THE USES OF LIBRARIES
A 6.8ei
THE
USES OF LIBRARIES
^EDITED BY
ERNEST A^BAKER, M.A., D.Lit.
DIRECTOR UNIVERSITY OF LONDON SCHOOL OF
LIBRARIANSHIP
NEW AND REVISED EDITION
LONDON
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON PRESS, Ltd.
io & ii WARWICK LANE, E.C.4
1930
Printed in Great Britato for the UNIVERSITY OF London Press, Ltd.
by Hazell, WATSON and Viney, Ltd , London and Aylesbury.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
The contributors and editor are glad to find that this
work has proved its usefulness by the demand for a new
edition. It has been brought up to date where recent
library developments have required this, and the
bibliographical appendix has been revised and amplified
by Miss Winifred A. Myers, and the index by Miss
Ursula S. M c Curdy, to whom they express their
grateful acknowledgments. The supplementary chapter
on " Light Literature in Public Libraries " was originally
given as a lecture at University College, and then
appeared in The Hibbert Journal: it is here reprinted
by the kind permission of the editor.
April 1930.
PREFACE
This work is based on a course of public lectures given at
University College, London, during the sessions 1924-26.
The initial object was to demonstrate to students of the
College what numerous, multifarious, and indeed indis-
pensable aids to their regular work and to their other
pursuits were contained in the college library, and how
they could make the fullest use of those aids. From the
college library the course proceeded to the principal
libraries of London, and then to the library resources
of the whole country, winding up with a brief but in-
valuable contribution by Professor Richardson, of Prince-
vi PREFACE
ton University, summarizing library resources outside
Great Britain. The ultimate aim was to give the mem-
bers of the public who attended the lectures and those
who read this book a guide to the chief libraries of the
world, with practical information on the nature of their
contents, whether general or special, and directions as to
obtaining admission, borrowing privileges where these
exist, hours of opening, and other details, with advice
upon the best methods of using them, lists of available
handbooks, bibliographical guides, and the like. Further,
the volume contains some practical hints on reading, the
choice of books, and the readiest ways of securing the best
results from the use of any library or libraries within the
reader's reach. The needs not only of the student, and
of the person engaged in any kind of research, but also
of the general reader, have been kept steadily in view
throughout. Most of the lecturers are members of the
teaching staff of the School of Librarianship ; the others
are librarians of various important libraries. Gratitude
is due to Miss Joyce Pearson, Assistant Librarian, Uni-
versity College, for her valuable services in compiling
the Index of this work.
E. A. B.
University College.
October 1926.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface to Second Edition v
Preface ........ v
I
The Uses of Libraries Introductory . . 3
The Editor.
II
On the Way to Use a Library, and How to Read 25
The Editor.
Ill
The British Museum the Collections . . 51
Arundell Esdaile, M.A., Secretary of the British Museum ;
Sandars Reader in Bibliography, University of Cambridge,
1926-27.
IV
The British Museum for Research Purposes . jj
G. F. Barwick, B A., late Keeper of Printed Books,
British Museum.
V
The University Libraries .... 93
Luxmoore Newcombe, Librarian, Central Library for
Students ; late Librarian, University College, London.
VI
Scientific and Technical Libraries . . 125
Allan Gomme Librarian, H.M. Patent Office Library.
viii CONTENTS
VII
PACK
The Public Record Office and Archives . 155
Hilary Jenkinson, M.A., F.S.A., Reader in Diplomatic and
English Archives, University of London.
VIII
Collections of Manuscripts . . . 179
Robin Flower, B.A., D.Litt., Deputy Keeper of Manuscripts,
British Museum.
IX
A Specialist Library for Art . . . 203
G. H. Palmer, B.A., F.S.A., Keeper of the Library,
Victoria and Albert Museum.
X
The Library Resources of London (other than
those treated above) . . . 21 7
C. R. Sanderson, B.Sc, Librarian, National Liberal Club.
XI
Library Resources outside London (other than
those treated above) .... 239
W. C. Berwick Sayers, Chief Librarian, Croydon Public
Libraries.
XII
Library Resources outside Britain . . 257
Ernest C. Richardson, Emeritus Professor and Director, the
Library, Princeton, New Jersey, and Consultant in
Bibliography and Research to the Librarian of Congress.
XIII
Light Literature in Public Libraries . . 295
The Editor.
A Selection of Aids and Guide-Books . 315
Index ........ 327
I
THE USES OF LIBRARIES
II
ON THE WAY TO USE A LIBRARY, AND
HOW TO READ
By Ernest A. Baker, M.A., D.Lit.
Director University of London School of Librarianship
THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Everyone knows by tradition, some claim to have known
in the flesh, those librarians of good old days who hated
to let any hand but their own disturb the dust that
rested in consecrating layers on the treasures under their
charge. One thinks of them with pleasure mingled with
little regret ; one would hardly wish the librarian of to-
day to be anything like that. Yet there is still a grievance
against librarians : the modern representative errs in
the opposite direction. He is not a torpid and dignified,
but an aggressive animal, avoided with impatience by
all except the enlightened few as the embodiment of
officious zeal ; he wants people to read too many books,
he wants them to be serious, there are no limits to his
absurd missionary enthusiasm. The modern librarian
suffers from an absolute excess of virtue. He is a pure
idealist, a wildly altruistic person, overflowing with the
lust to do all the good he can to his fellow-creatures.
Where he is essentially right and sane is in the knowledge
that he has the power, if only they are willing, to do them
immeasurable good. View him not with suspicion as
a conceited being with a freak for magnifying his office.
When he advertises his wares and tries to enlarge his
custom, he will not profit by it in ease or a rise in salary ;
his motive is not ignoble, and his success in life will be
to have put all his manifold resources at the service of
the toiler, the thinker, and the student in the broadest
sense, to have saved them trouble.
3
4 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
The commonest and most vexatious experience of
modern librarians is that an enormous proportion of the
general public, not excepting the more studious and
intelligent, are not aware of all that libraries contain
or that books contain, and, even when they have some
apprehension, do not know how to get what they are in
need of. Few have the knowledge and skill required
to extract the very best out of any kind of library. Even
scholars have been known to waste time and overlook
sources of ready-made information, simply through a
lofty superiority to the rules of indexing or a shaky
acquaintance with that alphabetical order which is the
backbone of scientific cataloguing. Thus an eminent
bibliographer recently inserted in a list of works not to
be found in the library of the British Museu n a number
of rare publications that were there all the time : he had
looked for them in the wrong place, not having mastered
the cataloguing rules of a library which he had been
using fo* half a lifetime. This is not an isolated case ;
and one of the most familiar experiences of all who have
to do with libraries is to see people, hard up for informa-
tion, going away empty-handed after a protracted search
for what is- ready waiting, properly catalogued and in-
dexed, and perhaps contained in ready-reference works
staring them in the face on the open shelf.
A library is a machine that requires a certain amount
of skill to handle, if you are to elicit the best results ;
the larger and more varied its contents, the more is it
needful that readers should be familiar with the library
arts, the uses of catalogues and indexes, the meaning of
classification, and, above all, the functions and the scope
of books of reference. These are the handles that set
the machine working. The object of the present work
is not to inveigle you into reading more, but to show
you how to read more economically, perhaps with less
INTRODUCTORY 5
expenditure, and certainly with better returns. Lib-
raries are full of labour-saving devices. Our aim is to
show you how you can be spared much useless and waste-
ful toil. Those who really know their way about a first-
class library have the secret that is most valuable to the
student, researcher, or any kind of workman that of
economy of effort. Librarians, however militant, are
not anxious to make people bookish ; quite the reverse.
Bookishness means an unintelligent addiction to read-
ing, or a slavish reliance on memory and mechanical
knowledge at the expense of freedom and practical under-
standing. We are pointing to something different. We
would show you how to use books as tools and libraries
as workshops ; the object is mastery of books, not
subservience to the printed word. To see life only
through books would be perhaps worse than physical
blindness. The object of intellectual effort is to see
things as they actually are ; and converse with many
books and the mental vision of many authors wijl help to
the attainment of this desirable realism.
It must not be supposed, on the other hand, that in
inviting you to make more use of libraries we have the
benevolent idea of saving you the expense of ever buy-
ing books for yourselves. It is a well-known fallacy that
libraries are the enemies of booksellers ; whereas sta-
tistics show, what common sense would have expected,
that the more people use libraries the more they want
to buy books. If, at the middle of last century, instead
of passing an Act for the establishment of municipal
libraries, Parliament had suppressed what public lib-
raries existed, very few people to-day would be in the
habit of buying books, a handful of publishers and book-
sellers would find it no very lucrative business to supply
the requirements of the whole country, and authorship
itself which some might say was no such terrible dis-
6 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
aster would be the last pursuit any sensible person
would choose for a livelihood. It is libraries that have
implanted the reading habit ; the only place where you
can see all the books published and judge between them
is the public library ; it is public libraries that are mainly
accountable for the fact that more than ten thousand
new books are produced in this country every year, and
that where publishers and booksellers are legion it is so
rarely that we hear of one of them going bankrupt.
There are certain books, introductory manuals and
general treatises on any given subject, which the serious
student of that subject cannot be without ; he must
have them always by him, to mark and annotate and
index in his own way to render immediate reference
easy. They are his chart, his guide-book ; they show
the main road he has to travel, with the private finger-
posts and other memoranda marking view-points,
through-routes, or turnings that lead to dead-ends.
Books of this sort every reader worth his salt possesses for
himself ; it would be both impracticable and undesirable
to have them in the library in sufficient numbers to go
round. Much the same is to be said of many other books,
of a different character altogether, the great works of
literature especially. These we want to have at hand
to enjoy whenever we are so minded. To everyone
with a tinge of culture, there are a number of books
which form part, and not the least intimate part, of the
very furniture of life. A library has all these things,
for you cannot do without them there any more than
you can dispense with them at home ; but it has further
resources of a very different kind, and it is the knowledge
of these far-reaching resources and the ability to use
them readily that this book sets out to impart.
Consider first what a library is, and then what it is not.
The term is used vaguely, often enough, for any aggre-
INTRODUCTORY 7
gation of books. People acquire books more or less at
haphazard, and talk glibly about their library, when they
should speak merely of their bookshelves. When, on
the other hand, they have collected them, not accident-
ally, but with a careful and consistent eye to their
tastes, their hobbies, or their chosen studies, and with
the knowledge and judgment required as much in the
selection of books as in the choice of a house or a wife,
a wireless valve or a sparking plug, they may be entitled
to call the result a library. It is not a matter of size.
There are, for example, many book merchants in London
with miscellaneous stocks of books numbering each perhaps
scores of thousands ; these are not libraries. Roomfuls of
books may be a mere accumulation, whilst a simple shelf -
ful may constitute a library, the volumes having been
selected and placed side by side to serve a definite pur-
pose. Thus a medical man, or a lawyer, or a consulting
engineer, or a public analyst, may find a mere handful of
chosen works sufficient for his daily needs. By doubling
the number, he would not add to the serviceability
of his equipment, but probably the reverse. The
library in the research department of a large industrial
corporation seldom contains more than two thousand
volumes ; but these are so scientifically chosen that they
comprise all the works of reference wanted to answer
the urgent daily questions of hundreds of engineers,
mechanics, chemists, and others engaged in many
departments of a complex industry. Such a special
library is the aptest example of a well-organized
working collection applied to a particular purpose,
since in industry the law of survival of the fittest reigns
supreme.
A good general library might be regarded as a group-
ing of such special collections, properly co-ordinated so
as to strengthen and amplify each other without waste-
8 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
ful overlapping. But in most general libraries there
will be no such pressing reason to apply the rigid prin-
ciple of excluding all but the absolutely best. The needs
to satisfy which libraries exist are too multifarious, and
sometimes too incapable of precise definition, to be
summed up in any rigid formula. Would it be possible
to enumerate the various purposes and uses of a great
select collection such as the London Library or the
library of a big university or of a college embracing several
faculties ? National libraries, such as that of the British
Museum, seem to stand by themselves, since they are
designed to provide materials for every kind of scholar,
to meet the needs of a countless multitude of readers,
needs that are beyond computation ; and they have one
purpose of such heterogeneous scope, the preservation
of everything published in a given country, that it sets
them beyond comparison. Yet it is obvious that these,
like the rest, are purposive collections ; and when it is a
question of spending money on foreign books the librarians
assuredly know what object governs their choice.
It follows from this that, having first a clear idea of
what he is going for, the reader should go straight to that
kind of library that is best adapted to satisfy his wants.
He will save himself and the library staff trouble by not
going to the British Museum if a smaller general collec-
tion, such as that in his own public library, will probably
serve ; he will not go to a general library at all if he has
access to a special library, historical, antiquarian, scienti-
fic, economic, technical, or what-not, which will suffice.
This sounds obvious ; yet it is a regular complaint that
the general library is, relatively, overworked, whilst
invaluable special collections are not too well-known
even to the specialists for whose benefit they were
founded.
First, then, a library has one purpose or several pur-
INTRODUCTORY 9
poses, acquaintance with which enables us to surmise
beforehand what it contains, and to understand that
we must go elsewhere for books outside its purview.
Secondly, it is an organized collection, that is to say, its
contents have been gathered together according to plan,
and have moreover been arranged according to plan,
so that readers may easily find what they are in search
of, and can also see what other works are there, should
they wish to pursue the subject further. The first
step in acquiring the ability to use a library to the
utmost profit and with the smallest expenditure of
time and trouble, is to grasp the principle on which
it is organized.
Now there are some libraries so vast in extent, or that
have grown up so slowly and as it were grown into their
shells, that there has been no chance of arranging the
books on a comprehensive plan. But, as the reader in
these extensive libraries is not admitted to the book-
shelves, this is a circumstance that concerns not him but
only the librarian. The underlying system will be ex-
posed to view in the catalogue, which will probably have
two forms, or rather there will usually be two catalogues,
one alphabetical, of authors, or, in the case of anonymous
books, of titles ; the other, a subject catalogue. An
author or alphabetical catalogue presupposes, of course,
that we know the very book that we want, and can re-
member the author and the title. We do not always
know this. Hence the peculiar value of the other species
of catalogue.
This subject catalogue may be what is described as
systematic, or of that other form which is called a dic-
tionary catalogue. In the systematic catalogue, the
entries of books are arranged on the plan of a logical
classification of knowledge, so far as this can be applied
to such entities as books, some of which are much too
io THE USES OF LIBRARIES
nondescript for strict classification. If you are seeking
a work on Algebra, you will look for it in the main class
Science, and within the division Mathematics. If you
want a study of Tariff Reform, you will turn to Sociology,
main division Political Economy, subdivision Protection
and Free Trade. This is clearly a scientific method of
arrangement, and it has the advantage of grouping
works on allied subjects in close proximity, so as to help
in drawing up schemes for further reading or research,
or in referring quickly to other books for the explanation
or illustration of specific points.
A dictionary catalogue is like a gazetteer ; but a large
library well laid out on a systematic plan is more like
an atlas. Just as a map shows the lie of the land, the
relative situation of regions and places, so a bird's-eye view
in a classified library enables the inquirer to seize the
relations and connexions of a subject or subjects, in a
visual way that serves much more than his immediate
wants. For the bump of locality must be developed in
every kind of study, or we shall not only waste effort in
making for our destination but also miss the habit of
exercising that most valuable faculty, the judgment.
Not merely does this ability to know our whereabouts
help us to find short cuts ; it further enables us to estab-
lish more numerous and firmer links of association, and
of rational rather than accidental association.
The dictionary catalogue is not arranged in this
systematic way, and does not lead so directly from one
topic to those which are logically its neighbours. But
it has certain conveniences, especially for those who want
information on some well-defined subject ; readers in
quest of more than this must carry their map of the field
of knowledge in their own heads. In this form of cata-
logue the subject-headings are simply set forth in the
order of the alphabet. Thus you will find Mathematics
INTRODUCTORY n
followed by Mechanics, Medicine, and Mendelism, and
these by Mensuration and Metaphysics topics with
nothing in common except that their names begin with
the same letter. If you want Algebra, you will not look
under Science, but under A ; and Tariff Reform will be
sought, not under Sociology or Political Economy, but
under T, or else as a subsection of Protection and Free
Trade.
All frequenters of libraries ought to be familiar with
these two main types of subject catalogue, and with the
devices employed to make up for unavoidable deficien-
cies in either. Thus a dictionary catalogue will not
bring out the existence of groups of books giving sub-
sidiary information, unless these be indicated by means
of cross-reference ; for instance, from Tariff Reform to
Protection, Duties on Special Articles, Subsidies, Re-
ciprocity, and so on. Even the systematic catalogue will
avail itself of cross-references to show the reader where
he may find light shed on his subject in books dealing
with alien subjects. In many large libraries in which
the main catalogue is one of authors, there are subject-
indexes to these on a plan very near to that of the
dictionary catalogue. Noteworthy examples are the
subject-indexes or subject-catalogues of the British
Museum and of the London Library, in which the
subject-headings are arranged alphabetically, except that
there is a certain amount of grouping, under countries
or nationalities, for instance.
Every reader is aware of the immense advantage, when
he is in search of information or merely looking for some-
thing to read, of being able to pick up and compare a
number of books. When the library itself can be ex-
plored, provided that it be systematically arranged, the
reader is independent of catalogues ; although he must
not forget that even so a page of a catalogue is a map on
12 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
a convenient scale and may still be useful to the pedestrian.
For the purpose of allowing readers this privilege, and
with the gratifying result of educating them in the use
of libraries and training them in the art of judging the
points of a book, a very large proportion of the medium-
sized libraries in Britain and America have been thoroughly
rearranged, and the books classified on a logical system
that the reader can grasp. Thus the books on the shelves
correspond in position to the titles in the catalogue, if
this is a subject catalogue of the systematic type. The
system adopted in the majority of libraries is the Dewey
decimal classification, which may or may not be superior
to some other systems, but has two conspicuous virtues :
it is expansible to any extent, division being possible to
any number of places after the decimal point, thus being
adaptable to the simplest or the most complex division
and subdivision ; and the decimal numbers are easy to re-
member, and tend after much use to become as familiar
as the number of your house in the street. Most public
libraries now offer readers this open access, in both the
lending and the reference departments. In the British
Museum, the open shelves afford us direct access to
some 30,000 volumes. Some colleges grant the same
convenience to students in the seminar libraries. The
London Library permits its members to thread the mazes
of the great book-stack, and thus review perhaps the
largest mass of printed books classified and arranged
for public inspection to be found in any library in the
world.
Some large libraries are arranged on a slightly different
principle, of which that of University College, London,
may be taken as an illustration. This is not a general
library in the usual sense, classified and arranged on a
logical system, but a large group of faculty and depart-
mental collections, that is to say, a grouping of special
INTRODUCTORY 13
libraries. Now in a special library it may be well for the
sake of maximum utility to refrain from being exces-
sively logical. A library of economics naturally has on
its shelves works on psychology and other subjects ; a
library attached to a school of architecture may appro-
priately house works on history, literature, and the like ;
a library for students of English literature contains books
on history, biography, aesthetics, and various other
subjects : in short, a well-equipped special library
saves you the trouble of following up cross-references
by putting illustrative works on the same or adjoining
shelves.
But suppose that you are in a large library having only
an author catalogue. It is evident that you must know
beforehand what book you require, its author and its
title. We shall come in a few moments to the question
how you are to arrive at the satisfactory state of knowing
exactly what you want. But, on the assumption that
you do know, there is still the problem how to find it.
We are all of us, no doubt, firmly convinced that we know
that classic basis of all erudition, the alphabet, both for-
wards and backwards, and that in using it as a guide for
putting things in order or finding things we cannot go
wrong. But do not be too sure ; the pitfalls that you
come across in the orderly arrangement of words by the
first few letters are innumerable. Is one to look for De
Quincey or De Morgan under the first capital letter or
the second ? They are both properly catalogued under
the De. But there is a different rule for De Musset and
De Maupassant, foreign names of this type not appear-
ing under the preposition. La Rochefoucauld and Du
Chaillu, however, are catalogued under the first particle,
because the definite article is included in this. Com-
pound names, such as Baring-Gould, Leveson-Gower,
Holman-Hunt, or Roberts-Austen, often cause trouble ;
i 4 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
according to the usage endorsed by the Cataloguing Rules, 1
they will be found under the first name. Where will
you look for Fanny Burney under Burney or D'Arblay ;
and, if the latter, under A or D ? The Encyclopaedia
Britannica puts her under D'Arblay, which being a foreign
name ought properly to be put under A, not D. Thus
one may well look three times before discovering that
there is an article on this writer. Then pseudonyms
are extraordinarily puzzling. Some highly scientific
indexes make it a strict rule to place pseudonymous
people under the real name, which is often by no means
well-known. Yet few are so punctilious as to catalogue
Voltaire under Arouet or Anatole France under Thibault.
George Eliot is another case of the same kind ; she some-
times appears under her maiden name Evans, hardly
ever under her married name Cross, and in fact most
cataloguers make her also a special case and put her under
the familiar nom de guerre* Authors who have been en-
nobled offer difficulty. Are we to look for Disraeli or
Beaconsfield, Thomson or Kelvin, Walpole or Orford,
Lubbock or Avebury ? Cataloguers do not all agree.
Some adopt the family name, some the latest of the per-
son's titles. Then, which part of the long names in
Spanish, Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra, Lope Felix de
Vega Carpio, etc., is the key- word ? A correct ruling
gives us such entries as these : Quevedo y Villegas,
Francisco Gomez de ; Ortunez de Calahorra, Diego ;
Pardo Bazan, Emilia (Senora Quiroga) ; yet the British
Museum puts the first of these names under Gomez de
Quevedo y Villegas, Francisco.
Oriental names are the most bewildering of all, and
no one but an expert can handle them in a catalogue or
1 Cataloguing Rules. English edition. London, Library Association,
1908. The British Museum and Cutter's cataloguing rules differ: the
Bodleian follows the first rule.
INTRODUCTORY 15
index without a slip. But Government publications
and those of collective authorship in general are also
difficult to catalogue, and hard to find until one has mas-
tered a series of special rules. Every library used to lay
down its own set of rules, which might or might not
agree in the main with those of other libraries and very
rarely coincided altogether with any. Some years ago,
a code of cataloguing rules was agreed upon by the Library
Associations of Britain and America, the size of the
volume in which they are set out * being in itself abundant
evidence of the innumerable difficulties involved ; but
even this is not accepted by the British Museum and
many other important libraries, and it is apparently
unknown to the majority of index-makers. Users of
libraries should refer to this in all cases of difficulty.
Then there is the order of arrangement when the
right form of entry is known. Will you expect to find
De Quincey between Depping and Derby or in front of
Deacon, the De being a complete word ? Some indexers
prefer the first way, some the second ; and the alter-
native brings a large number of proper names and other
words into uncertainty, both for the indexer and the
consulter of indexes. A numerical order is strict and
unequivocal ; the alphabet proves to be a dubious guide.
When it is remembered that we are confronted with the
problem in every dictionary, encyclopaedia, and almost
every work of reference from the Dictionary of National
Biography to Bradshaw, it is obviously a matter of some
consequence. The eminent bibliographer already men-
tioned went astray through misunderstanding the British
Museum rules for entering the titles of anonymous works.
Manifestly, users of libraries and of reference works
should not only be conversant with the authoritative
rules for indexing names and book-titles and for arrang-
1 See p. 14.
16 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
ing in alphabetical series ; they should also be aware that
there is no rule accepted by all and that some follow this
ordinance and some the other, and hence they must
notice which alternative is adopted in every catalogue
or index they consult. In the catalogue of a very large
library, like that of the British Museum, misunderstand-
ing as to the exact place where an author's name is to
be expected may cause very considerable trouble ; in
the use of any work of reference having an alphabetical
key, it may easily mislead one into thinking that the work
does not contain an article or other matter on the sub-
ject in question. And even when the author is found,
if there are pages on pages of the titles of his works, it is
well to know on what principle these are arranged, chrono-
logically or alphabetically ; else, again, an item may
easily be missed. Make sure, therefore, that you know
all about the rules adopted in these matters, before giv-
ing up any quest. Never omit to read any explanatory
preface to a big catalogue or even to an index ; the com-
pilers would never take the trouble to put it there unless
it were indispensable.
Let us now suppose that the library to be consulted
is a closed library ; in other words, that the public are
not admitted to the bookshelves ; also that the only
catalogue is an author catalogue. This answers only one
direct question, whether a given book by a given author
is in the library or not. To make up your mind what
book or books will probably serve your purpose, you will
have to resort to other means of guidance. Such assist-
ance is afforded by two sorts of books : the bibliography,
which is a more or less exhaustive list of the works deal-
ing with a subject or subjects, or of the works by or about
a person or persons, or the works produced by a certain
press, body of persons, town, nation, and so on ; and the
regular guide-book to books. The latter may be of
INTRODUCTORY i?
divers kinds, adapted to readers of various needs and
capacities. It is selective in principle, its purpose being
to direct the reader to the best books for his particular
purpose, that is, the most suitable books for him at any
given stage in a course of reading or research.
No subject, nowadays, however out of the ordinary or
however unimportant, is unprovided with a bibliography.
A good bibliography of bibliography or list of extant
bibliographies is a large work, running, perhaps, into
several volumes. A respectable stock of these guides,
comprising both general bibliographies and those of
specific subjects, is the very foundation-stone of a modern
library ; they are the librarian's best-used tools. One
of the first that the student should know, the New Guide
to Reference Books, by I. G. Mudge, gives selections of
bibliographies followed by lists of reference works on
every subject, the best compendiums, dictionaries, ency-
clopaedias, year-books, indexes, etc. The handiest biblio-
graphy of bibliography for general purposes is W. P.
Courtney's Register of National Bibliography, which is
a dictionary catalogue of bibliographies of all subjects.
The title is rather a misnomer, the word M National "
apparently meaning that preference is given to lists found
in English books or periodicals, though a good selection
of bibliographies in foreign languages is included. The
word" National " is more appropriate to the English Cata-
logue, the Annual American Catalogue, Lorenz's Catalogue
general de la librairie francaise, and other periodical
registers of the literary output of any country ; R. A.
Peddie's National Bibliographies gives a list of these
latter, which are chiefly wanted by the librarian and the
bibliographer. No student or worker in any subject
whatever should flatter himself that he has a grip of that
subject until he is acquainted with its bibliography. He
will find Courtney invaluable.
2
1 8 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
But until he has reached an advanced stage he will
discover bibliographical information enough in the second
kind of aid, the guide-book to books. Of these, also,
there are a small number of general guides and a large
number of guides to particular subjects ; and some
are small and highly selective, others large and almost
as comprehensive as a bibliography. The best-known
comprehensive guide is William Swan Sonnenschein's
Best Books, which describes itself as " a contribution
towards systematic bibliography " ; the four volumes of
the last edition (of which only three have appeared as
yet) will probably include well over 150,000 titles. As
is necessary in a guide-book to books, these are classified
systematically, and subdivided to a fairly minute extent,
so that the reader can see what are the books recommended
on even minor aspects of his subject, and can easily draw
up a list either for a short course of reading or for the
most thoroughgoing study of any subject. Descriptive
notes are appended to titles of individual books when the
title is not sufficiently informative, and there are other
indications enabling the reader to make sure that he finds
the most suitable book for his purpose. Another guide
of a similar kind, but less comprehensive, as it includes
only one-tenth as many books, is Nelson's Standard Books ;
in certain subjects, for instance, fine art and literature,
this is useful to the book-selector by reason of the full
descriptive notes, though it is getting out of date. Some
admirable guides, setting forth graduated courses of read-
ing, came out thirty-five years ago, when University
Extension was in full swing ; the National Home-Read-
ing Union caters for the same class of reader now with
its courses for reading-circles. The public must be
cautioned against various pretended guides and biblio-
graphies that in reality emanate from firms of publishers,
and are intended to make books sell rather than to give
INTRODUCTORY 19
the reader sound advice. Some of these are elaborately
disguised.
Certain library catalogues afford invaluable guidance
to readers outside the libraries to which they pertain.
The British Museum catalogue is a general bibliography
of colossal dimensions, though not exhaustive on any
subject, if reasonably so on many. The subject-
indexes thereto, which appear in bulky volumes every
five years, give a conspectus of the literature of specific
subjects, being incomplete, however, on works published
abroad. But the British Museum is not a select
library ; it has to receive and catalogue everything
that comes to hand ; hence a far more useful guide is
the catalogue of a library in which every precaution is
taken that only the very best is acquired in every field
of study. This is what makes so valuable the catalogue
of the London Library, the largest and finest select
library in Britain. Its stock of books has been brought
together by a succession of librarians and committees
who have all been scholars and chosen for their knowledge
of the literature of many subjects. The best opinions
have been consulted and no pains have been spared in
choosing books for purchase. The standard of selection
is high, because the library exists for the service of highly
educated people. It follows that those using the ad-
mirable subject-indexes to the London Library catalogue
must not expect to find elementary text-books mentioned ;
but probably no book is too advanced or too special, if
it be of interest to scholars. The London Library,
however, has comparatively little on applied science
or technology. To make up for this deficiency,
the inquirer may be directed to the catalogues of
H.M. Patent Office Library, the Science Museum
Library, the John Crerar Library at Chicago, and some
others.
20 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Passing from general to special guides, we find that
these are to be numbered by legions, the last-mentioned
group of subjects, science and technology, being exceed-
ingly well covered, as a glance at any recent bibliography
of bibliography will show. Look at the division " Special
Subjects " in the New Guide to Reference Books, and you
will see a subsection " Bibliography " for nearly every
section ; and, further, any important dictionary or
treatise in the list is sure to contain bibliographies or
courses of reading. Thus, under the heading " Social
Sciences " are cited, first the huge German Bibliographie
der S ozi alwiss ens ch often, which is the mainstay of ad-
vanced students, then an elementary guide to reading
published by Harvard University, and the numerous
select lists issued by the Library of Congress. In history,
we are referred to C. K. Adams's Manual of Historical
Literature, a standard guide now badly in need of re-
vision, to Paul Herre's Quellenkunde zur Weltgeschichte,
to the useful little Helps for Students of History, and several
other general guides, to be followed in later sections
by some of more special scope. In Mudge's directory
to works of reference are tabulated the most useful
bibliographies of universal and national literatures, to-
gether with a section on the choice of books. Only the
inexperienced need be cautioned against a foible of this
and other American books of a like kind, the prominence
given to American subjects and the undue preference
for American books. This must, however, not diminish
our gratitude to the United States for much excellent
pioneer work in this important field.
Happily, the extreme importance of bibliographical
information is now so fully acknowledged, that it is rare
indeed for the author of a serious contribution to learn-
ing not to feel obliged to append either a full list of
authoritative works on his subject or at least a reading-
INTRODUCTORY 21
list. One of the most prominent uses of an encyclopaedia
is to purvey this sort of information. An article on any
subject of importance is regularly followed by a list of
the chief authorities, and perhaps by suggestions for an
introductory course of reading. Compendiums such as
dictionaries of science, music, architecture, etc., supply
more thorough bibliographies. Thus J. M. Baldwin's
Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology comprises a third
volume devoted to the bibliography of the subject,
the best in existence ; it is so well-esteemed that this
part has been published in a separate edition. The
Cambridge histories^, dealing in three long sets of volumes
with ancient, mediaeval, and modern history, and in two
others with English and American literature, contain
ample bibliographies. The historical student will find
here all he wants until he is mature enough to undertake
research on his own account, when he will easily find his
way to whole libraries of historical bibliography. The
young student of literature will be content at first with
such courses of reading as are laid down for him in
Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature or in the
ordinary manuals. As he specializes, he will find direc-
tion in the lists of books following the articles on literary
subjects in the Encyclopaedia Britannic a or at the end of
the monographs in such a series as The Great Writers.
Lastly, he will be able to survey the bulk of the material
required for the exhaustive study of an author or a period
in the comprehensive list at the end of each volume in
the Cambridge histories of English and of American
literature. Some guides to reading are readable them-
selves, and not mere tabulations for reference. Fore-
most among such must be placed that admirable manual
by Dr. G. P. Gooch, History and Historians of the Nine-
teenth Century. A different kind of book by the same
author, Annals of Politics and Culture, may also be here
22 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
commended to the attention of historical students ; it
sets out, in graphic juxtaposition, the chief events in
political history and the history of culture, from the close
of the Middle Ages to the present day, and gives advice
on reading in addition.
But the reader and student, especially when they have
read widely in the standard works on their respective
subjects, will want to peruse the results of the latest re-
search, and here, where guidance amidst the innumer-
able books, pamphlets, and articles incessantly pouring
from the press is most urgently needed, trustworthy
advice is hardest to obtain. All libraries of standing
take in a selection of periodicals, including the transac-
tions of the learned societies. Heedful students will
naturally try to keep abreast of modern scholarship by
scrutinizing these as they appear, and constantly refer-
ring to back numbers. Here, among other things, they
will find reviews of new books, which they will read with
a judicial eye, and make notes of such works as seem, after
a comparison of several reviews, to merit attention. In
general, it may be said that reviews of scientific and tech-
nical books are more to be relied on than the criticism of
literature. Tastes in aesthetic matters differ ; but it is
not so difficult to find out whether a new work is sound
in its facts, and whether it makes a definite contribution
to knowledge. A select list of the most reliable reviews
will be found at the end of the book. To under-
stand the need of caution in forming opinions on the
relative value of books from the reviews, readers are
recommended to consider several chapters on the subject
in the late Professor Churton Collins's Ephemera Critica
(1902). But the periodicals contain a mass of other
material, accounts of new discoveries or new theories,
criticisms of older authorities, controversial articles, and
much else that the specialist dare not ignore. In making
INTRODUCTORY 23
use of this material, the reader will be thrown upon his
own resources. If he cannot trust his own judgment,
he had better wait until he has seen comments on such
contributions in one of the authoritative reviews, or
until he finds which articles have been singled out by the
Subject- Index to Periodicals. This excellent guide to
periodical literature, which had been preceded by others,
others that are still of use as indexes to the periodicals
of former years, deals with five or six hundred periodicals,
and thus puts at our disposal a wealth of material ac-
cumulated by contemporary research. For, of course,
the user of a good library will soon find that it is not only
the periodicals on the table that he requires, but also,
and in a degree of importance that increases with the
increase of his knowledge, the files of periodicals on the
shelves. To these, a store which the expert worker may
value higher even than the books, the Subject-Index is a
key. The best-managed libraries keep ahead of this,
and in fact put their readers into touch with periodical
literature as it comes out, by indexing it themselves, and
by filing cuttings and other fugitive matter for instant
reference. The average reader has a great deal to learn
before he can regard himself as fully conversant with
the multifarious aids put at his service by the modern
librarian.
II
ON THE WAY TO USE A LIBRARY, AND
HOW TO READ
A library that is not a mere working collection of books
for quick reference contains roughly two kinds of books,
those we go to for information wanted at a given mo-
ment, and those we want to read. It is on the former
class that I have laid stress as pre-eminently the time-savers
and the savers of labour. Only an experienced librarian
is familiar with all the ready-reference books, compiled
with incredible toil for the rapid purveyance of the many
kinds of information that can be tabulated for the benefit
of mankind. If there is any benefactor of the species
that deserves a monument for performing services of
more than national importance, it is the maker of a first-
rate book of reference. Dr. Johnson defined a lexico-
grapher as a harmless drudge. Surely Mr. Whitaker,
Liddell and Scott, Sir Leslie Stephen, Cruden, Mrs.
Cowden Clarke, and Bartlett, and the successive editors
of the Dictionary of National Biography and the Encyclo-
paedia Britannica deserve an illustrious place in our
calendar of heroes. 1
But do we avail ourselves of the fruit of their inde-
fatigable labours in a way that is worthy of our debt ?
I would exhort all students and intelligent readers to
make more use of reference books. It will not be time
lost, but time saved, to make sure that you know the
1 Samuel Butler wrote, " I keep my books at the British Museum and
at Mudie's. Webster's Dictionary, Whitaker 's Almanack, and Bradshaufs
Railway Guide should be sufficient for any ordinary library."
25
26 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
precise meaning of every word that you meet with in
your reading or employ in writing and speaking ; that
you are not content with a hazy idea of the whereabouts
and relative importance of the places, the identity and
literary or historical importance of the persons, or the
nature and meaning of things, ideas, or events to which
you come across allusions. When you have found out
exactly what it is you have read about, when you have
seen it illustrated by facts or pictures or a lucid account
of it, the person, the event, the thing, the scientific or
philosophic or literary idea becomes, not a line of print
in a book, but a vivid reality. You now have an interest
in it ; you know how it has interested other minds ; you
have made it a part of your mental experience. The
word inform, whence this word information, means to
impress the form or idea of something on the mind.
We use the word information oftenest of facts or intelli-
gence required for some urgent object, to solve a diffi-
culty or enable us to do something. The experience
of librarians is that the best-used reference libraries or
libraries of information are those concerned with tech-
nical occupations and business. My plea is rather for
the habitual use of standard sources of information for
a much wider range of purposes. Let us review some of
these, for even the best-known are by no means used to
the extent they should be ; the variety of their infor-
mation is far from being adequately appreciated.
Dictionaries are of many kinds and serve many different
purposes ; most dictionaries tell us much more than the
average inquirer is accustomed to ask of them. Apart
from the matter which is their chief and obvious business,
most popular dictionaries, in particular, contain tables
of miscellaneous information that are not utilized as
they should be. (i) The first duty of a dictionary
of language is to give definitions, or accounts of the
HOW TO USE A LIBRARY 27
meaning of words, along with examples of words that
are nearly synonymous. Most words are used in more
senses than one ; these, at any rate the chief of them,
are explained. (2) Some, for instance the great Oxford
Dictionary, and its forerunner Richardson's English
Dictionary, give a series of quotations, illustrating the
meaning or meanings, and bringing out the varied shades
of meaning, especially in former uses of any given word.
Thus we are offered a little monograph on the word and
a summary of its history which are invaluable to students
of both language and literature. (3) Most dictionaries
of the vernacular are etymological, that is, they give a
succinct account of the derivation of words. The Ox-
ford Dictionary is the principal authority for English ;
Skeat's Etymological Dictionary concentrates on this side
of lexicography exclusively. If you are puzzled to ac-
count for the existence or the particular meaning of a
word ; if, for instance, you want to make out why there
are two totally different words in the English language
spelt prize, as well as a third sounded like these but spelt
prise ; look it up at once or make a note of it for early
consultation of the dictionary. If you are in doubt
about an idiom or a colloquialism or a piece of literary
slang, such as " joining your flats " ; or if you are won-
dering whether you dare use in a piece of grave writing
or academic conversation such a phrase as " cottoning
to," in the sense of being friendly with or favourable to-
wards somebody or something, look it up in the Oxford
Dictionary, and you will find the usage has classical
authority and you need not be nervous about criticism.
In truth, dictionaries may be very readable books, once
a person has realized their charm, as there are notable
examples to witness ; and few books are so instructive.
Matthew Arnold, so Professor Saintsbury avouches, used
to prepare for verse composition by hunting through
28 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Richardson for striking words, and Theophile Gautier
did the same in French. A book of the same kind,
which is primarily for reference but may be read with
delight, is H. W. Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English
Usage. It deals with the puzzles, the disputed points,
etc. (4) Definitions, etymologies, and pronunciations
are all given in most dictionaries ; the big Oxford
Dictionary is of course the fullest in all three particulars,
whilst its offspring, the Concise Oxford Dictionary, is a
marvel of condensation summarizing these and putting
variant usages in the smallest possible compass. There
is only one English dictionary exclusively devoted
to pronunciation, that of Daniel Jones, professor of
phonetics in the University of London, who based his
work on an inductive study of actual pronunciation by
different classes of people in different parts of England.
(5) Dictionaries of foreign languages usually give the
English equivalents of words rather than definitions,
and they usually omit etymologies. Pronunciation they
always attempt to give, with variable success. The wise
student will use a dictionary in the language itself as soon
as he can, rather than a French-English, German-English,
or Italian-English, as the case may be. He will prefer
to do so on the same principle as he prefers never to use
a crib.
(6) Much miscellaneous information is usually to be
found in dictionaries, but is often overlooked because
people do not examine the books they use or make sure
that they know how many different jobs the authors
undertake to perform. Introductory matter, including
prefaces, tables of contents, explanatory notes, and the
like are carelessly assumed to be put there as a matter of
form. Yet even the title-page is something more than
a preliminary obeisance, and should be read, with all
the rest of the pages preceding the main text, before
HOW TO USE A LIBRARY 29
we conclude that we know what any book is, what it
professes to do, and how it proposes to do this. The
advice applies to every book we read. One of the
commonest items of such miscellaneous information
is a list of names of persons and places, with the pro-
nunciations. Encyclopaedic dictionaries, such as the
Standard, usually incorporate this with the main list
of words ; and yet they find room for other extensive
lists at the end. Another common item is a glossary
of foreign words and phrases, which may even serve as
an index to the more familiar quotations. Dates of
notable events, statistics, monetary information, tables
of weights and measures, lists of abbreviations, signs,
symbols, etc., are often included. If you possess a
dictionary, make sure that you have been put up to all
the wrinkles it can give you.
There is a special kind of dictionary that supplies much
more than definitions. This is the encyclopaedic dic-
tionary, such as Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary
or the Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia or the New
International Webster or Larousse. All these are reference
works of many and varied uses. They give a much fuller
account than the usual definitions and explanations of
words, often quoting from historical, scientific, techni-
cal, and other authorities, often illustrating objects with
sketches or diagrams, and helping the inquirer with lists
of synonyms, antonyms, cross-references to allied topics,
and other important details. Thus the information
supplied is far from being purely linguistic ; in fact, a
large work of this kind usually gives many thousands of
personal and geographical names, and serves the purposes
of a gazetteer, a concise dictionary of biography, and a
dictionary of dates. This, of course, is an attempt to
combine the ordinary dictionary and the encyclopaedia,
and many will find such a compendium to be all they
30 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
want for home use and thus spare themselves the expense
of a regular encyclopaedia.
An encyclopaedia is a collection of descriptive, exposi-
tory, historical, and critical articles on all kinds of sub-
jects, usually arranged in alphabetical order. The name
implies universal, all-round information, although it is
sometimes applied to alphabetical treatises on a single
branch of learning. Usually, however, the name diction-
ary is preferred for the latter. Both kinds include many
works of superlative value to those in pursuit of know-
ledge; and to be able to use the immense resources of such
works effectively, for elucidating, extending, and correlat-
ing our facts and our ideas, is to enjoy a definite advantage
over those who may actually know more than we do but
are less skilled in handling and applying knowledge. For
merely knowing, in the sense of carrying in the memory,
is a poor accomplishment, unless our knowledge is uni-
fied and systematized, worked, as it were, into the very
fabric of our minds. The continual and intelligent use
of encyclopaedias and other comprehensive works exer-
cises a mental faculty to which memory is but a servant,
and at the same time trains the memory to be an obedient
and efficient servant, with no dangerous pretensions to
a more exalted place in the mental economy.
Setting aside for the time being the narrower kind of
encyclopaedia, of geography, literature, economics, natural
history, or other branch of learning, let us consider the
true encyclopaedia on the grand scale, the universal
inquire-within. The best-known is the Encyclopedia
Britannica. This is the best of those which organize
their material under large rather than small headings.
Under Philosophy, Logic, Psychology, Europe, England,
France, Art, Painting, Evolution, and similar themes
appear long and systematic monographs, rather than
mere articles ; any of these may often be equal in volume
HOW TO USE A LIBRARY 31
to a good-sized book. The absence of minor and more
specific headings necessitates an index, which actually
takes up a whole volume, and should be searched for
information on the narrower topics and for any further
facts that may be vouchsafed on the subjects treated in
the main articles. This index volume makes the Britan-
nica an incomparably useful means of obtaining recent
information on almost any conceivable point. There is
also a volume of maps, which will save many owners of
the work the expense of an atlas.
There are other encyclopaedias which subdivide their
subjects, instead of dealing with them under large head-
ings ; these often cover the ground so completely with
their major and minor headings that, with the help of
cross-references, they can safely dispense with an index.
Among the best encyclopaedias of moderate compass ar-
ranged on this plan are Chambers's and Harmsworth's ;
they are capital books of reference for home use. As
already mentioned, any encyclopaedia worthy of the
name is equipped with select bibliographies or reading-
lists on the main subjects, and thus forms of itself a ser-
viceable guide-book to books.
Another class of reference work is typified by the dic-
tionary of quotations. There are many of them, some
good, some grievously defective. Most of those, but
not all, which deal principally with English have also
minor sections for Latin, French, and perhaps other
foreign quotations ; but there are also special compen-
diums of foreign quotations which are more comprehensive
within their own sphere. The usual method of arrange-
ment is to classify the passages quoted under appropriate
topics, such as Memory, Mercy, Mermaids, and so forth ;
but an index is also, as a rule, provided, in which catch-
words are set out alphabetically, forming a sort of con-
cordance. The concordance proper is an alphabetical
32 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
list of the words in a book or in an author's whole work,
accompanied by enough of the context to enable the
reader to recognize the passage sought ; and the place
where this is to be found is indicated by a reference to
the book, chapter, verse, or line. A concordance of
ancient standing is Cruden's Concordance to the Bible,
now superseded by Strong's Exhaustive Concordance,
Since the Bible is divided into books and numbered
chapters, and these again into numbered verses, reference
is easy. But if we want to trace a passage through a
concordance to Shakespeare, Milton, Burns, Tennyson,
or other author, we must make sure that we refer to an
edition of the author in which the lines or verses are
numbered, and numbered as in the edition used by the
maker of the concordance. There are also dictionaries
of mottoes, proverbs, maxims, epigrams, and the like ;
though many of the larger dictionaries of quotations do
not neglect these. Many people are wise enough to
make their own collections of sayings and passages that
have for them a strong personal appeal ; yet even they
will hardly be able to do without the more systematic
dictionaries of this kind.
Besides these dictionaries of a literary nature, there
are some special ones that supplement the ordinary
dictionaries of languages. They deal with such things
as abbreviations, disputed spellings, irregular plurals, the
proper way to divide a word at the end of a line, the use
of hyphens, capital letters, italics, printer's signs, and
such-like. An admirable desk-book of this kind is the
Authors' and Printers' Dictionary by F. Howard Collins,
which is described as a " Guide for authors, editors,
printers, correctors of the press, compositors, and typists."
In a remarkably complete and compendious manner, it
codifies the best typographical practice of the present
day, in regard to words of doubtful spelling, when capitals
HOW TO USE A LIBRARY 33
should be used, and similar worrying questions. Then
there are dictionaries of synonyms and of antonyms, that
is, of words that have a closely similar significance to that
of the words indexed, and of words that mean the exact
contrary. A favourite work akin to these, though not
a regular dictionary of the subject, is the Thesaurus of
English Words and Phrases, by Peter Mark Roget. This
was compiled as a help to writers. Under such terms
as Odour, Inodorousness, Sound, Silence, Loudness,
Faintness, are given a series of nouns, verbs, adjectives,
and adverbs, expressing these ideas ; these terms are
regularly classified under large heads, such as Abstract
Relations, Space, Matter, Intellect, with a semi-scientific
subdivision ; and there is, further, an index giving the
user a great deal of assistance in finding the word that
will convey his idea with the utmost precision, or simply
helping him to diversify his language. Some people
swear by Roget's Thesaurus ; others will have nothing
to do with what they think savours of literary charlatanry.
There are yet other reference works of miscellaneous
sorts to be enumerated, and a good many others that
must be left for the studious and persistent reader to
discover now that he has been put upon the right track.
There are dictionaries of fictitious names, of pseudony-
mous and anonymous literature. The compendiums
published by newspapers and other agencies, and entitled
year-books, annuals, almanacks, and so on, are packed
with the most practical sorts of information. Every-
body knows what a directory is ; few realize the large
amount or the variety of the information it nearly always
contains. Directories that are out of date have an his-
torical value, increasing in direct ratio to their obsolete-
ness ; students of local history have occasion to appreciate
the value of an old file of directories. Wideawake
librarians keep files of such biblia-abiblia, to use Charles
3
34 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Lamb's phrase, as Whitaker's Almanack, Who's Who, and
many other annuals that are commonly thrown away.
A recent publication, Who Was Who P makes a handy
complement to the current Who's Who ? ; it is the fullest
record we have of eminent English people who died be-
tween 1897 and 1 91 6. Whitaker and several other of
the year-books referred to contain quantities of the more
useful statistics. But the richest compendium of stati-
stical information is unquestionably the Statesman' s Year-
Book, a storehouse of geographical, political, commercial,
and social facts about every country in the world. The
special investigator and those engaged in municipal or
parliamentary politics will find this work invaluable ;
but they will probably want to seek further information
at the fountain-head, and will have recourse to Blue
Books and other Government publications, a list of which
is published by H.M. Stationery Office. Such inquirers
and many others will also find satisfaction for other re-
quirements in that compact summary of current history,
the Annual Register, of which every good reference
library ought to have a complete set, for each successive
year from 1758 to the present.
For a general list of works of reference, the reader
must examine the pages of Mudge, but a few others of
peculiar value may still be mentioned, as indicating the
many lines of study and inquiry in which scholars have
put masses of data, gathered from innumerable sources,
at the immediate service of readers. Students of Greek
and Latin literature, history, art, archaeology, and all
other branches of ancient life and thought, will find an
enormous amount of the most important information,
including results of the latest research, in Leonard
Whibley's Companion to Greek Studies and Sir John
Sandys's Companion to Latin Studies, These books are
put together in a methodical and thoroughgoing way,
HOW TO USE A LIBRARY 35
with systematic reference to ancient and modern authori-
ties, tables of dates and important facts, maps and illus-
trations that really do illustrate, concise bibliographies,
and an adequate series of indexes. They are a miracle
of condensation and of ready serviceability ; and, if any
one wishes to pursue a line of study or original research
in any direction, they give him a good start on the road
he will have to travel. Sir William Smith's Dictionary
of Greek and Roman Antiquities and Dictionary of Greek
and Roman Biography and Mythology, like the companion
dictionaries of the Bible and of Christian antiquities and
other subjects, are very useful as classical encyclopaedias,
especially with those of Whibley and Sandys to supple-
ment them with their later scholarship.
Historical students are exceptionally well off in books
of reference, especially bibliographies and bibliographical
guides. But there are all sorts of tools in the historical
workshop : atlases, gazetteers, chronological tables, es-
pecially those setting forth political, social, intellectual,
and aesthetic facts in parallel order, or mapping out
contemporaneous events in different countries on a uni-
form plan. An old-fashioned book that summarizes
universal history in compact chronological sections deal-
ing with all the chief countries of the world at any epoch,
is Carl Ploetz's Epitome of History, ancient, mediaeval, and
modern. It is handy both for general guidance and as
a means of quick reference. Gooch's Annals of Politics
and Culture has already been mentioned, and there are
several other excellent examples of chronological out-
lines. Nothing is more important to the historical
student than to have a firm grasp of the relative chrono-
logy of events, whether the significance is political and
social or intellectual and moral. To study causation,
we must first have a precise knowledge of the sequence
or the simultaneousness of phenomena. Many false
36 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
inferences would have been avoided had there been a time
map available of the facts reviewed ; it is very easy, and
may be disastrous, to be hazy in the matter of dates.
But the other sort of map is not less indispensable.
The movements of peoples, the position of cities in re-
lation to physical features, military and naval events,
changes of frontiers, and other geographical facts must
be visualized before they can be properly understood.
Hence, in addition to the best modern atlases there must
be collections of historical maps for all the chief periods ;
and, fortunately, a number are available. Most atlases
are provided with indexes of places, and reference from
the place-name to the map square in which it is situated
offers little difficulty. A good dodge, employed by the
Times Atlas, is to have a sheet of transparent cloth, ruled
in numbered squares, which can be laid over the map ;
the squares are in this case numbered consecutively, in
correspondence with the index, instead of the more
usual method of letters for latitude and numerals for
longitude, or scientific location by degrees. Never be
content to read about a place without actually seeing its
situation on the map ; and make sure that you know
what the colouring or shading, the cross-hatching or
contour-lines, the capitals or small letters or italics, and
all the other marks respectively signify. For other aids
in this department, guides to collections of state papers
and others documents, collections of prints and other
illustrative matter, indexes of portraits, and the like, all
that can be done here is to assure the reader that such
things exist, and refer him to the appropriate guide-
books for more specific direction.
Most people have some inkling of the uses of an ency-
clopaedia, even though it would be too much to say that
most people know how to use one to real purpose ; but
there is an admirable means of obtaining information
HOW TO USE A LIBRARY 37
readily which is not utilized much except by the expert ;
this is by the use of indexes, the indexes provided in all
kinds of learned books. It is unfortunately true that
many works containing most valuable contributions to
knowledge have been published without indexes or with
very poor ones ; which is a serious disadvantage to every
reader, and renders them almost useless to those who are
not reading the books through but wish to consult them
for immediate information. We are coming to regard
the omission of an index in a learned work as little short
of a criminal offence ; though indexes are not yet all
they should be, and one could protest at large against
the perfunctory indexing of many erudite works published
of late years, especially in Britain. The book that is
efficiently indexed will be used far oftener than even
better books lacking this key to their resources. And there
is this superiority in a work of the kind indicated over the
article in an encyclopaedia, that it is the independent
statement of his views or researches by a person whose
status and authority are known ; you are drawing, in a
sense, from an original source.
