Part 2 — Chapter III. (These four articles abrogated by the four articles following them, 118-122.) Article 118. The Federal Constitution may at any time be amended. (continued 100)

Count de Montalembert, The Monks of the West, book 18, chapter 4 (volume 6).

"It is in the great houses of the Benedictine Order that we find the largest libraries, such as in England at Bury St. Edmund's, Glastonbury, Peterborough, Heading, St. Alban's, and, above all, that of Christ Church in Canterbury, probably the earliest library formed in England. Among the other English monasteries of the libraries of which we still possess catalogues or other details, are St. Peter's at York, described in the eighth century by Alcuin, St. Cuthbert's at Durham, and St. Augustine's at Canterbury. At the dissolution of the monasteries their libraries were dispersed, and the basis of the great modern libraries is the volumes thus scattered over England. In general, the volumes were disposed much as now, that is to say, upright, and in large cases affixed to a wall, often with doors. The larger volumes at least were in many cases chained, so that they could only be used within about six feet of their proper place; and since the chain was always riveted on the fore-edge of one of the sides of a book, the back of the volume had to be thrust first into the shelf, leaving the front edge of the leaves exposed to view. Many old volumes bear a mark in ink on this front edge; and when this is the case, we may be sure that it was once chained in a library; and usually a little further investigation will disclose the mark of a rivet on one of the sides. Regulations were carefully made to prevent the mixture of different kinds of books, and their overcrowding or inconvenient position; while an organized system of lending was in vogue, by which at least once a year, and less formally at shorter intervals, the monks could change or renew the volumes already on loan. … Let us take an example of the arrangement of a monastic library of no special distinction in A. D. 1400,—that at Titchfield Abbey,—describing it in the words of the register of the monastery itself, only translating the Latin into English. {2008} 'The arrangement of the library of the monastery of Tychefeld is this:—There are in the library of Tychefeld four cases (columnae) in which to place books, of which two, the first and second, are on the eastern face; on the southern face is the third, and on the northern face the fourth. And each of them has eight shelves (gradus), marked with a letter and number affixed on the front of each shelf, that is to say, on the lower board of each of the aforesaid shelves; certain letters, however, are excepted, namely A, H, K, L, M, O, P, Q, which have no numbers affixed, because all the volumes to which one of those letters belongs are contained in the shelf to which that letter is assigned. [That is, the shelves with the letters A, H, K, etc., have a complete class of books in each, and in no case does that class overflow into a second shelf, so there was no need of marking these shelves with numbers as well as letters, in the way in which the rest were marked. Thus we should find 'B 1,' 'B 2,' 'B 3,' … 'B 7,' because B filled seven shelves; but 'A' only, because A filled one shelf alone.] So all and singular the volumes of the said library are fully marked on the first leaf and elsewhere on the shelf belonging to the book, with certain numbered letters. And in order that what is in the library may be more quickly found, the marking of the shelves of the said library, the inscriptions in the books, and the references in the register, in all points agree with each other. Anno Domini MCCCC.' … Titchfield Abbey was a Præmonstratensian house, founded in the thirteenth century, and never specially rich or prominent; yet we find it with a good library of sixty-eight books in theology, thirty-nine in Canon and Civil Law, twenty-nine in Medicine, thirty-seven in Arts, and in all three hundred and twenty-six volumes, many containing several treatises, so that the total number of works was considerably over a thousand."

F. Madan, Books in Manuscript, pp. 76-79.

LIBRARIES: Renaissance.

Italy.

On the revival of learning in Italy, "scarcity of books was at first a chief impediment to the study of antiquity. Popes and princes and even great religious institutions possessed far fewer books than many farmers of the present age. The library belonging to the Cathedral Church of S. Martino at Lucca in the ninth century contained only nineteen volumes of abridgements from ecclesiastical commentaries. The Cathedral of Novara in 1212 could boast copies of Boethius, Priscian, the Code of Justinian, the Decretals, and the Etymology of Isidorus, besides a Bible and some devotional treatises. This slender stock passed for great riches. Each of the precious volumes in such a collection was an epitome of mediæval art. Its pages were composed of fine vellum adorned with pictures. The initial letters displayed elaborate flourishes and exquisitely illuminated groups of figures. The scribe took pains to render his caligraphy perfect, and to ornament the margins with crimson, gold, and blue. Then he handed the parchment sheets to the binder, who encased them in rich settings of velvet or carved ivory and wood, embossed with gold and precious stones. The edges were gilt and stamped with patterns. The clasps were of wrought silver chased with niello. The price of such masterpieces was enormous. … Of these MSS. the greater part were manufactured in the cloisters, and it was here too that the martyrdom of ancient authors took place. Lucretius and Livy gave place to chronicles, antiphonaries, and homilies. Parchment was extremely dear, and the scrolls which nobody could read might be scraped and washed. Accordingly, the copyist erased the learning of the ancients, and filled the fair blank space he gained with litanies. At the same time it is but just to the monks to add that palimpsests have occasionally been found in which ecclesiastical works have yielded place to copies of the Latin poets used in elementary education. Another obstacle to the diffusion of learning was the incompetence of the copyists. It is true that at the great universities 'stationarii,' who supplied the text-books in use to students, were certified and subjected to the control of special censors called 'Preciani.' Yet their number was not large, and when they quitted the routine to which they were accustomed their incapacity betrayed itself by numerous errors. Petrarch's invective against the professional copyists shows the depth to which the art had sunk. 'Who,' he exclaims, 'will discover a cure for the ignorance and vile sloth of these copyists, who spoil everything and turn it to nonsense? If Cicero, Livy, and other illustrious ancients were to return to life, do you think they would understand their own works? There is no check upon these copyists, selected without examination or test of their capacity.' … At the same time the copyists formed a necessary and flourishing class of craftsmen. They were well paid. … Under these circumstances it was usual for even the most eminent scholars, like Petrarch, Boccaccio, and Poggio, to make their own copies of MSS. Niccolo de' Niccoli transcribed nearly the whole of the codices that formed the nucleus of the Library of the Mark. … It is clear that the first step toward the revival of learning implied three things: first, the collection of MSS. wherever they could be saved from the indolence of the monks; secondly, the formation of libraries for their preservation; and, thirdly, the invention of an art whereby they might be multiplied cheaply, conveniently, and accurately. The labour involved in the collection of classical manuscripts had to be performed by a few enthusiastic scholars, who received no help from the universities and their academical scribes, and who met with no sympathy in the monasteries they were bent on ransacking. … The monks performed at best the work of earthworms, who unwittingly preserve fragments of Greek architecture from corrosion by heaping mounds of mould and rubbish round them. Meanwhile the humanists went forth with the instinct of explorers to release the captives and awake the dead. From the convent libraries of Italy, from the museums of Constantinople, from the abbeys of Germany and Switzerland and France, the slumbering spirits of the ancients had to be evoked. … This work of discovery began with Petrarch. … It was carried on by Boccaccio. The account given by Benvenuto da Imola of Boccaccio's visit to Monte Cassino brings vividly before us both the ardour of these first explorers and the apathy of the Benedictines (who have sometimes been called the saviours of learning) with regard to the treasures of their own libraries. … {2009} 'Desirous of seeing the collection of books, which he understood to be a very choice one, he modestly asked a monk—for he was always most courteous in manners—to open the library, as a favour, for him. The monk answered stiffly, pointing to a steep staircase, "Go up; it is open." Boccaccio went up gladly; but he found that the place which held so great a treasure was without door or key. He entered, and saw grass sprouting on the windows, and all the books and benches thick with dust. In his astonishment he began to open and turn the leaves of first one tome and then another, and found many and divers volumes of ancient and foreign works. Some of them had lost several sheets; others were snipped and pared all round the text, and mutilated in various ways. At length, lamenting that the toil and study of so many illustrious men should have passed into the hands of most abandoned wretches, he departed with tears and sighs. Coming to the cloister, he asked a monk whom he met, why those valuable books had been so disgracefully mangled. He answered that the monks, seeking to gain a few soldi, were in the habit of cutting off sheets and making psalters, which they sold to boys. The margins too they manufactured into charms, and sold to women.' … What Italy contained of ancient codices soon saw the light. The visit of Poggio Bracciolini to Constance (1414) opened up for Italian scholars the stores that lay neglected in transalpine monasteries. … The treasures he unearthed at Reichenau, Weingarten, and above all S. Gallen, restored to Italy many lost masterpieces of Latin literature, and supplied students with full texts of authors who had hitherto been known in mutilated copies. The account he gave of his visit to S. Gallen in a Latin letter to a friend is justly celebrated. … 'In the middle [he says] of a well-stocked library, too large to catalogue at present, we discovered Quintilian, safe as yet and sound, though covered with dust and filthy with neglect and age. The books, you must know, were not housed according to their worth, but were lying in a most foul and obscure dungeon at the very bottom of a tower, a place into which condemned criminals would hardly have been thrust; and I am firmly persuaded that if anyone would but explore those ergastula of the barbarians wherein they incarcerate such men, we should meet with like good fortune in the case of many whose funeral orations have long ago been pronounced. Besides Quintilian, we exhumed the three first books and a half of the fourth book of the Argonautica of Flaccus, and the Commentaries of Asconius Pedianus upon eight orations of Cicero.' … 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."

J. A. Symonds, Renaissance in Italy: The Revival of Learning, chapter 3.

LIBRARIES: Modern. Europe: Rise and growth of the greater Libraries.

