In the Stadtbibliothek of Nuremberg some of the oldest works on jurisprudence still preserve their chains. Each has a short chain about 12 in. long fixed on the upper edge of the left-hand board. The title is written on the middle of the upper edge of the right-hand board. It is obvious that these volumes must have lain on a desk with their titles uppermost[322]. [Illustration: Fig. 63. Interior of a Library. From a MS. of a French translation of the first book of the _Consolation of Philosophy_ by Boethius: written in Flanders towards the end of the fifteenth century.] [Illustration: Fig. 64. Library of the College de Navarre, Paris, now destroyed.] It is probable that similar fittings were used in the library of the Sorbonne, Paris, which was first established in 1289, with books chained for the common convenience of the Fellows (_in communem sociorum utilitatem_)[323]. This library was divided into two separate collections, which formed, so to speak, two distinct libraries. The first, called the great library, or the common library, contained the books most frequently studied. They were chained, and could only be taken out under the most exceptional circumstances. A statute, dated 1321, the provisions of which recall the collegiate statutes summarised above, directed that the best book the society possessed on each subject should be thus chained. The second division of the library, called the small library, contained duplicates, books rarely consulted, and generally all those of which the loan was authorised under certain conditions[324]. The following description of this library has been given by Claude Hemere (Librarian 1638-43) in his MS. history. This I proceed to translate: