The Care of Books Part 26

If we now reconsider the indications preserved at Queens' College, it will, I feel sure, be recognised that the desks at Zutphen explain them, and enable us to realise the aspect of what I conceive to have been the most ancient method of fitting up a collegiate or a monastic library. When such a room first became necessary in a monastery, and furniture suitable for it was debated, a lectern would surely suggest itself, as being used in the numerous daily services, and proving itself singularly convenient for the support of books while they were being read.

Another example of such fittings was once to be seen at Pembroke College, Cambridge, in the library above the hall (fig. 48). In Dr Matthew Wren's account of that library already quoted there is a pa.s.sage which may be translated as follows:

I would have you know that in the year 1617 the Library was completely altered and made to a.s.sume an entirely new appearance. This alteration was rendered necessary by the serious damage which, to our great sorrow, we found the books had suffered--a damage which was increasing daily--partly from the sloping form of the desks, partly from the inconvenient weight of the chains (_tum ex declivi pluteorum fabrica, tum ex inepta mole catenarum_)[318].

These desks were copied at S. John's College in the same University. A contract dated 20 June, 1516, provides that the contractor

shall make all the Desks in the Library wythin the said college of good and substanciall and abyll Tymber of Oke mete and convenient for the same Library, aftir and accordyng to the Library within ... Pembroke Hall[319].

The Library here referred to was on the first floor to the south of the Great Gate of the college. It is now divided into chambers, but its original extent can be readily made out by its range of equidistant windows. The wall-s.p.a.ces dividing these are 28 inches wide, practically the same as those at Queens' College.

At Peterhouse also a similar arrangement seems to have subsisted when the catalogue of 1418 was made. The very first book, a Bible, is said to stand "in the sixth lectern on the west side (_lectrino 6^o ex parte occidentali_)." The word _lectrinum_ is unusual, but it emphasizes the form of the desk more clearly than any other.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 61 Single desk in the old Library, Lincoln Cathedral.]

A splendid example of this type of case is to be seen at Lincoln (fig.

61), where three "stalls" or desks, belonging to the old library already described[320], are still preserved. Each is about 7 ft. long, 3 ft.

broad, and 4 ft. 4 in. high to the top of the sloping portion. At each end, and in the centre, is a ma.s.sive molded standard, 7 ft. 2 in. high, terminating in a boldly carved finial; and these three standards are connected together by a band of open-work, of a design similar to that of the cornice of the library. Half way between this band and the top of the desk is the bar to carry the chains, now of wood, but formerly of course of iron; and below this again is a shelf 18 in. wide, projecting slightly beyond the sloping portion of the desk. The edge of the desk is protected by a ledge, as usual, and under it is a second shelf extending the whole width of the piece of furniture. What was the use of these shelves? As the bar is above the desk, not below it, the books must have reposed, as a general rule, upon the desk, instead of being laid on their sides on the shelf below it when not wanted by a reader. The chains would not have been long enough to allow of any other arrangement. I think, therefore, that the lower shelf must have been a constructional contrivance, to a.s.sist in keeping the standards in their places. The narrow upper shelf, on the other hand, was probably intended for the convenience of the reader. He might place on it, temporarily, any book that he was not using, and which got in his way while he was reading one of those beside it; or, if he was making extracts, he might set his inkstand upon it.

These desks evidently stood in the old library against the shafts of the roof, for one of the ends has been hollowed out in each to receive the shaft; and the finial, which is left plain on that side, is bent over slightly, to admit it under the brace (fig. 39).

As I have now described three varieties of the lectern-system, I will place before my readers, side by side, elevations of each of the three (fig. 62) drawn to the same scale. It will be seen that they resemble each other exactly in essentials. The differences observable are accidental, and may be referred to individual taste.

That this form of desk was recognised on the continent as typical of library-fittings is proved by its appearance in a French translation of the first book of the _Consolation of Philosophy_ of Boethius, which I had the good fortune to find in the British Museum[321] (fig. 63). This ma.n.u.script was written in Flanders towards the end of the fifteenth century. In such a work the library shewn requires what I may term generalised fittings. An eccentric peculiarity would have been quite inadmissible.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 62. Elevation of (A) one of the bookcases in the Library at Zutphen; (B) one of those in the Library at Queens' College, Cambridge; (C) one of those in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral.]

In the Stadtbibliothek of Nuremberg some of the oldest works on jurisprudence still preserve their chains. Each has a short chain about 12 in. long fixed on the upper edge of the left-hand board. The t.i.tle is written on the middle of the upper edge of the right-hand board. It is obvious that these volumes must have lain on a desk with their t.i.tles uppermost[322].

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 63. Interior of a Library.

From a MS. of a French translation of the first book of the _Consolation of Philosophy_ by Boethius: written in Flanders towards the end of the fifteenth century.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 64. Library of the College de Navarre, Paris, now destroyed.]

