LIBRARIES. 1 —II.
MEDIAEVAL AND MODERN TIMES.
D
URING their protracted invasions the barbarians had destroyed a great part of the literary treasures of antiquity. The first libraries that were re-formed contained only a very few books. Cassiodorus, the favorite minister of Theodoric, king of the Goths, founded one in the monastery in Calabria to which he retired. Pope Hilarus I founded two at Rome, one being in the cloisters of St. John Lateran.
A library existed at Padua in 752. In 1028 Perugia possessed a collection of books on civil and canonical jurisprudence. About 1048, Guidon, abbot of Pomposia, near Ravenna, owned a small library ; there was also a collection in the abbey of Monte Cassino. We will note likewise, by way of memorandum, the library of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, that of the Collegio Romano, the Bocgiana, Barberina, and Colonna collections, those of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli, of the Jesuits, of the Oratorians, of the Augustinians, of the Chiesa Nuova, of San Isidoro, those of Cardinals Barberini, Montalte, Corsini alia Langara and Pamphili and of Prince Borghese, at Rome. In
other Italian cities; the library of Siena (Figure 1), the reading-room of which is magnificently decorated, the libraries of
tury, the capitular libraries of Novara and Vercelli, the library of Saint Mark’s at Venice; Saint Just, Saint Anthony and Saint John Lateran, at Padua ; the Ambrosian library founded
by Frederick Borromeo, at Milan; the Libreria Mediceo Laurenziana founded by Clement VII in the church of San Lorenzo at Florence, and constructed by Michael Angelo.
But the library of the Vatican is the most famous, on account of its antiquity. Founded by Hilarus I, in the fifth century, it was successively added to by the different popes; almost entirely destroyed in 1527, when Rome was sacked by the army of Charles V, it was restored by Sixtus V and considerably augmented by Leo X. It occupies a suite of apartments in one of the wings of the Vatican. The books are kept in closed cases; notwithstanding the richness of the galleries and especially of the great hall by which they are reached, we have not thought fit to give any illustrations of the library, for it is not adapted to modern requirements.
The old library of Leyden, which is reproduced in Figure 2 after an antique engraving, deserves, on the contrary, particular notice on account of the convenient disposition of the books and desks, a disposition which might be adopted for special libraries thrown open to a limited public. Amsterdam, Utrecht, Stockholm and Upsala possess old libraries. At the beginning of the eleventh
Fig. 1. Interior View of the Library at Siena.
Fig. 2. Library of Leyden, after an Engraving in the Cabinet des Estampes.Fig. 4. Plan of the Old Library at Wolfenbiittel.
Bologna, Ferrara, Pisa, Cesena, and Palermo; the Frascati library, founded by the Duke of York in the eighteenth cen
1 From the French of Emile Camut, in Planat’s Encyclopedic de VArchitecture et de la Construction. Continued from No. 824, page 20.
century a collection existed in the abbey of Gembloux, in Belgium; the royal library of Belgium includes the celebrated collection of the dukes of Burgundy.
At Saint Petersburg there is the library of the Academy, which was considerably enlarged by Catherine II,
Fig. 3 Scheme of Old Library at Munich.
MEDIAEVAL AND MODERN TIMES.
D
URING their protracted invasions the barbarians had destroyed a great part of the literary treasures of antiquity. The first libraries that were re-formed contained only a very few books. Cassiodorus, the favorite minister of Theodoric, king of the Goths, founded one in the monastery in Calabria to which he retired. Pope Hilarus I founded two at Rome, one being in the cloisters of St. John Lateran.
A library existed at Padua in 752. In 1028 Perugia possessed a collection of books on civil and canonical jurisprudence. About 1048, Guidon, abbot of Pomposia, near Ravenna, owned a small library ; there was also a collection in the abbey of Monte Cassino. We will note likewise, by way of memorandum, the library of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, that of the Collegio Romano, the Bocgiana, Barberina, and Colonna collections, those of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli, of the Jesuits, of the Oratorians, of the Augustinians, of the Chiesa Nuova, of San Isidoro, those of Cardinals Barberini, Montalte, Corsini alia Langara and Pamphili and of Prince Borghese, at Rome. In
other Italian cities; the library of Siena (Figure 1), the reading-room of which is magnificently decorated, the libraries of
tury, the capitular libraries of Novara and Vercelli, the library of Saint Mark’s at Venice; Saint Just, Saint Anthony and Saint John Lateran, at Padua ; the Ambrosian library founded
by Frederick Borromeo, at Milan; the Libreria Mediceo Laurenziana founded by Clement VII in the church of San Lorenzo at Florence, and constructed by Michael Angelo.
But the library of the Vatican is the most famous, on account of its antiquity. Founded by Hilarus I, in the fifth century, it was successively added to by the different popes; almost entirely destroyed in 1527, when Rome was sacked by the army of Charles V, it was restored by Sixtus V and considerably augmented by Leo X. It occupies a suite of apartments in one of the wings of the Vatican. The books are kept in closed cases; notwithstanding the richness of the galleries and especially of the great hall by which they are reached, we have not thought fit to give any illustrations of the library, for it is not adapted to modern requirements.
The old library of Leyden, which is reproduced in Figure 2 after an antique engraving, deserves, on the contrary, particular notice on account of the convenient disposition of the books and desks, a disposition which might be adopted for special libraries thrown open to a limited public. Amsterdam, Utrecht, Stockholm and Upsala possess old libraries. At the beginning of the eleventh
Fig. 1. Interior View of the Library at Siena.
Fig. 2. Library of Leyden, after an Engraving in the Cabinet des Estampes.Fig. 4. Plan of the Old Library at Wolfenbiittel.
Bologna, Ferrara, Pisa, Cesena, and Palermo; the Frascati library, founded by the Duke of York in the eighteenth cen
1 From the French of Emile Camut, in Planat’s Encyclopedic de VArchitecture et de la Construction. Continued from No. 824, page 20.
century a collection existed in the abbey of Gembloux, in Belgium; the royal library of Belgium includes the celebrated collection of the dukes of Burgundy.
At Saint Petersburg there is the library of the Academy, which was considerably enlarged by Catherine II,
Fig. 3 Scheme of Old Library at Munich.