The Library of Perspective is a specialist research library curated by the Perspective Research Centre.
It contains books, journals, papers, theses, treatises, pamphlets, catalogues, digital texts and research materials relating to perspective, Leonardo da Vinci, optics, projection methods, visual knowledge, spatial concepts, knowledge organisation, media, and related subjects.
The library has developed over many decades and brings together several earlier collections associated with the Perspective Unit at the University of Toronto, the Maastricht McLuhan Institute, the Virtual Maastricht McLuhan Institute, and the research library of Professor Kim H. Veltman.
Today, the Library of Perspective includes approximately 5,000 physical items and around 10,000 digital items.
Library Catalogue
The first printed edition of the Library of Perspective catalogue is available from Amazon.
Purchase paperback: Library of Perspective
Download digital copy (66 MB PDF): Library of Perspective
The catalogue provides a structured record of the contents of the Library of Perspective, allowing scholars, artists, historians, researchers, and students to explore a major collection of works relating to perspective and visual knowledge.
It is not simply a book list, but a research guide to a field connecting art, science, optics, media, visual culture, Leonardo studies, instruments, image-making, classification and the history of knowledge.
Kim Veltman Library
A substantial part of the Library of Perspective derives from the research library of Professor Kim H. Veltman.
Veltman was a major scholar of perspective, Leonardo da Vinci, media theory, cultural heritage, visual knowledge, and knowledge organisation. His library reflected the breadth of his intellectual interests and included works on perspective, optics, art history, instruments, media, classification, digital culture, and the organisation of knowledge.
The preservation of this material is central to the work of the Perspective Research Centre. It helps maintain access to an important body of research connected with the history and future of visual knowledge.
Knowledge Organisation and the Dahlberg Collection
The Library of Perspective also includes material connected with Dr Ingetraut Dahlberg, an important figure in knowledge organisation and classification studies.
This part of the collection includes works on classification theory, terminology, indexing, library and information science, philosophical foundations of knowledge organisation, universal and specialised classification systems, linguistics, and glossaries.
This material is especially relevant to the PRC because the study of perspective requires not only historical and visual research, but also classification, terminology, taxonomy, and conceptual organisation.
Purpose of the Library
The Library of Perspective supports the wider aims of the Perspective Research Centre.
It provides a foundation for research into:
- visual, optical, and technical perspective
- Leonardo da Vinci and Renaissance visual theory
- optics, vision, projection, and image formation
- drawing, painting, architecture, and spatial representation
- instruments, media, photography, cinema, and digital imaging
- classification, terminology, bibliography, and knowledge organisation
- the history and future of visual knowledge
The library also supports the development of the Dictionary of Perspective, the Bibliography of Perspective, the Encyclopedia of Perspective, and the wider book series The Art and Science of Perspective.
A Research Resource
The Library of Perspective is intended as a resource for researchers, artists, historians, teachers, students, technologists, designers, and anyone interested in the history, theory, and practice of perspective.
Its purpose is to preserve, organise, and make visible a large body of material connected with one of the most important but under-recognised subjects in visual culture.
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