The Care of Books Part 29

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 72. Bookcase in the Chapter Library, Hereford Cathedral.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 74. Part of a single volume, shewing the clasp, the ring for the chain, and the mode of attaching it: Hereford.]

From a sketch taken in 1876.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 75. A single volume, standing on the shelf, with the chain attached to the iron bar: Hereford.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 76. Iron bar and socket, closed to prevent removal of the bar: Hereford.]

As the books were to stand upright on a shelf, not to lie on their sides on a desk, it was necessary to attach the chain in a different manner. A narrow strip of flat bra.s.s was pa.s.sed round the left-hand board (fig. 74) and riveted to it, in such a manner as to leave a loop in front of the edge of the board, wide enough to admit an iron ring, an inch and a quarter in diameter, to which one end of the chain was fastened. The book is placed on the shelf with the fore-edge turned outwards, and the other end of the chain is fastened to a second ring, rather larger than the former, which plays along an iron bar (fig. 75). For the two upper shelves these bars, which are in. in diameter, are supported in front of the shelf, at such a distance from it as to allow of easy play for the rings (fig. 73). Each bar extends only from part.i.tion to part.i.tion, so that three bars are needed for each shelf. For the lowest shelf there are also three bars, set two inches behind the edge of the shelf, so as to keep the rings and chains out of the way of the desk. The bars for the upper shelves rest in iron sockets screwed to the woodwork at the juncture of the horizontal shelves with the vertical divisions and ends respectively.

The socket fixed to the end of the bookcase which was intended to stand against the wall is closed by an iron plate (fig. 76), so that the bar cannot pa.s.s beyond it. At the opposite end, that which would usually face the alley between the two rows of bookcases, the bars are secured by lock and key in the following manner. A piece of flat iron is nailed to the end of the bookcase, just above the level of the uppermost shelf (fig. 77).

Attached to this by a hinge is a hasp, or band of iron, two inches wide, and rather longer than the interval between the two shelves. Opposite to each shelf this iron band expands into a semicircular plate, to which a cap is riveted for the reception of the head of the socket in which the bar rests (fig. 77); and just below the middle shelf it drops into a lock and is secured by a key (fig. 73). A second hasp, similarly constructed, secures the lowest of the three bars; but, as that bar is behind, and not in front of, the shelf to which it belongs, the arrangements described above are reversed. One lock and key serves for the ironwork belonging to the three shelves.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 77. Iron bar, with part of the iron plate or hasp which is secured by the lock and keeps the bar in place: Hereford.]

The chains are made of links of hammered iron as shewn in the sketch (fig.

78) which represents a piece of one of the actual size. There is usually a swivel in the centre, probably to prevent twisting. They vary somewhat in length, and in the length of the links, according to the shelf on which the books to which they belong are ranged, it being obviously necessary to provide for the convenient placing of a book on the desk when a reader wished to consult it. The most usual dimensions are 3 ft. 4 in., 3 ft. 6 in., 4 ft. 3 in.

The removal of any of the volumes, or the addition of a new one, must have been a tedious and inconvenient operation. The bar would have to be withdrawn, and all the rings set free. Moreover, if this change had to be effected in one of the compartments remote from the end of the case which carried the lock, the bar belonging to each of the other compartments would have to be withdrawn before the required volume could be reached.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 78. Piece of chain, shewing the swivel: Hereford.

Actual size.]

If the views (figs. 70, 71) of the book-cases at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, be attentively examined, it will be seen that the ironwork exactly resembles that at Hereford. We find similar sockets to contain the bars at the junction of the horizontal shelves and vertical uprights, and a similar system of iron hasps to prevent the bars from being withdrawn.

The desk for the reader would of course vary according to individual taste. As a general rule it was attached to the ends of the case by strong hinges, so that it could be turned up and got out of the way when any alteration in the ironwork had to be carried out. Iron hooks to hold it up were not unfrequently provided. One of these, from the Bodleian Library, is here figured (fig. 79). It was also usual to provide a slit in this desk, about 2 in. wide, as close as possible to the shelf, for the chain attached to the book in use to pa.s.s through. This is well shewn in the view of a single book-case in Merton College, Oxford (fig. 83).

I will next describe the library of Merton College, Oxford. There is still considerable doubt respecting the date of some of the bookcases, but the appearance of the library is so venerable, so unlike any similar room with which I am acquainted, that it must always command admiration, and deserve study[335].

