Jan. 18, 1664-65.—'Up and by and by to my bookseller's, and there did give thorough direction for the new binding of a great many of my old books, to make my whole study of the same binding, within very few.'

Aug. 24, 1666.—'Up, and despatched several businesses at home in the morning, and then comes Sympson to set up my other new presses[35] for my books, and so he and I fell into the furnishing of my new closett, and taking out the things out of my old, and I kept him with me all day, and he dined with me, and so all the afternoon till it was quite dark hanging things, that is my maps and pictures and draughts, and setting up my books, and as much as we could do, to my most extraordinary satisfaction.'

Dec. 17, 1666.—'Spent the evening in fitting my books, to have the number set upon each, in order to my having an alphabet of my whole, which will be of great ease to me. This day Captain Batters come from sea in his fireship and come to see me, poor man, as his patron, and a poor painful wretch he is as can be. After supper to bed.'

Dec. 19, 1666.—'Home full of trouble on these considerations, and, among other things, I to my chamber, and there to ticket a good part of my books, in order to the numbering of them for my easy finding them to read as I have occasion.'

Jan. 8, 1666-67.—'So home and to supper, and then saw the catalogue of my books, which my brother had wrote out, now perfectly alphabeticall, and so to bed.'

Feb. 4, 1666-67.—'Mightily pleased with the play, we home by coach, and there a little to the office, and then to my chamber, and there finished my catalogue of my books with my own hand, and so to supper and to bed, and had a good night's rest, the last night's being troublesome, but now my heart light and full of resolution of standing close to my business.'

Feb. 8, 1667-68.—'Thence away to the Strand, to my bookseller's, and there staid an hour, and bought the idle, rogueish book, L'escholle des filles, which I have bought in plain binding, avoiding the buying of it better bound, because I resolve, as soon as I have read it, to burn it, that it may not stand in the list of books, nor among them, to disgrace them if it should be found. Thence home, and busy late at the office, and then home to supper and to bed.'



[32] Index Rhetoricus, of Thomas Farnaby, was a book which went through several editions. The first was published at London, by R. Allot, in 1633.

[33] The first edition of Butler's Hudibras is dated 1663, and it probably had only been published a few days when Pepys bought it and sold it at a loss. He subsequently endeavoured to appreciate the work, but was not successful. The edition in the Pepysian Library is dated 1689.

[34] This was Speght's edition of 1602, which is still in the Pepysian Library. The book is bound in calf, with brass clasps and bosses. It is not lettered.

[35] These presses still exist, and, according to Pepys' wish, they are placed in the second court of Magdalene College, in a room which they exactly fit, and the books are arranged in the presses just as they were when presented to the college.

[36] Tatler, No. 158.



Weeding Out.

It is necessary that a large country-house library should occasionally be weeded out and overhauled. The libraries which were formed in past generations cannot be expected to suit present-day requirements. In a great many country-house libraries there is little else than a great mass of turgid theology, but very often buried among these are really valuable books. Upon the death of the head of a family, the library should be carefully gone over in order that the new owner may get an idea of the books—a collection which he may be excused from knowing much of as he did not collect it. The books should then be re-arranged to suit the views of those who are most likely to use them, and certain rejected volumes should be disposed of and others put in their places.

How much this is necessary might be illustrated by many anecdotes.



The Catalogue.

I have said, under the heading 'Classification,' that it is not advisable or necessary to attempt any rigid classification upon the shelves. One good reason for this is that by so doing you are trying to do what can so much better be done by a catalogue. No one who uses books very much but sooner or later becomes grateful for the existence of an alphabet and an arrangement by A B C. Carlyle once said, 'A library is not worth anything without a catalogue; it is a Polyphemus without any eye in his head, and you must confront the difficulties, whatever they may be, of making proper catalogues.'

'The classification of Pepys' library was to be found in the catalogues, and as Pepys increased in substance he employed experts to do this work for him.'[37]

No catalogue is of any use unless you can tell from it (1) All that the library possesses of the known books of a known author at one view, as well as (2) All that it possesses, by whomsoever written, on a known and definite subject.

The old catalogues were mostly very bad. Old methods have now given way to newer and better bibliographical systems, and, to take the case of a large country house, where books are scattered about in many rooms, a catalogue is most essential. The catalogue should, in most cases, be in MS., and not typewritten. Such an arrangement admits of additions being made more easily. The printed catalogue is adopted where the library is of special value, or if it has any particular class of books predominating to make it of use as a bibliography of a special subject. Lord Crawford's sectional catalogues of his library, already referred to, are the most valuable lists I know of for student purposes, but I believe very few people have ever seen them.

The catalogue of Lord Crawford's Proclamations, at Haigh Hall, is a marvel of industry and accuracy. Mr. Locker Lampson's Rowfant Library was catalogued, and the catalogue printed and sold, because it had special value as a collection of Elizabethan poetry. Mr. Edmund Gosse's Library catalogue was printed because it contained special collections of seventeenth-century literature. Whether the library be a student's library or a general library, a catalogue is essential. Gibbon had a catalogue of his books. I have seen so many amateur attempts at cataloguing private libraries that I am bound to say I do not think the plan of cataloguing one's own books in any way answers. Any catalogue may be better than no catalogue, but, if a catalogue is to be done, it is better by far to call in the assistance of some one whose work it is. It frequently happens that a family inherits a large library, and the inheritors, not having formed the collection, naturally can know but little, if anything, of its contents. Now, in such a case, and in many other cases, the best plan is to have your books overhauled, sifted, certain volumes weeded out, if necessary, others rebound, and the whole remainder carefully catalogued and described, the cases being numbered and the shelves lettered.

Very often the owner of a library sets out to catalogue his or her own books, and makes the initial mistake of entering them one by one in a MS. volume already bound up. Such a plan must end in failure and disorder, because it is impossible by this means to get the titles strictly alphabetical. Others I have seen commence writing the titles from the backs of the books. Other difficulties which are encountered are with anonymous books, and with such authors as used pseudonyms, and, in some cases, many pseudonyms. Such was Henri Beyle, whose books bear various disguises, such as De Stendhal, Cotonet, Salviati, Viscontini, Birkbeck, Strombeck, Cesar Alexandre Bombet. The British Museum Library has ninety-one rules of cataloguing, forming, perhaps, the best cataloguing code in the world; but for private libraries such elaboration and detail is not necessary. The following are the main rules to be adopted in private libraries:—[38]

1. The catalogue should be arranged in one general alphabet, this being the most useful and the readiest form for reference. To render it, as nearly as possible, a correct representation of the contents of the library, each work has but one principal descriptive entry. The shelfmark is confined to this entry—duplicate shelfmark references, when the position of books is likely to be often altered, from the accession of additions to the library, &c., leading to frequent and unavoidable errors.

2. This entry is under the author's name when given on the title-page, or otherwise known, as being the only arrangement which allows one general rule to be followed throughout the catalogue.

3. Anonymous works, whose authors' names are unknown, are placed under the subjects to which they relate.

4. Cross references are made:

from the subjects of biographies to the authors; from the principal anonymous and pseudonymous works to the writer's real names where known; from works included in, or noticed in the title-pages of other publications, to those publications.

5. To obviate the imperfections necessarily attendant on an alphabetical arrangement, and for the greater facility of reference, short classifications are introduced of the chief subjects on which the books in the library treat, referring to the names of the authors in the same general alphabet; thereby uniting the advantages of the alphabetical and classified systems, and acting in some measure as a key to the prevailing character of the library.

6. All authors' names are followed by full stops: any articles placed under a writer's name, of which he is not the author, but which are anonymous answers to, or criticisms on, his works; anonymous memoirs placed under the subjects; or any entries whatever, in which the heading name prefixed is not that of the author, are distinguished by a line following the name.

7. The headings of the short classifications are distinguished by being doubly underlined with red ink. The name to be referred to is singly underlined, but when the reference is to another heading, and not to an author, it is doubly underlined.

In preparing titles for the catalogue (whether it be intended to transcribe or print them), it should be an imperative instruction that they be written on slips of paper (or on cards) of uniform size. It is also useful to include in them a word or two which may serve to identify the origin of the books—whether by purchase, by copyright, or by gift—and to indicate the date of their respective acquisition.

FOOTNOTES:

[37] Wheatley, Pepys and the World he Lived in, p. 84.

[38] I believe these rules were originally drawn up by Mr. B. R. Wheatley.



Classification of Books.

