Chapter IV: , VII (156)

"The history of the vast collection of books which is now,
after many wanderings, definitely located in the Rue de
Richelieu, divides itself naturally into three periods, which,
for the sake of convenience, may well be called by three of
the names under which the Library has, at different times,
been known. The first period is that in which the Library was
nothing more than the private collection of each successive
sovereign of France, which sometimes accompanied him in his
journeys, and but too often, as in the case of King John, or
that of Charles VII., shared in his misfortunes; it was then
fitly called the 'Bibliothèque du Roi.' This period may be
considered as ending in the time of Henry IV., who transferred
the royal collection from Fontainebleau to Paris, and gave it
a temporary home in the College de Clermont. Although its
abode has often been changed since, it has never again been
attached to a royal palace, or been removed from the capital.
The second period dates from this act of Henry the Fourth's,
and extends down to the Revolution of 1780, during which time
the Library, although open with but slight restrictions to all
men of letters who were well recommended, and to the general
public for two days a week, from the year 1692, was not
regarded as national property, but as an appendage of the
Crown, which was indeed graciously opened to the learned, but
was only national property in the same sense that the Queen's
private library at Windsor is national property.
{2011}
Although still called the Bibliothèque du Roi during this
period, it may well be here spoken of, for the sake of
distinction, as the Bibliothèque Royale down to the
Revolution. In 1791, the King's library was proclaimed
national property, and it was decreed that it should
henceforth be called 'Bibliothèque Nationale,' which name it
bore till the coronation of Napoleon as Emperor of the French,
in 1805, when it was styled 'Bibliothèque Impériale.' Of
course it was Bibliothèque Royale again in 1815, 'Nationale'
in 1848, and once again, in 1852, was declared to be the
'Bibliothèque Impériale.'"

_Imperial Library of Paris
(Westminster Review, April, 1870)._

After the fall of the Second Empire, the great library again
became "Nationale" in name. According to a report made in the
spring of 1894, the Bibliothèque Nationale of France
contained, at the end of the previous year, 1,934,154
"'numbers,' forming at least 2,600,000 volumes." This report
was made by a committee of twenty persons, appointed to
consider the advisability and method of printing the catalogue
of the library. The conclusions of the committee are favorable
to the printing of the catalogue.

_The Nation,
May 17, 1894_.

Books come to the National Library "in three ways: from (1)
gifts, about 3,000 a year; … (2) purchase, 4,500 (the
library has $20,000 a year to spend on books and binding); (3)
copyright, 22,000 articles and 6,000 pieces of music. The
printer, not the publisher, is bound to make the deposit, so
that if the text and the illustrations are printed at
different places there is a chance, unless everyone is
careful, that the library will have an imperfect copy. But the
greatest trouble comes from periodicals, of which the
Bibliothèque Nationale receives 3,000. What would some of our
librarians think of this who are inclined to boast or to
lament that they receive 300? Every number of every newspaper
in France must be received, sent for if it fails to come,
registered, put on its pile, and at the end of the year tied
up in a bundle and put away (for only the most important are
bound). … The titles of new books are printed in a bulletin
in two series, French and Foreign (causing a printer's bill of
5,000 francs a year). This began in 1875 for the foreign, and
in 1882 for the French. These bulletins are cut up and the
titles mounted on slips, which are fastened in a Leyden
binder, three making a small folio page. The result is a
series of 900 volumes, less easy to consult than a good card
catalog, very much less easy than the British Museum pasted
catalog, the Rudolph books, or the Rudolph machine. … The
books received at the Bibliothèque Nationale before 1875 and
1882 are entered on some 2,000,000 slips, which are divided
between two catalogs, that of the old library ('fonds
ancien'), and of the intermediate library ('fonds
intermédiarie'). In each of these catalogs they are arranged
in series according to the subject divisions given above and
under each subject alphabetically. There is no author catalog
and the public are not allowed to consult these catalogs. If
then a reader asks for a work received before 1875 the
attendant guesses in which 'fonds' it is and what subject it
treats of; if he does not find it where he looks first he
tries some other division. No wonder it takes on an average
half an hour for the reader to get his book. I must bear
witness to the great skill which necessity has developed in
the officials charged with this work. Some of their successes
in bringing me out-of-the-way books were marvellous. On the
other hand, when they reported certain works not in the
library I did not feel at all sure that they were right, and I
dare say they doubted themselves. All this will be changed
when the library gets a printed alphabetical catalog of
authors and has made from it a pasted alphabetical catalog of
subjects. The author catalog, by the way, is expected to fill
40,000 double-columned quarto pages. … The library now has
50 kilometres (31 miles) of shelves and is full. A new
store-house is needed and a public reading room ('salle de
lecture'), which can be lighted by electricity, and be opened,
like the British Museum, in the evening."

_C. A. Cutter,
Notes on the Bibliothèque Nationale
(Library Journal, June, 1894)._

LIBRARIES: France:
Paris Municipal Libraries.

"The Bibliothèques Municipales de Paris have undergone a rapid
development within the last few years. In 1878 there were only
nine altogether, of which five were little used, and four
practically unused. A special Bureau was then appointed by the
Municipal Council to take charge of them, with the result that
altogether 22 libraries have been opened, while the number of
volumes lent rose from 29,339 in 1878 to 57,840 in 1879, to
147,567 in 1880, to 242,738 in 1881, and to 363,322 in 1882.
… A sum of 3,050 francs is placed at the disposal of each
library by the Municipal Council, which is thus appropriated;
Books and Binding, Fr. 1,750; Librarian, 1,000; Attendant,
300. The amount of the sums thus voted by the Municipal
Council in the year 1883 was 110,150 fr. For the year of 1884
the sum of 171,700 fr. has been voted, the increase being
intended to provide for the establishment of fifteen new
libraries in Communal Schools, as well as for the growing
requirements of some of the libraries already established. The
individual libraries are not, of course, as yet very
considerable in point of numbers. The stock possessed by the
twenty-two Bibliothèques Municipales in 1882 was 87,831
volumes, of which 20,411 had been added during that year.
Information received since the publication of M. Dardenne's
Report places the number in 1883 at 98,843 volumes. … The
libraries are open to the public gratuitously every evening
from 8 to 10 o'clock, and are closed on five days only during
the whole year. Books may be read in the library or are lent
out for home use. … Music is lent as well as books, the
experiment having been first tried at the Mairie of the second
arrondissement, in 1879, and having proved so successful that
nine arrondissements have followed suit, and the total number
of musical issues from the ten libraries in 1882 was 9,085.
… Beside these libraries under the direction of the Mairies,
there are a certain number of popular free libraries
established and supported by voluntary efforts. Without
dwelling upon the history of these libraries, all of which
have been formed since 1860, it may be stated that there are
now fourteen such libraries in as many arrondissements."

