As I wrote last week in a column devoted to the problematic concept of “universal literature” sharpened by Goethe the other day, I note that I have been doing this for three decades, I’ve been busy designing, implementing and running no less than Universal Libraries!
This label “Biblioteca Universal” has been used many times to teach collections that are always very ambitious and a great success. What occupied me during the search for ten years was, in particular, Círculo de Lectores Universal Libraryinspired by Hans Meink to commemorate the great three-year anniversary of the founding of a book club in Spain (1962).
After many months of deliberation and debate, and endeavoring to overcome the risks of a collection of many volumes—which would exceed the capacity of compromise of its prospective subscribers—we have at last shown the master formula: The Universal Library of the Lecturers’ Club will be built as “collection of collections”all districts written in one subject have a predetermined number of volumes (12 or 24) and prone to be formulated by the reader according to his interests. It was an open project, infinitely expandable, because the areas of knowledge and knowledge that could be achieved were initially undisputed.
Despite its strongly humanistic orientation, with literature as the main protagonist, the Universal Library considered development in all areas. So we praise, for example, José Manuel Sánchez Ron for his popular-science collection of 24 volumes.
It is important to keep in mind that the direction and selection of titles of each collection depends on the selected numbers related to the corresponding field. Among the directors’ functions was the selection of prologues to important volumes. Each volume also received a “justification” from its director. Translations, composition of texts, material realization of volumes are taken into account.
Considering the unsurpassed volume of production that floods bookstores, the treasures that have been forgotten in old bookstores are infinitely more numerous.
In retrospect, the list of directors who came to add to their collections is considered amazing: Martín de Riquer, Francisco Rico, Carlos García Gual, Mario Vargas Llosa, Carlos Fuentes, Emilio Lledó, Fernando Savater, Eduardo Mendoza… The much more numerous prologues are directly Abrumadorian. And this is what some of the collections that armed Octavio Paz, Francisco Nieva, Valeriano Bozal…
In ten years they started to come out 12 collections and a total of 200 volumes. Here I see the reasons why the project got tired and eventually failed.
I remember this episode of my editorial trajectory because I think it was inspired by arguments similar to what I learned about this mentioned concept of “universal literature”. Yes, without embargo, I can’t help reflecting wistfully on the vast caudal of books, collections, and great publishing projects of those who just mentioned this list. Due to the unbearable volume of production that inundates bookstores year after year, there are infinitely more treasures that are forgotten like at the bottom of the ocean in old bookstores and bookstoresconsider the countless riquezas they contain.
A small sector of the publishing industry is concerned with rescuing some of these treasures, but novelists have the lion’s share. The task of finding and obtaining, sometimes overpriced, essential books is a desperate one. As for me, I can only note a few excellent prologues, a few exemplary editions issued in the context of this Universal Library of the Lecturers’ Club, and I wonder if the editorial world doesn’t recommend cultivating more recycling and incorporating it under conservation criteria.
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