The classification of books, according to any set system, or according to subjects upon the shelves of a library, is not easy, and for many reasons it is not worth attempting. Unless the library is a very large one, say, ten to twenty thousand volumes, with ample and adaptable shelving, it is not to be desired. The main difficulty in shelf classification lies in the fact that books on similar and kindred subjects are issued in all sizes. There are books on Furniture, for instance, in folio, in quarto, and in octavo. When shelf classification is imperative, the folios are all put together, the quartos together, and the octavos together. This is the nearest realisation of a shelf classification, and by this method the folios may be far separated from the quartos, and the quartos from the octavos. Moreover, if appearance count for anything, as indeed it should in the most modest library, it will be impossible to carry out any plan of shelf classification and preserve at the same time an appearance of method and fitness. In planning out how your books are to be placed, a great consideration is the placing of them, so that books likely to be frequently referred to shall be easy of access, and books less likely to be in request shall be housed higher up.[39] Reference books should, as far as possible, be placed together, and all easy of access. The main divisions into which a private library classes itself are History and Biography, Fiction, Poetry and Drama, Theology, Travel, Art, Belles lettres; but there are so many considerations besides those of subject in any general classification which should determine the position of a volume that I must emphasise what has already been said about actual personal convenience being first studied, and the library as arranged on the shelves should be the result of personal convenience and graceful effect. This is more particularly necessary when a library is in course of expansion. The subjects which will expand quickest, and the space they will require, can never be accurately gauged, and frequent upheavals and readjustments will be necessary if any rigid plan is aimed at. I would suggest that a separate shelf—or, if necessary, a separate case—be reserved for unbound periodicals and for accessions, which are, as it were, sub judice. Often, too, a separate case is necessary for rare and handsome books, and a locked case for facetiae. It is worth while to observe that Pepys found that the best way to find his numerous books was to number them consecutively throughout the library.[40]

Numerous elaborate plans of book classification have been put forward, principally by Americans, but in no way are they adaptable to the requirements of private libraries, and I doubt very much the possibility of comprehending them in such a way as to apply them in an intelligible manner even to public libraries.

Mr. B. R. Wheatley, in an admirable paper upon Library arrangement,[41] gives the following excellent practical advice:—

'If I had the planning of rooms for a private library, I should select as the best possible arrangement a suite of three rooms, or one long room or gallery divided by columns into three compartments, of which the centre should be the largest, with several small contiguous ante-rooms, the entrances to which, if so desired, might be concealed, for uniformity or completeness of appearance, by filling them with sham or dummy book-backs, the titles of which may be made an occasion for witticism or joking allusion to local and family history.

'A good library arrangement is not achieved at once, but is a slow growth through difficulties met and conquered. Some of the best portions of it will be those which have flashed across your mind when there seemed no pathway out of the thicket of difficulty in which you were struggling. The arrangement of books, where the shelves are not made to order to suit your plans, must naturally be of a progressive character in its development in your mind.

'In some old libraries, collected mostly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there is such a preponderance of those portly tomes in folio in which our sturdy ancestors delighted, that they materially affect and disconcert our ordinary plans. I have known an instance in which the library shelves projected slightly in their upper part, and, there thus being an appropriate depth, I arranged on these shelves two long parallel rows, completely round the room, of these noble volumes of our old divines, State papers, Statutes, Treaties, Trials, and our County histories; and the effect in strength and power (as Ruskin might have said) of these long lines of large stout books of nearly equal height and size was really magnificent. Sometimes you meet with such a valuable and massive body of topography as will not allow of its cavalierly being made a subsidiary section of the class of history, and the form and weighty character of the folios suggest that some deep and separate bookcases should be chosen in which it may assume the important individuality that it deserves.

'Folios of a modern date, being of very unequal sizes, would have a raggedness of outline which would be less observed nearer to the ground than in the elevated position just referred to. As a general rule, a row of folios on the lowest shelf will be succeeded by one of quartos, and then above the ledge the octavos and duodecimos will be placed, but they should not ascend in too rigid a law of gradual decrease. Rows of small books at the top of a bookcase look as petty to the mind as to the eyes, and, indeed, are in general more appropriately placed in dwarf bookcases specially fitted for their reception.

'For small libraries, not exceeding 3000 to 4000 volumes, the letters of the alphabet may be used for the cases, and small figures for the shelves, on the principle of the greater including the less, the letters having a more important appearance. But in larger libraries, where there is a chance of the alphabet being doubled or trebled, one regular series of large numbers for the cases, with small letters for the shelves, is to be preferred.'

Books should be marked in pencil, with a shelf letter and a case number.

Long sets of books need be numbered in the first volume only.

In the case of collections of pamphlets each item ought to be separately catalogued.

The catalogue should complement the arrangement on the shelves, and not be tautological.

Tables of contents of collected editions given in catalogue.

A synoptical table of contents should be prefixed to the catalogue.

For those who desire a rough outline of headings into which a library usually classifies itself, I will name one. The briefest is as follows:—(1) Theology, (2) Philosophy and Science, (3) Art, (4) Political Economy, (5) Law, (6) History and Literature.

FOOTNOTES:

[39] No bookshelves ought to be beyond the reach of a moderately tall person.

[40] 'The books were numbered consecutively throughout the library, and, therefore, when rearranged, they needed all to be renumbered. All hands were pressed into this service, and we read that on the 15th of February, 1667-68, Pepys himself, his wife, and Deb. Willett were busy until near midnight "titleing" the books for the year, and setting them in order. They all tired their backs, but the work was satisfactory. . . . . (See ante, p. 78.)

'The books are arranged in eleven curious old mahogany bookcases, which are mentioned in the Diary under date August 24, 1666. "Up and dispatched several businesses at home in the morning, and then comes Sympson to set up my other new presses for my books, and so he and I fell into the furnishing of my new closett, and taking out the things out of my old, and I kept him with me all day, and he dined with me, and so all the afternoon till it was quite darke hanging things, that is, my maps and pictures and draughts, and setting up my books, . . . . to my most extraordinary satisfaction."'—Wheatley, Pepys and the World he lived in, pp. 83-4.

[41] Library Journal, August, 1878.



Bookcases.

The chief faults of bookcases arise from their being designed and made by men who have never used a book. A first requisite in bookcases is simplicity, bearing in mind that the books are the ornament and not the bookcases. The cabinet-maker, among other things, is too fond of embellishments, and sacrifices space to what seem odd angularities and irregularities.

No bookcase should be above eight and a half feet in height. No ladder should be necessary to get at books. If books are 'skied' up to the ceiling they must suffer from the heated air. It is heat, not gas merely, which damages books.

A room may be made to look very beautiful by being surrounded with fumed oak bookcases, eight feet high. The shelves should be made movable with Tonks' patent.[42] Mr. Gladstone[43] speaks of the looseness and the tightness of movable shelves, the weary arms, the aching fingers, and the broken finger-nails. This can be avoided by the use of the patent here named. The bottom cases should be deeper and wider, to take quartos and folios, but there should always be an extra shelf for turning a folio section into an octavo section. Nineteen-twentieths of the books in circulation are octavos and smaller volumes. On each side of the fireplace there should be an arm projecting about four feet and a half. The inner side of this should have a comfortable reading-seat, and on the outer side, farthest from the fire, there may be shelves for books. If the structural arrangements of the room admit of these projecting arms being placed, without sacrifice of comfort, at a greater distance from the fireplace, the books may be placed on the upper part of the inner side as well, the lower part being used as a lounge.

It must be remembered that heat and excessive dryness are fatal to good bindings and, indeed, to all parts of a book, and therefore no bookcase should approach too near a fireplace, nor should bookcases be placed backing upon hot-water pipes. The shelves should be edged with leather and such leather must not be stiffened by cardboard or brown paper—simply leather, and there should be a roller shutter of silk to draw down in front of the books during absence from home. The cases[44] should everywhere be perfectly flush, without any sort of protruding ornament. It will be found a great advantage to make the framework of the various cases of equal dimensions, so that the shelves can be made transferable. In estimating the extent of shelving which it may be necessary to provide, we may calculate that in an ordinary library a space two feet high and two feet wide will, on an average, contain about thirty-five volumes, and it may be estimated roughly that every thousand volumes in a library will require about a hundred square feet of shelving.

If fixed shelves are made, the usual height will be—[45]

For folios 18 to 21 inches. " quartos 12 " 15 " " octavos 10 " " smaller sizes 7 "

These spaces will allow ample room for the average sizes. The 'Atlas' folios and 'Elephant' folios are best accommodated in single shelves, in which they may be flat, or on trays or table cases.[46] Bear in mind always to allow sufficient space for expansion. Nothing causes more disorder than insufficient shelf accommodation. All cases should be numbered and lettered, that is, each section should have a number, and each shelf a letter. For the accommodation of expensive bindings or rare books and MSS., a special case may sometimes be required. Very beautiful specimens of such may be seen sketched in the books of Chippendale, Sheraton, and Heppelwhite, but it is in all cases better to avoid glass fronts and adopt ornamental brass wire work if any special protection be needed.

The late Mr. Blades, a great expert in this matter, said, 'It is a mistake to imagine that keeping the best-bound volumes in a glass-doored bookcase is a preservative. The damp air will certainly penetrate, and as the absence of ventilation will assist formation of mould, the books will be worse off than if they had been placed in open shelves. If securing be desirable, by all means abolish the glass and place ornamental brass wire work in its stead.'[47]

'It is more important to see that the shelves intended for choice and richly bound books should be covered with leather, and expressly such as are intended for books of large sizes. In the case of books of special value, the leather should be well padded, should be of the best quality, and should have a polished surface.'[48]

In the Nineteenth Century for March, 1890, already quoted from, Mr. Gladstone wrote upon 'Books, and the Housing of them.' This paper showed a sound grasp of the subject and showed Mr. Gladstone in a new and very interesting light. Appended are some extracts from this paper, all of which I think experts would agree to, except the fixed shelves, and here, I think, any one who has handled books very much will be at issue with Mr. Gladstone. He himself says:—'I have recommended that, as a rule, the shelves be fixed, and have given reasons for the adoption of such a rule. I do not know whether it will receive the sanction of authorities, and I make two admissions. First, it requires that each person owning and arranging a library should have a pretty accurate general knowledge of the size of his books. Secondly, it may be expedient to introduce here and there, by way of exception, a single movable shelf.'