In a work entitled "Essai Statistique sur les Bibliothèques de Vienne," published in 1835, M. Adrien Balbi entered into an examination of the literary and numerical value of the principal libraries of ancient and modern times. M. Balbi, in this work, shows that "the Imperial Library of Vienna, regularly increasing from the epoch of its formation, by means equally honorable to the sovereign and to the nation, held, until the French revolution, the first place among the libraries of Europe. Since that period, several other institutions have risen to a much higher numerical rank. … No one of the libraries of the first class, now in existence, dates beyond the fifteenth century. The Vatican, the origin of which has been frequently carried back to the days of St. Hilarius, in 465, cannot, with any propriety, be said to have deserved the name of library before the reign of Martin the Fifth, by whose order it was removed from Avignon to Rome in 1417. And even then, a strict attention to the force of the term would require us to withhold from it this title, until the period of its final organization by Nicholas the Fifth, in 1447. It is difficult to speak with certainty concerning the libraries, whether public or private, which are supposed to have existed previous to the fifteenth century, both on account of the doubtful authority and indefiniteness of the passages in which they are mentioned, and the custom which so readily obtained, in those dark ages, of dignifying every petty collection with the name of library. But many libraries of the fifteenth century being still in existence, and others having been preserved long enough to make them the subject of historical inquiry before their dissolution, it becomes easier to fix, with satisfactory accuracy, the date of their foundation. We find accordingly, that, including the Vatican, and the libraries of Vienna, Ratisbon, and the Laurentian of Florence, which are a few years anterior to it, no less than ten were formed between the years 1430 and 1500. The increase of European libraries has generally been slowly progressive, although there have been periods of sudden augmentation in nearly all. Most of them began with a small number of manuscripts, sometimes with a few printed volumes, and often without any. To these, gradual accessions were made, from the different sources, which have always been more or less at the command of the sovereigns and nobles of Europe. In 1455, the Vatican contained 5,000 manuscripts. … Far different was the progress of the Royal Library of Paris. The origin of this institution is placed in the year 1595, the date of its removal from Fontainebleau to Paris by order of Henry the Fourth. In 1660, it contained but 1,435 printed volumes. In the course of the following year, this number was raised to 16,746, both printed volumes and manuscripts. During the ensuing eight years the library was nearly doubled; and before the close of the next century, it was supposed to have been augmented by upwards of 100,000 volumes more."

G. W. Greene, Historical Studies, pages 278-281.

"The oldest of the great libraries of printed books is probably that of Vienna, which dates from 1440, and is said to have been opened to the public as early as 1575. The Town Library of Ratisbon dates from 1430; St. Mark's Library at Venice, from 1468; the Town Library of Frankfort, from 1484; that of Hamburg, from 1529; of Strasburg, from 1531; of Augsburg, from 1537; those of Berne and Geneva, from 1550; that of Basel, from 1564. The Royal Library of Copenhagen was founded about 1550. In 1671 it possessed 10,000 volumes; in 1748, about 65,000; in 1778, 100,000; in 1820, 300,000; and it now contains 410,000 volumes. The National Library of Paris was founded in 1595, but was not made public until 1737. In 1640 it contained about 17,000 volumes; in 1684, 50,000; in 1775, 150,000; in 1790, 200,000."

E. Edwards, A Statistical View of the Principal Public Libraries in Europe and the United States Of America, (Journal of the Statistical Society, August., 1848).

{2010}

LIBRARIES: Modern. Germany.

According to "Minerva" (the "Year-book of the Learned World"), for 1893-94, the Royal Library at Berlin contains 850,000 printed books and 24,622 manuscripts; the Münich University Library, 370,000 books and 50,000 pamphlets, including 2,101 incunabula; the Leipsic University Library, 500,000 printed books, and 4,000 manuscripts; Heidelberg University Library, 400,000 bound volumes (including 1,000 incunabula), and 175,000 pamphlets and "dissertationen," with a large collection of manuscripts; Dresden Royal Public Library, 300,000 printed books (including 2,000 incunabula), 6,000 manuscripts, and 20,000 maps; Freiburg University Library, 250,000 volumes and over 500 manuscripts; Königsberg University Library, 220,000 volumes and 1,100 manuscripts; Tübingen University Library, 300,000 volumes and 3,500 manuscripts; Jena University Library, 200,000 volumes and 100,000 "dissertationen"; Halle University Library, 182,000 books and 800 manuscripts, besides 12,800 books, 35,000 pamphlets and 1,040 manuscripts in the Ponickausche Bibliothek, which is united with the University Library; Hamburg City Library, about 500,000 printed books and 5,000 manuscripts; Frankfort City Library (April, 1893), 326,139 volumes; Cologne City Library, 105,000 volumes, including 2,000 incunabula; Augsburg City and Provincial Library, about 200,000 volumes (including 1,760 incunabula) and 2,000 manuscripts; Göttingen University Library, 456,000 volumes of books and 5,300 manuscripts; Gotha Public Library, 200,000 printed books, including 1,029 incunabula, and 7,037 manuscripts, of which 3,500 are oriental; Greifswald University Library, 143 volumes of printed books and about 800 manuscripts; Bamberg Royal Public Library, 300,000 volumes, 3,132 manuscripts; Berlin University Library, 142,129 volumes; Bonn University Library, 219,000 volumes, including 1,235 incunabula, and 1,273 manuscripts; Bremen City Library, 120,000 volumes; Breslau University Library, 300,000 volumes, including about 2,500 incunabula, and about 3,000 manuscripts; Breslau City Library, 150,000 volumes and 3,000 manuscripts; Erlangen University Library, 180,000 volumes; Hanover Royal Public Library, 180,000 books and 3,500 manuscripts; Hanover City Library, 47,000 volumes; Carlsruhe Grand-ducal Library, 159,842 books and 3,754 manuscripts; Kiel University Library, 217,039 volumes, 2,375 manuscripts; Colmar City Library, 80,000 volumes; Marburg University Library, 150,000 volumes; Strasburg University Library, 700,000 volumes; Strasburg City Library, 90,000 volumes; Weimar Grand-ducal Library, 223,000 volumes and 2,000 manuscripts; Würzburg University Library, 300,000 volumes.

Minerva, 1893-94.

"The Munich library, … in matter of administration, resembles the British Museum. Here one finds carefully catalogued that great wealth of material that appears only in doctorate theses, and for this reason is most valuable to the historic student. No tedious formalities are insisted upon, and orders for books are not subjected to long delays. The Vienna library moves slowly, as though its machinery were retarded by the weight of its royal imperial name. The catalogue is not accessible, the attendants are not anxious to please, and the worker feels no special affection for the institution. But at the royal library of Berlin there exists an opposite state of affairs—with the catalogue at hand one can readily give the information needful in filling up the call card. This being a lending library, one occasionally meets with disappointment, but, as the privilege of borrowing is easily had, this feature can have a compensatory side. The most marked peculiarity found here is the periodic delivery of books. All books ordered before nine o'clock are delivered at eleven; those before eleven, at one; those before one, at three; and those after three are delivered the same day if possible. This causes some delay, but as soon as the rule is known it has no drawback for the continuous user, and for the benefit of one who wants only a single order there is placed at the outer door of the building a box into which one can deposit the call card, and returning at the proper time find the book waiting in the reading room above. This saves the climbing of many steps, and enables one to perform other duties between ordering and receiving. As far as I know, here alone does one purchase the call cards, but as the price is only twenty cents per hundred the cost is not an important item."

J. H. Gore, Library Facilities for Study in Europe (Educational Review, June, 1893).

In Berlin, "the report of the city government for 1889-00 reckons 25 public free libraries; 334,837 books were read by 14,900 persons, i. e., 17,219 volumes less than last year. The expenses were 26,490 marks, the allowance from the city treasury 23,400 marks [less than $6,000]."

The Library Journal, May, 1892.

LIBRARIES: France: The Bibliothèque Nationale.

"The history of the vast collection of books which is now, after many wanderings, definitely located in the Rue de Richelieu, divides itself naturally into three periods, which, for the sake of convenience, may well be called by three of the names under which the Library has, at different times, been known. The first period is that in which the Library was nothing more than the private collection of each successive sovereign of France, which sometimes accompanied him in his journeys, and but too often, as in the case of King John, or that of Charles VII., shared in his misfortunes; it was then fitly called the 'Bibliothèque du Roi.' This period may be considered as ending in the time of Henry IV., who transferred the royal collection from Fontainebleau to Paris, and gave it a temporary home in the College de Clermont. Although its abode has often been changed since, it has never again been attached to a royal palace, or been removed from the capital. The second period dates from this act of Henry the Fourth's, and extends down to the Revolution of 1780, during which time the Library, although open with but slight restrictions to all men of letters who were well recommended, and to the general public for two days a week, from the year 1692, was not regarded as national property, but as an appendage of the Crown, which was indeed graciously opened to the learned, but was only national property in the same sense that the Queen's private library at Windsor is national property. {2011} Although still called the Bibliothèque du Roi during this period, it may well be here spoken of, for the sake of distinction, as the Bibliothèque Royale down to the Revolution. In 1791, the King's library was proclaimed national property, and it was decreed that it should henceforth be called 'Bibliothèque Nationale,' which name it bore till the coronation of Napoleon as Emperor of the French, in 1805, when it was styled 'Bibliothèque Impériale.' Of course it was Bibliothèque Royale again in 1815, 'Nationale' in 1848, and once again, in 1852, was declared to be the 'Bibliothèque Impériale.'"

Imperial Library of Paris (Westminster Review, April, 1870).

After the fall of the Second Empire, the great library again became "Nationale" in name. According to a report made in the spring of 1894, the Bibliothèque Nationale of France contained, at the end of the previous year, 1,934,154 "'numbers,' forming at least 2,600,000 volumes." This report was made by a committee of twenty persons, appointed to consider the advisability and method of printing the catalogue of the library. The conclusions of the committee are favorable to the printing of the catalogue.

The Nation, May 17, 1894.