_E. C. Thomas,
The Popular Libraries of Paris
(Library Chronicle, volume 1, 1884, pages 13-14)._

{2012}

"The Journal Officiel' contains in the number for August 29,
of this year (1891), the substance of the following account:
… The city of Paris has now 64 public libraries, all of
which send out books and accommodate readers in their halls;
they are open at the times when the factories and shops are
closed. … The libraries are kept in the mayoralty buildings
or ward district school-houses; a central office provides for
the administration and support, while in each precinct a
committee of superintendence attends to the choice and
ordering of new accessions. All expenses are paid by the city,
which, in its last budget, in 1890, appropriated therefor the
trifle of 225,000 francs. On every library in full use are
bestowed yearly about 2,400 francs, while 14,000 francs are
employed in founding new ones. The number of books circulated
in 1890 was 1,386,642, against 29,339 in 1878, in the nine
libraries then existing. In 1878 there was an average of only
3,259 readers for each library, and in the last year the
average was 23,500, which shows a seven-fold use of the
libraries."

_Public Libraries in Paris;
translated from the Börsenblatt,
October 7, 1891
(Library Journal, May, 1892)._

LIBRARIES: France:
Other Libraries.

A library of importance in Paris second only to the great
National is the Mazarin, which contains 300,000 volumes (1,000
incunabula), and 5,800 manuscripts. The Library of the
University has 141,678 volumes; the Library of the Museum of
Natural History has 140,850 books and 2,050 manuscripts; the
Sainte-Genevieve Library contains 120,000 volumes and 2,392
manuscripts; the Library of the City of Paris, 90,000 volumes
and 2,000 manuscripts. The principal libraries of the
provincial cities are reported as follows: Caen Municipal
Library, 100,000 volumes, 620 manuscripts; Dijon Municipal
Library, 100,000 volumes, 1,558 manuscripts; Marseilles City
Library, 102,000 volumes, 1,656 manuscripts; Montpelier City
Library, 120,000 volumes; Nantes City Library, 102,172
volumes, 2,231 manuscripts; Rheims Library, 100,000 books and
1,700 manuscripts; Lyons City Library and Library of the
Palace of Arts, 160,000 volumes and 1,900 manuscripts;
Toulouse City Library, 100,000 volumes and 950 manuscripts;
Rouen City Library, 132,000 printed books and 3,800
manuscripts; Avignon, 117,000 volumes and 3,300 manuscripts;
Bordeaux, 160,000 volumes, 1,500 manuscripts; Tours, 100,000
volumes and 1,743 manuscripts; Amiens, 80,000 volumes, 1,500
manuscripts; Besançon, 140,000 volumes and 1,850 manuscripts.

_Minerva, 1893-94._

LIBRARIES:
Italy.

"There are in Italy between thirty and forty libraries which
the present National Government, in recognition of former
Governmental support, is committed to maintain, at least in
some degree. It is a division of resources which even a rich
country would find an impediment in developing a proper
National Library, and Italy, with its over-burdened Treasury,
is far from being in a position to offer the world a single
library of the first class. … Italy, to build up a library
which shall rank with the great national libraries of the
future, will need to concentrate her resources; for though she
has libraries now which are rich in manuscripts, she has not
one which is able to meet the great demands of modern
scholarship for printed books. … If with this want of
fecundity there went a corresponding slothfulness in
libraries, there would be little to be hoped of Italy in
amassing great collections of books. In some respects I have
found a more active bibliothecal spirit in Italy than
elsewhere in Europe, and I suspect that if Italian unification
has accomplished nothing else, it has unshackled the minds of
librarians, and placed them more in sympathy with the modern
gospel which makes a library more the servant than the master
of its users. I suspect this is not, as a rule, the case in
Germany. … I have certainly found in Italian librarians a
great alertness of mind and a marked eagerness to observe the
advances in library methods which have taken place elsewhere
during the last five and twenty years. But at the same time,
with all this activity, the miserable bureaucratic methods of
which even the chance stranger sees so much in Italy, are
allowed to embarrass the efforts of her best librarians. …
In the present condition of Italian finances nothing adequate
to the needs of the larger libraries can be allowed, and the
wonder is that so much is done as is apparent; and it is
doubtless owing to the great force of character which I find
in some of the leading librarians that any progress is made at
all. During the years when the new Italian kingdom had its
capital in Florence a certain amount of concentration started
the new Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale on its career; and when
later the Government was transferred to Rome, the new capital
was given another library, got together in a similar way,
which is called the Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele.
Neither collection is housed in any way suited to its
functions, and the one at Florence is much the most important;
indeed it is marvellously rich in early printed books and in
manuscripts."

_J. Winsor,
The condition of Italian Libraries
(The Nation, July 9, 1891)._

LIBRARIES:
The Vatican Library.

