At least in the age of print, no failure was ever final. Libraries abandoned or dispersed, burned down or looted, could be regenerated with astonishing speed. That was the miracle of print: the ever-accumulating mountain of books was available, sometimes at knockdown prices, for anyone with the energy and determination to build libraries.

Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile Hist…, loc. 229