Glass doors of the Mitchell Library Reading Room

1942
Sandblasting by Grainger Glass Company

The three sets of sandblasted glass and bronze doors leading from the vestibule into the Mitchell Library Reading Room were inspired by the 16th-century French book collector and binder, Jean Grolier. The pattern of interlacing scrolls on the glass and brass surrounds is based on the design that features on the leather and metal covers of Grolier’s books. The central reliefs of the doors, based on watermarks from old handmade papers, are also symbolic of Grolier’s story. The doors on the left feature a dolphin, the official symbol of the province of Dauphiné, Grolier’s birthplace. Etched into the centre doors is a pair of coats of arms, consisting of a shield, fleur-de-lis and crown. These are symbolic of the French kings Louis XII and Francois I, under whom Grolier served as a diplomat to Italy from 1506 to 1521.

The doors on the right show images of griffins in a style sourced to the Italian Renaissance to acknowledge Grolier’s Italian heritage as well as the time that he lived in Milan. Griffins have been used to represent guardian spirits since Greek antiquity, and are still used as symbols of state in many Western cultures, for example, Britain, France, Flanders and Germany.