Chapter VI (2)

Sixtus IV. intended the library attached to the Holy See to be of the widest possible use. In the document appointing Demetrius of Lucca librarian, after Platina's death, he says distinctly that the library has been got together "for the use of all men of letters, both of our own age, or of subsequent time[410]"; and that these are not rhetorical expressions, to round a phrase in a formal letter of appointment, is proved by the way in which manuscripts were lent out of the library, during the whole time that Platina was in office. The Register of Loans, beginning with his own appointment and ending in 1485, has been printed by Muentz and Fabre, from the original in the Vatican Library[411], and a most interesting record it is. It is headed by a few words of warning, of which I give the general sense rather than a literal translation.

Whoever writes his name here in acknowledgment of books
received on loan out of the Pope's library, will incur
his anger and his curse unless he return them uninjured
within a very brief period.

This statement is made by Platina, librarian to his
Holiness, who entered upon his duties on the last day of
February, 1475[412].

Each entry records the title of the book lent, with the name of the borrower. This entry is sometimes made by the librarian, but more frequently by the borrower himself. When the book is returned, Platina or his assistant notes the fact, with the date. The following entry, taken almost at random, will serve as a specimen:

Ego Gaspar de Ozino sapientissimi domini nostri
cubicularius anno salutis MCCCCLXXV die vero XXI Aprilis
confiteor habuisse nomine mutui a domino Platina
Lecturam sive commentum in pergameno super libris X
Etticorum Aristotelis, et in fidem omnium mea propria
manu scripsi et supscripsi. Liber autem pavonatio
copertus est in magno volumine.----Idem Gaspar manu
propria.----Restituit fideliter librum ipsum et
repositus est inter philosophos die XXVIII April 1475.

It is occasionally noted that a book is lent with its chain, as for instance:

Christoforus prior S. Balbine habuit Agathium Historicum
ex banco viii^o cum cathena.... Restituit die XX
Octobris post mortem Platyne.

When no chain is mentioned are we to understand that the book was not so protected, and that there were in the library a number of books without chains, perhaps for the purpose of being more conveniently borrowed?

A few words should be added on the staff of the library. At first--that is during the year 1475--Platina had under his orders three subordinates, Demetrius, Salvatus, and John. These are called writers (_scriptores_) or keepers (_custodes_); and Salvatus is once called librarian (_librarius_), but it will be shewn below that this word means a writer rather than a librarian, as we understand the word. The position of these persons was extremely humble; and Salvatus was so indigent that his shoes were mended at the Pope's expense, and a decent suit of clothes provided for him at the cost of eight ducats[413]. Besides these there was a bookbinder, also called John. In the following year two keepers only are mentioned, Demetrius and Josias. The latter died of the plague in 1478. The salary of the librarian was at the rate of ten ducats a month, and that of each of his subordinates at the rate of one ducat for the same period. This arrangement appears to have been confirmed by a Bull of Sixtus IV. before the end of 1477[414].

These officers and Platina appear to have lived together in the rooms adjoining the Latin Library, as shewn by the accounts for the purchase of beds, furniture, and the like[415]; and when Josias falls ill of the plague, Platina sends away Demetrius and John the bookbinder, "for fear they should die or infect others[416]."

All articles required for the due maintenance of the library were provided by Platina. The charges for binding and lettering are the most numerous. Skins were bought in the gross--on one occasion as many as 600--and then prepared for use. All other materials, as gold, colours, varnish, nails, horn, clasps, etc., were bought in detail, when required; and probably used in some room adjoining the library. Platina also saw to the illumination (_miniatio_) of such MSS. as required it.

Comfort and cleanliness were not forgotten. There are numerous charges for coals, with an amusing apology for their use in winter "because the place was so cold"; and for juniper to fumigate (_ad suffumigandum_). Brooms are bought to clean the library, and fox-tails to dust the books (_ad tergendos libros_[417]).

It should further be mentioned that Sixtus assigned an annual income to the library by a brief dated 15th July, 1477. It is therein stipulated that the fees, paid according to custom by all officials appointed to any office vacated by resignation, should thenceforward be transferred to the account of the library[418].

