I spent most of today at New York Public Library researching a new project about Galileo Galilei. One of the reasons I went to NYPL was because it holds two copies of The Private Life of Galileo, by Mary Allan-Olney. The book was published in 1870 and is currently available on Amazon for the bargain price of $165. NYPL has two copies, in fairly good condition, for free.

I’m ashamed to say it but it’s the first time I have been inside NYPL since I arrived in New York almost four years ago. The research room, as you can see, is spectacular.

I had a very productive day, not least because the wireless internet doesn’t stretch to the third floor reading room. But when the time arrived to xerox pages to study at home I hit a snag. I had to pay for library staff to make copies because the book was so delicate. The cost, 40 cents a page, wasn’t too bad. But someone had just put in an order for over 1,000 pages and there was a two-week waiting list for the service.

One of the librarians said I might be able to get copies sooner if the book was on microfilm. But before I looked into that, she wondered whether I had looked on Google Books. And there it was: The Private Life of Galileo, all 3oo pages, neatly scanned, easily searchable, instantly printable and free of charge.