Library.

Library. As soon as men were so far advanced in civilisation as to commit their thoughts to writing in any portable form, whether on papyrus, bricks, parchment, or paper, there were books and consequently libraries. The first of such libraries would probably be the collection of sacred books belonging to the temples of the gods, and under the care of priests. The archives of the state would also be gathered together in the palaces of princes accessible only to a privileged few. But public libraries in the modern sense of the term—instituted for the purposes of research in all branches of knowledge—have existed in the most remote antiquity. As early as 3800 years B.C., according to Professor Sayce, Sargon I., the Semitic ruler of Accad, founded such a library in that city. Here was deposited the great work of Babylonian astronomy, The Observations of Bel, which in later recensions has come down to our day. The name of the keeper of Sargon's library, Ibni-sarru, the most ancient librarian on record, is preserved to us on his seal, which is still extant. Libraries of a similar kind were formed in all the chief cities of Babylonia. Their contents, or copies and translations made from them, were finally gathered together to enrich the more famous Assyrian library established in the palace of Koyunjik at Nineveh by Assurbanipal. This great library was rich in history, astronomy, grammar, sacred hymns, and legends, and the science of divination and demonology. The books were on brick tablets, papyrus, and leather. The number of tablets is estimated by M. Ménant at about 10,000, making some 500 of our modern volumes of 500 pages in 4to. The greater portion of these tablets, as is well known, have been recovered and deposited in the British Museum. The library of Assurbanipal was intended for the public good. In a note appended to a grammatical treatise the king says: 'I have written it upon tablets . . . I have placed it in my palace for the instruction of my subjects.' The books were methodically arranged and numbered, and the reader requiring a volume handed to the librarian a ticket inscribed with the requisite number.

In ancient Egypt there was an immense literature, and Diodorus Siculus describes the library of King Osymandyas, identified with Rameses I., as having over its door the inscription, 'Dispensary of the Soul.' At a later period the Ptolemies of Egypt vied with the kings of Pergamus in forming magnificent collections. An account of those established in Alexandria has already been given (see ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY). Of the libraries in Greece we know very little. Pisistratus is the most ancient collector named by Greek historians, and Aristotle, who left behind him a large library, is said to have inspired the sovereigns of Egypt with the taste for collecting.

It is characteristic of ancient Rome that the first great libraries of the city should have been formed of the spoils of war. Æmilius Paulus brought to Rome about 168 B.C. the library of the king of Macedonia. Lucullus formed a large collection of books which he liberally threw open to all scholars; but the first public library, properly so called, appears to have been that established by Asinius Pollio, 39 B.C., which he appropriately placed in the temple of Liberty. Julius Cæsar intended to erect a public library, but left his design to be carried out by Augustus, who founded two, the Octavian and the Palatine. Other emperors were zealous in adding to the number. The chief of these was the Ulpian Library, instituted by Trajan. At Byzantium Constantine began to collect the Christian books which had escaped the destructive inquisition of Diocletian.

After the irruption of the barbarians the work of building up libraries had to be begun de novo. The ravages of fire and war had substantially destroyed the ancient collections. The classical literature was naturally neglected by the Christians, whose own literature had suffered largely from the hostility of the pagans. But the germs of our modern libraries were laid in the cloister. The monks of the order of St Benedict especially were the collectors, translators, and bookmakers of the early middle ages. England may be said in this matter to have led the way. The monasteries of Canterbury, York, Croyland, Whitby, and Durham were at an early date possessed of good libraries. Alcuin, when at

Tours, urged Charlemagne, who was zealous in the restoration of learning, to send into Britain for books. Among the more famous libraries abroad may be mentioned those of the monastic communities at Fulda, Corvei, and St Gall in Germany, Monte Cassino in Italy, Fleury and Clugny in France. The books here stored were naturally in large part theological, though the Latin classics were not neglected. A good idea of the contents of such libraries may be gathered from the catalogue of Christ Church, Canterbury, and some other similar lists printed by Edwards in his Memoirs of Libraries. It is said that no less than 600 catalogues of monastic collections are preserved in the library of Munich.

