The Care of Books Part 44

PRIVATE LIBRARIES. ABBAT SIMON AND HIS BOOK-CHEST. LIBRARY OF CHARLES V.

OF FRANCE. ILl.u.s.tRATIONS OF THIS LIBRARY FROM ILLUMINATED Ma.n.u.sCRIPTS.

BOOK-LECTERN USED IN PRIVATE HOUSES. BOOK-DESKS REVOLVING ROUND A CENTRAL SCREW. DESKS ATTACHED TO CHAIRS. WALL-CUPBOARDS. A SCHOLAR'S ROOM IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. STUDY OF THE DUKE OF URBINO. LIBRARY OF MONTAIGNE.

LIBRARY OF MARGARET OF AUSTRIA. CONCLUSION.

In the previous chapters I have sketched the history of library-fittings from the earliest times to the end of the eighteenth century. The libraries to which these fittings belonged were, for the most part, public, or as good as public. But, as in history we have recognised the important fact that a record of battles and sieges and enactments in Parliament gives an imperfect conception of the life of a people, so I should feel that this archeological subject had been insufficiently treated if I made no attempt to shew how private scholars disposed their books, or with what appliances they used them. For instance, in what sort of chair was the author of the _Philobiblon_ sitting when he wrote the last words of his treatise, 24 January, 1345, and how was his study in his palace at Auckland furnished? Further, how were private students bestowed in the fifteenth century, when a love of letters had become general?

Lastly, how were libraries fitted up for private use in the succeeding century, when the great people of the earth, like the wealthy Romans of imperial times, added the pursuit of literature to their other fashions, and considered a library to be indispensable in their luxurious palaces?

In the hope of obtaining reliable information on these interesting questions, I have for some years past let no opportunity slip of examining illuminated ma.n.u.scripts. I have gone through a large number in the British Museum, where research is aided by an excellent list of the subjects ill.u.s.trated; in the _Bibliotheque Nationale_, Paris; and in the _Bibliotheque Royale_, Brussels, where the ma.n.u.scripts are for the most part those which once belonged to the Dukes of Burgundy. I have been somewhat disappointed in this search, for, with the single exception of the ill.u.s.tration from Boethius (fig. 63), I have not found any library, properly so called. This is no doubt strange, having regard to the great variety of scenes depicted. It must be remembered, however, that these are used for the most part to ill.u.s.trate some action that is going forward, for which a library would be a singularly inappropriate background. Single figures, on the other hand, are frequently shewn with their books about them, either reading or writing. Such ill.u.s.trations most frequently occur in _Books of Hours_, in representations of the Evangelists; or in portraits of S. Jerome, who is painted as a scholar at his desk surrounded by piles of books and papers; and I think we may safely take these as representations of ordinary scholars, because, by the beginning of the fifteenth century, when most of the pictures to which I refer were drawn, it had become the custom to surround even the most sacred personages with the attributes of common life.

In the twelfth century, when books were few, they were kept in chests, and the owners seem to have used the edge as a desk to lean their book on. My ill.u.s.tration (fig. 134) shews Simon, Abbat of S. Albans 1167-1183, seated in front of his book-chest[521]. The chest is set on a frame, so as to raise it to a convenient height; and the Abbat is seated on one of those folding wooden chairs which are not uncommon at the present day. Simon was a great collector of books: "their number," writes his chronicler, "it would take too long to name; but those who desire to see them can find them in the painted aumbry in the church, placed as he specially directed against the tomb of Roger the hermit[522]."

Chests, as we have seen above at the Vatican library, were used for the permanent storage of books in the fifteenth century; and a book-chest frequently formed part of the travelling luggage of a king. For example, when Charles V. of France died, 16 September, 1380, at the Chateau de Beaute-sur-Marne, thirty-one volumes were found in his chamber "in a chest resting on two supports, which chest is by the window, near the fireplace, and it has a double cover, and in one of the divisions of the said chest were the volumes that follow." His son, Charles VI., kept the thirteen volumes which he carried about with him in a carved chest, within which was an inlaid box (_escrin marquete_) to contain the more precious books[523].

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 134. Simon, Abbat of S. Albans (1167-1183), seated at his book-chest.

From MSS. Cotton.]

The earliest information about the furniture of a medieval private library that I have as yet discovered is contained in a fragment of an account-book recording the cost of fitting up a tower in the Louvre in 1367 and 1368, to contain the books belonging to Charles V. of France.

Certain pieces of woodwork in the older library in the palace on the Isle de la Cite are to be taken down and altered, and set up in the new room.