Indexing, to be effective, should be analytical ; that is,
it should not merely give a list of the pages where a subject
is mentioned, but should point out the substance of each
mention. Examples of the two kinds, from opposite pages
of the same volume, 1 will show the difference between
them, in form and utility. Take the analytical entry first :
PETERBOROUGH, Earl of (Charles Mordaunt), 85, 86; in joint
command with Shovell, 86 and n. I ; at Montjuich, 87 ; and Leake,
88 ; at Valencia, 89, 92, no ; recalled to England, 129 ; the New
Atlantis and, 152 ; the tories and, 167, 179 ; and the Catalans, 214 ;
turns Jacobite, 245.
Compare this epitome of the career of Peterborough,
1 Political History of England, 1702-1760, index pp. 546-7.
38 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
so far as it is germane to the section of British history
that is the subject of the book, with the following bare
list of the pages where the other man's name occurs.
The one tells us what we are to look for ; the other obliges
us to hunt through thirteen entries for the fact we are in
search of.
PRIOR, Matthew, poet and diplomatist, 124, 177, 182, 186, 187, 191,
204, 225, 234, 235, 240, 289, 485.
Many books proudly asserting that they possess an
index have only an index of this latter kind. Some tell
you which are the chief pages dealing with the subject
by means of italics or some other difference in type ; but
entries of this sort cannot compare with the fulness of
an analytical index. The reader will soon learn to know
and value books having analytical indexes, and will count
them among the most useful of all works of reference.
An analytical index is a tabulation of questions and
answers, of clues or key-words. Each word in the alpha-
betical list is one term in an equation, and by it you dis-
cover the unknown quantity you are in quest of. Take
another example, illustrating the useful summaries of
knowledge and of recent discovery that may be com-
pressed into an index, as well as the various sorts of
question that are answered. The following is from the
index to Sir Arthur Keith's Antiquity of Man :
EOANTHROPUS, brain of, 336 ; brain-capacity of, 390-399 ; brain-
cast from above, 425, from behind, 419 ; cranial characters of,
333; face of, 326; mandible of, 431, viewed from above, 446;
position of, in human phylum, 503 ; profile of, brain-cast, 409 ;
reconstruction of base of skull, 495, of face, 489, of skull, 330 ; sex of,
388 ; skull in profile, 481 ; teeth of, 455 ; vertex view of skull, 335.
The main entries in a biographical work, especially
that of the principal subject of the book, are, when done
HOW TO USE A LIBRARY 39
properly, so full of meaning, that, even without looking
up the references in the text, one is furnished with an
epitome of the person's history. Such pithy summaries
of a work that one has to read are of the utmost utility,
not merely for mnemonic purposes, but to help us in
systematizing our knowledge.
Whatever subject, then, you may be engaged upon,
apply to the encyclopaedia or the indexed monograph
whenever you want any point illustrated or explained.
Get answers at once to every question you encounter,
or note it down for speedy reference. Difficulties tend
to vanish when looked at from fresh view-points, view-
points very different from that of the condensed text-
book. Perhaps the author of your text-book does not
hold the key to your manner of mind ; perhaps he has
not put himself out to consider the mind of his reader,
but aims simply at a complete logical statement of his
theory or his facts. Look out for one who is more sym-
pathetic. The preface or the table of contents will often
tell you whether it is the book for you. Differences in
the mode of approach or in the method of exposition
offer ways of getting round obstacles and make progress
easier and surer. You enjoy the charm of personal appeal
in going to the author himself ; and it is profoundly
interesting to follow his line of approach, watch how he
arrives at his conclusions, and afterwards see these tested
by critics of like standing. It is the first stage in learning
methods of research, and gives you the interest of a quest,
the excitements of the chase ; the truths thus gained
yield a peculiar satisfaction, as if we had discovered and
experienced or thought them out for ourselves.
If then we find our text-book difficult, the best way
is to try another one. Of course, theoretically, we ought
to stick to it until everything grows clear. If we come
up against a snag, we should overcome it by mere per-
40 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
sistence. But mere persistence is often a euphemism
for mechanical knowledge, mnemonics, bookishness ; it
does not stand for the way of true education, but for
cramming, not for true knowledge, but for getting things
by rote. Pack the mind with verbal formulas, and you
block the way to understanding things completely. No,
it is better to let the mind find its own way. Let it try
various routes until it hits upon the easy one, the one
that suits it. Then the snags will prove but flimsy
obstacles. Professor Adams has some amusing remarks
on what he calls " the siege system of learning." 1 He
should also be read on such questions as the rate at which
we ought to read, on acquiring the knack of skipping de-
tails we do not want, and on the various ways of reading
for distinct purposes. It is a mistake to think that rapid
reading means inattention and want of thoroughness.
Too slow a pace may simply mean that our attention is
wandering, that we are being led astray by unimportant
details, that we are not seizing the argument as a conse-
cutive whole. In practice, an increase of speed and of
concentration usually go together. Our rate of speed
must vary, of course, with the kind of reading to be done.
Only let us be on our guard against hasty assumptions,
and too much reliance on such common maxims as " more
haste, less speed." Consider also what Professor Adams
has to say on the foolishness of reading a book conscien-
tiously through to the end, when we might get the heart
of it by reading a certain number of pages. It was a
mistaken kind of puritanism that used to insist that, if
a book were worth reading at all, it was worth reading
through. 2
This brings us to a department of the library which
has not yet been mentioned, the collection of books for
lending out. To read a book, as distinguished from
1 The Student's Guide, p. 143. Adams, pp. 163-4.
HOW TO READ 41
merely consulting it for information, means that we must
either possess it ourselves or borrow it. We resort to
the reference library for information ; when we read for
pleasure or for serious purposes of study we prefer the
armchair or the writing-table. Lending libraries, for-
tunately, are at least as numerous to-day as the other
kind ; most public libraries have lending and reference
collections in the same building ; some libraries make
the one stock of books serve both objects, merely safe-
guarding the interests of those who come for information
by keeping encyclopaedias, dictionaries, and similar com-
pendiums always on the spot. Some advice on the best
way to make use of the books allowed to circulate will
accordingly not be out of place here. The lending and
the reference library are complementary to each other,
and the way to get the best out of each is to use the one
to illustrate the other.
Enough has been said to make evident what is the first
requisite, if we are to read with discernment and pleasure
or profit a general awareness of the manifold resources
of books and libraries. The second requirement is
method. Even the desultory reader, if he would not
waste his time and means to get real enjoyment out of
his rambles in light literature, will not set out without
a plan in his head ; his plan may be rudimentary and
even vague at the beginning, but it will grow in purpose
and clearness as he roams further afield. The student
with a definite object in view, an examination, an honours
degree, a profession, a book of his own, or simply mas-
tery of a bypath of learning, must needs take pains to
map out his course some distance ahead. He may per-
haps be able to obtain sound advice from a friendly person
well up in the subject. If this is not forthcoming, he
must draw up his list of books to be read in proper order
from the various aids that have been enumerated in the
42 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
foregoing pages. J. M. Robertson's Courses of Study
actually lays down extended itineraries in history, philo-
sophy, science, and other spheres of scholarship ; and
schemes of study well adapted to the solitary reader as
well as to reading-circles are to be procured from the
National Home-Reading Union, and might as well be
published now by that society in a separate volume.
As he proceeds, the careful reader will not discard his
route map ; he will rather have added to it fresh items,
books and authors noted from time to time as sure to be
important at the right moment. He may have revised
and even reconstructed it more than once, and the final
edition may be a record of wide and intricate travel and
exploration, a record too interesting and useful ever to
be parted with.
Possibly the text-book with which one sets out may
itself contain hints on further reading and be guide enough
for a long while. At any rate, as was said many pages
back, the text-book should not be thrown away when it
has been conned from beginning to end ; it will still be
a chart and log-book ; if only to check one's mental ac-
counts, it is worth retaining. The best hand-books on
the art of reading itself, and perhaps the only two that
need be recommended, are Frederic Harrison's on The
Choice of Books, and other Literary Pieces, or rather the
hundred or so pages in the volume so entitled, and Pro-
fessor John Adams's Student's Guide. The former is full
of the wisest counsel, not only of a positive but also of
a negative kind, to wit, what not to read. 1 One of the
1 " The art of right reading is as long and difficult to learn as the art
of right living" (Harrison, p. n).
" I often think that we forget that other side to this glorious view of
literature the misuse of books, the debilitating waste of brain in aimless,
promiscuous, vapid reading, or even, it may be, in the noisome inhala-
tion of mere literary garbage and bad men's thoughts " (p. i).
" For myself, I am inclined to think that the most useful help to
HOW TO READ 43
most valuable things to know in life is what things can
safely be neglected. If a book is going to yield us
nothing, if the time spent in reading it would have been
more profitably devoted to another book, evidently it is
one to avoid. That is a truism, but one we often fail
to bear in mind. Our scheme of study must contain
negative notes as well as memoranda of books to be read.
Both must be written down at the time we ascertain the
fact ; we must always be on the look-out, in reading
books or reviews, for well-informed criticism, casually
thrown out, that will come in useful by and by.
Something has already been said also on the desira-
bility of possessing certain books for oneself, which one
can mark and annotate for future reference. The student
will naturally evolve a system of lines in the margin or in
the text, symbols indicating difficult or doubtful or im-
portant passages, which will help him in linking up dis-
tant portions of a work or save the trouble of reading
right through again when he revises a book or chapter
or merely desires to refresh the memory. 1 Notes made
on the very page to which they refer, or on the fly-leaves
at the end with page-references, obviously have an ad-
vantage over notes in a separate commonplace book ;
the work criticized or annotated and the actual notes are
then always to be found in the same volume. The ad-
vantage is still greater when it is a question of passages
that one may wish to quote some day, or simply to read
over again. It may be advisable to make an index to a
book, that is, of the passages which are of special signi-
reading is to know what we should not read, what we can keep out
from that small cleared spot in the overgrown jungle of ' information,'
the corner which we can call our ordered patch of fruit-bearing
knowledge " (p. 3).
1 See Professor John Adams on marking text-books, etc. {The Student's
Guide, pp. 74-5).
44 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
ficance to oneself ; or to insert supplementary references
in an existing index. But a good deal of this sort of thing
will have to be done for books that we do not own ; hence
some regular system of note-making and orderly preser-
vation of notes must be devised. A good old method is
that of the commonplace book, which has various merits,
and demerits not a few. For permanence there is no-
thing better ; and, though the entries go into the book
in no manner of order, it is easy to add an index when
the book is full up. But this very permanence and the
formality of entering up one's observations and reflexions
in such a tome has something of the same effect upon
the mind as the self-imposed duty of keeping a diary.
We start with high resolves, and keep it up with more and
more effort, until the attempt lingeringly expires. It
is one thing to jot down bits in a notebook, and another
to enter up our intellectual ledger. A better way is a
compromise between the two which misses none of the
advantages of either. This is to keep a stock of note-
books uniform in size and ruling, not very different from
an ordinary school exercise-book, though it is best to
have the horizontal lines and the vertical columns, if any,
ruled to suit one's idiosyncrasy. When a number of
these are filled, they can be bound up into a volume, with
an index. A third method that will be found particu-
larly convenient by the writer or lecturer who may require
batches of notes on a book or author or other subject
ready for use on occasion, is borrowed from the card index.
Have a stock of some thousands of thin cards cut ; about
six inches by four is a useful size. These can be kept in
the books you are reading, for notes as you proceed ;
they can also be used for rough outlines of essays, notes
for lectures, and any fact, idea, or reference as it occurs.
Such cards may be carried in the pocket, or kept within
easy reach at one's bedside ; they foster the habit of pre-
HOW TO READ 45
serving all that is worth preserving of the results of one's
mental toil, since they require no effort of resolution
such as the responsibility of a commonplace book or
a diary entails. Many cards having only fugitive
memoranda will be thrown away, the contents of others
may need to be copied out in better order on fresh cards.
Those to be preserved may be tied up in bundles with
indiarubber bands and endorsed, or they may be stored
in the drawers of a cabinet like a card-catalogue.
References should be verified, if necessary, as we go
along, and the results recorded in the note-book or on
the card. If verification or elucidation is not possible
at the moment, a memorandum will be made in the same
place, and a space left for the entry desired. Every
point not fully understood, every strange allusion, every-
thing that is likely to be food for future thought, should
be noted down on the instant. To burden the memory
with it may distract attention from other matters ;
methodical note-making is a great help to concentration.
Passages quoted verbatim should always be copied out
with the utmost care for exactness, and, if they are to be
used in print, should be read over again with the text.
When they are from a book, the author, title, date, and
page or pages should be added at the end in round
brackets, or the chapter or verse if that is a better guide
to the passage than the page. When from a periodical,
the title, volume, date, and page must be given, together
with the title of the article and the writer's name. Quo-
tation marks (" ") must of course be put before and after,
and omissions indicated by a row of three dots . . . For
private use, one would naturally make free use of one's
own abbreviations.
The most important use of the reference library is in
conjunction with one's continuous reading. If the
volume we are studying is not sufficiently provided with
46 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
maps or portraits or other illustrations, seek these valu-
able aids on the reference shelves. Books that contain
them, if they are really desirable, and books equipped
with a proper complement of notes, introduction, and
other editorial matter, should always be preferred for
one's private reading. And, again, do not overlook the
advisability of reading the preface, the table of contents,
and other introductory items ; the date and other infor-
mation given on the title-page is usually of the first
importance to the intelligent reader. At the other end
of the book there may be other valuable things appen-
dixes, a bibliography, an index, and, in new editions of
a classic and in other cases, a series of critical or explana-
tory notes. In many books of a scholarly character, the
table of contents gives a full analysis of the successive
chapters, and this outline of the whole argument may
be extremely useful, especially if there are marginal or
page headings to correspond, when we come to review
our reading. Of the service similarly offered by an
analytical index mention has been made already.
All education is at bottom self-education. Those who
read this book will presumably have reached an age when
everything depends on their own efforts. They have
left the atmosphere of discipline and control for that of
self-help, perhaps without any guidance except such as
they can secure from the printed sources that have been
indicated. The best teacher is the one who knows how
to direct the reading and the original activities of those
under him, and help them to attain the state when they
can direct themselves. A library organized on- modern
lines takes over the functions of the teacher, and provides
the means for enabling us to direct ourselves efficiently.
And knowledge gained through the free and intelligent
use of libraries is as much superior to knowledge assimi-
lated from the text-book, as knowledge which we have
HOW TO READ 47
found and tested and experienced for ourselves is superior
to that which has been merely memorized detestable
word ! Genuine knowledge is not to be acquired through
any patent system of mnemonics. The usefulness of
libraries rests on the opposite principle the exercise
and strengthening of the understanding rather than the
memory. Mnemonics mere text-book knowledge is
rarely anything more cultivates the memory at the
expense of the intellect, leaving the brain like a Whita-
ker's Almanack and not sense enough to refer to it.
The methods of self-education commended here tend
in the contrary direction. Their object is to make things
real and concrete, to render the difficult and the un-
known intelligible and familiar, to develop the mind with-
out detriment to the memory, by bringing it into contact
with realities and not merely with lines of print in a book.
Converse with many books and all sorts of books leads
not to bookishness, but gives us fuller experience of the
world, the world as seen by many minds, in every con-
ceivable aspect, as a solid and a living thing. If there is
any originality in us, it will not repress but develop it,
encouraging the mind to rethink problems, to weigh
and judge, to make decisions and truths one's own, to
observe facts for oneself, and so make our knowledge
secure.
Ill
THE BRITISH MUSEUM THE
COLLECTIONS
By Arundell Esdaile, M.A.
Secretary of the British Museum
Sandars Reader in Bibliography, University of Cambridge, 1926-7
Ill
THE BRITISH MUSEUM THE
COLLECTIONS
By Arundell Esdaile, M.A.
Secretary of the British Museum
Sandars Reader in Bibliography, University of Cambridge, 1926-27
Carlyle once called the British Museum Library " the
Serbonian Bog of literature," and in his day, with a
printed catalogue of authors getting on for a century
out of date, with large and valuable parts of it catalogued
separately, and with no subject or class catalogues, it
may nearly have deserved his characteristically pictur-
esque phrase.
A description of the present system of catalogues,
which has laid solid if still incomplete tracks across the
Bog, is not my present task. It is rather to describe
how it has accumulated and is accumulating, in what
materials it is relatively rich or poor, and where and
how the explorer may most hopefully search for his
quarry. I say relatively ; for there can be few branches
of literature in which it could be called absolutely poor,
though it is often hastily called so by inquirers who
fail to find a particular book in it.
And I take the sub-title, " The Collections " ; for the
task of the Museum is primarily collection, gathering
and accumulating books of all sorts, so that (in the ideal)
any sort of inquirer can go to it, if not in the sure and
1 Manuscripts, Oriental books, Maps, and Music are omitted in this
survey.
5i
52 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
certain hope, at least in a reasonable confidence that he
will probably find there the book he wants. To that
end the Museum must be omnivorous ; it must reject
nothing, throw nothing away ; and in so far as it selects,
it does so only because funds for purchase and for cata-
loguing are limited. In the abstract there is practically
no printed literature, of books or of fiiflkia dpi^Xia,
which the Museum would not rather possess than not.
The collections, then, have been got together in
several ways :
(i) Gathering whole large libraries.
(2) Adding special collections by bequest, gift, or
purchase.
(3) By the copyright acts.
(4) By purchase of current foreign books.
(5) By miscellaneous buying of older books to fill gaps.
The first was the natural method of starting such
a library. Sir Hans Sloane included in the bequest of
his museum his library of 40,000 books, and to it were
quickly added the old collections of the kings of England
from Henry VII to George II, so far as they remained
intact. Both these libraries were of the old type, largely
Latin and learned, but representing all branches of know-
ledge. Sloane's was of course more scientific, the Royal
more historical. But those were the happy days when
the growing complexity of knowledge had not forced a
close specialism on scholars, and the ideal of the " doctor
universalis " was still real, nor was it a necessary
consequence of knowing many things that one should
know them all badly.
It is impossible not to regret the absence of a third
great library of that day, that of the Harleys, Earls of
Oxford. When the Harleian manuscripts were added
to the Royal collection the printed books were sold
to a bookseller, Osborne, and sold cheaply ; and the
BRITISH MUSEUM COLLECTIONS 53
immense wealth of that collection in old English pamphlet
literature was lost, and had to be slowly and imperfectly
made good in the succeeding centuries. Throughout
the eighteenth century the fund for purchase seems to
have been derived mainly, if not entirely, from the
interest on 7,000 bequeathed by a Major Arthur
Edwards, and gaps such as that made by the Harleian
library were really left for the nineteenth century to fill.
The greatest general library which has gone to swell
the Museum collections is that of King George III.
Owing to his grandfather's gift to the nation of the Old
Royal Library, the young king found himself bookless,
and in the course of his long reign collected a very large
and fine library on the old universal plan. Like its
predecessors it was a working library, not a connoisseur's
collection, and though it contains many fine copies,
especially of incunabula and early classics generally, it
also contains many cut and shabby volumes. But when
it came in, in 1829, it doubled the size of the library
(though one must not forget that the deduction of
duplicates would bring down the net increase), and the
handsome new wing which Smirke designed to hold it
was the first word in the death sentence of that homely
and charming old Montague House, to the disappearance
of which (necessary as no doubt it was) even the size
and splendour of the Museum as we know it cannot
reconcile me.
In at least two fields the King's Library (as it has
always been called, in contrast to the Old Royal Library)
immensely enriched the Museum ; these are English
literature and early printing, neither of which had
in the days of the Old Royal Library been thought
worthy of collecting per se, and for which in the latter
half of the eighteenth century the Museum had no
funds. To the books in the King's Library a large
54 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
collection of prints and maps was added, and these
were the subject of a separate catalogue. In 1820-29 a
catalogue of the Library was published, and Sir Frederick
Barnard, the librarian, in his preface, sets out the scope
and intention of the king very well.
" Private libraries are most frequently confined
to the particular studies and partial taste of their
possessors : so that though they may be very
complete in such branches of knowledge as their
proprietors cultivated or preferred, they remain
very deficient in all others.
" The present Royal Library is an eminent
exception to these observations ; it has been col-
lected upon such a comprehensive and liberal
design of embracing every species of knowledge,
that the Possessor of it can call to his aid, upon any
subject, all the learning and wisdom which the
mind of man has hitherto communicated to the
world."
The King's Library books bear the pressmarks 1-304
and C [i.e. Cases] 1-16 ; the latter contain the cream.
William IV established yet a third Royal Library,
and entailed it, so that it should not follow its two
predecessors to the public ; and this, with a few fine
books reserved from the King's Library in 1823, now
forms the nucleus of the King's private library at
Windsor.
Two other complete libraries have come to the
Museum, and are kept as separate collections, but were
rather large collections of rarities than general libraries.
The first, that of the Rev. Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode
preceding the King's, was bequeathed, with that col-
lector's coins and prints, in 1 799 ; formed largely from
the dispersal of the libraries of the French emigres,
it is distinguished by the beauty of the copies and by
BRITISH MUSEUM COLLECTIONS 55
the number of fine bindings made for Grolier and other
older collectors which it contains. Many were bound
for Cracherode by Roger Payne. I cannot refrain from
adding a word of praise of Cracherode's own armorial
book-stamp, surrounded with a bay wreath, which has
always seemed to me to be a model for such stamps,
and of the monogram he wrote inside the volumes.
He was, in fact, pre-eminently a man of fine taste. The
Cracherode collection is kept in a room bearing that
name, and is pressmarked 671-688.
The next, and if not so large as the King's, even finer,
was that of Thomas Grenville, who survived his political
career for nearly half a century, and at Panizzi's sugges-
tion bequeathed his collection to the nation ; it is
housed in the room in which the illuminated manu-
scripts are exhibited, and a poor bust of Grenville
stands in it.
Like King George's library, the Grenville is rich in
English literature (but not in plays) and in early printed
books ; it also abounds even more in classics, in voyages,
and in romances. The condition of the Grenville books
is very good, if not often quite so good as that of the
Cracherode. Many of them are necessarily duplicates
of books in the King's or the general library, and these
are kept in reserve, only being issued on special request.
Grenville books bear the pressmark G, followed by the
number of the volume in the collection.
This is perhaps the place to notice another great
eighteenth-century library which came to the Museum
by bequest, that of Sir Joseph Banks, President of the
Royal Society, which was bequeathed in 1820. It is
more a special working collection than a general library,
being devoted to science (especially botany) and
travels ; it fills the side room which pairs with the
Cracherode Room and is called the Banksian Room ;
56 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
the pressmarks of his books are 431-462 and 953-990,
also B. 1-745. Anne Seymour Darner's fine bronze
bust of Banks presides over the whole. The effect is
somewhat spoiled by the labours of members of the
staff, an element in the existence of a library which
Smirke, when he designed the building, entirely failed
to recognize or provide for.
One recent whole library has come to the Museum,
that of Henry Spencer Ashbee, which was bequeathed
in 1900. It is not of the size or importance of the others,
and has not been kept separate, but it is distinguished
by the number of fine editions of modern French and
Spanish writers which it contains. Moreover, the
Cervantes books in this library made it worth while to
gather and segregate the whole of the Museum's Cer-
vantes collection, which now bears the special pressmark
" Cerv." This had previously been done for the
Imitatio Christi, the editions of which are marked I. X,
and are subdivided by languages.
The bequest of whole libraries without the power to
alienate duplicates (and without specific permission the
Museum alienates nothing presented or bequeathed)
can now be but rarely profitable : for any library must
contain numbers of duplicates, triplicates, and even
quadruplicates of books already there. But exception
must be made for collections in which the books are
represented by fine copies, which, like the Grenville,
can be kept in reserve, and not be exposed to the wear
and tear of working copies. This is especially true of
modern English literature. For the first editions of
famous modern writers are received and treated exactly
like those of any other writers ; and indeed there is of
necessity a period before they become famous and when
they are at best merely prominent. These books will
be a good deal read and handled, as they become known
BRITISH MUSEUM COLLECTIONS 57
more than those of minor men, and at a later stage,
when they have become really famous, they can be and
are put into reserved cases under glass, but it is then
too late to attempt to keep them in spotless collector's
condition which, from the Museum point of view,
means condition fit for exhibition in the King's Library.
When the day comes for including them in such an
exhibition these first editions are found to be perfect,
no doubt, but shabby and thumb-marked, and often
rebound in the Museum's serviceable but not very
elegant binding. Miss May Morris some years ago
made the Library the very handsome present of a
reserve set of her father's Kelmscott Press books. If
another Grenville or Cracherode should arise, his fine
copies, treasured from the first in private cabinets,
would serve in just this way as a reserve, kept together
as a collection, under the donor's name, and would stand
behind and support the Museum's worn working copies
of the great modern authors.
There are modified forms of gift or bequest. Of one,
the gift of whatever the Museum lacks from the donor's
library, I do not remember any very notable example,
though I remember one instance where a testator
provided for it, but without legal force, and his wishes
were ignored by his executors. Quite lately, however,
the Museum was given its pick, amounting to over
4,000 pieces, from the pamphlets in the late Mr. Glad-
stone's library at Hawarden, and in the aggregate these
substantially enrich its resources in the ecclesiastical
and political history of nineteenth-century Europe.
The second is to give the Museum its choice of a
limited number of volumes from a collection. This
was devised by Mr. Alfred Huth, and when the great
library formed by his father and himself was brought
to the hammer, the Museum was in the position of
58 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
having already acquired under this bequest the fifty
books which it most urgently needed, and to buy which,
if it could have done so at all at open auction, would
have exhausted its funds ; those funds were thus set
free for the purchase of numerous less valuable books,
and these have been placed with the original thirty-seven
(the first thirteen of the fifty were MSS.), and all bear
the special pressmark " Huth." Mr. Huth's bequest
entailed the duty of publishing a special catalogue, and
this was done, as Malory would say, " in the most orgulous
wise," as an expression of the Trustees' gratitude.
There are also certain bibliographers who make a
practice of giving the Museum any books, not already
there, which they have collected in the course of their
work ; and in this way many gaps, not perhaps indi-
vidually important, but cumulatively not negligible, are
filled. I would commend all these three ways of doing
a public-spirited act, which make it not the sole privilege
of rich men, but bring it within the reach of comparatively
humble book-lovers.
Besides general libraries the national library has from
time to time acquired many special collections. I cannot
mention more than a few.
David Garrick, as a producer and reviver of plays,
possessed a large collection, including Shakespeare and
other Elizabethans. These plays came to the Museum
after Mrs. Garrick's death in 1823, and are of immense
value and importance ; since before that, except for
George III, whose library came in the same year, none
of the great collectors had troubled about plays,
which Bodley called " baggage books." Johnson and
Lamb both used the Garrick plays. The mass of the
collection is in presses 642-643, but the most valuable
volumes have been picked out and placed in a reserved
case (C. 34).
BRITISH MUSEUM COLLECTIONS 59
But the first to come and the most remarkable, is the
Thomason collection of pamphlets of the Civil War (to
be exact, 22,255 pieces bound in 2,008 volumes, dated
from February 1640 to the end of 1 661). Thomason
was a London bookseller, and his glory is that he per-
ceived the historical value that the fugitive pamphlet
literature of his time would acquire. He died in 1666,
and his representatives held the collection, which gradu-
ally decreased in price until on his accession King
George III purchased it, and in 1762 presented the
tracts to the newly-founded British Museum, where they
were for long called the King's Tracts. They are
distinguishable in the General Catalogue by the pressmark
E preceding a number. In 1908 a special catalogue of
them appeared, edited by the late George Fortescue.
Thomason's methodical habit of noting the exact date
on the title-pages enabled the compilers to arrange this
catalogue chronologically ; so that to follow the pam-
phlets of the Civil War by its aid is almost as exact a
way of tracing the curves of public opinion as is the
study of a modern daily newspaper. The index to this
catalogue, by the way, is bibliographically inadequate,
and to look pamphlets up in it by their authors or titles
is often a waste of time. It was rather conceived of
as an historical or subject index to the contents of the
collection. Many booksellers do not know this, and
state from the index that books are not among the
Thomason tracts when they are.
No other country, I believe, has anything like so full
a collection of material for any important period in its
history as this, which Carlyle declared was " greatly
preferable to all the sheepskins in the Tower and other
places, for informing the English what the English were
in former times."
The British Museum is the natural home for the
60 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
material for the history of our own Revolution ; but it
must be regarded as very fortunate in possessing an
almost equally exhaustive collection of the printed
pamphlet literature of the French Revolution. I should
not like to guess how many pieces there are in this ;
but they are bound in some four thousand volumes.
There are really three separate collections, pressmarked
respectively F., F.R., and R. ; the first was purchased
from a French owner through the offices of John Wilson
Croker in 1818, while the other two were purchased
from Croker himself in 1831 and 1856. In 1899 a short
summary, not a detailed catalogue, of the whole was
compiled for the Trustees by G. K. Fortescue, who also
later edited the catalogue of the Thomason tracts, and
was thus enabled to make, in a paper which he read to
the Bibliographical Society, 1 a significant comparison
between the contemporary literatures of the two
revolutions.
The seventeenth century was that in which the news-
paper was born out of the ballad and the news-quarto.
The ballad, hawked round the country by pedlars, the
tribe of Autolycus, sung in market-places, and pasted
on the walls of farmhouses, is as rich a store of knowledge
of old English life as the news-quarto is of old English
politics. Thomason's collection of them (in 669. f.) is
only a tithe of those in the Museum. One wealthy shelf
(C. 22. f.) groans under a row of immense folio volumes,
containing the Roxburghe, Narcissus Luttrell, and
other minor collections ; and elsewhere in the library
are the three volumes of similar sheets collected by
Bagford early in the eighteenth century (C. 40. m. 9-1 1),
and also a volume from Osterley Park, which was presented
in 1885 by the late Lord Crawford, whose own collection, at
Haigh Hall, is the only great one still left in private hands.
1 Transactions of the Bibliographical Society, vols, viii and ix.
BRITISH MUSEUM COLLECTIONS 61
All these are mainly of the Restoration period ; and
far more valuable, sheet for sheet, if less voluminous, is
the volume of some seventy Elizabethan ballads, including
several quoted by Shakespeare, which formed No. 50 of
the Huth bequest, and which I had the instructive and
happy labour of cataloguing. The twin collection at
Britwell (the two together being the unregarded bundle
which once belonged to the housekeeper at Helmingham
Hall) was sold a few years ago at auction for a price far
exceeding the Museum's top-note, and is now one of
the gems of the great Huntington Library at San
Gabriel, California.
Ballads were long popular ; indeed, I believe some
are still produced. But I know of no contemporary
collection ; the late Sabine Baring-Gould made a
collection in ten volumes, which has joined the others
I have mentioned, and is at Bks. 3.g.4. x
The moral is that whenever one sees any printed
matter being hawked in the street, one should get it
and present one's collection to the Museum.
Thomason's early small quarto newspapers of the
Civil War are supplemented, and carried on till the
opening of the nineteenth century by the large collec-
tion formed by Charles Burney, D.D., the younger, and
bought by Parliament after his death in 181 7, with his
great classical and theatrical collections. Of all literature
perhaps the newspaper is the most fugitive the sun
" sets, and each ephemeral insect then
Is gathered into death without a dawn,
And the immortal stars awake again."
The Museum's and the Bodleian's are, I believe, the
1 All these separate pieces, except those in the Baring-Gould collection,
are individually entered in the General Catalogue ; but it is useful
to know where a mass of any given class of fugitive literature is to be
found.
62 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
only really large collections in the country ; without
two or three benefactors the Bodleian, and without
Burney the Museum, would be lamentably poor. These
Burney newspapers are kept in the Newspaper Room,
and are bound up, not each newspaper as a series, but
the whole lot year by year and day by day, which is
perhaps a better way than the other, but necessitates
elaborate indexing. They are only now being entered
in the General Catalogue ; nor is there any special
printed list of them ; but the Times Tercentenary Hand
List of Newspapers enters at least a very large number.
Another very valuable collection of newspapers is
that of Continental papers filed by the Ministry of
Information during the war ; there is also a large store
of war posters. For suppressed and seditious matter of
1 914-18 you must, however, go to Cambridge, where
the collection will one day be regarded somewhat as we
regard the Thomason tracts.
Burney collected not only newspapers but play-bills
and theatrical records, and his vast collection of these is
also in the Museum, catalogued under his name ; the
Newspaper Room contains yet others from other sources.
But it is not probable that Parliament would have
bought his library had it not been for his annotated
texts of the classics, which are less used now but are
nevertheless really important.
Two early eighteenth-century men collected title-pages
and printed fragments, and their collections have been
sucked into the gulf of the Museum ; they were Joseph
Ames and John Bagford. Ames's came through William
Herbert, who used them, as Ames had done in 1749, for
the Typographical Antiquities, 1785 ; Bagford's were
bought at his death in 171 6 by Harley, and somehow
came to the Museum with the Harleian MSS. They
are now in the Department of Printed Books. An
BRITISH MUSEUM COLLECTIONS 63
analysis, but not an index, of their contents is to be
found in the Bibliographical Society's Transactions,
vol. vii, pp. 143-160.
A number of miscellaneous collections of newspaper
cuttings and the like may be found in the General
Catalogue under the heading Collection.
The Library is the not very obviously appropriate
repository of the great bequest of postage stamps made
by Mr. Thomas Keay Tapling in 1891 ; and in 191 3
it was enriched by the gift of the whole Philatelic
Section, running to some thousands of volumes, of the
late Lord Crawford's Bibliotheca Lindesiana.
One of the most gracious gifts which the Museum has
received, if not one of the large ones, is that made so
lately as in 1921 by Mr. Charles John Barker, of Purley,
consisting of some seventy volumes of works by Jacob
Boehme, the German mystic ; for Mr. Barker not only
practically completed the Museum's set of this author,
but provided the cost of reprinting that whole enlarged
heading in the General Catalogue, so that it has been
issued separately, as was that of Cervantes after the
Ashbee bequest. The cost of printing the catalogue
now forbids the Trustees to carry on the gradual re-
printing of swollen sections, and is almost a shadow on our
gratitude for useful but minor donations ; Mr. Barker's
gift is a perfect piece of thoughtful generosity, and (as
most people have favourite authors) is an example which,
it may be hoped, will be followed.
Two classes of books have, like the editions of Cer-
vantes and the Imitatio Cbristi, already mentioned, been
assembled. The most important is that of the incuna-
bula, numbering nearly 10,000, which bear the press-
marks (according to their size) I.A, I.B, or I.C, and are
arranged in what is called " Proctor order," by countries,
towns, and presses ; they are being specially catalogued
64 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
in the great Catalogue of Fifteenth-Century Books, of
which my friend Mr. Scholderer has charge, and of
which six volumes of the eight have appeared. Books
in the King's and Grenville libraries (which must be
kept intact) are represented on the incunabula shelves
by stiff boards for dummies bearing the references
a plan which may often be found useful in assembling
special collections in a library. The principle of
arranging classes in a chronological order has much to
say for it ; at the University Library, Cambridge,
the English books to 1640 are so arranged in decades,
but after the incunabula nothing here is so placed
except the modern novels, which from 181 7-1 848 and
again from 191 2 are to be found in two chronological
series, labelled respectively N and NN (Novels and
New Novels). It would be a great advantage to be
able to send for (say) specimen illustrated children's
books from each year or each third year for half a
century. Individual books could always be found
from the General Catalogue. This would make the
shelf classification, even without open access, of some
use. It may be mentioned here that centuries of par-
ticular countries are being made the matter of special
hand-lists. Spanish and French books to 1600 have
been thus dealt with, and English books from 1641 to
1700, to follow the catalogue of those to 1640, are in
hand.
I must now, at the risk of bestowing all my tediousness
upon you, mention certain classes which are not fully
catalogued in the General Catalogue.
(1) British newspapers ; of the nineteenth century there
is a printed, of the eighteenth (Burney) a MS. catalogue.
(2) The Parliamentary papers (British) which are to
be seen in the Newspaper Room and of which an index
is kept there.
BRITISH MUSEUM COLLECTIONS 65
(3) Colonial and Foreign State Papers, received by
Government exchange ; a hand-list of these is being
prepared.
(4) German University Dissertations, which are kept
bound in a classification by University, faculty, year,
and author's name.
(5) Modern sale catalogues, which are for the most
part only entered as series under the auctioneers, but
which up to 1900 are fully entered in the published
Catalogue of Sale Catalogues, 1915.
(6) Books on the manufacture of explosives.
(7) Books suppressed or for personal reasons not to
be issued till a certain period has elapsed.
(8) The Place Collection of pamphlets and cuttings
relating to the economic and political history of this
country in 1 800-1 850.
(9) Parliamentary Poll Books, kept at Hendon.
(10) The publications of the Catholic Truth Society
are separately indexed, as being very numerous and
mostly very slight pieces.
(11) Under the heading Collection in the catalogue
may be found many small assemblages of pieces not
separately catalogued.
Hand-lists of most of these classes may be consulted in
the Reading Room on application to the superintendent.
It is the cost of printing which makes these hand-lists
preferable. Also one can get a conspectus of the
collection ; and the large bequests and purchases I have
enumerated are not the Museum library's regular diet.
That consists of copyright and the annual Parliamentary
purchase grant.
(1) Copyright. With the Old Royal Library the
Museum inherited in 1759 the Crown's claim to a copy
of every book published, a claim dating from the previous
century. It is very difficult now to estimate its effect ;
5
66 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
the English books of the latter half of the eighteenth
century acquired when new are scattered about the
several hundred presses which come between the Old
Royal Library and the new Library in " the ironwork "
of 1857 on. But to judge from the lacunae which can
be observed, the effect was at the best very spasmodic.
The Act of 1 842 and the energetic enforcement of it by
Panizzi, our Napoleon, greatly stimulated the flow of
books into the national library ; and in the latter half
of the nineteenth century very little but comparatively
obscure provincial books and technical books not issued
by regular publishers seems to be missing. A very
considerable proportion of the more (and a huge quantity
of the less) valuable American books come in by copy-
right. Many, but not all, of these, come under the
Act as having alternative London imprints. Books
from the British Empire, including India, are also
received ; but not very exhaustively ; nor do they fill
a patriotic and book-loving Briton with pride. The
British Museum seems to be better fed by the copyright
law than was the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris, if one
could judge by the latter's accession lists issued weekly
in the Bibliographie de la France ; but a tightening up
of the French law has recently taken place, with very
good results. The practice of keeping everything is
often decried, but it is for future historians, to whom
nonsense is often as instructive as sense, to judge.
(2) Purchase. In the eighteenth century the Museum
had no regular purchase grant, but used the interest of
Major Arthur Edwards's .7,000, bequeathed before its
actual foundation. The result of this starvation was seen
when the Heber library was sold in 1 834-1 837. The dis-
persal of this immense collection of old English literature
was the making of the Britwell Library ; the books went
at low prices, but the Museum could not buy ; and
BRITISH MUSEUM COLLECTIONS 67
now that they have been resold, nearly a century later,
prices have so increased that the Museum could still
buy only a few of the many unique books that it should
have had. The first business of a national library is to
provide the material for the advanced student of the
nation's history and literature, and so to educate the
educators, teachers and writers. The Heber sale was
as great an opportunity for English literature as the
Harleian had been for English history. Both were
lost.
But in 1845, by the influence of Panizzi, Parliament
made a special annual grant, and in 1846 the Museum
was a large purchaser of books that had been sold in
1 844 at the sale of the Duke of Sussex's library ; from
about this date the practice of writing (later stamp-
ing) the date of acquisition on every newly-acquired
book came in, to our great profit. The library was
very rapidly built up during the next generation. This
was the period of what Mr. Pollard has recently described
as " faith-inspired general buying." A good example of
this is the purchase in 1857 of Stockdale's Budget, 1826-2 7.
In Nos. 1-9 of this sorry sheet, Stockdale, the fallen
publisher, related his transaction with Shelley over
Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire. Garnett noticed
this in 1866, and pointed out that this unknown and
previously unheard-of book must be Shelley's first
publication. It was not till 1890 or thereabouts that
a copy of the book was found ; but for the purchase by
the Museum of the Budget it might have continued for
another century unidentified. After almost exactly half
a century the special grant lapsed, and the purchase grant
for books is now about 6,500, though books are now
perhaps five times as numerous as in 1845, and old ones
are certainly twenty times as expensive. For a few
post-war years the depreciated Continental currencies
68 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
saved the Museum ; but the crisis is with us again. The
Royal Commission on Museums has (1930) reported in
favour of an increased purchase grant.
A substantial part of the grant is of necessity spent
upon important English Societies' and foreign periodicals
and sets of memoirs ; about .1,500 a year can be set
aside for older books when the chief books produced
abroad have been acquired ; this can be occasionally
supplemented for great sales and the like from the
Trustees' unallocated reserve.
The principles and methods of book selection, as
practised in the Museum, are rather surprising to those
trained in small libraries ; but they suit the special
needs of the place. The task is not divided among the
staff by subject, but by language ; thus it falls to one
individual to choose French books on all subjects, not
historical books in all languages. Reviews are only used
as a second line of defence against the irruption of bad
books, especially for imaginative literature ; the books
are marked in the first instance in the announcements
in the current national trade lists, weekly or fortnightly.
This saves time, both in selecting and in getting the books
in. Nor does it sacrifice efficiency. It is surprising
how easy it is from the indications given in a publisher's
announcement to distinguish between a contribution
to knowledge and a Christmas present. One soon learns
to weigh in the balances the author, the publisher, the
subject, the title, the relative importance of plates and
text, the publisher's language in his puif preliminary,
and many other straws. If a few impostors slip through,
no great harm is done when one is buying on a large scale.
For novels, poetry, drama, etc., there is nothing for it
but personal knowledge or advice from those who have
it ; national libraries can help each other here.
The Museum still buys largely ; but it is not possible
BRITISH MUSEUM COLLECTIONS 69
to buy everything. Preference is accordingly given to
literature, history, and topography or local history. In
most branches of science all original work appears in
periodicals and series of memoirs, to many of which the
Museum subscribes ; the books follow and are mere
popularizations. Also there are great special scientific
libraries in London, notably that of the Science Library
at South Kensington. The World List of Scientific
Periodicals, showing the British libraries where they
can be seen, will make these collections much more
useful, especially if used with the various indices to
periodicals^ But large comprehensive works of reference
are worth buying. Technical books are much the same in
all languages ; and many British and American works find
their way into the Museum ; so that few from abroad are
purchased. But of the best historical and literary output
of the world not much escapes the net. The Museum
library remains in theory and ideal universal; and it is
most undesirable that any class of literature should be
regarded as outside its scope. A single student may need
the most diverse books, and may need them in one place.
To all this complicated assembly of general and special
collections it is clear that open access would be a snare
and a delusion. For books of a particular class may be
found in, say, six or eight different places, and the rarer
ones would be under glass. Something might be done,
however, in the provision of class lists, not merely of
books of particular centuries and countries but of
particular subjects. These class lists need not be
brought later than 1880, when the Subject Index begins.
Here, then, we have, gathered in these various ways,
in spite of inadequate funds and the difficulties which
hamper potential benefactors to-day, the greatest and
may I say it ? the most generously conducted library in
the world, to serve which is an honour and a pride.
70 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. Historical
British Museum. Accounts, Estimate and Number of Persons
admitted (now Annual Report of the General Progress,
etc.), 1812- . [This (since 19 14 much attenuated for
economy) contains notices of important gifts, bequests, and
purchases. Financial details were later relegated to :]
Civil Service Estimates (now Civil Estimates) [Class IV], Edu-
cation, Science, and Art. 1861- .
The British Museum Quarterly. 1926- . [A semi-popular
account of recent important acquisitions and special
exhibitions.]
[An official series of monographs on the history of the Museum
is in preparation.]
Edwards, Edward : Lives of the Founders of the British Museum.
1870.
Memoirs of Libraries. 1859. (2nd ed. of all that the
author revised. 1901.)
Fagan, L. A. : The Life of Sir Anthony Panizzi. 2nd ed.,
2 vols. 1880.
Dahl, S. : Antonio Panizzi og British Museum. 19 16.
Panizzi, Sir A. : On the collection of printed books at the British
Museum, its increase and arrangement. [Report to the
Trustees.] [1845.]
Report from the Select Committee on the British Museum.
1835, 1836.
Report of the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the
constitution and government of the British Museum. 1850.
[There was also at this time some pamphlet literature on
the Library, which need not be included here.]
Sims, R. : Handbook to the Library. 1854.
Cowtan, Robert : Memories of the British Museum. 1872 [71].
Rawlings, Gertrude B. : The British Museum Library.
(Grafton.) 19 16.
% The Report from the [Commons'] Select Committee on the
British Museum of i860 is solely concerned with problems
of space, and only deals incidentally with the Library.
1
BRITISH MUSEUM COLLECTIONS 71
II. Catalogues
Librorum impressorum qui in Museo Britannico adservantur
catalogus. 2 vols. 1787.
7 vols. 1 813-19.
Catalogue of the Books and Prints bequeathed by C. M. Crache-
rode. Two MS. copies exist in the Dept. of MSS.
(Add. 1 1 360 ; King's, 387.)
Banks, Sir Joseph : A manuscript inventory of the library of.
2 vols. [1827.] In MS.
Banks, Sir Joseph : Catalogue of Books brought from Iceland,
and given to the British Museum by. [1778 ?] In MS.
Garrick, David : [MS. catalogue of the collection of plays made
by, bequeathed by him to the British Museum. Compiled
by E. Capell.] 2 vols. [1778 ?]
Bibliothecae Regiae Catalogus. [By Sir F. A. Barnard.] 5 vols.
1820-29. Vol. v only was published by the Trustees.
Catalogue of Printed Books in the British Museum. Vol. i.
1841.
List of additions to the Printed Books, 1836-38. 1843.
Bibliotheca Grenvilliana. 3 vols. 1842-72. Vols, i and ii
by J. T. Payne and H. Foss ; vol. iii only was published by
the Trustees.
General Catalogue of Printed Books [with Supplement].
437 parts. 1881-1905. Contains all books in the Library
at the end of the nineteenth century, except some of the
Grenville collection and other classes noted above, pp. 64-5
A new edition of the General Catalogue, brought up to date, is
in preparation j it is estimated to fill 165 volumes of the
size of those in the edition of 1 881-1905, and to take at
least 16 years to produce. The Accession-parts will con-
tinue to be published monthly, as usual.
Subject Index of the Modern Works added in the years 1 881-1900
[with five-yearly supplements]. 1902- .
[At first compiled by G. K. Fortescue and often known by
his name. For books published before 1881 recourse must
be had to bibliographies ; many are gathered in the Reading
Room and are accordingly catalogued by subjects as well
72 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
as authors in the List of Books forming the Reference
Library.]
The Book of B ritish Topography. A classi fled catalogue. 1 8 8 1 .
[Covers the period before the Subject Index.]
Catalogue of Books in the Library . . . printed in England, Scot-
land, and Ireland, and of books in English printed abroad,
to the year 1640. 3 vols. 1884.
List of the contents of the three collections of books, pamphlets,
and journals in the British Museum relating to the French
Revolution, compiled by G. K. Fortescue. 1899.
Proctor, R. : An Index to the Early Printed Books in the British
Museum. 1 898-1906. Pt. i (-1500), 4 vols, and supple-
ments, 1 898-1903 ; registers to supplements, by K. Burger,
1906 ; pt. ii (1501-20) [Germany only], 1903.
Catalogue of Books printed in the fifteenth century now in the
British Museum, by A. W. Pollard, J. V. Scholderer, and
others. Vols. i-vi. 1908- . [To be completed in eight
or ten volumes.]
(Pt. iv, Index. By W. Nijhoff and B. Kruitwagen. M.
Nijhoff. The Hague. 19 1 6.)
Catalogue of the Pamphlets, Books, Newspapers, and Manu-
scripts relating to the Civil War, the Commonwealth, and
Restoration, collected by George Thomason, 1 640-1 661.
[Edited by G. K. Fortescue.] 2 vols. 1908.
Catalogue of the fifty Manuscripts and printed Books bequeathed
by Alfred H. Huth. 19 12.
Index Catalogue of Indian Official Publications. Compiled by
F. Campbell. [1899.]
Catalogue of British Newspapers of the nineteenth century
1905. [Kept up to date in the Reading Room.]
Hand List of Statistical Papers and State Papers of the Countries
of Continental Europe. 1 9 1 o.
List of Catalogues of English Book Sales, 1 676-1 900. 19 15.
Catalogue of the Books printed in Iceland, 1578-1880. By
T. W. Lidderdale. 1 885. [Supplements appeared, 1 886-90,
in W. Fiske's Bibliographical Notices.]
Short-title Catalogue of Books printed in Spain and of Spanish
books printed elsewhere in Europe before 1601. 1921.
BRITISH MUSEUM COLLECTIONS 73
Short-title Catalogue of Books printed in France and of French
Books printed in other countries from 1470 to 1600. 1924.
A Guide to the Exhibition in the King's Library, illustrating the
history of printing, music printing, and bookbinding. Re-
vised edition, 19 13.
III. Reading Room Catalogues and Guides
List of Books forming the Reference Library in the Reading
Room. 4th ed. 2 vols. 19 10. [Authors and subjects.
Kept up to date in the Reading Room.]
Reading Room and New Library. 1909. [First published in
1857.]
Guide to the use of the Reading Room. 1924.
Peddie, Robert A. : The British Museum Reading Room. A
handbook for students. (Grafton.) 19 12.
IV
THE BRITISH MUSEUM FOR RESEARCH
PURPOSES
By G. F. Barwick, B.A.
Late Keeper of Printed Books, British Museum
IV
THE BRITISH MUSEUM FOR RESEARCH
PURPOSES
By G. F. Barwick, B.A.
Late Keeper of Printed Books, British Museum
The greatest advantage is gained for general research
when the largest and most varied collections are brought
together in one building, and this is specially the case
in the British Museum, which affords unique facilities
for the student and researcher. Printed books and
manuscripts are of course intimately connected, and it
is with them that we are chiefly concerned ; but maps,
prints, coins, and medals are so often helpful in historical
and literary investigations that attention will be called
to them as occasion arises. The use of reference books
has been dealt with elsewhere in this volume, and any
that may be mentioned in this connexion are merely
cited to illustrate some special point in research.
To seek out what has been printed and published on
even a small subject is a task of no small magnitude, and
W. H. Hudson in his Book of a Naturalist (p. 186) gives
an estimate which is really by no means exaggerated,
and coming from a field-naturalist is peculiarly interesting.
He writes: " Among the thousand and one projects I
have entertained at various times was one for a work
on Snakes, with the good though somewhat ambitious
title of ' The Book of the Serpent.' ... As it was a work
requiring a great deal of research, it would take a long
77
78 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
time to write. . . . Collecting material would have to be
a slow process, involving the perusal or consultation of
a thousand volumes and probably ten thousand periodicals
and annals and proceedings and journals of many natural
history societies, great and small, of many countries. . . .
All would have to be sought in the British Museum and
one or two other dim, stuffy libraries, where a man sits
in a chair all day and all the year round with a pile of
books before him."
Research, fortunately, is in general far more limited
in scope ; and historical, genealogical, and literary
investigations usually mean endeavours to verify details ;
these, however, are often lengthy and difficult enough,
as witness the time and energy that has been spent in
tracing the identity of the Man in the Iron Mask, or
the author of the Letters of Junius.
Let us now see what aids the Museum affords to
researchers in English history. First of all there is the
practically complete collection of all the printed books
on the subject, in every language. When the author's
full name is known these are readily findable in the
General Catalogue, but anonymous books and pamphlets,
which bulk large in historical research, offer more diffi-
culty, and the very vastness of the catalogue, about
twelve hundred volumes, adds somewhat to the difficulty.
But consultation becomes easier by bearing in mind that
the bases of its headings, taken from the title-pages, are :
(i) the author's names, initials, or pseudonyms, or simple
description, such as a Lady, a Farmer, etc. ; (2) a personal
name mentioned or clearly indicated in the title ; (3) a
geographical name ; (4) the first substantive. Where
the description of the author is a circumlocution, it is of
course disregarded, as for instance, in a book of 1722,
" The Groans of Believers. By a learned, faithful, zealous
and reverend minister of the Gospel in the Church of
BRITISH MUSEUM FOR RESEARCH 79
Scotland," which is entered under the first substantive.
Two headings deserve special mention : (1) Academies, 1
etc., in which all the learned societies publishing original
work are entered under the town in which they are
situated ; (2) Periodical Publications, in which periodicals,
as distinct from newspapers, are similarly arranged.
Newspapers, Maps, and Music have separate catalogues.
There is a complete subject-index of modern books
added to the library since 1880, which is kept up by
printing a fresh volume every five years. In the mean-
time, a current subject-index is kept in the Reading
Room from the date of the last printed volume. For
the period before 1880 recourse must be had to special
bibliographies, and the most important of these are to
be found in the index volume of the catalogue of the
books placed in the Reading Room. It may be noticed
that the five-yearly volumes form to a certain extent a
continuation of the printed catalogue, which was widely
distributed, and thus a knowledge of the contents of the
Library is available in every literary centre in the world.