The period of decline in monastic learning in Europe generally coincided with the revival of classical studies and of secular literature; and the collecting of books once more became the honourable ambition of princes and private persons. Italy was in this respect especially distinguished. Coluccio, chancellor of Florence, himself a great collector, wrote a treatise urging the establishment of public libraries. Niccolo Nicoli at his death in 1436 bequeathed his library for public use. Following these examples Lorenzo de' Medici formed a magnificent library. Frederick, Duke of Urbino, did the same; and Corvinus, king of Hungary, left at his death in 1490 a collection of 50,000 volumes. Among private collectors, at an earlier date in Great Britain, Richard Aungerville (q.v.), Bishop of Durham, must not be omitted, nor Guy de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who in 1315 bequeathed a collection, chiefly of romances, to Bordesly Abbey, Worcestershire.

Britain was, however, but slightly touched with the spirit of the literary revival which elsewhere led to the zealons gathering together of the relics of antiquity. The destruction of monasteries and the prejudices of the Reformers led rather to a reckless destruction of books, and the 16th century was a dark age in the library history of the nation. Henry VII. had possessed a collection of three or four hundred choice volumes. Henry VIII., while he was disbursing nearly £11,000 on jewellery, was content to spend £124 on books and binding. Edward VI. did something, Mary and Elizabeth very little, towards increasing the royal library. Archbishop Parker and others made a great effort to induce Queen Elizabeth to form a public library after the pattern 'set us by the more civilised nations, as Germany, Italy, and France,' but without success. The want of a national library continued to be felt for another century and a half. In the reign of William III. the writer of a pamphlet, said to be Richard Bentley, then keeper of the royal library, describes it as having been in a flourishing condition in the time of James I., and since 'fallen into decay to the great dishonour of the crown and the whole nation.' He proposes that there should be a new royal library erected and supported by a yearly revenue settled on it by parliament. The proposal was not carried out, but in 1759 George II. incorporated the library, then containing about 12,000 volumes, with the recently-founded collection of the British Museum (q.v.).

Meanwhile, during the 17th century, many important collegiate and local libraries were founded throughout the kingdom. Sir Thomas Bodley founded the great library which bears his name at the Oxford University in 1602; and while he was ransacking the London bookstalls for his purpose he encountered Archbishop Ussher, who was bent on the same errand on behalf of the newly-established library of Trinity College, Dublin (1601). The Bodleian Library contains over 400,000 printed volumes and 30,000 MSS. The university of Edinburgh, a little later (1627), received a valuable accession to its collection from Drummond of Hawthornden, and at the close of the century (1682) the Faculty of Advocates entrusted to Sir George Mackenzie the task of building up their library. The university library of Cambridge had been founded in the 15th century, but received a considerable addition by a benefaction of George I. It is now estimated to contain more than 200,000 volumes. In London Archbishop Bancroft founded the Lambeth Library in 1610; and Sion College, a guild of the clergy of London and its suburbs, founded a library in 1629. Good libraries were also established in some of the English towns—Leicester, Norwich, Bristol, and notably Manchester, where Humphrey Chetham in 1653 founded for public use a library which at one time was larger than any out of London and the two university cities. The minor libraries of the several colleges of the universities, and of the Inns of Court, also deserve mention, for, though not always large in number of volumes, they often contain valuable collections on special subjects, manuscripts, rare printed books, and incunabula.

All these libraries, as a rule, possessed little or no endowments, and depended largely for their growth upon private donations. Bodley, however, obtained from the Stationers' Hall in 1610 a grant of all books there entered. By an act of parliament, 14 Chas. II. chap. 33 (1662), printers were ordered to present copies of such books to both universities and the royal library. The Copyright Act of 8 Anne, chap. 20 (1710) required nine copies to be provided for the royal library, then at St James's, the two English universities, the four Scottish universities, the Faculty of Advocates, Edinburgh, and Sion College, London. The privilege attached to the royal library passed with the gift of its books to the British Museum. After the legislative union with Ireland it was extended (41 Geo. III. chap. 107) to the libraries of Trinity College, and the King's Inn, Dublin—thus making in all a tax upon publishers of eleven copies. The number was, however, in 1835 reduced to five; and a yearly grant in compensation was made to the other six libraries, based on a calculation of the average value of the books received by them through the copyright tax during the three preceding years. From this grant Edinburgh University receives £575; Glasgow, £707; St Andrews, £630; Aberdeen, £320; King's Inn, Dublin, £435; and Sion College, £363.