"Even so inveterate a hater of literature as the Calif, who
conquered Alexandria and gave its precious volumes to the
flames, would have appreciated such a library as the Vatican.
Not a book is to be seen—not a shelf is visible, and there is
nothing to inform the visitor that he is in the most famous
library in the world. … The eye is bewildered by innumerable
busts, statues, and columns. The walls are gay with brilliant
arabesques, and the visitor passes through lofty corridors and
along splendid galleries, finding in every direction something
to please and interest him. … The printed books number about
125,000 volumes and there are about 25,000 manuscripts. The
books and manuscripts are enclosed in low wooden cases around
the walls of the various apartments, the cases are painted in
white and gold colors, and thus harmonize with the gay
appearance of the walls and ceilings. … The honor of
founding the Vatican Library belongs to Pope Nicholas V., who,
in 1447, transferred to the Palace of the Vatican the
manuscripts which had been collected in the Lateran. At his
death the library contained 9,000 manuscripts, but many of
them were dispersed under his successor, Calixtus III. Sixtus
IV. was very active in restoring and increasing the library.
In 1588, the present library building was erected by Sixtus
V., to receive the immense collection obtained by Leo X. In
the year 1600 the value of the library was greatly augmented
by the acquisition of the collection of Fulvius Ursinus and
the valuable manuscripts from the Benedictine Monastery of
Bobbio, composed chiefly of palimpsests. …
{2013}
The next acquisition was the Library of the Elector Palatine,
captured in 1621, at Heidelberg, by De Tilley, who presented
it to Gregory XV. It numbered 2,388 manuscripts, 1,956 in
Latin, and 432 in Greek. In 1658 the Library founded by Duke
Federigo de Urbino—1,711 Greek and Latin manuscripts—was
added to the valuable collection. One of the most valuable
accessions was the collection of Queen Christina of Sweden,
containing all the literary works which her father, Gustavus
Adolphus, had captured at Prague, Bremen, etc., amounting to
2,291 manuscripts, Greek and Latin. In 1746 the magnificent
library of the Ottobuoni family, containing 3,862 Greek and
Latin manuscripts, enriched the Vatican collection. After the
downfall of Napoleon and the restoration of the peace of
Europe in 1815, the King of Prussia, at the suggestion of
Humboldt, applied to Pope Pius VII for the restoration of some
of the manuscripts which De Tilley had plundered from the
Heidelberg Library. The Pope, mindful of the prominent part
taken by Prussia in the restoration of the Papal See,
immediately complied with the royal request, and many
manuscripts of great value to the German historians were sent
back to Germany."

_E. L. Didier,
The Vatican Library
(Literary World, June 28, 1884)._

The following recent statistics of other Italian libraries are
from "Minerva," 1893-94: Florence National Central Library,
422,183 printed books, 398,845 pamphlets and 17,386
manuscripts; Rome, National Central Library of Victor
Emmanuel, 241,978 books, 130,728 pamphlets, 4,676 manuscripts;
Naples University Library, 181,072 printed books, 43,453
pamphlets, and 109 manuscripts; Bologna University Library,
251,700 books, 43,633 pamphlets and 5,000 manuscripts; Pavia
University Library, 136,000 books, 80,000 pamphlets and 1,100
manuscripts; Turin National Library, 196,279 printed books and
4,119 manuscripts; Venice, National Library of St. Mark,
401,652 printed and bound books, 80,450 pamphlets, and 12,016
manuscripts; Pisa University Library, 108,188 books, 22,960
pamphlets and 274 manuscripts; Genoa University Library,
106,693 books, 46,231 pamphlets, and 1,586 manuscripts;
Modena, the Este Library, 123,300 volumes, and 5,000
manuscripts; Padua University Library, 135,837 volumes, 2,326
manuscripts, and 63,849 pamphlets, etc.; Palermo National
Library, 177,892 volumes and pamphlets, and 1,527 manuscripts;
Palermo Communal Library, 209,000 books, 16,000 pamphlets,
etc., 3,000 manuscripts; Parma Palatine Library, 250,000
books, 20,313 pamphlets, etc., 4,769 manuscripts; Siena
Communal Library 67,966 volumes, 26,968 pamphlets, 4,890
manuscripts.

LIBRARIES:
Austria-Hungary.

The principal libraries in the Empire are reported to contain
as follows: Vienna University Library, 416,608 volumes, 373
incunabula, 498 manuscripts; Vienna Imperial and Royal Court
Library, 500,000 volumes, 6,461 incunabula, and 20,000
manuscripts; Budapest University Library, 200,000 volumes,
1,000 manuscripts; Hungarian National Museum, 400,000 volumes
and 63,000 manuscripts, mostly Hungarian; Czernowitz
University Library, 64,586 volumes and over 30,000 pamphlets,
etc.; Graz University 131,397 volumes of books and 1,708
manuscripts; Innspruck University Library, 135,000 printed
books, including 1,653 incunabula, and 1,046 manuscripts;
Cracow University Library, 283,858 volumes and 5,150
manuscripts; Lemberg University Library, 120,900 volumes;
Prague University Library, 211,131 volumes, 3,848 manuscripts.

_Minerva, 1893-94._

LIBRARIES:
Switzerland.

The principal libraries of Switzerland are the following:
Basle Public Library, 170,000 volumes of printed books and
about 5,000 manuscripts; Berne City Library, 80,000 volumes
and a valuable manuscript collection; Berne University
Library, 35,000 volumes; St. Gall "Stiftsbibliothek," about
40,000 volumes, including l,584 incunabula, and 1,730
manuscripts; Lucerne Cantonal Library, 80,000 volumes; Zurich
City Library, 130,000 volumes.

_Minerva, 1893-94._

LIBRARIES:
Holland.

The following statistics of libraries in Holland are given in
the German handbook, _"Minerva," 1893-94: Leyden University
Library_, 190,000 volumes of printed books and 5,400
manuscripts, of which latter 2,400 are oriental; Utrecht
University Library, 200,000 volumes, besides pamphlets;
Groningen University Library, 70,000 volumes.

LIBRARIES:
Belgium.

Brussels Royal Library, 375,000 volumes, and 27,000
manuscripts; Ghent, Library of the City and University of
Gand, 300,000 volumes.