Two carpenters are paid (14 March, 1367) for "having taken to pieces all the cases (_bancs_) and two wheels (_roes_), which were in the king's library in the palace, and transported them to the Louvre with the desks (_lettrins_), and the aforesaid wheels, each made smaller by a foot all round; and for having put all together again, and hung up the desks (_lettrins_) in the two upper stages of the tower that looks toward the Falconry, to put the king's books in; and for having panelled the first of those two stories all round on the inside with wood from 'Illande,' at a total cost of fifty francs of gold. Next, because the seats were too old, they were remade of new timber which the aforesaid carpenters brought.

Also [they were paid] for two strong doors for the said two stories 7 ft.

high, 3 ft. broad, and 3 fingers thick." In the following year (4 May, 1368), a wire-worker (_cagetier_) is paid "for having made trellises of wire in front of two cas.e.m.e.nts and two windows ... to keep out birds and other beasts (_oyscaux et autres bestes_), by reason of, and protection for, the books that shall be placed there." The ceiling is said to have been panelled in cypress wood ornamented with carvings[524].

The "tower that looks toward the Falconry" mentioned in the above description has been identified with the north-west tower of the old Louvre. The rooms fitted up as a library were circular, and about 14 feet in diameter[525].

The above description of a library will be best explained by an illumination (fig. 135) contained in Boccacio's _Livre des cas des malheureux n.o.bles hommes et femmes_, written and illuminated in Flanders for King Henry the Seventh, and now in the British Museum[526]. Two gentlemen are studying at a revolving desk, which can be raised or lowered by a central screw. This is evidently the "wheel" of the French King's library. Behind are their books, either resting on a desk hung against the wall, which is panelled, or lying on a shelf beneath the desk. This piece of furniture would be properly described either as a _banc_ or a _lettrin_. It should be noted that care has been taken to keep the wheel steady by supporting it on a solid base, beneath which are two strong cross-pieces of timber, which also serve as a foot-rest for the readers.

The books on the desk set against the wall are richly bound, with bosses of metal. Chaining was evidently not thought of, indeed I doubt if it was ever used in a private library. The window is glazed throughout. In other examples which I shall figure below we shall find a wire trellis used instead of gla.s.s for part at least of the window.

My next ill.u.s.tration (fig. 136), also Flemish, is of the same date, from a copy of the _Miroir historial_[527]. It represents a Carmelite monk, probably the author of the book, writing in his study. Behind him are three desks, one above the other, hung against the wall along two sides of the room, with books bound and ornamented as in the former picture, resting upon them, and beneath the lowest is a flat shelf or bench on which a book rests upon its side. The desk he is using is not uncommon in these ill.u.s.trations. It is fixed on a solid base, which is further strengthened, as in the example of the wheel-desk, by ma.s.sive planks, to guard against the slightest vibration; and it can be turned aside by means of a limb--apparently of iron--which is first vertical, then horizontal, then vertical again. The Carmelite holds in his left hand an instrument for keeping the page perfectly flat. This instrument has usually a sharp point with which any roughness on the page can be readily removed. The volume he is using is kept open by two strings, to each of which a weight is attached. Behind the desk, covered with a cloth, is a chest secured by two locks. On this stands an object which appears to be a large magnifying gla.s.s.

Sometimes the desk was carried round three sides of the room, with no curtain to keep off dust, and with no shelf beneath it. The ill.u.s.tration (fig. 137) is from a French translation of Valerius Maximus (1430-75) in the Harleian Collection[528].

I now pa.s.s to a series of pictures which ill.u.s.trate the daily life of a scholar or a writer who had few books, but who could live in a certain ease--allowing himself a chair and a desk. Of these desks there is an infinite variety, dictated, I imagine, by the fashion prevalent in particular places at particular times. I have tried to arrange them in groups.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 136. A Carmelite in his study.

From a MS. of _Le Miroir Historial_ in the British Museum.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 137. Three musicians in a library.

From a MS. of a French translation of _Valerius Maximus_, in the British Museum.]

In the first place the chair is usually a rather elaborate piece of furniture, with arms, a straight back, and, very frequently, a canopy. A cushion to sit upon is sometimes permitted, but, as a general rule, these chairs are dest.i.tute of stuffing, tapestry, or other device to conceal the material of which they are made. Occasionally the canopy is richly carved or painted in a pattern.

