What do the underlined words represent?
What do the underlined words represent?
The passage below is the last passage of The Library: A Fragile History by Andrew Pettegree.
Once collections grew from the low hundreds towards 1,000, this was clearly no longer an appropriate way to store books, particularly if they were in regular use. A collection of 1,000 or more was also a powerful statement of one’s wealth and intellectual credentials, but only if the books were visible. The first to confront this issue was that generation of sixteenth-century scholars and intellectuals who became self-conscious collectors: not just of books, but of coins, medals, statuettes, shells, dried plants, stuffed animals, stones and minerals. Books were rarely the main point of such a collection, but necessary as a reference tool in building a distinguished cabinet of curiosities. This was certainly the case with Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522–1605), professor of natural philosophy and natural history at Bologna, and one of the foremost collectors of his day. Aldrovandi created a
museum of natural history that became a popular destination for travellers in Italy. To support his work, Aldrovandi also gathered together one of the greatest libraries of his age. At his death he owned 3,598 volumes, including 992 volumes of folios. He had two library rooms, only accessible from his museum room, for which he had appropriated the main reception room in the house; their
role was to provide a private haven from visitors in a house which had become a public exhibit.
I want to know what two underlined words represent.
I have my sort of answer but not so sure about its truth.
First, ‘which’ seems to refer to ‘his museum room’. (Am I right?)
Last, ‘their’ seems to refer to ‘two library rooms’. (Am I right?)
Thanks in advance.
Top answer
He had two library rooms , only accessible from his museum room, for which he had appropriated the main reception room in the house; their role was to provide a private haven from visitors in a house which had become a public exhibit. Here is how I understand it. He converted the main reception room into two library rooms.
- He had two library rooms , only accessible from his museum room, for which he had appropriated the main reception room in the house; their role was to provide a private haven from visitors in a house which had become a public exhibit.
- Here is how I understand it.
- He converted the main reception room into two library rooms.
- They had doors leading to the museum room.
- The library rooms were a private haven for visitors.
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He had two library rooms, only accessible from his museum room, for which he had appropriated the main reception room in the house; their role was to provide a private haven from visitors in a house which had become a public exhibit.
Here is how I understand it.
He converted the main reception room into two library rooms. They had d
0Stenka25First, ‘which’ seems to refer to ‘his museum room’. (Am I right?)
That's how I read it, but that's terrible writing. I had to stare at it awhile, and I'm still not sure. But it seems to me that the museum room would have taken a large room of the house. If he meant the other thing, I feel that he would have put it differently.
S
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