It is probable that similar fittings were used in the library of the Sorbonne, Paris, which was first established in 1289, with books chained for the common convenience of the Fellows (_in communem sociorum utilitatem_)[323]. This library was divided into two separate collections, which formed, so to speak, two distinct libraries. The first, called the great library, or the common library, contained the books most frequently studied. They were chained, and could only be taken out under the most exceptional circ.u.mstances. A statute, dated 1321, the provisions of which recall the collegiate statutes summarised above, directed that the best book the society possessed on each subject should be thus chained. The second division of the library, called the small library, contained duplicates, books rarely consulted, and generally all those of which the loan was authorised under certain conditions[324]. The following description of this library has been given by Claude Hemere (Librarian 1638-43) in his MS. history. This I proceed to translate:

The old library was contained under one roof. It was firmly and solidly built, and was 120 feet long by 36 feet broad.... Each side was pierced with 19 windows of equal size, that plenty of daylight both from the east and the west (for this was the direction of the room) might fall upon the desks, and fill the whole length and breadth of the library. There were 28 desks, marked with the letters of the alphabet, five feet high, and so arranged that they were separated by a moderate interval. They were loaded with books, all of which were chained, that no sacrilegious hand might [carry them off. These chains were attached to the right-hand board of every book] so that they might be readily thrown aside, and reading not be interfered with. Moreover the volumes could be opened and shut without difficulty. A reader who sat down in the s.p.a.ce between two desks, as they rose to a height of five feet as I said above, neither saw nor disturbed any one else who might be reading or writing in another place by talking or by any other interruption, unless the other student wished it, or paid attention to any question that might be put to him. It was required, by the ancient rules of the library, that reading, writing, and handling of books should go forward in complete silence[325].

This description indicates desks similar to those of Zutphen. Even the height is the same.

A library which vividly recalls the above account, with 19 windows on one side and probably the same number on the other, was built in 1506 for the College de Navarre, Paris, now the ecole Polytechnique[326]. My ill.u.s.tration (fig. 64) is from a photograph taken shortly before its destruction in 1867. I have calculated that it was about 108 ft. long by 30 ft. wide.

The library of the College d'Autun, Paris, was similarly arranged. An inventory taken 29 July, 1462, records: "dix bancs doubles, a se seoir d'une part et d'autre, et ung poupitre; esquelz bancs et poupitre out este trouvez enchaisnez les livres qui s'ensuyvent, qui sont int.i.tulez sur la couverture d'iceulx[327]." The catalogue enumerates 174 volumes, or rather more than 17 for each "banc" or lectern. The expression _bancs doubles_ is interesting, as it seems to imply that there were at that time libraries in which _bancs simples_ were used; that is to say, lecterns with only one sloping surface instead of two.

A study of the catalogue drawn up in 1513 for the Augustinian House of S.

Victor, Paris, by Claude de Grandrue, one of the monks, shews that the same system must have been in use there. Further, his catalogue is an excellent specimen of the pains taken in a large monastery to describe the books accurately, and to provide ready access to them. A brief prefatory note informs us that the desks are arranged in three rows, and marked with a triple series of letters. The first row is marked A, B, C, etc.; the second AA, BB, etc.; the third AAA, BBB, etc. To each of these letters are appended the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on, to shew the position of the required volume. For instance--to take one at random--_Abaelardi confessio_ is marked P. 13: that is, it is the thirteenth book on the desk in the first row marked P. When the catalogue proper--in which each ma.n.u.script is carefully described--was finished, the author increased its usefulness by the composition of an alphabetical index[328].

How, I shall be asked, can the form of the bookcase or desk (_pulpitum_) be inferred from this catalogue? I reply: In the first place, because there are no shelf-marks. The librarian notes the letter of the desk, and the place of each book on it, but nothing more. Secondly, because the number of ma.n.u.scripts accommodated on each desk is so small. There are 50 desks, and 988 ma.n.u.scripts--or, an average of little more than 19 to each. At Zutphen the average is exactly 18. This piece of evidence, however, is so important that I will give it in detail. The following table, compiled by myself from the catalogue, gives the letters used to mark the desks, and the number of ma.n.u.scripts on each.

A 13 AA 13 AAA 15 B 21 BB 16 BBB 16 C 13 CC 19 CCC 17 D 18 DD 18 DDD 19 E 17 EE 21 EEE 17 F 20 FF 17 FFF 29 G 18 GG 18 GGG 24 H 16 HH 17 HHH 29 I 16 II 23 III 25 K 17 KK 21 KKK 29 L 22 LL 21 LLL 23 M 21 MM 20 MMM 26 N 18 NN 20 ---- O 14 OO 13 269 P 19 PP 23 Q 22 QQ 27 R 14 RR 26 S 14 SS 28 T 21 TT 24 ---- ---- 334 385

These totals give a general total of 988 ma.n.u.scripts, which, divided by 50, makes the average number for each desk, as stated above, 1976.

