LIBRARIES. 1 —I.
THE term library is sometimes
applied to a building for housing books, sometimes to a piece of furniture designed for their reception, and sometimes to the collection of books itself. As regards architecture, we may say with Count de Laborde “ The signification of the term Library indicates the natural destination of the structure, it is the abode of hooks.” 2
Antiquity. — As soon as mankind had learned to express their thoughts by means of conventional signs, they felt that in order to leave a permanent record of the important events of their political, religious or private life, they must take measures to preserve the objects on which the facts constituting their history were chronicled. In primitive times stone or sheets of metal engraved with the burin were employed for this purpose; then the skins of animals, palm leaves, lime-tree bark, papyrus, linen coated with varnish and, at last, paper came into use. Alterations of course had to be made in the libraries as the objects which they were designed to contain changed in material, form and dimensions; but we have no precise data on the disposition of libraries in ancient times.
Following tradition, the first library was probably that formed by the ancient Egyptian king Osymandyas (?) who collected in his palace a considerable number of manuscripts written in Samaritan (ancient Hebrew) characters. Over the door of this library was inscribed the legend “ the dispensary of the soul.” 8 There was doubtless also another library in the Ramesseum of Thebes. According to Champollion le Jeune,4 it “ occupied the rear part of the building and was closed by a door adorned with sculptures in an incomparably lower and more delicate relief than all the other pictures of the edifice, and preserving a very white and thick coating applied to linen, which differs from the coating of the pictures merely colored in the ordinary fashion; the low reliefs of the door show, as should be the case, no trace of the coloring which is to be seen everywhere else. It is evident that they are half effaced simply because they have been scraped to remove the gilding.” This description would convey the impression that the interior of the library was richly decorated. MM. Perrot and Chipiez are less confident on this point, as may be judged from the following extract: “ The Ramesseum certainly seems to be the monument which Diodorus describes as the tomb of Osymandyas, a name whose origin has not yet been satisfactorily explained. It was Champollion who revived the true designation of the edifice. This monument of Rameses was surrounded by constructions in brick of a peculiar kind. If it really contained a library, possibly the buildings may have included, in addition to the apartments for the priests attached to the service of the temple, a complete series of rooms for the reception and instruction of students.” 6
At a later date Ptolemy Soter founded an important library at Alexandria, which embraced as many as seven hundred thousand volumes. The building was situated in the quarter
1 From the French of Emile Camut, in Planat’s Encyclopedic de VArchitecture et de la Construction.
2 ;t Essai sur la construction des bibliothkques” Paris, 1845. 3 Diodorus Siculus, I, 49.
4 “ Monuments de VEgypte et de la Nubie,” Yol I. 5“ Histoire de l*Art dans Vantiquite.”
of the city called the Bruchium. Ptolemy Philadelphus deposited there the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures known as the Septuagint. All the books which entered Egypt were seized by order of the Ptolemies and placed in the museum where they were faithfully transcribed by copyists; the originals were kept in the library, while the copies were delivered to the owners. Soon after, Euergetes II established a supplementary library in the Serapeum. The original and larger collection was burned when Ccesar took possession of Alexandria; to the second was added the library of the kings of Pergamum.
This last library was partially burned at the capture of the city and Mark Antony presented a large portion of the remainder to Cleopatra. (Pliny). Some volumes, however, were left at Pergamum, for Strabo speaks of the library as though it was still in existence under Tiberius.
In 390 a. d. Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, wishing to eradicate idolatry from the Egyptian capitol, obtained an edict from the emperor Theodosius empowering him to demolish all the heathen temples. The Serapeum was not spared and most of the books preserved there were destroyed. But this library was reestablished in the sixth century and was finally burned by the Arabs when they took Alexandria in 641.
Judea. — The Hebrews received their first book from Moses, who had the commandments of God graven in stone and enclosed in a sacred ark; this table formed the foundation of the Hebrew religion. The writings of Moses and Joshua and the early prophets were afterwards engraved also; these were placed in a retired part of the. temple under the protection of the high priest. But when Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians, the temple and library were both burned, and it was not until the return from the Babylonish captivity that Nehemiah collected anew the books of Moses and those of the kings and prophets. On the borders of the tribe of Judah there was a city named Kirjath-sepher, that is to say, “ city of book.” 6 Every synagogue had its collection of sacred books, as there was one in the temple itself.7
Chaldcea and Assyria. — At this period, in Chaldtea and Assyria, countries bordering on Judea, the public records were preserved on tin or lead plates, or on slabs of clay which were baked. In Persia, yearly records were written out by order of the king; the law compelled every family to lodge in the archives a history of their ancestors.8 The library of Susa is said to have been very rich in archives of this kind. Assurbanipal collected in his palace at Nineveh, a considerable number of clay tablets, on which he had caused to be transcribed old texts written many centuries before at Ur of the Chaldees.