About the middle of the 18th century we hear of the first circulating library established in London. One was opened in Birmingham by Hutton in 1757. About the same time a proprietary library made its appearance in Liverpool. The Leeds library, in the establishment of which Dr Priestley took a prominent part, dates from 1768. It now contains about 80,000 volumes. Great Britain still remained in the early years of the 19th century far behind the rest of Europe in the number and value as well as the accessibility of its libraries. More than three hundred years ago Bishop Bale lamented that there was not in each county at least one library 'for the preservation of noble works, and preferment of good learning.' In the next century John Evelyn declared that Paris alone was able to show more libraries than all the three nations of Great Britain; and, even after the foundation of the British Museum, Gibbon was so little contented with its abundance that he recorded his opinion that 'the greatest city in the world is still destitute of a public library.' But in the middle of the 19th century interest in the subject was awakened, and a great movement took place in the direction of extending and popularising libraries. While a royal commission was enquiring into the management of the British Museum, in 1849 a select committee, on the motion of William Ewart, M.P. for Dumfries, was appointed by the House of Commons to report on the best means of 'extending the establishment of libraries freely open to the public, especially in large towns in Great Britain and Ireland.' Before this committee was laid a map of Europe (printed in the report) exhibiting by various shades the relative provision of books, in libraries publicly accessible, as compared with the population of the several countries. On this map the smaller German states are represented by the lightest lines, indicating the richest supply, and Great Britain with the darkest shade or poorest provision. The statistics furnished in illustration showed that in Saxony for every hundred inhabitants there were 417 books; in Denmark, 412; in Bavaria, 339; in Tuscany, 261; in Prussia, 200; in Austria, 167; in France, 129; in Belgium, 95; while in Great Britain there were only 53 books to every hundred inhabitants. It may be remarked that in 1850 the British Museum in point of magnitude stood fourth in the list of European libraries. It now holds the second place. The following table shows the increase of the European libraries at that time containing over 400,000 volumes in the course of the next thirty-one years:

Mr Ewart's bill, giving power to certain districts to establish free libraries and to tax the inhabitants for that purpose, passed into law in 1850, and has since been supplemented, amended, and extended to Ireland and Scotland by the acts of 1855, 1866, 1871, 1877, 1884, 1887, and 1889. It is applicable to any borough, district, or parish, whatever the amount of population; a meeting of the rate-payers may be obtained by the requisition of ten of their number addressed to the town-council or other local board, and the adoption of the act is decided by a majority of those present at the meeting, or, if the local authorities prefer it, the will of the majority may be obtained by the issue of voting papers, instead of the convening of a public meeting. All such libraries are to be open to the public free of charge. Some of the larger towns at once took advantage of the act. Manchester led the way in 1852. The libraries of Liverpool and Birmingham were opened in 1860. Each of these libraries now contains more than 100,000 volumes. Yet the movement did not become general for many years. In 1868 there were only fourteen libraries established under the acts. Ten years later the number had increased to eighty-one. A complete list of places where the acts have been adopted, with the dates of their adoption, furnished by Mr Greenwood in his 'Public Libraries,' brings the number in June 1890 up to 208. Before 1886 there were only two parishes in London provided with free libraries. In 1890 there were twenty-one established within the boundaries of the metropolis.

The English act was extended to Scotland in 1854, and the first town to profit by it was Airdrie. The free library of Dundee was founded in 1866, and has 70,000 volumes, spending annually £1000. Edinburgh was comparatively rich in libraries belonging to professional bodies and learned societies, and was slow to adopt the acts. There is in Edinburgh or elsewhere in Scotland no national library supported by the exchequer as in Ireland; but the Advocates' Library, now counting 320,000 volumes, being liberally thrown open to all students, served many of the purposes of such a library; and the Signet Library, a general collec- tion as well as a legal library (82,000 vols. in all), founded and maintained by the Society of Writers to H.M. Signet, was easy of access to strangers. The university library contains 180,000 volumes. In 1886, however, the city was persuaded by the munificent donation of Mr Andrew Carnegie to establish the Free Public Library, which was opened with 50,000 volumes in June 1890. Glasgow is still without a library under the acts, but the deficiency is in small part supplied by the Mitchell Library, founded by a bequest of the late Stephen Mitchell, and opened in 1877. This library, which has rapidly grown and is specially rich in local literature and Scottish poetry, now contains over 80,000 volumes. It is open to all persons over fourteen years of age.

