When we talk of inheritance, the mind immediately narrows to; land or landed property, huge sums of money, bills, bonds or wills. In some African traditions, even wives or slaves reflect. The funny thing about inheritance is that even misers leave their obsessions to be inherited. Ancient memorabilia like “native gold”, black cloth, colonial times souvenirs, traditional crafts, or some out-of-production materials could also appear among things slated to be inherited. These items are treasured for their antiquity, scarcity, uniqueness or because of being standing reminders of affinity with the original owner.
Properties inherited are usually exhibiting old age so it is mostly not the afterlife that makes the object important but the peculiarity or the good fortune to be at the line of receiving.
But can a vague thing as a cheap book give that same significance as something more valuable? How about inheriting a library of books, would quantity make a difference? In an age where the younger generation had not imbibed or had lost a reading culture where reading had become a background of attention for schooling only, then hardly can someone appreciate such a time-worn-dog-edged overlap of refined fibres or pulp as paper to be worth an inheritance. How valuable is an old book written when the world is in its dark ages? How valuable is a script that cracks at handling because its pages have become “brittle” or mouldy?
For the fact that a library contains information on how to acquire assets or manage a bequeathed inheritance, it is of equal or more value than a lazy receipt of inheritance without the knowledge of its management.
The benefits of inheriting a library of books as an inheritance, measure in line with these realities;
That a library is a vehicle for a journey to a time long gone for which no cost can actualize in reality.
A library is a map of time itself.
It is a place to measure the effect of time on development, conscience, style, method, and learning.
A place that affords the discovery of the beauty of yesterday and the future of tomorrow.
A place that is like having a light that shines deep into the past.
A place to find a pile of answers to any question.
Inheriting a library is actually inheriting knowledge at the root of your tomorrow.
Inheriting a library is inheriting opportune information.
A library affords us knowledge of early difficulties and inconveniences:
Gaining information on the ‘how and why’ of present information, the discovery of failures, successes, reasons and more.
Being in a library is an opportune presence for the sharing of information, and opinions or in a debate with long-lost humanity.
A source of entertainment; pictorial, visual, physical and mental.
A place the world gathers in one place silently.
A place to discover the world and beyond.
A library is a richness richer than the grave in human knowledge.
A library is a place to find the key to progress and growth.
A library is a place to discover the wisdom of the past.
A library is a place to discover the wisdom of the wise.
A library is a place that unearths treasures of all sorts.
A library is a place to acquire the seed of knowledge planted by others.
Inheriting a library is like owning ‘the teacher of teachers.
A library is a gift of many intellectuals put together at no expense or effort of the cost of their lost presence.
Libraries are much more valuable and only if the head of the family considers that a library is the “teaching of fishing for the acquisition of fish for knowledge rather than the gift of fish as dispensable property” would they also acquire books as they acquire land and other properties for the inheritances of their tomorrow.