Now, a man must be able not only to gauge very accurately the limits of his library and the various sizes of books, but he must be able to look into the future if he would safely embark on fixed shelves. And this is wholly impossible. Fixed shelves should only be adopted where cost has to be reduced to a minimum, but in the majority of instances movable shelves will be found preferable. The paragraphs which deal with bookcases in Mr. Gladstone's article may here be given:—

'The question of economy, for those who from necessity or choice consider it at all, is a very serious one. It has been a fashion to make bookcases ornamental. Now, books want for and in themselves no ornament at all. . . The man who looks for society in his books will readily perceive that, in proportion as the face of his bookcase is occupied by ornament, he loses that society; and conversely, the more that face approximates to a sheet of book-backs, the more of that society he will enjoy. And so it is that three great advantages come hand in hand, and, as will be seen, reach their maximum together: the sociability of books, minimum cost in providing for them, and ease of access to them.

'In order to attain these advantages, two conditions are fundamental. First, the shelves must, as a rule, be fixed; secondly, the cases, or a large part of them, should have their side against a wall, and thus, projecting into the room for a convenient distance, they should be of twice the depth needed for a single line of books, and should hold two lines, one facing each way. Twelve inches is a fair and liberal depth for two rows of octavos. The books are thus thrown into stalls, but stalls after the manner of a stable. . . . This method of dividing the longitudinal space by projections at right angles to it, if not very frequently used, has long been known. A great example of it is to be found at Trinity College, Cambridge, and is the work of Sir Christopher Wren. He has kept these cases down to a very moderate height; for he doubtless took into account that great heights require long ladders, and that the fetching and use of these greatly add to the time consumed in getting or replacing a book.'

It must here be added that Mr. Gladstone's plan is much more fitted for a large public library than for the library of a private person, for whom he is prescribing. Though the library in the form of an annexe[49] is in many ways an ideal form for housing a large library, yet these are hardly likely to be in the majority, and most people find that they have to house their books in a circumscribed space, with no room for such bays and projections as he suggests except perhaps one by the fireplace.

FOOTNOTES:

[42] Tonks' fittings are specially adapted for the shelves of book-cases or other shelves, the adjustment of which has, from time to time, to be varied to suit the varying requirements of a library, &c. The method hitherto generally adopted for such shelves is to support them at each end by two studs, the heads of which are mortised into the shelf, and the pins driven or otherwise fitted into holes two or more inches apart, bored in two rows into the upright frames; these holes are very seldom accurately fitted to the pins, and even where so done in the first instance, from the shrinking or expansion of the wood, they soon become too large or too small for the pins, and the alteration of the adjustment of a shelf is thereby rendered an extremely troublesome operation. The patent fittings remedy this, and save both time and trouble; in place of the rows of holes so far apart, metal strips perforated at intervals of three-quarters of an inch for the reception of the very simple but strong metal plates, which take the place of the old studs, are mortised in and screwed to the frames. The insertion, at the required intervals, of the plates into the perforations in these strips is made instantaneously, consequently the position of a shelf can be easily altered without an irritating expense of trouble, and waste of time. The thinness of the plates renders any mortising in the shelf unnecessary, and the small intervals between the perforations in the strips enables the whole space occupied by the shelves to be used most economically. These fittings, when used with a shelf sufficiently strong itself to bear the weight, will support without strain more than half a ton.

[43] Nineteenth Century, March, 1890.

[44] Edwards, Memoirs of Libraries, ii., 736.

[45] THE SIZES OF BOOKS.—The Associated Librarians of Great Britain decided upon a uniform and arbitrary scale for the measurement and description of the sizes of books. In consequence of the many and varied sizes of papers now manufactured, the terms folio, quarto or 4to., octavo or 8vo., twelvemo or 12mo., and so on, as indicating the number of folds in the printed sheets, can no longer be relied upon as a definite guide to the sizes of books, hence the change, as follows:—

Large folio la. fol. over 18 inches. Folio fol. below 18 " Small folio sm. fol. " 13 " Large octavo la. 8vo. " 11 " Octavo 8vo. " 9 " Small octavo sm. 8vo. " 8 " Duodecimo 12mo. " 8 " Decimo octavo 18mo. is 6 " Minimo mo. below 6 " Large quarto la. 4to. " 15 " Quarto 4to. " 11 " Small quarto sm. 4to. " 8 "

[46] Edwards, Memoirs of Libraries, ii., 739.

[47] Blades, Enemies of Books.

[48] Edwards, ii., 737.

[49] See p. 106.



Miscellaneous Appliances.

Whether the library be considered as a workshop or a morning-room, there are certain necessary appliances, which will contribute a great deal to comfort, and the proper preservation of books. Thus, proper tables will be required. Mr. Gladstone, I believe, has, or had, three tables in his Temple of Peace—one for correspondence, one for politics, and one for literary work. This, no doubt, is a very excellent plan to be followed by those whose time is precious, and who have to divide each day up for fixed duties. The 'Shannon' and other American tables are very excellent for correspondence work, being fitted with pigeon-holes and drawers, and I have no doubt but that equally well-made tables are made specially fitted for literary work. Such a table should measure not less than six feet by three; its top should be a clear, flat surface, and it should stand firmly on its legs, and these legs should be four, and should not be placed to be in the way of the person sitting at the table. An ink-well should be sunk flush with the top of the case, and it should have a brass cover. A knee-hole table is not the best for literary work, but it may be the best for letter-writing. Of chairs, one good, firm, hard-seated chair is necessary. Mr. Ellwanger[50] says, 'I have two chairs for my reading—a stiff one for books I have to read; a luxurious one for books I like to read. My luxurious chair is of dark green leather, a treat to sink into, modelled after the easy armchair of the Eversley Rectory, known from its seductive properties as "Sleepy Hollow."' A very prettily designed and useful hard-seated chair is that known as the Goldsmith chair, being modelled upon the chair which belonged to Oliver Goldsmith. A revolving bookcase is a very appropriate article of furniture in a library. It may be made especially useful for reference-books, or any such books as are being used together at one time for purposes of study and comparison. These revolving bookcases are made in all sizes, and can, of course, be made to suit any particular requirement; thus I have seen them made with a top which can be raised to a slope with a ledge like a standing desk, upon which a large atlas can be rested and consulted. Apart from this, I strongly recommend the use of a standing desk for health's sake when a great deal of writing has to be done.

It frequently happens that books being taken from the shelf, the volumes left behind fall down in an untidy heap. To obviate this, there is a very simple form of metal book support sold, which keeps a half-filled shelf neat and tidy. An alternative to this is the old plan of inserting dummies, whereby no blanks are seen. As I have so strongly advocated shelves the tops of which are within reach of the hand, I need not say much about steps, but where steps are really needed, they should be very light, and capable of being easily lifted with one hand. They should have an upright rod support rising about four feet above the top step; this for the purpose of safety when using the steps. Cabinets of drawers for prints and very large books should also be secured if required, and cushioned desks for books with metal bosses or metal mountings of any description. Last, but by no means least, let there be good ink, and plenty of it; good pens, and a variety of them; and good blotting-paper, frequently renewed; and paper-knives of various sizes.

FOOTNOTE:

[50] The Story of my House.



The Library Annexe.

What in many ways is an ideal library is a library housed in a building specially constructed as an annexe to a residence. I feel sure that, within the next ten years, there will be many moderately wealthy men who will be anxious to form libraries and special collections of books, housing them in this way. The idea is only new as applied to large country mansions. Hitherto students of moderate means have managed to construct buildings specially adapted for study and free from interruption. The only instance of a library annexe attached to a country mansion with which I am acquainted is the recent and very notable instance at Hawarden, of which more later. The late Vicar of Middleton Cheney, in Oxfordshire, and, I think, Dr. Jessopp, of Scarning, have both found that their work has been assisted by library annexes. Horace Walpole said of Topham Beauclerk that he had built a library in Great Russell Street, that reached 'half-way to Highgate.' Lord Bacon spent ten thousand pounds in building himself a retreat in his grounds at Gorhambury.