Books come to the National Library "in three ways: from (1) gifts, about 3,000 a year; … (2) purchase, 4,500 (the library has $20,000 a year to spend on books and binding); (3) copyright, 22,000 articles and 6,000 pieces of music. The printer, not the publisher, is bound to make the deposit, so that if the text and the illustrations are printed at different places there is a chance, unless everyone is careful, that the library will have an imperfect copy. But the greatest trouble comes from periodicals, of which the Bibliothèque Nationale receives 3,000. What would some of our librarians think of this who are inclined to boast or to lament that they receive 300? Every number of every newspaper in France must be received, sent for if it fails to come, registered, put on its pile, and at the end of the year tied up in a bundle and put away (for only the most important are bound). … The titles of new books are printed in a bulletin in two series, French and Foreign (causing a printer's bill of 5,000 francs a year). This began in 1875 for the foreign, and in 1882 for the French. These bulletins are cut up and the titles mounted on slips, which are fastened in a Leyden binder, three making a small folio page. The result is a series of 900 volumes, less easy to consult than a good card catalog, very much less easy than the British Museum pasted catalog, the Rudolph books, or the Rudolph machine. … The books received at the Bibliothèque Nationale before 1875 and 1882 are entered on some 2,000,000 slips, which are divided between two catalogs, that of the old library ('fonds ancien'), and of the intermediate library ('fonds intermédiarie'). In each of these catalogs they are arranged in series according to the subject divisions given above and under each subject alphabetically. There is no author catalog and the public are not allowed to consult these catalogs. If then a reader asks for a work received before 1875 the attendant guesses in which 'fonds' it is and what subject it treats of; if he does not find it where he looks first he tries some other division. No wonder it takes on an average half an hour for the reader to get his book. I must bear witness to the great skill which necessity has developed in the officials charged with this work. Some of their successes in bringing me out-of-the-way books were marvellous. On the other hand, when they reported certain works not in the library I did not feel at all sure that they were right, and I dare say they doubted themselves. All this will be changed when the library gets a printed alphabetical catalog of authors and has made from it a pasted alphabetical catalog of subjects. The author catalog, by the way, is expected to fill 40,000 double-columned quarto pages. … The library now has 50 kilometres (31 miles) of shelves and is full. A new store-house is needed and a public reading room ('salle de lecture'), which can be lighted by electricity, and be opened, like the British Museum, in the evening."

C. A. Cutter, Notes on the Bibliothèque Nationale (Library Journal, June, 1894).

LIBRARIES: France: Paris Municipal Libraries.

"The Bibliothèques Municipales de Paris have undergone a rapid development within the last few years. In 1878 there were only nine altogether, of which five were little used, and four practically unused. A special Bureau was then appointed by the Municipal Council to take charge of them, with the result that altogether 22 libraries have been opened, while the number of volumes lent rose from 29,339 in 1878 to 57,840 in 1879, to 147,567 in 1880, to 242,738 in 1881, and to 363,322 in 1882. … A sum of 3,050 francs is placed at the disposal of each library by the Municipal Council, which is thus appropriated; Books and Binding, Fr. 1,750; Librarian, 1,000; Attendant, 300. The amount of the sums thus voted by the Municipal Council in the year 1883 was 110,150 fr. For the year of 1884 the sum of 171,700 fr. has been voted, the increase being intended to provide for the establishment of fifteen new libraries in Communal Schools, as well as for the growing requirements of some of the libraries already established. The individual libraries are not, of course, as yet very considerable in point of numbers. The stock possessed by the twenty-two Bibliothèques Municipales in 1882 was 87,831 volumes, of which 20,411 had been added during that year. Information received since the publication of M. Dardenne's Report places the number in 1883 at 98,843 volumes. … The libraries are open to the public gratuitously every evening from 8 to 10 o'clock, and are closed on five days only during the whole year. Books may be read in the library or are lent out for home use. … Music is lent as well as books, the experiment having been first tried at the Mairie of the second arrondissement, in 1879, and having proved so successful that nine arrondissements have followed suit, and the total number of musical issues from the ten libraries in 1882 was 9,085. … Beside these libraries under the direction of the Mairies, there are a certain number of popular free libraries established and supported by voluntary efforts. Without dwelling upon the history of these libraries, all of which have been formed since 1860, it may be stated that there are now fourteen such libraries in as many arrondissements."

E. C. Thomas, The Popular Libraries of Paris (Library Chronicle, volume 1, 1884, pages 13-14).

{2012}

"The Journal Officiel' contains in the number for August 29, of this year (1891), the substance of the following account: … The city of Paris has now 64 public libraries, all of which send out books and accommodate readers in their halls; they are open at the times when the factories and shops are closed. … The libraries are kept in the mayoralty buildings or ward district school-houses; a central office provides for the administration and support, while in each precinct a committee of superintendence attends to the choice and ordering of new accessions. All expenses are paid by the city, which, in its last budget, in 1890, appropriated therefor the trifle of 225,000 francs. On every library in full use are bestowed yearly about 2,400 francs, while 14,000 francs are employed in founding new ones. The number of books circulated in 1890 was 1,386,642, against 29,339 in 1878, in the nine libraries then existing. In 1878 there was an average of only 3,259 readers for each library, and in the last year the average was 23,500, which shows a seven-fold use of the libraries."

Public Libraries in Paris; translated from the Börsenblatt, October 7, 1891 (Library Journal, May, 1892).

LIBRARIES: France: Other Libraries.

A library of importance in Paris second only to the great National is the Mazarin, which contains 300,000 volumes (1,000 incunabula), and 5,800 manuscripts. The Library of the University has 141,678 volumes; the Library of the Museum of Natural History has 140,850 books and 2,050 manuscripts; the Sainte-Genevieve Library contains 120,000 volumes and 2,392 manuscripts; the Library of the City of Paris, 90,000 volumes and 2,000 manuscripts. The principal libraries of the provincial cities are reported as follows: Caen Municipal Library, 100,000 volumes, 620 manuscripts; Dijon Municipal Library, 100,000 volumes, 1,558 manuscripts; Marseilles City Library, 102,000 volumes, 1,656 manuscripts; Montpelier City Library, 120,000 volumes; Nantes City Library, 102,172 volumes, 2,231 manuscripts; Rheims Library, 100,000 books and 1,700 manuscripts; Lyons City Library and Library of the Palace of Arts, 160,000 volumes and 1,900 manuscripts; Toulouse City Library, 100,000 volumes and 950 manuscripts; Rouen City Library, 132,000 printed books and 3,800 manuscripts; Avignon, 117,000 volumes and 3,300 manuscripts; Bordeaux, 160,000 volumes, 1,500 manuscripts; Tours, 100,000 volumes and 1,743 manuscripts; Amiens, 80,000 volumes, 1,500 manuscripts; Besançon, 140,000 volumes and 1,850 manuscripts.

Minerva, 1893-94.

LIBRARIES: Italy.

"There are in Italy between thirty and forty libraries which the present National Government, in recognition of former Governmental support, is committed to maintain, at least in some degree. It is a division of resources which even a rich country would find an impediment in developing a proper National Library, and Italy, with its over-burdened Treasury, is far from being in a position to offer the world a single library of the first class. … Italy, to build up a library which shall rank with the great national libraries of the future, will need to concentrate her resources; for though she has libraries now which are rich in manuscripts, she has not one which is able to meet the great demands of modern scholarship for printed books. … If with this want of fecundity there went a corresponding slothfulness in libraries, there would be little to be hoped of Italy in amassing great collections of books. In some respects I have found a more active bibliothecal spirit in Italy than elsewhere in Europe, and I suspect that if Italian unification has accomplished nothing else, it has unshackled the minds of librarians, and placed them more in sympathy with the modern gospel which makes a library more the servant than the master of its users. I suspect this is not, as a rule, the case in Germany. … I have certainly found in Italian librarians a great alertness of mind and a marked eagerness to observe the advances in library methods which have taken place elsewhere during the last five and twenty years. But at the same time, with all this activity, the miserable bureaucratic methods of which even the chance stranger sees so much in Italy, are allowed to embarrass the efforts of her best librarians. … In the present condition of Italian finances nothing adequate to the needs of the larger libraries can be allowed, and the wonder is that so much is done as is apparent; and it is doubtless owing to the great force of character which I find in some of the leading librarians that any progress is made at all. During the years when the new Italian kingdom had its capital in Florence a certain amount of concentration started the new Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale on its career; and when later the Government was transferred to Rome, the new capital was given another library, got together in a similar way, which is called the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele. Neither collection is housed in any way suited to its functions, and the one at Florence is much the most important; indeed it is marvellously rich in early printed books and in manuscripts."

J. Winsor, The condition of Italian Libraries (The Nation, July 9, 1891).

LIBRARIES: The Vatican Library.

"Even so inveterate a hater of literature as the Calif, who conquered Alexandria and gave its precious volumes to the flames, would have appreciated such a library as the Vatican. Not a book is to be seen—not a shelf is visible, and there is nothing to inform the visitor that he is in the most famous library in the world. … The eye is bewildered by innumerable busts, statues, and columns. The walls are gay with brilliant arabesques, and the visitor passes through lofty corridors and along splendid galleries, finding in every direction something to please and interest him. … The printed books number about 125,000 volumes and there are about 25,000 manuscripts. The books and manuscripts are enclosed in low wooden cases around the walls of the various apartments, the cases are painted in white and gold colors, and thus harmonize with the gay appearance of the walls and ceilings. … The honor of founding the Vatican Library belongs to Pope Nicholas V., who, in 1447, transferred to the Palace of the Vatican the manuscripts which had been collected in the Lateran. At his death the library contained 9,000 manuscripts, but many of them were dispersed under his successor, Calixtus III. Sixtus IV. was very active in restoring and increasing the library. In 1588, the present library building was erected by Sixtus V., to receive the immense collection obtained by Leo X. In the year 1600 the value of the library was greatly augmented by the acquisition of the collection of Fulvius Ursinus and the valuable manuscripts from the Benedictine Monastery of Bobbio, composed chiefly of palimpsests. … {2013} The next acquisition was the Library of the Elector Palatine, captured in 1621, at Heidelberg, by De Tilley, who presented it to Gregory XV. It numbered 2,388 manuscripts, 1,956 in Latin, and 432 in Greek. In 1658 the Library founded by Duke Federigo de Urbino—1,711 Greek and Latin manuscripts—was added to the valuable collection. One of the most valuable accessions was the collection of Queen Christina of Sweden, containing all the literary works which her father, Gustavus Adolphus, had captured at Prague, Bremen, etc., amounting to 2,291 manuscripts, Greek and Latin. In 1746 the magnificent library of the Ottobuoni family, containing 3,862 Greek and Latin manuscripts, enriched the Vatican collection. After the downfall of Napoleon and the restoration of the peace of Europe in 1815, the King of Prussia, at the suggestion of Humboldt, applied to Pope Pius VII for the restoration of some of the manuscripts which De Tilley had plundered from the Heidelberg Library. The Pope, mindful of the prominent part taken by Prussia in the restoration of the Papal See, immediately complied with the royal request, and many manuscripts of great value to the German historians were sent back to Germany."

