Libraries -- History; Library architecture -- History; Library fittings and supplies -- History
Further, it should be noted that the erection of a library proper was an
afterthought in many of the older colleges, as it had been in the
monasteries. For instance, at Merton College, Oxford, founded 1264, the
library was not begun till 1377; at University College, founded 1280, in
1440; at Balliol College, founded 1282, in 1431; at Oriel College, founded
1324, in 1444; at Pembroke College, Cambridge, founded 1347, in 1452.
William of Wykeham, who founded New College, Oxford, in 1380, was the
first to include a library in his quadrangle; and, after the example had
been set by him, the plan of every subsequent college includes a library
of sufficient dimensions to last till the Reformation, if not till the
present day.
The above dates, covering as they do at least two-thirds of the fifteenth
century, shew that the collegiate libraries were being built at the same
time as the monastic. This coincidence of date, taken in conjunction with
the coincidences in enactment which I have already pointed out, seems to
me to supply an additional argument in support of my theory that the
internal fittings of collegiate and monastic libraries would be identical.
Besides, no forms are so persistent as those of pieces of furniture. A
workman, once instructed to make a thing in a particular way, carries out
his instructions to the letter, and transmits them to his descendants.
Before we consider what these fittings were, I will briefly deal with some
other questions affecting collegiate libraries, as, for instance, their
size, position, and general arrangement. And first, as regards the number
of books to be accommodated.
It happens, unfortunately, that very few catalogues have been preserved
of the libraries referred to in the above statutes; but, if we may
estimate the extent of the remainder from those of which we have some
account, we shall see that the number of volumes contained in a collegiate
library must have been extremely small. For instance, the catalogue[289]
appended to Bishop Bateman's statutes, dated 1350, enumerates eighty-four
volumes, classed under the following subjects, in two divisions[290], viz.
those presented to the College for the immediate use of the Fellows (_A_);
and those reserved for the Bishop's own use during his life (_B_):
_A_ _B_
Books on Civil Law 7 3
Books on Canon Law 19 13
Books on Theology 3 25
Books for the Chapel 7 7
-- --
36 48
At King's Hall, in 1394, eighty-seven volumes only are enumerated[291];
and even in the University Library not more than 122 volumes were recorded
in 1424[292]. They were distributed as follows:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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