A Victorian visitor to the home of John Murphy, the Bishop of Cork:
The Roman Catholic bishop of Cork has one of the most interesting collections I have anywhere seen. This learned and industrious man has turned his whole house into a library. Not only his sitting rooms and dining rooms, but even in his bedroom every spare place is filled with books. His attendants and even his menial servants sleep in little libraries. The walls of his staircases and the corridors of his rooms are filled with books, up to the very garrets....
--qtd. in Nigel Yates, The Religious Condition of Ireland 1770-1850 (OUP, 2006), 106.
*sigh* Doesn't that sound lovely :)***CV
Posted by: chittavrtti | April 05, 2007 at 10:07 PM
It seems you are well on your way! Did the book give the number of volumes in Murphy's collection?
Posted by: Sarah M. | April 05, 2007 at 10:41 PM
Murphy had over 100,000 books (!).
Posted by: Miriam | April 05, 2007 at 11:09 PM
That's incredible. And without Amazon, no less!
Posted by: Sarah M | April 06, 2007 at 01:03 PM
So helpful not to have a spouse to insist on saving space for clothes and other trivialities.
Posted by: Marya | April 06, 2007 at 04:16 PM