y eyes to the possibilities that lay
before me, and I gladly place on record here the debt I owe to the
historian to whom I have dedicated this book.

When I had the honour of delivering the Rede Lecture before the University
of Cambridge in June 1894, I attempted a reconstruction of the monastic
library, shewing its relationship, through its fittings, to the
collegiate libraries of Oxford and Cambridge; and I was also able,
following the example set by Dom Gasquet in the above-mentioned essay, to
indicate the value of illuminated manuscripts as illustrating the life of
a medieval student or scribe. In my lectures as Sandars Reader in
Bibliography, delivered before the University of Cambridge in 1900, I
developed the subject still further, extending the scope of my enquiries
so as to include the libraries of Greece and Rome.

In writing my present book I have availed myself freely of the three works
above mentioned. At the same time I have incorporated much fresh material;
and I am glad to take this opportunity of stating, that, with the single
exception of the Escorial, I have personally examined and measured every
building which I have had occasion to describe; and many of the
illustrations are from my own sketches.

I call my book an _Essay_, because I wish to indicate that it is only an
attempt to deal, in a summary fashion, with an extremely wide and
interesting subject--a subject, too, which might easily be subdivided into
separate heads each capable of more elaborate treatment. For instance,
with regard to libraries in Religious Houses, I hope to see a book
written, dealing not merely with the way in which the books were cared
for, but with the subjects most generally studied, as indicated to us by
the catalogues which have survived.

A research such as I have had to undertake has naturally involved the
co-operation of numerous librarians and others both in England and on the
Continent. From all these officials I have experienced unfailing courtesy
and kindness, and I beg them to accept this collective expression of my
gratitude. To some, however, I am under such particular obligations, that
I wish to mention them by name.

In the first place I have to thank my friends Dr Jackson of Trinity
College, Dr Sandys of S. John's College, Dr James of King's College, and
F. J. H. Jenkinson, M.A., University Librarian, for their kind help in
reading proofs and making suggestions. Dr Sandys devoted much time to the
rev