While Sixtus IV. was thus engaged in Rome, a rival collector, Federigo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino (1444--1482), was devoting such leisure as he could snatch from warfare to similar pursuits. The room in which he stored his treasures is practically unaltered. It differs materially in arrangement from the other libraries of the same period. This difference is perhaps due to its position in a residence which was half palace, half castle. It is on the ground floor of a building which separates the inner from the outer court. It measures 45 ft. in length, by 20 ft. 9 in. in width. The walls are about 14 ft. high to the spring of the barrel-vault which covers the whole space. There are two large windows at the north end of the room, and one at the south end. These are about 7 ft. from the ground. The original entrance was through a door into the inner court, now blocked. In the centre of the vault is a large eagle in relief with F.D. on each side of its head; round it is a wreath of cherubs' heads: and outside of all a broad band of flames and rays. The vault is further decorated with isolated flames, gilt, on a white ground[419].

The books are said to have occupied eight presses, or sets of shelves, set against the east and west walls, but our information on the subject of the fittings is provokingly meagre. It is chiefly contained in the following passage of a description written by Bernardino Baldi, and dated 10 June, 1587. Baldi, as a native of Urbino, and in later life attached to the service of the Duke, must have been well acquainted with the room and its contents.

La stanza destinata a questi libri e alia mano sinistra
di chi entra nel Palazzo contigua al vestibolo, o andito
... le fenestre ha volte a Tramontana, le quali per
esser alte dal pavimento, ed in testa della stanza, e
volte a parte di cielo che non ha sole, fanno un certo
lume rimesso, il quale pare col non distraer la vista
con la soverchia abbondanza della luce, che inviti ed
inciti coloro rhe v'entrano a studiare. La state e
freschissima, l' inverno temperatamente calda. Le
scanzie de' libri sono accostate alle mura, e disposte
con molto bell' ordine.

In questa fra gli altri libri sono due Bibbie, una
latina scritta a penna e miniata per mano di
eccellentissimi artefici, e l' altra Ebrea antichissima
scritta pure a mano ... Questa si posa sopra un gran
leggivo d' ottone, e s' appoggia all' ale d' una grande
aquila pur d' ottone che aprendole la sostiene. Intorno
alle cornici che circondano la libreria si leggono
scritti nel fregio questi versi[420].

In the preface to the catalogue of the library published at Rome in 1895, the author, after quoting the above passage, adds "There were eight presses each containing seven shelves"[421]. The architectural decorations have all disappeared, with the exception of a fragment of a pediment at the south end of the room, on which F. E. DVX is still visible. The lectern is in the choir of the cathedral.

The Biblioteca Laurenziana, or Medicean Library, at Florence, is the last Italian library which I intend to describe.

After the death of Pope Leo X. in 1521, his executor Cardinal Giulio dei Medici, afterwards Pope Clement VII., restored to Florence the books which their ancestors had got together, and commissioned Michelangelo to build a room for their reception. The work was frequently interrupted, and it was not until 1571 (11 June) that the library was formally opened.

The great architect, supported by the generosity of the Pope, constructed an apartment which for convenience and for appropriate decoration stands alone among libraries. It is raised high above the ground in order to secure an ample supply of light and air, and is approached by a double staircase of marble. It is 151 ft. 9 in. long, by 34 ft. 4 in. broad, and was originally lighted by 15 windows in each of the side-walls at a height of about 7 ft. 6 in. from the floor. There is a flat roof of wood, carved; and a pavement of terra-cotta consisting of yellow designs on a red ground.

When the room was first fitted up there were 44 desks on each side, but when the reading-room was built at the beginning of the last century, four were destroyed. This reading-room also blocks four windows. The glass was supplied by Giovanni da Udine in 1567 and 1568. The subjects are heraldic. In each window the arms of the Medici occupy a central position, and are surrounded by wreaths, arabesques, and other devices of infinite grace and variety, in the style which the genius of Raphael had introduced into the Vatican.

The bookcases (fig. 101) are of walnut-wood, a material which is said to have been prescribed by the Pope himself. They were executed, if we may believe Vasari[422], by Battista del Cinque and Ciapino, but they are now known to have been designed by Michelangelo. A rough outline in one of his sketch-books, preserved in the Casa Buonarotti at Florence with other relics illustrating his life, and here reproduced (fig. 102), unquestionably represents one of these desks. The indication of a human figure on the seat proves the care which he took to ensure a height convenient for readers.

These desks are on the same general plan as those at Cesena, but they are rather higher and more richly ornamented. Each is 11 ft. 3 in. long, and 4 ft. 4 in. high. It must be admitted that the straight back to the reader's seat is not so comfortable as the gentle slope provided in the older example. A frame for the catalogue hangs on the end of each desk next the central alley. In order to make clear the differences in the construction of the desks at Cesena and at Florence I append an elevation of each (figs. 103, 104).