E. L. Didier, The Vatican Library (Literary World, June 28, 1884).

The following recent statistics of other Italian libraries are from "Minerva," 1893-94: Florence National Central Library, 422,183 printed books, 398,845 pamphlets and 17,386 manuscripts; Rome, National Central Library of Victor Emmanuel, 241,978 books, 130,728 pamphlets, 4,676 manuscripts; Naples University Library, 181,072 printed books, 43,453 pamphlets, and 109 manuscripts; Bologna University Library, 251,700 books, 43,633 pamphlets and 5,000 manuscripts; Pavia University Library, 136,000 books, 80,000 pamphlets and 1,100 manuscripts; Turin National Library, 196,279 printed books and 4,119 manuscripts; Venice, National Library of St. Mark, 401,652 printed and bound books, 80,450 pamphlets, and 12,016 manuscripts; Pisa University Library, 108,188 books, 22,960 pamphlets and 274 manuscripts; Genoa University Library, 106,693 books, 46,231 pamphlets, and 1,586 manuscripts; Modena, the Este Library, 123,300 volumes, and 5,000 manuscripts; Padua University Library, 135,837 volumes, 2,326 manuscripts, and 63,849 pamphlets, etc.; Palermo National Library, 177,892 volumes and pamphlets, and 1,527 manuscripts; Palermo Communal Library, 209,000 books, 16,000 pamphlets, etc., 3,000 manuscripts; Parma Palatine Library, 250,000 books, 20,313 pamphlets, etc., 4,769 manuscripts; Siena Communal Library 67,966 volumes, 26,968 pamphlets, 4,890 manuscripts.

LIBRARIES: Austria-Hungary.

The principal libraries in the Empire are reported to contain as follows: Vienna University Library, 416,608 volumes, 373 incunabula, 498 manuscripts; Vienna Imperial and Royal Court Library, 500,000 volumes, 6,461 incunabula, and 20,000 manuscripts; Budapest University Library, 200,000 volumes, 1,000 manuscripts; Hungarian National Museum, 400,000 volumes and 63,000 manuscripts, mostly Hungarian; Czernowitz University Library, 64,586 volumes and over 30,000 pamphlets, etc.; Graz University 131,397 volumes of books and 1,708 manuscripts; Innspruck University Library, 135,000 printed books, including 1,653 incunabula, and 1,046 manuscripts; Cracow University Library, 283,858 volumes and 5,150 manuscripts; Lemberg University Library, 120,900 volumes; Prague University Library, 211,131 volumes, 3,848 manuscripts.

Minerva, 1893-94.

LIBRARIES: Switzerland.

The principal libraries of Switzerland are the following: Basle Public Library, 170,000 volumes of printed books and about 5,000 manuscripts; Berne City Library, 80,000 volumes and a valuable manuscript collection; Berne University Library, 35,000 volumes; St. Gall "Stiftsbibliothek," about 40,000 volumes, including l,584 incunabula, and 1,730 manuscripts; Lucerne Cantonal Library, 80,000 volumes; Zurich City Library, 130,000 volumes.

Minerva, 1893-94.

LIBRARIES: Holland.

The following statistics of libraries in Holland are given in the German handbook, "Minerva," 1893-94: Leyden University Library, 190,000 volumes of printed books and 5,400 manuscripts, of which latter 2,400 are oriental; Utrecht University Library, 200,000 volumes, besides pamphlets; Groningen University Library, 70,000 volumes.

LIBRARIES: Belgium.

Brussels Royal Library, 375,000 volumes, and 27,000 manuscripts; Ghent, Library of the City and University of Gand, 300,000 volumes.

LIBRARIES: Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

The principal libraries of the Scandinavian kingdoms contain as follows: Christiania University Library, 312,000 volumes; Gothenburg City Library, about 60,000 volumes; Copenhagen University Library 300,000 books and 5,000 manuscripts; Lund University Library, 150,000 volumes; Stockholm Royal Library, 300,000 printed books and 11,000 manuscripts; Upsala University Library, 275,000 volumes and 11,000 manuscripts.

Minerva, 1893-94.

LIBRARIES: Spain.

The principal libraries in Spain are the following: Barcelona Provincial and University Library, 54,000 volumes; Madrid University Library, 200,761 volumes and 3,000 manuscripts; Madrid National Library, 450,000 volumes and 10,000 manuscripts; Salamanca University Library, 72,000 volumes and 870 manuscripts; Seville University Library, 62,000 volumes; Valencia University Library, 45,000 volumes; Valladolid University Library, 32,000 volumes.

Minerva, 1893-94.

LIBRARIES: Russia.

"The most notable [Russian] libraries are those founded by the government. Of these, two deserve special attention: the library of the Academy of Sciences and the Imperial Public Library in St. Petersburg. Books taken by the Russian armies from the Baltic provinces at the beginning of the eighteenth century formed the foundation of the first. The Imperial Library was the result of the Russian capture of Warsaw. Count Joseph Zalussky, bishop of Kiev, spent forty-three years collecting a rich library of 300,000 volumes and 10,000 manuscripts, devoting all his wealth to the purchase of books. His brother Andrew further enriched the library with volumes taken from the museum of the Polish king, John III. In 1747 Joseph Zalussky opened the library to the public, and in 1761 bequeathed it to a college of Jesuits in Warsaw. Six years later (1767) Zalussky was arrested and his library removed to St. Petersburg. The transfer took place in bad weather and over poor roads, so that many books were injured and many lost in transit. When the library reached St. Petersburg it numbered 262,640 volumes and 24,500 estampes. Many had been stolen during the journey, and years later there were to be found in Poland books bearing the signature of Zalussky. {2014} To the Imperial Library Alexander I. added, in 1805, the Dubrovsky collection. … Dubrovsky gathered his collection during a twenty-five years' residence in Paris, Rome, Madrid, and other large cities of Europe. He acquired many during the French revolution. … The Imperial Library possesses many palimpsests, Greek manuscripts of the second century, … besides Slavonian, Latin, French, and Oriental manuscripts. … The library is constantly growing, about 25,000 volumes being added every year. In income, size, and number of readers it vastly surpasses all private libraries in Russia, the largest of which does not exceed 25,000 volumes. In later years the village schools began to open libraries for limited circles of readers. Small libraries were successfully maintained in cities and the demand for good reading steadily increased among the people."

A. V. Babine, Libraries in Russia, (Library Journal, March, 1893).

The principal libraries of Russia reported in the German yearbook "Minerva" 1893-94 are the following: Charkow University Library, 123,000 volumes; Dorpat University Library, 170,000 volumes, and 104,700 dissertationen; Helsingfors University Library 170,000 volumes; Kasan University Library, 100,000 volumes; Kiev University Library, 118,000 volumes; Moscow University Library, 217,000 volumes; Odessa University Library, 102,000 volumes; St. Petersburg University Library, 215,700 volumes; St. Petersburg Imperial Public Library, 1,050,000 volumes, 28,000 manuscripts.

LIBRARIES: England: The King's Library and the British Museum.

"No monarch of England is known to have been an extensive collector of books (in the modern acceptation of the term) except George III., or, if the name of Charles I. should be added, it must be in a secondary rank, and with some uncertainty, because we have not the same evidence of his collection of books as we have of his pictures, in the catalogue which exists of them. A royal library had, indeed, been established in the reign of Henry VII.; it was increased, as noticed by Walpole, by many presents from abroad, made to our monarchs after the restoration of learning and the invention of printing; and naturally received accessions in every subsequent reign, if it were only from the various presents by which authors desired to show their respect or to solicit patronage, as well as from the custom of making new year's gifts, which were often books. There were also added to it the entire libraries of Lord Lumley (including those of Henry, Earl of Arundel, and Archbishop Cranmer), of the celebrated Casaubon, of Sir John Morris, and the Oriental MSS. of Sir Thomas Roe. Whilst this collection remained at St. James's Palace, the number of books amassed in each reign could have been easily distinguished, as they were classed and arranged under the names of the respective sovereigns. In 1759 King George II. transferred the whole, by letters patent, to the then newly-formed establishment of the British Museum; the arrangement under reigns was some time after departed from, and the several royal collections interspersed with the other books obtained from Sir Hans Sloane, Major Edwards, and various other sources. … George III., on his accession to the crown, thus found the apartments which had formerly contained the library of the Kings of England vacated by their ancient tenants. … Sir F. A. Barnard states that 'to create an establishment so necessary and important, and to attach it to the royal residence, was one of the earliest objects which engaged his majesty's attention at the commencement of his reign;' and he adds that the library of Joseph Smith, Esq., the British Consul at Venice, which was purchased in 1762, 'became the foundation of the present Royal Library.' Consul Smith's collection was already well known, from a catalogue which had been printed at Venice in 1755, to be eminently rich in the earliest editions of the classics, and in Italian literature.' Its purchase was effected for about £10,000, and it was brought direct to some apartments at the Queen's Palace commonly called Buckingham House. Here the subsequent collections were amassed; and here, after they had outgrown the rooms at first appropriated to them, the King erected two large additional libraries, one of which was a handsome octagon. Latterly the books occupied no less than seven apartments. … Early in the year 1823, it was made known to the public that King George IV. had presented the Royal Library to the British nation. … Shortly after, the Chancellor of the Exchequer stated in the House of Commons that it was his majesty's wish that the library should be placed in the British Museum, but in a separate apartment from the Museum Library."

Gentleman's Magazine, 1834, pages 16-22.