In the Department of Manuscripts there are rich and
varied collections of original documents, especially the
Cotton, Harleian, and Sloane, which are household words
among scholars. The series called Additional Manu-
scripts contains all those not forming part of the special
collections. These tens of thousands of documents are
all fully indexed. Many persons have a dread of attempt-
ing research among manuscripts, thinking that they are
hard to read, and doubtless there are many difficulties
in early ones, especially in the contractions so freely
used, but an ordinary seventeenth-century document is
often far clearer than many a twentieth-century one.
In addition to the printed books and manuscripts
above mentioned, there are the printed catalogues and
1 See p. 8911.
80 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
lists of every other library of note. Some of the com-
paratively small ones, such as those of the Foreign and
Colonial Offices, War Office, Patent Office, and the great
law libraries, are often useful as time-savers, in addition
to the information they may contain ; for the judicious
searcher will often be able to identify a Smith, Brown,
Jones, or Robinson, whose Christian name he does not
know, and thus save the labour of wading through those
long headings in the General Catalogue. Also these
catalogues generally have subject indexes and furthermore
are arranged from their own standpoint and not subject
to the hard-and-fast rules of a great general library.
The mine of wealth contained in the Calendars and
Indexes of the Public Record Office can all be con-
veniently consulted at Bloomsbury and the original
documents noted for subsequent examination in Chancery
Lane. The publications of the Historical Manuscripts
Commission are also full of information, and if they do
not often contain documents printed in extenso at all
events they locate them.
As regards the history of other countries it is perhaps
sufficient to say that the Museum Library is the richest
in the world in the books of every country save the native
one, and occasionally it is even better than that. For
instance, a French scholar writing on the Revolution of
1789 must needs have recourse to London, if his work
is to be exhaustive, for the largest and most complete
collections of French pamphlets of that period are in
the Museum, and there is certainly a considerable
quantity of Russian books that do not exist, or at all
events are not available, in Russia. By a system of
international exchange the government publications of
most foreign countries come regularly to the Museum
Library ; the others are always acquired by purchase
where possible. In this connexion may be noted the
BRITISH MUSEUM FOR RESEARCH 81
admirable and increasing practice of publishing repro-
ductions in facsimile of important manuscripts and even
of very rare printed matter, and the student should
look out for these carefully as they often supersede an
earlier and less trustworthy issue.
Passing now from History to its handmaiden Biography,
the first aids to searchers are naturally the dictionaries
of general and national biography, which usually give
references to books and sometimes to manuscripts ;
the histories and bibliographies of counties and localities,
and the large general encyclopaedias, such as the Britan-
nica, Larousse, Brockhaus, etc. For the Middle Ages
Chevalier's Bio-bibliographie is particularly valuable as
a short cut to the sources, which can then be looked up
in the Museum catalogues. But the meagre records
of even the fullest dictionaries and encyclopaedias are
quite inadequate for anyone who is attempting to get
a real idea of a personality, and even the printed " lives "
can often be delightfully supplemented by letters and
diaries still in manuscript, and by portraits or even a
series of portraits, such as can be found in the Depart-
ment of Prints and Drawings. Medals also should not be
neglected; they have been struck on so many private
occasions to commemorate some heroic deed or some
notable occurrence. Not long ago one was shown to
the present writer which was given to a man who after
a severe struggle had succeeded in paying his creditors
in full. Only one copy was struck, and in it was inserted
a mirror with the inscription, " Behold the honest
man." This is mentioned merely to emphasize the
advisability of consulting any collection that is indexed,
for the chance is at least worth the time spent in looking
up a name. Original letters, of which there is an
immense collection in the Department of Manuscripts,
are especially useful in identifying signatures and hand-
6
82 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
writing. Only a few weeks ago it was found possible in
a few minutes to identify a Latin signature of about
1550 on a title-page, by reference to a single letter in
Latin ; the numerous English letters were quite useless
as the so-called Italian hand was used. It was the
practice at that period to use two entirely different
scripts, and with signatures in English script only
identification would have been absolutely impossible.
From Biography to Genealogy is a natural transition,
and the sources are much the same for both, but genealogy
is a subject which needs the most scrupulous and careful
investigation. It often resolves itself into an attempt
to find missing links and to establish legitimacy of
descent in cases of property or rank. A large amount of
research used to be carried on by and for Americans,
but doubtless by this time every human being carried
on board the Mayflower has been annexed by some
family or other in the United States, just as every known
companion of William the Conqueror has been annexed
in England. For genealogical research the Museum
offers an unequalled series of county histories, several of
them with copious printed and manuscript insertions ;
sometimes each volume is expanded into two or more
in this way ; such a copy is said to be Grangerized, from
J. Granger, who published in 1769 a history of England
with blank leaves for notes and illustrations. A good
example is a copy of Manning and Bray's History of
Surrey, in three volumes, expanded to thirty. The
searcher should look out for these in the General Cata-
logue, bearing in mind that entries of books to which
special interest attaches are placed after the entry of the
ordinary copy. Mention need hardly be made of the
long series of peerages, books of landed gentry, school
and college lists, which are in the alphabet of the subject,
but attention may be called to the number of pedigrees
BRITISH MUSEUM FOR RESEARCH 83
in manuscript and of those privately printed, which
ultimately reach the Museum. The indexes to manu-
scripts take the inquirer further on his way and local
history often affords valuable help.
This brings us to Topography, in which the Museum
stands pre-eminent, not only as regards our own country,
but for the entire world. The fact that, as stated above,
the name of a place is taken as next in importance to
that of a person in cataloguing anonymous books, has
given a geographical character to the General Catalogue,
which is clearly recognizable, and this has undoubtedly
exercised no small influence on the acquisition of topo-
graphical works. British topography has been fairly
well indexed one way or another, but special attention
may here be called to the other two volumes of Chevalier's
Repertoire des sources historiques du moyen-dge, bearing
the sub-title " topo-bibliographie " or bibliography of
places. A book often contains much more than is
indicated or even implied in the title, and this is a case
in point. Seeing that ecclesiastical establishments loom
so large in the topography of the Middle Ages, one
would not be surprised to find such headings as :
" Baptism, Eucharist, Marriage, Breviaries, Missals,"
etc., but when one finds also animals, rings, new year's
gifts, pirates and piracy, repasts, including breakfast,
dinner, and supper, troubadours and trouveres, it becomes
evident that the book is a kind of inquire within, which
should not be overlooked. Searchers, too, are sometimes
deterred by the words " moyen-age " in the title, but
of course in these volumes Chevalier includes the most
recent works, provided that they deal with the subject
in the period of the Middle Ages. Chevalier's work is a
subject-index, but French bibliographers often prefer
the author catalogue with a " table methodique," like
Brunet, who places all his material under the five great
84 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
divisions : theology, law, science and art, belles lettres,
and history, with sub-sections under each. It is some-
times exceedingly difficult to locate the particular
section for some out-of-the-way subject for instance,
fireworks but by looking out the author of some well-
known book on the subject and then turning to the serial
numbers in the table the other similar works will be
found clustered round it. On the other hand Le Long's
great Bibliotheque historique de la France is arranged
chronologically, and its nine copious indexes make it
one of the easiest books to use.
The Department of Manuscripts is correspondingly
rich in topography, and the unpublished letters of known
residents should not be neglected, as they often contain
interesting details. Maps of course are of the essence
of the subject and local newspapers are often helpful.
There is one source of information that usually escapes
notice, namely the Post Office Directories. Few people
seem to be aware that to each town, parish, or even
hamlet is prefixed a short historical sketch, which forms
a basis for further research, and sometimes contains
matter that has come to light since the publication of
the latest county history. Much time may be wasted
in searching out particulars which are given in the
Directory for the county. Another valuable work
which often escapes notice, because it is only a supple-
ment, is the Dictionnaire de geograpbie, forming part of
Brunet's well-known Manual ; it is invaluable for the
etymology of the names of places, and for much other
interesting information.
Turning now to literary and miscellaneous research
we find a more extensive and difficult field. One of
the most interesting quests is the identification of the
authorship of anonymous works. As regards books of
any importance a great deal has been done, but plenty
BRITISH MUSEUM FOR RESEARCH 85
still is left to be discovered, especially in the matter of
pamphlets and contributions to periodicals. How often
we read in the biographies of notable authors that for
many years they wrote for the magazines, and the
names of Swift and Defoe stand as instances of those
whose early work is still to a large extent unidentified.
Now in this direction the Museum offers unequalled
f acilities,for in no other library is there anything approach-
ing the range and completeness of its sets of magazines
and similar periodicals. A fine appreciation of differ-
ences in style is of course a great requisite in such re-
searches, and to that should be added a knowledge of
the points of view of the editors of the periodicals,
usually obtainable from the publications themselves.
This is, however, research for those whose time is at
their own command. For minor matters there are two
excellent publications, Notes and Queries and its French
equivalent, the Intermediate des chercheurs. The
former has full indexes, but it takes some time to look
through them ; the latter has two, covering the period
1864 to 1920. There are also the various general
indexes to periodicals, those to a periodical itself, and
those to the transactions of learned societies, taking the
word learned in its widest sense to include any society
that publishes original matter. These and all similar
publications either supply all the information sought for,
or at least give useful references to books and manu-
scripts, which are usually findable in the Museum.
Newspapers are constantly being searched for many
objects. A very important one is in connexion with
legal proceedings ; libel among the unpleasant ones ;
the preservation of public paths, rights of way, commons
and woods among those of general utility : here local
newspapers often record the best and perhaps the only
evidence of what lawyers call " user," that is, the
86 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
continued use or enjoyment of a right. Few people realize
that the Museum preserves and binds up files of these
papers, more or less complete ; they are stored in a large
building at Hendon, where there is fortunately ample
room for expansion, and they are brought up to Blooms-
bury as required. Of course they have no indexes,
but the Index to the Times is often helpful, for it not
only aids in finding something about the matter in hand,
but on ascertaining the exact date the searcher can
proceed with ease to consult other newspapers, also
magazines and reviews, especially those in which a fuller
account might be expected. If the subject of research
be a foreign one this aid is particularly welcome, for
foreign periodicals seldom have any index. The news-
letters in manuscript, which preceded the newspaper,
deserve special mention.
Few libraries can afford space for successive editions
of encyclopaedias, but their value for research is often
considerable ; for instance, the edition of Meyer's great
Konversations Lexikon, 1840-55, is in forty-four large
volumes, but in later editions, in order to be up to date
and not too cumbrous, it has been necessary to scrap a
vast mass of material as obsolete, especially historical
matter relating to the great German families. But
nothing is obsolete to the researcher. The French have
always been great encyclopaedists from the days of Bayle,
d'Alembert, Diderot, and Voltaire to Larousse of to-day.
The Museum contains of course the entire series of these
vast works ; the earlier ones are especially valuable for
showing the trend of French thought, and Larousse for
width of range and minuteness of detail.
As would naturally be expected, the Museum is very
rich in catalogues of sales of books, which are preserved
in the Library, and of other objects, which are
kept in the Departments concerned. For instance, sets
BRITISH MUSEUM FOR RESEARCH 87
of auction catalogues with the names of the purchasers
and the prices paid are acquired regularly, and are
consulted more and more in tracing the provenance of
copies of old books, or their probable owners. The
rapid increase in the value of English books of the
sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries has rendered
it often worth while to verify their course through
several auctions. A List of Catalogues of English Book
Sales, 1 676-1 900, fully indexed, was published by the
Museum in 191 5.
While thus jotting down some of the results of his
experience during forty years in the Library of the
Museum, it occurred to the writer to look in Watts's
Bibliotheca Britannica to see if there were any early
books on research. The words search, research, docu-
ments, manuscripts, and several others gave no result,
but at last under " Records " the following book was
entered, and a copy was findable in the Library. It is
entitled : " Direction for search of records remaining in
the Chancerie, Tower, etc. For the clearing of all such
titles and questions as the same may concerne. With
the accustomed fees of search. By Thomas Powell,
Londino-Cambrensis." It was published in 1622, at
which date there were no public libraries in London,
and even the Library at Lambeth Palace had only been
in existence some twelve years. The quaint preface
begins : " Books medicines and lawes should never be
publisht or prescribed but as obiters, to meet with evils
imminent ; ever applied and ever complying with the
present necessitie.
" The necessitie of this subject complains itself in the
multiplicitie of suits, their expenses and dependencies,
which for want of their proper records are brought
into the court in so many fractions that the judge
(however painfull or learned soever) can hardly reduce
88 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
them into whole numbers. This therefore have I out
of my collections of twentie years search of records
composed by way of a kallender into a summarie Index
of direction for that purpose."
On p. 10 are the following observations on the
Chancery Records : " First you shall understand that
there be some few grants which were never enrolled at
all, which for the most part are notwithstanding enrolled
in the Exchequer. Next note you shall lose your
labour if you search in the chaple of the rolls for any
grant from the King which passed the great seal but
within four or five years last past. But in the mean-
time are either with the Riding Clerk, or else (if
they be past him) they are in the office of the Petty
*5agge."
j * fees were certainly heavy if we consider the value
of money at that date :
nd. for search of anything in the Index.
\d. for sight of anything called for.
Sd. per sheet for copying.
2J. for the hand of the clerk to anything copied.
He ends up the section relating to Chancery records
thus : " Out of the foresaid general rule I must except
such things as are not in the kalender, the search whereof
is very uncertain and intricate : for in those searches
your fee must answer the dark's extraordinary pains,
etc." The " etc." is his, and it is small wonder that the
Court of Chancery became a byword for procrastination
and hope deferred, and that our novelists used it so often
as a tragic background.
In a later work, 1631, he speaks of the " Bags hanging
on the walls," and adds, " Next the door on the left
hand is a bag entitled Bagamanorum " : a delightful
word which suggests a limbo for its contents, the docu-
ments known as Quere quid plus.
BRITISH MUSEUM FOR RESEARCH 89
It is evident that the path of the researcher in those
days was indeed a hard one. But if the facilities are now
incomparably greater, it must be remembered that the
field of research is ever widening and the subjects are
ever becoming more minute. Statements are not
accepted on mere credibility, for the careful student
insists on verification, mindful of Dryden's words :
" Errors like straws upon the surface flow,
He who would search for pearls must dive below." l
1 The heading " Academies " is to be abolished in the new British
Museum catalogue (see p. 79).
V
THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
By Luxmoore Newcombe
Librarian, National Central Library
late Librarian of University College, London
THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
By Luxmoore Newcombe
Librarian, National Central Library
late Librarian of University College, London
I do not propose to deal with the history or organization
of the British university libraries, but merely to give
those practical details which may be of value to the
research student. In order that these details may be
readily accessible, the information is given in the form
of a reference book rather than as a connected narrative.
The value of the university libraries lies not so much
in the number of books possessed by them, but rather
in the great mass of research and reference material
available. An endeavour is made in this chapter to
show what some of that material is.
The amount of material available in the university
and college libraries is enormous, as may be gathered from
the following Table :
Number of printed volumes and pamphlets . . . 9,530,000
Number of MSS. of a date earlier than 1500 . . . 30,000
Tota 9,560,000
Incunabula i.e. books printed before 1500 (included above) 15,250
English books printed before 1641 (included above) . . 50,700
Sets of periodicals (included above) ..... 61,000
Current periodicals (included above) ..... 33,000
The three largest areas are Oxford, with 2,520,000
93
94 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
volumes ; Cambridge, with 1,790,000 volumes ; and
London, with 1,370,000 volumes.
The important part played by the library in a modern
university is emphasized by the University Grants
Committee in their Report of 3rd February 1921, in
which they state :
" The character and efficiency of a university may be
gauged by its treatment of its central organ the library.
We regard the fullest provision for library maintenance
as the primary and most vital need in the equipment of a
university. An adequate library is not only the basis
of all teaching and study : it is the essential condition
of research, without which additions cannot be made
to the sum of human knowledge. ... It is essential
to the well-being alike of the Arts and of Science, and
there are few universities which would not make a great
step forward in efficiency if ampler funds were available
for its maintenance."
It is a widespread belief that the only libraries available
to the public are those municipal libraries which are
supported out of local rates, and which are popularly
known as " Public Libraries." But it should be remem-
bered that the university libraries are, and always have
been, public libraries. Ever since their foundation
several centuries before " Public Libraries " were intro-
duced the two great English university libraries, the
Bodleian and the Cambridge University Library, opened
their doors to scholars from all parts of the world. The
tradition thus set has been followed by all the other
universities.
That does not mean that any reader has a right to
expect a university library to furnish him with those
books which his local public library, or any other library
to which he may have access, could reasonably be
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 95
expected to supply. What it does mean is that any
student who can produce a satisfactory reference, and
evidence that he cannot obtain the material he requires
elsewhere, will be given the fullest possible assistance in
almost any university library, either with or without the
payment of a small fee. In most cases this means that
the reader will have to go to the library to consult the
book, though in very exceptional cases the book may be
issued on loan.
It is a moot point whether the loan of a book to a
person who has no connexion with the university is
altogether desirable. If the book is one say a scientific
periodical which may be wanted for quick reference
by some member of the university who is conducting
an experiment, or who may require it in connexion
with his teaching or research work, it is a serious matter
if that book cannot be produced at once. Then again
one has to consider the risk of loss during transit. This
risk is extraordinarily slight, but one cannot overlook
the fact that it does exist, and it is doubtful whether a
library is justified in taking this risk in the case of a
unique printed document or a manuscript. The loss of,
or serious damage to, a book in either of these classes
would be an irreparable one. The many excellent
and inexpensive methods of photographic reproduction
now available reduce the necessity for taking transit risks
with unique documents, and it is probable that at no
very distant date no large library will be considered
complete without a well-equipped department capable
of producing copies of any documents which may be
required by students who are unable to use them in the
library. Already several university libraries provide such
facilities.
There are, however, many books which are not
irreplaceable or in constant use, and which are
96 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
likely to remain untouched on the shelves simply
because no member of that particular library happens
to be working on the subject covered by them.
These are often just the books which are essential to
the specialist or research student, and the power of
being able to borrow such documents is of the utmost
value.
Within the last few years a good deal has been
attempted and achieved in the way of library co-
operation. Perhaps the most important movement in
this direction is a scheme for the loan of scarce books
from one university library to another. This movement
was inaugurated by the Association of University Teachers,
the members of which body realized the need of some
means of tracing and when traced, obtaining scarce
books which they might urgently require in connexion
with their research work. A committee, consisting of
university teachers and librarians, and known as the
Joint Standing Committee on Library Co-operation,
has been appointed to organize and extend the move-
ment. Practically all the university libraries in Great
Britain are interested in the movement, and most of
them have reaped some benefit from it. Several non-
university libraries have also taken an active interest,
and the Committee hope that before long all libraries
other than those national or semi-national libraries
which, rightly, do not allow the borrowing of books
that contain any material of value to the research
student will co-operate in the movement. The con-
ditions under which the loan of books may be granted
have been framed with a view to giving the lending
library absolute discretion in deciding whether or not
the book may be borrowed.
The conditions of loan are :
(i) All loans to be made from library to library.
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 97
(2) Publications borrowed not to be used outside the
borrowing library, except with the special permission in
each case of the lending library.
(3) The borrowing library to pay the cost of transporta-
tion both ways, and to accept complete responsibility
for the publications borrowed.
(4) Each publication to be borrowed for a restricted
period only, at the discretion of the lending library.
(5) Certain categories of publications to be excluded
from the operation of the scheme, e.g. :
{a) Books of reference and other books in constant
demand.
(b) Books and periodicals which should be in the
possession of every university library.
(c) Current text-books and manuals.
(d) Such publications as the library applied to
may be unwilling to lend owing to their rarity or
value, or for some other particular reason.
It will be seen from the above schedule that the inter-
loan movement is not intended for the exchange of
modern text-books or of those periodicals which should
be in every university library, but only for the scarce
not necessarily old or expensive books which it is
impossible to consult in any other way. Perhaps the
most valuable side of the work is the locating of books
which could not otherwise be traced. The work of the
Inquiry Office which has been established in Birmingham,
although still in its infancy, has resulted in the tracing
of a high percentage of the books asked for. In
almost every case the book, when found, has been lent
to the library to which the seeker has access. Loans
under this scheme are not made to individuals, but only
to the librarian of the individual's library. This is of
the utmost importance as a safeguard against the loss
or damage of the volume. Any person anxious to take
7
98 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
advantage of the facilities offered by the movement
should write to Mr. L. T. Oldaker, the University
Library, Edmund Street, Birmingham.
Another body which is likely to be of considerable
value is the Association of Special Libraries and In-
formation Bureaux. The object of this association is
to facilitate the use and co-ordination of all sources of
information for scientific, technical, commercial, and
public purposes :
(i) Through the agency of special libraries and infor-
mation bureaux by tabulation of existing agencies (e.g.
national, municipal, and association libraries ; economic,
industrial, commercial, and other bureaux providing
information and research services), and by the exploration
of channels for mutual co-operation and reciprocal inter-
change of non-confidential information and experience.
(2) By development of common objects and new ser-
vices ; e.g. (a) Indexing sources of statistical and other
data, (b) Co-ordination of abstracting services for
scientific and technical societies, so that overlapping
may be avoided, (c) Improvement of availability and
distribution of periodical and other literature par-
ticularly from foreign sources in national and local
centres, (d) Registration of classified panels of trans-
lators for the service of particular industries, sciences,
and arts, (e) Increase of provision of photographic and
other copying apparatus.
(3) By establishing a focus point for all institutions
and individuals able to assist in making fact-information
available to those who require it in manifold branches of
national and industrial activities and public affairs.
Anyone interested in this work should communicate
with Mr. S. S. Bullock, Organising Secretary, A.S.L.I.B.,
26 Bedford Square, London, W.C.I. (Telephone :
Fitzroy 10 10.)
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 99
A library that should be able to do an immense amount
to help the university libraries when it is more fully
developed is the National Central Library, formerly
known as the Central Library for Students. In addition
to lending books from its own stock, this library acts
as a clearing-house for the inter-loan of scarce books
between one library and another. Nearly one hundred
libraries are associated with the National Central Library
in its work. These libraries are known as Outlier
Libraries. They undertake to lend their books to other
libraries (not themselves necessarily Outlier Libraries)
through the agency of the National Central Library.
The total stock of books in the Outlier Libraries is over
4,000,000 volumes, including some 25,000 sets of period-
icals. These volumes cover all subjects. Already many
university students and research workers have found this
service of great value, but when the system is more
fully developed it should be the means of providing
for scholars many books and periodicals which they are
now unable to obtain.
The National Central Library now receives an annual
grant from the National Exchequer to enable it {a) to
establish an information department, (b) to compile a
union catalogue of the Outlier Libraries, and (c) to
extend the Outlier Library system. It will be the func-
tion of the information department to trace the where-
abouts of books required, and, if possible, arrange for
their loan, and generally to assist scholars by giving
information about special collections of books. It will
act as the National Centre for Bibliographical Information
for Great Britain in connexion with the International
Institute of Intellectual Co-operation. The object of
this scheme is to facilitate the lending of books between
foreign libraries. The Inquiry Office of the Association
of University Teachers described on pages 96-98 will be
ioo THE USES OF LIBRARIES
amalgamated with the information department of the
National Central Library in the near future.
Applications for books or information must not be
sent direct to the National Central Library, but through
the librarian of the university or other library with which
the reader is associated. The address of the Library is
Galen Place, Bury Street, London, W.C.I.
University libraries now offer facilities for research
which were undreamt of a generation or two ago. In
the old days it was the recognized practice in many
university libraries and most other libraries for that
matter to put every possible barrier between the
student and the book. The librarian's only duty ap-
peared to be to see that the books remained untouched
in their carefully locked cases. His catalogue was often
inaccurate and incomplete, and he made no attempt
to assist his students in finding the books which would
be helpful to them. Nowadays, fortunately, all that
has changed.
One of the most valuable reforms was the formation
at University College, London, by Professor R. W.
Chambers, a former librarian, of the first properly
organized system of special or seminar libraries in any
English university. These special libraries must not be
confused with the departmental libraries which existed
in several universities long before 1901. A departmental
library is a collection of books usually a small one which
is housed in a department for the use of the staff and
students working in that department. The collection
may or may not form part of the university library. A
special library, on the other hand, is an integral part of
the library. It is a special room which is set aside to
house the books dealing with a certain subject. It
does not necessarily contain all the books in the library
dealing with that particular subject, but only those to
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 101
which it is necessary for the student to have direct access.
Let me illustrate the working of a special library by
an example at University College. I will take the
English Library. All students of the College who are
taking an honours course in English, as well as research
students in that subject, are given keys which admit
them to the English Library. In this library they find
the books and periodicals they need in connexion with
their work. They have direct access to all these books,
most of which may be borrowed for home reading.
There is a catalogue in the Library, and the books are
arranged in order of subject so that a student working
on a particular subject or period finds all his material
in one place. The special library has advantages other
than those afforded by access to the books. It enables
the teacher to hold certain of his classes in the library,
where he is able to use the books to which he refers in
his lecture. In this way the student is taught how to
make the best use of the books on his subject, and which
book, or class of books, will give him any particular
information he may want. In the special library the
student is working with all the other students taking the
same subject. They can discuss, and, with the aid of
the books, solve their difficulties and problems. This
practical training in the proper use of a library is in-
valuable.
The provision of periodical publications (journals,
transactions of societies, etc.) the only means of
keeping abreast of the progress made in any subject
is one of the main functions of a modern university
library. The result is that between them the univer-
sities have a very large number of different periodicals.
Many of these represent the only copies in the country.
The tracing of scientific periodicals has been simplified
by the recent publication of the World List of Scientific
ioz THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Periodicals published in the years igoo-ig2i (2 vols.,
Oxford University Press, 3 10s.), which contains
the titles of 24,028 periodicals, with a note of the
libraries, if any, in Great Britain and Ireland which
contain a copy. The Joint Standing Committee on
Library Co-operation are now compiling a similar list
for non-scientific periodicals in the university libraries.
The list will not be ready for publication for another year
or two. In the meantime the entries are being filed at
the National Central Library, where they form a valuable
tool for the tracing of periodicals.
The list on the following pages gives some of the more
important special collections which are likely to be of
use to the research student. Lack of space has neces-
sitated the exclusion of more detailed information. 1
LIST OF COLLECTIONS OF BOOKS AND
MATERIAL OF SPECIAL VALUE TO RE-
SEARCH STUDENTS
ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY
(1) A large collection of books and pamphlets relating
to or published in Aberdeen, Banff, Caithness, Inverness,
Kincardine, Moray, Nairn, Ross and Cromarty, Suther-
land, Orkney and Shetland. (2) A large collection of
books on classical archaeology. (3) The Dey-Masson
collection of Celtic literature. (4) The Macbean
collection of Jacobite material, consisting of books,
pamphlets, broadsides, MSS., prints, etc. (5) The
Phillips pharmacological collection. (6) The Taylor
psalmody collection.
1 Full details of some 300 university and college libraries will be
found in The University and College Libraries of Great Britain and
Ireland, by the author of this chapter, published in 1927.
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 103
BANGOR, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF NORTH WALES
Welsh (15,000 vols.), including the largest collection
of Welsh periodicals in existence.
BIRMINGHAM UNIVERSITY
(1) The Bunce collection, containing a number of
books on art. (2) The Corbett collection of county,
especially Shropshire, history. (3) The Hensleigh Wedg-
wood collection, mainly philology. (4) The Sargant
collection, specially useful for French economic literature
from 1830 to 1850. (5) A large collection of pamphlets
on Algae. (6) A considerable number of works by, and
about, Grillparzer.
BRISTOL UNIVERSITY
(1) The Wigglesworth ornithology collection. (2)
Japan collection, including texts in Japanese. (3) Old
medical books. (4) The Beddoes anthropology collection.
(5) The Exley mathematics collection.
CAMBRIDGE, ARTS SCHOOL
(1) The Seeley library of works on history and com-
parative politics. (2) The Beit German research library.
(3) The Bendall Sanskrit library.
CAMBRIDGE, BALFOUR LIBRARY
(1) The Canon Norman collection of pamphlets and
books on systematic zoology. (2) The F. Balfour and
the A. Sedgwick collections of pamphlets and books on
embryology. (3) The Doncaster cytology collection.
(4) The Andrews palaeontology collection.
CAMBRIDGE, CHRIST'S COLLEGE
The Robertson Smith Oriental collection, containing
many rare books dealing with Semitic literature and
kindred subjects.
104 THE USES 0F LIBRARIES
CAMBRIDGE, CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE
The MSS. fall under three main headings : (i) The
collection of Chronicles of English history, including
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Matthew Paris Chronicle,
and many others. (2) An unique collection of Anglo-
Saxon MSS. (3) Liturgical works of all kinds.
CAMBRIDGE, GIRTON COLLEGE
(1) The Blackburn collection of books, pamphlets, and
periodicals dealing with the women's movement. (2)
The Mary Frere collection of Hebrew and Samaritan
books. (3) The Ethel Sargent collection of books on
botany. (4) The Cowell collection of books on Oriental
languages.
CAMBRIDGE, GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE
(1) Dr. Branthwaite, Master of the College, and one of
the Bible Revisers of 161 1, bequeathed his entire library,
which has been kept as a special collection. It is rich in
controversial theology of the sixteenth century, but is
interesting also as showing what was contained in the
library of a well-to-do scholar of the period. It con-
tains 1,300 books and pamphlets. (2) The College makes
a speciality of Norfolk and Suffolk topographical and
genealogical printed books, as its founders were all East-
Anglians, and its property is in East Anglia. (3) Among
the MSS. are Dr. John Knight's genealogical and heraldic
books, bequeathed in 1680, consisting of sixty-five volumes
and various loose papers.
CAMBRIDGE, KING'S COLLEGE
(1) A valuable collection of works on natural history,
sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. (2) The Headlam
collection of books on ^Eschylus.
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 105
CAMBRIDGE, MARSHALL LIBRARY OF ECONOMICS
(1) A collection of seventeenth and eighteenth century
economic pamphlets. (2) A valuable collection of
pamphlets dealing with the Bullionist and Bank Act
controversies (about 1820-45).
CAMBRIDGE, PEMBROKE COLLEGE
(1) One hundred and twenty MSS. from Bury St.
Edmunds. (2) Aristophanes. (3) A good series of
bindings.
CAMBRIDGE, PETERHOUSE
The A. W. Ward library ; chiefly history and dramatic
literature.
CAMBRIDGE, ST. CATHARINE'S COLLEGE
The Addenbrooke collection of seventeenth and
eighteenth century medical books.
CAMBRIDGE, ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE
(1) The Southampton collection of MSS. and printed
books up to 1630. (2) The Baker collection of MSS.
and printed books up to 1700. (3) The Otway collection
of pamphlets from 1660 to 1710. (4) The Samuel
Butler collection. (5) The W. F. Smith collection of
Rabelais literature.
CAMBRIDGE, TRINITY COLLEGE
(1) The Capell Shakespeariana collection. (2) The
Pollock Dante collection. (3) The Aldis Wright Hebrew
printed books.
CAMBRIDGE, UNION SOCIETY
(1) The Erskine Allon music collection. (2) The
Edmund Garret collection of books on the British
Colonies.
106 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY
(i) Acton historical library. (2) Adams collection of
early printed books. (3) Adversaria, printed books with
manuscript notes. (4) Madden collection of sheet
ballads. (5) Benslev collection of Oriental literature.
(6) The collection of Dante books. (7) Cambridge
collection. (8) Wade collection of Chinese books.
(9) Gibb collection of Turkish books. (10) Bradshaw
collection of Irish books, which is specially rich in
seventeenth century tracts. (11) Aston collection of
Japanese books. (12) Pryme collection, political economy.
(13) Ritschl collection of classical pamphlets. (14) A
comprehensive collection of Prynne's tracts. (15) A
collection of books by and on Erasmus. (16) A collec-
tion of caricatures issued in Paris during 1870-71.
(17) Eight volumes of newspaper-cuttings of 1878
relating to the death and career of Pius IX. (18) A
series of telegrams received during the Franco-German
War. (19) A complete set of Parliamentary Papers
from 1 71 5 to date. (20) An extensive collection of
private Acts ranging from 1 George II to 1 William IV,
1 727-1 830. (21) Sandars collection of manuscripts and
choice books. (22) Spanish books. (23) Thomason
collection of Hebrew books. (24) Taylor-Schecter collec-
tion of Hebrew documents and manuscripts from the
Genizah at Old Cairo. (25) Venn collection of books
on logic. (26) Johns collection of Assyriological books.
(27) War collection. (28) The map collection includes
a specially fine series of old British county maps.
CARDIFF, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH WALES
Salisbury collection of Welsh books.
CORK, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
The D'Arbois Jubainville collection of Celtic books.
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 107
DUBLIN, TRINITY COLLEGE
(1) About 200 MSS. in the Irish language. (2) The
Quin collection of Editiones Principes of the classics.
(3) The Fagel library contains pamphlets on the Dutch
and English East and West India Companies, also
important maps.
DUBLIN, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
The Zimmer Celtic collection.
DUNDEE, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
(1) A few old books on botany. (2) A few early books
on medicine.
DURHAM UNIVERSITY
(1) The Routh collection of political and religious
tracts (1 582-1 750). (2) A fairly full collection of maps
of the county and city of Durham from 1576, and local
prints and drawings. (3) Books on local history.
EDINBURGH NEW (UNITED FREE CHURCH) COLLEGE
(1) Ian Keith Falconer Arabic collection. (2) The
library is rich in seventeenth and eighteenth century
pamphlets.
EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY
(1) The Clement Litil collection of some 300 volumes,
chiefly on theology and law, bequeathed by Clement
Litil in 1580. A list of these books is printed in the
Miscellany of the Maitland Club, vol. i, 1834. ( 2 ) The
Drummond collection of some 500 volumes presented
by William Drummond of Hawthornden in 1626, and
subsequently ; mainly literary. A catalogue of the
original collection was published by Principal J. Adamson
in 1627, and a facsimile reprint of this was issued in
1 81 5 by David Laing. (3) The Halliwell-Phillipps
108 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
collection of about 1,000 volumes, mainly Shakespearian.
It contains a number of the early Shakespeare quartos.
(4) The Cameron collection of about 3,500 volumes,
chiefly Celtic, but containing a considerable amount of
miscellaneous literature. (5) The Blackie collection of
modern Greek books and pamphlets (some 250 volumes
in all). (6) The Forbes collection of about 200 books
on the Philippine Islands. (7) The Bruce collection of
some 1,000 volumes and between 2,000 and 3,000
pamphlets, mostly on oceanographical subjects. (8) The
Mackinnon collection of about 1,700 volumes, mainly
on Celtic subjects. (9) The Abercromby collection of
some 2,500 volumes on archaeology, ethnology, etc.
(10) An extensive collection of Lutheran and Reformation
tracts (upwards of 1,500). (11) The Laing Charters,
a set of upwards of 3,300 parchment charters (a.d. 854
1837). A calendar of these charters was issued in 1899.
(12) The Laing Manuscripts, chiefly of historical interest,
though there is much miscellaneous material among
them. Those of a date prior to 1500 are dealt with
in the Descriptive Catalogue of the Western Mediceval
Manuscripts in Edinburgh University Library (1916) ; a
report of the later historical documents is being issued
by the Historical Manuscripts Commission, the first
volume having been published in 1914.
GLASGOW, UNITED FREE CHURCH COLLEGE
(1) The Mearns hymnological collection, containing
about 3,000 volumes. (2) The Ross Celtic collection,
containing books on Gaelic, Irish, and Welsh literature.
GLASGOW UNIVERSITY
(1) The Euing collection of over 15,000 volumes,
including some early MSS. and many early printed
books. (2) The Euing collection of 408 Black-letter
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 109
ballads. (3) The Euing collection of over 2,000 Bibles,
the most complete in Scotland. (4) The Hamilton
collection, consisting of over 8,000 volumes and including
many important first editions of classics and works on
philosophy and some early MSS. (5) The Hunterian
MSS., 649 in number. (6) The Hunterian printed
books, over 9,300, many of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, including early editions of Latin and Greek
authors and early books on science and medicine. (7)
The Ferguson collection of books on the history of
chemistry, including witchcraft and alchemy. (8) The
M'Callum Celtic collection. (9) The M'Grigor col-
lection of books on Palestine, consisting of 655 volumes,
illustrating the history, topography, and antiquities of
Jerusalem and the Holy Land. (10) The Robertson
theological collection. (11) The Stillie music library.
(12) The Veitch collection of 600 volumes relating to
mediaeval philosophy. (13) The Wylie collection of 984
volumes of chap-books, directories, and works dealing with
the history and antiquities of Glasgow. (14) The Divinity
Hall Library contains 8,000 volumes of theological works.
HARPENDEN, ROTHAMSTED EXPERIMENTAL STATION
(1) A growing collection of early books on agriculture,
English and foreign, from 1471 onwards. (2) Prints of
cattle. (3) Lawes and Gilbert manuscripts.
LEEDS UNIVERSITY
(1) A fourteenth century Anglo-Norman MS. of
William of Waddington's Manuel des Pechiez. (2) A
volume containing over 150 MS. and printed documents
relating to Spanish and American history, mostly printed
at Lima, between 1627 and 1634. (3) Letters, accounts,
and notebooks of the firm of Benjamin Gott and Sons,
illustrating developments in the textile industry in the
no THE USES OF LIBRARIES
beginning of the nineteenth century. (4) A collection
of letters about the Broad Cloth Act of 1740. (5) The
Denison Roebuck collection of English postage stamps,
including a great many early deeds. (6) Books printed
before the nineteenth century containing {a) translations
from English into French, (b) books in French on English
affairs. The object of this collection, at present con-
taining 840 volumes, is to illustrate the contemporary
influence of England upon France. (7) A collection of
300 volumes dealing with events in France during 1870
and 1 871. It includes a set of the Journal Officiel,
and newspapers issued in Metz, Strasbourg, and Nancy.
(8) A collection of 136 Civil War tracts, dealing more
particularly with Yorkshire and the activities of the
Fairfaxes. (9) Special collections relating to Hegel,
Rousseau, and Wagner. (10) The Melsted Icelandic
collection.
LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY
(1) The Rylands collection of early works on geography
and astronomy. (2) A collection of works by and about
William Blake. (3) The Noble collection of modern
presses and editions de luxe. (4) The Campbell Brown
collection of works on alchemy and early science.
LONDON, BEDFORD COLLEGE FOR WOMEN
A small collection on the status and work of women.
LONDON, EAST LONDON COLLEGE
The English section of the library is rich in Shake-
spearian literature and source books.
LONDON, GUY'S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL
(1) Collection of books by Guy's men. (2) Several
maps of Southwark and district. (3) The Library of
the Physical Society.
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES in
LONDON, INSTITUTE OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH
(i) Czecho-Slovak history. (2) Treaties. (3) Parlia-
mentary proceedings, France and Italy, from 1789.
(4) French " Livres Jaunes." (5) Military history,
especially military periodicals. (6) Complete set of
British Government historical publications, also those
of the Dominions, Colonies, and India ; the U.S.A.
Germany, and Holland. (7) Canadian history. (8)
American history (Manton Marble collection of early
Government reports, etc.).
LONDON, KING'S COLLEGE
(1) The Marsden Library, containing unique and rare
editions of works dealing with different languages.
(2) The Wheatstone collection of books on electricity
and kindred subjects up to 1875. (3) The Slavonic
Library, containing books dealing with Russian and
other Slavonic languages. The Slavonic Library is
housed at the Institute of Historical Research, Malet
Street, W.C.I. (4) The Mediaeval and Modern Greek
Library dealing with Byzantine history and the language
and literature of modern Greek. (5) The Frida Mond
collection of books dealing with German literature is
particularly rich in editions and translations of Goethe's
works.
LONDON, LONDON HOSPITAL MEDICAL COLLEGE
The Thompson Yates Research Library, containing
the chief periodicals dealing with anatomy, physiology,
pathology, and allied subjects.
LONDON, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
(1) The Cobden Library of international commerce
and peace. (2) The Acworth collection on transport.
ii2 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
(3) The Edward Fry Library of international law.
(4) The Schuster Library of comparative legislation.
(5) The Hutchinson collection of works for, against,
and about socialism. (6) Official Reports on the municipal
administration of 300 municipalities in the United
Kingdom, British Colonies, Europe, and the United
States. (7) Parliamentary and official publications of
British Dominions and Colonies and all foreign countries.
(8) A large collection of books, pamphlets, etc., relating
to the tobacco industry of England in the seventeenth
century.
LONDON, MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL
Cancer research library.
LONDON, REGENT'S PARK COLLEGE
(1) The Angus collection of MSS., of importance for
the early history of the English Baptists. (2) The
Angus collection of Baptist authors.
LONDON, ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL COLLEGE
(1) Many early books on medicine, surgery, and
anatomy. (2) Some early herbals. (3) Several early
books of general interest.
LONDON, ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC
(1) Several sets of madrigals and ayres by English
and foreign composers in original editions of the six-
teenth and seventeenth centuries. (2) English and
Italian operas (full scores). (3) History of music and
musical instruments. (4) The lives of musicians. (5)
Modern printed full scores and complete works of the
great composers. (6) Many MS. autograph scores of
the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries.
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 113
LONDON, ST. GEORGE'S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL
(1) A small collection of MS. lectures by famous
surgeons and physicians, including Benjamin Brodie,
George Fordych, John and William Hunter, W. V.
Pettigrew, Percival Potts. (2) A small collection of
early printed medical books.
LONDON, ST. JOHN'S HALL
(1) Many original sources for the history of the English
Church and the Book of Common Prayer. (2) A large
collection of German and Dutch theological works of
the eighteenth century. (3) Elizabethan and early
Stuart theological works.
LONDON, SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL STUDIES
(1) The Marsden collection of Oriental MSS. (2)
The Morrison Chinese Library.
LONDON, SCHOOL OF PHARMACY
(Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain).
(1) The Daniel Hanbury collection of early books. (2)
A complete series of the London Pharmacopoeias. (3) All
the foreign Pharmacopoeias. (4) Many old English herbals.
LONDON, TROPICAL DISEASES LIBRARY
(1) The Library is rich in periodicals from out-of-the-
way tropical countries, also in government medical and
sanitary reports from British tropical colonies. Several
of the periodicals are not available anywhere else in
London. (2) There is a large collection of reprints
(about 11,000) from periodicals dealing with the subjects
covered by the library.
LONDON UNIVERSITY
The most valuable section of the University Library
is the Goldsmiths' Company's Library of Economic
ii4 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Literature (50,000 vols.). This collection is intended to
serve as a basis for the study of the industrial, com-
mercial, monetary, and financial history of the United
Kingdom, as well as the gradual development of economic
science generally. The history of economic thought is
represented by a collection of books which is practically
complete in so far as England is concerned, and fairly
comprehensive in respect of the French economists
before and during the Revolution. There is also a
representative collection of the works of American econo-
mists and a fair representation of economic thought in
Italy, Spain, Germany, and Holland. The Goldsmiths'
Library is one of the finest economic libraries in the world.
Other collections of special importance are : (1) The
De Morgan library of about 4,000 mathematical and
astronomical books, formerly belonging to Augustus De
Morgan, including several incunabula and early English
books, and many other rare books, most of which are
full of bibliographical notes and marginal annotations
by De Morgan. (2) The George Grote Library of about
5,000 volumes of Latin and Greek classics and books
on history. (3) The Shaw-Lefevre Russian Library,
which contains many rarities. (4) An important refer-
ence section of bibliographies, the function of which is
to furnish the specialist with information as to the range
of the subject-matter with which he has to deal. (5) The
theses presented by successful candidates for the higher
degrees of the University are deposited in the Library, and
are available for public reference. (6) The music library,
containing music scores and books on music, as well as a
collection of gramophone records and pianola rolls.
LONDON, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
(1) Twenty-seven German manuscripts, dating from
the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. (2) Twenty-
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 115
seven books from the press of Erhard Ratdolt, 1476-91.
(3) The Dante collection is one of exceptional complete-
ness. It includes editions of Dante and works on
Dante, from 1477 onwards. (4) The Herbert Thompson
collection of editions of Castiglione's Courtier. (5) The
Graves mathematical library of 10,000 volumes and 4,500
pamphlets. This collection of mathematical, astro-
nomical, and physical books is of immense value to the
student in the history of mathematics. It includes
several early manuscripts, many incunabula, and a
number of books believed to be unique. (6) The
Whitley Stokes Celtic Library. (7) The Mocatta,
Gollancz, and Abrahams collections of Hebrew books
and works dealing with the history of the Jews. These
collections are especially rich in early works on the
history of the Jews in England. (8) The Daulby-Roscoe
Icelandic collection. (9) The Carnegie collection of
books on the history, government, institutions, and
literature of the United States of America. (10) The
original manuscripts of Jeremy Bentham, consisting
largely of unpublished works. (11) The Fine Art
section includes many original drawings by the Old
Masters, and a large collection of rare engravings and
prints. (12) The English library is particularly strong
in facsimiles and reprints. (13) The library contains
an exceptionally large number of works on bibliography
and on palaeography. (14) A large collection of valuable
tracts, including the Marquess of Lansdowne, or Shel-
burne, political and historical pamphlets, 1 589-1 780
(2,450 items) ; the Earl of Halifax's historical pamphlets,
1 600-1 749 (3,582 items) ; the Reed political pamphlets,
1 699-1 796 (721 items) ; the Joseph Hume political and
statistical pamphlets, 1 8 10-1850 (c. 5,000 items) ; several
thousand pamphlets illustrating the history of the
French Revolution ; and many pamphlets on the Low
n6 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Countries in 1787-92. (15) The library is exceptionally
strong in its complete sets of periodicals, covering nearly
all subjects in arts, sciences, medical sciences, law, and
engineering. Some of these sets go back to the seven-
teenth and early eighteenth centuries.
Each of the special libraries is strong in its
own subject. The special libraries are : Architecture,
Archaeology (classical), Classics and ancient history,
Egyptology, English, French, German, Scandinavian,
History, London History, Law, Philosophy and psycho-
logy, Phonetics, Librarianship, Science, Medical sciences,
History of medicine. The libraries of the following
societies are housed in the College Library and are avail-
able for reference : Bibliographical Society, British
Association for the Advancement of Science, Folklore
Society, Geologists' Association, Library Association,
Philological Society.
LONDON, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HOSPITAL MEDICAL
SCHOOL
(1) The Radcliffe-Crocker collection of dermatolo-
logical works, including his original coloured drawings of
skin diseases. (2) The Graham Research Library of
books and periodicals on medical research subjects.
(3) The Sir John Tweedy Collection of early medical
and surgical books. (4) The Library also contains many
early books on anatomy, medicine, and surgery.
LONDON, WESLEYAN COLLEGE
(1) A collection of books owned by John and Charles
Wesley. (2) A collection of pamphlets, from 1600 to
1850, on theological and political controversy. (3) The
Library is strong in comparative religion, especially as
regards India and the East.
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 117
LONDON, WESTFIELD COLLEGE
(1) Algae. (2) Icelandic.
MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY
(1) The Christie collection of over 8,000 volumes,
including some 800 volumes of works by, or relating to
Horace, a large number of books dealing with the
Renaissance, many early printed books, and a collection
of volumes emanating from the printing presses at
Lyons. (2) The Prince Lee collection, especially rich
in theology and history, containing also a series of en-
gravings, drawings, photographs, etc., illustrative of the
diocese of Manchester. (3) The E. A. Freeman collec-
tion, comprising over 7,000 historical books. (4) The
Finlayson collection of over 4,000 volumes, relating
chiefly to history, literature, and theology. (5) Amongst
the smaller collections are the Forbes (science), the
Theodores and the Robinson (Oriental), the Muirhead
(Law), the Hagar (Greek law and Teutonic philology),
the Marillier (comparative religion), the Jevons (eco-
nomics), the Arnold (Roman history).
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, ARMSTRONG COLLEGE
(1) English Bibles from 1535. (2) The Merz Library
of philosophical and mathematical works. (3) The
Spence Watson collection of early English texts. (4)
The Heslop collection of English dictionaries. (5) The
Kepier School Library of fifteenth to eighteenth century
printed books, mostly classics.
OXFORD, ALL SOULS' COLLEGE
(1) The Codrington specializes solely in modern
history, law, and political science. (2) The Brand
collection of books on political economy and science.
n8 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
OXFORD, BALLIOL COLLEGE
(i) A collection of medical tracts, many extremely
rare, presented in the eighteenth century. (2) The
Armitage collection of French and German literature ;
particularly rich in Provencal and Old French.
OXFORD, BODLEIAN LIBRARY
(1) The Ashmole collection of English antiquities,
heraldry, and astrology. (2) The Backhouse collection
of Chinese books and MSS. (3) The Bywater collection
of volumes on Aristotle and his commentators, and the
Humanist scholars up to 1650. (4) The Carte collection
of Irish State Papers. The seventeenth century papers
in this collection are of enormous extent. (5) The
Chandra Shum Shere collection of Sanskrit MSS. (6)
The Clarendon collection of State Papers. (7) A large
collection of dissertations. (8) The Douce collection
of illuminated MSS. and early English literature. (9)
The Gough collection of British topography and Saxon
and Northern literature. (10) The Hope collection
of old periodicals. (11) Lutheran tracts. (12) The
Malone collection of early English poetry and English
dramatic literature, including a large set of folios and
quartos of Shakespeare's works. (13) The Munro
Homeric collection. (14) The Mortara collection of
Italian books. (15) The Nichols collection of newspapers,
1 672-1 73 7. (16) The Oppenheimer Hebrew books and
MSS. (17) A long series of early English pamphlets,
mainly seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. (18) The
Rawlinson collection of seventeenth and eighteenth
century literature. (19) The Rylands heraldic MSS.
(20) The Shelley collection. (21) The Tanner collec-
tion of English literature. (22) The Toynbee Italian
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 119
collection. (23) The Wardrop collection of Georgian
literature.
OXFORD, CHRIST CHURCH COLLEGE
(1) Early Scandinavian collection. (2) Music collec-
tion.
OXFORD, INDIAN INSTITUTE
(1) The Malan philological library. (2) The Monier-
Williams Sanskrit Library. (3) The Whinfield collection
of Persian books.
OXFORD, LINCOLN COLLEGE
(1) A collection of seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
tury plays and pamphlets. (2) A collection of Hebrew
and Aramaic works of the late seventeenth century.
OXFORD, MAGDALEN COLLEGE
(1) The Gervans mathematical library. (2) The
Goodyear botanical library.
OXFORD, NETTLESHIP LIBRARY
The Geldart law library.
OXFORD, NEW COLLEGE
(1) Early printed editions of the classics. (2) Early
books on Roman law, theology, and medicine.
OXFORD, ORIEL COLLEGE
(1) The Leigh collection of eighteenth century music.
(2) The Church collection of mediaeval history. (3)
The Monro collection of comparative philology and
mythology.
120 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
OXFORD, PEMBROKE COLLEGE
(i) Mediaeval medical MSS. (2) Samuel John-
son MSS. (3) The Chandler library of Aristotelian
and other philosophical literature. (4) The Birkbeck
Hill collection of Johnsoniana and eighteenth century
literature.
OXFORD, ST. EDMUND HALL
(1) Hearniana. (2) A small collection of seven-
teenth century mystical theology. (3) Miscellaneous
seventeenth and early eighteenth century pamphlets
probably collected by Bishop White Kennett.
OXFORD, SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY
(1) Nearly 15,000 maps. (2) A large collection of
blue books and statistical works, mainly dealing with the
British Empire.
OXFORD, SOMERVILLE COLLEGE
The John Stuart Mill collection.
OXFORD, TAYLOR INSTITUTION
(1) Dante. (2) Goethe. (3) Luther. (4) Diction-
aries. (5) Czecho-Slovak books.
OXFORD, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
(1) A collection of seventeenth century tracts and
other controversial literature on religious topics. (2) A
collection of books dealing with the discovery and early
history of America.
OXFORD, WADHAM COLLEGE
(1) Early medical works. (2) Warner collection of
English literature. (3) Godolphin collection of Spanish
books, mainly theology.
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 121
OXFORD, WORCESTER COLLEGE
(1) Seventeenth century MSS. and pamphlets dealing
with the civil wars. (2) Books on architecture, and
architectural and other drawings by Inigo Jones and
Webbe. (3) A collection of early seventeenth and
eighteenth century literature. (4) A collection of early
plays.
READING UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
(1) A collection of 283 MS. deeds, mostly sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, being the family papers of
the Englefields of Englefield, Berks. These documents
relate to about twenty English counties. (2) The Over-
stone Library of belles lettres, a group of theological and
philosophical writings of the eighteenth century, a
section of general topography, and about 1,000 volumes
and tracts on political economy before 1850. (3) A
collection of 7,500 pamphlets on agriculture.
ST. ANDREW'S UNIVERSITY
(1) Bible collection. (2) A large collection of English
and foreign sixteenth century printed books. (3) Manu-
scripts, particularly Eastern. (4) McKay mathematical
collection. (5) Sir James Donaldson Library, strong in
theology and classics. (6) The Muniment collection.