It will be seen from the view of one of the desks (fig. 101) that the books either lie on the sloping desk or are packed away on the shelf under it. There is an average of 25 books on each desk. The chains, as at Cesena, are attached to the lower edge of the right board, at distances varying from 2 in. to 4 in. from the back of the book (fig. 105). The staple is sunk into the wood.

The chains are made of fine iron bars about one-eighth of an inch wide, but not quite so thick, flattened at the end of each link, and rounded in the centre, where a piece of the same iron is lapped round, but not soldered. Each chain (fig. 106) is 2 ft. 3 in. long. So far as I could judge all the chains in the library are of the same length. There is a ring at the end of the chain next to the bar, but no swivel.

The ironwork by which these chains are attached to the desk is somewhat complicated. By the kindness of the librarian, Signor Guido Biagi, I have been allowed to study it at my leisure, and to draw a diagrammatic sketch (fig. 107) which I hope will make it clear to my readers. The lock is sunk in the central support of the desk. The bar passes through a ring on each side of this support, and also through a ring near each end of the desk. These rings are fixed to the lower edge of the desk just under the molding. A flat piece of iron is forged on to the bar near the centre. This iron is pierced near the key-hole with an oblong slit through which passes a moveable piece of iron, here shewn in outline of its actual size (fig. 108). The bolt of the lock passes through a hole in this piece, and holds the bar firmly in its place.

The bar is not quite so long as the desk; consequently, when it has been unlocked, and the iron bolt sketched above withdrawn, it can be turned round by taking hold of the central iron, and pushed to the right or to the left, past the terminal rings. The chains can then be readily unstrung, or another strung upon the bar.

In the next chapter I shall describe the changes in Library arrangements adopted during the period which succeeded the Middle Ages; but, before ending this present chapter, there are a few points affecting the older libraries and their organization to which I should like to draw attention.

In the first place all medieval libraries were practically public. I do not mean that strangers were let in, but even in those of the monasteries, books were let out on the deposit of a sufficient caution; and in Houses such as S. Victor and S. Germain des Pres, Paris, and at the Cathedral of Rouen, the collections were open to readers on certain days in the week. The Papal library and those at Urbino and Florence were also public; and even at Oxford and Cambridge there was practically no objection to lending books on good security. Secular corporations followed the example set by the Church, and lent their manuscripts, but only on security. A very remarkable example of this practice is afforded by the transaction between the Ecole de Medecine, Paris, and Louis XI. The king wanted their copy of a certain work on medicine; they declined to lend it unless he deposited 12 marks worth of plate and 100 gold crowns. This he agreed to do; the book was borrowed; duly copied, and 24 January, 1472, restored to the Medical Faculty, who in their turn sent back the deposit to the king[423].

As a general rule, these libraries were divided into the lending library and the library of reference. These two parts of the collection have different names given to them. In the Vatican Library of Sixtus IV. we find the common library (_Bibliotheca communis_) or public library (_B. publica_), and the reserved library (_B. secreta_). The same terms were used at Assisi. At Santa Maria Novella, Florence, there was the library, and the lesser library (_B. minor_). In the University Library, Cambridge, there was "the public library" which contained the more ordinary books and was open to everybody, and "the private library" where the more valuable books were kept and to which only a few privileged persons were admitted[424]. At Queens' College, in the same university, the books which might be lent (_libri distribuendi_) were kept in a separate room from those which were chained to the shelves (_libri concatenati_), and at King's College there was a public library (_B. magna_) and a lesser library (_B. minor_). In short, in every large collection some such division was made, either structural, or by means of a separate catalogue[425].

I have shewn that two systems of bookcases, which I have called lectern-system and stall-system, were used in these libraries; but, as both these have been copiously illustrated, I need say no more on that part of the subject. Elaborate catalogues, of which I have given a few specimens, enabled readers to find what they wanted in the shortest possible time, and globes, maps, and astronomical instruments provided them with further assistance in their studies. Moreover in some places the library served the purpose of a museum, and curiosities of various kinds were stored up in it.

No picture of a medieval library can be complete unless it be remembered that in many cases beauty was no less an object than utility. The bookcases were fine specimens of carpentry-work, carved and decorated; the pavement was of encaustic tiles worked in patterns; the walls were decorated with plaster-work in relief; the windows were filled with stained glass; and the roof-timbers were ornamented with the coat-armour of benefactors.

