National Library Week! In honor of the bibliofest, here are some Yale Press titles about libraries, perfect for your own library.

The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel

USA Today says that this book is “for readers who take books seriously.” They found it to be a “rewarding” read. Read the entire review here.

Inspired by the process of creating a library for his fifteenth-century home near the Loire, in France, Alberto Manguel, the acclaimed writer on books and reading, has taken up the subject of libraries. “Libraries,” he says, “have always seemed to me pleasantly mad places, and for as long as I can remember I’ve been seduced by their labyrinthine logic.” In this personal, deliberately unsystematic, and wide-ranging book, he offers a captivating meditation on the meaning of libraries.

Libraries in the Ancient World, by Lionel Casson

This delightful book tells the story of ancient libraries from their very beginnings, when “books” were clay tablets and writing was a new phenomenon. Renowned classicist Lionel Casson takes us on a lively tour from the royal libraries of the ancient Near East, through the private and public libraries of Greece and Rome, down to the first Christian monastic libraries. Casson explains what books were acquired and how, who read them, how they were organized, and more.