ierced 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
space 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.

This system must have been very wasteful as regards space; for only a few
volumes, say a couple of dozen, could be accommodated on a single desk. As
books accumulated therefore some other form of case had to be devised,
which would accommodate more volumes than could be consulted at once. The
desk could not be dispensed with so long as books were chained, but one or
more shelves were added to it. This addition was effected in two ways,
according as the books were to stand on their ends, or to lie on their
sides.

As an illustration of the former plan I will take the library of Merton
College, Oxford, attributed by tradition to William Reade, Bishop of
Chichester 1368-85; and it has been so little altered that it may be taken
as a type of a medieval collegiate or monastic library. It is a long
narrow room, as all medieval libraries were, with equidistant windows, and
the bookcases stand at right angles to the walls in the spaces between
each pair of windows, in front of which is the seat for the reader. Each
bookcase had originally two shelves only above the desk. I will shew you,
first, a general view of the interior of this library, and then a single
bookcase and seat.

_Merton College, Oxford: (1) general view