According to Eusebius, the Phoenicians had fine collections of books.
China. — A Chinese Emperor named Che Hwang-te, who lived about two hundred years before Christ, ordered all the hooks in the Celestial Empire to be destroyed, with the exception of treatises on medicine, agriculture and divination. A woman rescued the teachings of Confucius and several other philosphers, by hanging the walls of her dwelling with their books. The successor of Che Hwang-te, having been informed of this fact, carefully collected the works that had thus escaped destruction.9
Greece. — The Greeks at first employed lead and bronze for their inscriptions; they also wrote on brick; it is not until after the introduction of the Phoenician alphabet into Greece
(1519 b. c.) that the existence of libraries may be recognized. Polycrates of Samos and Pisistrates of Athens, were the first to gather together in a place specially designed for the purpose, works intended to be preserved. Then Euripides, Euclid, Nicocrates and Aristotle possessed interesting libraries; this last was taken into Egypt. The library of Pisistratus was carried away into Persia by Xerxes; it was subsequently restored to Athens by Selencus Nicator, where it fell a prey to Sulla; but the emperor Hadrian had it reestablished at Athens. There is said to have been a valuable collection of books upon medicine at Cnidus. Perseus, king of Macedonia, had a fine library in his palace, which HCmilius Paulus carried off to Rome.
6 Joshua, xv, 15.
7 St. Luke iv, 16 and 17; Acts iy, 21. 8 Ctesias.
9 At the present time the library of Mount Ligumen and that of the temple of Venchung have some celebrity. There are other collections of books in the capital and the large provincial cities. In Japan there is a library in the temple of Xara at Narad.
Renaissance Cupboard. From Havard s “Dictionnaire
de VAmeublement.”
THE term library is sometimes
applied to a building for housing books, sometimes to a piece of furniture designed for their reception, and sometimes to the collection of books itself. As regards architecture, we may say with Count de Laborde “ The signification of the term Library indicates the natural destination of the structure, it is the abode of hooks.” 2
Antiquity. — As soon as mankind had learned to express their thoughts by means of conventional signs, they felt that in order to leave a permanent record of the important events of their political, religious or private life, they must take measures to preserve the objects on which the facts constituting their history were chronicled. In primitive times stone or sheets of metal engraved with the burin were employed for this purpose; then the skins of animals, palm leaves, lime-tree bark, papyrus, linen coated with varnish and, at last, paper came into use. Alterations of course had to be made in the libraries as the objects which they were designed to contain changed in material, form and dimensions; but we have no precise data on the disposition of libraries in ancient times.
Following tradition, the first library was probably that formed by the ancient Egyptian king Osymandyas (?) who collected in his palace a considerable number of manuscripts written in Samaritan (ancient Hebrew) characters. Over the door of this library was inscribed the legend “ the dispensary of the soul.” 8 There was doubtless also another library in the Ramesseum of Thebes. According to Champollion le Jeune,4 it “ occupied the rear part of the building and was closed by a door adorned with sculptures in an incomparably lower and more delicate relief than all the other pictures of the edifice, and preserving a very white and thick coating applied to linen, which differs from the coating of the pictures merely colored in the ordinary fashion; the low reliefs of the door show, as should be the case, no trace of the coloring which is to be seen everywhere else. It is evident that they are half effaced simply because they have been scraped to remove the gilding.” This description would convey the impression that the interior of the library was richly decorated. MM. Perrot and Chipiez are less confident on this point, as may be judged from the following extract: “ The Ramesseum certainly seems to be the monument which Diodorus describes as the tomb of Osymandyas, a name whose origin has not yet been satisfactorily explained. It was Champollion who revived the true designation of the edifice. This monument of Rameses was surrounded by constructions in brick of a peculiar kind. If it really contained a library, possibly the buildings may have included, in addition to the apartments for the priests attached to the service of the temple, a complete series of rooms for the reception and instruction of students.” 6
At a later date Ptolemy Soter founded an important library at Alexandria, which embraced as many as seven hundred thousand volumes. The building was situated in the quarter
1 From the French of Emile Camut, in Planat’s Encyclopedic de VArchitecture et de la Construction.
2 ;t Essai sur la construction des bibliothkques” Paris, 1845. 3 Diodorus Siculus, I, 49.
