to represent a lock, but is in reality a mere plate of metal, and the
tongue, which looks as though it were intended to move, is only an
ornament, and is pierced by the keyhole. The lock is sunk in the thickness
of the wood, behind this plate, and the bar, which terminates in a knob,
is provided with two nicks, into which the bolts of the lock are shot
when the key is turned (fig. 56). Between each pair of desks there is a
seat for the reader.

[Illustration: Fig. 56. End of iron bar, Zutphen.]

[Illustration: Fig. 57. End of one of the desks on the north side of the
Library, Zutphen.]

The desks on the north side of the room differ slightly from those on the
south side. They are rather larger, the ends are of a different shape and
devoid of ornament (fig. 57), and there is a wider interval between the
bar and the top of the desk. It seems to me probable that the more highly
ornamented desks are those which were put in when the room was first
fitted up, and that the others were added from time to time as new books
had to be accommodated.

The books are attached to the desk by the following process. A chain was
taken about 12 inches long, more or less, consisting of long narrow links
of hammered iron. These links exactly resemble, both in shape and size,
those of a chain which may still be seen in the library of the Grammar
School at Guildford, Surrey[316]. This chain, of which a piece is here
figured (fig. 58), was probably made in 1586, or only 23 years after the
building of the library at Zutphen. It terminates, like those at Zutphen
(fig. 59), in a swivel (to prevent entanglement), attached to the ring
which is strung upon the bar. The attachment of the chain to the book was
effected by means of a piece of metal bent round so as to form a loop
through which the last link of the chain was passed. The ends of the loop,
flattened out, were attached by nail or rivet to the edge of the stout
wooden board which formed the side of the book. This mode of attachment
will be best seen in the volume which I figure next (fig. 60)--a
collection of sermons printed at Nuremberg in 1487. It is believed to have
once belonged to a Dominican House at Bamberg, in the library of which it
was chained[317].

[Illustration: Fig. 58. Piece of chain, shewing the ring attached to the
bar, the swivel, and one of the links, actual size. Guildford.]

The iron loop in this specimen (fig. 60) is fastened to what I call the
right-hand board of