: The Bodleian Library at Oxford by Madan Falconer - Bodleian Library

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ower books were still chained, and could only be used at the desks attached; such was the case, for instance, with the First Folio of Shakespeare, marked S. 2.17 Art. . The Gallery books were quartos and octavos, not chained, and given out to readers below by one of the officers of the Library. This arrangement was imitated in the Selden End, which was completed in 1640.

So far an attempt has been made to sketch briefly the evolution of a library in ancient and mediaeval times. The plan of the present chapter of generalities now requires that we should consider the kinds of modern library, and the position which the Bodleian holds among them.

There are libraries and libraries. There are libraries of Reference or, as they are sometimes termed, Deposit; and there are libraries of the second rank, adapted for local and popular use. These two kinds are typical, and fall apart, as will be seen, by the application of a simple test.

Of this highest class it may be said that a really great library should have Universal scope, Independence, Size, Permanence, Wealth, and multiform Utility. Its Catalogue is not a mere book-finder, but a scientific work. Open access and lending are given up, but the Reference library is large. The aim of the British Museum to possess the largest French library outside France, and so with other foreign departments, and to store all local newspapers, is beyond praise.

Within the second class of libraries the manifold and various needs of modern students have resulted in a large number of kinds, which have been so seldom and so incompletely methodized that the following first attempt at their classification may be allowed, though cross-divisions cannot be entirely avoided.

LIBRARIES

The value of the MSS. in the Vatican Library at Rome raises it to the first rank, though its printed volumes are only reckoned to be 400,000 . The size of the great libraries in the United States is undoubted, but, as has been remarked, the absence of large and valuable collections of MSS. reduces their importance. In the Library of Congress at Washington, where the printed volumes are estimated in the Annual Report for 1915 at 2,364,000, the mileage of occupied shelves is believed to be eighty or more, which is not far from double that of the British Museum. The New York Public Library is estimated to contain about 1,920,000 volumes or 2,090,000 . The Boston Public Library is believed to possess 1,050,000 volumes .

A statistical survey of the Bodleian Library was made in 1915, with the following results:--

Printed volumes 1,050,000 Of which folios 175,000 quartos 350,000 octavos 525,000 Separate pieces 2,060,000 Separate items 3,000,000 Manuscript volumes 40,000 20,000

The Bodleian may fairly claim to rank in size about ninth, and in size and importance about eighth. It is the largest and most important University library in the world, and the largest which is not aided out of State funds. It claims also to be one of the earliest public libraries of Europe, in the sense that it has always been open to those who bring a sufficient recommendation, practically without distinction of class or nationality. In early days a small charge was made on first admission.

SIR THOMAS BODLEY AND HIS FOUNDATION, 1598-1613

The cradle of the University is in the vaulted chamber at the north-east corner of St. Mary's Church, still called the Old Congregation House. The present building was begun in 1320 on behalf of Thomas de Cobham, Bishop of Worcester, and consisted of a lower chamber for University meetings and an upper chamber for a library. The shell was finished by his death in 1327; but not till a dispute with Oriel College about the possession of Cobham's books was settled in 1410, was there a library in full establishment. The books were taken from the two chests in which they had lain since 1337 in the lower room, and were chained in the upper room to desks with seats fixed beside them. In 1412 a statute settled the regulations, and ensured that the librarian should also be a chaplain of the University.

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