O MOST ILLUSTRIOUS RULER, with the wish that you, a descendant of great men and born to do great things, may long continue in that work, worthy of the highest praise, which you have already begun,--the work of encouraging the production of books and the cultivation of the liberal arts among men, and so make your name for all time revered. To you, JOHN MORETUS, because of the friendship which has bound together for now these many years you and our Plantin--alas, now no more!--and all his family and myself,--to you, I say, I entrust the printing and the publishing of this my OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF LIBRARIES; to you and to no one else. And this my wish and will I thus declare in accordance with the law laid down by the great Emperor and the Kings. JUSTUS LIPSIUS LITERATURE OF LIBRARIES SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES _Edited by_ JOHN COTTON DANA, _Librarian of the Free Public Library, Newark, New Jersey; and_ HENRY W. KENT, _Librarian of the Grolier Club, New York City._ 1. COTTON DES HOUSSAYES, JEAN BAPTISTE (1727-1783). Concerning the Duties and Qualifications of a Librarian (Des Devoirs et de Qualities du Bibliothecaire). 2. DURY, JOHN (DURIE) (1596-1680). The Reformed Librarie-Keeper. London, 1650. 3. KIRKWOOD, REV. JAMES (1650?-1708). An Overture for founding and maintaining of Bibliothecks in every Paroch throughout this Kingdom. [Edinburgh], 1699. 4. BODLEY, SIR THOMAS (1545-1613). Life, written by himself, 1609; with his First Draught of the Statutes of the Public Library at Oxford. (From Reliquiae Bodleianae, 1703.) 5. LIPSIUS, JUSTUS (1547-1606). De Bibliothecis Syntagma. Antwerp, 1602. Translated into English for this series. 6. NAUDÉ, GABRIEL (1600-1653). News from France; or, A Description of the Library of Cardinal Mazarini (London, 1652), and, The Surrender of the Library of Cardinal Mazarin. _250 copies on small paper, 6 vols., $12.00 per set._ _25 copies on large paper, 6 vols., $25.00 per set._ A. C. McCLURG & CO. PUBLISHERS CHICAGO Transcriber’s Notes On page 46, “reestablished” was replaced by “reëstablished”, reflecting the predominant spelling in the text. Otherwise, original spelling and punctuation has been retained. New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.