LIBRARIES:
Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

The principal libraries of the Scandinavian kingdoms contain
as follows: Christiania University Library, 312,000 volumes;
Gothenburg City Library, about 60,000 volumes; Copenhagen
University Library 300,000 books and 5,000 manuscripts; Lund
University Library, 150,000 volumes; Stockholm Royal Library,
300,000 printed books and 11,000 manuscripts; Upsala
University Library, 275,000 volumes and 11,000 manuscripts.

_Minerva, 1893-94._

LIBRARIES:
Spain.

The principal libraries in Spain are the following: Barcelona
Provincial and University Library, 54,000 volumes; Madrid
University Library, 200,761 volumes and 3,000 manuscripts;
Madrid National Library, 450,000 volumes and 10,000
manuscripts; Salamanca University Library, 72,000 volumes and
870 manuscripts; Seville University Library, 62,000 volumes;
Valencia University Library, 45,000 volumes; Valladolid
University Library, 32,000 volumes.

_Minerva, 1893-94._

LIBRARIES:
Russia.

"The most notable [Russian] libraries are those founded by the
government. Of these, two deserve special attention: the
library of the Academy of Sciences and the Imperial Public
Library in St. Petersburg. Books taken by the Russian armies
from the Baltic provinces at the beginning of the eighteenth
century formed the foundation of the first. The Imperial
Library was the result of the Russian capture of Warsaw. Count
Joseph Zalussky, bishop of Kiev, spent forty-three years
collecting a rich library of 300,000 volumes and 10,000
manuscripts, devoting all his wealth to the purchase of books.
His brother Andrew further enriched the library with volumes
taken from the museum of the Polish king, John III. In 1747
Joseph Zalussky opened the library to the public, and in 1761
bequeathed it to a college of Jesuits in Warsaw. Six years
later (1767) Zalussky was arrested and his library removed to
St. Petersburg. The transfer took place in bad weather and
over poor roads, so that many books were injured and many lost
in transit. When the library reached St. Petersburg it
numbered 262,640 volumes and 24,500 estampes. Many had been
stolen during the journey, and years later there were to be
found in Poland books bearing the signature of Zalussky.
{2014}
To the Imperial Library Alexander I. added, in 1805, the
Dubrovsky collection. … Dubrovsky gathered his collection
during a twenty-five years' residence in Paris, Rome, Madrid,
and other large cities of Europe. He acquired many during the
French revolution. … The Imperial Library possesses many
palimpsests, Greek manuscripts of the second century, …
besides Slavonian, Latin, French, and Oriental manuscripts.
… The library is constantly growing, about 25,000 volumes
being added every year. In income, size, and number of readers
it vastly surpasses all private libraries in Russia, the
largest of which does not exceed 25,000 volumes. In later
years the village schools began to open libraries for limited
circles of readers. Small libraries were successfully
maintained in cities and the demand for good reading steadily
increased among the people."

_A. V. Babine,
Libraries in Russia,
(Library Journal, March, 1893)._

The principal libraries of Russia reported in the German
yearbook "Minerva" 1893-94 are the following: Charkow
University Library, 123,000 volumes; Dorpat University
Library, 170,000 volumes, and 104,700 dissertationen;
Helsingfors University Library 170,000 volumes; Kasan
University Library, 100,000 volumes; Kiev University Library,
118,000 volumes; Moscow University Library, 217,000 volumes;
Odessa University Library, 102,000 volumes; St. Petersburg
University Library, 215,700 volumes; St. Petersburg Imperial
Public Library, 1,050,000 volumes, 28,000 manuscripts.

LIBRARIES:
England: The King's Library and the British Museum.

"No monarch of England is known to have been an extensive
collector of books (in the modern acceptation of the term)
except George III., or, if the name of Charles I. should be
added, it must be in a secondary rank, and with some
uncertainty, because we have not the same evidence of his
collection of books as we have of his pictures, in the
catalogue which exists of them. A royal library had, indeed,
been established in the reign of Henry VII.; it was increased,
as noticed by Walpole, by many presents from abroad, made to
our monarchs after the restoration of learning and the
invention of printing; and naturally received accessions in
every subsequent reign, if it were only from the various
presents by which authors desired to show their respect or to
solicit patronage, as well as from the custom of making new
year's gifts, which were often books. There were also added to
it the entire libraries of Lord Lumley (including those of
Henry, Earl of Arundel, and Archbishop Cranmer), of the
celebrated Casaubon, of Sir John Morris, and the Oriental MSS.
of Sir Thomas Roe. Whilst this collection remained at St.
James's Palace, the number of books amassed in each reign
could have been easily distinguished, as they were classed and
arranged under the names of the respective sovereigns. In 1759
King George II. transferred the whole, by letters patent, to
the then newly-formed establishment of the British Museum; the
arrangement under reigns was some time after departed from,
and the several royal collections interspersed with the other
books obtained from Sir Hans Sloane, Major Edwards, and
various other sources. … George III., on his accession to
the crown, thus found the apartments which had formerly
contained the library of the Kings of England vacated by their
ancient tenants. … Sir F. A. Barnard states that 'to create
an establishment so necessary and important, and to attach it
to the royal residence, was one of the earliest objects which
engaged his majesty's attention at the commencement of his
reign;' and he adds that the library of Joseph Smith, Esq.,
the British Consul at Venice, which was purchased in 1762,
'became the foundation of the present Royal Library.' Consul
Smith's collection was already well known, from a catalogue
which had been printed at Venice in 1755, to be eminently rich
in the earliest editions of the classics, and in Italian
literature.' Its purchase was effected for about £10,000, and
it was brought direct to some apartments at the Queen's Palace
commonly called Buckingham House. Here the subsequent
collections were amassed; and here, after they had outgrown
the rooms at first appropriated to them, the King erected two
large additional libraries, one of which was a handsome
octagon. Latterly the books occupied no less than seven
apartments. … Early in the year 1823, it was made known to
the public that King George IV. had presented the Royal
Library to the British nation. … Shortly after, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer stated in the House of Commons
that it was his majesty's wish that the library should be
placed in the British Museum, but in a separate apartment from
the Museum Library."

