Codex in Arrangement and Description: Archivists At Large

Sep 23, 2009 Michele rated it it was ok

Shelves: archive-n-book-love

The best part of this book was the highly detailed and very true-to-life descriptions of rare books, special collections and archives.

In one scene the main character, Edward, visits a fictional rare book library in Manhattan called the Chenoweth. Poor Edward is flummoxed by everything he encounters: the numerous different catalogs (books here, manuscripts there, backlog in the other place; a third of their holdings in the electronic catalog, a third on little index cards, a third uncataloged ent The best part of this book was the highly detailed and very true-to-life descriptions of rare books, special collections and archives.

In one scene the main character, Edward, visits a fictional rare book library in Manhattan called the Chenoweth. Poor Edward is flummoxed by everything he encounters: the numerous different catalogs (books here, manuscripts there, backlog in the other place; a third of their holdings in the electronic catalog, a third on little index cards, a third uncataloged entirely); reading room etiquette (he tries to talk to someone, can you imagine??); where the books live (only three bookshelves are visible, all full of books about books), and so on. "The whole operation was a model of mysterious, gleaming efficiency, like some incomprehensible ultramodern public restroom."

Plus there are student assistants wheeling squeaky carts, patrons at other tables looking at folders of letters, red velvet bookweights, a "serious little magnifying glass that looked like demilitarized Russian spy gear," and lots of very sharp pencils.

Later they go to the Chenoweth's offsite storage in Virginia where, three floors below ground, they find a fenced-off corner piled with dusty, broken-down, moldering boxes and cartons containing donations made long ago and never processed.

My archivist's heart was deeply, deeply satisfied by this, not to mention vastly amused. (Thank god the velvet bookweights were red, not green, otherwise I'd suspect that he'd modeled his descriptions on my own place of work, which shall remain nameless.)

The second best part was the story-within-a-story: Gervase of Langford's weird and disturbing narrative, with its stag-headed knight, Mobius-strip storyline, and page covered in black ink. Margaret, the medievalist who helps Edward in his quest, explains how alien this kind of story would have been to the era in which it was written, in almost every way a complete anachronism. She also offers a brief but accurate history of how people's view of the purpose of writing has evolved in the last 500 years or so, including how suspicious people were of the idea of the novel and reading for pleasure

So yay for the vivid descriptions of many wonderful old and rare books, and the delights of a hunt for a mysterious ancient manuscript.

Boo, however, for a gaping plot hole and an ending both disappointing and anticlimactic. The gaping plot hole is that (view spoiler). The disappointment of the ending lies in the fact that (view spoiler)!! Most vexing. ...more

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Oct 31, 2018 Jaci rated it liked it

Edward Wozny, an investment banker, has two weeks off before leaving for his new job in London. He is asked to spend those two weeks looking for a missing medieval codex in the library of a duke and duchess. At the same time, a friend involves him in a virtual reality game that appears to have ties to the codex. A medieval scholar aids him in the inventory of the library [he definitely needed the help] as Edward investigates the duke and duchess.
As a bibliomystery, this book is entertaining, but ...more

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