The commonest form of desk is a modification of the lectern-system. It consists of a double lectern, beneath which is a row of cupboards, or rather a shelf protected by several doors, one of which is always at the end of the piece of furniture. The triangular s.p.a.ce under the lectern is also used for books. This device is specially commended by Richard de Bury in the _Philobiblon_[529]. "Moses," says he, "the gentlest of men, teaches us to make bookcases most neatly, wherein they may be protected from any injury: _Take_, he says, _this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your G.o.d_." My ill.u.s.tration (fig. 138) is taken from an edition of the _Ship of Fools_, printed at Basle by Nicolas Lamparter in 1507. In this example the desk with its cupboards stands on a plinth, and this again on a broad step. Both are probably introduced to ensure steadiness.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 138. A bibliomaniac at his desk.

From the _Ship of Fools_.]

The seated figure represents a bibliomaniac who treats his books as mere curiosities from which he derives no mental improvement. He has put on his spectacles and wielded his feather-brush, in order to dust the leaves of a folio with greater care. Under the cut are the following explanatory lines:

Qui libros tyriis vest.i.t honoribus Et blattas abijt puluerulentulas Nec discens animum litterulis colit: Mercatur nimia stultieiam stipe.

I append a rough translation:

Who clothes his books in Tyrian dyes, Then brushes off the dust and flies, Nor reads one line to make him wise, Spends lavish gold and--FOLLY buys.

Such a desk as this was used in the succeeding century in at least two libraries belonging to ladies of high rank. The first belonged to Margaret of Austria, daughter of Maximilian, Emperor of Germany. She had been the wife of Philibert II., Duke of Savoy, and after his death, 10 September, 1504, her father made her regent of the Netherlands. She died at Malines 30 November, 1530, at the age of fifty. She seems to have been a liberal patroness of literature and the arts, and the beautiful church that she built at Brou in memory of her husband bears witness to her architectural taste and skill.

The inventory, out of which I hope to reconstruct her library, is dated 20 April, 1524[530]. It is headed: "Library," and begins with the following entry: "The first desk (_pourpitre_) begins over the door, and goes all round up to the fireplace." On this desk or shelf are enumerated fifty-two volumes, all bound in velvet with gilt bosses. This entry is succeeded by: "here follow the Books of Hours, being on a desk high up in continuation of the preceding one between the windows and the fireplace." This desk contains twenty-six volumes bound in velvet, red satin, or cloth of gold, with gilt bosses.

We come next to "the first desk below (_d'ambas_) beginning near the door at the first seat." This desk carries nine books, presumably on the sloping portion, because we presently come to a paragraph headed "here follow the books covered with leather &c., which are underneath the desks beginning near the door." The author of the inventory then returns to the first desk, and enumerates eleven volumes. He next goes round to "the other side of the said desk," and enumerates thirteen volumes. In this way six desks are gone through. All have books bound in black, blue, crimson, or violet, velvet laid out upon them, while those in plainer dress are consigned to the shelves beneath. It should be added that the fourth desk is described as being near the fireplace (_empres la chemynee_).

The desks having been gone through, we come to "the books which are within the iron trellis beginning near the door." This piece of furniture contained twenty-seven volumes.

The number of books accommodated in the whole room was as follows:

First shelf 52 Second shelf 26 78 First desk (sloping portion) 9 Under desk: one side 11 " " other side 13 24 33 -------- Second desk 21 11 10 21 42 -------- Third " " 26 13 10 23 49 -------- Fourth " " 15 18 14 32 47 -------- Fifth " " 19 11 10 21 40 -------- Sixth " " 20 9 10 19 39 250 -------- Within the trellis-work 27 355

We will next try to form some idea of the way in which this library was arranged; and first of the two shelves which begin "over the door." A shelf in this position is shewn in Carpaccio's well-known picture of S.

Jerome in his study. It is set deskwise against the wall supported on iron brackets. As a large proportion of the fifty-two volumes on our shelf are described as of large size (_grant_), we shall be justified in a.s.suming that each was 10 in. broad. The total therefore would occupy 520 in. or say 43 ft. at least, not allowing for intervals between them. This shelf extended from the door round the room to the fireplace, by which I suppose we are to understand that it began on the wall which contained the door, and was carried round the corner of the room up to the fireplace.

The second shelf, at the same height as the preceding, contained only twenty-six volumes, fifteen of which are described as small (_pet.i.t_). A s.p.a.ce of thirteen feet or even less will therefore be amply sufficient to contain them.

The six desks which stood on the floor were, I imagine, constructed in some such way as that which I have figured above from the _Ship of Fools_.