_Gentleman's Magazine, 1834,
pages 16-22._

"In the chief countries of the Continent of Europe … great
national Museums have, commonly, had their origin in the
liberality and wise foresight either of some sovereign or
other, or of some powerful minister whose mind was large
enough to combine with the cares of State a care for Learning.
In Britain, our chief public collection of literature and of
science originated simply in the public spirit of private
persons. The British Museum was founded precisely at that
period of our history when the distinctively national, or
governmental, care for the interests of literature and of
science was at its lowest, or almost its lowest, point. As
regards the monarchs, it would be hard to fix on any, since
the dawn of the Revival of Learning, who evinced less concern
for the progress and diffusion of learning than did the first
and second princes of the House of Hanover. As regards
Parliament, the tardy and languid acceptance of the boon
proffered, posthumously, by Sir Hans Sloane, constitutes just
the one exceptional act of encouragement that serves to give
saliency to the utter indifference which formed the ordinary
rule. Long before Sloane's time … there had been zealous and
repeated efforts to arouse the attention of the Government as
well to the political importance as to the educational value
of public museums. Many thinkers had already perceived that
such collections were a positive increase of public wealth and
of national greatness, as well as a powerful instrument of
popular education. It had been shewn, over and over again,
that for lack of public care precious monuments and treasures
of learning had been lost; sometimes by their removal to
far-off countries; sometimes by their utter destruction. Until
the appeal made to Parliament by the Executors of Sir Hans
Sloane, in the middle of the eighteenth century, all those
efforts had uniformly failed. But Sir Hans Sloane cannot claim
to be regarded, individually or very specially, as the Founder
of the British Museum. His last Will, indeed, gave an opportunity
for the foundation.
{2015}
Strictly speaking, he was not even the Founder of his own
Collection, as it stood in his lifetime. The Founder of the
Sloane Museum was William Courten, the last of a line of
wealthy Flemish refugees, whose history, in their adopted
country, is a series of romantic adventures. Parliament had
previously accepted the gift of the Cottonian Library, at the
hands of Sir John Cotton, third in descent from its Founder,
and its acceptance of that gift had been followed by almost
unbroken neglect, although the gift was a noble one. Sir John,
when conversing, on one occasion, with Thomas Carte, told the
historian that he had been offered £60,000 of English money,
together with a carte blanche for some honorary mark of royal
favour, on the part of Lewis XIV., for the Library which he
afterwards settled upon the British nation. It has been
estimated that Sloane expended (from first to last) upon his
various collections about £50,000; so that even from the
mercantile point of view, the Cotton family may be said to
have been larger voluntary contributors towards our eventual
National Museum than was Sir Hans Sloane himself. That point
of view, however, would be a very false, because very narrow,
one. Whether estimated by mere money value, or by a truer
standard, the third, in order of time, of the
Foundation-Collections,—that of the 'Harleian
Manuscripts,'—was a much less important acquisition for the
Nation than was the Museum of Sloane, or the Library of
Cotton; but its literary value, as all students of our history
and literature know, is, nevertheless, considerable. Its first
Collector, Robert Harley, the Minister of Queen Anne and the
first of the Harleian Earls of Oxford, is fairly entitled to
rank, after Cotton, Courten, and Sloane, among the virtual or
eventual co-founders of the British Museum. Chronologically,
then, Sir Robert Cotton, William Courten, Hans Sloane, and
Robert Harley, rank first as Founders; so long as we estimate
their relative position in accordance with the successive
steps by which the British Museum was eventually organized.
But there is another synchronism by which greater accuracy is
attainable. Although four years had elapsed between the
passing—in 1753—of 'An Act for the purchase of the Museum or
Collection of Sir Hans Sloane, and of the Harleian Collection
of Manuscripts, and for providing one general repository for
the better reception and more convenient use of the said
Collections, and of the Cottonian Library and of the additions
thereto,' and the gift—in 1757—to the Trustees of those
already united Collections by King George II. of the Old Royal
Library of the Kings his predecessors, yet that royal
collection itself had been (in a restricted sense of the
words) a Public and National possession soon after the days of
the first real and central Founder of the present Museum, Sir
Robert Cotton. But, despite its title, that Royal Library,
also, was—in the main—the creation of subjects, not of
Sovereigns or Governments. Its virtual founder Was Henry,
prince of Wales [son of James I.]. It was acquired, out of his
privy purse, as a subject, not as a Prince. He, therefore, has
a title to be placed among the individual Collectors whose
united efforts resulted—after long intervals of time—in the
creation, eventually, of a public institution second to none,
of its kind, in the world."

_E. Edwards,
Founders of the British Museum,
book 1, chapter 1._

"Montague House was purchased by the Trustees in 1754 for a
general repository, and the collections were removed to it.
… On the 15th of January, 1750, the British Museum was
opened for the inspection and use of the public. At first the
Museum was divided into three departments, viz., Printed
Books, Manuscripts, and Natural History; at the head of each
of them was placed an officer designated as 'Under Librarian.'
The increase of the collections soon rendered it necessary to
provide additional accommodation for them, Montague House
proving insufficient. The present by George III. of Egyptian
Antiquities, and the purchase of the Hamilton and Townley
Antiquities, made it moreover imperative to create an
additional department—that of Antiquities and Art—to which
were united the Prints and Drawings, as well as the Medals and
Coins, previously attached to the library of Printed Books and
Manuscripts. The acquisition of the Elgin Marbles in 1816 made
the Department of Antiquities of the highest importance, and
increased room being indispensable for the exhibition of those
marbles, a temporary shelter was prepared for them. This was
the last addition to Montague House. When, in 1823, the
library collected by George III. was presented to the nation
by George IV. it became necessary to erect a building fit to
receive this valuable and extensive collection. It was then
decided to have an entirely new edifice to contain the whole
of the Museum collection, including the recently-acquired
library. Sir R. Smirke was accordingly directed by the
Trustees to prepare plans. The eastern side of the present
structure was completed in 1828, and the Royal Library was
then placed in it. The northern, southern, and western sides
of the building were subsequently added, and in 1845 the whole
of Montague House and its additions had disappeared; while the
increasing collections had rendered it necessary to make
various additions to the original design of Sir R. Smirke,
some of them even before it had been carried out."