"In the chief countries of the Continent of Europe … great national Museums have, commonly, had their origin in the liberality and wise foresight either of some sovereign or other, or of some powerful minister whose mind was large enough to combine with the cares of State a care for Learning. In Britain, our chief public collection of literature and of science originated simply in the public spirit of private persons. The British Museum was founded precisely at that period of our history when the distinctively national, or governmental, care for the interests of literature and of science was at its lowest, or almost its lowest, point. As regards the monarchs, it would be hard to fix on any, since the dawn of the Revival of Learning, who evinced less concern for the progress and diffusion of learning than did the first and second princes of the House of Hanover. As regards Parliament, the tardy and languid acceptance of the boon proffered, posthumously, by Sir Hans Sloane, constitutes just the one exceptional act of encouragement that serves to give saliency to the utter indifference which formed the ordinary rule. Long before Sloane's time … there had been zealous and repeated efforts to arouse the attention of the Government as well to the political importance as to the educational value of public museums. Many thinkers had already perceived that such collections were a positive increase of public wealth and of national greatness, as well as a powerful instrument of popular education. It had been shewn, over and over again, that for lack of public care precious monuments and treasures of learning had been lost; sometimes by their removal to far-off countries; sometimes by their utter destruction. Until the appeal made to Parliament by the Executors of Sir Hans Sloane, in the middle of the eighteenth century, all those efforts had uniformly failed. But Sir Hans Sloane cannot claim to be regarded, individually or very specially, as the Founder of the British Museum. His last Will, indeed, gave an opportunity for the foundation. {2015} Strictly speaking, he was not even the Founder of his own Collection, as it stood in his lifetime. The Founder of the Sloane Museum was William Courten, the last of a line of wealthy Flemish refugees, whose history, in their adopted country, is a series of romantic adventures. Parliament had previously accepted the gift of the Cottonian Library, at the hands of Sir John Cotton, third in descent from its Founder, and its acceptance of that gift had been followed by almost unbroken neglect, although the gift was a noble one. Sir John, when conversing, on one occasion, with Thomas Carte, told the historian that he had been offered £60,000 of English money, together with a carte blanche for some honorary mark of royal favour, on the part of Lewis XIV., for the Library which he afterwards settled upon the British nation. It has been estimated that Sloane expended (from first to last) upon his various collections about £50,000; so that even from the mercantile point of view, the Cotton family may be said to have been larger voluntary contributors towards our eventual National Museum than was Sir Hans Sloane himself. That point of view, however, would be a very false, because very narrow, one. Whether estimated by mere money value, or by a truer standard, the third, in order of time, of the Foundation-Collections,—that of the 'Harleian Manuscripts,'—was a much less important acquisition for the Nation than was the Museum of Sloane, or the Library of Cotton; but its literary value, as all students of our history and literature know, is, nevertheless, considerable. Its first Collector, Robert Harley, the Minister of Queen Anne and the first of the Harleian Earls of Oxford, is fairly entitled to rank, after Cotton, Courten, and Sloane, among the virtual or eventual co-founders of the British Museum. Chronologically, then, Sir Robert Cotton, William Courten, Hans Sloane, and Robert Harley, rank first as Founders; so long as we estimate their relative position in accordance with the successive steps by which the British Museum was eventually organized. But there is another synchronism by which greater accuracy is attainable. Although four years had elapsed between the passing—in 1753—of 'An Act for the purchase of the Museum or Collection of Sir Hans Sloane, and of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts, and for providing one general repository for the better reception and more convenient use of the said Collections, and of the Cottonian Library and of the additions thereto,' and the gift—in 1757—to the Trustees of those already united Collections by King George II. of the Old Royal Library of the Kings his predecessors, yet that royal collection itself had been (in a restricted sense of the words) a Public and National possession soon after the days of the first real and central Founder of the present Museum, Sir Robert Cotton. But, despite its title, that Royal Library, also, was—in the main—the creation of subjects, not of Sovereigns or Governments. Its virtual founder Was Henry, prince of Wales [son of James I.]. It was acquired, out of his privy purse, as a subject, not as a Prince. He, therefore, has a title to be placed among the individual Collectors whose united efforts resulted—after long intervals of time—in the creation, eventually, of a public institution second to none, of its kind, in the world."

E. Edwards, Founders of the British Museum, book 1, chapter 1.

"Montague House was purchased by the Trustees in 1754 for a general repository, and the collections were removed to it. … On the 15th of January, 1750, the British Museum was opened for the inspection and use of the public. At first the Museum was divided into three departments, viz., Printed Books, Manuscripts, and Natural History; at the head of each of them was placed an officer designated as 'Under Librarian.' The increase of the collections soon rendered it necessary to provide additional accommodation for them, Montague House proving insufficient. The present by George III. of Egyptian Antiquities, and the purchase of the Hamilton and Townley Antiquities, made it moreover imperative to create an additional department—that of Antiquities and Art—to which were united the Prints and Drawings, as well as the Medals and Coins, previously attached to the library of Printed Books and Manuscripts. The acquisition of the Elgin Marbles in 1816 made the Department of Antiquities of the highest importance, and increased room being indispensable for the exhibition of those marbles, a temporary shelter was prepared for them. This was the last addition to Montague House. When, in 1823, the library collected by George III. was presented to the nation by George IV. it became necessary to erect a building fit to receive this valuable and extensive collection. It was then decided to have an entirely new edifice to contain the whole of the Museum collection, including the recently-acquired library. Sir R. Smirke was accordingly directed by the Trustees to prepare plans. The eastern side of the present structure was completed in 1828, and the Royal Library was then placed in it. The northern, southern, and western sides of the building were subsequently added, and in 1845 the whole of Montague House and its additions had disappeared; while the increasing collections had rendered it necessary to make various additions to the original design of Sir R. Smirke, some of them even before it had been carried out."

J. W. Jones, British Museum: a Guide, pages ii-iii.

"The necessity of a general enlargement of the library led to the suggestion of many plans—some impracticable—some too expensive—and all involving a delay which would have been fatal to the efficiency of the Institution. … Fortunately … after much vigorous discussion, a plan which had been suggested by the … Principal Librarian [Mr. Panizzi] for building in the vacant quadrangle, was adopted and carried out under his own immediate and watchful superintendence. … The quadrangle within which the new library is built is 313 feet in length by 235 wide, comprising an area of 73,555 square feet. Of this space the building covers 47,472 feet, being 258 feet long by 184 feet in width, thus leaving an interval of from 27 to 30 feet all round. By this arrangement, the light and ventilation of the surrounding buildings is not interfered with, and the risk of fire from the outer buildings is guarded against. The Reading Boom is circular. The dome is 140 feet in diameter, and its height 106 feet. The diameter of the lantern is 40 feet. Light is further obtained from twenty circular-headed windows, 27 feet high by 12 feet wide, inserted at equal intervals round the dome at a height of 35 feet from the ground. {2016} In its diameter the dome of the Reading Room exceeds all others, with the exception of the Pantheon of Rome, which is about 2 feet wider. That of St. Peter's at Rome, and of Santa Maria in Florence are each only 139 feet; that of the tomb of Mahomet at Bejapore, 135; of St. Paul's, 112; of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, 107; and of the church of Darmstadt, 105. The new Reading Room contains 1,250,000 cubic feet of space, and the surrounding libraries 750,000. These libraries are 24 feet in height, with the exception of that part which runs round the outside of the Reading Room, which is 32 feet high; the spring of the dome being 24 feet from the floor of the Reading Room, and the ground excavated 8 feet below this level. The whole building is constructed principally of iron. … The Reading Room contains ample and comfortable accommodation for 302 readers. There are thirty-five tables: eight are 34 feet long, and accommodate sixteen readers, eight on each side; nine are 30 feet long, and accommodate fourteen readers, seven on each side; two are 30 feet long, and accommodate eight readers each, viz., seven on one side and one on the other—these two tables are set apart for the exclusive use of ladies; sixteen other tables are 6 feet long, and accommodate two readers each—these are fitted up with rising desks of a large size for those readers who may have occasion to consult works beyond the usual dimensions. Each person has allotted to him, at the long tables, a space of 4 feet 3 inches in length by 2 feet 1 inch in depth. He is screened from the opposite occupant by a longitudinal division, which is fitted with a hinged desk graduated on sloping racks, and a folding shelf for spare books. In the space between the two, which is recessed, an inkstand is fixed, having suitable penholders. … The framework of each table is of iron, forming air-distributing channels, which are contrived so that the air may be delivered at the top of the longitudinal screen division, above the level of the heads of the readers, or, if desired, only at each end pedestal of the tables, all the outlets being under the control of valves. A tubular foot-rail also passes from end to end of each table, which may have a current of warm water through it at pleasure, and be used as a foot-warmer if required. The pedestals of the tables form tubes communicating with the air-chamber below, which is 6 feet high, and occupies the whole area of the Reading Room: it is fitted with hot-water pipes arranged in radiating lines. The supply of fresh air is obtained from a shaft 60 feet high. … The shelves within the Reading Room contain about 60,000 volumes: the new building altogether will accommodate about 1,500,000 volumes."

List of the Books of Reference in the Reading Room of the British Museum; preface.

The number of volumes of printed books in the British Museum in 1893 is reported to have been 1,600,000, the number of manuscripts 50,000 and the maps and charts 200,000.

Minerva, 1893-94.

A purchase from the Duke of Bedford, of adjoining land, to the extent of five and a half acres, for the enlargement of the Museum, was announced by the London Times, March 18, 1894. With this addition, the area of ground occupied by the Museum will be fourteen acres.

LIBRARIES: England: The Bodleian Library.

"Its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley, was a worthy of Devon, who had been actively employed by Queen Elizabeth as a diplomatist, and had returned tired of court life to the University, where long before he had been Fellow of Merton College. He found the ancient library of the University (which, after growing slowly with many vicissitudes from small beginnings, had suddenly been enriched in 1439-46 by a gift of 264 valuable MSS. from Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester) utterly destroyed by Edward VI.'s Commissioners, and the room built for its reception (still called 'Duke Humphrey's library') swept clear even of the readers' desks. His determination to refound the library of the University was actively carried out, and on November 8, 1602, the new institution was formally opened with about 2,000 printed and manuscript volumes. Two striking advantages were possessed by the Bodleian almost from the first. Sir Thomas Bodley employed his great influence at court and with friends to induce them to give help to his scheme, and accordingly we find not only donations of money and books from personal friends, but 240 MSS. contributed by the Deans and Chapters of Exeter and Windsor. Moreover, in 1610, he arranged with the Stationers' Company that they should present his foundation with a copy of every printed book published by a member of the Company; and from that time to this the right to every book published in the kingdom has been continuously enjoyed."