It is evident that books in velvet bindings and adorned with gilt bosses would be set out where they could be seen, and for such a purpose what could be better than a lectern? The table I have given above shews that there were 110 volumes thus disposed, or an average of say 18 to each desk. A careful a.n.a.lysis of the inventory, where the size of each book is always set down, shews me that there were very few small books in this part of the library, but that they were divided between large (_grant_) and medium size (_moien_). If we allow 8 in. for each book, we get an average of 144 in. = 12 ft. for each desk, that is, as the desk was double, the piece of furniture was 6 ft. long. Under the sloping portion it had a shelf on each side. Four such desks stood between the door and the fireplace, and two between the fireplace and the window, which seems to have been opposite the door.

We are not told where the "trellis of iron" was. I suppose these words mean some shelves set against the wall with ironwork in front of them. As the enumeration of the books begins "near the door" the piece of furniture may be placed on the side of the door opposite to the former desks.

The inventory further shews that this library did duty as a museum. It was in fact filled with rare and beautiful objects, and must have presented a singularly rich appearance. In the middle of the hood over the fireplace was a stag's head and horns bearing a crucifix. There was a bust of the Duke of Savoy, in white marble, forming a pendant to one of the d.u.c.h.ess Margaret herself, and in the same material a statuette of a boy extracting a thorn from his foot, probably a copy of the antique in the Ducal Gallery at Florence. There were also twenty oil paintings in the room, some of which were hung round the hood of the fireplace. Besides these works of art there were several pieces of furniture, as, for instance, a large press containing a complete set of armour, a sideboard "a la mode d'Italie," given as a present by the viceroy of Naples; a square table of inlaid work; a smaller table bearing the arms of Burgundy and Spain; three mirrors; a number of objects in rock-crystal; and lastly some feather dresses from India (S. America?), presented by the Emperor.

It is provoking that the inventory, minute as it is, should desert us at the most important point, and give insufficient data for estimating the size of the room. I conjecture that it was about 46 ft. long from the following considerations. In the first place, I allow 2 ft. for the width of each desk. Of these there were four between the door and the fireplace = 8 ft. Secondly, I allow 3 ft. each for the five intervals = 15 ft., or a total of 23 ft. from the door to the fireplace. For the fireplace itself I allow 10 ft. Between the fireplace and the wall containing the window or windows, there were two desks and three intervals = 13 ft. I pointed out above that 43 ft. at least might be allowed for the shelf extending from the door to the fireplace. Of this I have absorbed 23 ft., leaving 20 ft.

for the distance from the door to the corner of the room. As we are not told anything about the position of the door my estimate of the size of the room cannot be carried further.

A similar arrangement obtained in the library of Anne de France, daughter of Louis XI., or as she is usually called Anne de Beaujeu[531]. Her catalogue made 19 September, 1523, records 314 t.i.tles, which I need hardly say represent a far larger number of books. They were arranged like those of the d.u.c.h.ess Margaret, on eleven desks (_poulpitres_). These were set round a room, with the exception of two which were placed in the middle of it. It is interesting to note respecting one of these, that it had a cupboard at the end, for the contents are entered as follows: _au bout dudit poulpitre sont enclos les livres qui s'ensuivent_, and sixteen volumes are enumerated. There was also a shelf set against the wall, described as _le plus hault poulpitre le long de la dite muraille_, which contained fifty-five volumes. This desk was probably high up, like the one in the library of the d.u.c.h.ess Margaret. The books upon it are noted as being all covered with red velvet, and ornamented with clasps, bosses, and corner-pieces of metal. There were also in this library an astrolabe, and a sphere with the signs of the Zodiac.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 139. S. John writing his Gospel.

From a MS. _Hours_ in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.]

A desk, similar in general character to that figured in the _Ship of Fools_, but of a curiously modern type, occurs in an Hours in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, executed about 1445 for Isabel, d.u.c.h.ess of Brittany. The picture (fig. 139) represents S. John writing his Gospel.

A modification of this form of desk was common in Italy. It is often used by painters of the fifteenth century in pictures of the Annunciation, where it does duty as a prie-dieu. The example I have selected (fig. 140) is from a painting by Benedetto Bonfigli, in the church of S. Peter at Perugia. It represents S. Jerome writing. A small circular revolving desk, at the left-hand corner of the larger desk, holds the work he is copying or referring to. On the desk near the inkstand lies the pointed _stylus_ mentioned above. Below the cupboard containing books is a drawer.

Projecting from the top of the revolving desk, there is a vertical rod of iron with a long horizontal arm. This is no doubt intended to carry a lantern. I shall shortly give an example of one in such a position.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 141. Circular book-desk.