_J. W. Jones,
British Museum: a Guide,
pages ii-iii._

"The necessity of a general enlargement of the library led to
the suggestion of many plans—some impracticable—some too
expensive—and all involving a delay which would have been
fatal to the efficiency of the Institution. … Fortunately
… after much vigorous discussion, a plan which had been
suggested by the … Principal Librarian [Mr. Panizzi] for
building in the vacant quadrangle, was adopted and carried out
under his own immediate and watchful superintendence. … The
quadrangle within which the new library is built is 313 feet
in length by 235 wide, comprising an area of 73,555 square
feet. Of this space the building covers 47,472 feet, being 258
feet long by 184 feet in width, thus leaving an interval of
from 27 to 30 feet all round. By this arrangement, the light
and ventilation of the surrounding buildings is not interfered
with, and the risk of fire from the outer buildings is guarded
against. The Reading Boom is circular. The dome is 140 feet in
diameter, and its height 106 feet. The diameter of the lantern
is 40 feet. Light is further obtained from twenty
circular-headed windows, 27 feet high by 12 feet wide,
inserted at equal intervals round the dome at a height of 35
feet from the ground.
{2016}
In its diameter the dome of the Reading Room exceeds all
others, with the exception of the Pantheon of Rome, which is
about 2 feet wider. That of St. Peter's at Rome, and of Santa
Maria in Florence are each only 139 feet; that of the tomb of
Mahomet at Bejapore, 135; of St. Paul's, 112; of St. Sophia,
at Constantinople, 107; and of the church of Darmstadt, 105.
The new Reading Room contains 1,250,000 cubic feet of space,
and the surrounding libraries 750,000. These libraries are 24
feet in height, with the exception of that part which runs
round the outside of the Reading Room, which is 32 feet high;
the spring of the dome being 24 feet from the floor of the
Reading Room, and the ground excavated 8 feet below this
level. The whole building is constructed principally of iron.
… The Reading Room contains ample and comfortable
accommodation for 302 readers. There are thirty-five tables:
eight are 34 feet long, and accommodate sixteen readers, eight
on each side; nine are 30 feet long, and accommodate fourteen
readers, seven on each side; two are 30 feet long, and
accommodate eight readers each, viz., seven on one side and
one on the other—these two tables are set apart for the
exclusive use of ladies; sixteen other tables are 6 feet long,
and accommodate two readers each—these are fitted up with
rising desks of a large size for those readers who may have
occasion to consult works beyond the usual dimensions. Each
person has allotted to him, at the long tables, a space of 4
feet 3 inches in length by 2 feet 1 inch in depth. He is
screened from the opposite occupant by a longitudinal
division, which is fitted with a hinged desk graduated on
sloping racks, and a folding shelf for spare books. In the
space between the two, which is recessed, an inkstand is
fixed, having suitable penholders. … The framework of each
table is of iron, forming air-distributing channels, which are
contrived so that the air may be delivered at the top of the
longitudinal screen division, above the level of the heads of
the readers, or, if desired, only at each end pedestal of the
tables, all the outlets being under the control of valves. A
tubular foot-rail also passes from end to end of each table,
which may have a current of warm water through it at pleasure,
and be used as a foot-warmer if required. The pedestals of the
tables form tubes communicating with the air-chamber below,
which is 6 feet high, and occupies the whole area of the
Reading Room: it is fitted with hot-water pipes arranged in
radiating lines. The supply of fresh air is obtained from a
shaft 60 feet high. … The shelves within the Reading Room
contain about 60,000 volumes: the new building altogether will
accommodate about 1,500,000 volumes."

_List of the Books of Reference in the Reading Room of the
British Museum; preface._

The number of volumes of printed books in the British Museum
in 1893 is reported to have been 1,600,000, the number of
manuscripts 50,000 and the maps and charts 200,000.

_Minerva, 1893-94._

A purchase from the Duke of Bedford, of adjoining land, to the
extent of five and a half acres, for the enlargement of the
Museum, was announced by the London Times, March 18, 1894.
With this addition, the area of ground occupied by the Museum
will be fourteen acres.

LIBRARIES:
England: The Bodleian Library.

"Its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley, was a worthy of Devon, who
had been actively employed by Queen Elizabeth as a
diplomatist, and had returned tired of court life to the
University, where long before he had been Fellow of Merton
College. He found the ancient library of the University
(which, after growing slowly with many vicissitudes from small
beginnings, had suddenly been enriched in 1439-46 by a gift of
264 valuable MSS. from Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester) utterly
destroyed by Edward VI.'s Commissioners, and the room built
for its reception (still called 'Duke Humphrey's library')
swept clear even of the readers' desks. His determination to
refound the library of the University was actively carried
out, and on November 8, 1602, the new institution was formally
opened with about 2,000 printed and manuscript volumes. Two
striking advantages were possessed by the Bodleian almost from
the first. Sir Thomas Bodley employed his great influence at
court and with friends to induce them to give help to his
scheme, and accordingly we find not only donations of money
and books from personal friends, but 240 MSS. contributed by
the Deans and Chapters of Exeter and Windsor. Moreover, in
1610, he arranged with the Stationers' Company that they
should present his foundation with a copy of every printed
book published by a member of the Company; and from that time
to this the right to every book published in the kingdom has
been continuously enjoyed."

_F. Madan,
Books in Manuscript,
page 84._

In 1891 the Bodleian Library was said to contain 400,000
printed books and 30,000 manuscripts. Under the copyright act
of Great Britain, the British Museum, the Bodleian Library,
Oxford, the Cambridge University Library, the Advocates
Library, Edinburgh, and the Trinity College Library, Dublin,
are each entitled to a copy of every work published in the
United Kingdom.

