August 2014 marks the centenary of the start of World War I. On 25 August the German army committed a scandalous crime which should be remembered by all book lovers: They burned down the library of the University of Leuven (Louvain) in Belgium. This ancient and very rich collection went up in smoke, under the pretext that some snipers had shot at German soldiers from the building. The author of this book states: The Germans are as good at destroying a library as they are at building one. Sad expertise! After WW I the library was rebuilt, largely with donations from the U.S.A., only to be severely damaged again in WW II, again by German aggression. But many of the losses are irreplaceable: several hundred mediaeval manuscripts, hundreds of incunabula and other rare early editions were reduced to ashes. War is evil and absurd.
Includes a partial list of works lost in the fire plus some photographs of the library before and after the fire.