In Dublin the library of Trinity College retains the copyright privilege, and has 223,000 volumes. The King's Inn library, founded in 1787, which, as has been said, had the copyright tax commuted for an annual sum, is comparatively small (60,000), and restricted to members of the legal profession. The National Library of Ireland, established in Dublin in 1877, and transferred to a new building in 1890, was formed in part by the collection of the Royal Dublin Society, and now numbers 100,000 volumes. It was placed under the Science and Art Department of South Kensington, and is in receipt of an annual grant of £1000 for the purchase of books.

France is remarkable for the number and excellence of its provincial libraries open to the public, while its capital is better provided than any other city in Europe. The Bibliothèque Nationale, which is the largest in the world, is of ancient origin, and contains the collections of many French kings. Its modern history may be said to date from the librarianship of De Thou. In 1617 it obtained the right of two copies of every book published in the kingdom, and at the end of the century it was thrown open to the public. At the beginning of the 19th century it contained 250,000 printed books, 83,000 MSS., and 1,500,000 engravings. The Revolution enriched it with many forfeited collections of private persons and religious communities; and Napoleon augmented the government grant for purchases. The number of its volumes is now well over three million. Fourteen other libraries, most of which are open to the public, and to all of which access can be obtained without difficulty, add about 1,200,000 to the number of volumes available to the Parisian reader. There are, moreover, a number of municipal libraries in the city. The most notable provincial libraries, from many of which books are lent out, are—taking them in the order of magnitude—those of Bordeaux, Grenoble, Aix, Nantes, Besançon, Rouen, Troyes, and Douai; the first numbering 300,000 volumes, and the last over 100,000. An important feature of the bibliothecal system of France is the school library. In 1862 it was ordered that to every primary school in the country there should be attached a library, under the care of the schoolmaster, for the use of the children, their parents, and others. They are supported partly by the department and partly by a government grant. In 1882 there were already established under this system 20,000 of these school libraries.

Throughout the German empire the several state libraries and the universities are well provided with books, which in many cases can be borrowed for use outside the libraries. Berlin has over seventy libraries. The royal library, founded in 1659, was opened to the public in 1661. A few years later it became entitled to a copy of every book published within the royal dominion, and it spends £4800 a year on purchases. It now contains about 800,000 volumes. The royal library at Munich owes its origin to Albert V., Duke of Bavaria, in the middle of the 16th century. It is the largest collection in Germany, and is particularly rich in incunabula. The number of printed volumes contained in it is estimated to exceed a million, and it possesses some 26,000 MSS. In Dresden there are forty-nine libraries. The royal library, founded in the 16th century, now contains 500,000 volumes. About 10,000 volumes are annually lent out to 500 borrowers. The royal library of Stuttgart is an example of rapid growth. It was established in 1765, and in 1880 boasted of possessing about 425,000 printed books and 3800 MSS. It enjoys the copy privilege of Württemberg. The annual number of borrowers is about 1800, and the books lent out 17,000. In the Darmstadt library there are half-a-million volumes, and as many in the university of Leipzig. The universities of Bonn, Berlin, Breslau, Göttingen, Halle, Heidelberg, Munich, Tübingen, and Würzburg contain from 200,000 to 400,000 volumes each; while Strasbourg University library, burned in 1870, in twenty years' time counted 640,000.

In Austria-Hungary the universities of Cracow and Gratz, both open to the public, contain over 100,000 volumes, and that of Budapest nearly half-a-million. In Vienna the imperial library, founded by the Emperor Frederick III. in 1440, acquired a large portion of the famous library of Corvinus, and since 1808 has been entitled to the copy privilege of all books published within the empire. It is estimated to contain about 500,000 volumes, of which 20,000 are MSS. The university in the same city is also in possession of the copy privilege, and has about 300,000 volumes, which are freely lent out. Altogether there are in Vienna more than a hundred libraries.