LIBRARIES:
England: Rise and Growth of Free Town-Libraries.

In the "Encyclopædia Britannica" (9th edition) we read, in the
article "Libraries," that "the fine old library instituted by
Humphrey Chetham in Manchester, in 1653, and which is still
'housed in the old collegiate buildings where Raleigh was once
entertained by Dr. Dee, might be said to be the first free
library' in England. Two centuries, however, before worthy
Chetham had erected his free fountain of knowledge for thirsty
souls, a grave fraternity known as the Guild of Kalendars had
established a free library, for all comers, in connection with
a church yet standing in one of the thoroughfares of Old
Bristol. … John Leland (temp. Henry VIII.) speaks of the
Kalendars as an established body about the year 1170: and when
in 1216 Henry III. held a Parliament in Bristol, the deeds of
the guild were inspected, and ratified on account of the
antiquity and high character of the fraternity ('propter
antiquitates et bonitates in eâ Gilda repertas'), and Gualo,
the Papal Legate, commended the Kalendars to the care of
William de Blois, Bishop of Worcester, within whose diocese
Bristol then lay. It was the office of the Kalendars to record
local events and such general affairs as were thought worthy
of commemoration, whence their name. They consisted of clergy
and laity, even women being admitted to their Order. …
{2017}
It was ordered by Wolstan, Bishop of Worcester, who in
visitation of this part of his diocese, July 10, 1340,
examined the ancient rules of the College, that a prior in
priest's orders should be chosen by the majority of the
chaplains and lay brethren, without the solemnity of
confirmation, consecration or benediction of superiors, and
eight chaplains who were not bound by monastic rules, were to
be joined with him to celebrate for departed brethren and
benefactors every day. By an ordinance of John Carpenter,
Bishop of Worcester, A. D. 1464, the Prior was to reside in
the college, and take charge of a certain library newly
erected at the Bishop's expense, so that every festival day
from seven to eleven in the forenoon admission should be
freely allowed to all desirous of consulting the Prior, to
read a public lecture every week in the library, and elucidate
obscure places of Scripture as well as he could to those
desirous of his teachings. … Lest, through negligence or
accident, the books should be lost, it was ordered that three
catalogues of them should be kept; one to remain with the Dean
of Augustinian Canons, whose 14th-century church is now
Bristol Cathedral, another with the Mayor for the time being,
and the third with the Prior himself. Unfortunately, they are
all three lost. … This interesting library was destroyed by
fire in 1466 through the carelessness of a drunken
'point-maker,' two adjoining houses against the steeple of the
church being at the same time burnt down."

_J. Taylor,
The First English Free Library and its Founders
(Murray's Magazine, November, 1891)._

"Free town-libraries are essentially a modern institution, and
yet can boast of a greater antiquity than is generally
supposed, for we find a town-library at Auvergne in 1540, and
one at a still earlier date at Aix. Either the munificence of
individuals or the action of corporate authorities has given
very many of the continental towns freely accessible
libraries, some of them of considerable extent. In England the
history of town-libraries is much briefer. There is reason to
believe that London at an early date was possessed of a common
library; and Bristol, Norwich, and Leicester, had each
town-libraries, but the corporations proved but careless
guardians of their trust, and in each case allowed it to be
diverted from the free use of the citizens for the benefit of
a subscription library. At Bristol, in 1613, Mr. Robert
Redwood 'gave his lodge to be converted into a library or
place to put books in for the furtherance of learning.' Some
few years after, Tobie Matthew, Archbishop of York, left some
valuable books in various departments of literature for free
access 'to the merchants and shopkeepers.' … The paucity of
our public libraries, twenty years ago, excited the attention
of Mr. Edward Edwards, to whose labours in this field the
country owes so much. Having collected a large amount of
statistics as to the comparative number of these institutions
in different States, he communicated the result of his
researches to the Statistical Society, in a paper which was
read on the 20th of March, 1848, and was printed in this
'Journal' in the August following. The paper revealed some
unpleasant facts, and showed that, in respect of the provision
of public libraries, Great Britain occupied a very unworthy
position. In the United Kingdom (including Malta) Mr. Edwards
could only discover 29 libraries having more than 10,000
volumes, whilst France could boast 107, Austria 41,
Switzerland 13. The number of volumes to every hundred of the
population of cities containing libraries, was in Great
Britain 43, France 125, Brunswick 2,353. Of the 29 British
libraries enumerated by Mr. Edwards, some had only doubtful
claims to be considered as public, and only one of them was
absolutely free to all comers, without influence or formality.
That one was the public library at Manchester, founded by
Humphrey Chetham in 1665. The paper read before this Society
twenty-two years ago was destined to be productive of great
and speedy results. From the reading of it sprang the present
system of free town-libraries. The seed was then sown, and it
is now fructifying in the libraries which are springing up on
every hand. The paper attracted the attention of the late
William Ewart, Esq., M. P., and ultimately led to the
appointment of a parliamentary committee on the subject of
public libraries. The report of this committee paved the way
for the Public Libraries Act of 1850."

_W. E. A. Axon,
Statistical Notes on the Free Town-Libraries of Great
Britain and the Continent
(Journal of the Statistical Society,
September 1870, volume 33)._

The progress of free public libraries in England under the Act
of 1850 was not, for a long time, very rapid. "In the 36 years
from 1850 onward—that is, down to 1886—133 places had
availed themselves of the benefits of the act. That was not a
very large number, not amounting quite, upon the average, to
four in each of those 36 years. … Now, see the change which
has taken place. We have only four years, from 1887 to 1890,
and in those four years no less than 70 places have taken
advantage of the act, so that instead of an average of less
than four places in the year, we have an average of more than
17 places."

