Libraries -- History; Library architecture -- History; Library fittings and supplies -- History
If it should happen that a given book be not brought in
and produced on the aforesaid day of fresh selection and
distribution, then the person who is responsible for it
shall pay to the Master, or in his absence to the Senior
Dean, the full value of the said absent book, under pain
of being put out of commons until it be restored.
Every Fellow who is not present on the aforesaid day
shall appoint a deputy, who shall be prepared to bring
in any books which may have been lent to him, on the day
when a fresh distribution is to take place, under pain
of being put out of commons[267].
The statutes given in 1350 to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, by the Founder
William Bateman (Bishop of Norwich 1344-56), contain rules which are more
stringent than those already quoted, and were evidently written in
contemplation of a more considerable collection of volumes. A list of the
books which he himself presented to Trinity Hall is appended to his
statutes, and a special chapter (_De libris collegii_) is allotted to the
Library. This may be translated as follows:
On the days appointed for the general audit of accounts
[in the Michaelmas and Easter Terms] all the books which
have been received, or shall be received in future,
either from our own liberality, or from the pious
largess of others, are to be laid out separately before
the Master and all the resident Fellows in such manner
that each volume may be clearly seen; by which
arrangement it will become evident twice in each year
whether any book has been lost or taken away.
No book belonging to the aforesaid College may ever at
any time be sold, given away, exchanged, or alienated,
under any excuse or pretext; nor may it be lent to
anybody except a member of the College; nor may it be
entrusted in quires, for the purpose of making a copy,
to any member of the College, or to any stranger, either
within the precincts of the Hall or beyond them; nor may
it be carried by the Master, or any one else, out of the
Town of Cambridge, or out of the aforesaid Hall or
Hostel, either whole or in quires, except to the
Schools; provided always that no book pass the night out
of College, unless it be necessary to bind it or to
repair it; and when this happens, it is to be brought
back to College as soon as possible after the completion
of the binding or the repair.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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