Libraries -- History; Library architecture -- History; Library fittings and supplies -- History
The total of the MSS. stored in this room amounts to 509. In addition to
these the catalogue next enumerates "Books of the choir, church, and
cloister (53 vols.); Books taken out of the library for the daily use of
the convent (29 vols.); Books chained on desks (_super analogiis_) before
the Chapter-House (5 vols.); on the second desk (5 vols.); on the third
desk (4 vols.); on the fifth desk (4 vols.); Books taken out of the
library partly to be placed in the cloister, partly to be divided among
the brethren (27 vols.); Books on the small desks in the cloister (5
vols.); Books to be read publicly in convent or to be divided among the
brethren for private reading (99 vols.)." These different collections of
MSS., added together, make a total of 740 volumes, which seem to have been
scattered over the House, wherever a spare corner could be found for them.
The inconvenience of such an arrangement, or want of arrangement, is
obvious; and it must have caused much friction in the House. We can
imagine the officer in charge of the finances resenting the intrusion of
his brother of the library with an asperity not wholly in accordance with
fraternal charity. And yet, so strong is the tendency of human nature to
put up with whatever exists, rather than be at the trouble of changing it,
no effectual steps in the way of remedy were taken until the fifteenth
century. In that century, however, we find that in most of the large
monasteries a special room was constructed to hold books. Reading went
forward, as heretofore, in the cloister, and I conceive that the books
stored in the new library were mainly intended for loan or for reference.
As at Durham, the monks could go there when they chose.
These conventual libraries were usually built over some existing building,
or over the cloister. Sometimes, especially in France, the library appears
as an additional storey added to any building with walls strong enough to
bear it; sometimes again as a detached building. I will cite a few
examples of libraries in these different positions.
At Christ Church, Canterbury, a library, about 60 ft. long by 22 ft.
broad, was built by Archbishop Chichele between 1414 and 1443, over the
Prior's Chapel[224], and William Sellyng (Prior 1472-1494) "adorned [it]
with beautiful wainscot, and also furnished it with certain volumes
chiefly for the use of those addicted to study, whom he zealously and
generously encouraged and patronised[225]."
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