(7) The George Buchanan collection, one of the most
representative collections in existence. (8) The Crombie
Library, mainly theology. (9) The Royal collection,
Stuart books. (10) The Baron von Hiigel collection,
mainly philosophy. (11) The St. Andrews collection.
(12) The Principal Forbes Library, strong in early and
rare science works.
122 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
SHEFFIELD UNIVERSITY
(i) The Parker collection of books on alchemy and
the early history of chemistry. (2) A large collection of
facsimiles of papyri, mainly Greek. (3) The Watson
collection of literature bearing upon Polychaete worms,
which is almost unique in its completeness.
SOUTHAMPTON, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
(1) Cope collection of Hampshire books. (2) A collec-
tion of Hampshire maps.
SWANSEA, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
The Powel Welsh library.
WYE, SOUTH-EASTERN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
(1) The principal old agricultural books. (2) Reports
on agricultural research in British Empire, U.S.A., and
Europe.
VI
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIBRARIES
By Allan Gomme
Librarian H.M. Patent Office Library
VI
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIBRARIES
By Allan Gomme
Librarian H.M. Patent Office Library
The need for the systematic collection and organization
of recorded scientific knowledge from all parts of the
world in a community such as that of England, which
is dependent for its very existence on the prosperity of
its industries, would appear to require little in the way
of justification. The truth is, however, that this country
is only just beginning to perceive the vital importance
of scientific research to industry, and the necessity for
an accurate knowledge of what is being done from
day to day in the various branches of science and tech-
nology. The fact and an explanation of it has been
well expressed by Mr. A. J. Balfour (as he then was) at
a Conference of Research Associations. " I think we are
apt to forget," he said, 1 " how recent is the recognition
by the general public of the truism that the industrial
progress of mankind is going to be in the future more
and more dependent upon the alliance of science and
industry, and upon the co-operation of different branches
of science with each other. I do not know when it can
be said to have really first begun, . . . but apart from
details and apart from the minute happenings of history,
1 Report of Second Conference of Research Organizations, 12 De-
cember, 1 91 9. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.
H.M.S.O., 1920.
125
126 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
what I think is certainly true is this that the great
industrial development in which Great Britain led the
way towards the end of the eighteenth century, which
gave us a manufacturing supremacy over all the world
which it is certainly impossible and probably not wholly
desirable that we should ever regain, was not in the
main due to anything which pure science contributed
to industry. I believe that it is partly owing to that,
that the great industrial community of this country,
whose succession with their forefathers has been unin-
terrupted, have not got, as it were, into the tissue of
their thoughts the idea that science is now in these days
an essential element in industrial progress. The
Germans, whose industrial development came much
later, have always taken a different view. I do not
think that they have shown any greater aptitude for
science than our own fellow-countrymen ; but beginning
as they did rather late in the day with that view which
they have always entertained of the close alliance that
ought to exist between knowledge and power, they
naturally and easily did what we with more difficulty
and at a later date are beginning to do."
It is to-day quite clear that if Great Britain is to
maintain its industrial position in the world, we must
follow the example of the Germans and proceed at once
energetically to organize the whole of our resources,
industrial, experimental, and literary, for the furtherance
of scientific research. It is mainly for that reason, it
may be surmised, that it has been decided to allot a
special chapter in this book to the subject of scientific
and technical libraries, for these form one of the essential
tools of the research worker, providing him as they
should do, with easy and expeditious access to the
recorded experience of the world in whatever branch of
science he may be working, and enabling him to take full
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIBRARIES 127
advantage of the successes and the equally important
failures of his predecessors in that particular field.
It may be stated at once, however, that a great deal
of what has been said elsewhere in this volume on the
uses of libraries in general will apply equally well to the
science and technical library, and must be read as so
applying. The general organization and routine are
much the same for all ; they all obey the same funda-
mental rules of classification and cataloguing, and use
the same bibliographical tools. The great national
bibliographies The English Catalogue, the Deutsches
Biicherverzeichniss, The United States Catalogue, the
Bibliographie de la France, the Bollettino delle Publi-
cazioni Italiane, the Bibliographie de Belgique, and so
on, are of course necessities in any library, and together
with encyclopaedias, national and polyglot dictionaries,
biographies, indexes and abstracts to periodical literature,
year-books, and other similar standard works of reference,
form the basis of any collection which is organized for
intelligent use. And though some of these especially
dictionaries and bibliographies acquire perhaps a dis-
tinctive importance in the special library, and may
require fuller treatment here, it will not be necessary
to speak of them in general terms.
Before some of the needs of a special library are dis-
cussed in detail, it may be instructive to glance at its
historical development in this country, and to examine
our existing resources, for such a digression will show
that although industries have hitherto progressed mainly
under a system of trial and error, and manufacturers
and public alike have been slow to appreciate the import-
ance of science to the needs of the community, yet
English scientific men themselves from Roger Bacon
downwards through the centuries have been amongst
the foremost in recognizing the value of experimental
128 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
research, and have from early times collected scientific
and technical records which put the library catalogues
of this country among the richest in the world.
The necessity for co-operative effort and for periodical
opportunities of meeting together for the purpose of
comparing notes and discussing new ideas was seen at
an early date by English scientists, and was the immediate
cause of the initiation of that long line of learned and
scientific societies which, few in number to start with,
have rapidly multiplied until they are now almost be-
wilderingly numerous, covering every branch of know-
ledge. These societies come into the story because, at
the commencement of or early in their history, most of
them formed libraries, many of which exist to-day and,
indeed, account for almost the whole of the scientific
library system of the country. The oldest and the most
famous of these societies is the Royal Society of London,
which after several years of preparation, was founded in
1660, received its charter in 1662, and started a library
in the following year. This is not the place for more
than a passing reference to the Royal Society, though
the temptation to dwell on its early history is great ; for
the Society was very largely instrumental in inaugurating
the era of scientific investigation in this country, and
its prestige in the scientific world of to-day and its
position as one of the earliest foundations of its kind,
outside the state-aided academies of the continent of
Europe, render it of especial interest to all who are
studying the history of science in any of its various
aspects. It attracted to its membership scientists of
all kinds ; but its activities were, generally speaking, con-
fined to what is called pure science, and were concerned
but little with the technical application of scientific
discovery to industry. This was to remain uncared for
until almost a century later, when there were formed two
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIBRARIES 129
societies which had for their express object the encour-
agement of the arts and industries of the country one,
the Royal Dublin Society in Ireland, which after a some-
what chequered career was finally established in 1731,
and the other the society known to-day as the Royal
Society of Arts, which was started in London twenty-
three years later.
Without in any way depreciating the immense
amount of valuable work, especially in connexion with
agriculture, which this latter society accomplished in
its early days, it is permissible to doubt, being wise after
the event, whether its system of granting premiums to
original inventive genius was the most suitable that
could have been adopted for the purpose aimed at. In
any case it does not appear that its manifold activities
had any great influence in directing the minds either of
the industrialists or of the public towards the benefits
that would accrue from the organized application of
scientific research to industry and to our daily needs.
But one thing it certainly did do. And this was to
foster that spirit of co-operation amongst scientists
which had been introduced with the Royal Society,
and which, appealing strongly to those working in the
same field, led to the formation of a number of sub-
sidiary societies and their libraries, each devoted to a
particular branch of knowledge.
A few of these were indeed already in existence, but
they were all concerned with medicine or natural history,
subjects with which the Society of Arts did not profess
to deal. Edinburgh claims the earliest of these, the
Medical Society of that city having been founded in
1737. The Medical Society of London followed in
1773, and in quick succession were founded the Medical
Institute of Liverpool (1779) ; the Royal Society of
Edinburgh, which, though now of a much wider
9
130 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
character, was mainly medical in its origin (1783) ; the
Linnean Society (1788) ; the Medico-Chirurgical Society
of Aberdeen (1789) ; the Physical Society of Edin-
burgh (1790) ; and the Royal Medical and Chirurgical
Society (now a part of the Royal Society of Medicine),
1805. All of these have libraries dating practically
from their foundation.
This is not the occasion to deal in detail with the
long list of these early societies, or with the still more
lengthy one of those of the nineteenth century. Some
of these had but transient existences, and others had no
libraries, but it may be worth while referring to a few
of the most important, because they furnish a clue to the
chronology and evolution of the scientific library. Most
of those mentioned are, too, the earliest devoted to
their respective subjects in this or any other country,
and are from that point of view well worth a passing
reference. Thus the Geological Society was founded
in 1 807 ; the Institution of Civil Engineers the
first of the great engineering societies in 1818 ; the
Astronomical Society in 1820 ; the Royal Agricultural
Society in 1831 ; the Chemical Society and the
Pharmaceutical Society, both in 1841 ; the Institution
of Mechanical Engineers, with George Stephenson, the
railway engineer, as first president, in 1847 ; the Royal
Photographic Society in 1853 ; the Institution of
Engineers and Shipbuilders in Glasgow in 1857 ; the
Royal Aeronautical Society in 1866 ; the Iron and Steel
Institute in 1869 ; the Institution of Electrical Engineers
in 1 871, and so on. By the end of the nineteenth
century, most of the wider branches of science had
their societies and their libraries. With the present
century an age of extreme specialization was ushered in,
and the societies that are now being formed in ever
increasing numbers, are devoting themselves to the
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIBRARIES 131
study and promotion of small divisions of subjects
already covered in their wider and more general aspects
by the older institutions. In the chemical field, for
instance, there have separated from the parent body
distinct organizations representing chemical industry,
biological chemistry, chemical engineering, agricultural
chemistry, textile chemistry, leather chemistry, paint
and colour chemistry, and others, whilst in engineering
such special topics as concrete, automobiles, aeronautics,
heating, illumination, refrigeration, water supply, sanita-
tion, etc., have their own special societies and libraries.
All the libraries referred to so far belong to private
or semi-private institutions, and the collections are
primarily for use only by the members of those institu-
tions, and are not openly available to the general public.
It is, of course, true that in practice the restrictions
imposed on the use of the books by non-members are
not always rigorously enforced. The resources of most,
if not all of these libraries, are usually available to bona
fide students for the consultation of works not otherwise
easily accessible to them, and help and advice are always
given without stint. But the absence of any right of
access for the non-member has undoubtedly been a
deterrent to a wider use of their invaluable resources,
and to the growth of a healthy desire for knowledge in
the community at large, which it should be in the
interest of the State to encourage.
In the absence, however, of enlightened millionaires,
the provision of public libraries cannot be made without
direct endowment by the State or municipal authorities,
and it must be admitted that in this direction the
activities of these bodies have not been conspicuous,
though the Government is not entirely without credit.
The Geological Survey and Museum was opened to
the public in Craig's Court, Charing Cross, in 1841,
1 32 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
and transferred to Jermyn Street in 1851, and it is
probable that the public were admitted to the use of
the attached Library from the earlier date. But the
first definitely public scientific library, as such, to be
formed, was that of the Patent Office in 1855. The
Library of the Science Museum, South Kensington,
which followed two years later, was founded as a library
of educational works, but has now a general science
collection, of great value, to which the public are admitted.
The Library of the Natural History Museum, the
National Physical Laboratory, the Imperial Institute,
which was transferred to the State in 1902, and depart-
mental libraries, such as those of the Department of
Agriculture and the Meteorological Office, complete the
record of the State's activities in the promotion of
scientific research up to the outbreak of the war. A few
months of war, however, were sufficient to show in a
vivid and all- conclusive way that the needs and aspira-
tions of the community could not be satisfied unless
better provision were made to encourage research and
utilize its results for the benefit of industry, as well in
civil as in military and naval affairs. The formation of
the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
was the first sign that the nation had realized its position,
and the establishment, under the aegis of that Depart-
ment, of Research Associations for many of our most
important industries has gone some way to supply the
deficiency caused by the apathy and neglect of past
years. Twenty-three industries l have now formed
associations under the scheme, and these have already
1 Photography, Scientific Instruments, Wool and Worsted, Motor-
car and Allied Industries, Boots and Shoes, Sugar, Cotton, Iron, Glass,
Linen, Indiarubber, Cocoa and Confectionery, Non-Ferrous Metals,
Refractories, Shale Oil, Laundrywork, Leather, Cutlery, Electrical
Industries, Motor-cycles, Silk, Cast Iron, and Flour.
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIBRARIES 133
not only given an impetus to the industries immediately
concerned, but have added a chapter to the history of
the scientific library. The associations are created and
financed by the industry itself, with the assistance of a
grant from the Government for a limited period at the
beginning of their existence, and by thus pooling the
resources of the various individual firms for research
purposes, are rapidly becoming centres of scientific
activity and bureaux of information of the first import-
ance. Most of them have formed or are forming libraries
under trained and experienced librarians, which are
providing valuable reference material for the research
workers associated with them, and will, when developed,
form an important part of the library system of the
country. The municipal authorities, too, are taking
action. Instead of maintaining a half-hearted collection
of scientific and technical works sandwiched between
Philology and Literature, many of these are viewing with
favour the establishment as part of their library system
of special comprehensive technical sections, housed
separately and under the direction of an expert staff.
This has been done already in some cases, notably at
Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, and Glasgow, where
important libraries have been formed, and is in process
of being carried out in other towns. The close acquaint-
ance that these libraries have with the industrial needs
of the community they serve, their up-to-date informa-
tion files, and their intimate association with similarly
formed commercial libraries are proving of rapidly
increasing value, and an extension of the movement to
all-important centres throughout the country is to be
encouraged.
There is one other class of technical library that is
making headway in this country though not on the
same scale and with the same speed as in America.
134 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
These are attached to individual industrial firms or trade
associations, and act as information bureaux for the
various departments, administrative, commercial, and
technical, of the firms concerned. Many of the largest
industrial establishments have had departments of this
character for some years, with increasing advantage to
themselves; but they are now becoming not only more
numerous, but what is more important are being organ-
ized on scientific lines and placed in the charge of trained
and experienced librarians and bibliographers. Infor-
mation regarding the extent to which this movement
has spread throughout the country is scanty and difficult
to obtain, and a detailed survey is not possible, but the
following can be mentioned as examples : The Dunlop
Rubber Company (Birmingham) ; General Electric
Company (Wembley) ; Metropolitan Vickers, Ltd. (Man-
chester) ; Messrs. Rowntree (York) ; Nobel's Explosives
Co. (Glasgow) ; British Thomson-Houston Co. (Rugby) ;
Kynoch, Ltd. (Birmingham) ; and Kodak, Ltd. (Harrow).
This rapid and bird's-eye review of the historical
development of the country's resources in scientific and
technical libraries, 1 indicates at least that the movement
has been one of comparatively rapid and continuous
growth, and is in full swing to-day. Indeed, a statistical
summary of all such libraries throughout the country
would probably reveal a numerical result that could in
itself be regarded as not altogether incommensurable
with the country's needs, were it not that the satisfaction
given by the figures would have to be leavened by a
consideration of the nature and relative efficiency of the
various collections, and by the disproportion existing
between the numbers for London and for the provinces.
Probably not less than one-half of the total number
1 University Libraries and those of educational establishments have
not been considered here. They are dealt with in a separate chapter.
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIBRARIES 135
and of these the largest and most representative would
be found in London. All but the most recent of these
are described in Rye's excellent Guide to the Libraries
of London, to which work the reader is referred for
fuller information. 1
Of the number, not more than four can be described
as public the Patent Office and the Science Museum,
both dealing with general science apart from medicine,
the first preponderating in technology and the latter in
pure science, the Geological Survey and Museum, and
the St. Bride Typographical Library, which was founded
in 1885, and contains one of the most complete collec-
tions in Great Britain of works relating to printing,
book-binding, paper-making, and allied industries.
Of the libraries devoted to specific branches of know-
ledge, those dealing with medicine and cognate subjects
head the list with eighteen, including one, that of the
College of Physicians, which may perhaps be regarded
as the oldest scientific library in the kingdom, since its
nucleus is said to have been the private collection of
The following is a list of the most important libraries that are not
included in the 1910 edition of Rye : Aero Club, Air Ministry, Depart-
ment of Scientific and Industrial Research, Institute of Metals, Institution
of Automobile Engineers, Institute of British Foundrymen, Institution
of Mining Engineers, Institution of Petroleum Technologists, Institution
of Structural Engineers (formerly the Concrete Institute), Medical
Research Council, The Optical Society, the Post Office Research Depart-
ment, Research Association of British Rubber and Tyre Manufacturers,
Royal Aeronautical Society, Royal Mint, Woolwich Research Depart-
ment. In addition the following Research Associations and other
institutions have libraries which are in process of formation, but are
not as yet very extensive : British Association of Research for Cocoa,
etc. ; British Launderers' Research Association, British Scientific Instru-
ment Research Association, The Institution of Rubber Industry, Paper
Makers' Association of Great Britain, the National Institute of Industrial
Psychology, The Research Association of British Motor and Allied
Manufacturers.
136 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Thomas Linacre, the founder of the College in 151 8.
Engineering follows with eleven, of which the chief is
that of the Institution of Civil Engineers, probably the
finest engineering library in existence ; mining and
metallurgy has six ; chemistry with chemical industries
has five ; architecture and building, four ; agriculture,
astronomy, and aeronautics have three each ; horology,
meteorology, and geology two each ; and the remainder
represent such subjects as automobile engineering,
brewing, photography, microscopy, printing, and public
health.
The libraries of the provinces are neither so numerous
nor on the whole so large as those of the metropolis,
though there are one or two, notably the Ceramic Library
at Stoke-upon-Trent, which specialize in subjects not
covered in London outside the general libraries of the
Patent Office and elsewhere. 1 No attempt will be made
here to give a complete record of the provincial libraries,
but the following list does, it is thought, comprise all
the important ones and give a very fair idea of their
distribution through the country.
Agriculture :
Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland,
Edinburgh.
Rothamsted Agriculture Experiment Station.
South-Eastern Agricultural College, Wye, Sussex.
1 There is no satisfactory guide to the provincial libraries. Lists can
be found in such annual publications as the Index Generalis (a French
attempt to replace the German Minerva) and the Literary Tear Book ;
but these are by no means complete, and not always conveniently arranged.
The Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux has in
preparation a complete guide to the special libraries, special collections,
and other sources of information on special subjects in Great Britain
and Ireland. An interesting list and account of the libraries of Man-
chester by Mr. Ernest Axon appeared in the Library Association Record
for September 1921.
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIBRARIES 137
Architecture :
Birmingham Architectural Association.
Leeds and West Yorkshire Architectural Society
Leeds.
Liverpool Architectural Society.
Manchester Society of Architects.
Art Metalwork :
Assay Office, Birmingham.
Astronomy :
Blackford Hill Observatory, Edinburgh.
Leeds Astronomical Society.
Liverpool Astronomical Society.
Biology :
Liverpool Biological Society.
Botany :
Birmingham Botanical and Horticultural Society.
Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.
Liverpool Botanic Society.
Ceramics :
Ceramic Library of the Central School of Science
and Technology, Stoke-upon-Trent (including the
Solon Library).
Chemistry :
Chemical Industry Club, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Leeds Chemists' Association.
Liverpool Chemists' Association.
Engineering :
Aberdeen Association of Civil Engineers.
Birmingham and District Association. Institution
of Civil Engineers.
Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders, Glasgow.
Joint Delegation of the Local Yorkshire Associations
of the Institutions of Civil, Mechanical Electrical,
Municipal, and Locomotive Engineers, Leeds.
Leeds Association of Engineers.
138 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Engineering (continued) :
Liverpool Engineering Society.
North-East Coast Institution of Engineers and
Shipbuilders, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
North of England Institute of Mining and Mechani-
cal Engineers, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
General Science and Technology :
Birmingham and Midland Institute Scientific Society,
Birmingham.
Commercial and Technical Department, Sheffield
Public Library.
Commercial Library, Glasgow.
Literary and Philosophical Society, Manchester.
Municipal School of Technology, Manchester.
Municipal Technical School, Birmingham.
Royal Philosophical Society, Glasgow.
Royal Technical College, Glasgow.
Scientific Societies Library, Nottingham Public
Library.
Technical and Science Library, Manchester Public
Library.
Technical Reference Library, Birmingham.
Geology :
Edinburgh Geological Society.
Geological Society, Glasgow.
Leeds Geological Society.
Liverpool Geological Society.
Yorkshire Geological Association, Leeds.
Glass :
Society of Glass Technology, Sheffield.
Marine Biology :
Scottish Marine Biological Association, Glasgow.
Medicine :
Aberdeen Medico-Chirurgical Society.
Durham College of Medicine, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIBRARIES 139
Edinburgh Obstetrical Society.
Leeds and West Riding Medico-Chirurgical Society,
Leeds.
Liverpool Medical Institution.
Manchester Medical Society.
Medical Institute, Birmingham.
Medico-Chirurgical Society, Sheffield.
Northern Counties and Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Medical Society, Newcastle.
Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh.
Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow.
Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh.
Mining and Metallurgy :
Birmingham Metallurgical Society.
British Cast Iron Research Association, Birmingham.
British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association,
Birmingham.
Mining Institute of Scotland, Glasgow.
Safety in Mines Research Board, Sheffield.
Sheffield Metallurgical Association, Sheffield.
Natural History :
Birmingham Microscopists and Naturalists Union.
Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society,
Liverpool.
Leeds Naturalists Club and Scientific Association
Liverpool Microscopical Society.
Manchester Museum.
Natural History and Philosophical Society, Bir-
mingham.
Natural History Society of Glasgow.
Public Health :
Glasgow Corporation Health Department.
Textiles :
British Cotton Industry Research Association, Man-
chester.
140 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Textiles {continued) :
British Research Association for the Woollen and
Worsted Industries, Leeds.
British Silk Research Association, Leeds.
Textile Institute, Manchester.
Nottingham, perhaps, deserves special notice as an
instance of co-operative effort, for there most of the
important scientific societies and other technical bodies
of the city have combined to form a comprehensive
collection covering their various activities. The scheme,
initiated in 191 8, now includes eight societies, 1 and the
joint library is housed at the Central Public Reference
Library, whence the books are issued on loan to all
members of the societies, and for reference purposes
only to the general public.
Such is, in general outline, the scientific library
system of the country as it exists to-day. The survey
is not complete ; a large number of local libraries, for
the most part small and incomplete, have been omitted,
as has also the much more important class of " Works "
libraries which, for reasons already stated, it has not been
possible to include.
What do these libraries contain ? They contain a
part of our inheritance from the past a past which,
as we have seen, manufacturers, scientists, and public
alike are beginning to realize is as important as those
more obvious and material benefits to which we in our
generation have been born, and our possession of them
to-day entails an obligation towards posterity that can
1 The Society of Chemical Industry, Association of Mining Electrical
Engineers, Nottingham Society of Engineers, Midland Counties Insti-
tution of Engineers, National Association of Colliery Managers, Notting-
ham Lace and Net Dressers' Association, Nottingham Association of
Building Trades Employers, Nottingham Master Hosiery D. & F. Associa-
tion.
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIBRARIES 141
only be discharged by their systematic organization and
intelligent use. The recorded experience of the world
extends over a course of many centuries, and the whole
of this is at our disposal if only we know how to make
full use of it. It is perhaps, however, only for the few
to delve into the historic past. For the majority of
special libraries, concerned as they are in the main with
the problems of to-day, and with the perpetual influx of
fresh information the value of which depends so largely
on its immediate classification and use, considerations of
shelf-space and cost will not permit extensive dealings
with the literature of the past. When such works are
required, recourse must be had to the valuable historical
collections which exist not only at the great national
libraries like those of the British Museum and the
Bodleian, but at the specialist libraries of the Royal
Society, the Engineering Institutions, the Chemical
Society, and others, and at the libraries of the Patent
Office and Science Museum.
The current output of scientific and technological
literature is, in fact, so enormous that it is easily sufficient
to occupy the time of special librarians. There are prob-
ably published annually, throughout the world, relating to
one branch or another of science, about 15,000 textbooks,
together with some 18,000 periodicals, which appear at
intervals throughout the year. 1 No research worker
could, of course, possibly be expected to see all these
new publications to say nothing of reading them,
1 The World List of Scientific Periodicals, Oxford University Press,
1925, vol. i, lists a total of 24,028 scientific periodicals existing in 1900
or originating after that date and before 1922. If there be deducted
from this figure the number of journals that have ceased publication
since 1900, and allowance be made for new journals published since
1 92 1, the figure given in the text will probably be found to represent
at a liberal estimate the number of journals current to-day.
142 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
even if he were content to confine his attention only to
those that normally would appear to lie within his own
selected sphere. The complex nature of life and the
forces behind it which our ever-increasing knowledge
and understanding are revealing to us, and the growing
interdependence of the different branches of science
on one another, render it impossible for the scientist
to shut himself in a water-tight compartment and say,
" Thus far will I go, and no farther," and though a very
considerable portion of this vast literary output will be
found to be of little value or interest for any particular
worker, yet it cannot be discarded without examination.
It is very necessary that the scientist should know of the
existence of this literature, and as far as possible obtain
an insight into the contents so that the question of its
value may be decided. This is where the special library
comes in, for the busy scientist will be unable to devote
much of his time to the task, and the work of examination
and selection must be done for him by the competent
librarian.
It is for this reason that bibliographies, indexes, and
abstracts are becoming more and more indispensable
to the librarian and research worker alike. Without the
great national bibliographies, of which mention has been
made, it would not be possible to follow the production
of the printing press in the various countries, and
indexes and abstracts form the key to the otherwise
closed door of the world's periodical literature, which
is the everyday working tool of the scientist, and the
very backbone of any technical library. Textbooks will
always find an essential place on the shelves as important
and labour-saving summaries of the state of the art at
the date of publication, but it is in the periodical that
are first recorded the results of research and the trend of
industrial progress and development, and it is on this
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIBRARIES 143
that the student must rely for the greater part of his
information. The librarian of the technical library will
therefore concentrate on periodical literature, and on
indexes and bibliographies of all kinds. Fortunately
scientific journals themselves furnish a considerable
proportion of the existing index literature. There are
few journals of note that do not pay attention in one
form or another to the current literature of the subject
with which it is their object to deal. One important
form in which this work appears is that of the book-
review column, common to practically all journals,
large and small. These reviews often of considerable
technical interest and frequently of works such as the
privately printed brochures of individuals or industrial
firms that do not appear in the national bibliographies
are important to both scientist and librarian, since they
often provide material on which judgment as to the
worth of the book from any particular point of view
may be formed. In this connexion, the attention of
readers may be drawn to the Technical Book Review
Index, now in its ninth year, published quarterly by the
Carnegie Library at Pittsburg. Each number of this
contains about 1,000 references to reviews of scientific
and technical books in all languages, arranged in alpha-
betical order of authors' names, which have appeared in
some of the most important journals during the previous
three months, with particulars of the length of the review
and a short abstract. From the very nature of this work
it cannot be very up to date reviews themselves fre-
quently appear a considerable time after the publication
of the book and to a certain extent it thereby loses
somewhat in value for the librarian ; but it still remains
a very important aid to the selection of works for the
library, especially of foreign ones of which it would be
difficult otherwise to gauge the value.
144 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Bibliographies proper may be divided into two classes,
those which treat their subject from an historical and
retrospective point of view in an exhaustive survey,
collecting together references to its literature from all
sources, and those which are concerned with current
literature only, and are issued periodically as soon as
possible after the publication of the work or works
indexed. To the first class belong such library cata-
logues as those of the important scientific societies and
other learned institutions, of which there may be cited
as an outstanding example the Index-Catalogue of the
Library of the Surgeon-GeneraV s Office of the United
States Army, which includes under one alphabetical
arrangement, author and subject entries, not only of the
books and other works in the library, but of articles in
periodicals and of patents, thus forming a very compre-
hensive key to the vast literature of medicine and its
allied subjects. Then there are catalogues of private
collections such as the Biblotheca Chemica, the catalogue
of James Young's Chemical Library, or the Catalogue of
the Wheeler Gift of books, pamphlets, and 'periodicals in
the Library of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers
(1909), and such special lists as those frequently issued
nowadays by second-hand booksellers, from which class
can justifiably be selected for mention here the Biblio-
theca Chemico-Mathematica of Messrs. Henry Sotheran
and Co. (1921), and the Descriptive Catalogue of Books
amd Engravings illustrating the Evolution of the Airship
and the Aeroplane of Messrs. Maggs Bros. (1920-23).
These latter lists are often particularly valuable for
the annotations that accompany many of the entries.
Finally there are the more general bibliographies not
limited to select collections such as Mottelay's recent
Bibliographical History of Electricity and Magnetism, the
Bibliography of Aeronautics from the earliest times down
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIBRARIES 145
to 1922, issued first by the Smithsonian Institution and
later by the National Advisory Committee for Aero-
nautics (U.S.) ; Cockle's Bibliography of Military Books
up to 1640, and the extremely valuable Catalogue of
Scientific Papers, 1 800-1 900, issued in nineteen volumes
by the Royal Society, and indexing some 1,500 periodicals.
Of bibliographies of this character there is a very large
number, and their own bibliography would run into a
great many pages. Not only are they becoming more
and more common, either as separate publications or
as contributions to scientific journals, but no textbook is
to-day considered complete without a bibliography of
the subject, or at least a very full reference list. These,
indeed, often become very important features. Worden's
Technology of Cellulose Esters, for instance, the first
volume of which runs into nearly 4,000 pages, contains
a prodigious number of references to books, journals,
and patents, with their own indexes, considerably more
than half of many of the pages being occupied by refer-
ences. Not all books are as full as this or as authoritative
as, for example, Beilstein's Handbuch der organischen
Chemie, which is one of the daily tools of the chemist,
but the bibliographical material contained in most is
frequently quite invaluable as a source for the literature
of the subject with which they deal, and the wise
librarian will in all important cases see that a note to
that effect is added to his subject catalogue or card index.
Another work of bibliographical interest which may be
mentioned here, though perhaps more properly belonging
to the Biography class, is Poggendorf's Biographisch-
literarisches Handworterbuch (8 vols., 1 863-1925), which,
arranged alphabetically in name order, gives for the
scientists of all times and all countries not only the
main biographical details of their lives, but also their
chief contributions to literature whether as monographs
10
146 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
or as periodical articles. The work is very accurate and
reliable, and forms a valuable aid for the cataloguer, and
for anyone interested in the writings of an individual
author.
The other class of bibliography to which we have
referred, namely that dealing with current topics, is
issued periodically and the more frequent the issue the
better either as a separate journal, like Chemical
Abstracts of the American Chemical Society, or Science
Abstracts, or, and more usually, as a feature of some
journal dealing with the subject. The number of such
periodical bibliographies as are now appearing regularly
is very large, and is increasing rapidly. A recent in-
vestigation undertaken by the Committee on Intellectual
Co-operation of the League of Nations shows that
there are nearly 400 distinct periodical publications
concerned with science and technology in one or other
of its branches, which either consist entirely of current
bibliographical material or devote a more or less con-
siderable space to it. 1 Of this total, about 250 deal
with pure science, including medicine (which latter
with allied subjects accounts for about one-half of this
number) and the remainder with technology. It is
interesting to note that while the German-speaking
countries are responsible for by far the larger proportion
of these bibliographies (about one-third of the whole
number), their preponderance lies almost wholly within
the realm of pure science and medicine, the English
and American heading the list so far as technology and
industry are concerned.
1 Published as Index Bibliographicus ; Repertoire international des
sources de bibliographie courante. Geneva, 1925. The work is a first
attempt at international effort in a matter of this kind, and suffers some-
what by reason of the fact that each country supplied its own list, and
that there was no common standard of selection. The list, however,
covers all countries and is fairly complete.
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIBRARIES 147
Examples of these bibliographies will occur to every-
one, and need not be given here. It is sufficient to
point out that with the publication of the second volume
of the World List of Scientific Periodicals, which will
show what periodicals can be seen in this country, and
in what libraries they may be consulted, their value will
greatly increase, for the libraries that possess them will
thereby be given access to a far wider range of literature
than most of them could ever hope to possess for them-
selves.
A glance at any of these bibliographies will soon
convince the student that a very great deal of the
scientific and technical literature that he will have to
consult appears in foreign languages mainly in German
and French, though also to a lesser extent and for special
subjects in other languages and one who is not a good
linguist will have to make himself conversant with
reliable technical dictionaries in the different languages,
and with their use. One of the best-known and most
useful of these dictionaries is the Schlomann series in six
languages, of which sixteen volumes have been issued up
to the present time, each devoted to a specific branch
of technology, and including the raw materials of the
industry and the trade and commercial terms employed.
In this dictionary the alphabetical order is discarded, and
words and phrases are grouped into classes and the exact
equivalent given in German, English, French, Italian,
Russian, and Spanish, with consolidated indexes at the
end. Easy reference is facilitated by illustrations which
are given for most of the technical terms, and this,
together with the classified arrangement which permits
the use of descriptive phrases where necessary, which
would not be possible in an ordinary word dictionary,
very largely eliminates the danger of a mistranslation.
This cannot always be guarded against with ordinary
148 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
bi-lingual dictionaries, and the student is advised always
to " complete the circle " and check a translation given
in one part by referring back again through the second
part, or better still to consult one of the national dic-
tionaries where the various shades of meaning attached
to a word or phrase are given in detail, as, for example,
The Oxford English Dictionary, Grimm's Deutsches
Worterbucb, Larousse's Dictionnaire Universel, Tommaseo
and Bellini's Dizionario della lingua italiana, etc. Such
authoritative works as these should be in constant use ;
the curious inquirer will find many matters of interest
and value in their pages, besides definitions and the
meanings of words. Indeed, the Oxford Dictionary has
frequently been used with success at the Patent Office
Library in connexion with investigations of an historical
character, bibliographical and other clues being obtained
which might otherwise only have been found after a
more or less prolonged search.
There are one or two classes of literature of especial
importance for technical libraries, which may be referred
to here, for they have often been overlooked in the past,
and it is essential that their value for research purposes
should be clearly recognized. The catalogues of manu-
facturing firms is one such class. These publications,
especially those of the present time, contain a great
deal of information on industrial practice, and their
usefulness to the inventor, for instance, is very great.
They should be classed with other material relating to
the subject in the general classification scheme of the
library, and in the case of " open access " libraries,
should be placed on the shelves in any suitable form with
the textbook and pamphlet literature so that they will
not be overlooked by a searcher.
The literature of patents for invention which are
granted with few unimportant exceptions by every
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIBRARIES 149
country in the world, is another class that requires
attention by both the librarian and user of the technical
library. It is true that " blue-books " are often regarded
as dull and uninteresting reading, fit only for politicians ;
but the volumes of patent specifications of this and other
countries not only contain a remarkable record of man's
ingenuity extending over a period of more than three
centuries, but give in a comparatively clear and concise
form practically a day-to-day account of what is being
done in industry in the various parts of the world. Not
every country, it is true, publishes descriptions of the
inventions for which it grants patents, but the files even
of those that do are not sufficiently well-known in this
country. The British records are well distributed, and
can be consulted at most of the larger public libraries
throughout the kingdom ; but the foreign literature
is not so readily, if at all, accessible outside London.
The following countries, Great Britain, France, Ger-
many, the United States, Austria, Russia, Switzerland,
Japan, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Australia,
India, Jugo-Slavia, Czecho- Slovakia, Poland, and, as a
quite recent addition, Italy, print and distribute in
separate numbers and at a small price, full descriptions
and drawings of all patents granted in their respective
countries, the prints usually issuing within a week or
two of the satisfactory completion of the official exam-
ination. In this way some 130,000 patent specifications
are published each year. This is a rather formidable
figure, but there is a considerable amount of duplication,
arising from the fact that many inventions are patented
simultaneously in several countries, and a selection of
the patents from Great Britain, United States, France,
and Germany would probably meet the needs of most
technical libraries, though it might be necessary in certain
cases, where for instance the industry concerned is one
ISO THE USES OF LIBRARIES
which is especially developed in one of the smaller
countries, to add the patent literature of that country
to the collection. All the countries referred to classify
their patents for examination purposes some of them
very minutely and publish the classification schemes
in some form or other, together with weekly or monthly
subject indexes or class lists of the specifications published
during the period covered, and it is a comparatively easy
matter by the use of these lists or of similar lists and
abstracts which appear in most of the technical journals,
for the technical library to select and obtain copies of
all those patent specifications which are likely to be of
interest, and file these in any suitable or convenient
method. 1
For those libraries that can ill afford the space or cost
of a large number of full specifications, it is worth noting
that Great Britain, the United States, and Germany
publish in their weekly official journals, abstracts or
abridgments of their published specifications together
with one or more figures from the drawings. In the
German publication these are arranged in class order ;
in the other two they are in numerical order, but with
suitable headings and with the class allotment added.
If need be these journals can be cut up and the relevant
abridgments pasted on cards and filed in some selected
class order for reference. The British office serves the
public well in this respect, for every five years it collects
together all the abridgments for each of its 271 classes,
1 It may be mentioned here that at the Patent Office Library,
where complete sets of specifications are received from all these countries,
and where it would not be possible to re-classify these on one uniform
system, the practice is to file one set of the specifications in numerical
order, and wherever feasible a duplicate set in class order according
to the classification scheme of the issuing patent office. This has been
done for Germany, France, Holland, Switzerland, Austria, and the
Scandinavian countries.
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIBRARIES 151
and issues these in separate volume form. Moreover,
during the course of publication of these volumes, it
will, when required, issue them sheet by sheet as these
are received from the printer, thus enabling the sub-
scribers to make up their own volumes and maintain a
complete record of the patent specifications in any
particular field.
To prolong the discussion would unduly extend this
chapter, and could not but sooner or later trespass
seriously on the subject-matter of other parts of the
volume. Enough has perhaps been said to indicate to
the reader the extent and scope of the technical library
resources of the country, and, it is hoped, to arouse his
active interest and sympathy. Such interest is indeed
necessary if the library system of the country is to reach
its full development. A great eifort is at the present
moment being made amongst librarians, particularly
those in the special library movement, towards a fuller
co-operation in technique and organization ; but much
remains to be done which can only be finally completed
through the growth of a stimulating desire for knowledge
on the part of the public, with the promotion of a wider
and surer understanding of what the library stands for,
and of the value of the services that it is capable of
rendering to the community.
If this book assists in any way the achievement of these
objects it will have played its part.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Very little has been written on the Technical Library apart
from occasional articles in the periodical press. The reader can,
however, be referred to the several volumes of Special Libraries,
the organ of the Special Libraries Association (of America),
vol. i, etc., New York, 19 10, etc. ; the Proceedings of the First
{and Second) Conference of the Association of Special Libraries
152 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
and Information Bureaux, Hoddesdon, September 1924 (The
Association, 1925) ; also as particularly useful reference works
The Libraries of London by R. A. Rye, 2nd ed, (University
of London Press, 19 10) ; World List of Scientific Periodicals,
1 900-1 92 1, 2 vols. (Oxford University Press, 1925- ) ; Index
Bibliographicus (League of Nations, Geneva, 1925) ; and, for
patent literature, to the Guide to the Search Department of
the Patent Office Library ', 4th ed., 19 13, and the Key to the
Classification of the Patent Specifications of France, Germany, etc.,
3rd ed., 19 1 5 (both issued by H.M. Patent Office).
VII
THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE AND
ARCHIVES
By Hilary Jenkinson, M.A., F.S.A.
Reader in Diplomatic and English Archives, University of London
VII
THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE AND
ARCHIVES
By Hilary Jenkinson, M.A., F.S.A.
Reader in Diplomatic and English Archives, University of London
The other studies in this book deal with library problems
whose nature is well understood. For reasons which
will appear the problem of the using of Archives is not
well understood and does not proceed upon conven-
tional Library lines : a considerable part of my space
must therefore be devoted simply to stating it.
What are Archives ?
We start with a simple definition : the word having,
to tell the truth, assumed a good many different meanings
in the hands of different users. I define * Archives as
documents drawn up for the purposes of, or used during, a
business transaction, public or private, of which they
themselves form a part, and subsequently preserved by the
persons responsible for that transaction, or their successors,
in their own custody for their own reference? This, while
it excludes potentially no variety of document (for
1 The definition was first used as a basis for my Manual of Archive
Administration (Clarendon Press, 1922).
2 A frequent objection is that any writer a Minister, for example-
may give his personal opinion in a minute or dispatch. The answer to
this is that all the resulting Archive (the original minute or the dispatch ;
or a copy of it) proves, and is intended to prove, is the fact that the writer
expressed the view ; with the correctness or incorrectness of his opinion
it is not concerned.
155
156 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
business may require the use of any, from a bill for
groceries to a set of nonsense verses), does in practice
generally rule out the treatise variety of document,
that written ad suadendum, to put a point of view
before the world at large : the Archive was made, and
preserved, in order to put certain facts before a limited
and definite set of persons as often as not the writers
themselves ; and in particular (let us be emphatic, for
this is important) it was not designed to convey informa-
tion to us who now use it : if it does include a document
of the ' treatise ' kind this last assumes a secondary
character ; a Minister of State, for example, quoting
Scripture for his purpose and thus making the Bible
part of the Archives of a Treaty ; but only in so far as,
and in the connexion in which, he uses it.
Two more points of some moment are, first, that our
definition includes all business documents ; the import-
ance, for example, or unimportance of the business, of
which they were a part, to the world at large, has nothing
to do with their archive quality : and, second, that
Archives are not collected they accumulate. We may
also remark that the preservation of the archive quality
is conditioned by the quality of their custody as that is
laid down in our definition.
Archives and Libraries
Certain differences between a Library and a Repository
of Archives are thus obvious from the first. The writer
of a book on (say) some economic subject is giving his
personal view, or at least his personal account of what
occurred, in order to promote certain opinions in that
section of mankind which is interested in his subject r
and his work is completed by the Librarian, who brings
the resulting book into contact with the people likely
to require it. The Archive is not giving anyone's point
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE AND ARCHIVES 157
of view, or statement as to what occurred : it is itself
an actual part of what occurred. This does not prevent
the Archive from being used subsequently for the
purposes of economic and other inquiry (many of which
would vastly surprise the man who wrote and preserved
it if they could be brought to his notice) : nor does it
prevent the modern librarian, or a new relation of his,
the archivist, from doing useful work in the way of
making it available for students. But it does mean
that the care, arrangement, interpretation, and use of
the Archive are all matters for study of a special kind
based on an understanding of its natural peculiarity.
The Growth of Interest in Archives
Distrust of the older authority in the case of History
distrust of the Chronicles, with all the superstructure
of later writing which was based upon them has been
growing in England since the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, when first antiquaries like Dugdale * and then
historians like Rymer 2 began to show to what an extent
many existing conceptions might be modified by their
use and how much new knowledge was waiting to be
quarried. Then the County Historians and others
working in similar fields showed signs of appreciation :
and at the same time began the slow process of awakening
Parliament to a sense of the nation's wealth and responsi-
bilities but to this we shall have to allude below. It
must be enough to mention here that the Record Com-
mission, appointed and re-appointed from 1800 to 1837,
did much by its publications to make available certain
classes of Public Records to the student of general,
family, and local history (social and economic studies
1 Notably in the Baronage and Monasticon.
2 Foedera, first published 1 704-1735.
158 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
were subjects of later growth) and to create an appetite
for more which has been growing ever since and to
which the present Public Record Office, which succeeded
the Record Commission in 1838, has ministered in
some hundreds of volumes of transcripts, calendars, and
indexes. At the present day the process of raising
Archives in the estimation of the learned from the
position of mere antiquities to that of indispensable
sources for the historian may be regarded as complete :
and there is no branch of study which, upon its historical
side, may not at any moment find itself indebted to them ;
from Medical Science to the study of Art, from the history
of Sport to Scientific Agriculture.
Two further points suggest themselves : first that
the growth of which we have spoken means incidentally
that interest in Archives has far transcended the limits
of the more imposing collections belonging to the great
Departments of State, extending itself to the widest
boundaries suggested by our definition ; second that
in considering the question of the use of Archives we
must not confine ourselves to originals but consider also
the methods of using those Archives which are available
in print.
The Development of Archives in England
At all periods in which writing was being used for
the purposes of Administration a certain number of
pieces have been preserved with the other treasures of
any important ruler : an obvious example in England is
furnished by Domesday, preserved, presumably from about
the year 1100, in the Royal Treasury and still extant.
But regular archive-keeping may be said to date from
the time when Authority not only preserves some of
the documents which come its way, in meliorem rei
memoriam, but deliberately and regularly commits to
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE AND ARCHIVES 159
writing, as an artificial aid to official recollection, a
reproduction of the events which took place or of the
documents which were dispatched : thus we have some
suggestions 1 of a time when Legal Record was the recol-
lection by the Justice of what had occurred ; but we
are concerned with the period when it had come to
mean that artificial memory, compiled by or for him,
which took the shape of a Plea Roll. Our earliest
Archives, in this sense, of Royal Administration begin
on the Financial side in the middle of the twelfth cen-
tury, 2 on the Legal later in the same century, 3 and on
the Executive at the beginning of the thirteenth. 4
For a detailed study of any or all of these the student
must be referred elsewhere 5 : but we may say here
that the earliest archives remaining to us belong to a
period when each of these great divisions of Public
Administration is working with a machinery, and pro-
ducing Archives, which, though highly organized, are
essentially simple and the product of a period of simple
needs. The actual keeping of them is also a simple
affair : the Treasury at Westminster, some space in the
Tower, ad hoc arrangements made by the Officials to
suit their individual needs these provide sufficient
Repository space.
The history of English Royal Archives from this time
(i.e. from the thirteenth century onwards, through the
mediaeval period) is that of a continually widening
1 Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law, II, p. 66j.
2 The first Pipe Roll dates from 1131 and a regular series from 1154.
3 The first Curia Regis Roll is of the reign of Richard I.
4 The Chancery Enrolments {Charter, Patent, Liberate, Fine, and
Close Rolls) begin with the reign of John.
6 The official Guide to the Public Records by M. S. Giuseppi (1923,
1924) : see also an article on the Financial Records of the Reign of King
John in the Magna Carta Commemoration volume published by the
Royal Historical Society.
160 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
sphere of influence for Administration (continued
increase, for example, on the Financial side, in the number
of sources of Royal income), a continual attempt to
stretch or modify the old simple machinery to meet
new needs which were anything but simple, and continual
additions, in consequence, to the number of archive
forms which appear to mean one thing and in reality
mean something quite different : to take only one
example the old simple machinery for acknowledging
moneys paid in to the treasury was adapted to serve the
purpose of anticipating the Crown Revenue. 1 The one
thing we do not have is any scrapping of old forms in
favour of new : always the new are added to or hidden
under the old ; and this applies, in the case of Archives,
to every aspect of the documents ; so that when new
writings, 2 new languages, 3 new forms of document 4
come in they do not oust the old they are merely set
beside them. It is perhaps hardly necessary to say that
by the time we reach 1 500 English Archives are, in every
way, very complicated things : and mutatis mutandis, the
same features distinguish Local and Private Archives as
those we have seen in the Public ones.
The post-mediaeval period, which is generally reckoned
to begin with the Tudors, brings many changes and new
features the introduction of printing, the spread of
the writing habit to classes who had never written
before, new learning, new hand-writings, a new form of
religion, and, in Public Administration, the great change
1 See an article on Tallies in Archaeologia, LXXIV, p. 304.
2 During the fifteenth century special Set Hands were evolved for
use in particular circumstances by particular departments.
3 At first Latin was practically the only language of Archives. French
began to be introduced in certain of the newer classes in the later thir-
teenth century, and English in the early fifteenth.
4 For example, documents under the smaller Royal Seals.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE AND ARCHIVES 161
by which the King's Secretaries, ancestors of the modern
Secretaries of State, take over the control of the Execu-
tive ; not to particularize the introduction of new forms
of Accounting x and new Courts of Law. 2 Yet even
now the new did not oust the old : though the Chancery
was no longer the instrument of executive authority
it continued to nourish with all its old machinery ; just
as later, when financial control passed to the Com-
missioners of the Treasury, the old machinery of the
Exchequer continued to nourish. It was not till the
nineteenth century that mediaeval administrative insti-
tutions were gradually swept away from public life ; 3
and in the realm of private or semi-public jurisdiction
it has apparently been reserved for our own time to
break the continuity of that most typical of English
Local Institutions and Archives the Manor Court with
its Court Roll. 9 " To illustrate the extreme complication
of every aspect of Archives in, for example, the Eliza-
bethan period, it may be enough to say that they then
employed ten quite distinct varieties of Hand-writing. 5
Resulting Archive Remains
The chief enemies of Records were classified by
Arthur Agarde 6 as ' Fier, Water, Rates and Mice, Mis-
placinge ' : to which we may add Revolutions and plain
1 The Declared Accounts (for example) in Public Archives, and in
Private ones the Italian method of Ledger, Journal, etc.
2 Court of Star Chamber, Court of Requests, etc.
3 The old Exchequer system went in 1826-1832, the use of Fines and
Recoveries in 1834, tne M Courts of Law in 1873, 1874.
4 Under Lord Birkenhead's Act, 1924.
6 A preliminary sketch of this subject was published by the writer
in The Library (June 1922) and a larger work is in hand.
8 In his Compendium of 1610, printed in Palgrave's Antient Kalen-
dars . . ., II, p. 313.
II
162 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Ignorance. Of Revolutions we have had comparatively
few in England and consequently the national con-
servatism, of which we have had some glimpses above,
resulted in the accumulation of enormous piles of
Archives which soon overflowed the simple arrangements
of the early Middle Ages for their housing. From the
thirteenth century onwards we may assume a continually
recurrent problem of over-filled repositories, and a
periodical removal of (roughly but not too much care
was taken) the older and less immediately important to
supplementary repositories of a more or less improvised
and unsuitable nature. * Thou may'st not kill but
need'st not strive officiously to keep alive ' : this typical
spirit of compromise (it is by no means dead at the present
day) caused the preservation of enormous masses of
Archives in England while it permitted or encouraged
the destruction, rapid or gradual, of quantities at least
no less large. By the end of the eighteenth century
the more important Public Archives in London alone
were scattered over more than 60 repositories, the
character of some of which may be guessed from the
ominous word Vault 1 stamped on many water-damaged
documents at the Public Record Office ; and read of
in more than one contemporary account. 2 A series of
Committees appointed by Parliament between 1703 and
1836 3 fell (save the last one) into the usual error of
such bodies that of considering problems of use and
publication rather than those of safety and arrangement.
1 Documents from Somerset House.
2 e.g. the Report of the Select Committee of 1836, p. viii ; or the
Introduction (citing earlier accounts) by F. W. Maitland to his edition
of the Memoranda de Parliamento {Chronicles and Memorials Series, 1893).
3 For a convenient summary of this see Hall, H., British Archives and
the Sources for the History of the World War, Clarendon Press, 1925,
p. 210, and for more detail the works there quoted.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE AND ARCHIVES 163
The Report of the Special Committee of 1836 prepared
the way for the present administration of the Public
Records by the Public Record Office.
The story of local, semi-public, private and ecclesi-
astical Archives in England is essentially the same :
though at one end of the scale a greater personal interest
(as in the care of family or estate records) may have led
to more careful preservation, at the other a more
developed official heedlessness has resulted in greater
loss ; as in the case of the mediaeval archives of county
administration, which must have been accumulated in
enormous * quantities but have perished with an amazing
completeness. Here again we have a tale of gradual
recognition during the nineteenth century and of
numerous Reports by Committees and Commissions 2 :
but it has been reserved for the present year to witness
the first attempt 3 at a control of local archives of any
kind by Central Authority. This is not to say that we
forget the numerous Statutes still in force whose pro-
visions include or imply the making and keeping of
Archives : what our Statutes have failed to do up to
now is to enforce, or provide facilities for, preservation
1 How enormous we are only beginning to guess from the scattered
evidence of occasional accidentally preserved fragments : cf. an article
on Plea Rolls of the Medieval County Courts in Cambridge Historical
Journal, No. I, 1923.
2 For a summary of Reports on Local Archives see the Third Report
of the Royal Commission (1910) on Public Records, ii, p. 2, seq. The
Historical MSS. Commission dealing with private collections was insti-
tuted in 1870 : see its Nineteenth Report, 1926. Accounts of other
Archives of a more or less public character are scattered over numerous
official Reports and Returns, such as the Report (1881) on Ecclesiastical
Courts and several Returns concerning Courts of Probate (1828 etc.).
3 Under the Amendment to the Law of Property Act, 1924, which
gives the Master of the Rolls certain powers over Manorial Archives:
this came into force in January 1926.
1 64 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
of the Records whose necessity they implicitly acknow-
ledge. A corollary, of course, is that in the case of the
local and private Archives we know far less of the
extent of our wealth and our losses.
Classification of Archives
It should be clear from what we have said that no
treatment of Archives from any point of view (arrange-
ment, preservation, or use) can be sound which is not
based upon their natural structure, that is upon a
study of the administrative activity of which they
formed a part. It is also clear that there is always a
potential connexion between any two administrations
which are in existence at the same time in the same
country, and consequently between their Archives, even
if this only takes the form of an exchange of letters. 1
Any scheme, therefore, which aims at a survey of Archive
possibilities in England must begin with some kind of
framework into which all will fit. Such a framework is
outlined here. 2
A. Archives of Public Administration : Central.
{a) The Archives of over sixty Courts and
Departments preserved at the Public Record
Office*
(b) Other Archives in London such as those of
1 To take a rather more developed example, the tracing of the descent
of a single manor may quite well involve a student in the examination
of the private Muniments of half a dozen Families, the Archives of a
Bishop, the Records of several of the great Courts at the Public Record
Office, and so forth.