Further, my theory is supported by the positive evidence of a description of this library (unfortunately without date) quoted by M. Delisle: "Les livres estoient couchez et enchaisnez, sur de longs pupitres, et une allee entre deux[329]." It is obvious that the English system of placing each lectern between a pair of windows could not have been maintained here.

At Queens' College, Cambridge, the catalogue, dated 1472, enumerates 192 volumes, divided over 10 desks and 4 half-desks, each called a step (_gradus_). There were (avoiding fractions) 8 books on each half-desk, and 15 on each complete desk; so that by comparing the plan (fig. 50) and elevation of a desk (fig. 51) with the views of the library at Zutphen, a good idea of a college library in the fifteenth century can be obtained.

Before I leave the lectern-system, I will describe two eccentric specimens of it. The first is still to be seen at Trinity Hall, Cambridge; the second once existed at the University of Leyden.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 66. Elevation of a book-desk and seat in the Library of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 65. General view of the Library at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 68. A French Library of 1480.

From MS. 164 in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.]

The library of Trinity Hall is thoroughly medieval in plan, being a long narrow room on the first floor of the north side of the second court, 65 feet long by 20 feet wide, with eight equidistant windows in each side-wall, and a window of four lights in the western gable. It was built about 1600, but the fittings are even later, having been added between 1626 and 1645 during the mastership of Thomas Eden, LL.D. They are therefore a deliberate return to ancient forms at a time when a different type had been adopted elsewhere.

There are five desks and six seats on each side of the room, placed, as usual, at right angles to the side-walls, in the inter s.p.a.ces of the windows, and in front of the windows, respectively. Their arrangement, and the details of their construction, will be understood from the general view (fig. 65), and from the elevation (fig. 66).

These lecterns are of oak, 6 feet 7 inches long, and 7 feet high, measured to the top of the ornamental finial. There is a sloping desk at the top, beneath which is a single shelf (fig. 66, A). The bar for the chains pa.s.ses under the desk, through the two vertical ends of the case. At the end farthest from the wall, the hasp of the lock is hinged to the bar and secured by two keys (fig. 67). Beneath the shelf there is at either end a slip of wood (fig. 66, B), which indicates that there was once a moveable desk which could be pulled out when required. The reader could therefore consult his convenience, and work either sitting or standing (fig. 65).

For both these positions the heights are very suitable, and at the bottom of the case was a plinth (fig. 66, C), on which he could set his feet. The seats between each pair of desks were of course put up at the same time as the desks themselves. They shew an advance in comfort, being divided into two, so as to allow support to the reader's back.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 67. Lock at end of book-desk. Trinity Hall.]

Similar desks occur in a beautiful miniature (fig. 68) from a ma.n.u.script (now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge[330]) written in France about 1480. They appear to be solid--possibly fitted with cupboards for books under the sloping portion. No seats are shewn, and, as a reader is standing between them consulting a book, it may be concluded that they could only be used by students in that position.

Lastly, I reproduce (fig. 69) a print by Jan Cornelis Wouda.n.u.s, shewing the library of the University of Leyden in 1610[331]. The bookcases were evidently contrived with the view of getting the largest number possible into the room. Each contained a single row of books, chained to a bar in front of the shelf; and, also for the purpose of saving the s.p.a.ce usually occupied by a seat, readers were obliged to consult them standing. There are eleven bookcases on each side of the room, each containing from 40 to 48 volumes. At the end of the room are two cupboards, probably for ma.n.u.scripts; and to the right of the spectator is a third press, marked _Legatum Josephi Scaligeri_. He died in January, 1609. Further, as an ill.u.s.tration of the usual appliances for study found in libraries at this period, and often mentioned in catalogues and account-books, I would draw attention to the globes and maps.

I present these bookcases at this point of my researches with some diffidence, for they can hardly be said to represent the lectern-system.

On the other hand, they do not exactly represent any other; and I therefore submit that they may be looked at here, as transitional specimens, bridging over the interval between the desks we have lately been considering, and those which we shall have to consider in the next chapter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 69. The interior of the Library of the University of Leyden.

From a print by Jan Cornelis Wouda.n.u.s, dated 1610.]

FOOTNOTES:

[258] The Statutes of the Colleges of Oxford and Cambridge bearing on the care of books have been thoroughly a.n.a.lysed by Professor Willis in his essay on "The Library," _Arch. Hist._ III. pp. 387-471, which I edited and completed. I have therefore not thought it necessary to acknowledge each quotation separately, but I wish it to be understood that this section of my present book is to a great extent borrowed from him.

[259] Wood, _History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford_, ed.

Gutch, 4to. Oxford, 1796, Vol. II. Part 2, p. 910.

[260] _Commiss. Docts._ (Oxford), Vol. 1. Statutes of Merton College, Cap.

2, p. 24.