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64 Law Libr. J. 5 (1971)
A Sketch of the Inner Temple Library

handle is hein.journals/llj64 and id is 33 raw text is: A Sketch of the Inner Temple Library By W. W. S. BRaxm* A modern tourist is said to have remarked after visiting the Law Courts, that he now un- derstood why Sidney Carton took to the bottle. The tourist in question was not strictly fair, for as everyone knows, the Royal Courts of Justice were not built until long after the publication of A Tale of Two Cities. He might equally well have said the same thing after visiting a law library, for to most people unconnected with the legal profession the very idea of such a place conjures up an immediate picture of everything that is synonymous with dullness of purpose and aridity of spirit. They visualise (if they have the courage) a decayed, Gothic world of dark rooms, lined with endless shelves of crumbling calf; ink-stained tables of hideous design, and chairs built for the sole purpose of providing maximum discom- fort to the sitter; while a dingy selection of ill- placed lights casts merciful shadows over a frayed and fading carpet. Two ancient barristers stand by a window, discussing with studied gloom a case they have unexpectedly won. They have the air of undertakers who have just returned from a fashionable entombment. At the tables sit a handful of prematurely aged young men. The only sounds are the thin scratching of a quill pen and the asthmatic cough of an elderly attendant as he sadly wipes the dirt off a battered volume, unopened within living memory, that someone has just been rash enough to ask for. Over all broods the ghost of Charles Dickens, smiling benignly as the yellow fog creeps from the river into the Temple gar- dens. Such is the popular picture, fixed and unal- terable in the public mind, as every law li- brarian knows who has ever discussed his job with an outsider. That it was ever remotely a speaking likeness is doubtful. There is certainly no truth in it today. The present Inner Temple Library was de- signed by Mr. T. W. Sutcliffe, A.R.I.B.A. It occupies two top floors above the benchers' private rooms and is built in the shape of an L, thus conforming roughly to the plan of the prewar library, which it replaces. The main rooms are in the long arm of the L, looking 0 The Librarian, Inner Temple Library. south over the garden to the river beyond, while galleries run round them at intermediate floor level. There are, in addition, a number of smaller rooms of different shapes and sizes: Some have been designed for special purposes, like the Times Rooms, which contain a run of the Times newspaper dating back to 1811, a bindery that is used by the staff for doing minor repairs to damaged books, and a map room that holds the library's collection of maps, prints, and drawings. Built in a style stemming directly from the traditions of the late 17th- early 18th century, the library is panelled throughout; the woodwork of the tables, book- cases, doors, and balustrades being of natural, unstained English oak. A contrast in colour. is provided by the chairs, which are covered in blue leather. The books are shelved in cases that run, bay-fashion, around the walls, leaving the centre of each reading room clear for the setting of the readers' desks. The bay windows on the south side contain single desks so that a reader may sit in solitude or in company, as the preference takes him. Heating is supplied by oil-fired boilers throughout a succession of pipes concealed in the ceilings, while addi- tional warmth is provided by radiators set in the recesses beneath the windows, Brass can- delabra in the main rooms provide a general light, the bookcase bays have pendant globes to illuminate the various shelves and, in addi tion, each reader is provided with his own table lamp. The lighting in the galleries is by fluo- rescent tubes set in the balustrades. Other features are the pull-out flaps on the tables for the stacking of used books, and the fine crafts- manship of design of the moulding on the pedimented doorways leading into the central room. There is a showcase, in the first room leading off the entrance, for the exhibition of rare books. These, together with the various MSS. collections and the more valuable of the printed books, are housed in a fireproof strong room, leading off the librarian's office, which commands the staircase approach to the library. There is also a huge stack room in the base- ment, readily accessible by elevator, and this houses the lesser needed material, the books being stacked on mobile steel shelving units to obtain maximum use of the available space.

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