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Deep within the heart of the opulent Quinta da Regaleira, where Classical and Christian iconography merges with lush gardens and an initiation well symbolizing man's journey towards enlightenment, lies a perplexing mystery. It's a tale that weaves through time and history, a story of an insatiable quest for knowledge and the enigmatic disappearance of a treasure trove of books, tantalizingly mirrored by the endless illusion of an extraordinary library floor.
Antonio Augusto Carvalho Monteiro, a multifaceted Portuguese philanthropist, lawyer, and entomologist, was a man whose intellectual curiosity knew no bounds. His impressive library was a testament to this insatiable thirst for knowledge, boasting collections that spanned Portuguese history, Brazilian and Portuguese flora and fauna, and the intricacies of 19th-century decorative arts and architecture—all presented in a multitude of languages.
Quinta da Regaleira, the magnificent estate Carvalho Monteiro erected, was a reflection of his exceptional tastes. Within its confines, the library served as his treasure trove of wisdom, a place where he ventured into the labyrinth of human knowledge. Yet, this is where the mystery truly begins.
After Carvalho Monteiro's passing in 1920, his heirs sold the library to the Maggs Brothers, who subsequently passed it on to the Library of Congress between 1927 and 1929. This acquisition marked the largest single purchase in the Library's history, laying the foundation for the Library's esteemed Luso-Hispanic Collection. Strangely, no acquisition list was ever created, and the books were cataloged without a trace of their origin, leading to their dispersal throughout the Library's vast collections, particularly in the General Collections.
Enter Beatriz Haspo, Collections Officer of the Collections Management Division, and her ambitious project to locate and digitally reunite all 30,000 books from Carvalho Monteiro's library. A team of interns and volunteers embarked on an arduous quest, researching Carvalho Monteiro's life and intellectual interests for elusive clues to his collection. Like a treasure map, they scoured the Library's bibliographic database by topic, year, and language, creating a list of potential books. Armed with this, they ventured into the library's labyrinthine stacks in search of the enigmatic volumes.
The books from this prodigious collection could only be identified by three unique acquisition numbers on the verso of the title page, making this hunt akin to searching for needles in the vast haystack of the Library of Congress. Yet, the persistent research paid off, and these dedicated individuals achieved an impressive 80% success rate in locating the lost books.
In addition to the interns' search, there's another facet to this enigma—the mirror floor. Within the library at Quinta da Regaleira, the combination of dim lighting and mirrors at the base of the bookshelves creates an illusion of an infinite chasm of books, an abyss that draws visitors deeper into the allure of Carvalho Monteiro's library.
The story doesn't end with the intrepid interns at the Library of Congress. In fact, the mystery deepens as we delve further into history. A portion of Carvalho Monteiro's library was sold to Maurice Ettinghausen, with the books destined for King D. Manuel II, who was in exile in London. Later, an English catalog from the era reveals an even more perplexing twist as 3,602 items from Carvalho Monteiro's collection, including books, pamphlets, and 600 manuscripts, were sold between 1927 and 1929.
A second batch of books was purchased by the Maggs Brothers in 1927, while the central nucleus of the library was finally acquired by the United States Congress in 1929, a colossal shipment of 15 tons, containing 28,480 items. Among them were 22,400 books in a multitude of languages, along with newspapers, magazines, almanacs, music books, and pamphlets.
This incredible journey to reunite Carvalho Monteiro's library is unparalleled, its scope, size, and subject matter making it one of the most intriguing provenance projects. It's a narrative that unites history and modern-day efforts to uncover the secrets of a vanished library, a journey into the depths of one man's intellectual curiosity and a testament to the enduring allure of the written word.
From one mysterious library to another: the Library of Congress in Washington, DC - USA
Carvalho Monteiro's library may have dispersed into the vast labyrinth of the Library of Congress, yet the quest to reunite these long-lost treasures is far from over. It's a puzzle that continues to enthrall, inviting us to delve deeper into history, lost knowledge, and the boundless mysteries of a vanished library, where books hold the secrets of a passionate collector's insatiable quest for knowledge. The Carvalho Monteiro Collection remains a beacon of wisdom, waiting to be reassembled and rekindled for generations to come.
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