2 This scheme is set out in rather more detail, with some further
authorities, in the General Introduction to a Guide to Archives relating
to Surrey (Surrey Record Society, 1925).
3 See the official Guide, by M. S. Giuseppi.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE AND ARCHIVES 165
Probate (at Somerset House), those of the
Patent Office, Board of Agriculture, Office of
the Clerk of the Parliaments and India Office,
which keep, and in many cases publish, 1
their own records.
(c) Archives which are kept locally but belong
to the centre : such as those of the Registries
of the High Court (including District Regis-
tries of Probate 2 ) or of Local Branches of the
Post Office.
B. Archives of Public Administration : Local. 3
These are the truly local Archives of Adminis-
trations which, within their limits, are indepen-
dent. Mediaeval ones (it has been noted) have
practically disappeared. Others are
{a) Quarter Sessions Records dating from the
sixteenth or seventeenth century.
(b) Records of Other Courts,
(c) County Council Archives dating from the
late nineteenth century but in practice
generally preserved with (a).
(d) Archives of Urban and Rural Districts and
Civil Parishes. These again are purely
modern but have inherited often the Archives
of earlier civil jurisdictions (such as Vestry
Minutes and Rate Books) from the Ecclesi-
astical Parishes.
(e) Archives of Independent Jurisdictions such
as Boroughs.
1 e.g. the India Office and House of Lords. For other Departmental
Archives not in the Public Record Office see the Second Report of the
Royal Commission (1910) on Public Records.
2 On the general subject of Probate see Marshall, G. W., Handbook
to ... . Courts of Probate, 1895.
3 See the Third Report of the Royal Commission (1910) already cited.
166 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
(/) Archives of Statutory Authorities Commis-
sions, Trusts, etc. ; such, to take one example,
as the Sewers 9 Commissions whose activities
begin in the sixteenth century.
A valuable guide to all these will be found in the
works on Local Administration by Mr. and Mrs.
Sidney Webb. 1
C. Archives of semi-public Administration. These
include
{a) Those of Companies discharging more or
less public functions, such as Railways and
other Trading Companies or commercial
bodies dealing with public works.
(b) Charitable Foundations, including educa-
tional ones. These may often, of course,
date back a considerable way.
D. Archives of Private Administrations.
{a) Those resulting from Ownership of Land :
they include the Court Rolls, Deeds, and
other manorial Archives, often of very great
antiquity. 2
(b) Private Muniments, General, dating mostly
1 Very few of these Authorities have published Guides or other
volumes themselves : notable exceptions being the Middlesex Sessions
Rolls, published by the Middlesex County Council, and a volume on
Parish Archives published by the Shropshire County Council. The
Chairman of the Bedfordshire County Council's Records Committee
(Dr. G. H. Fowler) has published a valuable book on The Care of
County Muniments (1923). A certain number of Counties have printed
lists of their Records : and others (for instance London) are active in
compilation and arrangement : London has also published some volumes
{Court Rolls, Sewers' Commissions, etc.).
2 The earliest known Court Rolls are of the thirteenth century.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE AND ARCHIVES 167
from the post-mediaeval period 1 when the
use of writing by private persons for their
own varied purposes began to be common.
To all these the volumes of the Historical MSS.
Commission 2 and the publications of Local
Societies form a guide : but it is to be remarked
that we have not even yet any real idea of our
national wealth in this field.
E. Archives of Ecclesiastical Administration.
It is to be noted that before the Reformation these
included many archives of temporal administra-
tion which have now passed elsewhere : such are
the archives of Religious Houses and other bodies
relating to Land Tenure : and from a modern
point of view, the large Archives of Probate
which have been inherited by the modern High
Court (see above under A). Purely Ecclesias-
tical Archives follow the divisions of the Church
and may be classed as those of (a) Archbishops
and Bishops, (b) Archdeacons and Rural Deans,
(c) Parishes, (d) Chapters, etc? Of these, Parish
Registers may date from Cromwell's Ordinance
of 1538, and other Parish documents go back
1 The earliest collections of family papers of the modern kind are those
of the Paston, Cely, and Stonor families, dating mostly from the later
fifteenth century, all of which have been published almost completely.
2 See especially the nineteenth Report and the list there given of
collections which have been inspected.
3 For a general survey of ecclesiastical administration and Archives
fee Stubbs' Historical Appendix to the Report of the Commission (1881)
on Ecclesiastical Courts : other helpful works are those of A. Hamilton
Thompson on Parish Records and R. C. Fowler on Bishops' Registers,
and the general work on Ecclesiastical Records by Claude Jenkins, all
in the Helps for Students of History series (S.P.C.K.). Parish Registers
are enumerated in the Population Returns of 1831. For the archives of
Chapters see the Reports of the Historical MSS. Commission.
1 68 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
occasionally to an even earlier date ; while the
regular Archives of the bishops and of chapters
may be of so early a time as the thirteenth century,
with scattered documents of even earlier date.
We must add another class (e) for the Archives
of Denominations other than the Church of England :
notable among which are those of the Society of
Friends.
Finally we have to note the very considerable possi-
bility of
F. Artificial Collections of documents which have
originally been Archives, but have strayed from
custody ; including those of all the libraries,
from the British Museum down : and may
perhaps, in view of the altogether exceptional
circumstances of their creation, make another
division for
G. War Archives belonging to every kind of war
organization, high and low * documents at
present terribly scattered and unmeasured and
unprovided for.
Two points require emphasizing here. The first is
that the divisions in the above classification overlap. In
a large number of cases, for example, one administration
with its archives has been absorbed by another. Some
examples of this have been already noticed (as in the case
of Probate above) but there are many others; thus the
Ecclesiastical Commission (which deposits at the Public
Record Office) at present controls much property which
formerly belonged to the Church and holds the corre-
sponding Archives : three successive Companies ruled
the West African trade, inheriting each other's Archives ;
and from the last of these the Archives passed to the
1 For a classification see Dr. Hall's book already quoted.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE AND ARCHIVES 169
Treasury : and so forth. The accidents of succession
to title x in an estate, of a case in Chancery, 2 and the
like may at any time lead to a transfer of administrative
functions and with them of Archives.
The Bulk of English Archive Resources
The second point is that the outline given above is
the merest sketch. To attempt here a detailed treatment
of the classes 3 of English Archives is quite hopeless,
and one almost despairs even of conveying a suggestion
of their bulk. It was once estimated 4 that the Public
Record Office contained between three and four million
documents ; but this was based on a calculation only
of bundles and parcels in many cases, and any one of
these may contain hundreds of quite separate archives :
thirty or forty million would probably be a nearer, and
still conservative, estimate. Again one might remind
the reader that the Census Returns of 1831 dealt with
the Registers of 11,309 parishes in England and Wales
or that in 1835 there were in England over 15,000
' Parishes or places separately relieving their own
paupers ' : or suggest to him that 150 manors would
not be an extravagant estimate for a single County and
that any one of these may have left a quite large collection
of Court Rolls. 5 Statistics are notoriously unimpressive ;
1 For example an enormous quantity of private muniments are
among the Public Records owing to there having been at some time a
minority of the heir.
2 e.g. the Stonor Papers cited above.
3 Taking only one of the sixty odd groups in the Public Record
Office the Chancery one finds oneself dealing with about 200 classes
of documents.
4 In an Appendix to the First Report of the Royal Commission (1910)
on Public Records.
5 We do not of course know at present what will be the figures resulting
from the investigations now being made by the Master of the Rolls.
170 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
but if the reader will imagine himself going through
thirty or forty documents every day and examine the
above figures on that basis he should obtain the desired
effect.
The Control of Archives in England
From what we have said it will be observed that
one can only state at present that bodies controlling
Archives in this country are extremely numerous * and
that the idea of their co-ordination by a Central
Authority is at the embryonic stage ; and it is usual to
contrast our state, to its great disadvantage, with that
of other countries in this matter. It will perhaps be
more profitable here to dwell on the possibilities of
better things. One or two promising signs have been
already noted, and a good deal of encouragement may
be drawn from the attention now paid to Archive
matters in Libraries 2 and by no small number of Local
Authorities. It would be invidious to particularize cases
where the latter have within recent years appointed
specially qualified Archive Clerks ; one can only hope
that the number will go on increasing, and indeed it is
not impossible that Archive salvation for this country,
with its enormous bulk of private and local Archives,
may come largely through local effort. In this con-
1 To take one example, the Archives in which record of Enclosures
may be found include those of the King's Bench, Court of Common
Pleas, Exchequer of Pleas, Exchequer (King's Remembrancer), Chancery,
Duchy of Lancaster, Principality of Wales, Palatinate of Chester, Board
of Agriculture, Department of Woods and Forests, Land Registry, and
Ecclesiastical Commission besides numerous Diocesan Registries, Chapters,
Parishes, and Manors.
2 As in duty bound I must record the example set by the authorities
who include a measure of Archive Science in the requirements for a
Librarianship Diploma at University College, London.
IC RECORD OFFICE AND ARCHIVES 171
nexion one may call in evidence a now wide-spread
interest among local archaeologists. 1
We may also dwell with a certain satisfaction on the
number of works acting as Guides (some of them have
been cited above) which in one way or another in the
bibliographies of Special Studies published by Economists
and Historians, in the reports of Commissions, in the
transactions of Local Societies have in fact come into
existence during the last fifty years. In this matter of
publication, largely by private effort or as a result of
private demand, we begin to compare not unfavourably
with other countries : though there is still but a small
proportion done of what is required and a crying need
for bibliography and for co-ordination of effort and of
method.
Publication
It may be convenient here, since we have cited the
printing of Archives both as a sign of awakened interest
in England and as a reason for work in co-ordination and
bibliography, to give figures showing what in a few
instances has been done. Thus the Record Commission
(1 800-1 837), excluding activities in Ireland and Scotland,
published about eighty volumes ; the Record Office
which succeeded it has published over seventy Reports,
the earlier of which contained large appendices of
Calendars, Indexes and so forth, over 400 separate large
volumes of Calendars or Printed Transcripts (specializing
in the Archives of Chancery and the State Paper Office)
1 The last session (November 1925) of the Congress of Archaeological
Societies was devoted almost exclusively to the question of the Court
Rolls and that of District Probate Registries and their Archives. At
its previous session it appointed a Committee to consider the possibility
of a central bibliography of MS. sources which have been made available
in print.
1/2 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
and forty of Indexes ; besides over 200, in the Rolls and
Memorials series, not dealing as a rule with Archives,
and five successive Guides to the Public Records l : to
these, of course, must be added a much larger number
available only in manuscript at the Office and a recently
compiled Catalogue in eight volumes of all known
official means of reference to the Records, printed or in
manuscript ; typed copies of which are available at
Cambridge and Oxford and in the British Museum and
the Institute of Historical Research in London. It
has moreover gone a long way towards completing
a card index of all Public Records that have been
printed in full, no matter in what publication. These
last two features (the catalogue and the card index)
do not exist, so far as is known, in any other European
Archives.
Turning to private or semi-private Archives, we have
to note that the Historical MSS. Commission, to
which reference has already been made, has published
more than 150 volumes of Reports and Calendars
and one part (Topographical) of a general guide to the
whole.
There is no space to do more than allude to the vast
accumulation of publications by private persons or bodies
both of Public and of Local Archives. The natural
basis for such effort is local, and particularly county,
history, and there are few counties now which have not
their societies devoted to this purpose many of them
bodies which have been publishing for fifty years or
more and seldom (at least during the later part of their
life) without considerable indebtedness to Archive
sources ; while in recent years many of them have
thrown off branch societies devoted to the sole purpose
1 The Stationery Office List Q forms a useful bibliography of official
Record Publications.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE AND ARCHIVES 173
of printing documents. 1 Beside these have to be set
a considerable number of societies printing in some
interest other than local : the Selden Society (Legal) has
published 41 volumes ; the Pipe Roll Society (founded
for the purpose its name implies) has issued all the Pipe
Rolls of the reign of Henry II and some other volumes
drawn from early sources : and there are in addition
the Society of Antiquaries, the Huguenot Society, the
British Record Society (printing mainly indexes of
Probate Records), the Society for Nautical Research, the
Royal Historical Society, the Jewish Historical Society
in fine, if this country has to acknowledge itself
behind others in respect of a national policy with regard
to Archives it certainly need not fear comparisons with
the multiplicity and extent of its private effort in the
matter of publication. It can claim also perhaps the
most serious effort that has yet been made in the way
of regularization and standardization of method in two
recently published Reports on Editing, 2
Conclusion
So we have our problem stated and perhaps something
more ; for after what has been said there should be
little need to emphasize the fact that the student's
approach to Archives must be governed by a considera-
tion of the administrative circumstances which produced
Archives likely to be of use to him, coupled with a con-
sideration of the point at which the person or thing
which interests him impinged upon that Administration
and consequently those Archives : a common-sense
procedure acting upon a settled Archive theory that
1 e.g. Yorkshire (66 volumes), Sussex (30), Surrey (25).
2 by Committees of the Anglo-American Historical Committee :
published in the Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Nos. 1
and 7.
174 THE USES 0F LIBRARIES
supplied in our definition of the word Archive, Nor
should it be necessary to reiterate the need for biblio-
graphical work not only on the mass of our Archives,
but also on the mass, already so large, of Archive
publications.
There are, however, two points of view upon which
we might dwell for a final moment with some profit :
and they may be expressed in the words scholarly method ;
or alternatively objective method. We have suggested
above that the approach to Archives from without i.e.
purely from the standpoint of any modern historical
requirement is bound to be dangerous, because, the
Archive having been constructed for the convenience
not of the modern investigator but of the contemporary
administrator, we cannot, unless we look at it with his
eyes (i.e. from within), be sure of interpreting it correctly.
Expressed in other words, this means that the key to
correct interpretation of Archives is the study of the
administration that produced them. May we then lay
it down that, since large tracts of administrative history
remain yet unreclaimed, and since the vastness of the
mass of unworked Archives gives to proposing research-
workers an enormously wide range in their choice of
subjects, they should choose, in the name of scholarship,
those lines of investigation which, in addition to the
contribution they make to the writers' own knowledge,
will be of most service (by the light they throw on admin-
istrative history) to other workers who are to follow ?
Given two possible lines of research, that is the scholarly
one to choose which, besides serving one's own purpose,
opens up the largest field to one's successors.
The second point is a variation upon the first. If the
mass of Archives at which we have endeavoured to hint
is to be handled at all it can only be by the co-operative
effort of all the interests involved Historical, Artistic,
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE AND ARCHIVES 175
Economic, Linguistic, and the rest ; and, if any piece of
work upon Archives is to be made part of a reasonable
whole, available for the purposes of all kinds of workers,
it can only be by a method which, no matter what
form the work takes (indexing, listing, calendaring, or
transcription), is governed by a desire not to get what
the editor wants out of the document, but simply to
express the document all that there is of it in modern
terms. The editor who does not bother about spelling
or punctuation or any other feature of his document,
merely because they do not concern him, is guilty of a
crime against scholarship ; because another editor may
have to spend what might be profitable time in doing the
work all over again in another interest.
VIII
COLLECTIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS
By Robin Flower, B.A.
Manuscript Department, British Museum
12
VIII
COLLECTIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS
By Robin Flower, B.A.
Manuscript Department, British Museum
The history of the great collections of MSS. is the story
of what I may perhaps be allowed to term the pro-
gressive immobilization of written books. If MSS. are
to be made available for study, and particularly for that
minute comparative study which alone can elicit their
last secrets, they must be gathered together from
their dispersion in separate private libraries liable to
sudden disruption by the death or the changing fortunes
of the owners and concentrated in large repositories,
either public or the property of relatively permanent
corporations. There the continuity of their life is, so
far as human things allow, assured, they are exposed to
fewer risks, a tradition of handling and conserving them
is developed and maintained, and a point which we
here are in no danger of forgetting by the very fact of
their existence and the necessity of making them readily
available to the community of scholars they call into
being a race of men dedicated to their care and elucida-
tion. This, then, is my subject the gradual process by
which MSS. have been gathered into the great public
collections or other collections which have some reason-
able hope of continuous existence. I can of course
treat only a small portion of the subject, that is, the
history of the libraries of England, and there again I shall
limit myself mainly to MSS. in the English language
179
180 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
and of a date previous to the Reformation. The limi-
tation to MSS. in the English language will absolve
me from the necessity of dealing at length with the
fascinating, but intricate, subject of mediaeval libraries
and mediaeval catalogues. For as a general thing English
books were not prized in the monasteries and universities,
the catalogues of whose libraries are accessible to us.
An exception must be made in the case of Anglo-Saxon
books. These were perhaps preserved rather as curiosities
than from any genuine interest in their contents. The
few English books in the library of Glastonbury in 1247
are described in the catalogue as old and useless. We
should not so describe them to-day. The best-known
collection of Anglo-Saxon books in a mediaeval collection
is the remarkable set of fifteen MSS. catalogued under
the separate heading of " Libri Anglici " in the list of
the books of Christ Church, Canterbury, in Prior Eastry's
time (1 284-1 331). It is pleasant to think that some
proportion of these books has come down to us. One
of them, the " Genesis anglice depicta," may be the
famous Bodleian Caedmon, another is probably the
Corpus Christi MS. of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a
third has been identified with the copy of Alfred's version
of Bede's History in the Cambridge University Library.
But such a list is a rare caprice of fortune. Of the
three famous MSS., which contain most of what survives
of Anglo-Saxon poetry, one, the Exeter Book, is in the
Exeter Cathedral Library; another, the Vercelli Book,
has been preserved in a cathedral library, but not in
England, at Vercelli in North Italy, from about the
thirteenth century ; and the third, the Beowulf manu-
script, now in the Cotton collection in the Museum,
was probably in a monastic library, but its mediaeval
history is unknown. Of books in Middle English in
these libraries we know little. Dan Michael of North-
COLLECTIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS 181
gate's Ayenbite of Inwit is duly entered in the catalogue
of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, but that is rather a
fearsome book, valuable to philologists, but of small
account as literature. The famous early fourteenth
century MS. of French and English poetry, Harley 2253,
which contains those lovely snatches of English song :
Lenten is come with love to toune,
With blosmen and with briddes roun,
and many another, is associated with Leominster, a cell
of Reading Abbey, but does not appear, I believe, in
any mediaeval catalogue. The beautiful cuckoo song is
in a Reading MS. of the fourteenth century. But
these are rare instances, which might perhaps be added
to without affecting the general statement that the
monasteries were not the great preservers of English
literature. A certain proportion of the literature of
devotion in English was no doubt on the monastery
shelves, and this will, one imagines, make up the bulk
of the entries in Miss Margaret Deanesley's promised
list of English books from mediaeval catalogues. But
secular literature was in the main in the hands of lay
folk. Few of their catalogues have survived. Certain
brief catalogues will be found in the lists given in
Appendix C to E. A. Savage's Old English Libraries.
And at the end of the period, the Earl of Kildare's cata-
logue has seven English books as against twenty-one in
Latin, twenty in Irish, and eleven in French. Some light
on books possessed by lay folk is also thrown by bequests
in wills. But normally these are again books of devotion.
A list of religious books so bequeathed is given by Miss
Deanesley in her Lollard Bible, p. 391. It is pleasant
to record that a clerk of East Hendred, Berks, one
Richard Sotheworth, left, among other books, in 141 7,
Quendam librum ineum de Canterbury Tales.
1 82 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
These MSS. in lay hands, never collected into libraries
and exposed to all the chances of destruction, must have
disappeared in great quantities and it is not unreasonable
to suppose that much fine literature went with them.
" The Pricke of Conscience," a poem of incredible
dullness, exists in no less than 99 copies, while of the
" Pearl " and " Sir Gawayne and the Greene Knight,"
those beautiful works, only one copy survives. In par-
ticular we have, there can be little doubt, but a scanty
gleaning of mediaeval lyrics. The lovely thing :
He came all so stille
Where his mother lay-
As dew in Aprille
That falleth on the spray
survives only in one scrubby little MS., probably a
minstrel's commonplace book. And so with many
another delightful song, stray birds singing a little
disconsolately with the silence of all their dead companions
about them. Our pleasure in what survives can never
entirely do away our regret for the losses we have suffered.
It is the librarian's dream that it may be given him to
discover additions to these precious relics. And in the
sequel I shall hope to show how the salvage from the
great shipwreck of the Middle Ages has been brought
to land and progressively safeguarded against the further
injuries of time.
For, at any rate from the librarian's point of view, the
Middle Ages ended in a great shipwreck. Two things,
the change of faith that brought about the dissolution
of the monasteries, and the change of literary taste that,
creating a new world, had little regard for the fortunes
of the relics of the old, bore hard upon the settled books
in libraries and the vagrant books that wandered from
hand to hand among the lay folk. There seemed at one
COLLECTIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS 183
time serious danger of the disappearance of a great pro-
portion of the antiquities of England. The motive
behind the dispersal of the monastic libraries was an
odium theologicum, but the new owners of the monastic
sites were little solicitous to distinguish between theo-
logical and other books of the old dispensation. Leland's
inquest into the libraries of England might have borne
more fruit for the Old Royal Library founded by
Edward IV than it actually did, though the additions
so made were considerable, but the purge of the days of
Edward VI did great havoc even in this refuge. And
the same time deprived Oxford of the great library
founded by Humphrey Duke of Gloucester. Neverthe-
less the antiquarian spirit was already awake and private
collectors began to repair the damage done by the great
storm. The Protestant fanatic, Bishop Bale, and the
alchemist and crystal-gazer, Dr. Dee, set to work to
make the collections, which at any rate in the case of
the latter antiquary have, in great part, survived. Dee is
said to have proposed to Queen Mary the establishment
of something like a national library, but nothing came
of the suggestion. A considerable part of Archbishop
Cranmer's library reached, as we shall see later, through
the hands of the Earl of Arundel and Lord Lumley,
the now safe harbourage of the Royal Library. The
collectors of this time had their prejudices. Thus Bale
describes the books which formed a great part of all
monastic libraries in these pleasant terms : " The
Bishop of Romes laws, decrees, decretals, extravagants,
Clementines, and other such dregs of the devil ; yea of
Heytesburie's sophisms, Porphyrie's universals, Aristotle's
old logics, and Dunse's divinity, with such other lousy
legerdemains and fruits of the bottomless pit." Modern
cataloguers who have had to do with the large masses of
such books still surviving would perhaps not greatly
1 84 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
regret the loss of others of the kind, if it were not for
the suspicion that much else of real value perished
with them.
But the period in which our modern libraries really
take their rise was now at hand. The first great repre-
sentative of the new era was Archbishop Parker, a very
large part of whose collections has survived in his own
University of Cambridge to the present day. His
motive is succinctly expressed by his biographer Strype :
" He was a mighty collector of books to preserve, as
much as could be, the ancient monuments of our nation
from perishing." This is the note of the whole period.
The antiquities of England were in danger of destruction,
and private individuals must take in hand what should
have been the duty of the state. Parker is said to have
approached Queen Elizabeth in the matter, and there
still survives a draft of a memorandum by certain
members of the Elizabethan Society of Antiquaries, in
which a scheme for a national library is outlined. A few
quotations from this will show the ideas behind the
movement, which owed much, we may well believe, to
the inspiration of Parker himself.
" The scope of this petition," it declares, " is to
preserve divers old bookes concerninge matters of history
of this realme originall Charters & monumentes in a
Library to be erected in some convenient place of the
hospitall of the Savoy, St. John's (Clerkenwell) or
elswhear. This Library to be intituled the Library of
Queene Elizabeth and the same will be well furnished
with divers auncient bookes and monumentes of antiquity
& wyche otherwise maye perishe and that at the costs
& charges of divers gentlemen which will be willinge
theirunto. That yt may please the Queenes Majesty
to encorporate the persons so studious of antyquyty for
the better preservation of the said Library & encrease
COLLECTIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS 185
of knowledge in that behalf. The name of this Cor-
poration to be the Academye for the studye of Antiquity
and Historye founded by Queene Elizabeth or otherwise
as yt shall please her Majesty."
This petition, signed among others by Sir Robert
Cotton, of whom we shall hear more, was either never
presented or failed of its object. The literary glories
of the age of Elizabeth were not gained at the expense
of the parsimonious Queen. And, generous though the
offer of the petitioners to bear the expense was, she could
hardly have avoided some participation.
But to return to Archbishop Parker. It is largely to
him that we owe the revival of Anglo-Saxon studies.
His motive here was partly historical, partly theological.
He hoped to find evidences in favour of Protestant
doctrines in Anglo-Saxon writings, and he published
from his collections a sermon of ^Elfric which he held
to have been made against transubstantiation. But he
was too good a scholar to be limited by merely con-
troversial interests, and his surviving collections, as well
as his correspondence, attest the width and liberality of
his mind.
In his catalogue of the MSS. of Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge, Dr. James gives a list of Parker's surviving
Anglo-Saxon MSS. with their provenance, which serves
to reinforce what I have said above of the part of the
monasteries in preserving Anglo-Saxon writings. Parker
not only collected MSS. and printed parts of their
contents at his own expense, but he also took steps to
preserve his collections for the benefit of posterity. He
presented a number of his books to the Cambridge
University Library in his lifetime, and left the bulk of
them to his own college, Corpus Christi, with careful
directions for their preservation. Some others of his
books are in the Lambeth Library, founded by his second
1 86 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
successor, Archbishop Bancroft, as a library for the arch-
bishops of Canterbury, no doubt under the inspiration
of Parker's example.
The great age of book collecting and library founding
had now begun. Cotton, whom we have seen as a mover
in the project for a national library, began, on the
failure of the scheme, to supply its place by extensive
collection on his own account. His motive can be best
defined in the words of the petition quoted above : to
collect " divers old bookes concerninge matters of history
of this realme, originall charters and monument es," but
he went far beyond the strict interpretation of these
words. Here again, following Parker's example, he made
a special point of seeking out Anglo-Saxon books, and
from the splendid Lindisfarne Gospels with their
Northumbrian Gloss through the MS. of Beowulf to
the four copies of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle the collec-
tion contains God's plenty of MSS. illustrating that
period of the literature. If the MSS. in the Parker and
Cotton collections had been lost, we should know little
of the literature of England before the Norman Conquest.
Moreover, from the Cotton MSS. in particular, we can
draw examples of almost every period and type of English
mediaeval literature. Thus the collection contains the
only two extant copies of Layamon's Brut, the first
English treatment of the story of Arthur, three copies of
the Ancren Rizule (the earliest extensive monument of
the new English prose), one of the two MSS. of the " Owl
and the Nightingale " (the poem in which Early Middle
English, becoming courtly and refined, yet loses nothing
of its vernacular force), copies of both the Southern
and the Northern English Legendaries the Golden
Legend of Mediaeval England Rob'ert of Gloucester's
Metrical Chronicle and Trevisa's English version of
Higden's Polychronicon, an excellent series of the four-
COLLECTIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS 187
teenth century metrical romances satirized by Chaucer
in the " Ryme of Sir Thopas," the MS. of miracle plays
wrongly styled the Ludus Coventriae, lyrical poems of
the thirteenth century, the beginnings of the later
prose in works associated with the names of Richard
Rolle of Hampole, John Wycliffe, and that giant humbug
the knight Sir John Mandeville, and many other works,
from all of which it would be possible to lay down the
lines of English literature before the Renaissance and
the Reform. To have preserved all this is no small
service, quite apart from all the other treasures which
the Cottonian collection contains in such rich variety.
Cotton also assisted Bodley in his foundation of the
great library which bears his name. But before dealing
with that institution, the first really public library in
Europe, we must retrace our steps and touch upon two
collections which were ultimately to come together
with Cotton's books into the national library. The
Royal Library, we have seen, was founded by Edward IV,
and, largely through the efforts of Leland, was increased
under Henry VIII to suffer purgation at the hands of
Edward VPs Commissioners. It was increased only by
casual accessions under the Tudors, but among those
accessions was the famous Queen Mary's Psalter, the
most glorious monument of mediaeval English art.
Under the first Stuart it received the addition of a great
private library, that of John Lord Lumley, purchased
by King James for his son, Prince Henry, a prince of
high hopes and short life, after the owner's death in
1609. This library included the collections of Henry
Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, who again had acquired a
considerable number of the books of Archbishop Cranmer.
Much of the wreckage of the monastic libraries was also
included. From this provenance we should not expect
many English books, and indeed the English MSS. of
1 88 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
the Royal Library as a whole are not its most remarkable
feature. Nevertheless a glance at the list of initio.
appended to the recent Catalogue of Royal MSS. will
show that even here the collection makes a respectable
show, containing mediaeval MSS. of all periods from the
thirteenth century lives of saints connected with the
milieu of the Ancren Rizule down to works of Chaucer
and Lydgate.
The Lord Arundel whose books increased the Royal
Library is to be distinguished from the Thomas, second
Earl of Arundel, a great part of whose collections are
now under the same roof. This was the famous con-
noisseur of late Tudor and Stuart times, whose collection
of MSS. had for its basis the gatherings of his relation,
the Lord William Howard, known in tradition as Belted
Will. The fortunes of his books will fall to be con-
sidered later. We may now return to Sir Thomas
Bodley and his foundation. The Oxford University
Library, first founded circ. 1320, by Thomas Cobham,
Bishop of Worcester, in a little chamber attached to the
University Church of St. Mary's, had been extended
between 1435 and 1446 by the gift of some 300 MSS.
from Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and dissipated
by those Commissioners of Edward VI whom we have
already seen at work in the Royal Library. Thomas
Bodley, a former fellow of Merton, retiring from the
diplomatic service, decided to devote the rest of his
life to restoring the library of his university. The
offer was made in 1598, and by 1602 the library was
thrown open for public use, the first of its kind in
Europe. At the outset it was mainly a collection of
printed books, containing only about 300 MSS. But
from the first it became clear that the library was to
play a great part as a point of concentration for private
benefactions. Before it was opened it had received,
COLLECTIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS 189
among other donations, the gift of the MS. of the
Anglo-Saxon Gospels, which had served as the basis of
the edition issued by John Fox at Archbishop Parker's
expense in 1571, and was to be used by Francis Junius
for a new edition in 1665.
We are here on the threshold of the great age of
manuscript-collecting proper, the seventeenth century.
All who have studied the literature of that period know
that it is marked by a curiosity at once minute and
wide-ranging, a passion of research which sought to
defend and illustrate every movement of the contem-
porary mind by instances farfetched and dearbought
from the whole field of the historic past. It is the age
of the subtle preachers and the metaphysical poets,
both kinds meeting in the strange figure of John Donne,
of the legal antiquaries typified by John Selden, of the
high churchmen like Archbishop Laud, whose doctrines
sought their roots in Church history and Church ritual,
of the antiquaries like Anthony Wood, Oxford's historian,
and his friend the maggoty-brained John Aubrey, of
the theologian turned doctor, Robert Burton of the
Anatomy, and the doctor turned theologian, Sir Thomas
Browne an age eager above all others in English history
in the pursuit of the unattainable in life, in religion and
in politics. It is not without reason that this age is
described in the introduction to Bernard's catalogue of
the MSS. of England as " aetas in manuscriptis indagandis
supramodum curiosa," an age immoderately curious on
the track of manuscripts.
And, since as yet there was no national library, the
accumulations of the time naturally gravitated towards
the Bodleian. In 1634 came m tne collections of Sir
Kenelm Digby, a typical figure of the age a diplomatist,
an exquisite and a sailor, a romancer in the high artificial
vein, and a kind of hybrid between the alchemists who
190 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
were passing away and the scientists who were yet to
be. This library of 238 MSS., written in the main by
English scribes, contained a number of English books,
among which may be selected for mention two thirteenth
century MSS., the one containing the Moral Ode, one
of the earliest Middle English poems, and the other
containing, with other interesting matter, the unique
copy of Dame Siriz, almost the only English representa-
tive of the French genre of the fabliaux, and the Fox
and the Wolf, the only example in English of the animal
story until Caxton's translation of Reynard the Fox.
The years 1635 to I0 4 brought in by successive
donations the vast gatherings of Archbishop Laud. The
chief glory of this collection is the Codex Laudianus of
the Acts, famous in English tradition as having possibly
been used by Bede. But it contains interesting English
MSS., particularly the Peterborough copy of the Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle, and good examples of Middle English
MSS. from the thirteenth century onwards.
The Selden MSS., which were in the library by 1659,
are not important from the English point of view.
During the occupation of Oxford by the Parliamentary
forces in 1646 Lord Fairfax had taken care to set a
guard over the Bodleian Library, and in 1673 he left to
it his collection of MSS., including several English books,
MSS. of Chaucer, Gower, WyclifTe's Bible and others.
In 1675 Christopher Lord Hatton left four volumes of
Anglo-Saxon Homilies and other books, including King
Alfred's translation of Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care,
and the version of Gregory's dialogues by Werfrith,
Bishop of Worcester. And the Anglo-Saxon treasures
of the library were greatly increased in 1678 by a bequest
from Francis Junius, who had been librarian to the Earl
of Arundel. The best known of these books is Junius 11,
the so-called Caedmon Genesis, equally interesting for
COLLECTIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS 191
the study of Anglo-Saxon poetry and Anglo-Saxon art.
Another of these MSS. is the early thirteenth century
Ormulum, a translation of the Gospel lections by the
priest Orm of high philological importance, though of
little interest as literature.
Before this in 1677 Col. Edward Vernon had presented
the famous Vernon MS., a vast book, in itself a whole
library of the literature of the fourteenth century, which
has a kind of daughter MS. in the Add. MS. 22283 m
the British Museum.
Such is, in barest outline, the history of the library
in the seventeenth century. Its next great accession
was in 1755, when the huge collection of Richard Rawlin-
son, the gatherings from the auction rooms of half a
century, swelled the contents of the Bodleian by upwards
of 7,000 MSS. This contained chiefly in Class C and
in the section, Rawlinson Poetry, a considerable quantity
of English mediaeval MSS., not of the first importance.
The early nineteenth century brought in the collections
of Richard Gough (1809), Edmond Malone (1821) and
Francis Douce (1834), kut tnese > though enriching the
collection in other ways, did not materially add to its
stores of important English mediaeval MSS.
The history of the Bodleian Library has been told by
Macray in his Annals of the Bodleian Library. The
story of the Cambridge University Library is narrated
in a book modelled on this admirable example, the late
Charles Sayle's Annals of the Cambridge University Library.
This library, which valuable though it is falls far short
of the extent of the Bodleian, has nevertheless a much
longer history as a continuous institution. The late
Mr. H. G. Aldis in his account of the library in that
valuable series, " Helps for Students of History," points
out that it still possesses books bequeathed to the
University in 141 5, and it has been in occupation of
192 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
some part of the present buildings since 1470. In a
catalogue of the MSS. drawn up in 1424 printed in the
Collected Papers of Henry Bradshaw, there is an entry,
" Boethius De consolatione philosophic J. Croucher."
This is the copy of the translation by Chaucer of
the Consolation of Philosophy, now press-marked Ii.3.21,
thus described by Bradshaw : " The gem of our original
library is a copy of Chaucer's translation of his favourite
Boethius, which must have been given to the University
during the generation immediately succeeding Chaucer's
death. It well deserves to be looked upon as the patri-
arch of the place, and the donor Mr. John Croucher
to have a place in our recollections as the founder of our
English Library." The great mediaeval benefactor of
the Library was Thomas Rotherham, Archbishop of
York, who gave in 1475 some 200 MSS., many of which
still remain.
We have already seen that Matthew Parker gave
twenty-five MSS. to the library during his lifetime,
among them some interesting Anglo-Saxon books. The
greatest single addition to the collection, however, was
not to come till 171 5, when King George I presented
the library of John Moore, Bishop of Ely, which included
no less than 1,700 manuscripts, many of them containing
English texts. At this same period another of the great
collectors was at work. Robert Harley, first Earl of
Oxford, had made the first large purchase of books for
what was to be one of the most famous of libraries in
1705. By 1 72 1 the collection had swollen to the vast
number of 6,000 MSS., under the fostering care of
Humfrey Wanley, who had been employed to catalogue
the MSS. in 1708, and became librarian to Oxford and
his son, the second earl, who maintained and continued
the collection. There are books of every period of
English literature down to the eighteenth century in this
COLLECTIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS 193
large collection, and it is impossible to particularize
where so much of interest is to be found.
We are now approaching the period of the foundation
of the national collection. The Cotton MSS. had been
made over to the nation by Sir John Cotton, third
baronet, in 1700, and after some wanderings were housed
with the Old Royal Library at Ashburnham House in
Westminster. Here in 1731 broke out the disastrous
fire which did such extensive damage to the collection.
As early as 1707 there had been an idea of uniting the
Royal Library, the Cotton and the Royal Society's
collections together, but nothing had come of it. In
1753 the nation purchased at sums far below their real
value the Harley collection and that of Sir Hans Sloane.
To these the Cotton collection was added, and King
George II presented the Royal MSS. in 1757. By 1759
the collections were arranged in Montagu House, Blooms-
bury, and were open to public inspection. They were
to be joined there later by the Arundel MSS., which
had been presented to the Royal Society by a descendant
of the collector and were transferred by exchange to
the Museum in 1831-32.
Thus by the middle of the eighteenth century the
great garners of MSS. had been formed very much as
we know them to-day. They were to be increased by
the inflow of new collections and by regular additions
obtained by purchase or bequest. The later collections
added to the Museum the Birch, Lansdowne, Burney,
Hargrave, and the original Egerton MSS. brought in
occasional Anglo-Saxon and Middle English MSS., but
did not greatly add to the stores already in safe har-
bourage. On the other hand the two running series
the Additional and Egerton MSS. have salvaged many
MSS. from the chances and changes of private ownership.
I have spoken hitherto of the chief public collections.
13
194 THE USES 0F LIBRARIES
It is impossible to give here a survey of those other
semi-public libraries preserved continuously in cathedrals
and colleges, in universities other than the two ancient
foundations, or in such monuments of the public spirit
of rich merchants or their representatives as the Chetham
Library and the John Rylands Library, both in Man-
chester. In all these places are to be found interesting
MSS. bearing on English studies.
Thus there is the Exeter Book of Anglo-Saxon poetry
in the Exeter Cathedral Library ; Lincoln has the
Thornton MS., a storehouse in itself of romantic and
other literature of the fourteenth to fifteenth century
period ; there are some good English MSS. at Worcester,
and other cathedral libraries contribute their items.
Odd volumes of much interest are in such collections
as the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh (now the
National Library of Scotland) and the Hunterian
collection at Glasgow. The MSS. in private hands,
necessary though many of them are to complete the
tradition of the old literature, fall outside the limits of
this chapter.
We may turn now to the further question, how are
these stores, so preserved for us by the piety of former
times, to be used ? The collecting and the cataloguing
of books necessarily go together. And of many of the
libraries we have had to consider early MS. catalogues
exist. But until printed catalogues, properly drawn
up and satisfactorily indexed, are available, it is impossible
to realize the extent of our possessions or to make full
use of the information so preserved. A history of the
development of cataloguing would thus be a necessary
supplement to a history of manuscript collecting. Here
I can only give a few of the heads of that history. In
1600 Thomas James, Bodley's first librarian, published
his Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabrigiensis, a catalogue of the
COLLECTIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS 195
MSS. in the libraries of Oxford (excluding Bodley) and
Cambridge, divided into two parts, the first arranged by
libraries, the second by subjects and authors. The next
important work of the kind came at the end of the
seventeenth century, and recorded the vast accumulations
of that century. This was the general catalogue of the
MSS. in the libraries of England and Ireland published
at Oxford in 1697, which we owe largely to the efforts
of Edward Bernard, though many hands were at work
on it. The descriptions of MSS. here vary in value,
some being merely reprinted from Smith's Ecloga,
others being supplied by local librarians of differing
capacities. But the book as a whole was a great advance
on anything of the kind in existence, and really opened
up the manuscript treasures of English libraries. The
indexes to this book were compiled by Humfrey Wanley,
who was now coming to the front as a student of manu-
scripts. Smith's catalogue of the Cotton MSS. issued
in 1696 owes its existence to the inspiration of Bernard's
enterprise, and is still valuable to-day for the description
of MSS. destroyed or injured in the great fire of 1731.
It will be convenient to mention here a work of a kind
hitherto unexampled, but of the greatest importance for
English studies. In the years 1703 to 1705 appeared
the Linguarum veterum septentrionalium Thesaurus of
George Hickes, the non-juring Bishop of Thetford, a
most remarkable work, which helped to contribute to
the romantic revival in literature, and made additions
to learning in the subjects with which it dealt which
even now have not been completely realized. But
from our present point of view the most interesting part
of the book is the section in the second volume devoted
to a catalogue of Anglo-Saxon MSS. in English libraries,
by Humfrey Wanley. This is still a valuable work of
reference, and points the way to the special catalogues
196 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
of subjects and languages which the advance of scholar-
ship is now every year making more necessary.
But to return to the catalogues of miscellaneous MSS.
Of the collections other than the Cottonian united to
form the Museum Library of MSS. the Royal collection
was described by Casley in 1734 in a most unsatisfactory
work which had to serve the uses of students until the
elaborate new catalogue was issued in 1921. The
Cotton MSS. were once more catalogued by Planta in
1802. The catalogue of the Harley MSS. begun by
Wanley was carried on by a series of scholars until it
was finally published with some revision in 1809. The
Sloane MSS. were catalogued by Ayscough in 1782, and
a proof of a fuller catalogue of Nos. 1-1091 is preserved
for reference in the Students' Room of the MS. Depart-
ment. A full index was published in 1904. Ayscough's
catalogue also includes the Additional MSS. down to
No. 5017, the additions down to 1835 are catalogued in
the Museum Reports, and after 1836 the successive cata-
logues of Additional MSS. describe and index the
accessions both in the Additional and Egerton series.
Other collections are described in separate catalogues.
Lists of these catalogues and directions " How to find
manuscript material in the British Museum " will be
found in Mr. Gilson's Guide to the MSS. in the
British Museum in the S.P.C.K. Helps for Students of
History Series. In the same series Dr. Craster's book
on the Western MSS. of the Bodleian Library will be
found a very useful guide to the (to outsiders) very
complicated system of references to Bodleian MSS.
The seventeenth century collections in Bodley were
catalogued in the first part of the first volume of Bernard's
Catalogue in 1697. It may be added that the Ashmolean
collection and other collections described as in private
hands in Bernard have since been incorporated in
COLLECTIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS 197
Bodley. This 1697 catalogue is still for some portions
of the collection the only printed guide, but it is being
superseded by the Summary Catalogue of Western MSS.
In 1853 began a series of catalogues in quarto form
giving detailed information. The contents of the eleven
parts of this series are analysed by Dr. Craster at p. 26
of his book. The Summary Catalogue of Western MSS.
begun in 1895 is supplementary to the Quarto Series.
When completed it will, by description or reference,
contain some account of all the MSS. in Bodley. The
Quarto catalogues are indexed. The great drawback to
the Summary Catalogue at present is its lack of an
index, but a slip index is kept in Bodley for reference,
and we are promised an index as the last volume of the
series.
The MSS. of the Oxford colleges are described and
indexed in Coxe's Catalogue in two volumes. For the
Cambridge colleges we now have Dr. Montagu James's
splendid series of catalogues, which stand in need of no
eulogy or recommendation. Not all the cathedral
collections have been catalogued in modern times, but
we have an excellent example in Floyer's Catalogue of
the Worcester Manuscripts, 1906.
In general it may be said that, although much yet
remains to be done, the manuscripts of England are now
generally accessible in catalogues and something like an
exhaustive search for particular classes of MSS. can be
undertaken with reasonable hope of success. A very
valuable example of the kind of bibliographical work
that can be done on this basis is the Register of Middle
English Religious Verse undertaken by Professor Carlton
Brown in 191 1 and published under the auspices of the
Bibliographical Society in 191 6. This model work is in
two volumes, the first containing a description of the
MSS. under libraries, the second giving a list of the
198 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
poems treated by first lines with bibliographical refer-
ences. Such a book will always admit of additions ; but
it may be said that, without the preparatory work of
the cataloguers of the various collections dealt with, it
would have been difficult to undertake a task of this
nature and vain to hope to bring it to a conclusion within
so short a space of time. This book deals with both
printed and unprinted material. Another bibliographical
work of very great value for students of Middle English is
Professor Wells's Manual of the Writings in Middle English.
This deals in the main with printed matter, but careful
references to MS. material are given, and it would be
possible to extract from it a provisional catalogue of the
MSS. dealing with English literature in our libraries. It
is to be kept up to date by a series of periodical supple-
ments.
From such works and the various histories of literature
the student may learn the nature and extent of what has
come down to us from the past. How is he to set about
working on his own account ? In the first place he
must learn to read ancient documents. This is not
difficult. Anybody who knows Anglo-Saxon can read a
MS. of that period almost at once, so beautifully clear
and regular is the script. Middle English MSS. present
little more difficulty, and a study of the facsimiles given
by Dr. Skeat in his Twelve English MSS. and by Dr.
Greg in his Facsimiles from Trinity Coll. Cambr. MSS.,
and the series of facsimiles in the publications of the
Old and New Palaeographical Societies will familiarize
the student's eye with the letter forms of the different
periods. But he will learn more from actually reading a
manuscript and puzzling out his difficulties for himself.
Any given student will probably have some problem
needing solution before he begins to read a MS. And
his treatment of the MSS. will be governed by the
COLLECTIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS 199
nature of his problem. It is impossible in the space
allotted to say much that would be of use to students
with many different needs, but I should like in particular
to emphasize the fact that mediaeval literature cannot
be studied in compartments. You cannot work fruit-
fully at English literature of this period alone. For a
full view of the questions that arise in the course of the
most ordinary research into the problems, say, of an
English fourteenth century poem, it is necessary to know
a good deal at least of the Latin and French literatures
of the Middle Ages. That is why the vast collections
of MSS. with which we have been dealing are so valuable,
the texts in one language and in one place throwing
light on texts in other languages and other places and
themselves receiving light in return. And we can never
be sufficiently grateful first to the ardent collectors who
made these accumulations possible, and in the second
place to those scholars in different centuries who have
laboured according to their lights at the heavy task of
describing and elucidating the manuscripts thus brought
into safe harbourage.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
The most useful books have been for the most part cited in the
course of the above account, but a few additional notes may be
given here. On libraries in general E. Edwards's Memoirs of
Libraries, 1859, will still be found useful. For mediaeval
libraries Mr. E. A. Savage's Old English Libraries in The Anti-
quary's Books, 191 1, concentrates a great deal of information and
gives further references. The Appendix C, " List of Mediaeval
Collections of Books," is very handy for reference. For the
wanderings of books an important part of the subject Dr.
M. R. James's Homes and Wanderings of Manuscripts, S.P.C.K.
Helps for Students, 19 19, is a fascinating guide. The books in
the same series on the British Museum and the University
Libraries of Oxford and Cambridge give valuable information.
200 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
and may be supplemented by Edwards's Lives of the Founders of
the British Museum, 1870, Macray's Annals of the Bodleian, and
Sayle's Annals of the Cambridge University Library. The MSS.
of the Oxford colleges are dealt with in H. O. Coxe's Catalogue,
1852, and Dr. James's catalogues of the Cambridge college
libraries are of course indispensable. It is impossible to detail
the catalogues of the smaller collections throughout the country,
but a general reference may be given to the Reports of the His-
torical Manuscripts Commission, where many of them are
described more or less completely.
IX
A SPECIALIST LIBRARY FOR ART
By G. H. Palmer, B.A., F.S.A.
Keeper of the Library, Victoria and Albert Museum
IX
A SPECIALIST LIBRARY FOR ART
By G. H. Palmer, B.A., F.S.A.
Keeper of the Library, Victoria and Albert Museum
There are several libraries in London exclusively
devoted to art, and specially organized for the use of
practising artists and of students of art and the history
of art. Among these are the Library of the Royal
Academy (for the Fine Arts), the Library of the Royal
Institute of British Architects and the smaller but useful
Library of the Architectural Association (for Architec-
ture), and the Library of the Burlington Fine Arts Club,
which is more general in its scope. Appropriately, as it
is the home of the Slade School, the Library of University
College includes a Fine Art Library, as well as the
Edwards Library for students of Egyptian Art. The
joint Library of the Hellenic Society and the Society for
the promotion of Roman Studies is a valuable one for
students of Classical Art, and for the antiquarian study
of art there is the Library of the Society of Antiquaries.
Special mention must also be made of the Library of
Reproductions of Paintings and Drawings formed by Sir
Robert and Lady Witt, in their home in Portman
Square, to which they so generously admit all students
of art, and of the more general collection of reproductions
brought together by Sir Martin Conway.
None of these, however, rivals in scope and extent the
Library of the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is
203
2o 4 THE USES 0F LIBRARIES
the subject of this chapter. It is still the national art
library, though this is no longer its official title. For
its beginning, it is necessary to go back to the year
1837, when it was started, as a necessary element of art-
education, in connexion with the Government School
of Design, established in that year at Somerset House
under the Board of Trade. When the Department of
Practical Art was formed in 1852 and granted the use,
temporarily, of Marlborough House, the Library was
moved there and became, what it has since continued
to be, a part of the Museum. Previously, its growth had
been slow, and at that time, when it was first made
available to the public, it contained only about 1,500
volumes and portfolios of prints, drawings, etc. In
1857-58, when the Museum was transferred from Marl-
borough House to South Kensington, there were in it
nearly 6,000 volumes, 2,000 prints and drawings, and
more than 1,000 photographs. From that time it in-
creased very rapidly, so that, when the gallery which,
with additional storage, it still occupies, was completed
in 1884, it comprised more than 60,000 volumes, 65,000
prints and drawings and 50,000 photographs. When the
Museum was rearranged, after the completion of the new
buildings in 1909, the prints and drawings were with-
drawn to form a separate Department of the Museum,
and the collection of Bookbindings, formerly treated as
a Museum collection, was transferred to the Library,
which now contains about 160,000 volumes and 250,000
photographs.
As to its scope, it includes books on aesthetics, on the
origins and principles of art, and on art appreciation.
It is rich in the literature of the Fine Arts of Architec-
ture, Sculpture, and Painting, and neither in these nor
in its other sections is it restricted to the field, in some
cases a limited one, covered by the Museum collections.
A SPECIALIST LIBRARY FOR ART 205
Next to the Fine Arts may be mentioned the arts of
reproduction, the various forms of engraving and etch-
ing on metal, woodcuts and wood-engraving, lithography
and kindred processes, and finally modern processes with
the help of photography and science. In addition to
these, the Library covers the whole field of applied and
decorative art, which may be divided into classes, as
follows : (1) the Ceramic Arts : pottery and porcelain,
glass, including stained glass and enamels ; (2) Furniture
and Woodwork, with leather work and wall-papers,
though the latter are placed, in the Museum, in the
Department of Engraving ; (3) Metal Work : gold- and
silver-smiths' work, Sheffield plate, ironwork, bronze,
brass, copper, pewter, etc., with special sections for arms
and armour, coins and medals, and seals ; (4) Textiles :
woven stuffs, tapestry, carpets, embroidery, printed stuffs,
lace, etc., with a separate section for costume. Books on
Ornament in general : historic ornament, the principles
of ornament, pattern-designing, etc., form a section
by themselves ; books on mural and decorative painting
go in the Painting class, books on cameos and engraved
gems form a separate section following Sculpture, and
there is a separate section for Portraits, painted
(including miniatures), sculptured, or engraved. Music
is not within the scope of the Library, but since musical
instruments are included as examples of fine woodwork
and decoration in the Department of Woodwork and
Furniture in the Museum, there are books on such
instruments in the Library.
Much information on art, the lives of artists, and
individual works of art is to be found in certain classes
of topographical books, and much is provided by accounts
preserved in public or private archives, and often by
inventories and wills. The Library therefore acquires
printed collections of such documents, when they
206 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
contain much matter of artistic interest, and it has some
originals. It is rich in catalogues of public and private
collections and of exhibitions of works of art, as also
in catalogues of auction sales of art collections, to which
further reference will be made later. These catalogues
often enable the history of an object to be traced back
a long way.
The Library not only contains a large collection of
periodicals devoted to art in general or to some form
of art or artistic industry, but it includes also a
very extensive collection of transactions and journals
of antiquarian and archaeological societies. In these
is to be found a great deal of art literature of the
greatest value to specialists, and in fact to all serious
students of art.
In this as in other parts of the Library, books in all
languages have been and are acquired. It is recognized
that an art book may often be exceedingly valuable, on
account of its illustrations, even to students unable to
read the text.
Special attention is devoted to the arts of book
production, viz. the writing and illumination of manu-
scripts, fine printing, the decoration and illustration of
the printed book, and bookbinding. More will be said
about these when dealing with the exhibition space
allotted to the Library in the galleries of the Museum.
It is natural that an art library should contain books
on the artistic treatment of heraldry ; but a visitor who
has not realized how frequently heraldry and genealogy
enable the expert to ascertain with certainty the date of
an art object and the personal associations that add so
much both to its interest and to its commercial value
might be surprised at the extent to which this section
has been developed, justifiably as experience has proved.