Of these embellishments the most distinctive was the glass. At St Albans the twelve windows contained figures illustrating the subjects of the books placed near them. For instance, the second window represented Rhetoric and Poetry; and the figures selected were those of Cicero, Sallust, Musaeus, Orpheus. Appropriate verses were inscribed beneath each. The whole scheme recalls the library of Isidore, Bishop of Seville, which I have already described[426]. In the library of Jesus College, Cambridge, each light contains a cock standing on a globe, the emblem of Bishop Alcock the founder, with a label in his beak bearing a suitable text, and under his feet an inscription containing half the designation required. For instance, the first two bookcases contained works on Physic, and in the window is the word PHI-SICA divided between the two lights[427]. In Election Hall at Eton College--a room originally intended for a library--we find the Classes of Civil Law, Criminal and Canon Law, Medicine, etc., illustrated by medallions shewing a church council, an execution, a physician and his patient, and the like[428]. At the Sorbonne, Paris, the 38 windows of the library were filled with the portraits of those who had conferred special benefits on the college[429]; at Froidmont[430] near Beauvais the authors of the _Voyage Litteraire_ remark the beautiful stained glass in the library: and in Bishop Cobham's library at Oxford, according to Hearne, there "was brave painted glass containing the arms of the benefactors, which painted glass continued till the times of the late rebellion[431]."

Lastly, I will collect the different terms used to designate medieval bookcases. They are--arranged alphabetically--_analogium_, _bancus_ or _banca_, _descus_, _gradus_, _stallum_, _stalla_, _stallus_ or _staulum_, and _sedile_. I have sometimes thought that it would be possible to determine the form of the bookcase from the word used to describe it; but increased study has convinced me that this is impossible, and that the words were used quite loosely. For instance, _bancus_ designates the cases in the Vatican Library which represent a variety of the lectern-system; and its French equivalent _banc_ the cases at Clairvaux which were stalls with four shelves apiece. Again "desk" (_descus_) is used interchangeably with "stall" (_stallum_) in a catalogue of the University Library, Cambridge, dated 1473, to designate what I strongly suspect were lecterns; in 1693 by Bishop Hacket when describing the stalls which Dean Williams gave to the library at Westminster Abbey[432]: and in 1695 by Sir C. Wren to describe bookcases which were partly set against the walls, partly at right-angles to them.

It has been already shewn that _gradus_ means a shelf, or a lectern, or a side of a lectern[433]; and _sedile_ is obviously only the Latin equivalent for "seat," which was sometimes used, as at S. John's College, Cambridge, in 1623[434], to designate a bookcase. It was also used at Christ Church, Canterbury, for what I have shewn to be a stall with four shelves[435]. The word _analogium_ was used in France to signify a lectern[436]. The word "class" (_classis_) is used at the University Library, Cambridge, in 1584, instead of the ancient "stall," and afterwards superseded it entirely. For instance, when a Syndicate was appointed in 1713 to provide accommodation for Bishop Moore's Library, the bookcases are described as _Thecae sive quas vocant classes_. Gradually the term was extended until it reached its modern signification, namely, the shelves under a given window together with those on the sides of the bookcases to the right and left of the spectator facing it[437].

We sometimes meet with the word _distinctio_. For instance, an Apocalypse in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, which once belonged to St Augustine's College, Canterbury, is noted as having stood "_distinctione prima gradu tertio_"; and the same word is used in the introduction to the catalogue of Dover Priory to signify what I am compelled to decide was a bookcase. The word _demonstratio_, on the other hand, which occurs at the head of the catalogue of the library of Christ Church, Canterbury, made between 1285 and 1331, probably denotes a division of subject, and not a piece of furniture.

Until the lectern-system had gone out of fashion, a word to denote a shelf was not needed. When shelves had to be referred to, _textus_[438] was used at Canterbury, and _linea_[439] at Citeaux. On the other hand, at Saint Ouen at Rouen, this word indicates a row of bookcases, probably lecterns. In a record of loans[440] from that library in 1372 and following years, the books borrowed are set down as follows (to quote a few typical instances):

Item, digestum novum, linea I, E, II.
Item, liber de regulis fidei, cum aliis, linea III, L, VIII.
Item, Tulius de officiis, linea II a parte sinistra, D, II.

