These are part of the disastrous effects of the flooding on the books of a library rich in old and precious volumes. Now the water has almost completed retreated, but the TV set in the background shows how incredibly high it was. The unfortunate name of the bookstore is Acqua Alta, i.e. High Tide!
Oh my gosh, that is absolutely gut-wrenching. Such wonderful old books are totally irreplaceable. Totally tragic. Some years back the archive basement of the Australian National University post-grad library was flooded by torrential rains. I know as many things as possible were frozen (apparently the way to minimise the damage till skilled restoration is possible) but some was lost forever.
A great shame. Twenty years ago we had a great flood in Wroclaw. The books were frozen and then vacuum dried. It was a slow process but very effective. After freezing the book does not deteriorate and in this condition they could wait for repair.
@haskar@golftragic Interesting story. I don't know what and if they are doing anything with their books. What I know is that they now sell some of them for very little money