Mr. Gladstone's scheme at Hawarden is likely to be followed by many others. Of course the Hawarden library has been endowed, and made practically open and free. It is the idea of a private library as a temple of peace for the owner and his visitors which we would like to see extended. One fancies that books might be on a better footing in country houses if they had the honour of a separate building. Then they would, at any rate, be on as good a footing as the stables or as the greenhouse, which at present they are not. Books are not so much wall covering, or so much furniture. They are much more; they should be treated more like living creatures, and if only their owners would get upon speaking terms with them, how readily would they get a response. Roughly, then, one would like to see attached to every large country establishment a book building, a centre of intelligence and light, where we might be sure of finding a good atlas, a good biographical dictionary, and good verbal dictionary. I do not understand why so little importance has hitherto been attached to this. Such a building should have a large central room and several separate small rooms for private study. The illustrations in a charming little book called Mr. Gladstone in the Evening of his Days convey what is meant very well. From this little volume I give extracts which seem very clear to any one interested in this matter:—

'Everywhere about in the large room are books—books—books. The Iron Library (the building is of iron) is arranged in the same ingenious way as Mr. Gladstone's private library at Hawarden Castle. There are windows on either side of the long room, and between these windows high bookcases, running towards the centre of the room, are put up. There are books on either side of these cases, and the part facing the centre of the room is again arranged to hold books. It is truly marvellous how many books can thus be stored without a single one being out of sight.'

'There is the same simplicity, the same quiet comfort, the same air of repose, and the same absence of library conventionality about. . . . .'

'Through a door . . . . you reach the second room in the library, to which Mr. Gladstone has given the name of the "Humanity room." It is arranged on exactly the same plan as the first, and contains secular works chiefly. You note Madame de Sevigne's Letters on one shelf, in neat and dainty little volumes; and yellow-backed Zola lower down.'[51]

Any one who proposed having a library as a separate building should certainly study Mr. Gladstone's experiments at St. Deiniol's Library, or procure Mr. Gladstone in the Evening of his Days, wherein are given illustrations of the interior plan and general economy of the structure. Certainly Mr. Gladstone's ideas as to the arrangement of books as put forth in the Nineteenth Century for March, 1890, are much more applicable to an annexe library than to the housing of books in an ordinary private dwelling. Thus the arrangement of the bays made by the projections could not be carried out without extensive structural alterations in one house out of twenty in the country, and not one house out of a thousand in London. His ideas, however, are wholly practicable and admirably thorough when applied to the annexe library. It is interesting to see Mr. Gladstone's calculations as to shelf accommodation. They were disputed at the time by some cavilling critics, but have since been shown to be accurate. Mr. Gladstone is speaking[52] of the bookcases round the walls and the projecting arms, and he says:—'I will now exhibit to my readers the practical effect of such arrangement in bringing great numbers of books within easy reach. Let each projection be three feet long, twelve inches deep (ample for two faces of octavos), and nine feet high, so that the upper shelf can be reached by the aid of a wooden stool of two steps, not more than twenty inches high, and portable without the least effort of a single hand. I will suppose the wall-space available to be eight feet, and the projections, three in number, with end pieces, need only put out three feet five, while narrow strips of bookcase will run up the wall between the projections. Under these conditions, the bookcases thus described will carry about 2000 volumes.

'And a library forty feet long and twenty feet broad, amply lighted, having some portion of the centre fitted with very low bookcases, suited to serve for some of the uses of tables, will receive on the floor from 18,000 to 20,000 volumes of all sizes without losing the appearance of a room . . . . while leaving portions of space available near the windows for purposes of study. If a gallery be added, there will be accommodation for a further number of 5000, and the room need be no more than sixteen feet high.'

This estimate of shelf accommodation may be compared with one which was made by Mr. Justin Winsor, the well-known librarian of the Harvard library. He says:—'The book room of the Roxbury branch of the public library of Boston is fifty-three feet long by twenty-seven feet wide, and having three storeys of eight feet each in height will hold 100,000 volumes. . . . . I doubt if any other construction can produce this result.'

The building at Hawarden cost, I believe, 1000l., but whether this is with fittings or not I do not know. It is certain that for men whose books are more numerous than costly the annexe plan is admirable, and the difficulty of excluding damp where four walls are exposed to the elements could surely be overcome. I do not think that Mr. Gladstone makes any mention of iron bookcases, but these are often adopted, and have been made in a very convenient form, particularly that called the Radcliffe iron bookcase, arranged by Sir Henry Acland and Mr. W. Froude. Of this I append a description written by Sir Henry Acland himself.

'The advantages of the bookcase consist in its great stability, in its movability and neatness. It carries 500 average octavo volumes, 250 on either side; it is seven feet high, and stands on any floor space on forty-eight inches by eighteen inches. The cases may stand in any number end to end, or down the centre of a passage, or be placed so as to form squares of any dimensions multiple of the length of the cases, and therefore may enclose studies lined with books, books being also on the outside of the square. When the cases stand end to end they need not be put close to each other, but may have a space in which are shelves of any desired length. Therefore ten iron cases placed in a line, so as to include a space of forty inches between each two cases, will carry the contents of nineteen cases, or 5000 plus 4500 volumes, at the cost of ten cases, plus the wooden shelves of nine. The iron framework costs about 5l. 5s., and the wooden shelves about 25s. The iron portion will carry only octavos, but the spaces as described above will carry folios, because, to insure stability in the iron frames, diagonal ties run down the centre and divide the shelves into two portions, viz., the two frontages described above. But the stability being ensured in each iron case independently, the intermediate shelves in the spaces may be of the full width of the frames, namely, twenty inches.'[53]

FOOTNOTES:

[51] These notices of the Hawarden Library may be compared with the accounts given in Dennistoun's Dukes of Urbino of a great Florentine library:—

'Adjoining (the main library) was a study, fitted up with inlaid and gilded panelling, beneath which . . . . were depicted Minerva with her aegis, Apollo with his lyre, and the nine muses, with their appropriate symbols. A similar small study was fitted up immediately over this one, set round with armchairs encircling a table, all mosaicked with tarsia, . . . while in each compartment of the panelling was the portrait of some famous author, and an appropriate distich. . . . To the right and left of the carriage entrance into the great courtyard are two handsome saloons, each about forty-five feet by twenty-two, and twenty-three in height. That on the left contained the famous library of MS. collected by Count Federigo; the corresponding one received the printed books which, gradually purchased by successive dukes, became, under the last sovereign a copious collection. Baldi, in his description of the palace, printed in Bianchini's works, dwells on the judicious adaptation of the former, its windows set high against the northern sky, admitting a subdued and steady light which invited to study; its air cool in summer, temperate in winter; its walls conveniently sheltered. . . . .'

[52] Nineteenth Century, March, 1890.



A Librarian.

Until we have more properly trained librarians, it is useless to recommend owners of private libraries to find a librarian, because at present there are very few such men in existence who are properly qualified. A love of books is not enough in a librarian. An orderly mind and great receptive power are most essential. Practical knowledge of bookbinding and a sense of colour are equally essential. He must have no fads of his own to be ever thrusting forward. If he is mad on Geology or Astronomy, he won't do. What, above all, he must know are the sources of information.

A study in the 'Lives' of some of the great librarians would best show what is here meant. Mr. Elton[54] names Antonio Maggliabecchi, the jeweller's shop-boy, who became renowned throughout the world for his abnormal knowledge of books. He never at any time left Florence; but he read every catalogue that was issued, and was in correspondence with all the collectors and librarians of Europe. He was blessed with a prodigious memory, and knew all the contents of a book by 'hunting it with his finger,' or once turning over the pages. He was believed, moreover, to know the habitat of all the rare books in the world; and according to the well-known anecdote he replied to the Grand Duke, who asked for a particular volume: 'The only copy of this work is at Constantinople, in the Sultan's library, the seventh volume in the second bookcase, on the right as you go in.' A similar story was told by Wendell Phillips, the American statesman, about a countryman of his own, George Sumner. An Englishman came to Rome and was anxious to know whether there was in the library of the Pope, the great library of the Vatican, a certain book. . . . . The gentleman went to the Italians that used the library. They referred him to the private secretary of one of the cardinals, and after a moment's thought the secretary answered, 'No, sir, I don't know; but there is a young man in the city from Boston, and if the book is there he will know. They went to George Sumner, and asked him if there was such a volume in the library. 'Yes, it is in the tenth alcove, the third shelf, the seventh book to your right as you enter.'

Similar stories, doubtless, could be told of Bradshaw, the Cambridge University librarian, or of Thomas Ruddiman and George Buchanan.

Mr. Lloyd P. Smith[55] gives the following definition, among others, of the qualifications of a librarian: 'Librarians, like editors and proofreaders, are expected to know everything; and in one sense they should know everything—that is, they should have that maxima pars eruditionis, which consists in knowing where everything is to be found. A librarian should be able, of his own knowledge, to answer many questions, and especially the two questions which meet him at every turn, "Where can I find such-and-such information?" and "What is the best work on such-and-such a subject?" These are legitimate questions, which it should be the pride of every librarian to answer offhand . . . . All the book-learning in the world, however, will be insufficient for the practical duties of his place, unless the librarian has also the organ of order. His motto should be, "A place for everything and everything in its place."'

