FIRE IN LIBRARY
Rare books saved (N.Z. Press Assn. —Copyright) SYDNEY, Nov. 18. A team of 40 firemen saved some of Australia’s rarest historical books and documents from a blaze which broke out in the New South Wales Public Library in Sydney today. Among the volumes were the 60-year-old library’s prized Mitchell .collection, nearly 200,000 books collected by an early Australian scholar, Mr David Mitchell. The books and papers are normally stored in the rooms where the fire was the most fierce, but they had been temporarily replaced by a special Captain Cook bicentenary exhibition and were locked away elsewhere in the library.
The fire burned through two of the building’s five galleries but the main damage was confined by firemen to the roofs of the galleries and not the exhibition. However, some valuable paintings were damaged when the roof of the library’s western wing collapsed. The building’s principal librarian, Mr David Richardson, said that the cost of the damage was expected to run into many thousands of dollars.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19701119.2.115
Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CX, Issue 32458, 19 November 1970, Page 17
Word Count
169FIRE IN LIBRARY Press, Volume CX, Issue 32458, 19 November 1970, Page 17
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