These extracts will be sufficient to shew that the cases were arranged in three double rows, each double row being called a _linea_. Each lectern was marked with a letter of the alphabet, and each book with the number of the row, the letter of the lectern to which it belonged, and its number on the lectern. Thus, to take the first of the above entries, the Digest was to be found in the first row, on lectern E, and was the second volume on the said lectern. It is evident that there was a row of lecterns on each side of a central alley or passage, and that a book was to be found on the right hand, unless the left hand was specially designated.

A catalogue has been preserved of the books in the castle of Peniscola on the east coast of Spain, when the anti-pope Benedict XIII. retired there in 1415. They were kept in presses (_armaria_), each of which was subdivided into a certain number of compartments (_domuncule_), each of which again contained two shelves (_ordines_)[441]. I suggest that this piece of furniture resembled, on a large scale, Le Chartrier de Bayeux, which I have already figured (fig. 26).

In conclusion, I will quote a passage in which the word library designates a bookcase. It occurs in an inventory of the goods in the church of S. Christopher le Stocks, London, made in 1488:

On the south side of the vestrarie standeth a grete
library with ij longe lecturnalles theron to ley on the
bokes[442].

I need hardly remind my readers that the French word _bibliotheque_ has the same double meaning.

FOOTNOTES:

[356] Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Malastestianae Caesenatis bibliothecae fratrum minorum fidei custodiaeque concreditae.... Auctore Josepho Maria Mucciolo ejusdem ordinis fratre et Ravennatis coenobii alumno. 2 vols. fol. Caesenae, 1780-84.

[357] These measurements were taken by myself, with a tape, in September, 1895.

[358] The desk bearing a single volume shewn on this seat (fig. 93) is modern.

[359] These measurements were taken by myself with a tape, in April 1898, and verified in April 1899.

[360] This catalogue is in the State Archives at Modena.

[361] I visited Monte Oliveto 19 April, 1899.

[362] See _Ueber Mittelalterliche Bibliotheken_, v. T. Gottlieb. 8vo. 1890, p. 181. I have twice visited Assisi and examined the Catalogue here referred to. My best thanks are due to Professor Alessandri for giving me every assistance in my researches.

[363] Inprimis facimus inventarium de libris in libraria publica ad bancos cathenatis in hunc modum. Et nota, quod omnia folia omnium librorum, qui sunt in isto inuentario sive per sexternos vel quinternos aut quaternos seu quemvis per alium numerum majorem vel minorem omnes quotquot sunt, nomina quaternorum tenent, ut apparet in quolibet libro in primo quaterno in margine inferiori; quare omnes sunt ante et retro de nigro et rubeo per talem figuram intus cum suo numero signati. Item lictere alphabeti, qui desuper postes ponuntur, omnes debent esse aliquantulum grosse et totaliter nigre, sicut inferius in fine cuiuslibet libri signatur. The spots round this figure are alternately black and red.

[364] Ducange s. v. _solarium_ shews that occasionally it =_armarium_.

[365] I have to thank Father C. J. Ehrle, _S. J._, Prefect of the Vatican Library, for the very great kindness with which he has assisted me in these researches during three visits to Rome in 1898, 1899, 1900; and also the officials who allowed me to examine parts of the palace not usually accessible to strangers.

Further, I wish it to be clearly and distinctly understood that my researches are based upon an essay by M. Paul Fabre, _La Vaticane de Sixte IV._, which had appeared in the _Milanges d'Archeologie et d'Histoire of the Ecole Francaise de Rome_ for December 1895, but of the existence of which I had never heard until Father Ehrle shewed it to me. On reading it, I found that M. Fabre had completely anticipated me; he had done exactly what I had come to Rome to do, and in such a masterly fashion that I could not hope to improve upon his work. After some consideration I determined to verify his conclusions by carefully examining the locality, and to make a fresh ground-plan of it for my own use. I have also studied the authorities quoted by M. Eugene Muentz (_Les Arts a la Cour des Papes_) from my own point of view.

There are two works to which I shall frequently refer: _Les Arts a la Cour des Papes pendant le xv^e et le xvi^e siecle_, par Eugene Muentz: Part III. 1882 (Bibl. des Ecoles Francaises d'Athenes et de Rome, Fasc. 28): and _La Bibliotheque du Vatican_ _au xv^e Siecle_, par Eugene Muentz et Paul Fabre; Paris, 1887 (Ibid. Fasc. 48). The former will be cited as "Muentz"; the latter as "Muentz et Fabre." My paper, of which an abstract only is here given, has been published in the _Camb. Ant. Soc. Proc. and Comm._ 6 March 1899, Vol. X. pp. 11-61.