_W. E. Gladstone,
Address at the Opening of the Free Public Library of St.
Martin's-in-the-Fields._

"The Clerkenwell Library Commissioners draw attention to the
enormous strides London has made within the last five years in
the matter of public libraries. In 1886 four parishes had
adopted the Acts; by December, 1891, 29 parishes had adopted
them, and there are already 30 libraries and branches opened
throughout the County of London, possessing over 250,000
volumes, and issuing over 3,000,000 volumes per annum."

_The Library Journal,
February, 1892._

Under a new law, which came into force in 1893, "any local
authority (i. e., town council or district board), save in the
County of London, may establish and maintain public libraries
without reference to the wishes of the rate payers."

_The Library Journal,
October, 1893 (volume 18, page 442)._

LIBRARIES:
United States of America:
Franklin and the first Subscription Library.

When Franklin's club, at Philadelphia, the Junto, was first
formed, "its meetings were held (as the custom of clubs was in
that clubbing age) in a tavern; and in a tavern of such humble
pretensions as to be called by Franklin an ale-house. But the
leathern-aproned philosophers soon removed to a room of their
own, lent them by one of their members, Robert Grace. It often
happened that a member would bring a book or two to the Junto,
for the purpose of illustrating the subject of debate, and
this led Franklin to propose that all the members should keep
their books in the Junto room, as well for reference while
debating as for the use of members during the week. The
suggestion being approved, one end of their little apartment
was soon filled with books; and there they remained for the
common benefit a year.
{2018}
But some books having been injured, their owners became
dissatisfied, and the books were all taken home. Books were
then scarce, high-priced, and of great bulk. Folios were still
common, and a book of less magnitude than quarto was deemed
insignificant. … Few books of much importance were published
at less than two guineas. Such prices as four guineas, five
guineas, and six guineas were not uncommon. Deprived of the
advantage of the Junto collection, Franklin conceived the idea
of a subscription library. Early in 1731 he drew up a plan,
the substance of which was, that each subscriber should
contribute two pounds sterling for the first purchase of
books, and ten shillings a year for the increase of the
library. As few of the inhabitants of Philadelphia had money
to spare, and still fewer cared for reading, he found very
great difficulty in procuring a sufficient number of
subscribers. He says: 'I put myself as much as I could out of
sight, and stated it as a scheme of a number of friends, who
had requested me to go about and propose it to such as they
thought lovers of reading. In this way my affairs went on more
smoothly, and I ever after practiced it on such occasions, and
from my frequent successes can heartily recommend it.' Yet it
was not until November, 1731, at least five months after the
project was started, that fifty names were obtained; and not
till March, 1732, that the money was collected. After
consulting James Logan, 'the best judge of books in these
parts,' the first list of books was made out, a draft upon
London of forty-five pounds was purchased, and both were
placed in the hands of one of the directors who was going to
England. Peter Collinson undertook the purchase, and added to
it presents of Newton's 'Principia,' and 'Gardener's
Dictionary.' All the business of the library Mr. Collinson
continued to transact for thirty years, and always swelled the
annual parcel of books by gifts of valuable works. In those
days getting a parcel from London was a tedious affair indeed.
All the summer of 1732 the subscribers were waiting for the
coming of the books, as for an event of the greatest interest.
… In October the books arrived, and were placed, at first,
in the room of the Junto. A librarian was appointed, and the
library was opened once a week for giving out the books. The
second year Franklin himself served as librarian. For many
years the secretary to the directors was Joseph Breintnal, by
whose zeal and diligence the interests of the library were
greatly promoted. Franklin printed a catalogue soon after the
arrival of the books, for which, and for other printing, he
was exempted from paying his annual ten shillings for two
years. The success of this library, thus begun by a few
mechanics and clerks, was great in every sense of the word.
Valuable donations of books, money and curiosities were
frequently made to it. The number of subscribers slowly, but
steadily, increased. Libraries of similar character sprung up
all over the country, and many were started even in
Philadelphia. Kalm, who was in Philadelphia in 1748, says that
then the parent library had given rise to 'many little
libraries,' on the same plan as itself. He also says that
non-subscribers were then allowed to take books out of the
library, by leaving a pledge for the value of the book, and
paying for a folio eight pence a week, for a quarto six pence,
and for all others four pence. 'The subscribers,' he says,
'were so kind to me as to order the librarian, during my stay
here, to lend me every book I should want, without requiring
any payment of me.' In 1764, the shares had risen in value to
nearly twenty pounds, and the collection was considered to be
worth seventeen hundred pounds. In 1785, the number of volumes
was 5,487; in 1807, 14,457; in 1861, 70,000. The institution
is one of the few in America that has held on its way,
unchanged in any essential principle, for a century and a
quarter, always on the increase, always faithfully
administered, always doing well its appointed work. There is
every reason to believe that it will do so for centuries to
come. The prosperity of the Philadelphia Library was owing to
the original excellence of the plan, the good sense embodied
in the rules, the care with which its affairs were conducted,
and the vigilance of Franklin and his friends in turning to
account passing events. Thomas Penn, for example, visited
Philadelphia a year or two after the library was founded; when
the directors of the library waited upon him with a dutiful
address, and received, in return, a gift of books and
apparatus. It were difficult to over-estimate the value to the
colonies of the libraries that grew out of Franklin's
original' conception. They were among the chief means of
educating the colonies up to Independence. 'Reading became
fashionable,' says Franklin; 'and our people having no public
amusements to divert their attention from study, became better
acquainted with books, and in a few years were observed, by
strangers, to be better instructed and more intelligent than
people of the same rank generally are in other countries.' …
What the Philadelphia Library did for Franklin himself, the
libraries, doubtless, did for many others. It made him a daily
student for twenty years. He set apart an hour or two every
day for study, and thus acquired the substance of all the most
valuable knowledge then possessed by mankind. Whether Franklin
was the originator of subscription libraries, and of the idea
of permitting books to be taken to the homes of subscribers, I
cannot positively assert. But I can discover no trace of
either of those two fruitful conceptions before his time."

_J. Parton,
Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin,
pages 200-203._