Tripoli Library Arson
This past Friday, extremists torched Tripoli's Al-Saeh Library, run by Greek Orthodox priest Father Ibrahim Sarrouj. Conflicting reports indicate that Sarrouj was targeted after rumors circulated online that he had insulted the Prophet Mohammad and/or had a pamphlet in his collection that insulted Islam. According to the Huffington Post UK, the fire left up to 78,000 books and manuscripts unsalvageable.

Lebanese blogger Elie Fares wrote on Saturday night: "The country is burning, let's not worry about a library. A lot of people might say that. But the library in question was a true national treasure, containing 78,000 books, many of which exist in very few copies and many of which are, ironically, books about Islam."

Today, Father Sarrouj told reporters that he forgives his as-yet unknown attackers.
Al-Saeh Library, elie fares, ibrahim sarrouj, library arson, tripoli, book burning
Our Top Stories of 2013
It's that time of year--before we shove out the old and ring in the new, let's take a quick look at last year's top ten blog posts here at Fine Books. ICYMI...

#1 Ten Reasons a Pessimist can be Optimistic About the Future of the Book. Pulled from a talk I gave at Drew University last year, my thoughts on the future of the physical book.

#2 Books: A Documentary, Starring Larry McMurtry. A report (and a trailer) on the upcoming documentary about McMurtry's famous auction.

#3 Top Collectible Children's Books. Antiquarian bookseller Helen Younger of Aleph-Bet Books in New York offers a revamped list, from Peter Slovenly to Harry Potter.

#4 Bright Young Librarians: Meghan Constantinou. From our series profiling the next generation of special collections librarians; this one is on the Grolier Club's librarian.

#5 Recent Top Ebay Book Sales. Mitch Fraas finds an incunable, an early modern manuscript, a modern first, and one of the great collectible atlases in the last quarter of 2012.

#6 The Bookman's Tale. A review of Charlie Lovett's novel, featuring an antiquarian bookseller, his dead wife, and a Hinman collator.

#7 Bright Young Things: Jason Rovito. From our series profiling the next generation of antiquarian booksellers; this one is on the proprietor of Paper Books in Toronto.

#8 The Xenia Relief Project. How the book trade helped Blue Jacket Books in Ohio after the store lost 20,000 books in the aftermath of a burst water pipe.

#9 Bright Young Librarians: Anne Bahde. From our series profiling the next generation of special collections librarians; this one is on the History of Science Librarian in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center at Oregon State University in Corvallis.

#10 Bright Young Things: David Anthem. From our series profiling the next generation of antiquarian booksellers; this one is on The Andalusia Bookman in Philadelphia.
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Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria House May Be Demolished
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Villa Dubron - the Alexandria residence of British expatriate author Lawrence Durrell - may soon be demolished to make room for a high-rise apartment complex. Durrell's life at the Villa between 1942 and 1945 inspired his most famous work, The Alexandria Quartet.

Durrell moved to Alexandria in 1942, fleeing Nazi-occupied Greece. At the time, Alexandria was a cultural mecca, famous for its mix of nationalities, religions, and artists. Durrell rented the top floor of Villa Dubron from its owner, the Jewish architect Aldo Ambron. Durrell and his second wife - herself an Alexandrian and the inspiration for the heroine of The Alexandria Quartet - lived there for three years before returning to Britain at the conclusion of WWII. While in residence, Durrell wrote Prospero's Cell.

Reflecting on his time in Alexandria, Durrell later wrote Justine, the first volume in The Alexandria Quartet, which was published in 1957. Balthazar and Mountolive both followed in 1958, while the fourth and final volume, Clea, was published in 1960.

The Ambron family, meanwhile, sold the villa to a local developer and businessman in 1966.  The developer has since established two apartment complexes in the former gardens of the villa.  While the house is theoretically protected by a 2006 preservation law that is thinly enforced, the developer plans to demolish the house anyway unless a conservator can quickly raise enough money to buy it.

This preservation issue is not a new problem in Alexandria, which has seen other historic buildings go illegally under the bulldozer in recent years. A recent movement called Save Alex hopes to preserve as much of Alexandria's fin-de-siècle heyday as possible.

[Image of Durrell from Wikipedia]