Italy, as might be expected, is rich in old libraries, in incunabula, and manuscripts. The national library of Florence has over 400,000 volumes, the national library of Milan has 300,000, and that of Venice has the same. The royal library of Parma has nearly 200,000, and Milan possesses two libraries with as many. The universities of Bologna, Genoa, Naples, Pisa, and Turin have libraries of the first class. But all these yield in interest to the Vatican Library at Rome, which is probably the oldest in Europe. In mere number of books it is exceeded by many, but its 220,000 printed volumes are of the greatest value, and its 25,000 MSS. include some of the most precious in the world. The Vatican is the private library of the pope, but scholars can gain access to it by permission. As yet, unfortunately, the want of catalogues is a drawback to its usefulness. In Rome, also, the public library, Vittorio Emanuele, to which has been joined the Bibliotheca Casanatense, founded by Cardinal Casanata in 1700, was made up in great part from the old Jesuit library of the Collegio Romano and other suppressed religious institutions, and now contains about half-a-million printed volumes and 7500 MSS. The confiscated monastic libraries helped largely to swell the aggregate number of volumes available for public use. In 1875 it appears that 650 of these collections were added to the contents of public libraries already in existence, while as many as 1050 were used for the formation of more than 400 new communal libraries. In Italy all the public libraries, thirty-two in number, including the national libraries, the university libraries, and the collections of certain academies, are under the authority of the minister of Public Instruction, and their internal management, even to the compilation of their catalogues, the keeping of registers, and the purchase of books, is regulated by a code of rules emanating from the state.

In Spain the national library at Madrid is of the largest class, with 10,000 MSS. and more than 400,000 printed volumes. It enjoys the copy-right privilege for all books published in the kingdom. The Escorial, though much smaller, is valuable, and the same may be said of the university library of Salamanca. The national library of Lisbon has as many MSS. as that of Madrid, and half as many printed books. The large municipal library of Oporto, founded in 1833, was enriched by the collections of suppressed religious houses. Both these libraries claim copies of all books published in Portugal.

In Belgium there are ten large libraries open to the public. The Bibliothèque Royale at Brussels (with which were incorporated the ancient library of the dukes of Burgundy and a large part of the Bollandists' collection) contains more than 350,000 volumes, 30,000 MSS., and 100,000 prints. The privilege of copyright is accorded to publishers only on the condition of their presenting copies of their publication to this library. The university libraries of Ghent and Louvain contain over 250,000 volumes, and that of Liège more than 100,000.

In Holland there are libraries, open to all inquirers, containing from 100,000 to more than double that number in Amsterdam, the Hague (royal library), Leyden, and Utrecht.

In Denmark the royal library of Copenhagen, begun in the middle of the 16th century, has more than half-a-million of volumes, including a rich collection of incunabula and 18,000 MSS. It was opened to the public in 1793, and exacts two copies of all books published in the kingdom. The university library in the same city has about 250,000 printed volumes and 4000 MSS., and also enjoys the privilege of the national copy tax.

The largest collection in Sweden is the royal library of Stockholm, with about 270,000 volumes. The university library of Upsala is not far behind. The university library of Christiania, in Norway, contains about 250,000 volumes.

In Russia the universities of Dorpat, Helsingfors, Kieff, Moscow, and St Petersburg have libraries of more than 100,000 volumes each, but they are not generally open to other than members of the several bodies. The imperial library at St Petersburg, founded at the beginning of the 18th century, is, however, open to all persons over twelve years of age, and in the number of its printed books as well as manuscripts it surpasses the royal library of Munich, possessing as it does about 1,152,000 printed volumes and about 26,000 MSS., some of which are of the highest value. Here is preserved the famous Codex Sinaiticus. This library has grown largely since the beginning of the 19th century. It has more than doubled since 1850. In 1810 the law required two copies of every publication in the empire to be deposited here.

