“It is not every library that displays ancient Chinese manuscripts alongside postcards of Sarah Bernhardt, crumbling Iraqi newspapers near maps of the New World, and Rabelais originals next to the voice recording of a 101-year-old former slave named Fountain Hughes. But then the World Digital Library (WDL) is not every library. Hailed as an online ‘intellectual cathedral’, it is an unprecedented coming together of some of the world’s finest treasures.”