'The book of regulations for the court and household of Guidobaldo I. contains these rules for the administration of the library:—"The librarian should be learned, of good presence, temper, and manners, correct, and ready of speech. He must get from the gardrobe an inventory of the books, and keep them arranged and easily accessible, whether Latin, Greek, Hebrew, or others, maintaining also the rooms in good condition. He must preserve the books from damp and vermin, as well as from the hands of trifling, ignorant, dirty, and tasteless persons. To those of authority and learning, he ought himself to exhibit them with all facility, courteously explaining their beauty and remarkable characteristics, the handwriting and miniatures, but observant that such abstract no leaves. When ignorant or merely curious persons wish to see them, a glance is sufficient, if it be not some one of considerable influence. When any lock or other requisite is needed, he must take care that it be promptly provided. He must let no book be taken away but by the Duke's orders, and if lent, must get a written receipt, and see to its being returned. When a number of visitors come in, he must be specially watchful that none be stolen. All which is duly seen to by the present courteous and attentive librarian, Messer Agabito."'[56]

FOOTNOTES:

[53] Library Assoc. Report, 1878, p. 75.

[54] Great Book Collectors, p. 74.

[55] American Library Journal, vol. i., p. 69.

[56] Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, p. 159.



The Library Architecturally.

Vitruvius, in his Architecture, lays down the rule that libraries ought to face the east, because their use requires the morning light, which will preserve their contents from decay; whereas, if the room should face the south or west, they are liable to be damaged by damp. Mr. J. W. Clark, the very learned historian of the University of Cambridge, commenting on this, says that the first of these considerations did influence early builders, but after the Reformation, when considerations of personal comfort began to be generally accepted, the library could be placed in the position which commanded the greatest amount of warmth. Ancient libraries were never placed on the ground, but usually on the first floor, or even higher, for the sake of preserving their contents from the damp to which ground floors are necessarily subject.[57]

The architect is very frequently a great enemy to the library. Underestimating the amount of wall space likely to be required for the housing of the books, or placing shelves and galleries in such a position that the books are not readily got at. Frequently, too, a country house has no room whatever designed either for study or the reception of books. The entire collection of books should be accessible without steps or ladders. Hot-water pipes should not approach nearer than three feet to the books. Electric light is the best luminant, but gas may safely be used provided there is sufficient ventilation.

The walls, which are towards the outer air, and even the others also, if of brick or stone, ought to be battened.

I have taken from a very excellent book, Kerr's Gentleman's House, such ideas and notes as I think are likely to be useful in arranging a library in a country house. Mr. Kerr suggests two plans for a large country house with a library.

'The idea which might first occur to the mind is that of a single spacious apartment; but for convenience and in order to preserve the domestic character, it is generally preferable to make use of several smaller apartments as a Suite of Libraries. On this plan the arrangement which is perhaps most favourable to considerations of utility, and on the whole most characteristic, is to set out a given width of clear passage way along the central line of the rooms, and then to divide the space on each side into a succession of compartments or bays, by means of transverse bookcases in pairs back to back; such bays being only large enough to accommodate a reading table with sufficient space around for reaching the books, opening the doors of the cases if any, and so on. If the rooms be lighted from the roof, the lights ought to correspond with the division into compartments, so that none of the fronts of the bookcases shall be placed in shadow. If there be windows in the walls, there ought to be one in each bay along one side of the room or both as may be desired. Bookcases against the walls are obviously most serviceable with the ceiling light; with side windows, even when these are on a high level, there is always a difficulty in reading the back lettering under the light; and when the windows are on a low level, dwarf bookcases under them are practically of little use.

'As for artistic treatment, nothing can be more appropriate for the character of a library than those effects which are at the command of the architect in a suite of apartments of this kind, laid out probably with some variety in the general forms as well as in the fittings, and involving perhaps the introduction of sculptures and paintings of a suitable kind. Elaborate effects, however, of whatever sort, and the accommodation of any other works of art than those whose merits are kindred to the character of the more proper contents, ought not to be encouraged.'

A second or alternative plan is a large room with a gallery.

'As regards curiosities and other artistic or scientific collections, these may very properly be accommodated, whether in upright cases to correspond with the bookcases, or in cabinets to take the place of the reading tables.

'The arrangements proper for the alternative plan of a large single library are obviously simple. A gallery is probably carried round the apartment; the bookcases extend along the wall below and are reproduced above; the light comes either from the roof or the upper part of the walls; the floor area is generally occupied solely by reading tables and cabinets. Objects of art and curiosity, when of large size, are more prominently displayed by this arrangement, and the whole effect may be made very imposing; but it is doubtful whether convenience and comfort can by any means be so properly provided for as in the other model.

'There are questions of detail which might be further entered upon, but a reference to what has already been advanced under the head of the ordinary library will probably suffice.'

In other parts of his excellent manual, Mr. Kerr goes more into detail, and refers to the various general purposes to which a library, as distinct from a study, is put in a country house, as follows:—

'There is a certain standard room which constitutes the library of an average gentleman's house, and the various gradations by which this may be either diminished in importance or augmented are easily understood. It is not a library in the sole sense of a depository for books. There is, of course, the family collection, and the bookcases in which this is accommodated form the chief furniture of the apartment. But it would be an error, except in very special circumstances, to design the library for mere study. It is primarily a sort of morning-room for gentlemen rather than anything else. Their correspondence is done here, their reading, and, in some measure, their lounging; and the billiard-room, for instance, is not unfrequently attached to it. At the same time the ladies are not exactly excluded.

'The position of the room internally ought therefore to be in immediate connexion with the principal dwelling rooms, so as to be equally accessible; whilst, on the other hand, as regards external influences, it ought to be kept sufficiently quiet (although this is very seldom a practical problem), to prevent the interruption of reading or writing. In accordance with these general ideas, and bearing out, moreover, the somewhat sober effect which bookcases always produce, the style of design and decoration ought to be, although not devoid of cheerfulness, certainly subdued in character.'

As regards aspect, Mr. Kerr is at one with the old Vitruvius already referred to.

'It is not often easy to obtain a choice aspect for the library, but whenever this primary pleasantness can be had for it so much the better, and it certainly ought never to be entirely neglected in this respect. The reasons for preferring the south-east in the case of day rooms generally have already been argued; for a library, perhaps, a rather more eastward aspect is better, so that the sun may be off the windows at least before noon; even due east might be preferred by some persons, the sunshine being thus lost about half-past ten. In any case, however, the morning sun is to be preferred to that of midday or afternoon. If the room be large enough end windows may be used to advantage here as elsewhere. A bay window also is often adopted.

'A difficult question which often arises is how sufficiently to provide for persons engaged in writing a front light from the left. It is not that a snug seat by the fireside, with a table conveniently at hand, and a left front light, can by any possibility be provided for many persons at once; but it is very unfortunate when no position whatever will combine these advantages. In a library especially this problem must be well worked out, and not for one writer only, but for several. Ingenuity and perseverance will accomplish wonders, and therefore, with the help of end light, a good library may be expected in this respect to be brought very near perfection.

'The fireplace ought to be placed so as to make a good winter fireside, because this is in a measure a sitting-room.

'Intercommunication is frequently made with the drawing-room, and sometimes intimately, and this carries with it, no doubt, a certain sort of convenience, because the two rooms can be thrown together occasionally; but it is a question whether, in a good house, and looking at such a question broadly, it is not, on the whole, a serious loss to both rooms as regards their more proper purposes. A door to the dining-room is not formally advisable, nor even one to the gentleman's room, although both these arrangements are to be met with, and are occasionally convenient. A communication with the billiard-room, sometimes made, may give the library too completely the character of a lounge, so as to render it somewhat unfit for its better purposes. When the library of a small house is used as a study, by a clergyman, for instance, or as the business room, a door to the dining-room may be so useful as to be specially admissible, the dining-room being thus brought to serve as a waiting-room for the occasion. The interposition, if possible, of a lobby or small ante-room will, however, be an aid to propriety in almost all these cases.

'It is to be observed that we have been hitherto dealing with the ordinary library of an average house and no more; but when the owner is a man of learning we must either add a study or constitute the library itself one. In the latter case, in order to prevent disturbance, the door will be more conveniently placed, not in the main corridor, but indirectly connected therewith. No door of intercommunication ought to connect it with any other room (except possibly the gentleman's room), and the position externally ought to be more than ordinarily secluded. Double doors also may be required. In short, the library, which has hitherto been a public room and somewhat of a lounge, becomes now essentially a private retreat.

'When the books form a large collection, and strangers, perhaps, are occasionally admitted for reading or reference, the library necessarily assumes more extensive proportions, and its arrangements become more complicated. For example, heating apparatus becomes very possibly indispensable; the question comes up of ceiling lights; the apartments are probably carried up to the height of two storeys, and galleries formed around. Seclusion becomes again still more a point to be considered.

