Each time I am in Oaxaca I stop into the Casa De La Ciudad. There is always something interesting in the little sala to the right of the entrance.
When I was last there (September 2008) it was the exhibition ‑Los Libres, Los Viajes, y El Tiempo (Books, Travels, and Time — roughly)
![exhibit title los libros, los viajes, y el tiempo](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/exhibit_sign-265x400.jpg)
The problem of how to let people look at/through older books is not often solved at all let alone nicely.
![display display column](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/display.jpg)
Here they have scanned/photographed the covers and portions of the text from several books that tie in with the exhibit. Then bound them together and left them out for people to look at.
![little-traitor not something you're likely to find on display in the USA](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/little-traitor-300x400.jpg)
These aren’t sophisticated facsimilies. They’re just-good-enough reproductions that aren’t expected to last beyond the current exhibit.
![insides reproduction of the text pages](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/insides-400x300.jpg)
They are scanned and then printed single sided on matte photo paper and “bound” by being stapled at the left margin. The staples are covered by cloth tape.
There was this one that fascinated Jim — the excerpt was from the antennas chapter.
![radiotelefonia an early radio manual from Mexico.](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/radiotelefonia-300x400.jpg)
This one is fine just for the cover illustration.
![botanica that's quite a cover for a botany book!](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/botanica-315x400.jpg)
This is a great solution to the problem of how to let people get hands on with books that can’t take the handling.
Cheap, tidy, and certainly the only way I’ll ever get my hands on Dueno del Mundo by Julio Verne.
![dueno dueno del mundo por julio verne](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dueno-300x400.jpg)