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 80. Exterior of the Library at Merton College, Oxford, as seen from 'Mob Quadrangle.'

From a photograph by H. W. Taunt, 1899.]

The library occupies the whole of the first floor of the south side of "Mob Quadrangle" and the greater part of the same floor of the west side (fig. 80). It is entered through a doorway in the south-western angle of the court, whence a staircase leads up to the vestibule (fig. 81). This room is separated from the two divisions of the library by lofty oak screens, elaborately carved and ornamented in the style of the early renaissance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 79. Hook to hold up the desk. Bodleian Library, Oxford.]

The two rooms into which the library is divided have a uniform width of 20 ft. 6 in. The west room, called by tradition Old Library, is 38 ft. 6 in.

long (A, B, fig. 81); the south room, or New Library, is 56 ft. 6 in. long (C, D, fig. 81).

The west room is lighted by seven equidistant lancet windows in each of the west and east walls, and by two dormer windows of peculiar design on the side of the roof next to the court. The south room is similarly lighted by ten lancets in each of the north and south walls, and on the side next to the court by two dormer windows like those in the west room.

This room moreover has an open s.p.a.ce at the east end, about 10 ft. long, lighted by a window of two lights in each of the north and south walls respectively, and by an oriel of five lights in the east wall. In both rooms there is a waggon-roof of five cants boarded, and divided into panels by molded ribs with little bosses at the intersections (fig. 82).

The blank wall at the north end of the west room is panelled with oak of an elaborate and beautiful design for a height of about 12 ft. (fig. 82).

The s.p.a.ce above this is decorated with panels of plaster-work. The large square central panel contains the arms of the college; the circular panel to the west those of John Whitgift (Archbishop of Canterbury 1583-1604); and the similar panel to the east those of Sir Henry Savile (Warden 1585-1621).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 81. Ground-plan of the Library at Merton College, Oxford.]

The east end of the south room is similarly treated, but the oak panelling is less elaborate. In the plaster-work above it the arms of the college are flanked on the north by those of George Abbot (Archbishop of Canterbury 1611-1633) and on the south by those of Sir Nathaniel Brent (Warden 1621-1651).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 82. Interior of the west Library at Merton College, Oxford.

From a photograph by H. W. Taunt, 1899.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 83. Bookcase in the west Library of Merton College, Oxford.

From a photograph by H. W. Taunt, 1899.]

Both rooms are floored with rough oak planking. On this are laid four sleepers, each about 5 in. square, parallel with the side-walls. The two central sleepers have their outside edge roughly chamfered. Into these the bookcases and the seats are morticed. The central alley, 5 ft. wide, is in both rooms paved with encaustic tiles.

In the west room there are twelve complete cases and four half-cases; in the south room there are twenty complete cases and two half-cases (fig.

81); in both rooms arranged in the usual manner with respect to the walls and windows.

In order to present as vivid an idea as possible of these beautiful cases, I reproduce here a photograph of a single compartment from the west library, with a seated reader at work (fig. 83). The case is made to look rather higher than it really is, but this distortion can be easily corrected by comparing the height of the standard with that of the seated figure.

In the west room each case (figs. 82, 83) is 7 ft. 5 in. long, 1 ft. 5 in.

wide and 6 ft. high from the top of the sleeper to the top of the cornice.

The material is oak. The ends are nearly 2 in. thick, and next the wall are shaped roughly with an adze. Each case is separated into two divisions by a central part.i.tion; and originally there was a desk 1 ft. 3 in. wide on each side of the case. These desks were immoveable, and nailed to rough brackets. There were two shelves only to each case: one just above the level of the desk, and a second about half-way between it and the cornice (fig. 84).

The system of ironwork by which the books were secured can be easily recovered by studying the scars on the ends of the cases next the central alley. At the lower end of the standard, two feet from the ground, was an iron bar which carried the chains of all the books which stood on the shelf just above the level of the desk, without reference to the side from which they were to be consulted. This bar was secured by a separate hasp and lock. The bars for the upper shelf, one on each side of the case, were obviously secured by a system similar to that described above at Hereford and Corpus Christi College. The whole system has been indicated on the elevation (fig. 84), which should be compared with the reproduction of one of the cases in the west room (fig. 83). Originally no books stood below the desk. The comfort of readers was considered by the insertion of a bar of wood to rest the feet on, between the seat and the bookcase (fig. 84).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 84. Elevation of a bookcase and seat in the West Library at Merton College, Oxford.