[366] This document, dated 17 December, 1471, has been printed by Muentz, p. 120. I am afraid that this order can have but one meaning: viz. the excavation and destruction of ancient buildings.

[367] This is the date assigned by Platina himself. See below, p. 231.

[368] MS. Vat. Lat. 3947, fol. 118 b. Notatio omnium librorum Bibliothecae palatinae Sixti quarti Pont. Max. tam qui in banchis quam qui in Armariis et capsis sunt a Platyna Bibliothecario et Demetrio Lucense eius alumno custode die xiiii. mensis Septemb. M.CCCC.LXXXI facta. Ante vero eius decessum dierum octo tantummodo. This _Notatio_ has been printed, Muentz et Fabre, p. 250, but without the catalogue to which it forms an appendix. This, so far as I know, still remains unprinted.

[369] Muentz et Fabre, pp. 148-150, _passim_.

[370] _Ibid._ p. 32.

[371] _Ibid._ p. 141. The catalogue is printed pp. 159-250.

[372] MS. Vat. 5008.

[373] These accounts, now preserved in the State Archives at Rome, have been printed with great accuracy (so far as I was able to judge from a somewhat hasty collation) by Muentz, _Les Arts a la Cour da Papes_, Vol. III. 1882, p. 121 sq.; and by Muentz and Fabre, _La Bibliotheque du Vatican au xv^e Siecle_, 1887, p. 148 sq.

[374] The entries referring to these purchases are given in full, with translations, in my paper above referred to.

[375] The name is derived from the frescoes with which its external walls were decorated during the reign of Pius IV. (1559-1565). They represented palm trees, on which parrots (_papagalli_) and other birds were perching. Fragments of these frescoes are still to be seen. The court beyond this "del Portoncin di Ferro" was so called from an iron gate by which the passage into it from the Cortile del Papagallo could be closed.

[376] The difference of level between the floor of the court and the floor of the library is eighteen inches. An inclined plane of wood now replaces the steps.

[377] Item pro purganda bibliotheca veteri et asportandis calcinaciis duarum fenestrarum factarum inter graecam et latinam b. XX die qua supra, i.e. 20 Aug. 1480. Muentz, p. 132.

[378] A Foundling Hospital, alluding to the Ospedale di Santo Spirito founded by Sixtus IV.

[379] Fabre, _La Vaticane_, p. 464. Bunsen, _Die Beschreibung der Stadt Rom_, ed. 1832, Vol. II.. Part 2, p. 418.

[380] The following entry is curious: Habuere Paulus et Dionysius pictores duos ducatos pro duobus paribus caligarum quas petiere a domino nostro dum pingerent cancellos bibliothecae et restituerent picturam bibliothecae graecae, ita n. Sanctitas sua mandavit, die xviii martii 1478. Muentz, p. 131.

[381] Fabre, _La Vaticane_, p. 465, citing Bandini, _Bibliothecae Mediceo-Laurentianae catalogus_, I. p. xxxviii.

[382] Enumeravi, praesente Clemente synescalcho familiae s. d. n., Salvato librario, et Demetrio lectore, ducatos XLV Francischo fabro lignario mediolanensi habitatori piscinae urbis Romae pro banchis Bibliothecae conficiendis, maxime vero decem quae ad sinistram jacent, quorum longitudo est XXXVIII palmorum, vel circa, et ita accepta parte pecuniarum, cujus summa est centum et XXX ducatorum, facturum se debitum promittit et obligat, die XV Julii 1475. Muentz, p. 121.

[383] Item solvi eidem ducatos XXX pro reliquo XXV banchorum bibliothecae: pro longioribus autem qui sunt X solvebantur centum et triginta, ut supra scriptum est; pro reliquis solvebantur centum et septuaginta; quae summa est tricentorum ducatorum: atque ita pro banchis omnibus ei satisfactum est, die VII Junii 1476. Muentz, p. 126. The rest of the money had been paid to him by instalments between 15 July, 1475, and this date.

[384] Magister Joanninus faber lignarius de Florentia habuit a me Platyna s. d. n. bibliothecario pro fabrica banchorum Bibliothecae secretae, pro Armario magno et Spaleria ejusdem loci, quae omnia extimata fuerunt centum et octuaginta ducat' a magistro Francisco de Mediolano; habuit, ut praefertur, ducatos sexaginta quinque et bononenos sexaginta die VII maii 1477. Muentz, p. 130. There were 100 bononeni in each ducat.