F. Madan, Books in Manuscript, page 84.

In 1891 the Bodleian Library was said to contain 400,000 printed books and 30,000 manuscripts. Under the copyright act of Great Britain, the British Museum, the Bodleian Library, Oxford, the Cambridge University Library, the Advocates Library, Edinburgh, and the Trinity College Library, Dublin, are each entitled to a copy of every work published in the United Kingdom.

LIBRARIES: England: Rise and Growth of Free Town-Libraries.

In the "Encyclopædia Britannica" (9th edition) we read, in the article "Libraries," that "the fine old library instituted by Humphrey Chetham in Manchester, in 1653, and which is still 'housed in the old collegiate buildings where Raleigh was once entertained by Dr. Dee, might be said to be the first free library' in England. Two centuries, however, before worthy Chetham had erected his free fountain of knowledge for thirsty souls, a grave fraternity known as the Guild of Kalendars had established a free library, for all comers, in connection with a church yet standing in one of the thoroughfares of Old Bristol. … John Leland (temp. Henry VIII.) speaks of the Kalendars as an established body about the year 1170: and when in 1216 Henry III. held a Parliament in Bristol, the deeds of the guild were inspected, and ratified on account of the antiquity and high character of the fraternity ('propter antiquitates et bonitates in eâ Gilda repertas'), and Gualo, the Papal Legate, commended the Kalendars to the care of William de Blois, Bishop of Worcester, within whose diocese Bristol then lay. It was the office of the Kalendars to record local events and such general affairs as were thought worthy of commemoration, whence their name. They consisted of clergy and laity, even women being admitted to their Order. … {2017} It was ordered by Wolstan, Bishop of Worcester, who in visitation of this part of his diocese, July 10, 1340, examined the ancient rules of the College, that a prior in priest's orders should be chosen by the majority of the chaplains and lay brethren, without the solemnity of confirmation, consecration or benediction of superiors, and eight chaplains who were not bound by monastic rules, were to be joined with him to celebrate for departed brethren and benefactors every day. By an ordinance of John Carpenter, Bishop of Worcester, A. D. 1464, the Prior was to reside in the college, and take charge of a certain library newly erected at the Bishop's expense, so that every festival day from seven to eleven in the forenoon admission should be freely allowed to all desirous of consulting the Prior, to read a public lecture every week in the library, and elucidate obscure places of Scripture as well as he could to those desirous of his teachings. … Lest, through negligence or accident, the books should be lost, it was ordered that three catalogues of them should be kept; one to remain with the Dean of Augustinian Canons, whose 14th-century church is now Bristol Cathedral, another with the Mayor for the time being, and the third with the Prior himself. Unfortunately, they are all three lost. … This interesting library was destroyed by fire in 1466 through the carelessness of a drunken 'point-maker,' two adjoining houses against the steeple of the church being at the same time burnt down."

J. Taylor, The First English Free Library and its Founders (Murray's Magazine, November, 1891).

"Free town-libraries are essentially a modern institution, and yet can boast of a greater antiquity than is generally supposed, for we find a town-library at Auvergne in 1540, and one at a still earlier date at Aix. Either the munificence of individuals or the action of corporate authorities has given very many of the continental towns freely accessible libraries, some of them of considerable extent. In England the history of town-libraries is much briefer. There is reason to believe that London at an early date was possessed of a common library; and Bristol, Norwich, and Leicester, had each town-libraries, but the corporations proved but careless guardians of their trust, and in each case allowed it to be diverted from the free use of the citizens for the benefit of a subscription library. At Bristol, in 1613, Mr. Robert Redwood 'gave his lodge to be converted into a library or place to put books in for the furtherance of learning.' Some few years after, Tobie Matthew, Archbishop of York, left some valuable books in various departments of literature for free access 'to the merchants and shopkeepers.' … The paucity of our public libraries, twenty years ago, excited the attention of Mr. Edward Edwards, to whose labours in this field the country owes so much. Having collected a large amount of statistics as to the comparative number of these institutions in different States, he communicated the result of his researches to the Statistical Society, in a paper which was read on the 20th of March, 1848, and was printed in this 'Journal' in the August following. The paper revealed some unpleasant facts, and showed that, in respect of the provision of public libraries, Great Britain occupied a very unworthy position. In the United Kingdom (including Malta) Mr. Edwards could only discover 29 libraries having more than 10,000 volumes, whilst France could boast 107, Austria 41, Switzerland 13. The number of volumes to every hundred of the population of cities containing libraries, was in Great Britain 43, France 125, Brunswick 2,353. Of the 29 British libraries enumerated by Mr. Edwards, some had only doubtful claims to be considered as public, and only one of them was absolutely free to all comers, without influence or formality. That one was the public library at Manchester, founded by Humphrey Chetham in 1665. The paper read before this Society twenty-two years ago was destined to be productive of great and speedy results. From the reading of it sprang the present system of free town-libraries. The seed was then sown, and it is now fructifying in the libraries which are springing up on every hand. The paper attracted the attention of the late William Ewart, Esq., M. P., and ultimately led to the appointment of a parliamentary committee on the subject of public libraries. The report of this committee paved the way for the Public Libraries Act of 1850."

W. E. A. Axon, Statistical Notes on the Free Town-Libraries of Great Britain and the Continent (Journal of the Statistical Society, September 1870, volume 33).

The progress of free public libraries in England under the Act of 1850 was not, for a long time, very rapid. "In the 36 years from 1850 onward—that is, down to 1886—133 places had availed themselves of the benefits of the act. That was not a very large number, not amounting quite, upon the average, to four in each of those 36 years. … Now, see the change which has taken place. We have only four years, from 1887 to 1890, and in those four years no less than 70 places have taken advantage of the act, so that instead of an average of less than four places in the year, we have an average of more than 17 places."

W. E. Gladstone, Address at the Opening of the Free Public Library of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields.

"The Clerkenwell Library Commissioners draw attention to the enormous strides London has made within the last five years in the matter of public libraries. In 1886 four parishes had adopted the Acts; by December, 1891, 29 parishes had adopted them, and there are already 30 libraries and branches opened throughout the County of London, possessing over 250,000 volumes, and issuing over 3,000,000 volumes per annum."

The Library Journal, February, 1892.

Under a new law, which came into force in 1893, "any local authority (i. e., town council or district board), save in the County of London, may establish and maintain public libraries without reference to the wishes of the rate payers."

The Library Journal, October, 1893 (volume 18, page 442).

LIBRARIES: United States of America: Franklin and the first Subscription Library.

When Franklin's club, at Philadelphia, the Junto, was first formed, "its meetings were held (as the custom of clubs was in that clubbing age) in a tavern; and in a tavern of such humble pretensions as to be called by Franklin an ale-house. But the leathern-aproned philosophers soon removed to a room of their own, lent them by one of their members, Robert Grace. It often happened that a member would bring a book or two to the Junto, for the purpose of illustrating the subject of debate, and this led Franklin to propose that all the members should keep their books in the Junto room, as well for reference while debating as for the use of members during the week. The suggestion being approved, one end of their little apartment was soon filled with books; and there they remained for the common benefit a year. {2018} But some books having been injured, their owners became dissatisfied, and the books were all taken home. Books were then scarce, high-priced, and of great bulk. Folios were still common, and a book of less magnitude than quarto was deemed insignificant. … Few books of much importance were published at less than two guineas. Such prices as four guineas, five guineas, and six guineas were not uncommon. Deprived of the advantage of the Junto collection, Franklin conceived the idea of a subscription library. Early in 1731 he drew up a plan, the substance of which was, that each subscriber should contribute two pounds sterling for the first purchase of books, and ten shillings a year for the increase of the library. As few of the inhabitants of Philadelphia had money to spare, and still fewer cared for reading, he found very great difficulty in procuring a sufficient number of subscribers. He says: 'I put myself as much as I could out of sight, and stated it as a scheme of a number of friends, who had requested me to go about and propose it to such as they thought lovers of reading. In this way my affairs went on more smoothly, and I ever after practiced it on such occasions, and from my frequent successes can heartily recommend it.' Yet it was not until November, 1731, at least five months after the project was started, that fifty names were obtained; and not till March, 1732, that the money was collected. After consulting James Logan, 'the best judge of books in these parts,' the first list of books was made out, a draft upon London of forty-five pounds was purchased, and both were placed in the hands of one of the directors who was going to England. Peter Collinson undertook the purchase, and added to it presents of Newton's 'Principia,' and 'Gardener's Dictionary.' All the business of the library Mr. Collinson continued to transact for thirty years, and always swelled the annual parcel of books by gifts of valuable works. In those days getting a parcel from London was a tedious affair indeed. All the summer of 1732 the subscribers were waiting for the coming of the books, as for an event of the greatest interest. … In October the books arrived, and were placed, at first, in the room of the Junto. A librarian was appointed, and the library was opened once a week for giving out the books. The second year Franklin himself served as librarian. For many years the secretary to the directors was Joseph Breintnal, by whose zeal and diligence the interests of the library were greatly promoted. Franklin printed a catalogue soon after the arrival of the books, for which, and for other printing, he was exempted from paying his annual ten shillings for two years. The success of this library, thus begun by a few mechanics and clerks, was great in every sense of the word. Valuable donations of books, money and curiosities were frequently made to it. The number of subscribers slowly, but steadily, increased. Libraries of similar character sprung up all over the country, and many were started even in Philadelphia. Kalm, who was in Philadelphia in 1748, says that then the parent library had given rise to 'many little libraries,' on the same plan as itself. He also says that non-subscribers were then allowed to take books out of the library, by leaving a pledge for the value of the book, and paying for a folio eight pence a week, for a quarto six pence, and for all others four pence. 'The subscribers,' he says, 'were so kind to me as to order the librarian, during my stay here, to lend me every book I should want, without requiring any payment of me.' In 1764, the shares had risen in value to nearly twenty pounds, and the collection was considered to be worth seventeen hundred pounds. In 1785, the number of volumes was 5,487; in 1807, 14,457; in 1861, 70,000. The institution is one of the few in America that has held on its way, unchanged in any essential principle, for a century and a quarter, always on the increase, always faithfully administered, always doing well its appointed work. There is every reason to believe that it will do so for centuries to come. The prosperity of the Philadelphia Library was owing to the original excellence of the plan, the good sense embodied in the rules, the care with which its affairs were conducted, and the vigilance of Franklin and his friends in turning to account passing events. Thomas Penn, for example, visited Philadelphia a year or two after the library was founded; when the directors of the library waited upon him with a dutiful address, and received, in return, a gift of books and apparatus. It were difficult to over-estimate the value to the colonies of the libraries that grew out of Franklin's original' conception. They were among the chief means of educating the colonies up to Independence. 'Reading became fashionable,' says Franklin; 'and our people having no public amusements to divert their attention from study, became better acquainted with books, and in a few years were observed, by strangers, to be better instructed and more intelligent than people of the same rank generally are in other countries.' … What the Philadelphia Library did for Franklin himself, the libraries, doubtless, did for many others. It made him a daily student for twenty years. He set apart an hour or two every day for study, and thus acquired the substance of all the most valuable knowledge then possessed by mankind. Whether Franklin was the originator of subscription libraries, and of the idea of permitting books to be taken to the homes of subscribers, I cannot positively assert. But I can discover no trace of either of those two fruitful conceptions before his time."