A classified list of the section published in 1901 shows
A SPECIALIST LIBRARY FOR ART 207
how comprehensive and useful a collection it is. The
identification of subjects represented in art is also an
important matter ; so the Library contains books on
mythology, sacred and profane history, iconography
(especially Christian iconography) and symbolism, books
of emblems, etc., and the full texts of a number of
classical and other works that have been much used by
artists.
Both in its general sections and in those devoted to
single branches of art the Library contains books on appre-
ciation and aesthetics, where such exist, on materials and
technique, collections of patterns, etc., histories of the
branch of art in general or in restricted periods or
areas, biographies of artists, collections of reproductions,
catalogues of public and private collections, auction sale
catalogues, catalogues of exhibitions, periodicals, and
bibliographies.
It must have been realized ere this that the student
of art needs more books than those only on art. The
student of aesthetics needs to- go to books on philosophy,
books on materials and technique have to be largely
scientific, and science is in other ways necessary to the
artist, legal knowledge is often useful to him, and the
student of art history must have a general historical
background to his special studies. Generally the dividing
line will be easily understood, but in our Library it is
drawn especially sharply in the case of Science, as the
Science Library is in the adjoining Science Museum,
only just across the road. The Art Library has books
on construction specially written for the use of architects,
but leaves the bulk of the books on structural engineering
to the Science Library ; it includes special books on
stones as building materials, but it does not trespass
into geological literature ; it has books on the science
of colour, cloud-forms, reflections, etc., specially written
208 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
for the guidance of painters, but it restricts itself to
them. In the field of technique, it leaves the definitely
scientific treatment of a subject, when divorced from
its artistic side, to the Science Library. For instance,
the Transactions of both the English and the American
Ceramic Societies will be found not in the Art but in
the Science Library. So in its Anatomy section, the
Library contains only books on anatomy written for the
use of artists. On the other hand it has a selection
of botanical and zoological works for the sake of their
fine illustrations, which provide material for the use of
designers and other artists.
The Library is for reference use only. Its two public
rooms provide accommodation for 125 readers. In the
east room, the reading room proper, adjustable supports
for books, ink and writing materials are provided at most
of the seats, and the current parts of a number of im-
portant periodicals are set out for inspection. The
inner room contains the catalogue and subject index,
issue desk and a number of reference books on open
shelves which all readers may consult without making
application for them. Here, too, recent acquisitions are
exhibited. Tables are provided in this room for the
consultation of photographs and exceptionally big books,
and for students who wish to make large drawings or
to use water-colours. Several of these tables have large
adjustable slopes, with upward extensions which are also
available when required.
Any visitor to the Museum over eighteen years of age
is admitted to the Library to consult ordinary reference
books or textbooks, on signing his or her name and
address at the entrance to the Reading Room, but anyone
who wishes to have the full use of the collections must,
unless the holder of a current ticket of admission to the
Reading Room of the British Museum, or card of member-
A SPECIALIST LIBRARY FOR ART 209
ship of the National Art Collections fund, obtain a ticket
of admission to the Library. Application for a ticket
must be made in writing to the Director and Secretary
of the Victoria and Albert Museum, stating the purpose
for which admission is desired and enclosing a written
recommendation, based on personal knowledge, from a
householder. Students under eighteen years of age
must apply through the head of their school or some
other qualified person who can certify that they are
competent to benefit from independent study, or that
their work in the Library will be directed by their
teachers. The tickets are issued for one year and are
renewable.
The catalogue, an author catalogue, is in two sections.
The Universal Catalogue of Books on Art (3 volumes,
1870-75), and a series of Supplements, containing only
books added to the Library itself, are incorporated into
one alphabet in a series of volumes, to form the catalogue
down to August 1890. Among the Universal Catalogue
titles, those of books actually in the Library are distin-
guished by having a press-mark beside them in the
margin. The other catalogue, on cards, contains books
acquired after August 1890, together with a number of
revised entries transferred to it from the older volume
catalogue. It is consequently necessary, for books
printed before September 1890, to refer to both the
volume catalogue and the card catalogue. For the
assistance of readers who do not know beforehand the
title of a book giving the information they need, there
are a rough manuscript index to the volume catalogue,
a series of classified subject-lists, which has not been
continued since the issue of the Heraldry list in 1901,
and a very complete subject index, in loose-leaf volumes,
to the books acquired in and since 1904. This index is
kept up to date, concurrently with the author catalogue,
H
210 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
and is now of the greatest possible value to students.
References to important articles in the various periodical
publications taken by the Library were included in the
card catalogue and the subject index until this work
had to be given up during the War. It has not yet
been possible to resume it to more than a limited extent.
Three further hand-lists can be consulted at the cata-
logue counter. One of them is a list of the periodicals
and transactions taken by the Library. The second is
an index to the names of owners of collections sold at
Christie's since 1859. The Library has a considerable
number of Christie catalogues of earlier date ; but from
1859 it nas a complete set, with the price realized in-
serted against each lot, and the purchaser's name. The
third list (in progress) is of exhibition catalogues. The
London section of these which is complete receives special
attention. It includes not only the larger annual and
special exhibitions, but a very full collection of catalogues
of one-man shows and small exhibitions at dealers' and
the other lesser galleries. There are three less important
supplements to the volume catalogue : of sale catalogues,
catalogues of collections, and official publications of the
Department of Science and Art. Since August 1890 all
such publications (except the priced set of Christie
catalogues) are included in the card catalogue.
The large size of a great proportion of the books in
the Library would make " open access " almost impossible,
even if the nature of the building and the height of
much of the shelving did not preclude any thought of it.
This being the case, the catalogue and subject index
are made as helpful as possible, and great attention has
been devoted to the selection of the limited number
of volumes immediately accessible to readers on open
reference shelves in the Reading Room. These shelves
contain a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary, a collec-
A SPECIALIST LIBRARY FOR ART 211
tion of dictionaries of foreign languages, a copy of the last
two editions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Bio-
graphie Universelle, the Dictionary of National Biography,
Ulysse Chevallier's Bio-bibliographie and other general
biographical reference books, a very extensive series of
biographical dictionaries of artists, dictionaries of artists'
monograms and collectors' marks, dictionaries of classical,
Christian, prehistoric, and oriental antiquities, gazetteers,
Chevallier's Topo-Bibliographie, dictionaries of dates,
dictionaries of art terms, genealogists' guides, peerages,
Burke's Landed Gentry, records of auction sale prices,
art bibliographies, the British Museum subject index,
the English Catalogue, Book Prices Current, F. de Mely
and E. Bishop's Bibliographie generale des inventaires
imprimes (1892-95) ; an extensive series of bibliographies
of various branches of art ; indexes of periodical literature
such as Poole's Index, the Subject Index to Periodicals
(the art section), the Repertoire d'Art et d'Archeologie,
issued by the Bibliotheque d'Art et d'Archeologie,
founded by M. Doucet and now administered by the
University of Paris, Gomme's Index to Archaeological
Papers, 1665-1890 (1907), and annual indexes, 1891-
1907 ( 1 892-1 908) ; R. de Lasteyrie and E. Lefevre
Pontalis, Bibliographie des travaux historiques et archeo-
logiques (1888 et seq.), A. L. Jellinek, Internationale
Bibliographie der Kunstwissenschaft (1902-13), etc.
In addition to these combined indexes, the index volumes
of a great many of the more important art magazines
and sets of transactions are set out on the open shelves.
Having these accessible is very helpful to students, but
it is perhaps even more important for them to know that
they may count upon receiving every possible assistance
from the Library staff.
At the present time such assistance is more definitely
necessary to those who wish to consult the collection of
212 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Photographs. This collection, about a quarter of a
million in number, covers the same ground as the collec-
tion of books. The photographs are arranged, according
to subject, in the following classes : Anatomy ; Archi-
tecture and Topography ; Armour and Weapons ;
Books (printed and in manuscript) ; Brasses and Incised
Slabs ; Carts, Carriages, Harness, and Horse Furniture ;
Ceramics (pottery and porcelain) ; Clocks, Watches, and
Sundials ; Coins and Medals ; Construction, Machinery,
etc. ; Costume ; Drawings ; Enamels ; Etching and
Engraving ; Furniture, Wood- and Leather-work ;
Gardens ; Gems (cameos and engraved) ; Glass ; Gold-
and Silver-smiths' Work ; Heraldry ; Lettering ; Metal
Work (other than gold and silver) ; Miniatures and
Silhouettes ; Mosaics and Inlays ; Mural Painting ;
Musical Instruments ; Ornament ; Pageants and Plays ;
Painting ; Photographic Studies of Human Figures,
Plants, Animals, Cloud-forms, etc. ; Playing Cards ;
Portraits from Life ; Posters ; Sculpture ; Seals ;
Shipping ; Textiles ; War Photographs ; and a small
collection of specimens of various photographic processes
of reproduction. It will be noticed that, in addition to
the illustrations of works of art, photographs of natural
objects, etc., are included as they provide material for
artists or designers working in the Library. Some of
the classes are very small in comparison with others, but
the full list is given to show the scope of the collection.
The different classes enumerated above are subdivided
into groups and sorted into order in those groups. The
subdivision and the order in sorting in the subsections
vary in the different classes. It can be seen that all
could not be treated in the same way. Such classes as
Painting, Sculpture, Drawings, are divided according to
nationality, and sorted in each national section alpha-
betically under the artists' names. Architectural photo-
A SPECIALIST LIBRARY FOR ART 213
graphs are sorted topographically, those of each country
being arranged alphabetically under the names of places,
while other classes like Furniture are sorted, under each
country, into groups : beds, chairs, chests, cupboards,
tables, etc. The photographs are mounted, by the
dry-mounting process, on thin linen-backed cards, of
three standard sizes for storage in boxes on shelves.
Photographs too large for the boxes are kept in portfolios
and stored flat.
Printed indexes of three of the smaller classes can be
consulted, and a general index is in preparation. The
typewriting of this in loose-leaf volumes has been com-
menced, and the remainder, so far as it has been com-
pleted, in MS. on slips, can be consulted on application.
A hand-list to the painters and draughtsmen represented
has recently been completed. It is, however, sufficient
for a visitor to ask for the works of an artist, views of a
place or building, or illustrations of a class of object,
in order to obtain what the Library is able to supply
to meet his needs, or be told that it is not to be found
in the collection.
It may be mentioned here that the Museum owns
nearly 50,000 negatives, mainly of objects in its own
collections, but including some of objects that have been
lent to it at different times, and others of important
works which its official photographer has been allowed to
photograph, such as stained glass in Canterbury Cathedral
and Westminster Abbey, etc. Prints from these nega-
tives can be obtained at a moderate charge, and a number
of postcards are also on sale at the Museum.
The Library has exhibition space in the Museum.
In the west gallery of Room 75 a technical exhibit
illustrating the handicrafts of type-founding, printing
and bookbinding has been arranged, and in Room 74 an
exhibition of book production is to be seen. This is
214 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
divided into three sections, the first of which is devoted
to illuminated and other manuscripts, the second to
the printed book, book decoration and book illustration,
from the fifteenth century to the present time, the
third to bookbindings. In the space round a well to
the east of the main gallery are shown selections from
various sections of the Library, including lettering and
writing books, lace and embroidery pattern books,
early books on architecture, painting, and engraving,
books on metal work and furniture, liturgical books,
miniature books (including a number lent by Her Majesty
the Queen), illustrated books of the 'sixties, the latter
supplemented by framed drawings on the walls belonging
to the Department of Engraving. Other MSS. are to
be seen in the Salting and Currie Bequests (Rooms 128
and 105), some important enamelled bindings in the
South Court (Room 39), and ivory covers, or panels for
covers, in Room 64.
It is important to mention, in conclusion, that the
Museum contains also two important Bequest Libraries,
of a kind that one would not expect to find included in
its collections. These, the Dyce and Forster Libraries
(about 35,000 volumes), are of great value for the student
of English Literature. The Dyce Library is especially rich
in Elizabethan and seventeenth century dramatic litera-
ture, and the Forster in English literature and English
history from the seventeenth century until about 1870.
A small selection from the treasures of the two Bequests
is exhibited in Rooms 83 and 84; it includes one very
important artistic item, three notebooks of Leonardo
da Vinci, belonging to the Forster Bequest.
The Library is open on weekdays during the same
hours as the Museum. As already explained, it is a
reference Library only, and no books or photographs
belonging to it can be lent.
THE LIBRARY RESOURCES OF LONDON
By C. R. Sanderson
Librarian, National Liberal Club
X
THE LIBRARY RESOURCES OF LONDON
By C. R. Sanderson
Librarian, National Liberal Club
Mr. Birrell once began an address by saying that he
rose on the spur of six months' notice. Such extended
notice has one dreadful result it gives time for the full
realization of the difficulties of a set task. I am to show
you the library resources of London, show them to you
in a single chapter, interest you although I must omit
so many of the nicest, the best, the most attractive
libraries, because these have been shown to you in
other chapters already. As a result, the bounds of time
and the institutions to which I am temporarily to have the
key are two factors which would delimit my parade if
what I attempted were to be a conducted tour. Actually,
what I really must do is to link up with other chapters
in this book, lest it appear that we think the libraries
of London are covered when we have discussed only a
few of the most prominent ones. And in order to do
this I must sketch out for you some idea of that vast
fund of books which London possesses, and try to group
them together so that we may get some impression of
this particular aspect of the wealth of London, wealth
other than and greater than that of Lombard Street.
For the working details of the libraries we shall
mention, I must refer you to other authorities. Mr.
Rye's handbook to the libraries of London * is a detailed
1 The Libraries of London ; a Guide for Students. By R. A. Rye. 1910.
217
2i 8 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
survey which you should know well ; and another work
now under preparation, the anxiously awaited Directory
of Special Libraries, will very soon provide us with an
" Inquire Within,' ' not only for London but for the
rest of the country as well.
As you will see before we get very far in our survey,
books there are in almost overflowing measure and on
every conceivable topic. Our only difficulty is how to
find our way to them and among them. Of general
libraries there is little need for talk ; the libraries
towards which we require guidance are of two kinds.
One takes some prescribed branch of knowledge as its
special field and thereto devotes the whole of its resources
and energies ; the other, while covering the general
ground, looks generously upon one section which it more
particularly develops. " Rye " and the " Directory "
together will give us a much larger entry.
So far as London is concerned, in mentally grouping
these libraries, we may with some reason and with more
convenience begin with the group of State Libraries ;
and, starting at the top of the hierarchy, mention with
a little pride, and with a little regret, the libraries of the
Houses of Parliament. With some pride, because as
medium-sized reference libraries they do their particular
work so effectively ; with some regret on account of
their exclusiveness. Through this aloofness, and in a
kind of Gentlemen v. Players attitude, we have under
one roofing two libraries each serving a separate " estate
of the realm," and through this, also, these libraries are
inaccessible to the public at large. This exclusiveness
is, however, by no means of a niggardly character. The
two " estates " use each other's library, though as an
act of courtesy and not as a right, and the House of
Commons Library is open to a student by the permission
of the Speaker. Moreover, certain papers of an official
RESOURCES OF LONDON 219
character, which are not available elsewhere, may be
consulted there. But the fact remains that owing to
their constitution, and probably in order to secure the
effectiveness of their work, the libraries are accessible to
the world outside only in a very limited degree. And
yet it would be most unjust if I did not say that again
and again I have received every kindness and found
every willingness to be of help when I have appealed to
the librarians of these libraries for assistance. Many of
you will remember that it was in the House of Commons
Library that Parnell got his real introduction to books.
Books had not been plentiful in his early life, and when
he came to be the leader of his party in the House of
Commons and was fighting coercion, he keenly felt the
lack of a knowledge of history. Barry O'Brien, in his
Life of Parnell, says he spent hours walking up and
down the lobbies of the House telling Parnell all he could,
until Parnell exclaimed :
1 " Can I get all this in books ? You see I am very
ignorant. I am very quick, though, at picking up
things." I named some books to him. " All right," he
said, " I will go into the Library and get them. We will
look through them together." He went to the Library,
and soon returned with the books. We stood at the little
desk close to the door leading into the Reading Room.
He plunged into the books, marking with blue pencil
the passages that specially interested him. " Do they
allow you to mark books here ? " I asked, observing that
he was disfiguring the pages in the most reckless fashion.
" I don't know," was the answer, with the air of a man
who thought the question quite irrelevant.'
Even the librarian of the House of Commons must have
his days of tribulation.
As we might expect, the two libraries largely reflect
the distinction in the spheres of activity of the two
Houses. It is to the House of Lords Library that we
220 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
should turn for the legal side (the library of the appellate
House) ; to the House of Commons Library for ques-
tions of finance. Neither library, of course, restricts its
sphere to these subjects, but throughout this chapter
we are concerned with the special and not with the
general.
For further specialized topics we must look to the
departmentalized libraries, that is, the libraries of the
separate Government departments. We cannot men-
tion them all, but we should be unwise if we did not
spare time for a comment on a few of them.
The Foreign Office possesses a fine library of not only
British state papers, but those of foreign governments
as well ; state papers covering laws, finance, trade,
tariffs, emigration, and all such topics. Biographical
material there is in abundance, contemporary pamphlets
no longer accessible elsewhere, and standard works of
all kinds especially leaning towards government, diplo-
macy, politics, economics, and statistics. Officially the
library is not acknowledged to be accessible to the
outsider, but in the confidence of my readers I may
tell a secret by saying that this is largely because there
is such restricted accommodation for students. A
properly recommended inquirer will find a most sympa-
thetic librarian, to whom most things are possible,
although the library contains much confidential informa-
tion in the way of contemporary state archives which we
should not be allowed to use. These archives or official
papers are kept at the Foreign Office in files for about
twenty years ; then they are transferred (still as confi-
dential documents) to the custody of the Record Office,
that state repository which is the subject of one of
these chapters. Eventually they are made accessible to
the public and, as you know, the forward date to which
the archives are now accessible is 1878.
RESOURCES OF LONDON 221
In the Foreign Office Library we get an excellent
example of what we know as realty progressive librarian-
ship that type of librarianship where the librarian is
not merely the collector of his material, not merely the
custodian and arranger of it, but also the capable exploiter.
The Foreign Office Library is a kind of information
bureau producing memoranda, often on most involved
topics, for the benefit of its own Department. This is
exactly the kind of work done by what we call specialist
libraries, by our modern reference libraries, and by our
commercial libraries. More than this, the Foreign Office
Library acts as a kind of clearing house for information
required and provided elsewhere. The Minister of
Agriculture in Roumania may put forward an inquiry
concerning a breed of fine, fat, black pigs in Derbyshire
about which he has heard, or some Minister in Czecho-
slovakia may want the fullest information he can get
concerning the police system of London. The inquiry
comes through the official channels and passes through
the hands of the librarian of the Foreign Office, who
obtains what is required and forwards it. Of the
material available in the Foreign Office Library itself, a
fine catalogue has recently been published. It covers
some 1,600 pages and the entries under each subject-
heading are arranged in chronological order, an excellent
device for a library of this character.
The War Office and the Admiralty Libraries are
departmental in a narrower sense. A good idea of the
scope of the former and of its work can be obtained
from that most genial of librarianship books Warriors in
Undress, by Mr. Hudleston, the librarian of the War
Office. The Admiralty Library is world-famous for its
naval history, and for its maps and charts. Though it
is largely restricted to the use of the Department and to
naval officers, exceptions are not infrequently granted.
222 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
The Board of Education Library covers a wider sphere
of general effectiveness. It is a great educational
library, concerning itself not only with strictly educa-
tional treatises, but also with the offshoots or the
supports (you choose the more suitable term according
to your attitude), such as psychology, ethics, logic, social
science, hygiene, etc. It deals with methods of teaching
and not with textbooks of the subjects taught, but it
has a wide appeal because it is primarily a library for the
student of education. The idea of a Departmental
Library being created and maintained even principally
for the use of its own particular Government Depart-
ment here takes second place ; the student comes first,
though the actual accommodation provided is not really
ideal. The library is a reference library, like that of the
Colonial Office also, and books may not be taken away.
It is arranged according to a decimal classification of
its own (the work of Mr. Twentyman), and the scheme
has been printed and circulated as a Government
publication.
The Ministry of Agriculture Library widens its appeal
in its special line still further. Many, if not most, of
the books may be borrowed, three at a time, and may be
kept for fourteen days, the condition being primarily
that carriage shall be paid. The Ministry has also a
monthly Bulletin, in which additions to the library are
set out, and in which periodicals are analysed and suitable
contents brought to notice. Every branch of agriculture
is covered : economics, crops, pests, fruit, live stock,
buildings, engineering, veterinary science, poultry, bees,
all are included. And the library should be of added
interest to the library student because it is one of the
few places in London where the Brussels Expansion of
the Dewey system of classification is carried out in the
administration. The subject catalogue is arranged under
RESOURCES OF LONDON 223
the Brussels Expansion, although the books are shelved
under an adaptation of Brown's subject classification.
The India Office Library is one of the oldest Depart-
mental Libraries, for it had its nucleus in the old East
India Company. It is a learned library and possesses
the finest collection of Indian literature in Europe, and
perhaps one of the finest collections of oriental litera-
ture that exist. It is available for reference purposes,
but the signing of a simple application form and the
providing of the required recommendation give borrow-
ing powers for twelve months. It has a set of printed
catalogues.
The Ministry of Labour possesses our newest large
departmental library. The Library was established with
the Ministry in 191 7, but as duties were transferred
to the Department by Orders in Council (as provided
in the establishment Statute) there came with these
duties large collections of material from other Depart-
ments for incorporation in the library. As a modern
establishment it conforms with modern practice. Dewey
was adopted, every item was fully catalogued, fugitive
material was related to textbook material. The material
is, however, largely regarded as being of a confidential
character, though exceptions are sometimes made by
admitting non-Government users. But here again, it
would be a knavish trick not to add that a justifiable
inquiry will be met with every courtesy from the officials
concerned. I have personally received the greatest
help from the chief officials of the Statistics Branch when
I have frequently turned to them in time of need.
Several other of the State Libraries possess features of
interest to us. Those of the Ministry of Health, the
Board of Trade, and the Department of Overseas Trade
are all rich in works within their respective spheres. The
Board of Trade Library has a considerable collection of
224 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
rare items on various aspects of trade, including some
statements of prices current at the time of Charles II ;
the Department of Overseas Trade makes a speciality of
foreign and colonial publications on all matters affecting
industry and overseas trade, including a particularly wide
range of directories and annuals from all quarters of the
globe. All three libraries are open to bona fide inquirers,
and the librarians are always ready to help the student
over a stile in his quest for information.
There are many other Government libraries which
we must leave, but one very excellent library far too
little known is that of the Imperial Institute at South
Kensington. It is not, as is often thought, a part of the
University, but is the library of the Imperial Institute
itself, and aims at assisting the fullest utilization of the
raw materials produced in the Colonies, and at circulating
information concerning the economic resources of the
Empire. It possesses a Technical Information Bureau, a
Reference Library, a Map Room, a Reading Room, and
a staff willing to help any properly recommended
inquirer who goes with a legitimate inquiry.
We come now to the non-Government libraries, and
perhaps as primus inter fares we should place the London
Library. Of its interesting origin we can be reminded
by looking again at Frederic Harrison's monograph, 1
and you do not need me to tell you that it is the finest
lending library in the country. True, it is limited to
subscribers, but the fee is not an impossible one, and the
borrowing facilities which are granted are as generous
as the treatment of delinquents is lenient. It is, of
course, a general library, but as a supplement to the
resources of other libraries there is an enormous fund of
out-of-the-way reference books. Such books are rarely
wanted, but when they are wanted the need is great,
1 Carlyle and the London Library. Edited by Frederic Harrison. 1907.
RESOURCES OF LONDON 225
for the information contained in them can be obtained
from no modern substitute. Here also are many sets
of periodicals as scarce as they are long, pamphlets,
official papers, and other material of such a nature that
it is out of the reach of the purse and space of the average
library.
It is a sad thing that, officially, the library may not
be used by other libraries as a reservoir upon which
they may draw in their need, for the London Library
recognizes only individual subscribers, and does not
countenance second-hand borrowing nor acknowledge
the " fictitious person " of legal phraseology. Yet, to
mix metaphors, out of the kindness of its heart it will
often turn its blind eye when an official of another
library applies for personal membership and borrowing
powers.
To branch off into theory for one moment, the London
Library is a magnificent professional object-lesson. It
shows what a central repository could do to supplement
the reference stock of the ordinary library ; how much
money, space, and work could be economized by the
provision of a repository such as we believe the Central
Library for Students will ultimately become. Not
only would it contain books generally termed the
" lending " type, but also it would distribute the estab-
lished " reference " material now always so difficult for
the smaller reference libraries to obtain, even at second-
hand, for their readers.
Next we may place the Guildhall Library. I claim
no justification for placing it second to any, other than
that of convenience of grouping ; placed here it leads us
on more easily to other public libraries free to all. As we
know, it is a fifteenth century foundation, linked, through
his executors, with Dick Whittington's fame. It had
dark days under Protector Somerset, who was a borrower
15
226 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
in his time, borrowing not one book, but most of the
library, and borrowing it permanently. The Great Fire
finished the rest. But this should not disturb any belief
we have in the ultimate plans of Providence, even though
it was not until the first quarter of the nineteenth
century that the library was refounded. Originally it
had mainly been devoted to theology ; but with the
new foundation came a great change which deprives
Somerset and the Great Fire of their tragic incidence
in connexion with the library. The purchases were
now ordered to be works concerning the manners,
customs, laws, privileges, topography, and history of the
City of London and its neighbourhood, and this is where
the special strength and import of the Guildhall Library
lies for us. It provides, too, a piece of constructive
administration of particularly interesting professional
importance, for the classification of the vast London
collection has, under the librarianship of Mr. Bernard
Kettle, been worked out, not on theoretical lines, but on
the actual material to be arranged. In addition to the
enormous number of general works there is also a com-
mercial library (perhaps the earliest to be established in
the country) ; and the Guildhall Library took upon itself
an added democracy by the adoption of the Libraries
Acts in 1922. Previously the library had been main-
tained out of corporate income without any charge
falling upon the City rates.
With the Guildhall Library should go some mention
of three other endowed public libraries which were
established by the Charity Commissioners some thirty
years ago under the City of London Parochial Charities
Act. These three endowment-maintained libraries are
for people living or employed in the City, the Cripplegate
Institute serving the western half, the Bishopsgate Insti-
tute serving the eastern half (both happily preserving
RESOURCES OF LONDON 227
the names of ancient London landmarks), and the St.
Bride Foundation being devoted exclusively to the
subject (widely defined) of printing.
The Cripplegate Institute reacts to its own district's
needs. Its reference department is particularly strong
in art as applied to the manufacture of textile fabrics,
for its district is the centre of what are called the Man-
chester trades, that is, millinery, artificial flowers,
ladies' garments, etc. This is not the only special
feature ; there is also a good commercial library, and the
literary facilities are without doubt considerably popu-
larized by the other activities of the Institute. These
activities include classes in technical subjects, and mid-
day dinner-hour concerts. The Cripplegate Institute
has one other feature it is a public library with a tea-
room ; tea can be obtained for 2^., and buttered toast,
that splendid illuminator of books, is provided for 2%d.
The Bishopsgate Institute, the eastern counterpart of
the Cripplegate foundation, is notable for its collection
of books dealing with the history and topography of
London. The third endowment, the St. Bride Founda-
tion, really found the origin of its library in that of
William Blades, the biographer of Caxton. On the death
of Blades, his library was acquired for the yet unbuilt
institute. To bring the collection up to date in more
recent typographical history and textbooks, Passmore
Edwards, the great benefactor of public libraries in pre-
Carnegie days, gave a large sum of money, and as a
result the library now aims at being as complete as
possible both on the historical and practical side. It
covers letterpress printing, engraving, lithography, process
work, and all methods of illustration.
Dr. Williams's Library, dating from the eighteenth
century, is another well-known endowed library, largely
theological and philosophical, and sufficiently rich in
228 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
sets of periodicals to make it more than a general
library. Anyone in the United Kingdom can borrow
from its resources on production of a satisfactory intro-
duction and a guarantee.
There are many other libraries which must be passed
over in our rapid survey and again left to the care of
Mr. Rye. But two other theological and historical
collections may be mentioned in passing, that of Lambeth
Palace Library, which is open to the public for reference
and from which modern works may be borrowed on
certain conditions, and Sion College Library, mainly
used by clergymen.
Then come the public libraries proper, and by that
we mean, of course, those libraries which are not only
used free by the public, but which are also maintained
out of rate income. In number they are really so
many that any attempt at a survey of all of them, even
without discussing them in sequence, would remind you
of an incident which took place quite recently in a
London theatre. One of the characters had to repeat :
" I abhor you, I abhor you." He was not a prepossessing
character, and his particular enunciation seemed to
curtail the phrase until it appeared to be a trisyllable.
The result was a rejoinder from the more elevated
portion of the house : " Yes, and you bore us too."
Very briefly, therefore, let me summarize the position
by saying that all the metropolitan boroughs have now
adopted the Libraries Acts, and are carrying them out
with varying degrees of generosity or parsimony. There
are some 90 to 100 public libraries within the adminis-
trative county, and consequently there is a general
library available within reasonable distance from any
point you like to take within that area. Actually the
lending libraries of the different boroughs restrict their
activities practically to their own districts, though there
RESOURCES OF LONDON 229
is some little exchange of borrowing facilities. The
reference libraries, in contradistinction, are everywhere
accessible to anyone. To-day there is a very important
movement (more accurately it should be called a revival
of a movement) for co-operation and co-ordination
between the public libraries of London. Many theories
have been advanced, radical regrouping has been sug-
gested ; but the feeling is gradually making headway
(and at length finding realization along practical lines)
that increased effectiveness should be obtained by mutual
concessions between the various library systems. This
is a highly important tendency which will make for true
economies, increased book provision, and a better organ-
ization of our resources. It is, however, merely primary
co-ordination, and though it would represent a vast
improvement on existing conditions, there are definite
limits to the advantages which can accrue. So long as
the co-operation is between a group of general libraries
working together, they provide not exactly the same
books, but at any rate varied books covering the same
general ground, and the fullest results from this organized
co-ordination will come only when each library system,
in addition to providing general collections, also attempts
to specialize in some particular department of knowledge.
The step forward is not so large a stride as might be
imagined. Almost every public library system is reacting
to some one or other local influence, and, as we know,
" special collections " are no new thing. Quite naturally,
almost inevitably, a library in an industrial area tends to
strengthen more particularly that section which deals
with local industries. The localization of industry is
represented in the character of the library. We saw it
in the case of the Cripplegate Institute. At Shoreditch
there is a well-known collection dealing with furniture
and the allied trades. Here a strengthened section has
230 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
been developed until it has become a specialized collec-
tion, and Shoreditch now maintains probably the finest
collection of books to be found anywhere in the country
so far as furniture, cabinet-making, French-polishing,
home-furnishing, wood-carving, and similar related
topics are concerned. And not only books, but also
relevant periodicals, foreign matter as well as English, are
included.
Along similar lines Bethnal Green is developing a
tailoring and a furniture section ; Acton an engineering
section ; Bermondsey a leather section ; Finsbury a
commercial section. And so the list could be continued.
It is interesting to note how generally the need for the
conscious organization of such specialization is being felt.
We may take an excellent illustration from Lancashire.
In the Mitchell Report 1 it is stated that proposals have
been made whereby three Lancashire towns shall each
specialize (in addition to each providing a general library)
in one of three industries common to the group : cotton,
engineering, and paper-making. It is proposed that each
library shall stress one of these sections to the full
extent of its purse, and that all three shall give borrowing
powers to one another in other words pool their special
collections for the common benefit. The deliberate
organization of such departmentalized or team work
would open up an enormously enlarged vista of the
ultimate benefits certain to come in the wake of inter-
library co-operation.
In other places a public library has often seized upon
a point of local association and formed a special collection
around it. Obvious London examples of this are at
Chiswick (the Chiswick Press collection), Twickenham
1 The Public Library System of Great Britain and Ireland,, 1921-23.
A report prepared for the Carnegie United Kingdom Trustees by the
secretary, J. M. Mitchell. 1924.
RESOURCES OF LONDON 231
(the Alexander Pope collection Pope is buried in
Twickenham churchyard), Woolwich (the Blake collec-
tion). Or again, the acquisition of the nucleus of a
special collection may in a way have been accidental ;
but having acquired, either by purchase or gift, say a
particular person's specialized library, the public library
continues to build upon this excellent foundation.
Thus we have the Henry Morley library which passed
into the possession of Hampstead and has given rise in
the public library there to a much-extended collection
rich in first and early editions of standard writers of the
sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. It
includes the only known " first " of Lyly's Eupbues, the
Dilke collection of Keats relics, and a library of litera-
ture relating to Keats and his circle.
Another kind of specializing comes from the fact that
very many public libraries have made a " local " collec-
tion, gathering together and making accessible all material
having any relationship with local history. There are so
many examples that it would be unjust to particularize,
except perhaps by reminding you of the already men-
tioned analogous work done by the Guildhall, which
possesses the greatest " local " collection in the country.
At the same time, it is worth saying, as an example of
the very varied origin of this important work now carried
out in public libraries all over the country, that the
local collection at Willesden had its birth in the enthu-
siasm of a chairman of the Libraries Committee. He was
keenly interested in tracing the history of the land upon
which Willesden now stands, and in the course of his
inquiries he collected many deeds and documents which
later he allowed to pass into the possession of the public
library. The library has gone on building upon this
foundation. It is of some interest to note also that the
librarian is making a collection of local process-blocks.
232 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
and whenever any illustration appears concerning the
locality, he begs the gift or custody of the process-block
by which the illustration was reproduced.
These, then, are examples of the many types of special-
ization to be found in our London public libraries.
The work is capable of almost infinite development.
There is not a library without an opportunity of doing
its quota of the work which (I hope we shall agree) is
of much more than merely local importance. The ideal
which librarianship has in view is that by each library
pulling its full weight in this manner, and by a sharing
of the added facilities thus provided, we shall ultimately
have a national pool from which all can draw in their
need and to which all will contribute in their turn.
And now let us look in another direction for a moment.
Scattered throughout London we have an enormous
number of separate institutional libraries. For par-
ticulars of the institutions themselves we can usefully
turn to The Tear-book of the Scientific and Learned
Societies ; but unfortunately this work gives no indication
of the collections of books possessed by the different
societies. Yet we shall not be far wrong if we assume
that practically every one of the societies has its own
material, even if not all of them have the glorious heritage
of the fine libraries possessed by the older bodies. In
case of need, then, whenever detailed and specialized
information is required (information that is beyond the
scope of an ordinary library), we might well say :
" Thence to the society." Whether it be mountaineering
(the Alpine Club), Insects (the Entomological Society),
Freemasonry (Grand Lodge), Scandinavian Antiquities
(the Viking Club), there is some organization whose
members have made the topic the bright star of their
firmament.
If we cannot here describe even the more important
RESOURCES OF LONDON 233
ones, we cannot pass them into our bag with merely
this very generalized comment. Let me try and group
a few of them, in order to emphasize the fact that
they contain some most valuable specialized material,
to which the courtesy of the society will almost invari-
ably give us access in our necessity. The libraries exist
primarily, of course, for the benefit and use of their
own members ; but in most cases, if not in all, a student
can obtain entry to them, through the introduction of
a member or by some similar means. It should also be
remembered that the books are generally in the care
of a specialist in the particular subject, so that we get
contact not only with a library, but also with a librarian
full of specialized knowledge.
An excellent example of how a relatively wide though
specialized sphere is covered by one library is given by
the Royal Colonial Institute. There the large library
deals with the history, government, trade, resources,
and general economics of the Dominions and Colonies.
The book-stock is supplemented by an enormous number
of periodicals and newspapers, and files of past numbers
are maintained. Post-graduate students of any univer-
sity are allowed to read there, and with proper recom-
mendation many others can do the same. In this case
once more, an excellent library is administered by a
keen librarian, not only willing but anxious to add his
personal knowledge and assistance to the material pro-
vided.
From this library we could pass through a long list
of carefully built up and exhaustive collections dealing
with topics more and more specialized. There is the
group of learned societies represented by the Royal
Geographical, the Royal Statistical, the Royal Historical,
the Royal Astronomical, and the Royal Horticultural
Societies. Or there is the group of technical libraries
234 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
vested in the Institute of Civil Engineers, of Mechanical
Engineers, of Electrical Engineers, and the Royal Sanitary
Institute. From these we are led on to a large group of
professional libraries like those of the Royal Institute of
British Architects, the Chemical Society, the Pharma-
ceutical Society, like the law libraries of the several
Inns of Court, or like the medical libraries of the Royal
College of Physicians, the Royal College of Surgeons,
and the British Medical Association.
We have now traced a path from the wider spheres to
those of a very circumscribed and very specialized scope,
but there are still many libraries outside this rough
grouping. There is the National Library for the Blind,
for which we all have a tender spot in our affections.
Loving books and living on books we cannot but appre-
ciate the effective and efficient work of this library as it
carries out its plan of providing books for those who do
not read with eyes and will provide free of cost to the
individual rather than let any charges impede the
contact of the would-be reader and the book. There
is the library of the British and Foreign Bible Society
with its wonderful collection (and equally wonderful
catalogue) of Bibles in all tongues, a help in " language "
as well as in other directions. Or there are libraries
like those of the larger clubs " the West End Clubs "
as the newspapers term them : the library of the
Athenaeum, representing its clientele, dignified and
learned, bearing for all time the impress of Mr. Tedder ;
the library of the Reform Club an almost equally
dignified and " select " institution containing many
books of historical and topographical character ; there
is the library of the National Liberal Club, aiming
at providing a " utility " library for the active politician.
These libraries are officially " for members only," but
those who ask receive help. As an illustration of what I
RESOURCES OF LONDON 235
mean I may tell you that one of the functions assumed
by the National Liberal Club Library is that of providing
an " Inquiry Service " on all questions concerning
political economics the phrase can be accredited with
a wider import than either politics or economics. But in
carrying out this work a careful scrutiny of the member-
ship roll is never deemed an essential preliminary to the
answering of the inquiries. (I hope you will agree
that I have kept my trumpet carefully hidden until
now, and will therefore forgive me this one short and
not too shrill blast. It is the perquisite of most
librarians.)
And now I am nearly at the end. I say that de-
signedly so that I may retain your patience for yet
another moment or two, for I must make mention of
the dozens of highly specialized trade libraries which
are scattered over London. These are perhaps not
libraries in the narrower (and unwise) interpretation of
the word. They rely predominantly upon what we call
fugitive material, and in fact must do so on account of
their particular work, where up-to-dateness is a primary
essential ; because, as we know, periodical literature is,
on the average, some three or four years in advance of
the printed book. But they back up this more ephemeral
matter by standard reference books and textbooks on
their own topics. The Directory of Special Libraries
will bring them all into a wider publicity, but we already
know that there are libraries dealing industrially with
boots and shoes, silk, sugar, glass, music industries,
photograph research, and many other trades, with the
excellent library and information bureau of the Federation
of British Industries as a kind of headpiece.
Space as well as, I hope, discretion must bring to an
end this sketchy outline of the mass of material in such
London libraries as are not covered by other chapters
236 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
in this book. My aim has been to picture the immensity
of this mass (without figures, weights, and areas), to give
an impression of its detail, to show how freely much of
it can be approached through doors already open, and
how practically all of the remainder is behind doors
that will open (some distance at any rate) to our courteous
knock. From a workaday utility point of view do not
forget that all this can be further supplemented by
organizations which will keep us in contact with the
printed records of the moment. Our newspapers them-
selves maintain libraries, indexes, and inquiry depart-
ments. So far as their busy lives will allow, the officials
responsible will let us benefit by their work. The Times
makes it public through its published " Index," and
through the concession to subscribers of using the index
material even before it reaches its printed stage. And
so, while through the established libraries of which we
have talked we can reach back to records of past work
in all sections of knowledge, through our newspaper
indexes, printed and unprinted, we in London can carry
our unbroken chain of information down even to
yesterday. 1
1 Since the first edition of this book the Library of the League of Nations
Union, 15 Grosvenor Crescent, S.W.I, and that of the Royal Institute
of International Affairs, have shown themselves well worth adding to
the list of those mentioned above.
XI
LIBRARY RESOURCES OUTSIDE LONDON
By W. C. Berwick Sayers
Chief Librarian, Croydon Public Libraries
XI
LIBRARY RESOURCES OUTSIDE LONDON
By W. C. Berwick Sayers
Chief Librarian, Croydon Public Libraries
London is the centre of the English-speaking book world,
as it is the centre of the money market. At the same
time, it is perhaps not sufficiently recognized that the
provincial student of to-day is in a far better position
than he was even a few years ago ; and it may be
said that such a student may obtain almost any book
which is generally available. Basic records, original
documents, and other " stuff of which history is made,"
must always be confined to metropolitan places, but to
the average book the means of access in all parts of the
British Isles are now various. Of course, the student
in cities with great populations, such as Glasgow, Bir-
mingham, Manchester, and Dublin, has great advantage
over the isolated student ; in fact, is in a position very
little inferior, if at all, to the Londoner.
Moreover, it should be remembered that four of the
libraries which may receive copies of all books published
under the Copyright Acts the Bodleian Library at
Oxford, the University Library at Cambridge, the
Advocates' Library at Edinburgh, and the Library of
Trinity College, Dublin are all out of London, and for
some works these are even more useful than, or at least
supplement, the stores of London.
In this chapter we are concerned with the field as a
239
240 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
whole, and this can be regarded usefully from the
following view-points :
(i) The town student.
(2) The village student.
(3) The isolated student.
The needs of these are met in varying degrees by
{a) University libraries (which have been the subject
of a previous chapter, and will not be dealt with further
here).
(b) State libraries.
(c) Municipal libraries.
(d) Rural libraries administered by county councils.
(e) The Central Library for Students, 1 with its centres
for England in London, for Scotland in Dunfermline,
and for Ireland in Dublin.
(J) Endowed libraries, more or less free, such as Dr.
Williams's Library, Gordon Square, London, which
sends out books on religious and cognate subjects to
country students.
(g) Semi-public or private institutional libraries sup-
ported by subscribers, the greatest of which is the London
Library in St. James's Square ; and commercial circulating
libraries such as Boots's, Mudie's, Day's and others.
(h) Adult education agencies, such as the University
Extension delegacies, which send out boxes of selected
books to their organized classes.
(*) Libraries for special purposes, the principal one of
which is the National Library for the Blind, which
circulates books in Braille and Moon type from its
centres at Tufton Street, Westminster, and Deansgate,
Manchester.
We shall endeavour in the briefest possible manner to
show how these libraries are made to serve a very large
part of our population.
1 Now the National Central Library.
RESOURCES OUTSIDE LONDON 241
State Libraries
Each of the three countries possesses a state endowed
and maintained library. The oldest is the one which
most recently has been turned into a national library.
This is the venerable library at Edinburgh, known for
centuries as the Advocates' Library, which by the gift
of the Faculty of Advocates, facilitated by a substantial
endowment from Sir Alexander Grant, became the
National Library of Scotland in 1922. Established
in 1682, originally as a law library, it has gradually
grown into its now general and comprehensive character.
It has many rich special collections, notably on old
Spanish books, the history and antiquities of the Northern
nations, on the Reformation and so on ; but naturally
Scottish subjects, including incunabula, early printing,
civil and ecclesiastical history, poetry, etc., bulk largely.
Classics are also strongly represented. Altogether there
are at present about 750,000 volumes and pamphlets, and
3,300 manuscripts. It has enlarged its tradition of admit-
ting any serious student, and what had been a matter of
liberal courtesy on the part of the Faculty of Advocates
has now become a public right. 1 The Advocates' Library
received books under the Copy Tax from 1709, and these
rights have been continued to the newer National Library.
Wales established its National Library at Aberystwyth
as recently as 1907. This library contains the finest
Welsh collections that exist, although it should be
pointed out that there are fine collections of books on
and in the Welsh language in Cardiff and Swansea Public
Libraries. The Welsh national library, again, is
general in character, and is open freely to all serious
students. It is active in many directions, and has
1 The rules are now practically identical with those of the British
Museum.
16
242 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
means whereby it supplies books to isolated students in
the Principality. The total stock of the library consists
of 400,000 books, 50,000 deeds and other documents,
5,000 manuscripts, and a large collection of maps,
prints, and drawings which are mostly topographical.
The National Library of Ireland, which is situated in
Kildare Street, Dublin, was originally the state-main-
tained library of the Royal Dublin Society. It became
the National Library in 1890. Unlike the two libraries
just described, it does not receive books under the
Copyright Acts, that privilege having been granted
earlier to the library of Trinity College, Dublin ; and
its funds for the purchase of books are small when the
character of the library is considered. It contains
about 350,000 volumes, and is accessible to the general
public.
Municipal Libraries
Next in order of size and importance to the state
libraries are those provided and maintained by the
municipalities. Wherever the student may be situated,
especially when he is out of the reach of a national
library, his first inquiry should be directed to the
character and resources of the nearest public library.
These libraries, originally wrongly called " free
libraries," exist in every well-organized community
to-day, but they naturally vary in character, and in the
extent of their resources, in accordance with the funds
which the community is able or willing to spend upon
them. In the greater cities they consist of a reference
library containing sometimes hundreds of thousands of
volumes, and a large number of branch lending libraries
with reading rooms, children's libraries, and other
departments, attached. In the smaller towns they
consist in the main of a lending library and reading room,
with a small reference department, lecture room, and,
RESOURCES OUTSIDE LONDON 243
sometimes, a children's library. The larger libraries
cater for the needs of every type of student, including
research workers, and are adequate for this purpose,
except when unique original documents are required.
The smaller libraries endeavour to present a systematic
and balanced selection of the literature of all subjects.
The opinion still prevails in some quarters that the
public library is a large distributor of inferior fiction.
For many years past this opinion has been false, and the
public library should be regarded as a valuable source
of books, which should be used before other sources
are approached. It should be remembered, too, that
the quality of a public library depends upon the demands
of its users, as, being publicly controlled, its owners
can insist that a certain standard is maintained in its
stock and service.
Many public libraries specialize in definite subjects.
Nearly all collect the documents, books, pamphlets, and
sometimes the prints, relating to the town or country
they serve. Some specialize in the dominant industry
of the district, as in the case of the special collections
on mining at Aberdare, Atherton, and Wigan ; on
textiles at Blackburn, Bolton, and Bradford ; electrics
at Chelmsford ; and fish and fisheries at Grimsby.
The rules governing the use of public libraries are
simple. All departments, except the lending library,
are open freely to all comers, usually for about eleven
or twelve hours daily. The lending libraries are free
only to residents, except that in many cases non-residents
are admitted on the payment of yearly subscriptions
ranging from half a crown to about half a guinea.
Endowed Public Libraries
The student in the towns is sometimes near enough
to a great library which, although not state supported
244 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
or municipal, is practically in character a public library.
Manchester is the proud possessor of two libraries of
this type : the venerable and beautiful Chetham's Library,
and the comparatively recent and noble John Rylands
Library. Chetham's Library dates from 1653, contains
100,000 volumes and pamphlets, is particularly strong
in tracts on the Romanist Controversy under James II,
in older theology and local manuscripts, and also pos-
sesses the John Byrom Shortland Collection.
The John Rylands Library is one of the great libraries
of the world. Like Chetham's, it was founded by private
munificence, and is endowed to the extent of 15,000
per annum. The library building itself is a Gothic edifice
of singular beauty. The stock consists of rare works,
incunabula, manuscripts, and " source " books generally,
the balance of subjects being in the direction of the
humanities and not science. It incorporates the
most famous of all private collections, the Althorp
Library, which was formerly the property of Earl Spencer,
an unsurpassed collection for the illustration of the
development of the book. Altogether the library is a
place of pilgrimage for lovers of rare books, and is at
the same time " an excellent working library for students,
whether in the department of theology, history, philo-
sophy, philology, belles-lettres, art, or bibliography." The
management is most enlightened, and readers' tickets
can be obtained on application to the librarian. The
library ranks with the great national and university
libraries.
County, or Rural, Libraries
The most recent development of the public library
system has been its extension in a modified form to
rural areas. For many years private individuals had
arranged circulating libraries for villagers, the best known
RESOURCES OUTSIDE LONDON 245
being the Coates Libraries in Scotland, the Cheshire
Institutes, and the Yorkshire Village Library. In 191 5,
at the request of the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust,
Professor W. G. S. Adams compiled a " Report on
Library Provision and Policy." In this was advocated
a series of libraries to be controlled by the county
councils. As a result the trustees made the offer of
approximately 2,000 x to every county council in
England that would undertake to establish and maintain
a library repository, and from it to circulate books by
means of " travelling libraries " to the villages. The
system has met with considerable success, and now
almost every county in the British Isles has, under the
county education committee, a central book store and
a large number of village centres. There is in each a
rural librarian, whose business it is to select, catalogue
and send out the books, to see that they are changed
at frequent intervals, to meet demands for special books
as far as possible from the central stock, and to make
frequent visits to the various village centres. These
centres are village institutes and similar public places,
but are mostly in the county council's own elementary
schools. In most cases, too, the village librarians do
their work voluntarily. In some counties reading rooms
have been established here and there, and the tendency
is towards a measure of co-operation between existing
public libraries in small towns and the county centre.
The county library endeavours to link up with all
adult education agencies, to promote concerts of good
music, and travelling cinema and theatrical perform-
ances. There is a prospect of a considerable future for
these rural libraries, especially when they are more
generously financed and better staffed.
1 Early, and some subsequent, grants were larger, according to the
size and needs of individual counties.
246 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
At the back of the rural libraries as administered by
the county, and supplementing the municipal public
libraries, are the Central Libraries for Students. The
first of these, the National Central Library, was initiated
by Dr. Albert Mansbridge, in London, and is supported
partly by Government grant, by voluntary subscriptions,
by small annual grants from public libraries, and
by the generosity, again, of the Carnegie Trustees.
This library has headquarters now at 9, Galen Place,
Bury Street, London, W.C.I, and has an ever-growing
stock of books which are unique in that every one of
them has been actually called for by a student. This
fact arises from the purpose of the library, which is to
supply books, without charge, to students in isolated
areas, or to provide books in very infrequent demand for
public libraries or other institutions which would not
find it to their account to purchase them for the single
reader who required them. Such books, the rules require,
must cost more than six shillings each ; that is to say, must
be out of the reach of the purse of the average student,
who, as a rule, has not much of this world's goods. 1
A special feature of the library is the provision of a
large number of duplicates for class use.
As stated above, the use of the library is free, but
where the student lives in a public library area he is
expected to apply first to his local public library for
any book that he needs. When this source fails him
the librarian furnishes him with a statement to that
effect, which is an introduction to the National Central
Library. Books are usually lent for one month, but
longer periods are arranged when desirable, and the
student is expected to defray postage.
1 A number of general and special libraries, public and private, act as
" Outlier Libraries," and lend their books when required through the
N.C.S. Its resources are thus immensely greater than its own stock.
RESOURCES OUTSIDE LONDON 247
Recently a similar Central Library has been estab-
lished to serve Scotland at Dunfermline (Abbot Street),
and another to serve Ireland in Dublin (32, Merrion
Square).
The value of the work done by the Central Libraries
for Students is incalculable. They have made it possible
for us to say that there is no student in the British
Isles, however remotely situated, who cannot get his
book, provided he is vouched for by a clergyman or
some other public man, and that he can afford the
necessary few pence for postage. This, to us, is the
main present significance of these libraries, but in them
there are possibilities far greater ; that is, they may
become reservoir collections from which all other
libraries may draw such books as it would be uneconomic
for them to buy individually. Thus the libraries may
grow in time to be the common possession of the whole
people, and to be comparable in their effect as lending
libraries with 'the British Museum, and, like libraries,
in their effect as reference libraries. That such a com-
parison is grotesque at the moment does not invalidate
it ; but some time must pass before their money resources
will enable them to reach the necessary proportions.
Meanwhile they have become indispensable.
Libraries for Class Purposes
A general word may be said about the libraries for
class purposes which are usually lent from University
Extension centres. The delegacies at Oxford, Cambridge,
London, and elsewhere, which furnish panels of lecturers
for University Extension courses, are usually willing to
send boxes of books on the subjects of the courses to
the local centres. The conditions on which these are
lent are simple, and can be obtained on inquiry from
248 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
the Extension Secretary at each University which pro-
motes these lectures.
Special Libraries
The needs of special classes of readers are in some
measure met by libraries which are endowed or supported
by public generosity. These should be carefully remem-
bered when we are considering the extra-London
student's resources. Students of theology are probably
the best catered for, as one might expect from the fact
that ministers of religion more frequently need books
in isolated centres than other people. Such libraries
are the Bede Library of Christian Faith, Abbey House,
Victoria Street, which has a small stock of 4,000 volumes
which it lends freely ; the Library of Church House,
Dean's Yard, Westminster, which limits the circulation
of its 34,000 books and pamphlets, however, to those
who become members ; the Congregational Library at
Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, which has 13,500
volumes and a large collection of pamphlets ; the
English Church Union Theological Library, 31, Russell
Square, W.C.I, which lends, from a stock numbering
over 10,000 volumes, on very simple conditions ; the
Friends' Reference Library, 36, Bishopsgate, E.C.2,
which has 52,000 books and manuscripts, and confines
its free lending to members of the Society of Friends ;
and, the greatest of all, Dr. Williams's Library.