[385] Habuit ultimo ducatos octo pro tribus tabulis ex nuce cornisate (?) ad continenda nomina librorum e per le cornise de tre banchi vechi ex nuce die supradicta; nil omnino restat habere ut ipse sua manu affirmat, computatis in his illis LX bononenis qui superius scribuntur. Muentz, p. 130.

[386] Dedi Joanni pictori famulo m. Melotii pro pictura trium tabularum ubi descripta sunt librorum nomina carlenos XVIII die X Octobris 1477. _Ibid._, p. 131.

[387] Item pro XII capsis latis in bibliothecam secretam. Muentz et Fabre, p. 158.

[388] Magister Joanninus de Florentia et m. Marcus ejus frater faber lignarius habuere ducatos XXV pro parte solucionis banchorum quae fiunt in bibliotheca addita nunc a S^mo. d. nostro, die XVIII Julii 1480. Muentz, p. 134.

[389] Muentz, pp. 124-126.

[390] Magister Joannes fabricator catenarum habuit a me die XIIII aprilis 1477 ducatos decem, ad summam centum et quinque ducatorum quos ei debebam pro tribus miliaribus et libris octingentis ferri fabrefacti ad usum bibliothecae, videlicet pro quadraginta octo virgis ferreis ad quas in banchis libri connectuntur [etc.]. Muentz, p. 128.

[391] _Ibid._, p. 127.

[392] _Ibid._, p. 135.

[393] MSS. Vat. 3947.

[394] MSS. Vat. 7135.

[395] _La Vaticane_, etc., p. 475.

[396] MS. Vat. 3946.

[397] MS. Vat. 3948.

[398] For an account of what Sixtus accomplished at Santo Spirito see Pastor, _History of the Popes_, Eng. Tran. IV. 460-462.

[399] Brockhaus, _Janitschek's Repertorium fuer Kunstwissenschaften_, Band VII. (1884); Schmarsow, _Melozzo da Forli_ (1886), pp. 202-207.

[400] I have taken 1 palm = metre 0.223; and 1 metre = 39.37 in.

[401] My calculation works out as follows. Each of 10 seats was 38 palms long: total length, 380 palms. As these 10 seats cost 130 ducats, each palm cost 130/380 ducats = 1/3 a ducat nearly.

As the total paid was 300 ducats, this first payment, viz. 130 ducats, left 170 ducats still due for the 15 remaining seats. As each palm cost a third of a ducat, 170 ducats would buy 510 palms = 113.73 metres = 4477 inches (nearly) = 373 feet.

[402] Per lo tellaro del mappamondo b. 52. Muentz, p. 129. Habuere pictores armorum quae sunt facta in duabus sphaeris solidis et pro pictura mappemundi ducatos III, die XII decembris 1477. Muentz et Fabre, p. 151. This map had probably been provided by Pius II. (1458-1464), who kept in his service Girolamo Bellavista, a Venetian maker of maps. Muentz et Fabre, 126.

[403] Expendi pro cobopertura facta duobus sphaeris solidis quarum in altera est ratio signorum, in altera cosmographia, ducatos IIII videlicet cartenos XVI in octo pellibus montoninis, cartenos XXV in manifactura; sunt nunc ornata graphio cum armis s. d. n., die XX decembris 1477. Muentz el Fabre, p. 152. M. Fabre quotes an extract in praise of the map and globes from a letter written from Rome in 1505, _La Vaticane de Sixte IV._, p. 471 _note_.

[404] _Ibid._

[405] Muentz, p. 130.

[406] Bibl. Nat. Paris, MSS. Lat. 13123, fol. 220, quoted by Muentz et Fabre, p. 140.

[407] This statue, found in Rome in the middle of the sixteenth century, represents Aristides Smyrnaeus, a Greek rhetorician of the second century after Christ. It is still in the Vatican Library, at the entrance to the Museo Cristiano.

[408] In the omitted passage Montaigne describes a number of books shewn to him.

[409] _Journal du voyage de Michel de Montaigne en Italie_, ed. Prof. Alessandro d' Ancona. 8vo. Citta di Castello, 1895, p. 269. I owe this quotation to M. Fabre.

[410] Muentz et Fabre, p. 299.

[411] _Ibid._, pp. 269-298. MSS. Vat. Lat. 3964.