'The library of the house should also be as comfortable as possible, with broad easy chairs, low centre table for books and periodicals, a large pedestal desk with circular revolving top, to shut up all papers and keep them free from dust. This kind of desk I consider invaluable to any man who really uses his library as a work-room, whether it be for real literary work and study, or for the ordinary examination and arrangement of household accounts; for it is quite impossible, on an ordinary writing table, to keep papers clean or tidy, and this circular-headed desk shuts down at once papers as they lie, which then cannot be "tidied" by the housemaid, who would seem to take a pleasure in putting away papers and notes in all kinds of out-of-the-way corners; the desk should have plenty of drawers and pigeon-holes; these latter, not as many of them are, an inch too narrow or two inches too wide for ordinary letters, but all made for the objects for which they are intended. It may seem absurd to say—think carefully of the use to which the drawers are to be put—but how often are they practically useless or wasteful of precious room, by being made shallower or deeper than is required. The room should be surrounded with bookcases, the lower portion made to take large books, and with some part of it covered in with cupboard fronts, with shelving inside to file away periodicals and papers; the shelf which this lower projection forms will do admirably for the arrangement of ornaments, small busts, or other personal things, with which a man crowds the room he really lives in; of course, I am speaking to those who make a den or working-room of their library, and not to those who fit a back room up with various tiers of shelving, on which are arranged a library of books which are seldom looked at, and where the room is only occasionally used, and that only for the purpose of a cloak-room on grand occasions. Above this lower nest of cupboards and shelving should be shelving arranged for various sizes of books, part carried up all round the room, so as to be within easy reach; the top of these will be found useful for china or busts, or other objects of art, while the centre portions may be carried up to the ceiling to give greater accommodation; all these breaks will take away from the stiffness of the room, and, if properly arranged, will all assist in making the library a room pleasant to work or play in. All this kind of work can be made of plain deal, stained and polished, and is infinitely cheaper than the elaborate movable cases of wainscot or walnut, in which the aim of the designer seems often to make the frame-work as expensive as possible, whereas, in truth, the books within are really what should be thought of and cared for.

'The floor should be painted or stained and varnished all over, so as to be easily cleaned and dusted, and everything that is likely to permanently hold dust should be avoided. On the floor, thus painted, a few cheap Indian or other rugs may be laid about in places where most necessary and useful.

'Too much trouble cannot be taken to make the library a pleasant room to live in; it should have everything arranged and adapted for use and comfort, and not be stiff and dreary with any set arrangement. The panels of the cupboard doors may be filled in with Japanese lacquer-work or painted decoration, and here and there, in the recesses, nests of shelves may be fitted with projecting brackets, designed as part of them, for pieces of china, vases of flowers, or busts, and not looking like bats stuck on to a barn door.

'I must not omit to say that in the lower portion of the bookcase should be arranged drawers—not carried down to the floor, for these are inconvenient—for use for prints and valuable photographs and sketches.

'The library should be essentially home-like, with the wall-space fitted up as conveniently as possible; on the top of the bookcases or nests of shelves, spring roller-blinds might be easily arranged in the cornices to draw down at night or other times, and fasten with clips to protect and preserve the books, &c., within them.

'I might offer many other suggestions for the decoration and furniture of the rooms I have specially referred to. I trust those I have made will be of some practical use, and that, above all, you will believe that my aim throughout has been to avoid all dogmatic and set rules of fashion or design, and to insist only that truth and beauty of form and colour, combined with fitness and common sense, are the main elements of all true artistic treatment in decoration and furniture of modern houses.'[58]

FOOTNOTES:

[57] Willis and Clark, History of Cambridge University, vol. iii., p. 416.

[58] Edis, Decoration and Furniture of Town Houses, pp. 188-191.



Munificent Book-buying.

Nordau has estimated that, in England alone, there are from eight hundred to a thousand millionaires, and in Europe altogether, there are at least a hundred thousand persons with fortunes of a million and even more. One could hope that it might be considered a kindness now and then to remind some of these millionaires of certain openings for their money which do not, so far, seem to have occurred to them. Mr. Bernard Shaw not long since pointed out in the Contemporary Review an opening whereby an Economic Library might be established, and do great lasting honour to a possible founder. Rich men can always be found to vie with one another in lavish expenditure over a ball or a wedding. Thousands of pounds go for a racehorse and for stable management generally, and the amount we spend upon sports annually is 38,000,000l., or about a pound per head of the population. One hardly likes to say that any sum spent upon sport and outdoor life is too much, but yet this sum is out of proportion. One is jealous of horses and sport, not so much perhaps for the amount spent upon them as much as because one sees that the man who hunts and has racehorses, cares and knows about these things to the extermination of all other interests. Life becomes ill balanced, whereas it is necessary to touch life at many points. 'The strenuous scholar pure and simple,' is becoming more rare, though the type of which the late Mark Pattison was one will never quite die out. But it is not the strenuous scholar that one is so anxious to perpetuate, as it is the strenuous and scholarly man of affairs and men of trained ability who have mental muscle for parliamentary work and social problems. Such a class ought to have many recruits from among the wealthier families.

It would assist very much towards this end if men of aptitude were properly trained to act as custodians of books in private houses. The art of knowing how to use books is one which must be learnt, and when properly learnt there is very little indeed that may not be readily found to hand in a library of but small dimensions.

There are, I believe, in England twenty-two packs of staghounds, and 182 packs of foxhounds. As every one of the masters of these packs must be a rich man, I should like to know that he at any rate had a sound copy of the History of the county where he hunts; that he had in his smoking room a good Encyclopaedia, with fifty other good reference books, and a hundred good novels.

The rich men of old combined patronage of learning with the pomp and splendour of their lives. Lucullus distinguished himself by his vast collection of books, and the liberal access he allowed to lovers of books. 'It was a library,' says Plutarch, 'whose walls, galleries and cabinets were open to all visitors; and the ingenious youths, when at leisure, resorted to this abode of the Muses, to hold literary conversations, in which Lucullus himself loved to join.' The Emperor Augustus was himself an author and a book lover, and called one of his libraries by the name of his sister, Octavia, and the other the temple of Apollo. Tiberius had a library, and Trajan also, and these spent constantly upon their books and the housing of them.

I have taken from Renaissance history pictures of several men who might be taken as types which should exist in every highly civilised country. They have been vividly and admirably pictured by biographers, and one can only hope that the rich men of to-day may in five hundred years' time have as lasting reputations as that of Cosimo, the princely patron of learning, and Niccolo, the man of scholarship and refinement of life.



PASSAGES ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE FOREGOING.



The Medici and their Friends.

'The chief benefit conferred by Cosimo de' Medici on learning was the accumulation and the housing of large libraries. During his exile he built the library of S. Giorgio Maggiore at Venice, and after his return to Florence he formed three separate collections of MSS. While the hall of the Library of S. Marco was in process of construction, Niccolo de' Niccoli died, in 1437, bequeathing his 800 MSS., valued at 6000 golden florins, to sixteen trustees. Among these were Cosimo and Lorenzo de' Medici, Ambrogio Traversari, Lionardo Bruni, Carlo Marsuppini, Poggio Bracciolini, Giannozzo Manetti, and Franco Sachetti. At the same time the estate of Niccolo was compromised by heavy debts. These debts Cosimo cancelled, obtaining in exchange the right to dispose of the library. In 1441 the hall of the convent was finished. Four hundred of Niccolo's MSS. were placed there, with this inscription upon each: Ex hereditate doctissimi viri Nicola de Nicolis de Florentia. Tommasso Parentucelli made a catalogue at Cosimo's request, in which he not only noted the titles of Niccoli's books, but also marked the names of others wanting to complete the collection. This catalogue afterwards served as a guide to the founders of the libraries of Fiesole, Urbino, and Pesaro, and was, says Vespasiano, indispensable to book-collectors. Of the remaining 400 volumes Cosimo kept some for his own (the Medicean) library, and some he gave to his friends. At the same time he spared no pains to buy codices, while Vespasiano and Fra Giuliano Lapaccini were employed in copying rare MSS. As soon as Cosimo had finished building the Abbey of Fiesole, he set about providing this also with a library suited to the wants of learned ecclesiastics. Of the method he pursued, Vespasiano, who acted as his agent, has transmitted the following account:—"One day when I was in his room, he said to me, 'What plan can you recommend for the formation of this library?' I answered that to buy the books would be impossible, since they could not be purchased. 'What, then, do you propose?' he added. I told him that they must be copied. He then asked if I would undertake the business. I replied that I was willing. He bade me begin at my leisure, saying that he left all to me; and for the monies wanted day by day, he ordered that Don Arcangelo, at that time prior of the monastery, should draw cheques upon his bank, which should be honoured. After beginning the collection, since it was his will that it should be finished with all speed possible, and money was not lacking, I soon engaged forty-five copyists, and in twenty-two months provided two hundred volumes, following the admirable list furnished by Pope Nicholas V."'[59]

* * * * *

'Cosimo's zeal for learning was not confined to the building of libraries or to book collecting. His palace formed the centre of a literary and philosophical Society, which united all the wits of Florence and the visitors who crowded to the capital of culture. Vespasiano states that "he was always the father and benefactor of those who showed any excellence." Distinguished by versatility of tastes and comprehensive intellect, he formed his own opinion of the men of eminence with whom he came in contact, and conversed with each upon his special subject. When giving audience to the scholars, he discoursed concerning letters; in the company of theologians he showed his acquaintance with theology, a branch of learning always studied by him with delight. So also with regard to philosophy. Astrologers found him well versed in their science, for he somewhat lent faith to astrology, and employed it on certain private occasions. Musicians in like manner perceived his mastery of music, wherein he much delighted. The same was true about sculpture and painting: both of these arts he understood completely, and showed great favour to all worthy craftsmen. In architecture he was a consummate judge, for without his opinion and advice no building was begun or carried to completion.'[60]