Dr. Williams's Library is in Gordon Square, W.C.I,
and dates from 1716. It has a stock of 80,000 volumes,
to which there is a printed catalogue. It is specially
strong on Puritan theology, tracts and pamphlets; but
on all branches of theology, history and cognate subjects
it is well equipped. Books are lent freely to persons in
all parts of the country who obtain permission from the
librarian.
RESOURCES OUTSIDE LONDON 249
Libraries of this type dealing with other subjects
are few, but a full account of them and their conditions
can be found in Rye's Libraries of London, 1927, and under
the heading " London " in the Libraries, Museums, and
Art Galleries Tear Book, 1923-24, 1 and in The Librarian's
Guide, 1929-30.*
Libraries for the Blind
Of libraries of a special class none is farther-reaching
in its work than the National Library for the Blind,
which has headquarters at 35, Great Smith Street, West-
minster, and a northern branch at John Street, Deans-
gate, Manchester. The library at Westminster consists
of 140,000 volumes and pamphlets, and 12,000 pieces
of music, in Braille and in Moon types ; the northern
branch has 32,000 volumes and also has a collection of
music. Both are free to the blind public everywhere,
and it may be noted that the postage of a large volume
for the blind is only one penny. These libraries issue
by post weekly thousands of volumes in all departments
of literature for sightless readers. The rules are similar
to those in the ordinary municipal public library. The
institution derives its support from public subscriptions,
grants from public libraries, and, still more liberally, from
the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, and grows con-
tinually.
Subscription and Commercial Lending Libraries
So far we have directed our attention mainly to
library resources that are open freely or at small cost
to the reader in the provinces. For the serious worker
who can afford to pay the subscription, there is no
better investment than membership of the London
1 Gravesend, Alex. J. Phillip, 1923.
2 Liverpool, Literary Year Book Press, 1929.
250 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Library, St. James's Square, London, S.W.i. It will
possibly be remembered that this great subscription
lending library was established at the instance of Thomas
Carlyle in 1841. It is strong in all subjects of a general
character which are likely to be required by the literary
worker and student, and includes many books that are
practically unobtainable elsewhere. Altogether there
are now nearly 400,000 volumes available, the keys to
which are most admirable author catalogues, and an
unsurpassed subject index. The librarian is an eminent
scholar, and the staff is of high order. For his subscription
of three guineas per annum the subscriber is allowed ten
books at a time, and is allowed to retain them consider-
ably longer than is usual in ordinary lending libraries. 1
It is clear, therefore, that for many intellectual workers
the London Library is the greatest boon that this
country possesses. Incidentally, and as a matter of
mere gratitude, we should remark that the catalogues
and subject index are sources of reference to good books
to which one turns again and again, nearly always with
fruitful results. 2
This is not the place, perhaps, to enlarge upon libraries
of the commercial circulating type, but their enormous
range should not be overlooked. Such libraries as
Mudie's, Boots's, Day's and The Times' Book Club, to
mention those which are perhaps best-known, supply
the bulk of the middle classes everywhere with their
current reading. Such libraries have graded subscrip-
tions, guarantee new books and give graded privileges,
and they do something to relieve the municipal library
from the necessity of providing an overwhelming number
of untried books hot from the press. They contain a
small proportion of older books, but their main activities
1 Entrance fee, 4 4*. Country members are allowed fifteen books
at a time. 2 See p. 19.
RESOURCES OUTSIDE LONDON 251
are limited to new books in the more popular branches
of literature, as fiction, memoirs, travel, and the intel-
lectual fashions of the day. Nearly every town of any
size has small commercial libraries, or institutes which
are in connexion with one or other of these commercial
libraries and receive from them a supply of books which
is changed at intervals.
Cathedral Libraries
Any discussion of library resources outside of London
must have some reference to the ecclesiastical libraries,
which are usually situated in the cathedrals. Most of
these are mediaeval foundations and have what may be
called a museum value ; and in addition to old theology,
philosophy and history, they often contain rare codices,
charters, manuscripts, and deeds. Amongst them will
be found examples of " chained " libraries, as at Hereford,
and also (to mention a church below cathedral rank) at
Wimborne Minster in Dorsetshire. One may mention
as being worthy of examination by students the libraries
of the cathedrals at Bangor; Bristol (the old library,
however, was destroyed in 1831 by a mob) ; Canterbury
(10,000 volumes and manuscripts) ; the Chapter Library,
Carlisle (4,000 volumes) ; Chester ; Chichester ; Arch-
bishop Marsh's Library, Dublin ; Exeter (8,000 volumes) ;
Gloucester (1,800 volumes) ; Hereford (2,000 volumes) ;
Lincoln (7,000 volumes) ; Lichfield (7,100 volumes) ;
Norwich (7,000 volumes) ; Peterborough (3,000 volumes) ;
Ripon (6,000 volumes) ; St. Asaph (3,000 volumes) ;
Salisbury (7,000 volumes) ; Winchester (4,000 volumes). ;
and Worcester (5,000 volumes).
Conclusion
The foregoing pages have given a general, but by
no means complete, view of extra-London library
252 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
resources. Libraries have been beloved by men and
women who have been able to promote them, and in
many towns a library exists, either in connexion with
the public library or as a separate foundation, which
reflects the generosity of some book-loving resident.
While the Bodleian Library at Oxford and the John
Rylands Library at Manchester are cardinal examples
of this form of public benefaction, many other towns
possess libraries which are of great value to the student,
but which, because they are so many and so difficult
to define, have not been enlarged upon here. The
student may well be advised to make very complete
inquiries in any town in which he may be living as to
its literary possessions. Many so-called private libraries,
or libraries of churches, commercial houses, factories,
and so on, are often thrown open with very little diffi-
culty to the real inquirer. This fact rests upon the
very amiable human trait that the book lover is the
friend of all other book lovers speaking generallv.
Our endeavours have been to describe here what is
likely to be most useful to the isolated reader, and not
much attention has been paid to the enormous resources,
both in general and special libraries, of such cities as
Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liver-
pool, Manchester, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Many of
them have special libraries in addition to their uni-
versity, institutional, and public libraries, which serve
students in special arts, crafts, and other branches of
intellectual endeavour. To have enumerated them all
would have required not a chapter but a volume. In
brief index-form the scope and resources of most, if
not all of these, are set out handily in the two
library year-books, to which we have already referred
on page 249. This book proves to any reflective
inquirer that while the library resources of the country
RESOURCES OUTSIDE LONDON 253
as a whole are not yet sufficiently linked up and organized,
they are becoming more and more so, and the time does
not appear to be far distant when the student in the
remotest Hebrides will be little worse off in his access
to books than the student actually living in the heart
of a great city. 1
1 Something might have been said about the great private libraries,
at Haigh Hall, Chatsworth, Arundel, Abbotsford, etc. ; but this is a
difficult subject and the material hard to come at.
XII
LIBRARY RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN
By Ernest C. Richardson
Emeritus Professor and Director, the Library, Princeton, New Jersey, and
Consultant in Bibliography and Research to the Librarian of Congress
XII
LIBRARY RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN
By Ernest C. Richardson
Emeritus Professor and Director, the Library, Princeton, New Jersey, and
Consultant in Bibliography and Research to the Librarian of Congress
The general subject of this work being the use of
libraries, the full title of this chapter is precisely, " The
Use of Library Resources Outside Britain." It naturally
invites some consideration of the amount and distribution
of these resources, the objects of their use and the
methods of using. There are two practical objects for
which the British library student or librarian will wish
to know about foreign libraries and how to use them, first
for his own professional education in general librarianship,
and second in order to aid the research student in a home
library to find abroad the books which he cannot find at
home.
The ability to aid research workers is the main point.
The increasing number of research students and the
more exacting demands of modern research methods is
producing everywhere a corresponding demand for books
which the home library cannot supply. The search for
these by inexperienced workers is often long and painful,
but the way can be shortened by bibliographical means,
and one of the outstanding facts of modern librarianship
is the acceptance by librarians of the duty of guiding
such clients to books in other libraries. It is a fact
that a librarian may save his client weeks or even months
17 257
258 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
of time and much expense by borrowing, copying, or
even by the simple locating of his material, which makes
the acceptance by libraries of this task one of the great
steps in modern library progress. It is now well under-
stood that a librarian's duty does not stop with the
keeping of books, or even with the service to readers of
the books kept. His duty is to connect the serious
reader with the books that he needs to use, whether
his own library has them or not. The idea is that if
the local library cannot fulfil its duty of furnishing a
book wanted, the least that its librarian can do is to
connect his client with a copy elsewhere.
This special work of the modern reference libraries
calls for unlimited knowledge of foreign libraries and the
method of their use. The main object here is to suggest
what the foreign resources are and how a reader may
find and use his material in them.
Use Jor Professional Education
Before taking up the main theme, however, a word
is needed for students of librarianship on the use of foreign
libraries for their own general professional education.
The value for this purpose is rather obvious. Librarian-
ship is the art of connecting a reader and a book, surely
and promptly. The study of this art is a study of the
methods which have been tried those which fail and
those which work methods of choosing, getting, pre-
serving, preparing, and serving. To study those methods
one must study the libraries where they are in operation.
Something can be learned about them from printed
sources, but to really study one must visit the libraries
where they are at work. These are the clinics, the
laboratories of library science. For ordinary practice
the visit to home libraries is no doubt best ; but if a
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 259
man stops with home libraries he misses his chance of
observing something that will improve home library
practice, and especially he misses the best training for
the helping of research users who must use the foreign
libraries.
This fact is now getting the attention which it deserves.
It has become customary in library schools to organize
class visits to other libraries, and this school has gained
a real distinction by including in its curriculum methods
the class visiting of such foreign libraries as those of
Brussels and Paris. This practice of visiting other
libraries is so obviously profitable to the library served
by the touring librarian that authorities sometimes give
special vacations and perhaps financial aid to those
librarians who are keen enough on this to make the
effort. This is on the ground that they bring back
service results enough to justify this course. The
practice is certainly fruitful enough to a librarian for
his own professional progress in ideas to make worth
while a good deal of personal self-denial in economizing
for this purpose and the salaries of librarians to-day
are such as to make economies pretty rigid if much travel
is to be done.
This leads to the further observation, that the best
method for the touring librarian to ensure profiting by
these visits to other libraries is to himself select before-
hand for research work one or more themes which
require the actual use of these libraries. To begin with
there is no way of studying methods and materials in
other libraries for practical suggestion so effective as
the use of these libraries for actual study. One never
knows how effective a library method is until one has
tested it by real use. This, again, leads to the obvious
fact that this actual use of other libraries for research
work is the best possible method of preparation for the
2 6o THE USES OF LIBRARIES
main reference task of helping research workers. The
librarian who has himself gone through the difficult
processes of chasing elusive books and documentary
material knows how to help as no one who has not
himself practised such researches can. Further than
this, his own practice in the methods of research gives
him a sympathy with the difficulties of the research
worker and an understanding of his needs which nothing
else can possibly give. Every research librarian must
therefore be a practical research worker, or fall short of
his best service. The usefulness of this method of
actual research in keeping the librarian alive and posted
on the problems of the research student is so considerable
and obvious that library authorities of research libraries
can well afford to encourage frequent and considerable
research tours, especially if these are organized with some
reference to the matter of study of general methods
and possibly purchase of books also at the same time.
One institution at least has said that it considers research
as much a part of a librarian's duty as any of his adminis-
trative duties.
Aiding Research Workers
Turning now from the problem of education in general
librarianship to the direct problem of service to research
students who wish to use books which cannot be found
in home libraries, it may be noted first that the commonest
needs of research students as expressed at the reference
librarian's desk are three : all manuscripts of a given
work, unpublished documents on some special person,
place, or event, and specific printed books or groups of
printed material not found at home. There are other
shades of need which call for the use of engravings, coins,
and other library material ; but the ordinary need is
either for the archival library or the collections of
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 261
codices and printed books. For the codices, the com-
monest users are the students in classics or theology
who wish to establish a critical text. For the archives
they are the students of history, and for the printed
books they are research students of all kinds, but especially
perhaps those in history, languages, and economics.
The typical use for codices is text criticism the
formation of a more correct edition of some classical,
ecclesiastical, or historical text. Up to the time of
Tregelles, say 1868, the search was typically for the best
manuscripts of the work, and the oldest were regarded as
best. Some of the valuable manuscript-scouting of the
Vienna Academy for its Corpus was based on the idea
that manuscripts from before the tenth century were
the only useful ones. Nowadays, with the coming of
the genetic method, and the forming of Stemmata,
it is found that a late may be as good as, or even better
than, an early one. There are, e.g., two manuscripts of
a certain work in Paris, one of the seventh century
and the other of the fourteenth century. They are the
only members of one main group in a series of 118
manuscripts. The latter was, however, not copied
from the former, but both from a common source, so
that they are of nearly equal value, and one as often
right as the other. In another case, with about ninety
manuscripts involved, one group contains a palimpsest
of the seventh century, and a half-dozen other manu-
scripts all of the fifteenth century. The late MSS. ob-
viously could not have been copied from the earlier MS.,
for this had been defaced several hundred years before.
They had, therefore, prima facie parallel values. The
demand is thus now for all the manuscripts of a work
to be edited : one can never tell until each has been
placed in its genealogical relations what its value may
prove to be.
262 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
The typical use for archival collections is the historical
study of some local event or some circumstance in the
life of some individual or state. This calls for all
documents on the given place at the given time as to
the given person. It is essentially local and individual.
The typical uses for the printed book are first and
commonest some copy of a specific book whose existence
is known from bibliographical sources but which cannot
be found in local libraries, and second for a group of
books on some special subject. This second use is
analogous to the use of archives, and in the case of
biographies or local events, e.g. a battle, nearly parallel.
Take, again, the literature on the birthplace of Columbus
a prolific subject on which few libraries have so much
as one-tenth of the literature or so much as may be
picked up on a single buying pilgrimage for two or three
pounds.
Every librarian who has research clients is faced by
this duty of supplying their need in these matters. If
his own library does not have the material, it is his duty
to purchase, or at least to locate a copy which may be
borrowed, copied, or at worst visited.
Purchase
The simplest and most satisfactory solution is of
course purchase, but one does not always have the funds,
nor can one always buy if one has the funds. It is a
very common illusion among American professors that
books can be bought when they are wanted, and within,
say, six weeks. They tend to hold the librarian personally
responsible if they are not produced. The librarian
does this often enough to maintain the illusion, and it
works for the best-known and most used books. When
we come to specialized and research work, however, it
fails in a large number of cases, and it is precisely these
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 263
failures which compel the use of foreign libraries. It
often happens, therefore, that a research student goes
abroad with a very long list of books which cannot be
found at home and cannot be bought. Cases could be
given where a book of nominal monetary value has cost
weeks of time and many pounds in travel expense simply
to locate a copy. I think of one of which no copy
could be found in any American library after repeated
and expensive search. At last four copies were found in
mildewed condition in an Italian cellar bookshop in a
very small town, and bought the four for one shilling
and sixpence. They are still the only copies in America,
and no copy of any of three companion works sought for
during nearly twenty years has been seen in the trade
in the meantime. In another case forty years' search
produced no copy.
It is such cases as this, and they occur by thousands,
that illustrate the futility of relying on buying and
the frequency of the need for resorting to the location
of copies in other libraries for borrowing, copying, or
visiting.
Locating Material in Other Libraries
When stock and purchase fail the search for material
elsewhere begins. It starts of course with the home
libraries. Britain's wealth in books and manuscripts is
immense, and if a librarian does not have the books
wanted he first tries the home libraries as nearest and
easiest. Previous chapters have shown the wealth of
your public library, university, and record office collec-
tions. No nation is sufficient to itself, however, in the
matter of book collections, and when national resources
end we go abroad.
It is hard to realize how great this international
dependence in book matters is, except in the case of
264 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
manuscripts and written documents. Unique docu-
ments obviously can be found in one place only. If
abroad, they must be sought abroad. All research
students of the history of any country or literature
outside Britain are obviously dependent chiefly on
archives and manuscript collections outside Britain.
The extent of the problem of the printed book is, how-
ever, not so easily realized. Everyone knows that there
are rare printed books and even unique printed books ;
but most books are published in many copies, and it is
hard to realize that one cannot find nearly all books
simply by going to the British Museum or the Paris
National Library. Panizzi tried to make it so. Americans
used to think it was so. Many Americans are still under
the delusion that all that they have to do to find their
books is to visit one of these libraries. No doubt many
British users are under the same impression, for every
now and then a book dealer advertises a book, or even
produces a catalogue of books, " Not in the British
Museum," as if there were not ten million such books in
the world.
A recently compiled union list of the British Museum,
the Bibliotheque Nationale, the Library of Congress, and
some twenty other large libraries, for a very small section
of the alphabet (aa to aba) contains 1,357 titles, with
bibliographical lists of some 300 titles not in any of
the twenty libraries. Of these 1,600 odd titles, the
British Museum and the Bodleian together have perhaps
one-third of the number, but if the remainder are
wanted they must be sought elsewhere. Still more
striking is the fact that only 197 out of the 1,600 titles
are found in more than one library. The very best
equipped libraries in the world must therefore seek in
other libraries a large majority of the books which may
any day be called for. The fact seems to be that not
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 265
even the largest libraries have one-fourth of the world's
books.
Of course this does not mean that the best libraries do
not supply a larger fraction of the common demands.
They are selected to supply the most frequent demands.
The British Museum contains a very large fraction of the
books; oftenest asked for by the average intellectual
worker. It may supply 90 per cent, of the books for
which its catalogues are actually consulted in the Reading
Room, although it contains only 20 per cent, of the
books which are occasionally needed, and thus disappoints
readers in tens of thousands of cases annually.
More significant even than the present extent of the
lack is the fact that even the biggest libraries are not
only not gaining on the problem, but are falling rapidly
behind. This is a prime fact of the situation. There
is no library in Britain which annually adds so much as
one-fourth of the books published annually outside of
Britain. Probably there is not one which adds so much
as one-tenth.
A recent study of books printed in the United States
of America annually, and probably kept in some library
or libraries, suggests an annual increase of 135,000
volumes and pamphlets for America only, with a world
output of not far from half a million, where even the
Library of Congress adds only 90,000 volumes in a year,
and a large fraction of these are foreign. The current
figures of book production which go the annual rounds
of the press refer only to books in the trade, and are
thoroughly misleading dangerously so for the problem
which librarians have to meet of actually housing and
cataloguing the books. British research work is therefore
definitely dependent on foreign libraries for much of its
material, and the worker is entitled to know what the
foreign resources are and how to use them for his purposes.
266 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
The Resources Outside Britain
The main factors are : libraries of printed books,
collections of manuscripts and archives. The points of
interest are the quantity and distribution of these
resources ; but first a few words on the sources of infor-
mation regarding them.
Sources of Information
In the matter of unlocking the world's library resources
the present generation is lucky. It has two golden keys
in the Index Generalis and the Minerva. It must be
confessed that for a bird's-eye view of the world's chief
library resources neither these nor any modern list is as
good as the Encyclopaedia Britannica list of 1872 was for
its time, and the table of its article on libraries is still
worth study. As a skeleton view of the situation no
modern source is its equal. The Minerva does not
even group the libraries together, but scatters them
through the various institutions of a city and arranges
the places alphabetically. It, moreover, gives few details
beyond name and number of volumes. But it gives
more libraries and is more exact than the Index, and is
fuller than the older sources.
The Index both sorts out the libraries from among
the other learned institutions and groups them by
countries. It forms thus a more convenient guide-book
to the traveller, a better means for visualizing the field,
and a more easily used basis for comparative statistics.
It contains, moreover, more practical information for
the travelling scholar, e.g. the hours of opening and the
library specialities. It is a model of practical method
in choosing the most useful information. The library
section taken from the rest and bound separately, as the
bibliographical traveller of the past generation used to
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 267
take the Britannica table, forms the best existing and a
very admirable traveller's handbook to libraries.
The Index has been criticized for its typographical
errors, its many inexplicable omissions, its naturally strong
French perspective, and its arbitrary exclusion of all
American libraries under twenty thousand volumes, but
it is nevertheless a superb practical tool. Its figures
for American libraries can be easily cross-checked by the
list of the United States Bureau of Education. The
last printed edition of this list brings only to 191 3, but
the manuscript returns for 1923 have been made available
for this chapter with the understanding that these are
to be regarded as unfinished and provisional.
These three sources, the Minerva, the Index Generalis,
and the Bureau of Education list, form a very consistent
group of sources. They cross-check one another at
necessary points, are all founded on direct answers from
the libraries themselves or from official documents, and
as statistics go, will form when checked an unusually
sound base for a general perspective.
There are many other sources which add something to
the information of these three sources for the travelling
scholar. Among these are the local city directories,
and annuals of various kinds, especially statistical and
educational annuals. For travellers' use, the local
directories are sometimes of the first value, giving as
they often do information as to hours of opening, more
detail about the libraries, and often showing additional
libraries. For the student of library history there are
many others, more or less up to date as the case may be,
but valuable for older figures at least. These include
censuses, educational reports, library and bibliographical
annuals, lists such as those of Clegg and the American
Library Annual, articles in encyclopaedias, etc. Most of
these second-line sources are mentioned in the reference
268 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
books given in the first chapter. For present purposes
of perspective, however, and for ordinary use it is better
to forget these and to concentrate attention on the
three main sources mentioned above.
For accurate statistical work all sources are needed,
and will be found at best too scanty and too unstand-
ardized for satisfactory work ; but for a simple perspective
sketch the Index Generalis does well enough, and its
information is so grouped as to allow direct use where
the statistics of the Minerva, although they include
more libraries, cannot be summarized without the
labour of regrouping. On the whole it will be better
to give the Index figures straight with certain cautions
and explanations than to try to doctor its figures out of
other sources.
It is to be remembered in the first place that the
libraries of the Index and of the Minerva alike include
the libraries of learning only, and not such popular
libraries as contain chiefly or only fiction. This, how-
ever, does not quite account for the fact that it omits
all American libraries under 20,000 volumes, and a good
many over, including a hundred or so over 50,000
volumes, while at the same time one-third of the French
libraries given are under 20,000 volumes. It does not
wholly account either for the fact that the Index includes
only forty-one Latin-American libraries, while the list
prepared by the librarian of the Pan-American Union
includes several hundreds. The figures for the statistics
of European libraries outside of France may be taken as
the standard fullness, remembering that the figures of
France are a little fuller than these, while the figures
for America, Africa, and Asia are a good deal less full
and less consistent.
Again, beginners in the study of library statistics should
be warned that the satisfactoriness of these and all
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 269
library statistics is a good deal affected by the lack of
common standards in the use of the terms volumes,
titles, works, pamphlets, and manuscripts. The confusion
between codices and historical documents, and between
volumes and pamphlets, is also serious. Other qualifica-
tions and connexions will be given passim in reviewing
the resources of the various localities.
With these cautions we may proceed with the straight
figures of the Index, basing on the figures for 1924,
which are on the whole better than those of 1925, but
annotating from time to time out of figures drawn
from the 1925 Index, the 1925 Minerva, the Bureau of
Education list, and other sources.
Quantity
According to the Index for 1924 the world resources
of printed books organized in libraries for the use of
learning consist in round numbers of 230,000,000
(228,591,000 against 225,212,000 in 1925) books, in
2,600 libraries (2,300 in 1925).
Britain has about 300 libraries and 25,000,000 books,
and of these England has 20,000,000. The British
Empire has 30,000,000 volumes in 400 libraries. The
English-speaking nations had in 1924 110,000,000 in
1,200 libraries half the world resources. In the 1925
Index, owing to large omissions, the number of English
language libraries was reduced to 1,000, and their
volumes to 100,000,000. Two hundred and five million
books in 2,300 libraries are thus outside Britain, and
represent the field of this lecture.
Besides this printed literature there are a million or
two volumes of bound manuscripts in the same libraries,
and uncounted millions of written documents in 580
archives. While these constitute the larger and more
inexorable part of the problem of the research student
270 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
it is the printed book which is the more immediate
problem of the librarian and affects his library manage-
ment most. It is also the point at which service is most
capable of practical improvement by known bibliothecal
methods.
Of the 518 archival libraries mentioned in the 1924
Index, 516 were outside Britain and 2 in Britain. This
2, however, was 2 more than are given for the United
States. To comment adequately on the fact that
France was given 173 archives and Germany 129, where
Britain was given 2 and North America none, would
involve a whole essay on the development of archival
science and another on the fallacy of names in comparative
statistics. It is enough to say here that it does not
mean that England and America do not have a great
many record collections and written historical documents
under names other than Archives or Record Offices.
There are, for example, many small towns in Connecticut
which have important historical records from the middle
of the seventeenth century on, and there is a large
collection of photostat copies of such records kept at
the State capital. There is one little town at the
mouth of the Connecticut River with a few hundred
inhabitants whose records touch English history at a
dozen points, and include royal grants, agreements with
the Indians, with wills and other documents involving
Lord Saye and Sele, Colonel Fenwick, and a score of
well-known English families of the time, not only in
their Connecticut affairs but in their English property
and relations. There are hundreds of such local collec-
tions in America, and other hundreds or thousands of
groups of documents in historical societies and public
libraries everywhere, many of which would be kept in
archival collections in Europe.
Returning now to the resources in printed books in
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 271
the figures of the Index Generalis, it must not be for-
gotten that these libraries include only the high peaks
among the world's library resources for educational
purposes. They represent in the main research resources
as distinguished from the means of spreading common
knowledge. The perspective of this is shown by the
fact that while these figures include 805 libraries in the
United States, the Bureau of Education register includes
some 20,000, and that public libraries in the sense of
libraries organized for the use of more than one family
have been recently estimated as perhaps 310,000, while
the number of private family libraries having 100 to 300
volumes each is perhaps ten times this number. The
same thing is of course more or less true of all countries.
To return to the figures themselves. The total as
before said was in 1924 : 2,600 libraries and 228,591,000
printed books. Of these 17 (19) had more than 1,000,000
volumes each, 561 (579) more than 100,000 each, and
1,066 more than 50,000 each.
Distribution of Printed Books
It is a striking fact that the great bulk of the world's
libraries, and a greater bulk of its books, are located in
two narrow areas of Western Europe and Eastern North
America. A majority of the world's books lie within
500 miles of London or 500 miles from New York and
for those who love a sea voyage, London and New York
are very near neighbours. British research students
work at a great advantage in the fact that Europe
(outside of Britain) has one-half the world's books,
and the closely adjacent France, Belgium, Holland, and
Germany contain two-thirds of the books of Europe.
Three, and only three, Continental nations have each
more than 100 libraries and more than 10,000,000
volumes Italy with 185 (145) libraries and 15,000,000
272 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
volumes, France with 390 (373) libraries and 27,000,000
volumes, and Germany with 273 (287) libraries and
34,000,000 volumes. France with its 390 libraries and
26,555,000 volumes has 63 (6j) libraries over 100,000
and leads all European states in the matter of the largest
libraries, having three out of twelve.
It has one library centre, internationally used by more
foreign literary workers than any other library on the
Continent. The Bibliotheque Nationale is still the
largest collection of printed books in the world. It
has the largest and perhaps the richest collection of
manuscripts, and with its great collection of prints,
etc., forms a remarkable whole. The French Archives
are, moreover, perhaps the richest in the world for
cosmopolitan historical interest. Paris has nearly one
hundred other libraries of importance. These contain
many large special collections, and contribute to a
general mobilization of French resources which make of
Paris the most centralized national total of working
resources in the world. The resources of Italy, Germany,
and America are divided among several working centres,
and even London must, in some sort, share honours
with Oxford and Cambridge.
Italy has 185 libraries and 14,817,000 (14,712,578)
volumes. It is given 50 (52) libraries of over 100,000
volumes and one of a million. It has three working
centres of great distinction. Milan, with the big and
efficient Brera (Braidense) and the ancient and famous
Ambrosiana, rich in manuscript resources, is the centre
for Northern Italy, from Venice to Turin and Genoa,
and includes many libraries of some size, with several
smaller ones, like Verona and Vercelli, of first distinction
for their manuscript interest. Florence, with the
famous manuscript collections of the Laurentian and
the National libraries (both curiously omitted by the
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 273
Index), the large and usable book collection of the
National, and several minor libraries of considerable
distinction, is centrally placed ; its resources are very
usable, and tempt workers far beyond what the mere
quantity of its collections would suggest.
Rome is not only the chief national book centre, but
it is a unique world centre for classical and ecclesiastical
studies. Its Bibliotheca Vaticana stands by itself in
international reputation. It is also, perhaps, the richest
of the large collections of manuscripts, although not the
most extensive, and its excellent reference collection
and personal reference service contribute much to its
prestige among research workers. The Nazionale with
its million books is a good working library, and is well
supported by the Alessandria, the Angelica, and many
large special libraries, among which the libraries of the
Chamber of Deputies and of the Ministry of Agriculture
are of special interest to librarians. The libraries of the
various national archaeological schools, English, German,
French, Austrian, American, form a surpassing apparatus
for ancient history. As a centre for archival studies
Rome has the famous Vatican Archives, and the huge
centralized Archivio di Stato, with its modernized
methods and admirable school of palaeography.
Germany is given the largest number of libraries after
France, and leads all in the matter of volumes 273 (287)
libraries and 33,828,540 volumes. It has two libraries
of over a million volumes each, 84 (87) libraries of
over 100,000 volumes, and 158 of more than 50,000
volumes. It is the land of large libraries, excelling all
other European libraries in each class, except the million
class, where Austria and Britain equal and France exceeds.
Germany has two first-class library working centres,
Berlin for the north and Munich for the south, with
several minor centres of some importance.
18
274 THE USES 0F LIBRARIES
Berlin has its Preussische Staatsbibliothek, with nearly
2,000,000 volumes, and 53 other libraries and archives
of importance, according to the Index. The 1925
Minerva gives 131 libraries and 9 archives. Moreover,
Berlin is the railroad centre for a considerable number
of cities of first-class importance for their library resources
Leipzig, Dresden, Hanover, etc. The Union Cata-
logue of Prussian libraries makes this centre unrivalled
for many classes of work.
Munich's wonderful manuscript collection in the
Staatsbibliothek, with the million and a half printed
volumes of the same library, and the admirable University
Library with its nearly a million printed volumes, as
well as a score or more other good libraries, has always
been found a popular working centre.
Other centres of European book population are Holland
and Belgium, with nearly 10,000,000 volumes taken
together. Brussels is an admirable working centre, with
easy access to Paris and Germany and a reasonable cost
of living. Austria has still 5,000,000 volumes, and
Vienna with 2,000,000-volume libraries was in old days
a favourite working place. Switzerland has about
4,000,000 volumes, and Zurich, with good libraries and
a union catalogue, is perhaps its best working centre.
The Scandinavian countries have nearly 7,000,000
volumes, Poland more than 6,000,000 volumes. Moscow
seems now to be the chief Russian library centre, and a
rather active one.
Anglo-North-American libraries included, in 1924,
826 libraries with 83,382,000 volumes. The Index
figures for 1925 reduce libraries by more than 100 and
volumes by more than 10,000,000.
For fifty years now the United States and Canada have
been demonstrating the feasibility of international library
co-operation on wholly democratic terms, and without
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 275
interfering with national distinctiveness whether in
social or legislative matters. They have worked together
in one Association without distinction as to meeting
places or offices. Nearly all the great libraries of the
United States and Canada are massed in the north-
eastern states and the adjoining Canadian provinces.
The Index gives 20 (24) Canadian libraries with
2,168,000 volumes and 805 (686) American libraries
with 81,198,000 (70,317,203) volumes. This is a selec-
tion. Recent statistics mention 500 Canadian libraries
and 8,479 American libraries having more than 1,000
volumes each.
The United States of America is given by the Index
for 1924, 805 libraries with 81,198,000 volumes. Eighty-
one had more than 100,000 volumes. In 1925 the
number with over 100,000 volumes was 173. Six (8 in
1925) had more than 1,000,000. The Index for 1924
gives 358 libraries which have more than 50,000 volumes
each, but the Department of Education statistics for
1923 itemize 427. Three libraries have over 2,000,000
and one over 3,000,000 volumes.
Five working centres may be distinguished : Wash-
ington, New York, including the Canadian libraries,
Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco. Several sub-
centres can be distinguished, as Montreal, Philadelphia,
Pittsburg, and the region which includes Cleveland,
Detroit, and Buffalo.
Washington has, besides the Library of Congress with
its upwards of three million volumes, eight other libraries
with an average of a quarter of a million volumes each,
and many smaller but highly specialized libraries of
particular importance. In addition to book collections
the Library of Congress has collections of music, prints,
and maps amounting to a million and a half items. More-
over, its Union Catalogue and borrowing facilities give
276 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
a peculiar value to Washington as a centre for study.
The same is true of the exceptional catalogue of its own
books. The unique library of the United States Surgeon-
General's Office, 8 university and college libraries,
10 law libraries, and some 30 or 40 other libraries
on education, international law, and other special sub-
jects are among its resources. Baltimore with its three
large libraries is near by.
New York. Of eight libraries in the United States
having more than 900,000 volumes in 1923, three are in
New York City and four within six hours' ride of New
York, the eighth being in Chicago. Half the North
American library books are in New York and adjoining
states. Three-quarters of the books of the United
States are in the states of which New York is the railway
centre and within twenty-four hours' journey.
Besides the great public libraries, New York has 10
medical, 18 law, and 3 theological seminary libraries
of the first rank, with 6 more in Connecticut and
New Jersey close by. Other so-called special libraries in-
clude 4 historical, 2 engineering, 2 museum, 2 botanical
libraries, the Library of the American Museum of
Natural History, 7 college and university libraries,
Pratt Institute, and last but not least, except perhaps in
size, and first in bibliographical distinction, the Morgan
Library. The New York Public Library has important
collections of manuscripts and rare books. The same is
true of Columbia University Library and others.
Boston long retained the honour of being the best
working centre in America by virtue of its Public Library
and the Harvard University Library near by. The
former has nearly one and a half million volumes, and
the latter two and a half. The district contains two
other libraries approaching a quarter of a million volumes
and half a dozen other libraries of unusual distinction.
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 277
Harvard University Library is the leading American
University Library, the oldest of the large reference
libraries and of unusual value for practical use. Its
books, staff, and building are of such a standard for
research work as to make this a competitor of the
Library of Congress and the New York Public Library
for a visiting worker, especially in historical matters.
Although pressed at one point or another by Yale,
Columbia, Chicago, and other universities, it still
maintains an easy general leadership. The region in-
cludes 6 law libraries, 6 medical libraries, 1 1 theological
libraries, 8 of these of the first order. Ninety-three
other " special libraries " are listed.
Chicago has in its Public Library (1,300,000 volumes)
the only library of over a million volumes west of
Washington, and it has three other libraries of the first
importance and with from one-half to three-quarters of
a million volumes each the John Crerar, the Newberry,
and the Chicago University, each perhaps of more
research value than the large Public Library. On
account of its character as a railway centre, Chicago
serves a large area, which includes most of the great
state universities of the middle west, and it is served by
their libraries in turn. Within its natural radius are
8 of the 23 (1924 Index) libraries of more than half a
million volumes each. It has 11 law libraries, 11 theo-
logical libraries, 3 medical libraries, and many so-called
" special libraries."
San Francisco. The libraries of this city were dimin-
ished by earthquake a few years since. It has, however,
in its region two first-class university libraries, Stanford
and the University of California. The State Library at
Sacramento is of the first class, and the public libraries
farther south are growing rapidly, as are also the univer-
sity and public libraries of Oregon and Washington in
278 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
the north. The Huntington Library is in a class with
the Morgan Library of New York. This and the
Hoover War Library already attract special students
from all over the country and from abroad.
Using the Resources
The first rule for the use of foreign libraries is the
same as the famous first rule for cooking hares " First
catch your hare " ; and it must be remembered that
there are at least three kinds of bibliographical hares
and three ways of catching them. The first step to
catching is, however, in every case finding. Codices,
written documents, and printed books alike must be
located before they can be borrowed, copied, or visited.
Hunting for intellectual food may not be so physically
exciting as pot-hunting, but the zests are comparable,
and who knows whether the dangers may not be equal ?
Big-game hunting for libraries is excavating for papyri
and tablets, or exploring the out-of-the-way places of
civilization for manuscripts and rare books to bring
home to the British Museum or the local library. Its
dangers are real, and it has its martyrs, like Lord Car-
narvon recently in Egypt, and more lately still, Mr.
Ananikian scouting for oriental manuscripts in the Near
East for two American libraries. This hunting for
rare works is, however, apart from our subject ; it belongs
to the accession department, not to the use department
of a library. What we have to deal with here is those
tamer species of books which have already been caught
and domesticated in libraries.
Nevertheless the locating of books in foreign libraries
is interesting work, and often almost as difficult and
even as dangerous as the hunting of rare books for
purchase. A reasonable amount of it may be recom-
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 279
mended to every courageous librarian as a sporting
recreation, and as revealing to him the dangers and
hardships to readers which may lurk in his own library.
Locating
The duty of a librarian to guide his research clients
to material not to be found in his own library or country
begins thus with locating the material, and proceeds
to borrowing if possible, copying if not possible, and
preparing the travelling researcher for his travels if
neither purchase, borrowing, nor copying is feasible.
The preparation for borrowing or copying or travel
is much the same in all three cases, although the first
two aim rather at specific books, while travel aims more
often to locate groups of material or possible material.
For this purpose of locating books and groups of books
the librarian gathers printed library guides, individual
library catalogues, and union finding lists, and organizes
correspondence service for unpublished catalogues, in-
dividual or union.
General Guides to Libraries
These include universal guides such as the Index
Generalis, the Minerva, etc., which show in what
specialities the various libraries deal. The Index is
good at this point.
Lesser aids, in the same spirit, are found in the old
books of bibliographical travel, in the scouting reports of
learned academies for patristic and medical manuscripts,
in countless introductions to works which use source
material, and in national lists of material in which
libraries specialize or are " rich." The American lists
in this type were begun by Mr. W. C. Lane and pub-
280 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
lished by Harvard. The Lane list was later enlarged
by Dr. W. D. Johnston and Miss Mudge, and published
by the United States Bureau of Education.
The very elaborate survey of libraries now being
conducted under the direction of a Committee of the
American Library Association has lately adopted this
feature as one of the elements of its questionnaire, and
will produce a still more thorough guide to the rapidly
increasing special material in American libraries.
Library Catalogues
Guides to the libraries follow guides to the books
in them. The primary guides in the preparation of
travelling researchers and librarians are the printed
catalogues of manuscripts and printed books, and the
inventories, summary inventories, and calendars of his-
torical documents. These catalogues are to be distin-
guished as the catalogues of individual libraries, and the
union, joint, or co-operative catalogues which are now
taking on very great importance with the vast increase
in printed literature.
Catalogues oj Individual Libraries
Everybody who practises or promotes research realizes
the very great importance for the use of other libraries
of the printed catalogues of the British Museum, the
Bibliotheque Nationale, the Library of Congress, and
other libraries. These catalogues are in constant use
for this purpose of locating copies, and they tend to save
a good deal of time for travelling and copying purposes ;
in the case of the Library of Congress the catalogue
is also used by the depositing libraries for borrowing
purposes.
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 281
The Catalogues of Manuscripts
These are used by a narrower class, but are very much
appreciated by the few, and industriously used. The
British Museum resources at this point are considerable,
but probably the best and handiest collection in the
world is in the Manuscript Room of the Paris Library,
where the well-thumbed state of many of the catalogues
shows how great the use is.
Union Catalogues
The best solution to the problem of locating books
not in the local library is the Union Finding List. A
distinction is to be made between the Union Finding
List and the Union Catalogue. The Union Catalogue
contains all copies of each work in a given neighbourhood,
and serves as a catalogue for the local libraries. The
Union Finding List aims only at locating somewhere
one or a few copies of each work not readily found
otherwise. The right method of producing these for
the best service is now being evolved. It produces
Union Catalogues of individual neighbourhoods, like the
Union Catalogue of the Zurich Libraries, the proposed
Union Catalogue of the Paris Libraries, and the Union
Finding List of Periodicals in the Libraries of Rome,
Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and many other cities.
The attempt to combine these local Union Catalogues
into national or international catalogues is a huge,
expensive, and somewhat cumbersome affair. The
Union Catalogue of periodicals in American libraries
now under way illustrates the Union Catalogue method
and will be an extremely useful tool ; but the experi-
ence of financing and compiling this is a concrete
experience illustrating the expensive and cumbersome
282 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
nature of the Union Catalogue, and pointing to the
principle of the Union Finding List as the solution.
The Brussels Repertory shows the same thing. The
Union Catalogue of Incunabula in American libraries,
on the other hand, shows the value of the principle of
the joint catalogue, and of including all copies in the
case of rare books.
The principle of the Union Finding List is to include
all copies of out-of-the-way books and a few copies only
of the commoner books in each locality. This is best
illustrated at the present moment by the Library of
Congress Union Catalogue, which contains the printed
cards of libraries other than the Library of Congress,
and has a large number of titles, from various sources,
of unusual books. This is kept weeded more or less of
unnecessary copies, but already contains nearly three
million cards. The various American Union Card Lists,
based on the Library of Congress cards and the published
cards of various other libraries, are gathered on the
Finding List principle of locating some copy somewhere.
The PrussianlUnion Catalogue (3,000,000 cards) is strictly
a joint catalogue of eleven libraries, but the Frankfort
Union List is rather a regional finding list.
Historically and typically the best example of the Union
Catalogue is a catalogue of manuscripts. All MSS. are
in effect unique. This produces demand and early
attempts at solution. There are in fact not far from
forty such catalogues, large and small. Of these perhaps
the most familiar are those of Haenel, Montfaulcon, and
Bernard. The limited nature of the field makes a com-
plete Union Catalogue possible. One of the greatest
bibliographical needs at the present time is for a new
and complete international catalogue of volume manu-
scripts. It is feasible, easy to make, and would save
enormously more in valuable research time than it could
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 283
possibly cost. It involves, perhaps, two million manu-
scripts.
Union Catalogues of printed books or even Finding Lists
of printed books are a much more formidable proposition,
and are rarely attempted or even projected except for
limited fields. The universal bibliography of literature
is a larger matter still. This has often been discussed,
and such a catalogue was projected, by no means for
the first time, at the first meeting of the American
Library Association fifty years ago, when it was supposed
that the matter involved two or three million volumes
only. The ambitious project of the Brussels Institute
already includes more than five million titles. This is
now to be continued under the patronage of the League
of Nations Committee on Intellectual Co-operation, and
faces twelve or fifteen million titles as Union Catalogue
and eighty million or more as bibliography. It is in
reality by method of its compilation a Union Catalogue
of the libraries which print their catalogues, and by
agreement with the League Committee is to be con-
tinued first as a Union Finding List, but with the idea
that this Finding List may eventually serve as the best
basis for a universal bibliography.
In America the printing of cards by the Library of
Congress and the placing of depository sets of these in
many of the large research libraries, together with the
printing for sale of cards by Harvard, Chicago, and
several other university libraries, the John Crerar, and
other general libraries, has resulted in a considerable
number of large Union Card Finding Lists of great local
usefulness. These lists include all the purchasable
printed cards and other desultory memoranda. The
printed cards of the Boston and New York Public
Libraries cannot be purchased in the same way, but
copies are in the Library of Congress Union List, and
284 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
can, through its information and photostat service, be
had at very slight cost.
The method which is being evolved out of all this,
and promises to be the best and most inexpensive solution
of the real need, is the Union Card List with simple
information service, like that of the Library of Congress
and the Prussian State Library, for its titles. This may
be supplemented by special printed short-title Finding
Lists in various classes, and possibly, in the undefined
future, a general short-title Finding List of the very
rarest titles, with indications of two or three copies
each of the lesser titles in each geographical centre. In
America the need has been defined as two located copies
of every book, one of which is never loaned and can
therefore always be found by visiting, the other lendable.
If practicable, it is desirable to have the copies of each
work in five different localities, each with printed Finding
Lists and indication of reserved and lending copies.
Correspondence
In actual practice, owing to the circumstances, first
that most libraries do not have printed catalogues of
printed books, second that there are few good collections
existing of printed catalogues, either of printed volumes
or codices, much of the work of locating uncommon
books is done by the very expensive methods of corre-
spondence, inquiry, or visiting the local catalogues of the
most likely libraries. Only those who have had long
experience in this have any conception of the vast amount
of valuable research time spent on this which might
be saved by the simplest form of a printed Index Finding
List or a Union Card Finding List with information
service. The simplest joint index to existing printed
catalogues of manuscripts would, as M. Seymour de
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 285
Ricci has lately been suggesting, go far to solve manuscript
finding at minimum cost.
Borrowing
International borrowing to supply the needs of
research students is a good deal practised, even, and
perhaps especially, in the matter of manuscripts and rare
books. Many of these have been borrowed for England
from the Continent. The method has, however, its
serious drawbacks. There is the risk of loss, and in the
case of unique books it is contrary to the principles of best
service. It not infrequently happens that a travelling
research worker will go some distance and find that the
volume he has gone to see is loaned out to another city
or country. I recall once going from the Riviera to
Paris for a manuscript which proved to have been
loaned to a small place in Germany. Moreover, the
restrictions are so various that it is difficult to rely
on borrowing even between national central libraries,
although many workers have found it very convenient
to have manuscripts gathered for them at Paris from
various libraries in France, or at Munich or Vienna from
the libraries of the respective regions.
Copying
The agitation of some years ago in favour of the
international lending of books seems to have subsided,
and presumably for the reason that the improvement in
modern photographic methods makes possible the copy-
ing of even good-sized books for a very moderate fee.
The Bodleian Library and the British Museum were
among the pioneers in this work, and the Vatican brought
inexpensive service to a point of great efficiency, even
before the photostat and other photo-printing machines
were invented. Now many libraries resort to this very
286 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
frequently. Some university libraries have the policy
of providing the full apparatus needed by a local researcher
for his work, so far as this can be done by inexpensive
forms of photography. Some attempt is being made in
America to form Union Catalogues of such photostat
material.
Visiting
When all has been said, however, the commonest
solution of the problem is, and always must be, the
actual visiting of the local library where the book or
group of books is known to exist or may perhaps be
found. This use of foreign libraries by visiting is
expensive and has its hardships, but has also its great
compensations, scientific and humane. It involves many
elements which can be well prepared for, but is sure to
have surprises even for the best prepared. The main
things to be considered beforehand are the conditions
of use, times of opening, how to use catalogues, the
rules and methods of using them. The limits of this
paper forbid more than the briefest suggestions on some
of the more obvious matters.
Hours of Opening and Holidays
This is a matter full of surprises. It was an Oxford
professor in an Italian city who had run over for a few
weeks at the mid-winter holidays who said that he had
been there for perhaps twenty-five days, and all but
three had been holidays and he couldn't work. Yet an
experienced librarian, in the same situation, had found
a partly opened library in the same city to which his
manuscript could be loaned, and had lost no time.
But one must be prepared to run up against an occa-
sional closing of several weeks at a time and a very
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 287
large number of holidays. The opening hours are very
varied and often include a long break in the middle
of the day. This is sometimes mitigated by locking
the worker in during the interval. In many cases one
may learn beforehand from the Index Generalis or local
directories about holidays and hours of opening ; but
one must be on one's guard against travellers' guide-
books, which are apt to give the hours for sightseers,
not for workers. And one must be prepared also for
changes from the printed information.
Conditions of Admission
These vary from the simple presentation of a card or
passport to a form of permission from Government
authorities on recommendation of Embassy. There is
rarely any difficulty, although difficulties sometimes
threaten. In one case, after returning " to-morrow "
for three successive days for formal permission to use,
as laid down in all the authorities, the reader presented
himself with his card at the library itself, and was
admitted to all sorts of facilities, with some reproach
for not having come direct instead of bothering with
the political authorities. The Paris National Library
requires a card from one's Ambassador for a regular
Reader's Card, but does not let anything stand in the
way of immediate use, using a temporary card for this.
For librarians, professional comity helps, but is not to
be presumed on.
Use of Catalogues
Catalogues are of all sorts, shapes, and sizes. The
card catalogue is usual in Spain and universal in
America. The hinged slip is preferred in France and
Italy and is common in Germany. In smaller libraries,
and in many of the large older libraries, the main cata-
288 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
logue is in a large volume, ledger form. In actual use
the loose-leaf cross between the hinged slip and the
volume as practised by the British Museum is probably
the most rapid aid to the user ; but this has few imitators,
and it is generally accepted to-day that on the whole,
and for the authors' catalogue at least, the keeping up
to date of the card catalogue offsets its slight decrease
in speed of handling. Taking all in all, a majority of
local library catalogues do not give all the titles in one
series, and one must consult several catalogues. Some-
times it is a rather complex process to exhaust the
catalogue material and be sure the desired references
have not been overlooked. This is true at Paris in both
manuscript and printed book departments. It pays the
student to master these intricacies and the varying
customs of entry, so far as possible, at the very outset.
He saves himself time and disappointment if he does.
Rules of Issuing and Use
Some libraries make a practice of providing detailed
rules in places convenient for the reader, and thereby
earn his blessings. The Paris Library, among its many
recent improvements, now faces the reader as he enters
the room with a little stand covered with a plan of the
Reading Room and a copy of the printed list of books
in the room, which contains also in its preface a very
detailed description of the rules for finding and getting
books.
The regulations differ greatly in different libraries.
Some allow only a limited number of books at a time
two or three or even only one. It is possible sometimes
to mitigate the hardships of this by having a considerable
number gathered ready at hand and renewing the
supply as fast as the books are used. With a limit of
three at a time in the Paris Manuscript Room it has been
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 289
possible to have a score of manuscripts gathered and
passed out as fast as needed. It is sometimes a bit
aggravating to attempt to use a library where rules are
strictly applied and only one volume at a time allowed,
even of encyclopaedias and other reference books. Being
served over the counter under such rules one makes
slow progress.
A very common rule is that no ink may be used with
manuscripts and rare books, and this is troublesome to
one used to his fountain pen. A common modern rule
is that there shall be no tracing, and fingers must not
touch the book in reading. This extreme care and
prohibition of tracing is not unreasonable in these days
of inexpensive photographic copying.
One rather unusual rule which has been met with is
that a book shall be collated by the librarian after the
reader has finished. This was made after the Libri
thefts, and one who has himself found valuable miniatures
cut out of manuscripts between two usings can hardly
blame a librarian for taking every precaution.
The main rule for using rules is to follow them,
however unnecessary they may seem. The user is a
guest. The books belong to the library used, and its
right to condition use is obvious.
The Use of Reference Collections
The same advice is to be given here as in the use of
catalogues ; it pays to learn the apparatus at the very
beginning by reading rapidly the titles of the books on
the shelves of the Reading Room to see what familiar
reference books are at hand for use. For librarians it is
well worth while to read all the Reading Room collection
titles in detail and with care, and especially the un-
familiar ones. The process becomes rapid when one
*9
290 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
knows the size and shape of the familiar books, and there
is no more valuable use of time for the travelling librarian
than the study of unfamiliar reference books. It is a
truism of research work that familiarity with reference
aids is the greatest time saver. In many lines of work,
early orientation in the aids may double the effective
working time.
Copying and Collation Service
Where good typewriting service or photostat service
or the service of good collators can be had in the library
it may quicken the pace of work a great deal. In many
cases where such work cannot be done by the library,
the library has an information service as to where such
aid can be had at reasonable cost.
Access to the Shelves and Special Privileges
All know how access to shelves multiplies the output
per hour of a user on many lines. Librarians sometimes
receive special professional favours of this sort, but both
as a sporting matter and as a matter of professional
consideration, it is well to be modest about this. Many
librarians go an extraordinary way in putting themselves
out to serve the special need of any serious reader
witness the Vatican Library under Cardinal Ehrle and
his successors. It is a good rule for any worker not to
ask special privileges of any sort, where it is not a distinctly
urgent matter, and not to criticize too much, even to
himself, the restrictions and rules which seem to him
superfluous and hindering. No doubt there are librarians,
both at home and abroad, who take themselves and their
precious rules too seriously ; but on the other hand the
user is a guest, and will not dream of returning discourtesy
RESOURCES OUTSIDE BRITAIN 291
for discourtesy. He will be sometimes tempted to forget
and return a Roland for an Oliver. If he does he will
be punished by remorse and deserve all that he gets.
The student who uses many libraries has one of the greatest
of human satisfactions the feeling that he is under debt
to very many persons for their kindness. He will be
wise not to mar this satisfaction.
XIII
LIGHT LITERATURE IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES
By Ernest A. Baker, M.A., D.Lit.
XIII
LIGHT LITERATURE IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES 1
By Ernest A. Baker, M.A., D.Lit.
The quite common opinion that the arts have after all very little effect
upon the community shows only that too little attention is being paid
to the effects of bad art. I. A. Richards, Principles of Literary Criticism.