The United States of America have not had the opportunities of Europe in the gradual accumulation of princely collections in the course of centuries, or the advantages possessed by France or Italy in the more recent appropriation of the books and treasures of monastic houses. Moreover, the States, until 1850, showed comparatively little interest in the institution of public libraries outside the universities. In that year the total number of libraries containing 5000 volumes or upwards which could be said to be accessible to the public was estimated at eighty-one, containing among them an aggregate of 980,413 volumes—considerably less than the total number of volumes to be found in the single city of Paris. The movement in favour of free public libraries took place in America about the same time as in England, and since that date nowhere has the accumulation of books been so rapid as in the States, and nowhere has the economy and management of free public libraries been carried to greater perfection. In 1876 the number of public libraries registered was 3842, containing upwards of 12,569,000 volumes. In the middle of the century there was no library in the States with as many as 75,000 volumes. In 1890 there were at least a dozen with over 100,000. Among the older collections the most notable is that of Harvard University, established in 1638. In 1850 it was estimated to contain in all 72,000 volumes. The number has now risen to more than 250,000, and it increases at the rate of 7000 volumes annually. Yale College, New Haven, which had in 1850 some 21,000 volumes, now has about 180,000. Official libraries have been formed in connection with every state, to which admission is free. The largest of these is the library of the state of New York at Albany, numbering about 140,000 volumes. The library of congress at Washington, which includes the scientific collection of the Smithsonian Institution, is the national library of the United States. It claims, under the copyright laws, two copies of every publication, and has in addition an annual grant from congress of nearly 60,000. The building now in course of erection will when completed be the largest national library in any country. Of the free town libraries the most important is that of Boston, founded in 1852. In 1881 it had 395,000 volumes, and now has 620,000. In Pennsylvania there are 433 libraries, with a gross total of about two million volumes. Other great libraries have been established and endowed for public use by the munificence of private individuals. The Astor Library at New York, founded by Jacob Astor and augmented by his son and grandson, was opened in 1854, and was able to spend on books 18,000 a year. The Lenox Library, also at New York, was established in 1870 by Mr James Lenox, who left an endowment of over a million dollars. The Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Libraries were incorporated by a law of 1895 into one having 4,000,000 volumes and an endowment of $8,000,000. Another notable donation was the Newberry bequest, which became available in 1885, of more than two million dollars for the establishment of a free public library in the north division of Chicago.

In Canada, as yet, there are but few public libraries. That of Toronto, established in 1883, has, however, been a marked success. It now contains about 58,000 volumes. The library of parliament at Ottawa, founded in 1815, has over 100,000 volumes. In Australasia the library movement is striking deeper root. It was calculated in 1887 that there was a public library in Victoria for every 4800 of the inhabitants, as against one for every 277,000 in the United Kingdom. There are in Victoria 425 libraries. The Melbourne public library, founded in 1853, has by the Copyright Act of Victoria privileges like those possessed by the British Museum, and contains 430,000 volumes, pamphlets, and parts. In South Australia there are 140 public libraries, and in New South Wales 160. In 1896 there were in New Zealand 304, and in Tasmania 40 libraries.

The literature of the subject is a large one. Monographs have been written on the principal libraries, ancient and modern; and reports on the national libraries have been issued from time to time by the governments of France, Italy, United States, &c. The most complete general history will be found in the valuable series of works by Mr Edwards, already referred to, Memoirs of Libraries (2 vols. 8vo, 1859), Libraries and Founders of Libraries (1865), Free Town Libraries (1869); and Free Public Libraries, by T. Greenwood (3d ed. Lond. 1890). See also the Report from the Select Committee on Public Libraries (1849, 357 pp. fol.); an international list of libraries (Leip. 1890), by P. E. Richter; How to Form a Library, by H. B. Wheatley (1886); The Library, by A. Lang (1888); G. F. Chambers, Digest of the Laws of Public Libraries (1889); the little treatise of Mr J. D. Mullins on Free Libraries and News Rooms. On the subject of library management and cognate subjects much practical information will be found in the volumes of The Library Journal (1876 to the present time), New York; the Transactions and Proceedings of the Library Association of the United Kingdom, and in The Library, the present organ of the association, edited by Mr M'Alister. Petzholdt's Katechismus der Bibliothekenlehre will be found a useful hand-book. Compare also the articles BIBLIOGRAPHY, BOOKS, BOOK-BINDING, INDEXING, &c.