The revealed catalogue is none other than the 1975 Book of Sand , another short story of Borges that tells the story of a book with infinite pages, the book that Borges finally has hidden in the shelves of the National Library of Buenos Aires in order to escape from the devouring seduction of what its immeasurable pages tell. The Library of Babel has plenty of these books, the modern versions of the Book of Sand , for us located in the periodicals section of the library where one volume represents the entire collection of a magazine such as Architectural Record , which began publishing in 1891, or Architectural Review , begun in 1896. But it especially represents those no longer circulating – Moderne Bauformen (1902-44), Quadrante (1933-36), Nuestra Arquitectura (1929-85), L’Architecture Vivante (1929-33). Accessible in digital format, or at a dusty movable bookshelf in the public library or in a tempered special collection room of a research library, they represent the diary of our century, a history written day-to-day and presented in monthly full colour editions, or twice a year like Jean Badovici’s L’Architecture Vivante, or our own On Site review , presenting critiques, thoughts, exhibitions, ideas, utopian- and built-projects fundamental in their heyday, often still important although newer issues have displaced them from our reach. Le Corbusier was able to collect his essays from L’Esprit Nouveau in Vers une Architecture , scholars have compiled Frank Lloyd Wright writings, but still if we want to enjoy the romance and fascination that Arthur Erickson had with Japanese culture, imperative and indispensable in understanding his work, we for now have to dig into the issues of Canadian Architect of 1964. f
Hector Abarca
above: Seattle Central Library reading room
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left: Getty Research Institute Library
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