A Bombed Out Library Is Assisted by Another Over 2,000 Miles Away
- by Michael Stillman
Books in the Mosul University Library (People In Need photo).
The story of the Mosul University Library, like that of so many things in Iraq, is one of enormous tragedy. The library survived the Iraqi War, though it brought numerous hardships to the city. There was off and on fighting, always danger, and many abandoned the city. Still, the university persevered. Then, in 2014, ISIS captured the city. A bad situation got much worse. ISIS controlled the city and the university until this past summer, when their last remnants were forced to flee. The university was finally liberated, but unfortunately, there was not that much left.
When ISIS took over the University of Mosul, it shut down most classes. Other than its own brand of fanatical Islam, they didn't believe in teaching much of anything. Only the schools of medicine, pharmacy, and dentistry were allowed to continue. Chemistry laboratories were apparently converted to bomb-making facilities. What exactly happened in the library is unclear. ISIS held public book burnings at the city library. Whether a large number of books were also burned or otherwise destroyed at the university library during this period is less certain. They would have had no use for most of the books there, but not being a prime location for a public display, they may not have had the time or manpower to devote to destroying the contents. There were over one million books and other documents and forms of paper within. They may have been too busy to undertake all that destruction in a library when they had a war to fight.
Regardless of how much or how little survived the years of ISIS occupation, the final battle for Mosul proved terribly destructive. ISIS snipers, some willing to fight to the end, inhabited buildings in the city. Others heaved firebombs at their targets. House to house combat with fighters who have pre-established positions is almost suicidal. So, government forces called in the bombers and rained bombs from the sky. Whether by bombs dropped from airplanes or firebombs thrown by ISIS' hand, the library suffered severe damage. Fires raced through its floors. The structure suffered enormous devastation, the books almost total destruction. The Mosul University Library was left as little more than a burned-out shell.
After such horrific events, it's heartening to hear a story of man's humanity, rather than inhumanity, towards man. The story of the Mosul Library's destruction made its way to employees of the Library of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, in Prague, the Czech Republic, apparently through an article in the New Yorker. They wanted to help. I'm not aware of any particular connection between the Czech Republic and Iraq, other than a shared belief in helping others held by the best people of those and all lands. The people at the library in Prague began collecting monetary donations for the Mosul library. They didn't choose to collect books – language differences may have limited the value of such a contribution and donations of books are easier to come by. The Mosul Library already has many donated books in warehouses and the U.N. has helped with cleaning up the burned out premises. The bigger need now is rebuilding the badly damaged structure, and nothing is more helpful for this need than money.
Naturally, contributions at one library are limited, so the people at Charles University reached out to other university libraries and institutions. Not having connections with Mosul itself, the donors solicited the aid of People In Need. People In Need is Czech humanitarian organization that helps people both in their homeland and dozens of countries around the world. They were already operating in Iraq. Staff at the Mosul University Library will determine how best to allocate the funds, while People In Need will deliver the funds and see to it that they are put to the proper use.
The fundraising effort will continue until the end of December.
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
Ketterer, May 26:Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
Ketterer, May 26:PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000
Leland Little, May 21: Signed Artist Proof of the Monumental G.O.A.T.: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali.
Leland Little, May 21: Assorted Rare Publications Related to H.P. Lovecraft, Including The Recluse Signed by Vincent Starrett.
Leland Little, May 21: Two Issues of The Vagrant, Including the First Appearance of H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" in Number Eleven.
Leland Little, May 21: Rare First Printing of Anne of Green Gables, With ALS from the Author.
Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, In First Issue Jacket.
Leland Little, May 21: The Limited Paumanok Edition of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman.
Leland Little, May 21: Beautifully Bound Limited Flaubert Edition of The Works of Guy de Maupassant.
Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Bonaparte's Celebrated American Ornithology, With Spectacular Hand-Colored Plates.
Leland Little, May 21: A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates.
Leland Little, May 21: Invitation to the Lincoln-Johnson National Inaugural Ball, March 4th, 1865.
Leland Little, May 21: A Scarce Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name.
Leland Little, May 21: Picasso's Le Goût du Bonheur, Limited Edition.
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR