The Walker Library has been described on the cover of Wired magazine as “The most amazing library in the world.” It is certainly a private library unlike any other. Set on three maze-like levels, it showcases a collection of thousands of rare books, artworks, maps and manuscripts as well as museum-quality artifacts both modern and ancient. Both the Library and the collection are dedicated to an overarching theme: The History of Human Imagination — humanity’s intellectual and emotional adventure of discovery, learning, and creativity.
The genesis of the Library occurred in the mid-1990s based on Jay Walker’s passion for history, technology and the scope of human invention. After six years of planning and computer modeling, the Library was constructed in 2002.
The Library is itself a considerable work of imagination, beginning with its unique layout and lighting. Multilevel tiers, “floating” platforms, connecting stairways, and glass-paneled bridges were all inspired by the mind-bending art of M. C. Escher, whose architectural drawings seem to defy the laws of space and gravity.
Distributed around the Library are a series of etched-glass art panels by Clyde Lynds, specially commissioned for this space. These spectacularly lit glass panels illustrate the major achievements in the history of human invention. Dynamic lighting, and specially commissioned musical soundtracks, bring the panels — and indeed, the entire room — to life. The result is what Jay calls a theater-like “engagement space” designed to inspire visitors’ own imaginations.
Rather than organizing books and artifacts in typical Dewey-decimal fashion, Jay has distributed the collection more idiosyncratically. A lavishly illustrated text about birds might be located, not next to other books on animals, but close to memorabilia from the space program, perhaps triggering meditations on flight, freedom, or modes of movement. Such juxtapositions are found at every point within the Library, prompting visitors to make their own new and original connections between vastly disparate subjects, mediums, and historical eras. In fact, the compression of time within a single room is one of the key attributes that make the Library different from almost any other space.
While it’s difficult to single out a handful of treasures among so many, a few of the many remarkable artifacts in the Walker Library include:
- An original 1957 Russian Sputnik, the world’s first space satellite (one of several backups built by the USSR) and the U.S. response, a Vanguard satellite made from surviving parts of the actual American satellite that blew up on the launch pad.
- Jewel-encrusted illuminated manuscripts and a complete Bible handwritten on sheepskin, from 1240 AD.
- The first illustrated history book, printed in 1493; the first illustrated medical book from 1499; the first medical book to illustrate the human brain in 1550; and a copy of the 1664 Micrographia, the first book to illustrate the astounding images seen through the very first microscopes.
- An instruction manual for a Saturn V rocket, along with a signed American flag carried to the surface of moon and back on the first lunar landing.
- A spectacular chandelier from the James Bond movie “Die Another Day,” internally lit by thousands of computer-controlled LEDs.
- The napkin on which President Franklin D. Roosevelt jotted down his plan to win World War II, just four months after Pearl Harbor… and the Top Secret memo written by the General with whom FDR was having lunch… and which kept FDR’s napkin classified until 1966.
- One of two known Anastatic Facsimiles of the original 1776 Declaration of Independence (made directly from the original using a wet-copy process).
- A specially commissioned, internally lit sculpture by Clyde Lynds, depicting a massive book whose facing pages symbolize humanity’s search for knowledge both on the cosmic scale, and on the scale of the human mind.
- A 1699 atlas containing the first maps to show the sun, not the earth, as the center of the known universe. ("This map, by far the most important map in history, divides the Age of Faith from the Age of Reason,” says Jay.)
- A finely detailed book, filled with text and pictures, woven entirely in silk using Jacquard loom cards. These cards were the forerunners of the modern computer punch card — but the book was created in 1868.
- A leaf from a Gutenberg Bible, the first book printed using movable type.
Jay and his wife Eileen are delighted to host invited guests to the Walker Library on many occasions. Visitors range from schoolchildren to business leaders, government officials, and scholars, as well as librarians from around the world.
The Library is also an active workspace. Jay, one of the world’s most prolific inventors, often meets here with the Walker Digital team for invention sessions that have led to many of his more than 300 U.S. patents. He also personally conducts tours of the Library, explaining how each of the hundreds of different treasures on display helps to tell the story of The History of Human Imagination.