J. Parton, Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin, pages 200-203.

"The books were at first kept in the house of Robert Grace, whom Franklin characterizes as 'a young gentleman of some fortune, generous, lively, and witty, a lover of punning and of his friends.' Afterward they were allotted a room in the State-House; and, in 1742, a charter was obtained from the Proprietaries. In 1790, having in the interval absorbed several other associations and sustained a removal to Carpenter's Hall, where its apartment had been used as a hospital for wounded American soldiers, the Library was at last housed in a building especially erected for it at Fifth and Chestnut streets, where it remained until within the last few years. It brought only about eight thousand volumes into its new quarters, for it had languished somewhat during the Revolution and the war of words which attended our political birth. But it had received no injury. … Two years after removal to its quarters on Fifth street, the Library received the most valuable gift of books it has as yet had. James Logan, friend and adviser of Penn, … had gathered a most important collection of books. {2019} Mr. Logan was translator of Cicero's 'Cato Major,' the first classic published in America, besides being versed in natural science. His library comprised, as he tells us, 'over one hundred volumes of authors, all in Greek, with mostly their versions; all the Roman classics without exception; all the Greek mathematicians. … Besides there are many of the most valuable Latin authors, and a great number of modern mathematicians.' These, at first bequeathed as a public library to the city, became a branch of the Philadelphia Library under certain conditions, one of which was that, barring contingencies, one of the donor's descendants should always hold the office of trustee. And to-day his direct descendant fills the position, and is perhaps the only example in this country of an hereditary office-holder. … In 1869 died Dr. James Rush, son of Benjamin Rush, and himself well known as the author of a work on the human voice, and as husband of a lady who almost succeeded in naturalizing the salon in this country. By his will about one million dollars were devoted to the erection and maintenance of an isolated and fire-proof library-building, which was to be named the Ridgway Library, in memory of his wife. This building was offered to the Philadelphia Company, and the bequest was accepted. That institution had by this time accumulated about one hundred thousand volumes. … A building of the Doric order was erected, which with its grounds covers an entire square or block, and is calculated to contain four hundred thousand volumes, or three times as many as the Library at present has, and to this building the more valuable books of the Library were removed in 1878; the fiction and more modern works being placed in another designed in imitation of the old edifice, and nearer the center of the city."

B. Samuel, The Father of American Libraries (Century Magazine, May, 1883).

In 1893, the library of the Philadelphia Library Company contained 171,069 volumes.

LIBRARIES: The First Library in New York.

The New York Society Library is the oldest institution of the kind in the city of New York. "In 1729, the Reverend Dr. Millington, Rector of Newington, England, by his will, bequeathed his library to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. By this society the library of Dr. Millington was presented to the corporation of the city, for the use of the clergy and gentlemen of New-York and the neighbouring provinces. … 'In 1754 [as related in Smith's History of New York] a set of gentlemen undertook to carry about a subscription towards raising a public library, and in a few days collected near 600 pounds, which were laid out in purchasing about 700 volumes of new, well-chosen books. Every subscriber, upon payment of five pounds principal, and the annual sum of ten shillings, is entitled to the use of these books,—his right, by the articles, is assignable, and for non-compliance with them may be forfeited. The care of this library is committed to twelve trustees, annually elected by the subscribers, on the last Tuesday of April, who are restricted from making any rules repugnant to the fundamental subscription. This is the beginning of a library which, in process of time, will probably become vastly rich and voluminous, and it would be very proper for the company to have a Charter for its security and encouragement.' The library of the corporation above alluded to, appearing to have been mismanaged, and at length entirely disused, the trustees of the New-York Society Library offered to take charge of it, and to deposit their own collection with it, in the City-Hall. This proposal having been acceded to by the corporation, the Institution thenceforward received the appellation of 'The City Library,' a name by which it was commonly known for a long time. A good foundation having been thus obtained, the library prospered and increased. … In 1772, a charter was granted to it by the colonial government. The war of the revolution, however, which soon after occurred, interfered with these pleasing prospects; the city fell into the possession of the enemy; the effect on all our public institutions was more or less disastrous, and to the library nearly fatal. An interval of no less than fourteen years, (of which it possesses no record whatever,) here occurs in the history of the society. At length it appears from the minutes, that 'the accidents of the late war having nearly destroyed the former library, no meeting of the proprietors for the choice of trustees was held from the last Tuesday in April, 1774, until Saturday, the 21st December, 1788, when a meeting was summoned.' In 1789, the original charter, with all its privileges, was revived by the legislature of this state; the surviving members resumed the payment of their annual dues, an accession of new subscribers was obtained, and the society, undeterred by the loss of its books, commenced almost a new collection."

Catalogue of the New York Society Library: Historical Notice.

LIBRARIES: Redwood Library.

While Bishop Berkeley was residing, in 1729, on his farm near Newport, Rhode Island, "he took an active share in forming a philosophical society in Newport. … Among the members were Colonel Updike, Judge Scott (a granduncle of Sir Walter Scott), Nathaniel Kay, Henry Collins, Nathan Townsend, the Reverend James Honeyman, and the Reverend Jeremiah Condy. … The Society seems to have been very successful. One of its objects was to collect books. It originated, in 1747, the Redwood Library."

A. C. Fraser, Life and Letters of George Berkeley (volume 4 of Works), page 169.

The library thus founded took its name from Abraham Redwood, who gave £500 to it in 1747. Other subscriptions were obtained in Newport to the amount of £5,000, colonial currency, and a building for the library erected in 1750.

United States of America: Free Public Libraries.

"Mr. Ewart, in his Report of the Select Committee on Public Libraries, 1849, says: 'Our younger brethren, the people of the United States, have already anticipated us in the formation of libraries entirely open to the public.' No free public library, however, was then in operation, in the United States, yet one had been authorized by legislative action. The movements in the same direction in England and the United States seem to have gone on independently of each other; and in the public debates and private correspondence relating to the subject there seems to have been no borrowing of ideas, or scarcely an allusion, other than the one quoted, to what was being done elsewhere. In October, 1847, Josiah Quincy, Jr., Mayor of Boston, suggested to the City Council that a petition be sent to the State legislature asking for authority to lay a tax by which the city of Boston could establish a library free to all its citizens. The Massachusetts legislature, in March, 1848, passed such an act, and in 1851 made the act apply to all the cities and towns in the State. {2020} In 1849 donations of books were made to the Boston Public Library. Late in the same year Mr. Edward Everett made to it the donation of his very complete collection of United States documents, and Mayor Bigelow a gift of $1,000. In May, 1852, the first Board of Trustees, with Mr. Everett as president, was organized, and Mr. Joshua Bates, of London, made his first donation of $50,000 for the use of the library. It was fortunate that the public-library system started where it did and under the supervision of the eminent men who constituted the first board of trustees of the Boston Public Library. Mr. George Ticknor was the person who mapped out the sagacious policy of that library—a policy which has never been improved, and which has been adopted by all the public libraries in this country, and, in its main features, by the free libraries of England. For fifteen years or more Mr. Ticknor gave the subject his personal attention. He went to the library every day, as regularly as any of the employes, and devoted several hours to the minutest details of its administration. Before he had any official relations with it, he gave profound consideration to, and settled in his own mind, the leading principles on which the library should be conducted. … Started as the public-library system was on such principles, and under the guidance of these eminent men, libraries sprang up rapidly in Massachusetts, and similar legislation was adopted in other States. The first legislation in Massachusetts was timid. The initiative law of 1848 allowed the city of Boston to spend only $5,000 a year on its Public Library, which has since expended $125,000 a year. The State soon abolished all limitation to the amount which might be raised for library purposes. New Hampshire, in 1849, anticipated Massachusetts, by two years, in the adoption of a general library law. Maine followed in 1854; Vermont in 1865; Ohio in 1867; Colorado, Illinois, and Wisconsin in 1872; Indiana and Iowa in 1873; Texas in 1874; Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1875; Michigan and Nebraska in 1877; California in 1878; Missouri and New Jersey in 1885; Kansas in 1886. … The public library law of Illinois, adopted in 1872, and since enacted by other Western States, is more elaborate and complete than the library laws of any of the New England States. … The law of Wisconsin is similar to that of Illinois. … New Jersey has a public-library law patterned after that of Illinois."

W. F. Poole, President's Address at the annual meeting of the American Library Association, 1887.

The State of New York adopted a library law in 1892, under which the creation of free libraries has been promisingly begun. A law having like effect was adopted in New Hampshire in 1891.

LIBRARIES: United States of America: Library Statistics of 1891.

