Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

How is there only one review for this magical place?
This is a quick, memorable spot to bring any visitor to Toronto.
Completely free and open to all members of the public (not just University of Toronto students!), this place is pretty awe-​inspiring. Shelves upon shelves of the rarest books and manuscripts in the country line the walls, and although you can’t touch anything without asking a librarian’s permission, it’s still interesting to venture inside and take a quick picture.
The display cases are always changing, and the old books that they put out are pretty incredible.
One thing to note is that the library isn’t only for ancient European texts; the library is a growing collection, and it has a great deal of recently-​published works, too.

Went here for the Toronto Doors Open 2012 weekend and WOW
From the outside the building gives no sense of the amazing interior that awaits in the Rare Book Library.
Once inside you might, if your like me, get a sense of being in a harry potter movie. The first floor is a circular one encased in clear glass so you can see the endless column of books safely tucked in their shelves and bathed in an ambient orange glow.
You can look but you cannot touch is the motto here, unless by special request in a sealed off room.
From this viewpoint you can almost smell how old some of these books are.
Going down to the lower floor it is more open with some statues and pictures (interesting sketch of London), and a reconstruction of a wooden printing press.
The curator whose name I think was Pearson, or similar, was very knowledgeable, and his passion when speaking about the history, and the items in the library’s collection was inspiring.
Anyway being a big fan of history and ancient civilisations, and my greatest historical figure being Alexander The Great, I had many questions regarding some of the items kept at the Library. It was during this conversation I asked if it was possible to see the oldest item and generously he went to fetch it and bring it down and once again give as much information on it.
What was it??? It was a clay tablet from Babylonian times outlining a property lease contract… I was amazed by it as should anyone be when viewing something over 3500 years old!