Richard de Bury, whom we have already mentioned, had gathered in his life-time, by copying with his own hand and by purchase, a valuable library. In his will he bestowed a portion of it upon “a company of scholars residing in a hall at Oxford,” and one of his chapters is headed “A Provident Arrangement by which Books may be lent to Strangers,” meaning, by strangers, students of Oxford not belonging to that hall. This library, from which a book could not be borrowed without giving ample security, was finally given to Durham, now Trinity College, and contained more books than all the bishops of England had then in their possession. For many years after they were received they were kept in chests, under the custody of several scholars chosen for that purpose. It was not till the reign of Henry IV. that a library was built in that college; and then the books were taken out of the old sepulchral chests, and “were put into pews or studies and chained to them.” In 1300, the library of Oxford consisted of a few tracts kept in a chest. [Illustration: Chained Bible.] The statutes of St. Mary’s College, Oxford, in the reign of Henry VI., furnish striking proof of the obstacles to study caused by a scarcity of books. “Let no scholar occupy a book in the library above one hour, or two hours at most, so that others shall be hindered from the use of the same.” This reveals quite a famine of books, but not so great as at a still earlier period of the Church, when one book was given out by the librarian to each of a religious fraternity at the beginning of Lent, to be read diligently during the year, and to be returned the following Lent. The old way of shutting up books in chests shows that they could not be often changed, for whenever one was wanted the whole pile must be disturbed. The next plan was to allow the books the privilege of light and air, but to chain them to desks and in cages, as if their keepers looked upon them literally as riches with wings ready to fly away. The following passage, malediction of some grim friar perhaps, was often written on the first leaf of a book: “Cursed be he who shall steal or tear out the leaves, or in any way injure this book.” A milder and more modern couplet, is-- “Steal not this book for fear of shame, For here you see the owner’s name.” Thus various were the devices from time to time to secure the possession of treasures more precious than gold. How different the state of things at this day! Instead of being rare and expensive luxuries, books are abundant both in the homes of the rich and the poor. [Illustration] [Illustration] IV. An Important Step.--Engraving a Name.--Engraving Pictures.-- Superstitions.--Difficulties overcome.--An Improvement.-- Experiment and Progress.--A New Book.--Cheerful Thoughts. One day, a few weeks after the events in our second chapter, Gutenberg surprised his wife as she sat sewing by the window, saying,--