* * * * *

'Never was there a time in the world's history when money was spent more freely upon the collection and preservation of MSS. and when a more complete machinery was put in motion for the sake of securing literary treasures. Prince vied with prince, and eminent burgher with burgher, in buying books. The commercial correspondents of the Medici and other great Florentine houses, whose banks and discount offices extended over Europe and the Levant, were instructed to purchase relics of antiquity without regard for cost, and to forward them to Florence. The most acceptable present that could be sent to a king was a copy of a Roman Historian.'[61]

* * * * *

'Among the friends of Cosimo, to whose personal influences at Florence the Revival of Learning owed a vigorous impulse, Niccolo de' Niccoli claims our attention. . . . . His judgment in matters of style was so highly valued that it was usual for scholars to submit their essays to his eyes before they ventured upon publication. . . . . Notwithstanding his fine sense of language, Niccolo never appeared before the world of letters as an author. . . . Certainly his reserve in an age noteworthy for display has tended to confer on him distinction. The position he occupied at Florence was that of a literary dictator. All who needed his assistance and advice were received with urbanity. He threw his house open to young men of parts, engaged in disputations with the curious, and provided the ill-educated with teachers. Foreigners from all parts of Europe paid him visits. The strangers who came to Florence at that time, if they missed the opportunity of seeing him at home, thought they had not been in Florence. The house where he lived was worthy of his refined taste and cultivated judgment, for he had formed a museum of antiquities—inscriptions, marbles, coins, vases, and engraved gems. There he not only received students and strangers, but conversed with sculptors and painters, discussing their inventions as freely as he criticised the essays of the scholars. . . . . Vespasiano's account of his personal habits presents so vivid a picture that I cannot refrain from translating it at length:—"First of all, he was of a most fair presence; lively, for a smile was ever on his lips, and very pleasant in his talk. He wore clothes of the fairest crimson cloth, down to the ground. He never married, in order that he might not be impeded in his studies. A housekeeper provided for his daily needs. He was, above all men, the most cleanly in eating, as also in all other things. When he sat at table, he ate from fair antique vases, and, in like manner, all his table was covered with porcelain and other vessels of great beauty. The cup from which he drank was of crystal, or of some other precious stone. To see him at table—a perfect model of the men of old—was of a truth a charming sight. He always willed that the napkins set before him should be of the whitest, as well as all the linen." . . . . What distinguished Niccolo was the combination of refinement and humane breeding with open-handed generosity and devotion to the cause of culture. He knew how to bring forward men of promise and place them in positions of eminence.'[62]

* * * * *

'Lorenzo attracted to his villa the greatest scholars and most brilliant men of the time, a circle which included Poliziano, Landino, Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, Alberti, Pulci, and Michael Angelo. The interests of this circle, as of all similar Italian circles of the time, were largely absorbed in the philosophy and literature of Greece, and special attention was devoted to the teachings of Plato. Plato's writings were translated into Latin by Ficino, and the translation was printed in 1482, at the cost of Filippo Valvio. Ficino was too poor himself to undertake the publication of his works, and this was the case with not a few of the distinguished authors of the age. The presentation of books to the public required at this time what might be called the endowment of literature, and endowment which was supplied by the liberality of wealthy patrons possessed of literary appreciation or public-spirited ambition, or of both. As Symonds expresses it, "Great literary undertakings involved in that century the substantial assistance of wealthy men, whose liberality was rewarded by a notice in the colophon or in the title-page." The formal dedication was an invention of a somewhat later date.'[63]

* * * * *

'Of Palla degli Strozzi's services in the cause of Greek learning I have already spoken. Beside the invitation which he caused to be sent to Manuel Chrysoloras, he employed his wealth and influence in providing books necessary for the prosecution of Hellenic studies. "Messer Palla," says Vespasiano, "sent to Greece for countless volumes, all at his own cost. The Cosmography of Ptolemy, together with the picture made to illustrate it, the Lives of Plutarch, the works of Plato, and very many other writings of philosophers, he got from Constantinople. The Politics of Aristotle were not in Italy until Messer Palla sent for them; and when Messer Lionardo of Arezzo translated them, he had the copy from his hands." In the same spirit of practical generosity Palla degli Strozzi devoted his leisure and his energies to the improvement of the studio pubblico at Florence, giving it that character of humane culture which it retained throughout the age of the Renaissance. To him, again, belongs the glory of having first collected books for the express purpose of founding a public library. This project had occupied the mind of Petrarch, and its utility had been recognised by Coluccio de' Salutati, but no one had as yet arisen to accomplish it. "Being passionately fond of literature, Messer Palla always kept copyists in his own house and outside it, of the best who were in Florence, both for Greek and Latin books; and all the books he could find he purchased, on all subjects, being minded to found a most noble library in Santa Trinita, and to erect there a most beautiful building for the purpose. He wished that it should be open to the public, and he chose Santa Trinita because it was in the centre of Florence, a site of great convenience to everybody. His disasters supervened and what he had designed he could not execute."'[64]

* * * * *

'Cosimo used to regret that "he had not begun to spend money upon public works ten years earlier than he did." Every costly building that bore his name, each library he opened to the public, and all the donations lavished upon scholars, served the double purpose of cementing the despotism of his house and of gratifying his personal enthusiasm for culture. . . . . Of his generosity to men of letters, the most striking details are recorded. When Niccolo de' Niccoli ruined himself, Cosimo opened for him an unlimited credit with the Medicean bank.'[65]

FOOTNOTES:

[59] Symonds, The Revival of Learning, pp. 174, 175.

[60] Ibid., pp. 172-7.

[61] Symonds, Revival of Learning, pp. 139, 140.

[62] Symonds, Revival of Learning, pp. 180-2.

[63] Putnam, Books and their Makers, vol. i., p. 338.

[64] Symonds, Revival of Learning, p. 167.

[65] Ibid., pp. 172-3.



The Dukes of Urbino.

'Mr. Roscoe has observed that "by no circumstance in the character of an individual is the love of literature so strongly evinced as by the propensity for collecting together the writings of illustrious scholars, and compressing the 'soul of ages past' within the narrow limits of a library." But it is not easy now to appreciate the obstacles attending such a pursuit in the age of Federigo. The science of bibliography can scarcely be said to have existed before the invention of printing, in consequence of the extreme difficulty of becoming acquainted with works of which there were but few copies, and these widely scattered, perhaps scarcely known. Great outlay was required, either to search out or transcribe manuscripts, and even the laborious habits which then accompanied learning shrank from a task so beset by obstructions. Yet there was a bright exception in Thomas of Saranza, whose learning supplied the knowledge, and whose elevation to the triple tiara as Nicholas V. procured him the opportunities necessary for amassing a library. Not only did he found that of the Vatican, but he prepared for Cosimo, Pater patrie, a list of authors for the infant collection of S. Marco, at Florence, which, being recognised as a standard catalogue, was adopted by Count Federigo. The longer life allowed to the latter enabled him to outstrip these bibliomaniacs, and all contemporary accumulators, until the fame of his library stood unrivalled. Accordingly Ruscelli, in his Imprese Illustri, avers it to be "notorious that the earliest and most famous collection formed out of the ruins of antiquity was that of Urbino, from whence many excellent authors were edited, and copies supplied."'[66]

* * * * *

'In no respect did he look to expense; and whenever he learned the existence of any desirable book in Italy, or abroad, he sent for it without heeding the cost. His librarian, Vespasiano, wrote, "It is now above fourteen years since he began to make this collection, and he has ever since at Urbino, Florence, and elsewhere, thirty-four transcribers, and has resorted to every means requisite for amassing a famous and excellent library."'[67]

* * * * *

'To the right and left of the carriage entrance into the great courtyard, are two handsome saloons, each about forty-five feet by twenty-two, and twenty-three in height. That on the left contained the famous library of manuscripts collected by Count Federigo; the corresponding one received the printed books, which, gradually purchased by successive dukes, became under the last sovereign, a copious collection. Baldi, in his description of the palace, printed in Bianchini's work, dwells on the judicious adaptation of the former, its windows set high against the northern sky, admitting a subdued and steady light which invited to study; its air cool in summer, temperate in winter; its walls conveniently shelved; the character and objects of the place fittingly set forth in a series of rude hexameters inscribed on the cornices. Adjoining was a closet fitted up with inlaid and gilded panelling, beneath which Timoteo della Vite, a painter whose excellence we shall attest in our thirtieth chapter, depicted Minerva with her aegis, Apollo with his lyre, and the nine muses with their appropriate symbols. A similar small study was fitted up immediately over this one, set round with arm-chairs encircling a table, all mosaicked with tarsia, and carved by Maestro Giacomo of Florence, while on each compartment of the panelling was the portrait of some famous author, and an appropriate distich. One other article of furniture deserves special notice—a magnificent eagle of gilt bronze, serving as a lectern in the centre of the manuscript room. It was carried to Rome at the devolution of the duchy to the Holy See, but was rescued by Pope Clement XI. from the Vatican library, and restored to his native town, where it has long been used in the choir of the cathedral.'[68]

