Narrative Essays: Document Collection

In the 1970s, Djacir Menezes, already worried about the future of his private library, warned in one of his letters: "this is not a tourist collection".  In fact, and with good reason, the 16,000 volumes, including books, periodicals, theses and personal collections - Djacir even had the habit of forging his own notebooks and writing in them - which today make up a special section in the central library of the UECE, came not from a bibliophilic or collecting tendency, but from a lifetime of dedicated study.

Volumes that, once they became part of what we could call a universal library, i.e. a set of authors and their works of recognized - but not exclusive - renown, would also become essential reading dedicated to the formation of a cultural repertoire.

Casa [House], in turn, was the affectionate expression given by writers to Livraria José Olympio Editora. Many of the writers published by the Carioca imprint lived in Rio de Janeiro and frequented the Casa on a daily basis: it was located at 110 Rua do Ouvidor. 

SAAVEDRA, Miguel de Cervantes. El igenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Dirigido al Duque de Beiar, Marques de Gibraltar, Conde de Benacalçar, y Bañares, Vizconde de la Puebla de Alcozer, Señor de las villas de Capilla, Curiel, y Burguillos. Con Privilegio, en Madrid, por Juan de la Cuesta. Vendese en casa de Francisco de Robles, libreo del Rey nro. Señor. 

For the inauguration of Livraria José Olympio Editora, on July 3, 1934, "the walls were lined with shelves that went from floor to ceiling. The books were also spread out on tables on the sides of the store, creating a large corridor [which for some regulars functioned as a good catwalk]. 

At the back was J.O.'s office [José Olympio/1902 - 1990], which was decorated with rare bookcases and a few benches leaning against them. The result was a sober and elegant environment. The doorway read, in modern art deco letters: Livraria José Olympio Editora." [SOARES, Lucila. Rua do Ouvidor, 110: uma história da Livraria José Olympio. Rio de Janeiro: Fundação Biblioteca Nacional/José Olympio Editora, 2006, p. 42].

"When I explained the nature of this book to Gilberto Freyre, the stimulator and mentor of applied sociology studies in northern Brazil, he soon realized that we were conducting parallel studies: - the northeast, masterfully painted in his work, contrasted with the northeast outlined in these pages."

"The title I suggested of O outro NORDESTE is precisely because your northeast is the other northeast next to mine and perhaps the least known, although it is the most talked about: the northeast of the droughts, of the great mysticisms, of the lesser influence of slavery, etc."