Most Beautiful Libraries

   As a kid I loved to watch Beauty and the Beast. Maybe normal little girls would watch and wish that they had Belle's beautiful dresses, or a handsome prince to sweep them off their feet. Not me, I would wait eagerly until my favourite part came. Beast would open the door and lead Belle into the giant library, and I would watch with wide eyes, wishing and praying that someday I would have a library just like that!

   But just like other little girls grow up and realize that prince charming is really just a guy who sits on the couch in his tighty-whities and drinks beer and farts a lot, I realized that I was probably not ever going to have that library. What I can do though, is go through pictures on the internet and torture myself with libraries I'm probably never going to be able to afford to have in my lifetime. Admit it, you do it too...

   I was searching Beauty and the Beast library and found THIS:

    Thankfully the drool didn't short out my keyboard. This is someone's personal library. I couldn't find the name of the person who owns this, but I wonder if they spent their childhood pausing the tape at the part where Belle walks into the library. Probably. 

    Of course, a library doesn't have to be decorated like a frosted wedding cake. I love the old fashioned libraries the best. All done in burnished oak or dark cherry wood. I want a library where you walk in and imagine that Tolkien and Lewis may have just been sitting there in the old arm chairs by the fire, pipe smoke curling up to the ceiling.

      This lovely library is the personal library of Steampunk Couture seamstress, Kato. I frequent her facebook fan page to drool over the amazing steampunk clothing she makes, and then I found this and went into fits of jealousy. 

    Speaking of fits of jealousy: Here is the personal library of Jay Walker (inventor and entrepreneur).  It looks like some glorious mash up of mad scientist lab/library.

    This drool-worthy beauty is owned by none other than George Lucas. It's the library at Skywalker Ranch, where all the Star Wars bigwigs get together. I wonder if they play dress up and have epic light saber battles on the balcony. I would.

    This one is mainly coveted because it belongs to one of my all time favourite authors: Neil Gaiman. I can just imagine him in there, creating the magic, making up fantastical stories. Hiding from the hordes of rabid fans on his doorstep. Neil is famous for having crazed fans who think of him as a sort of literary rock star. Not me though, I'm not crazed. Nope.

    And then there's this one. It's no beauty and the beast library, but it has funny hats and spooky pictures, ticking clocks and dripping candles and best of all: My favourite books all in one place. Do you have a library, or a coveted picture of a library you plan to make your own one day? Or do you just watch Beauty and the Beast over and over until the VHS starts to wear out?

Edited to add: The second picture is not in fact a personal library, but the Admont Abbey library in Austria.