[412] Quisquis es qui tuum nomen hic inscribis ob acceptos commodo libros e bibliotheca pontificis, scito te indignationem ejus et execrationem incursurum nisi peropportune integros reddideris. Hoc tibi denuntiat Platyna, S. suae bibliothecarius, qui tantae rei curam suscepit pridie Kal. Martii 1475.

[413] Dedi die XIII Septembris 1475 ducatum unum Salvato scriptori pro emendis calligis. Item expendi pro veste una Salvati scriptoris seminudi et algentis ducatos XIII de mandato sancti domini nostri. Muentz et Fabre, p. 148.

[414] Habui ego Platyna sanctissimi domini nostri bibliothecarius ducatos triginta pro salario meo, quod est decem ducatorum in mense, ab idibus Julii usque ad idus Octobris 1477, quemadmodum apparet in bulla de facultatibus officiis et muneribus a sanctissimo domino nostro papa Sixto IIII facta. _Ibid._ p. 150.

[415] Muentz, pp. 129, 133.

[416] Item dedi ducatos quinque pro quolibet Demetrio et Johanni ligatori librorum quos ex mandato domini nostri foras misi, mortuo ex peste eorum socio, ne ipsi quoque eo loci interirent vel alios inficerent, die VIII junii 1478. Muentz et Fabre, pp. 153.

[417] The entries alluded to in this account will all be found in Muentz and Fabre, pp. 148-158.

[418] The document is printed by Muentz and Fabre, p. 300.

[419] I visited Urbino for the purpose of studying this library 28 April, 1900.

[420] _Memorie concernenti la Citta di Urbino._ Fol. Rome, 1724, p. 37. See also Vespasiano, _Federigo Duca d' Urbino_; ap. Mai, _Spicilegium Romanian_, I. pp. 124-128; Dennistoun, _Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino_, 8vo. 1851, I. pp. 153-160. The duties of the librarian, which remind us in many particulars of those of the monastic _armarius_, are translated by Dennistoun (p. 159) from Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 1248, f. 58.

[421] _Codices Urbinates Graeci Bibl. Vat._ 4to. Rome, 1895, p. 12. For this statement, the writer cites Raffaelli, _Imparziale istoria dell' unione delta Biblioteca ducale di Urbino alia Vaticana di Roma_. Fermo, 1877, p. 12.

[422] _Vasari_, ed. 1856, vol. XII. p. 214.

[423] Franklin, _Anc. Bibl. de Paris_, II. 22.

[424] This statement rests on the authority of Dr Caius, _Hist. Cant. Acad._ p. 89. Cum duae bibliothecae erant, altera priuata seu noua, altera publica seu vetus dicebatur. In illa optimi quique; in hac omnis generis ex peiori numero ponebantur. Illa paucis, ista omnibus patebat.

[425] _Arch. Hist._ III. p. 401.

[426] See above p. 45. Dr James has printed the verses from Bodl. MSS. Laud. 697, fol. 27, _verso_, in _Camb. Ant. Soc. Proc. and Comm._ VIII. 213.

[427] The whole series is given in _Arch. Hist._ III. p. 461.

[428] I quote this account of the glass at Eton from Dr James, _ut supra_, p. 214.

[429] De Lisle, _Cabinet de Manuscrits_, vol. II. p. 200.

[430] _Voyage Litteraire_, ed. 1717, II. 158.

[431] Bliss, _Reliquiae Hearnianae_, II. 693; _ap._ Macray, _Annals_, p. 4.

[432] See above, p. 188.

[433] See Index.

[434] _Arch. Hist._ Vol. II. p. 270.

[435] See above, p. 192.

[436] See Index.

[437] _Arch. Hist._ Vol. III. p. 30. Conyers Middleton, _Bibl. Cant. Ord. Meth._ Works, Vol. III. p. 484.

[438] See above, p. 192.

[439] See above, p. 105.

[440] _Du pret des livres dans l' abbaye de Saint Ouen, sous Charles V._ par L. Delisle. _Bibl. de l' Ecole des Chartes_, ser. III. Vol. I. p. 225. 1849.

[441] _Le Librairie des Papes d' Avignon_, par Maurice Faucon, Tome II. p. 43, in _Bibl. des Ecoles Francaises d'Athenes et de Rome_, Fasc. 50.

[442] _Archaeologia_, Vol. 47, p. 120. I have to thank my friend Mr P. T. Micklethwaite, architect, for this quotation.