Measured and drawn by T. D. Atkinson, Architect.]

In the south room the cases are on the same general plan as in the west room; but the system of chaining appears to have been slightly different, and to have approximated more closely to what I may call the Hereford type.

In both rooms each case has a picturesque enrichment at the end of the standard above the cornice, and a small oblong frame just below it to contain the general t.i.tle of the books within the case. The west room is devoted to LIBRI ARTIUM, with the exception of the three cases and the half-case at the north end of the east side, which are marked CODICES MSS.

These are protected by latticed doors of wood. In the south room the cases on the south side are all lettered L. THEOLOGIAE; on the north side the first three are lettered L. MEDICINAE; the next L. MEDIC. IURISPP. and the last five L. IURIS PRVDENTIae. In this room the last cases at the east end on each side have latticed doors like those on the corresponding cases in the west room.

The building of this library is recorded in four separate account-rolls extending from the beginning of the first year of Richard II. to the third year of the same king, that is from 1377 to 1379. From these doc.u.ments it appears that the building cost 462. 1_s._ 11_d._

From this first construction to the beginning of the sixteenth century--a s.p.a.ce of 125 years--the accounts furnish us with no information; but, from what we learn afterwards, it would appear that the internal walls were unplastered, that the roof-timbers were unprotected, and that the only light was admitted through the narrow lancet windows.

In 1502-3 the panel-work (_celatura_) on the roof of the west library was put up at a cost of 27. 6_s._ 0_d._ The account contains also a charge for painting the bosses (_nodi_) at the intersection of the moldings that separate the panels. Mr Henderson points out that these ornaments prove the existing ceiling to be that put up in 1503; for among them are the Tudor Rose, the dolphin of Fitzjames (Warden 1483-1507). and the Royal Arms used from Henry IV. to Elizabeth, but altered by James I.

After this another long interval occurs during which no work done to the library is recorded; but in 1623 the south room was taken in hand, and the changes introduced into it were so extensive that it is referred to in the accounts as New Library (_Nova Bibliotheca_) a name which it still retains.

In the first place the room at the east end (fig. 81) was thrown into it, and the oriel window constructed, together with the two large dormers on the side next the court (fig. 80). These works, by which light was so largely increased, prove how gloomy the library must have been before they were undertaken. Next, after important repairs to the walls and floor, and the construction of the decorative plaster-work at the east end, the old bookcases were sold, and Benet the joiner supplied twenty new cases and one half-case. The only old case remaining is, by tradition, the half-case against the screen on the north side as one enters from the vestibule.

It is therefore certain that the cases and seats in the south room date from 1623. It is unfortunately equally certain that we know nothing about the date of those in the west room; and we are therefore unable to say whether the cases in the south room were copied from them in 1623, or whether the reverse process took place at some unknown date. If we adopt the pleasing theory that in the west room we have very early cases, constructed possibly when the library was built, we must still admit that these relics of a remote past have been altered at some subsequent period, so as to be brought into conformity with the cases in the south room; for the cornices and the frames for the t.i.tles are precisely similar in the two rooms.

The difference between the two sets of cases in the method of chaining, to which attention has been already drawn, may bear on the question of date.

As time went on chaining would be modified in the direction of simplicity; and to replace a single central bar by two lateral ones is a step towards this, for under such conditions the addition or removal of a book would entail less displacement. Further, it must be recognised that these cases, whether extremely ancient or comparatively modern, differ in many particulars from those to be met with elsewhere. They are lighter, narrower and more elegant. Again, when the ground-plan of the library is considered (fig. 81) it will be seen that their ends occupy nearly the whole s.p.a.ce between a pair of windows. In other examples of the stall-system this is not the case.

The only explanation I have to offer for the whole difficulty is the following. The library was constructed for the lectern-system, with wall-s.p.a.ces not more than 2 ft. wide, and was so fitted up. When books had become numerous the western library was taken in hand, and the lecterns altered into stalls, the single central bar being retained. At the same time, in all probability, the dormers were inserted. It is remarkable that these changes should not be recorded in the accounts, but possibly they were carried out as the result of a special benefaction[336]. In 1623 the stalls which had been placed in the west room, having been found convenient, were copied for the south room.

I will in the next place briefly notice the distinctive points of the other examples of the stall-system in Oxford.