A study of the catalogue drawn up in 1513 for the Augustinian House of S. Victor, Paris, by Claude de Grandrue, one of the monks, shews that the same system must have been in use there. Further, his catalogue is an excellent specimen of the pains taken in a large monastery to describe the books accurately, and to provide ready access to them. A brief prefatory note informs us that the desks are arranged in three rows, and marked with a triple series of letters. The first row is marked A, B, C, etc.; the second AA, BB, etc.; the third AAA, BBB, etc. To each of these letters are appended the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on, to shew the position of the required volume. For instance--to take one at random--_Abaelardi confessio_ is marked P. 13: that is, it is the thirteenth book on the desk in the first row marked P. When the catalogue proper--in which each manuscript is carefully described--was finished, the author increased its usefulness by the composition of an alphabetical index[328]. How, I shall be asked, can the form of the bookcase or desk (_pulpitum_) be inferred from this catalogue? I reply: In the first place, because there are no shelf-marks. The librarian notes the letter of the desk, and the place of each book on it, but nothing more. Secondly, because the number of manuscripts accommodated on each desk is so small. There are 50 desks, and 988 manuscripts--or, an average of little more than 19 to each. At Zutphen the average is exactly 18. This piece of evidence, however, is so important that I will give it in detail. The following table, compiled by myself from the catalogue, gives the letters used to mark the desks, and the number of manuscripts on each. A 13 | AA 13 | AAA 15 B 21 | BB 16 | BBB 16 C 13 | CC 19 | CCC 17 D 18 | DD 18 | DDD 19 E 17 | EE 21 | EEE 17 F 20 | FF 17 | FFF 29 G 18 | GG 18 | GGG 24 H 16 | HH 17 | HHH 29 I 16 | II 23 | III 25 K 17 | KK 21 | KKK 29 L 22 | LL 21 | LLL 23 M 21 | MM 20 | MMM 26 N 18 | NN 20 | ---- O 14 | OO 13 | 269 P 19 | PP 23 | Q 22 | QQ 27 | R 14 | RR 26 | S 14 | SS 28 | T 21 | TT 24 | ----| ----| 334 | 385 | These totals give a general total of 988 manuscripts, which, divided by 50, makes the average number for each desk, as stated above, 19.76. Further, my theory is supported by the positive evidence of a description of this library (unfortunately without date) quoted by M. Delisle: "Les livres estoient couchez et enchaisnez, sur de longs pupitres, et une allee entre deux[329]." It is obvious that the English system of placing each lectern between a pair of windows could not have been maintained here.