Brewer's: Alexandrian Library

Founded by Ptolemy Soter, in Alexandria, in Egypt. The tale is that it was burnt and partly consumed in 391; but when the city fell into the hands of the calif Omar, in 642, the Arabs found books sufficient to “heat the baths of the city for six months.” It is said that it contained 700,000 volumes.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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