With 162 million items—including more than 38 million books—the Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. Its incredible collections are celebrated in the new bookThe Card Catalog: Books, Cards, and Literary Treasures. “Flipping through the well-worn cards, many handwritten and filled with marginalia containing valuable information not to be found in an Internet search, leaves one with a sense of awe at how catalogers distilled so much information onto simple 3-by-5-inch index cards,” Peter Devereaux, writer-editor at the Library of Congress, writes in the book’s introduction. In honor of National Library Week (April 9 - 15), here are just a few of the cards from the Library of Congress’s card catalog—which, though it has been replaced by a computer catalog, can still be found at the LOC—as seen inThe Card Catalog.
1.BIBLIOTHECA UNIVERSALIS(1545-1555) // CONRAD GESSNER
This tome was the first of its form : a bibliography that listed 1800 authors and their work alphabetically , along with annotations and evaluations . line the contents of this edition of Gessner ’s Good Book required eight index card .
2. FIRST FOLIO (1623) // WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
The Library of Congress is home plate to two First Folios ( which are technically calledMr . William Shakespeares Comedies , Histories & Tragedies : Published according to the True Originall Copies ) , which has been send for " the most intrinsically worthful book in English . " The neighbor Folger library has an incredible 82 First Folios . scholar believe that 750 First Folios were printed , of which 235 survive .
3.POOR RICHARD IMPROVED: BEING AN ALMANACK … FOR THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1758// BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Future establish Father Ben Franklin began publishing hisPoor Richard ’s Almanackin 1732 under the name Richard Saunders , and kept at it for the next 25 old age . " I endeavor’d to make it both entertaining and utilitarian , " Franklin wrote in his autobiography , " and it accordingly come to be in such Demand that I reap’d considerable gain from it … I consider’d it as a proper fomite for carry Instruction among the common citizenry , who bought scarcely any other book . "
4.A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN …(1792) // MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
In this book , writer , philosopher , and mother to Mary Shelley , Mary Wollstonecraft made an other contention for feminism . harmonise toThe Card Catalog — which state thatVindicationis " consider a literary cornerstone in the conflict for women ’s rights"—Wollstonecraft " clearly express the need for nurture the status of women and inspired women on both side of the Atlantic to action . " Aaron Burr was an admirer ; he and his wife Theodosiahung Wollstonecraft ’s portrait above their mantle , and in 1793 , the future VP calledVindication"a workplace of brilliance . "
5.A GRAMMATICAL INSTITUTE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE …(1784) // NOAH WEBSTER
Pre - Revolution , multitude learned grammar using British undercoat that were free-base on Latin pattern . Webster want to change that , and he started withA Grammatical Institute of The English Language , survey byAmerican Dictionary of the English Language(1823 ) . AsArika Okrent explainedin a part for mental_floss , " Some of his suggestions adhere — we replacedOuisconsinwithWisconsin , colourwithcolor , andmusickwithmusic . But his grammar suggestions fared less well … [ H]is dictionary was attacked as uncouth and degenerate . " His dictionary pull through today as Merriam - Webster , and , as Okrent billet , some of Webster ’s suggestions have become stock .
6.THE BIRDS OF AMERICA; FROM THE ORIGINAL DRAWINGS(1827-1838) // JOHN JAMES AUDUBON
7.UNCLE TOM’S CABIN(1852 ) // HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
The emancipationist newspaperThe New Erapaid Stowe $ 300for 43 chapters ofUncle Tom ’s Cabin , which was publish in serial form in 1851 and 1852 . When the two - loudness book was released , it sell 10,000 transcript stateswide in its first workweek , and 300,000 in a year .
8. HARRY HOUDINI’S PERSONAL COLLECTION
Magician , escape artist , and debunker Houdini bequeathed 3988 volumes from his library to the Library of Congress . In accession to posters and photograph , the collection includes books likeArtifice , Ruse , and Subterfuge at the Card mesa : A Treatise on the Science and Art of Manipulating Cardsby S.W. Erdnase;Indian Palmistryby Mrs. J.B. Dale ; andBright - Wits , Prince of Mogadorby Burren Loughlin .
9.NEW HAMPSHIRE(1923) // ROBERT FROST
Only 350 copy of this edition ofNew Hampshire — which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923 — were printed . This transcript , No . 187 , was signed by the generator .
10.THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD(1937) // ZORA NEALE HURSTON
Hurston ’s most famous oeuvre waswritten during an anthropological misstep to Haitito study voodoo .
11.THE CATCHER IN THE RYE(1951) // J.D. SALINGER
In 1949 , Salingersubmitted a storycalled " The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls"—about the death ofRyeprotagonist Holden Caufield ’s older chum — toHarper ’s Bazaar , but withdrew it before it could be published . The tale was then donate to Princeton on the condition that it be recoup from publishing until 2060 . It leaked online in 2013 , along with two other unpublished Salinger floor .
12.IN COLD BLOOD(1965) // TRUMAN CAPOTE
The inmate case phonograph record of Perry Edward Smith and Richard Eugene Hickock — the murderers of the Clutter family unit , whose law-breaking was featured in Capote’sIn Cold Blood — werereleased by The Kansas City Historical Societyin 2013 . Capote visited and interviewed the killers many times , but he was n’t the only soul Hickock granted an consultation to : He also spoke to Mack Nations for an clause that appeared in the 1961 issue ofMalemagazine .
The Card Catalogisavailable now .
