313

155. A scholar's room in the fifteenth century. From a MS. in the Royal
Library at Brussels _To face_ 314

156. Dean Boys in his Library, 1622 317

THE CARE OF BOOKS.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION. ASSYRIAN RECORD-ROOMS. LIBRARIES IN
GREECE, ALEXANDRIA, PERGAMON, ROME. THEIR SIZE, USE,
CONTEXTS, AND FITTINGS. ARMARIA OR PRESSES. THE VATICAN
LIBRARY OF SIXTUS V. A TYPE OF AN ANCIENT ROMAN LIBRARY.

I propose, in the following Essay, to trace the methods adopted by man in
different ages and countries to preserve, to use, and to make accessible
to others, those objects, of whatever material, on which he has recorded
his thoughts. In this investigation I shall include the position, the
size, and the arrangement, of the rooms in which these treasures were
deposited, with the progressive development of fittings, catalogues, and
other appliances, whether defensive, or to facilitate use. But, though I
shall have to trace out these matters in some detail, I shall try to
eschew mere antiquarianism, and to impart human interest, so far as
possible, to a research which might otherwise exhaust the patience of my
readers. Bibliography, it must be understood, will be wholly excluded.
From my special point of view books are simply things to be taken care of:
even their external features concern me only so far as they modify the
methods adopted for arrangement and preservation. I must dismiss the
subject-matter of the volumes which filled the libraries of former days
with a brevity of which I deeply regret the necessity. I shall point out
the pains taken to sort the books under various comprehensive heads; but I
shall not enumerate the authors which fall under this or that division.

The earliest repositories of books were connected with temples or palaces,
either because priests under all civilisations have been _par excellence_
the learned class, while despots have patronised art and literature; or
because such a position was thought to offer greater security.

[Illustration: Fig. 1. Plan of the Record-Rooms in the Palace of
Assur-bani-pal, King of Nineveh.]

I will begin with Assyria, where the record-rooms, or we might almost say
the library, in the palace of Assur-bani-pal, King of Nineveh, were
discovered by Mr Layard in 1850 at Kouyunjik, on the Tigris, opposite
Mosul.