of the collection at the V&A means the library to support it also has a variety of materials, as well. They are among the top 4 art libraries in the world, holding court with the likes of The Getty (Los Angeles), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), and The Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art (Paris), with one million items in the collection, growing constantly with at least 50 new periodicals every week.

No one probably can escape this tour without a huge sigh and swoon over seeing The First Folio. Yes, Trish. That First Folio. Being in the same room with the likes of this volume is probably something that won’t be repeated in my lifetime. Unless I go back to the V&A National Art Library and BEG. Or make an appointment after signing up for a reader’s card. Then maybe they’d let me see it again. If I had a good enough research topic. But probably not. They were kind enough to show it to us, but this was one volume they requested none of us turn pages, which is common with the rare book collections. Look, but please don’t touch.

We did not get to see the da Vinci notebooks, known as the Codex Forster I, II, & III. Seeing those in addition to The First Folio up close and personal would have personally sent me over the moon. I suppose had I looked in the catalog earlier, I would have known that Codex III is on display in the Wolfson Gallery (Medieval & Renaissance, Room 64). When I go back to do a little pre-departure shopping, I shall pop in for a look. Though assuming it will be under glass it won’t be quite the same as seeing it sitting on a collection sofa in the Library.

4.5 miles/11,700 steps/14 flights climbed