Powell's Pillar of Books, 1999

This sandstone pillar for the world's greatest bookstore is made up of a stack of eight classic books, titled in the language they were originally written. If you are a completist, they are (in order): Mahabharata (Sanskrit), 1000 Nights and a Night (Arabic), Hamlet, War and Peace (Russian), Tao te Ching (Chinese), Psalms (Hebrew), The Odyssey (ancient Greek), and The Whale (the first edition of Moby-Dick and one of the first great used-book acquisitions of Michael Powell’s career).

The Latin inscriptions around the base encourage the onlooker to “Seize the book, Buy the book, Read the book, Sell the book.”

But this pillar is more than just a multilingual architectural feature; it’s also a monument. A dedicated reader’s ashes are contained herein.

Design: Ernest & Nick Munch/Draftsman: John Paull/Stone Cutter: Keith Phillips