A broad flight of stone steps crosses the frame from lower left to upper right, the treads alternating pale and dark under direct sunlight. The eye follows the stepped shadow line up the flight, then returns to the single figure at the left edge — in profile, in a light cap, jacket and knee breeches, one foot placed on the tread above. Behind the steps, square piers stand on a stepped base against a dark recessed wall. Contrast is high; granular stone texture is held in the lit treads, while the shadowed risers fall to solid black.

The library had opened two years earlier, on 28 August 1933, and this photograph belongs to a group Olaf Christoffersen made of the building during its construction and completion. The verso records the exposure in his own hand: a Voigtländer «Superb» with a Heliar 75 mm lens, at 1:9 for 1/50 second in sunshine, on 6×6 roll film, Selo Hyper-Panchro. The small aperture in direct sun accounts for what the print holds — sharpness from the near treads to the piers behind, and a tonal range wide enough to keep stone texture in the lit treads while the risers read as solid black.

Technical Details: Likely a gelatin silver print, mounted on cream card and signed «O. Christoffersen» with the date 1935 at lower right. The verso is inscribed in the photographer's hand with the title «Trappen», his name and Oslo address, and full exposure data.

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