4 “ Monuments de VEgypte et de la Nubie,” Yol I. 5“ Histoire de l*Art dans Vantiquite.”
of the city called the Bruchium. Ptolemy Philadelphus deposited there the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures known as the Septuagint. All the books which entered Egypt were seized by order of the Ptolemies and placed in the museum where they were faithfully transcribed by copyists; the originals were kept in the library, while the copies were delivered to the owners. Soon after, Euergetes II established a supplementary library in the Serapeum. The original and larger collection was burned when Ccesar took possession of Alexandria; to the second was added the library of the kings of Pergamum.
This last library was partially burned at the capture of the city and Mark Antony presented a large portion of the remainder to Cleopatra. (Pliny). Some volumes, however, were left at Pergamum, for Strabo speaks of the library as though it was still in existence under Tiberius.
In 390 a. d. Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, wishing to eradicate idolatry from the Egyptian capitol, obtained an edict from the emperor Theodosius empowering him to demolish all the heathen temples. The Serapeum was not spared and most of the books preserved there were destroyed. But this library was reestablished in the sixth century and was finally burned by the Arabs when they took Alexandria in 641.
Judea. — The Hebrews received their first book from Moses, who had the commandments of God graven in stone and enclosed in a sacred ark; this table formed the foundation of the Hebrew religion. The writings of Moses and Joshua and the early prophets were afterwards engraved also; these were placed in a retired part of the. temple under the protection of the high priest. But when Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians, the temple and library were both burned, and it was not until the return from the Babylonish captivity that Nehemiah collected anew the books of Moses and those of the kings and prophets. On the borders of the tribe of Judah there was a city named Kirjath-sepher, that is to say, “ city of book.” 6 Every synagogue had its collection of sacred books, as there was one in the temple itself.7
Chaldcea and Assyria. — At this period, in Chaldtea and Assyria, countries bordering on Judea, the public records were preserved on tin or lead plates, or on slabs of clay which were baked. In Persia, yearly records were written out by order of the king; the law compelled every family to lodge in the archives a history of their ancestors.8 The library of Susa is said to have been very rich in archives of this kind. Assurbanipal collected in his palace at Nineveh, a considerable number of clay tablets, on which he had caused to be transcribed old texts written many centuries before at Ur of the Chaldees.
According to Eusebius, the Phoenicians had fine collections of books.
China. — A Chinese Emperor named Che Hwang-te, who lived about two hundred years before Christ, ordered all the hooks in the Celestial Empire to be destroyed, with the exception of treatises on medicine, agriculture and divination. A woman rescued the teachings of Confucius and several other philosphers, by hanging the walls of her dwelling with their books. The successor of Che Hwang-te, having been informed of this fact, carefully collected the works that had thus escaped destruction.9
Greece. — The Greeks at first employed lead and bronze for their inscriptions; they also wrote on brick; it is not until after the introduction of the Phoenician alphabet into Greece
(1519 b. c.) that the existence of libraries may be recognized. Polycrates of Samos and Pisistrates of Athens, were the first to gather together in a place specially designed for the purpose, works intended to be preserved. Then Euripides, Euclid, Nicocrates and Aristotle possessed interesting libraries; this last was taken into Egypt. The library of Pisistratus was carried away into Persia by Xerxes; it was subsequently restored to Athens by Selencus Nicator, where it fell a prey to Sulla; but the emperor Hadrian had it reestablished at Athens. There is said to have been a valuable collection of books upon medicine at Cnidus. Perseus, king of Macedonia, had a fine library in his palace, which HCmilius Paulus carried off to Rome.
6 Joshua, xv, 15.
7 St. Luke iv, 16 and 17; Acts iy, 21. 8 Ctesias.
9 At the present time the library of Mount Ligumen and that of the temple of Venchung have some celebrity. There are other collections of books in the capital and the large provincial cities. In Japan there is a library in the temple of Xara at Narad.
Renaissance Cupboard. From Havard s “Dictionnaire
de VAmeublement.”