* * * * *

'Of Francesco Maria's literary pursuits we have various pleasing memorials. Not satisfied with the valuable library of MSS. that had descended to him from the Feltrian dukes, he formed another of standard printed works. Indeed, he became an assiduous book-collector; and the letters of his librarian, Benedetto Benedetti, in the Oliveriana Library, are full of lists which his agents in Venice, Florence, and even Frankfort are urged to supply. In his own voluminous correspondence, we find constant offers from authors of dedications or copies of their productions, the tone of which is highly complimentary to his taste for letters. In 1603, the Archbishop of Monreale, in Spain, transmits him the regulations he proposed to prescribe in bequeathing his library to a seminary he had founded in his diocese, expressing a hope that they might prove useful to the Duke's collection, "at this moment without parallel in the world." Instead of quoting the vague testimony of courtly compliment, as to the use which this philosophic Prince made of these acquisitions, let us cite the brief records of his studies, preserved in his own Diary. In 1585, "terminated an inspection of the whole works of Aristotle, on which I have laboured no less than fifteen years, having had them generally read to me by Maestro Cesare Benedetti, of Pesaro."'[69]

* * * * *

'Francesco di Giorgio, in his Treatise on Architecture, mentions Duke Federigo as holding out inducements for the learned men at his court to illustrate the works of classic authors on architecture and sculpture. But no testimony to his literary habits can be more satisfactory than that of his librarian, Vespasiano, to the following purpose. The Duke was a ready Latin scholar, and extremely fond of ancient history. As a logician he had attained considerable aptitude, having studied Aristotle's Ethics along with Maestro Lazzaro, a famous theologian, who became Bishop of Urbino, discussing with him the most intricate passages. By the like process he mastered the Stagirite's politics, physics, and other treatises; and having acquired more philosophy than any contemporary prince, his thirst for new sources of knowledge induced him to devote himself to theology with equal zeal. The principal works of St. Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus were habitually read to him; he preferred the former as more clear, but admitted that the latter displayed more subtlety in argument. He was well acquainted with the Bible, as well as the commentaries of Saints Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory; also with the writings of the Greek fathers, such as Saints Basil, Chrysostom, Gregory Naziazen, Nicetas, Athanasius, and Cyril. Among the classic authors whom he was in the habit of reading or listening to were Livy, Sallust, Quintus Curtius, Justin, Caesar, Plutarch, AElius Spartianus, AEmylius Protus, Tacitus, Suetonius, Eusebius. All men of letters visiting Urbino were hospitably entertained, and several were always attached to his court. His largesses to such were at all times liberal. He spent above 1500 ducats in this way when at Florence, and remitted similar bounties to Rome and Naples. He gave 1000 ducats to the learned Campano, professor of belles-lettres at Perugia in 1455, who aided him in collecting ancient MSS., and became Bishop of Teramo.'[70]

FOOTNOTES:

[66] Dennistoun, Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, vol. i., p. 155.

[67] Ibid., vol. i., pp. 156-7.

[68] Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, vol. i., pp. 153-5.

[69] Ibid., vol. i., p. 154.



Pieresc.

'When any library was to be sold by public outcry, he took care to buy the best books, especially if they were of some neat edition that he did not already possess. He bound his books in red morocco, with his cypher or initials in gold. One binder always lived in the house, and sometimes several were employed at once "when the books came rolling in on every side."' 'Your house and library' (says the dedication of a book to Pieresc) 'are a firmament wherein the stars of learning shine; the desks are lit with starlight, and the books are in constellations, and you sit like the sun in the midst, embracing and giving light to them all.' 'The library is to be open to all the world without the exception of any living soul; readers were to be supplied with chairs and writing materials, and the attendants will fetch all books required in any language or department of learning, and will change them as often as is necessary.'[71]

* * * * *

'Bouchard states, in his funeral oration on Pieresc, "To this his shop and storehouse of wisdom and virtue, Peireskius did not only courteously admit all travellers, studious of art and learning, opening to them all the treasures of his library, but he would keep them there a long time, with free and liberal entertainment; and at their departure, would give them books, coins, and other things, which seemed most suitable to their studies; also he freely gave them at his own expense, whatever things they wanted, most liberally, even as to all other learned men, who were absent, and whose names he had only heard of; whatever he had among his books or relics of antiquity, which he thought might assist them in their writings, he would send it them of his own accord, not only without their desiring the same, but many times when they were ignorant of such things.'[72]

FOOTNOTES:

[70] Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, pp. 219, 220.

[71] Elton, Great Book Collectors, pp. 180-4.

[72] The Library, July, 1895.



Mr. Ruskin's Advice.

'I say first we have despised literature. What do we, as a nation, care about books? How much do you think we spend altogether on our libraries, public or private, as compared with what we spend on our horses? If a man spends lavishly on his library, you call him mad—a biblio-maniac. But you never call any one a horse maniac, though men ruin themselves every day by their horses, and you do not hear of people ruining themselves by their books. Or, to go lower still, how much do you think the bookshelves of the United Kingdom, public and private, would fetch, as compared with the contents of its wine-cellars? What position would its expenditure on literature take as compared with its expenditure on luxurious eating? We talk of food for the mind, as of food for the body: now a good book contains such food inexhaustibly; it is a provision for life, and for the best part of us; yet how long most people would look at the best book before they would give the price of a large turbot for it!'[73]

'It will be long yet before that comes to pass. Nevertheless, I hope it will not be long before royal or national libraries will be founded in every considerable city, with a royal series of books in them; the same series in every one of them, chosen books, the best in every kind, prepared for that national series in the most perfect way possible; their text printed all on leaves of equal size, broad of margin, and divided into pleasant volumes, light in the hand, beautiful and strong, and thorough as examples of binder's work.'[73]

'I could shape for you other plans, for art galleries and for natural history galleries, and for many precious, many, it seems to me, needful things; but this book plan is the easiest and needfullest, and would prove a considerable tonic to what we call our British constitution, which has fallen dropsical of late, and has an evil thirst, and evil hunger, and wants healthier feeding. You have got its Corn Laws repealed for it; try if you cannot get Corn Laws established for it dealing in a better bread—bread made of that old enchanted Arabian grain, the Sesame, which opens doors, doors, not of robbers', but of kings' treasuries.'[74]

* * * * *

'Whatever the hold which the aristocracy of England has on the heart of England, in that they are still always in front of her battles, this hold will not be enough, unless they are also in front of her thoughts.'[75]

* * * * *

'But it is not gold that you want to gather! What is it? Greenbacks? No; not those neither. What is it then—is it ciphers after a capital I? Cannot you practise writing ciphers, and write as many as you want? Write ciphers for an hour every morning, in a big book, and say every evening, I am worth all those noughts more than I was yesterday. Won't that do? Well, what in the name of Plutus is it you want? Not gold, not greenbacks, not ciphers after a capital I? You will have to answer after all, "No; we want, somehow or other, money's worth." Well, what is that? Let your Goddess of Getting-on discover it, and let her learn to stay therein.'[76]

* * * * *

'And the entire object of true education is to make people not merely do the right things, but enjoy the right things—not merely industrious, but to love industry—not merely learned, but to love knowledge—not merely pure, but to love purity—not merely just, but to hunger and thirst after justice.'[77]

FOOTNOTES:

[73] Sesame and Lilies.

[74] Sesame and Lilies.

[75] Crown of Wild Olive, p. 87.

[76] Ibid., p. 60.

[77] Ibid., p. 46.



INDEX

Abbotsford Library Catalogue, printed by Maitland Club, 80

Abbotsford Library, impressions of, 80

Accessions, on placing, 89

Acland, Sir H., the 'Radcliffe' bookcase, 113

Addison, Essay on 'My Lady's Library,' 50

Addison's picture of 'Tom Folio,' 79

Advertisements, which to distrust, 14

AElius, 148

AEmylius Protus, 148

Agabito, librarian to the Duke of Urbino, 119

Albemarle, Duke of, 78

Alberti, 142

Ambrose, St., 148

American tables, 104

Angelo, Michael, 142

Angling books, 10

Anonymous Literature, how to catalogue, 84, 85

Anthrenus varius, bookboring insect, 23

Apollo Library, 135

Appliances for the library, 103

Aquinas, St. Thomas, 148

Arcangelo, Don, 138

Archaic Dictionary, 44

Architecture, by Vitruvius, 119

Aristotle, Inspection of the works of, 147

Aristotle's Politics, 143

Athanasius, St., 148

Augustine, St., 148

Augustus, Emperor, author and booklover, 135

Austen, J., Northanger Abbey, 36

Author, the, 3

—— whims and fancies of, 3

Autograph letters, how to catalogue, 64

Bacon, Lord, 36

—— his retreat at Gorhambury, 107

Bacon's Natural History, 40

—— Organon, 74

Baker's Chronicle, 72

Baldi's description of a Florentine palace, 110, 146

Balfour, Mr., advice on reading, 27

Barclay, A., Ship of Fools, 76

Basil, St., 148

Beauchamp, Guy, earl of Warwick, Library of early romances, 71

Beauclerk, T., 79

—— Library of, in Great Russell Street, 107

Bedford, Duke of, and Charles V.'s Library, 71