“The great British Library — an immense collection of volumes of all ages and languages, many of which are now forgotten, and most of which are seldom read: one of these sequestered pools of obsolete literature to which modern authors repair, and draw buckets full of classic lore, or “pure English, undefiled” wherewith to swell their own scanty rills of thought.”

"The Art of Book-Making".
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon (1819–1820)

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Washington Irving 46
writer, historian and diplomat from the United States 1783–1859

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