"As to the early statistics of libraries in this country but little can be found. Prof. Jewett, in his 'Notices of Public Libraries,' published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1850, gave a summary of public libraries, amounting to 694 and containing at that time 2,201,632 volumes. In the census of 1850 an attempt was made to give the number of libraries and the number of volumes they contained, exclusive of school and Sunday school libraries. This number was 1,560; the number of volumes, 2,447,086. In 1856 Mr. Edward Edwards in his summary of libraries gave a much smaller number of libraries, being only 341, but the number of volumes was nearly the same, being 2,371,887, and was also based upon the census of 1850. Mr. William J. Rhees, in his 'Manual of Public Libraries,' which was printed in 1859, gave a list of 2,902 libraries, but of all this number only 1,312 had any report whatever of the number of volumes they contained. From these meager statistics it is seen that the reports do not vary very much, giving about the same number of libraries and number of volumes in them, taking account of the changes that would occur from the different classifications as to what was excepted or omitted as a library. The annual reports of the Bureau from 1870 to 1874 contained limited statistics of only a few hundred libraries, and little more is shown than the fact that there were about 2,000 public libraries of all kinds in the United States. About five years of labor was expended in collecting material for the special report of the Bureau upon public libraries, which was printed in 1876, and this gave a list of 3,649 libraries of over 300 volumes, and the total number of volumes was 12,276,964, this being about the first fairly complete collection of library statistics. In the report of the Bureau for 1884-85, after considerable correspondence and using the former work as a basis, another list of public libraries was published, amounting to 5,388 libraries of over 300 volumes, an increase of 1,869 libraries in ten years, or almost 54 per cent. The number of volumes contained in these libraries at that time was 20,622,076, or an increase of about 66 per cent, and showing that the percentage of increase in the number of volumes was even greater than that of the number of libraries. An estimate of the proportion of smaller libraries under 500 volumes in that list indicates that these smaller libraries included only about 20 per cent of the books, so that this list could be said to fairly show the extent of the libraries at that time. In the report for 1886-87, detailed statistics of the various classes of libraries were given, except those of colleges and schools, which were included in the statistics of those institutions. From the uncertainty of the data and the imperfect records given of the very small libraries, it was deemed best to restrict the statistics to collections of books that might be fairly called representative, and as those having less than 1,000 volumes made but a proportionally small percentage of the whole number of books the basis of 1,000 volumes or over was taken. This list includes the statistics only of libraries of this size and amounted to 1,777 libraries, containing 14,012,370 volumes, and were arranged in separate lists by classes as far as it could be done. … The number of libraries and of volumes in each of the seven special classes in the report made in 1887 was as follows: Free public lending libraries, 434; volumes, 3,721,191; free public reference libraries, 153; volumes, 3,075,099; free public school libraries, 93; volumes, 177,560; free corporate lending libraries, 241; volumes 1,727,870; libraries of clubs, associations, etc., 341; volumes, 2,460,334; subscription corporate libraries, 452; volumes, 2,644,929; and circulating libraries proper, 751; volumes, 215,487. The statistics [now] given … are for the year 1891, and include only libraries of 1,000 volumes and over, thus differing from the complete report of 1885. … {2021} There were, in 1891, 3,804 libraries. Of these, 3 contain over 500,000 volumes; 1 between 300,000 and 500,000; 26 between 100,000 and 300,000; 68 between 50,000 and 100,000; 128 between 25,000 and 50,000; 383 between 10,000 and 25,000; 565 between 5,000 and 10,000; and 2,360 between 1,000 and 5,000. … The North Atlantic Division contains 1,913 libraries, or 50.3 per cent of the whole number; the South Atlantic, 339, or 8.88 per cent; the South Central, 256, or 6.73 per cent; the North Central, 1,098, or 28.87 per cent, and the Western, 198, or 5.22 per cent. Of the distribution of volumes in the libraries, the North Atlantic Division has 16,605,286 or 53.34 per cent; the South Atlantic, 4,276,894, or 13.71 per cent; the South Central 1,345,708, or 4.03 per cent; the North Central, 7,320,045, or 23.32 per cent; and the Western, 1,593,974, or 5.34 per cent. … From [1885 to 1891] the increase in the United States in the number of libraries was from 2,987 to 3,804, an increase of 817, or 27.35 per cent; in the North Atlantic, from 1,543 to 1,913, an increase of 370, or 24 per cent; in the South Atlantic, from 289 to 338, an increase of 49, or 17 per cent; in the South Central, from 201 to 256, an increase of 55, or 27.5 per cent; in the North Central, from 813 to 1,099, an increase of 286, or 35.18 per cent; and in the Western, from 141 to 198, an increase of 57, or 40.43 per cent. These figures show that, comparatively, the largest increase in the number of libraries was in the Western Division, and of the number of volumes the greatest increase was in the North Central Division. The percentage of increase in the whole country was 66.3 for six years, or an average of over 11 per cent each year, which at this rate would double the number of volumes and libraries every nine years. … In the United States in 1885 there was one library to each 18,822 of the population, while in 1891 there was one to every 16,462, or a decrease of population to a library of 2,360, or 12.5 percent; in the North Atlantic Division the decrease was from 10,246 to 9,096, 1,150, or 11.2 per cent; in the South Atlantic, from 28,740 to 26,206, 2,534, or 8.08 per cent; in the South Central, from 48,974 to 42,863, 6,111, or 12.5 per cent; in the North Central, from 24,807 to 20,348, 4,459, or 18 per cent; and in the Western, from 15,557 to 15,290, 277 or 1.8 per cent. The distribution of libraries in the North Atlantic Division shows the smallest average population to a library and the least change in the number, except the Western Division, where the increase of population from immigration has been greater than the increase in the number of libraries. But, generally, the establishment and growth in the size of libraries have been very large in nearly every section. … This shows that in 1885 there were in the United States in the libraries of the size mentioned 34 books to every 100 of the population, while in 1891 this number was 50, or an increase of 16 books, or 47 per cent. In the North Atlantic Division the increase was from 66 to 95, an increase of 29 books, or 34 per cent; in the South Atlantic, from 34 to 48, an increase of 14, or 41 per cent; in the South Central, from 9 to 12, an increase of 3, or 33.33 per cent; in the North Central, from 20 to 33, an increase of 13, or 65 per cent; and in the Western, from 43 to 53, an increase of 10, or 23 per cent. These figures show that, comparatively, the largest increase of books to population has been in the great Northwest, over 11 per cent each year. In the whole country there has been an average increase of 7.8 per cent per annum; that is, the increase of the number of books in the libraries of the country has been 7.8 per cent greater than the increase of the population during the past six years."

W. Flint, Statistics of Public Libraries (United States Bureau of Education, Circ. of Information Number 7, 1893).

LIBRARIES: United States of America: Massachusetts Free Libraries.

"In 1839 the Hon. Horace Mann, then Secretary of the Board of Education, stated as the result of a careful effort to obtain authentic information relative to the libraries in the State, that there were from ten to fifteen town libraries, containing in the aggregate from three to four thousand volumes, to which all the citizens of the town had the right of access; that the aggregate number of volumes in the public libraries, of all kinds, in the State was about 300,000; and that but little more than 100,000 persons, or one-seventh of the population of the State, had any right of access to them. A little over a half century has passed. There are now 175 towns and cities having free public libraries under municipal control, and 248 of the 351 towns and cities contain libraries in which the people have rights or free privileges. There are about 2,500,000 volumes in these libraries, available for the use of 2,104,224 of the 2,238,943 inhabitants which the State contains according to the census of 1890. The gifts of individuals in money, not including gifts of books, for libraries and library buildings, exceed five and a half million dollars. There are still 103 towns in the State, with an aggregate population of 134,719, which do not have the benefit of the free use of a public library. These are almost without exception small towns, with a slender valuation, and 67 of them show a decline in population in the past five years. The State has taken the initiative in aiding the formation of free public libraries in such towns."

First Report of the Free Public Library Commission of Massachusetts, 1891, pref.

The second report of the Commissioners, 1892, showed an addition of 36 to the towns which have established free public libraries.

LIBRARIES: United States of America: The American Library Association.

A distinctly new era in the history of American libraries—and in the history, it may be said, of libraries throughout the English-speaking world,—was opened, in 1876, by the meeting of a conference of librarians at Philadelphia, during the Centennial Exhibition of the summer of that year. The first fruit of the conference was the organization of a permanent American Library Association, which has held annual meetings since, bringing large numbers of the librarians of the country together every year, making common property of their experience, their knowledge, their ideas,—animating them with a common spirit, and enlisting them in important undertakings of cooperative work. Almost simultaneously with the Philadelphia meeting, but earlier, there was issued the first number of a "Library Journal," called into being by the sagacious energy of the same small band of pioneers who planned and brought about the conference. The Library Journal became the organ of the American Library Association, and each was stimulated and sustained by the other: Their combined influence has acted powerfully upon those engaged in the work of American libraries, to elevate their aims, to increase their efficiency, and to make their avocation a recognized profession, exacting well-defined qualifications. {2022} The general result among the libraries of the country has been an increase of public usefulness beyond measure. To this renaissance in the library world many persons contributed; but its leading spirits were Melvil Dewey, latterly Director of the New York State Library; Justin Winsor, Librarian of Harvard University, formerly of the Boston Public Library; the late William F. Poole, LL.D., Librarian of the Newberry Library and formerly of the Chicago Public Library; Charles A. Cutter, lately Librarian of the Boston Athenæum; the late Frederick Leypoldt, first publisher of the "Library Journal," and his successor, R. R. Bowker. The new library spirit was happily defined by James Russell Lowell, in his address delivered at the opening of a free public library in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and published in the volume of his works entitled "Democracy and other Addresses"; "Formerly," he said, "the duty of a librarian was considered too much that of a watch-dog, to keep people as much as possible away from the books, and to hand these over to his successor as little worn by use as he could. Librarians now, it is pleasant to see, have a different notion of their trust, and are in the habit of preparing, for the direction of the inexperienced, lists of such books as they think best worth reading. Cataloguing has also, thanks in great measure to American librarians, become a science, and catalogues, ceasing to be labyrinths without a clew, are furnished with finger-posts at every turn. Subject catalogues again save the beginner a vast deal of time and trouble by supplying him for nothing with one at least of the results of thorough scholarship, the knowing where to look for what he wants. I do not mean by this that there is or can be any short cut to learning, but that there may be, and is, such a short cut to information that will make learning more easily accessible."