In this chapter I must appear in the inauspicious role
of a resurrectionist. The question at issue has repeatedly
been declared dead, dead and done with. To revive
it will harrow the feelings of certain worthy people who
dug a grave for it long ago, and even went so far as to
bury the alleged corpse and subscribe for an unobtrusive
but satisfactory tombstone. For, though the question
of light literature in public libraries has been carefully
interred for many years, and is almost forgotten, it is
my duty to announce that it is not really dead, but very
much alive.
Recently I had a letter, marked " not for publication,"
from one of the persons who go about asserting that the
question is dead, and who are desperately afraid that the
truth will come out and the corpse prove itself as trouble-
some as the body of Uncle Joseph in The Wrong Box, or
that of the hunchback in the Arabian Nights. It was
from the librarian of a borough that shall be nameless,
which once acquired immortal fame for pronouncing
Jane Eyre and Adam Bede unfit for circulation among its
virtuous readers. He entreated me not to re-open
1 This chapter appeared as an article in the Hibbert Journal, and is
reprinted here by the kind permission of the Editor.
295
296 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
" this admittedly dangerous and pruriently interesting
subject," and prophesied " nothing but damage to all
the interests concerned from the stirring-up of this
compost." He wrote that " the publication and issue
of books of the class referred to rest upon a balance as
delicate as the Balance of Power in Europe, and it seems
to me that a well-meaning, cautious, and understanding
man will be thankful that a balance is at the moment
attained, and will imperil that by no act or word."
Without any breach of confidence I quote this view for
what it is worth, merely remarking that readers in this
borough, for whose refined taste Charlotte Bronte and
George Eliot were not good enough, enjoy a plentiful
supply of works by writers of a very different stamp, and
presumably do not find them too bad. Further, I would
remark that this delicate process of balancing what one
class of reader demands against what another class objects
to, of the just good enough and the not too bad, seems a
curious method of deciding how a public authority
should spend public funds for the good of the public.
It looks as if somebody, individual or corporate, were
shirking duties and responsibilities, and as long as re-
sponsibilities are not honestly faced the question now
before us is very far from dead ; the supposed corpse is
likely to remain alive and vigorous, a source of anxiety
and unpleasantness to everyone.
Many years' experience of British public libraries had
led me to believe that a number of authorities were
satisfied with some such timid and futile attitude as this,
and thereby were jeopardizing the prestige and influence
of an institution that might exert untold powers for good
in the life of the nation. To obtain positive evidence on
the subject I sent out in 1927 a questionnaire to some
fifty public libraries in London, the largest provincial
towns, and various other places where a large reading
LIGHT LITERATURE IN LIBRARIES 297
public or the juxtaposition of several different classes
would make the returns peculiarly informative. Three-
fifths of the total number replied, and I take this oppor-
tunity of thanking them for their courtesy. Apparently
those which did not respond had nothing to be proud
of in their records. But facts enough were elicited to
confirm the view I had already formed ; a more thorough-
going inquiry was unnecessary. Yet some day, it may be
hoped, when our separate libraries are organized into
something like a system, with machinery for mutual
help and exchange of experience, more general and more
detailed reports on questions of policy and practice will
be a matter of common routine. Then there will be
no more excuse for not facing facts and making decisions,
and the policy of hushing up vexatious questions and
pretending there is nothing rotten in the state of Den-
mark will be dangerous, instead of a safe refuge from
criticism.
These libraries were asked to say whether they admitted
the works of the following authors, and, if so, which
works, and how many copies of each. The authors
included were, in alphabetical order : Ruby Ayres,
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Hall Caine, Marie Corelli,
Victoria Cross, Ethel M. Dell, Gilbert Frankau, Charles
Garvice, Edith M. Hull, Gertrude Wentworth-James,
Robert Keable, William Le Queux, Geoffrey Moss,
Margaret Petersen, Gene Stratton Porter, " Rita,"
Cynthia Stockley, Edgar Wallace, Dolf Wyllarde. Now
this is not put forward as a black list. Writers of mis-
cellaneous kinds, of different ability, style, and general
appeal were purposely mixed up. A much blacker list
could easily be compiled if that were the object. At the
same time, any discerning person will see at once that it
comprises several authors of no literary significance
whatever, and several who have achieved the rank of
298 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
best-sellers by unscrupulous pandering to the baser
instincts of readers. Some are there on account of one
vile book, some in spite of a single good one. Perhaps
there is no writer on the list who is known at first-hand
to any considerable number of intelligent readers, and
the intelligent reader may safely rest satisfied with a
second-hand account.
To be ready, if need be, with such an account, it
seemed to be my bounden duty to fill up the gaps in my
personal acquaintance with their works : I have actually
performed the task, and can only trust that I have come
through with faculties not entirely unhinged. Even the
enjoyment of unconscious humour has its limits, especially
when there is a striking uniformity in the way that humour
arises. But there is no need now for a critical account
of these writers. Their names are pretty well known, and
what those names stand for is easily gathered from the
Press that booms or the Press that ignores them, or from
our knowledge of the kind of people who read them.
Yet I have often thought that it would be worth while
for some devoted person to make a closer study of this
mob literature from Tudor times to the present day
for it has always been in existence and always been
forgotten in a very few years as a problem in the
vagaries of social psychology.
One explanation is, however, desirable at this point.
It is not primarily the moral character of these authors'
works that is in question I use the word " moral " in
the narrow sense usually adopted in this country. Not
for a moment would I suggest that this is a factor of
minor importance in the choice of books for public
circulation. This aspect cannot be ignored. There are
authors on our list who have attained the kind of success
they aimed at by writing books of a debasing and even
a wilfully corrupting nature. But the most conspicuous
LIGHT LITERATURE IN LIBRARIES 299
quality is their silliness. Their reading of life is childish,
though so very far from childlike. It does not tally
with our actual experience. The sentiments expressed
are often an affront to common-sense. On the whole,
the effect of reading such books on an adult mind is a
stupefying sense of dullness. In short, they are bad
literature.
The question whether a book is literature is not merely
academic ; it is a practical question and even a utilitarian
one. Setting aside considerations of style, which are
of course of prime importance, but by some are thought
to be academic, let us ask : Has a given novel any human
interest ? Does it evoke an intelligible and an intelligent
view of life, and one worth our attention ? Does it help
us to see the world with clearer eyes, or show us some
character or some phase of human existence that excites
pity or fellow-feeling or laughter or exaltation ? If so,
it has literary value, and it will also have ethical value.
Few will deny the profound affinity between good taste
and good morals. What is vile as literature, even when
obtuse people assure us that it is on the side of the angels
as if the angels were of the same grade of intelligence
is directly or indirectly injurious to morals, simply
because it debases the whole currency, and promotes a
false, unintelligent, crudely material attitude to life. It
lowers the standard of values. By its blindness to those
qualities which are the essence of humane letters, it
represses all that is distinctively human in those who read
and fail to detect its falseness. Seen from this higher
level, and thus seen in true perspective, all bad literature
is immoral, including a great deal that is seldom recog-
nized as such. Take, for example, two writers on our list,
one deceased, the other still, unfortunately, a best-seller.
I need not name these self-dubbed apostles of a supposed
moral and spiritual enlightenment. Their spiritualism
300 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
is a crass and unredeemable materialism. Their ethics
may be described as hysterical emotionalism. The world
they depict is unlike any world man ever beheld, and
lacks the coherence of a world of the imagination.
These two between them have probably done more
damage to our hard-won civilization than all the others
on the list put together, in spite of the maxim some of
them seem to be guided by, which a librarian quoted to
me recently : " Give 'em sex every time."
Public libraries have been attacked over and over again
on the ground that they are large purveyors of fiction.
The reply is, that they do indeed provide very large
quantities of such literature, but that the quality is kept
high, and therefore they are acting in the best interests of
the community. Fiction is the favourite reading to-day ;
fiction must be supplied, and that abundantly. Our
conscience will be clear if the fiction is of unimpeachable
excellence. There is another reply, based on different
premises ; that public libraries provide good books for
those who will read them, but, in order to attract readers
of undeveloped tastes who will be gradually educated to
appreciate what is better, or simply to satisfy the rate-
payer, who says he pays for the books and has a right to
what he prefers, they also feel obliged to supply books
that are admittedly inferior.
There are obviously here three answers to the critics.
The first is the stout assertion that only sound literature
is provided. The second, that compromise is desirable ;
that the bad, but popular, must be mixed with the good,
so that the depraved reader may be trained out of his
depravity. This we may call the Groundbait theory.
The third frankly surrenders every claim to control by
leaving the decision to the reader. We will call it the
Tune and Piper plea, as it is never put forward without
the old adage, supposed to be a crushing argument, that
LIGHT LITERATURE IN LIBRARIES 301
he who pays the piper has the right to call the tune.
Let us deal with these three lines of defence in turn.
The first, that only good literature is provided, can
be tested by facts. The facts sent in reply to my
questionnaire show that this line of defence is no longer
tenable. On p. 302 is a summary of the returns, which
requires no comment. It would be unfair to give the
names of the libraries and so exalt them to a bad eminence
which they do not deserve. A wider inquiry would
probably have elicited still more depressing figures.
Evidently, if our library authorities want their critics
to take seriously the assurance that they supply none but
the best kinds of light literature, they must exercise much
more care, and must act up to their own pretensions.
Otherwise they will have to abandon this line of defence
and fall back on the other two, the Groundbait theory
and the Tune and Piper plea. We may suspect that both
these latter arguments are vaguely at the back of their
minds, even when they keep the flag flying over the first
trench. In my own opinion the principle that sound
literature and no other than sound literature should be
provided is the only one on which a library kept up by
public funds can legitimately take its stand. But the
contrary is arguable, and I propose to discuss the question
fairly. Meanwhile, let us review the other pleas.
The Groundbait theory looks plausible on the face of it,
and has been propounded again and again in various
shapes and thoroughly discredited by experience. The
people who flock to a public or a subscription library to
read books which, in their crudeness, perverted standards
of character and conduct, and total lack of literary merit,
are on a par with the most objectionable product of the
films, do not proceed to anything better so long as the
supply is maintained. So far is the Groundbait theory
at fault that it works in the opposite way. An ample
302
THE USES OF LIBRARIES
supply of trashy literature corrupts the taste of those
malleable persons who might have become intelligent
readers had they met with wise and sympathetic treat-
ment. Probably some readers are irreclaimable. At
any rate, librarians say so, and go on to ask, if these poor
creatures can't do without their drugs, their opiates, their
poisons, what right have we to deny them ? No right
Author.
Author's Total
Output.
No. of Separate
Works in 33
Libraries.
No. of Copies in
33 Libraries.
Representation
of each Work
in 33 Libraries.
Ayres, Ruby M.
30
329
724
24
Burroughs, Edgar Rice
23
282
IO76
46
Caine, Hall
13
244
I246
95
Corelli, Marie .
32
658
3851
120
Cross, Victoria .
6
15
7
3
Dell, Ethel M. .
21
539
2255
107
Frankau, Gilbert
8
J 95
652
82
Garvice, Charles
45
414
1550
34
Hull, E. M. .
4
64
185
46
James, Gertrude W. .
7
33
4 1
6
Keable, Robert .
6
57
130
22
Le Queux, William .
J 34
1 261
2418
18
Moss, Geoffrey .
3
18
42
14
Petersen, Margaret .
22
258
593
27
Porter, Gene Stratton
16
258
857
54
"Rita" .
55
624
1116
20
Stockley, Cynthia
8
117
338
42
Wallace, Edgar .
58
904
2514
43
Wyllarde, Dolf .
18
186
303
17
at all perhaps ; nor can we prevent their getting the stuff.
But don't let us waste public funds and prostitute a
worthy institution like the public library by providing
it there. The public library was not established for any
such purpose, and to allow it to take an active part in
an industry that is steadily muddling the brains and
coarsening the fibre of a large section of the community
is a contradiction of all that it stands for.
LIGHT LITERATURE IN LIBRARIES 303
Let us be perfectly clear. This is not prohibition.
Perhaps John Milton would not have had the same serene
confidence that inspired him in Areopagitica were he
writing in these days of a cheap and too often unscru-
pulous Press. But it is not proposed to interfere with
the liberty of the subject by cutting off supplies ; only
let us tell the dram-drinker to go elsewhere, instead of
oo 100 no 120
CbrcUt.Mzvrie . .
Dell. Ethel M. . .
Cadt\c,Ho.U . .
Frarvka.u,Cjilbert
Porter, (}<?n<? Sfr&ttorv
BurrougKs. L&g&r Rice
Hull. EM. . -
Wallace. Ed^ax .
Sfockley, Cyrvtkizv
Cjaxvicc. Charles -
Petersen. . M&rj aret
Kezwbte, Kobert . -
"Rita" - - -
Le Queux .^William
\CyiUrdc. Do1f -
Moss. Cjeoffrejy -
Cross, Victoria. . . ||
o s 10 20 x> 40 50 60 70 5o 90 ipo 110 120
talking insincerely about half-doses and a homoepathic
treatment that has never worked. Tastes can be
improved. Demand can be moulded, at any rate in a
large proportion of the cases with which the discrimin-
ating librarian has to deal. There is no better illustration
than in this branch of library activities of the truth that
supply creates demand. But the Groundbait theory
runs counter to that policy ; the method of the homoeo-
path fails in matters of taste. The only legitimate way
304 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
in which a public body should concern itself with literary
garbage is to send a sanitary vehicle to cart it away.
The other argument sounds still more plausible. The
ratepayer is the owner of the library ; he pays for the
books, and accordingly expects to have the kind of book
that he prefers. He who pays the piper has a right to
call the tune. We have had this plea dinned into our
ears as if it settled the matter beyond appeal. But I
venture to describe it as a piece of claptrap, specious
in terms, but entirely vicious as logic. The people who
devour worthless and pernicious fiction, although for
obvious reasons they make a glaring impression on the
returns of books issued, are not the owners of the library.
The library belongs to the community. True, there are
ratepayers among them. Some of them have had to dip
into their pockets to furnish their contribution to the
piper's fee, and usually, being lukewarm friends of edu-
cation or culture or genuine literature, they have paid the
library rate and probably the school rate with no
special alacrity. If they wish to select a tune let them
turn to a piper who will put himself at their orders.
The individual ratepayer, or even a group of ratepayers,
has no more right to dictate what a library authority,
appointed under an Act of Parliament by the whole body
of ratepayers, should provide for the public benefit than
to dictate what should be taught in what he might call
his schools, what pictures should be purchased for his
public art galleries, the Guildhall or the Tate, what
antiquities by the British Museum, or sculpture, articles
of virtu, and scientific objects at South Kensington.
Even if we had a plebiscite on the question, and a
majority which I cannot believe voted for the policy
that I am combating, it would not alter the case. You
would have to go further, and repeal the Acts which
constituted the public library. Otherwise a public
LIGHT LITERATURE IN LIBRARIES 305
institution founded for a definite purpose would be turned
in another direction and used for a totally different
and a contrary purpose. Democracy does not do such,
things. Our institutions would be in a parlous state if
this were the meaning of popular control.
I wonder whether those who claim these prerogatives
for a certain class of reader are aware what kind of tunes
would be called if a free choice were permitted ? Some
time ago I was waiting outside a railway station in south-
east London when my eye fell on a display of the literature
that is actually bought by readers of this class. I jotted
down a list of a score or so, and it may fairly be taken as
indicating the kind of stuff this section of the public
would have if they were allowed a deciding voice in the
choice of books for circulation. The contents may be
judged by the titles :
A Woman of Temperament.
A Woman of Fire !
Violet Virtue.
Eve and the Man.
A Girl of London Town.
The Right to Motherhood.
The Hour of Temptation.
Betrayal.
Mistress or Wife ?
The Wife, the Husband and the Lover.
Loose Love.
One Night.
A Night and a Day.
Three Nights.
Seven Nights.
Three Weeks.
Cards, Women and Wine !
We have now discussed the two arguments that are
2Q
306 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
held by some to justify the provision of bad books as well
as good books in public libraries. It is time to return
to the principle on which they might defy criticism if
they only acted upon it consistently ; the principle,
namely, of providing only that which is of the best
quality. No reasonable person nowadays would ban
fiction or deny that the provision of light literature, if it
be worthy of the name of literature, is a proper function
of a public library. What are the services that a public
library performs, for which, indeed, any library whatever
exists ? The three objects that occur to us, on reflection,
are these, to supply information, to subserve education,
to provide for recreation. Some libraries undertake a
fourth duty, to furnish materials for research ; but that
might be considered as only a special variant of the first,
the supply of information ; and, anyhow, it comes within
the scope only of the very large or the highly special
library, and hardly concerns us.
There is no need to debate whether information is a
legitimate end, or to ask whether education in the
broadest sense is one of the purposes for which we have
erected and equipped our public libraries. It would be
easy to read so much into that word " education,"
meaning by it a wide and liberal exercise of our faculties
throughout life, as to make it comprehend the third
object, recreation. But it will be more convenient to
keep this separate, since it is obviously under this par-
ticular head that our problem comes up for consideration.
At the same time it must be confessed that the word is
not quite satisfactory. For the sake of convenience we
shall have to do some violence to meaning, and include
under the one head a variety of purposes, intellectual,
artistic, and moral, which can only be brought there
if we call a truce for the time being with strict logic.
At all events, by admitting that recreation is one of the
LIGHT LITERATURE IN LIBRARIES 307
main objects for which a public library exists, we shall
meet the other side on their own ground. We can assure
them that we do not wish to deprive any reader of the
things that minister to true recreation.
Now, what is the meaning of the word ? Suppose we
accept the basic meaning that which re-creates, that
which revives, that which renews and enhances vitality.
There are amusements that merely kill time ; there are
pleasures gambling, betting, dram-drinking might be
instanced which are obviously not re-creative. By
holding to such an interpretation of the word as puts
the thing definitely among those that subserve human
life, we shall remain in agreement with general usage
and at the same time come into line with those thinkers
who have recognized pleasure or joy as the test of what
is sound in art, in poetry, in literature, and in all those
activities which enable us to fulfil ideally certain impulses
of our nature that would else remain frustrate, incomplete,
sterile. Sidney, in his championship long ago, under
the name of poetry, of all the literature that we are
discussing, accepted pleasure or delight as the criterion,
and carefully distinguished delight from other effects
laughter, for instance, which he called. " only a scornful
tickling." Shelley, also speaking of fiction in the widest
sense as poetry, asserted emphatically that pleasure is the
test. Pleasure is the sign of health and healthy activity
in everything we do. Our highest pleasures arise from
those activities which, for our present purpose, we call
recreation. Substitute baser forms of indulgence for
these and you have neither recreation nor pleasure, in
its true meaning. " For the end of social corruption,"
says Shelley, " is to destroy all sensibility to pleasure ;
and therefore it is corruption." A doctrine in harmony
with the teaching of our greatest appreciator of literary
pleasures, Coleridge, whether he is inquiring how we
308 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
should judge of the goodness or badness of a piece of
literature, or deploring the wane of his own genius :
" Joy is the sweet voice, Joy the luminous cloud
We in ourselves rejoice !
And thence flows all that charms or ear or sight,
All melodies the echoes of that voice,
All colours a suffusion from that light."
And this pleasure, joy, happiness, which is the mark by
which we identify what is good in poetry and fiction, is
also the mark of something useful. Perhaps it is surprising
to find Shelley among the utilitarians ; yet he says,
" The production and assurance of pleasure in this
highest sense is true utility." We may adopt a strictly
utilitarian view of what the public library is for and what
it should do for us ; and we shall still retain recreation
as one of the main objects, side by side with information
and education. Recreation is a useful thing because it
promotes life and well-being. Contrarywise, those things
that destroy all sensibility to pleasure, which tend to
social corruption, are not recreations at all. By supplying
facilities for mere mental dissipation the public library
is not performing an act of kindness but doing something
positively harmful, promoting the work of social corrup-
tion which it wants to counteract. If the worn-out
charwoman and the jaded clerk, for whom our good-
natured indulgence is asked, have not enough energy left
to read anything but trash, we should be doing them a
real service if we could prevent them from reading at all.
There are recreations left which entail no mental strain,
and are not harmful. It is an utter delusion to assume
that reading is a good thing in itself, apart from the quality
of what is read.
The truth is that what we call bad novels, the rubbishy
productions of a debased commercial industry, are not
mere novels that have failed to be good, not mere
LIGHT LITERATURE IN LIBRARIES 309
unsuccessful attempts at genuine fiction, but another
thing altogether. They are not works of art at all, not
even bad works of art. They do not furnish recreation ;
they do not result in what is worth calling pleasure.
They are a substitute, intended to satisfy other sorts of
appetite, appetites that have probably been implanted
by the agencies that exploit them. For I do not believe
that vicious tastes are normal, even in the undeveloped
mind. Supply creates demand in evil things as in good.
These are shams, brummagem goods manufactured in
imitation of the real article, out of spurious material.
They have nothing to express ideas, view of life, human
characters. Hence, when we are asked to admit that
some compromise is essential in catering for a large public
of varying grades of intelligence and culture, we must
discriminate. Admittedly, to thrust culture down people's
throats is an absurd enterprise. To expect the man in the
street, without the appropriate introduction, to enjoy
the most refined literature, to recognize the masterpieces
at a glance and be content with nothing less, is a delusion.
It is far more sensible to give him the second-best, and
trust that he will ultimately come to understand and
appreciate the best of all, which is probably the way most
of us have done so if we review our mental history.
Compromise in this sense is desirable, is necessary. But
to compromise with the absolutely mischievous, with the
demoralizing, is a different thing altogether. With that
there should be no quarter. To adopt a Nietzschean
attitude and affirm that a wide distinction should be
drawn between the higher intelligences that are sus-
ceptible of culture and spiritual growth and the masses
who are not worth cultivating, seems to me a gross
dereliction of duty ; it is to repudiate responsibilities
that cannot be evaded. Are we to leave the weaker
brethren to their own devices, calmly pacifying them
310 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
with sham literature, bogus thought, merely sensational
music, painting, and sculpture, whilst concentrating
serious attention on those who respond at once to the
finer influences of art ? Are we to brand thousands and
millions as hopelessly inferior ? Instead of such a
surrender we must take our proper share in the attempt
to raise the whole mass of humanity.
The public library has its duty clearly assigned in this
great effort. Far be it from me to depreciate the im-
mense positive value of what it is doing, and what it has
done. My aim has been to call a halt in what I believe
to be a departure from the policy which librarians have
themselves approved, and still proclaim. Statistics
gathered from thirty of our largest and most influential
libraries show that this policy is being tampered with,
that there has been compromise, and compromise in the
wrong direction. By purchasing thousands of copies of
this deleterious literature the public libraries are actually
helping to support a trade that is a social evil. The
production of worthless and mischievous novels is
become a sheltered industry.
Many of the replies to my questionnaire reveal a feeling
of discomfort at the contradictions of the policy which has
been forced on librarians. Some, it is true, regard their
large records of issues with complacency, as if an enormous
amount of reading were a matter for pride, irrespective
of the quality. Some would have liked to compare the
issues of bad novels with those of Meredith, Hardy, and
Conrad. That would have been interesting, but irrele-
vant. The fact that many people read good books does
not make it any the less lamentable that others are given
facilities to read, and do read voraciously, the bad.
Many librarians, with a friendly face for the Mammon of
Unrighteousness, refuse to pick a quarrel, but leave the
wretched victims of the dud novelist to fight for the
LIGHT LITERATURE IN LIBRARIES 311
one well-thumbed copy or go and borrow it elsewhere at
twopence a time. " I believe the demand for such
fiction," writes the Stepney librarian, " to be the result
of the systematic puffing of the stuff by the popular daily
papers and the influence of picture palaces." The
method adopted there is to buy what is demanded, but
let it wear out and disappear when the demand abates.
The authors on our list do not write for posterity. That
the taste for them is a sign of ignorance that might be
removed, and not of original sin, is shown by the experience
of the Kent county librarian. The Kentish villagers ask
for the much-advertised novelists, and when they find
them not, choose some other writer and go away satisfied.
The older people do not commit mental suicide if they
cannot get what they want ; the young take the good
authors and quickly form literary friendships founded
on merit. Such, too, is the experience of other librarians
who are not obsessed by the Groundbait fallacy. In a
public library situated in the midst of a large working-
class population in Dublin, for instance, it is reported
that borrowers who are introduced to the more popular
work of the standard novelists " invariably follow on and
read others by the same author." At Coventry books
of the better class are generously duplicated, sometimes
to the extent of fifty copies of a single work, with
admirable results. " What the public would call an
inadequate selection of Ruby M. Ayres," to exemplify
the corresponding restriction of the other class, " only
serves as a basis for requests for more copies, whereas
the entire absence of Ruby M. Ayres leads the readers
to other sources." Thus, when a harassed librarian
pleads : " We try to keep up to a reasonable standard ;
but certain books are demanded and we have to provide
them," he despairs of a problem that is by no means
desperate.
312 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
We must appeal to library authorities to consider the
question from the social point of view, which will be
found to coincide with the literary point of view, and
to come to a decision and stand to it. Timid concessions
are not merely inconsistent with the declared aims of
the public library ; they are inimical to those aims.
The public library is now a well-established institution
performing services of the highest social value. It can
safely drop those popular devices which were once thought
necessary for its existence. By trying to compete with
the cinema and other rivals it merely lowers its own
dignity and seriously impairs its own usefulness.
A SELECTION OF AIDS AND GUIDE-BOOKS
A SELECTION OF AIDS AND GUIDE-BOOKS
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
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United States Catalogue. New York, Wilson, 19 12, con-
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British Museum. List of Books in the Reading Room. 2 v.
B.M., 1910.
Courtney (IV. P.). A Register of National Bibliography. 3 v.
Constable, 1905-12.
The English Catalogue of Books issued in Great Britain and
Ireland, 1801, continuing.
H.M. Stationery Office Consolidated List of Parliamentary and
Stationery Office Publications. Monthly Circular of New
Publications. 19 19.
Kayser (C. G.). Vollstandiges Bucher-Lexikon, 1 834-1910
Lanson (G.). Manuel bibliographique de la litterature francaise
moderne (i6 e -i9 e siecles). Paris, 1921.
Library of Congress. List of Publications. Washington.
London Library. Subject Index. 2 v. Williams & Norgate,
1909-23.
Lorenz (O.). Catalogue general de la librairie francaise, 1840
to present time. Paris, 1867, continuing.
Memorial de la librairie francaise. Revue hebdomadaire de livres,
complement de la Bibliographic' francaise. Paris, 19 10,
continuing.
Minto (J.). Reference Books. Library Association, 1929.
Mudge (I, G.). New Guide to Reference Books. Chicago,
1923.
Peddie (R. A.). National Bibliographies. 19 12.
Querard (J. M.). La France litterai re. 12 v. Paris, 1827-64.
3i5
3i6 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Stein (H.). Manuel de bibliographic generale. Paris, 1897.
Thieme (H. P.). Guide bibliographique de la litterature francaise
de 1800 a 1906. Paris, 1907.
Whitaker's Cumulative Book List. 1924, continuing.
EXAMPLES OF THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SPECIFIC
SUBJECTS
John Crerar Library. A List of Bibliographies of Special Subjects.
Chicago, 1902.
Sociology, Politics, Economics, etc
Bibliographie der Sozialwissenschaften. Berlin, 1905-22. Sozial-
wissenschaftliches Literaturblatt. 1922, continuing.
Cossa (L.). An Introduction to the Study of Political Economy.
Macmillan, 1893.
Fabian Society. What to Read on Social and Economic Subjects.
1920 ; supplement in preparation.
More books to read. 1920-26, 1927.
Headicar (B. M.) and Fuller ifl.). A London Bibliography of the
Social Sciences. 4 v. London School of Economics,
1930.
Science and Technology
British Science Guild. Catalogue of British Scientific and
Technical Books. New ed. and Supplement. Brit. Sci.
Guild, 1926.
Crane (E. J.) and Patterson (J. M.). Guide to the Literature of
Chemistry. New York, 1927.
International Catalogue of Scientific Literature. 1901-20.
Harrisonj 1903-19.
Mottelay {P. F.). Bibliographical History of Electricity and
Magnetism, chronologically arranged. Griffin, 1922.
Royal Meteorological Society. Catalogue of the Library.
H.M.S.O., 1891.
Royal Society of London. Catalogue of Scientific Papers.
Thomson (J. A.). Classified Bibliography of Science. 4 v.
Putnam, 1922.
SELECTION OF AIDS AND GUIDE-BOOKS 317
Weaver (W. D.). Ed. Catalogue of the Wheeler Gift of Books,
etc., of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.
2 v. New York, 1909.
Geography Travel and Topography
Bibliographie geographique. 1915-1919 ; 1 920 21 ; 1922-26.
Paris, 1921-27. In progress.
Humphreys [J. L.). Handbook of County Bibliography. Hum-
phreys, 19 1 7.
Mill (H. R.). Guide to Geographical Books and Appliances.
Philip, 19 10.
Mullens (IV. H.). Geographical Bibliography of British Orni-
thology. Witherby, 1920.
History
Adams (C. K.). A Manual of Historical Literature ... in
English, French, German. 3rd ed. Harper, 1888.
Bulkley (M. E.). Bibliographical Survey of Contemporary
Sources for the Economic and Social History of the War
Oxford, 1922.
Gooch (G. P.). History and Historians in the Nineteenth Century.
Longmans, 1920.
Gross (C). Sources and Literature of English History to about
1485. 2nd ed. Longmans, 19 15.
Hall (H.). British Archives and the Sources for the History of
the World War. Milford, 1925.
Lamed (J. N.). The New Larned History for Ready Refer-
ence, etc. 12 v. Springfield, Mass., 1922.
Language and Literature
Baker (E. A.). A Guide to the Best Fiction in English. Rout-
ledge, 19 1 3. (A new edition is in preparation.)
Baker (E. A.). A Guide to Historical Fiction. Routledge, 19 14.
English Association. The Year's Work in English Studies.
Oxford, 1 92 1, continuing.
Gayley (C. M.) and Kurtz (B. P.). Methods and Materials of
Literary Criticism, etc. Boston, [1920].
318 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Gayley (C. M.) and Scott (F. N.). An Introduction to the
Methods and Materials of Literary Criticism. Boston.
Ginn, 1899.
Modern Humanities Research Association. Bibliography of English
Language and Literature. Cambridge, Bowes, 1921, con-
tinuing.
Nield (J.). A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales.
5th ed. Elkin Mathews, 1929.
PRACTICAL GUIDES TO THE CHOICE OF
BOOKS
J dams (J.). The Students' Guide. Univ. of London Press,
1917.
Crawford (J. R.). What to Read in English Literature.
Putnam, 1928.
Collins (J. C). Ephemera Critica ; or Plain Truths about
Current Literature. Constable, 1901.
Coulter (E. M). Guide to Historical Bibliographier. Berkeley,
1927.
Harrison (F.). The Choice of Books. Macmillan, 191 2.
Robertson (J. M.). Ed. Courses of Study. Watts, 1908.
ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND ENCYCLOPEDIC
DICTIONARIES
Chambers's Encyclopedia. 10 v. 1923-27.
Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyc. Brit. Co., 1929. 14th ed.
24 v.
Larousse Mensuel illustre. Encyclopedic de la vie contemporaine.
Paris, 1907. In progress.
Larousse universel : le dictionnaire d y apres guerre. Paris, 1921-22.
Meyers grosses Konversations-lexikon. 24 v. Leipzig, 190212.
Meyers grosses Konversations-lexikon. Kriegsnachtrag. 3 v.
Leipzig, 1916-20.
Meyers Lexikon. Leipzig, 1924, continuing.
Pauly {A. F. von). Pauly's Real-Encyclopaedie der classichen
Altertumswissenschaften. Stuttgart, 1894, continuing.
SELECTION OF AIDS AND GUIDE-BOOKS 319
COMPENDIUMS
Philosophy and Religion
Adler {C.). The Jewish Encyclopaedia. 12 v. New York,
1925.
Baldwin (J. M.). Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology.
New ed. 3 V. Macmillan, 1 9 1 1 . In progress.
Cheyne (T. L.) and Black (J. S.). Eds. Encyclopaedia Biblica.
4 v. Black, 19 14.
Frazer (Sir J. G.). Folk-lore in the Old Testament : Studies
in Comparative Religion. 3 v. Macmillan, 19 18.
Frazer (Sir J. G.). The Golden Bough : A Study in Magic
and Religion. 12 v. Macmillan, 1907-15.
Hastings (J.). Dictionary of the Bible. 5 v. Edinburgh.
Clark, 1 898-1 902.
Hastings (J.). Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. 13 v.
Clark, 1906-27.
Herbermann (C. G.), Pace (E. A.\ etc. The Catholic Encyclo-
pedia. 17 v. New York. Appleton, 1907-18.
Herzog (J. J.). The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Re-
ligious Knowledge. 1 3 v. New York. Funk & Wagnalls,
1908-14.
Herzog (J. J.). Real-Encyklopadie fur protestantische Theologie
und Kirche. 24 v. Leipzig, 1896-19 13.
Houtsma (M. Th.). y Seligsohn (M.\ etc. The Encyclopaedia
of Islam. Leyden, Brill (Luzac), 1908, in progress.
Moore (G. F.). History of Religions. New York, 19 13.
Edinburgh, 1914-20.
Sociology, Politics, Economics, etc
British Institute of Adult Education. Journal of Adult Education.
Constable, 1926, continuing.
McLaughlin (A. C.) and Hart (A. B.). Cyclopaedia of American
Government. 3 v. New York. Appleton, 19 14.
Monroe (Paul). Cyclopedia of Education. 5 v. New York.
Macmillan, 1911-13.
Palgrave (Sir R. H. I.). Dictionary of Political Economy.
New ed. 3 v. Macmillan, 1923-26.
320 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
Thomson (W.). Dictionary of Banking. 6th ed. Pitman, 1926.
Watson (F.). Ed. The Encyclopaedia and Dictionary of Educa-
tion. 4 v. Pitman, 1912-22.
Science and Useful Arts
The Cambridge Natural History, iov. Macmillan, 1 895- 1 909 .
Chisholm (G. G.). Handbook of Commercial Geography.
9th ed. Longmans, 1925.
Freeman (W. G.) and Chandler (S. E.). The World's Com-
mercial Products : A Descriptive Account of the Economic
Plants of the World and their Commercial Uses. Pitman,
1914.
G/azebrook (Sir R.). Ed. A Dictionary of Applied Physics.
5 v. Macmillan, 1922.
Hopkins (A. A.). Scientific American Cyclopedia of Receipts,
Notes and Queries. New York. Munn, 191 1.
Scientific American Encyclopedia of Formulas. New York.
Munn, 1906.
Slater (J. A.). Pitman's Business Man's Encyclopaedia and
Dictionary of Commerce. 4 v. Pitman, 1920.
Slater (J. A.). Pitman's Technical Dictionary of Engineering
and Industrial Science in Seven Languages. 1928, in
progress.
Spon (E. F. N.). Spon's Workshop Receipts for Manufacturers.
rev. ed. 4 V. Spon, 1926. A supplement is in preparation.
Thorpe (Sir T. 2s.), etc. A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry.
5 v. Longmans, 1921-23.
Fine Art
Grove (Sir G.). Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
3rd. ed. 5 v. Macmillan, 1927-28.
Reinach, (S.). Apollo : An Illustrated Manual of the History
of Art. New ed. New York. Scribner, 1907.
Sturgis (R.). Dictionary of Architecture and Building. 3 v.
Macmillan ,1901-02.
English Literature
Chambers's Cyclopedia of English Literature. Ed. David Patrick
Chambers, 1 90 1-3. 3 V. (v. 3 revised and enlarged.) 1923
SELECTION OF AIDS AND GUIDE-BOOKS 321
Esdaile {A.). The Sources of English Literature. Cambridge,
1928.
Ryland (F.). Chronological Outlines of English Literature.
Macmillan, 19 10.
Trent (W. P.), etc. Eds. History of American Literature. 4 v.
Camb. Univ. Press (Clay), 19 18-21.
Ward {Sir A. W.) and Waller (J. R.). Eds. The Cambridge
History of English Literature. 14 v. Camb. Univ. Press
(Clay), 1907-16.
Geography, including Atlases
Bartholomew (J. G.) and Herberton {A. J.). Atlas of Meteoro-
logy. A series of over 400 maps. Constable, 1899.
Bartholomew (J. G.), etc. Atlas of Zoogeography. Edinburgh.
Bartholomew, 191 1.
Bartholomew (J. G.). General Map of Europe. Bartholomew,
1921.
Chisholm (G. G.). Longmans' Gazetteer of the World. New
imp Longmans, 1902.
Finch {V. C.) and Baker (0. E.). Geography of the World's
Agriculture. Washington, 19 17.
Lippincotfs New Gazetteer. Ed. A. and L. Heilprin. Phila-
delphia, Lippincott, 1906 (reprinted 1922).
Mill (H. R.). Ed. International Geography. Newnes, 1909.
Philip (G.). Ed. Philip's New Handy General Atlas and
Gazetteer. Philip, 1920.
Philip (G.). Ed. Philip's New World Atlas. Philip, 1920.
Philip ((?.). The Chambers of Commerce Atlas. Philip, 1925.
Philip (G.). Ed. Historical Atlas, Mediaeval and Modern.
Philip, 1927.
Poole (R. L.). Historical Atlas. Oxford, 1902.
Schrader (F.). Atlas de Geographie historique. Paris, Hachette,
1896.
Spruner von Merz (K.). Hand Atlas fur die Geschichte des
Mittelalters und der neueren Zeit. Gotha, 1880.
Stieler (A.). Atlas of Modern Geography. 1908.
" Times " Survey Atlas of the World. " The Times," 1922.
21
322 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
History and Biography, including Chronology
Annual Register : A Review of Public Events at Home and
Abroad. Longmans. 1758, in progress.
Biographie universelle. Ancienne et moderne. 45 v. Paris.
Desplaces, 181 1-65. o.p.
Cambridge Ancient History. Ed. J. B. Bury, S. A. Cook, and F. E.
Adcock. 9 v. 2nd ed. Camb. Univ. Press, 1 924, in progress.
Cambridge Medieval History. Ed. H. M. Gwatkin and J. P.
Whitney. 5 v. Cambridge, 191 1-26.
The Cambridge Modern History. Ed. A. W. Ward, G. W.
Prothero, and Stanley Leathes. 13 v. and Atlas ; gen.
ind. bib. Camb. Univ. Press, 1 902-11.
Coulter (E. M.). Guide to Historical Bibliographies. Berkeley.
1927.
Dictionary of American Biography. Oxford Univ. Press, 1928,
in progress.
Dictionary of National Biography, with supplements, index, and
epitome. 67 v., thin paper ed. in 25 v. Oxford University
Press, 1 885-1 927.
Gooch (G. P.). Annals of Politics and Culture, 1492-1899.
Camb. Univ. Press, 1901
Haydn (J.). Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information,
25th ed. Ward, Lock, 19 10.
Hunt {W.) and Poole (R. L.). Eds. Political History of England.
12 v. Longmans, 1905-7.
Hyamson [A. M.). Dictionary of Universal Biography. Rout-
ledge, 19 1 6.
Lamed (J. N.). History for Ready Reference from the Best
Historians and Specialists. 8 v. Springfield, Mass.
Nichols, 1 901-13.
New Larned History for Ready Reference Reading and
Research. . . . Revised . . . brought up to date by Donald
E. Smith. 12 v. Nichols. Springfield, 1922-24.
Low (S. J.) and Pulling (F. S.). Eds. Dictionary of English
History. New ed. Cassell, 1928.
Mas Latrie (J. Comte de). Tresor de Chronologie . . . pour
1 'etude . . . des documents du moyen age. Paris, 1889.
SELECTION OF AIDS AND GUIDE-BOOKS 323
Nichol(J.). Tables of Ancient Literature and History, 1500 B.C.
to a.d. 200. Glasgow, Maclehose, 1877. o.p. Tables
of European History, Literature, Science, and Art, a.d.
200-1909. Glasgow, Maclehose, 1909.
P/oetz (K. J.). Manual of Universal History to 19 14 ; with
additions covering recent events. New ed. Boston,
Houghton, 1926.
Classical Antiquities
Classical Association. The Year's Work in Classical Studies,
Arrowsmith, 1907, in progress.
Daremberg (C.) and Saglio (E.). Dictionnaire des Antiquit.es
grecques et romaines. 5 v. and index vol. Paris.
1873-1919.
Sandys (Sir J. E.). Ed. A Companion to Latin Studies.
3rd ed. Camb. Univ. Press, 1921.
Smith (Sir W.\ etc. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Anti-
quities. Murray, 1890-91.
Whibley (L.). Ed. A Companion to Greek Studies. 3rd ed.
Camb. Univ. Press, 19 16.
PERIODICAL LITERATURE
International Catalogue of Scientific Literature Harrison,
1901-14.
Library Association. Subject Index to Periodicals. Grafton,
19 1 5, continuing.
Notes and Queries. 1 849, continuing.
Poole (W. F.). Index to Periodical Literature, 1802-81. 2 v.
1 89 1. Supplements, 1 887-1907.
Readers* Guide to Periodical Literature. New York, Wilson
(Grafton), 1905, continuing annually.
Royal Society of London. Catalogue of Periodical Publications in
the Library. Oxford, 191 2.
Royal Society of London. Catalogue of Scientific Papers, 1 800-
1900. 19 v. Camb. Univ. Press, 1914-23.
The Times. Official Index. 1906, continuing quarterly.
A World List of Scientific Periodicals published . . . 1 900-192 1.
Milford, 1925-27.
21*
324 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
DICTIONARIES OF LANGUAGE
Bellows (J. and W.). French-English and English-French
Dictionary. 3rd ed. Longmans, 19 16.
Collins (F. H.). Authors' and Printers' Dictionary : A Guide
for Authors, Editors, Printers, Correctors of the Press.
London. Milford, 1921.
Crabb (G.). Crabb's English Synonymes ; rev. by J. H. Finley,
New York. Harper, 19 17.
Du Cange (C. du F.). Glossarium ad Scriptores Mediae et
Infimae Latinitatis. Ed. L. Favre. 10 v. Niort, Favre
(Nutt), 1883-7. A new edition is in preparation.
Farmer (J. S.) and Henley (W. E.). Slang and its Analogues.
7 v. 1 890-1 904.
F lemming (L. A.). Synonyms, Anonyms and Associated Words.
New York, Putnam, 19 13.
Fowler (H. W.). A Dictionary of Modern English Usage.
Milford, 1926.
Fowler [H. W. and F. G.). Eds. The Concise Oxford Dictionary
adapted from the Oxford Dictionary. New ed. Milford,
1929.
Grimm (J. und W.). Eds. Deutsches Worterbuch. Leipzig,
191 1, in progress.
Hatzfeld (J.), Darmesteter (J.), etc, Dictionnaire general de
la langue francaise. 2 v. Paris. Delagrave, 1 890-1 900.
Hoare (A.). Italian Dictionary. 2nd ed. Camb. Univ. Press,
1925.
Jones (D.). English Pronouncing Dictionary (on strictly
phonetic principles). Dent, 19 17.
Larousse {Pierre). Nouveau petit Larousse illustre ; Diction-
naire encyclopedique. Paris, Larousse, 1925.
Littre (Emile). Dictionnaire de la Langue francaise. 4 v. and
Supplement. Paris, Hachette, 1885-6. Abridged by A.
Beaujean, 1900.
Lewis (C. T.) and Short (C). A Latin Dictionary. Oxford,
Clarendon -Press, 1907.
Liddell (H. G.) and Scott (R.). A Greek-English Lexicon.
New ed. (9th). Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1925, in progress.
SELECTION OF AIDS AND GUIDE-BOOKS 325
Muret (E.) and Sanders (D.). Encyclopaedic English-German
and German-English Dictionary. 2 v. G revel, 1900.
Murray (Sir J. A. H.). New English Dictionary on Historical
Principles. 10 v. in 12. Milford, 1 888-1 928.
Nares (R.)- Glossary of Words, Phrases, Names, and Allusions.
New ed. Routledge, 1905.
Roget (P. M.). Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases.
Revised and enlarged by Samuel R. Roger. Longmans, 1925.
Skeat (JV. JV.). Concise Etymological Dictionary of the
English Language, rev. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 191 1.
Wright (Joseph). Ed. The English Dialect Dictionary. 6 v.
Frowde, 1 896-1905.
CONCORDANCES AND DICTIONARIES OF
QUOTATIONS
American Library Association. I ndex to General Literature ; Supple-
ment 1900-1910. 2 v. A.L.A. Publishing Board, 1914.
Bartlett (J.). New and Complete Concordance to Shakespeare.
Macmillan, 1922.
Benham (JV. Gurney). Cassell's Classified Quotations. Cassell,
1921.
Benham (JV. Gurney). Book of Quotations. Ward Lock, 1924.
Harbottle (T. B.). Dictionary of Quotations (Classical). 3rd ed.
Sonnenschein, 1909.
Strong (J.). Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Hodder,
1926.
STATISTICS
France. Annuaire general de la France et de l'Etranger, 19 19,
continuing. Paris, Larousse.
France, Bureau de la Statistique generate. Annuaire statistique de
la France 1 87 1, continuing Paris. Imp. Nat., 1 87 1 et seq.
League of Nations. International Statistical Year Book, 1927.
Constable, 1928.
Mulhall (M. G.). Dictionary of Statistics. 4th ed. Routledge,
1899.
New International Tear Book. A Compendium of the World's
Progress. New York, Dodd, 1910, in progress.
326 THE USES OF LIBRARIES
VOffice permanent de VInstitut International de Statistique.
Annuaire international de Statistique. v. I 8. La Haye,
1916-21.
Statesman's Year Book. Macmillan. 1864, continuing.
Stephenson (J.). Pitman's Statistical Atlas of the World, 1927.
United Kingdom, Board of Trade. Statistical Abstract for the
United Kingdom, 1 840-1925. H.M.S.O., in progress.
United Kingdom, Board of Trade. Statistical Abstract for the
British Empire, 1889-1913. H.M.S.O., 1905, in progress.
United Kingdom, Board of Trade. Statistical Abstracts for the
Several British Self-governing Dominions, etc., 1 850-1915.
H.M.S.O., 1865, in progress.
United Kingdom, Board of Trade. Statistical Abstract for Foreign
Countries. H.M.S.O., 1874, in progress.
U.S. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. Statistical
Abstract of the United States. Washington, 1 8 1 9, in progress.
U.S. Congress. Official Congressional Directory. Washington,
1809, in progress.
Webb {A. D.). The New Dictionary of Statistics : A Comple-
ment to the 4th ed. of Mulhall's Dictionary. Routledge,
1911.
Whitaker (J.). Almanack. Whitaker, 1 869, in progress.
World Almanac. New York, 1868, in progress.
DICTIONARIES TO LIBRARIES, ETC.
The Aslib Directory. Guide to sources of specialized information
in Great Britain and Ireland. 1928.
Europa Tear Book. A European Directory and Who's Who.
Routledge, 1925, continuing.
Index Generalis. Annuaire general des universir.es, academies,
archives, bibliotheques. . . . Paris. Gauthier-Villars, 1920,
continuing.
Minerva. Jahrbuch der gelehrten Welt . . . Strassburg, 1891,
in progress.
Newcombe (L.). The University and College Libraries of Great
Britain and Ireland. Bumpus, 1927.
Rye (R. J.). The Student's Guide to the Libraries of London.
3rd ed., rev. and enl. Univ. of Lond. Press, 1927.
INDEX
Special collections are entered under the first word of their title :
Daulby-Roscoe Icelandic Collection is entered under Daulby.
e.g.
Abercromby Collection : Edin., 108
Aberdeen University: special col-
lections, 102
Abrahams Collection: Lond., 115
Acton Library : Camb., 106
Acts : private, Camb., 106
see also Broad Cloth Act ; Copy-
right Act.
Acworth Collection : Lond., 111
Adams Collection : Camb., 106
Addenbrooke Collection : Camb.,
105
Administration, municipal : Lond.,
112
Admiralty Library : contents, 221
Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, see
National Library of Scotland.
iEschylus : Camb., 104
Agriculture : Edin., 136 ; Harpen-
den, 109, 136; Reading, 121;
Wye, 122, 136
Aids to readers : 17-36, 266-269,
280-286, 295-305. See also
Bibliographies at end of volume
and at end of chapters.
Alchemy : Glasgow, 109 ; L'pool,
no ; Sheffield, 122
see also Chemistry.
Aldis Wright Collection : Camb., 105
Algae: B'ham., 103; Lond., 117
Allon, Erskine, see Erskine Allon
Collection : Camb.
Althorp Library : Manch., 244
America : discovery, Oxf., 120
American Museum of Natural His-
tory: lib., 276
Ames, Joseph : collector of title-
pages, 62
Anatomy: Lond., in, 112
Andrews Collection : Camb., 103
Anglo-North- America : lib. re-
sources, 274
Angus Collections : Lond., 112
Anonymous books : aids to identifi-
cation, 84-85
Arabic : Edin., 107
Aramaic : Oxf., 119
Archaeology : Edin., 108
Archaeology, classical : Aberdeen,
102 ; Lond., 106
Architectural Association : lib., 203
Architecture : B'ham, 137 ; Leeds,
137; Lond., 116; L'pool, 137;
Manch., 137 ; Oxf., 121
Archives : definition, 155-156 ; ap-
preciation of value, 157-158 ;
development in England, 158-
161 ; enemies, 161 ; scattering,
1 61-164 ; class., 164-168 ; con-
trol in England, 170 ; publica-
tion, 171-173 ; methods of
approach to study, 174-175 ;
collns., 273
Aristophanes : Camb., 105
Aristotle : Oxf., 118, 120
Armitage Collection : Oxf., 118
Arnold Collection : Manch., 117
Art: B'ham, 105; Lond., 115,
203-207
Egyptian : Lond., 203
Art metal work : B'ham, 137
Arundel, Thomas, 2nd Earl : col-
lector of MSS., 188, 193
Ashbee, Henry Spencer : Brit.
Mus., 56
Ashmole Collection : Oxf., 118
Association of Special Libraries
and Information Bureaux, 97
Assyriology : Camb., 106
Aston Collection : Camb., 106
Astrology: Oxf., 118
Astronomical Society : foundation,
130
Astronomy : Edin., 137 ; Leeds,
137; L'pool, 137; Lond., no,
114
Athenaeum Club Library, 234
Austria : lib. resources, 274
Backhouse Collection : Oxf., 118
327
328
INDEX
Bagford, John : collector of title-
pages, 62
Baker Collection : Camb., 105
Bale, Bishop : book collector, 183
Balfour and Sedgwick Collection :
Camb., 103
Ballads : Camb., 106 ; Lond., 60,
61
black letter : Glasgow, 107
Bancroft, Archbishop : founder of
the Lambeth Lib., 185
Bangor, University College of N.
Wales : special collns., 103
Banks, Sir Joseph : Brit. Mus.,
55-56
Baptists: English, Lond., 112
Baring-Gould, Sabine, see Gould,
Sabine Baring-.
Barker, Charles John : collector of
works of Jacob Boehme, 63
Barnard, Sir Frederick : on the
Royal Lib., 54
Beddoes Collection : Bristol, 103
Bede Library of Christian Faith,
248
Beit Research Library : Camb., 103
Bendall Library : Camb., 103
Bensley Collection : Camb., 106
Bentham, Jeremy : MSS., Lond.,
"5
Bibles : B. & F. Bible Soc, 231 ;
Glasgow, 109 ; St. Andrews, 121
English, Newcastle, 117
Bibliographies : definition, 16 ;
comprehensive, 144-146 ; of cur-
rent topics, 146-147; collns., 114-
115 ; see also Aids to readers.
Bibliotheca Vaticana : Rome, 273
BibliothSque Nationale : contents,
272 ; rules for admission, 287
Bindings : Camb., 105
Biology : L'pool Biological Society,
137
marine : Glasgow, 138
Birkbeck Hill Collection : Oxf., 119
Birmingham University : special
collns., 103
Bishopsgate Institute : Lond.
colln., 227
Blackburn Collection : Camb., 104
Blackie Collection : Edin., 108
Blades, William, see also St. Bride
Foundation Library : origin .
Blake, William, works rel. to : 231 ;
L'pool, no
Blue books : Oxf., 120
Board of Education Library : scope.
222
Board of Trade Library, 223-224
Bodleian Library : repository for
private collns., 189
accessions to, 1 90-1 91
Bodley, Sir Thomas : restorer of
Oxf. Univ. Lib., 188
Boehme, Jacob : see Barker,
Charles John : collector of works
of Jacob Boehme.
Book of Common Prayer : history,
Lond., 113
Boots' Library, 250
Boston Public Library ; contents,
276
Botany : B'ham, 137 ; Camb., 104 ;
Dundee, 107 ; Edin., 137 ; L'pool,
137 ; Oxf., 119
Bradshaw Collection : Camb., 106
Brand Collection : Oxf., 117
Branthwaite, Dr., Library : Camb.,
104
Bristol University : special collns.,
103
British and Foreign Bible Society
Library : contents, 234
British Colonies : Camb., 105
British Empire : lib. resources, 269
British Museum Library : sub.
index, n, 79; cat., 19, 78;
methods of acquisition, 52, 65,
66-67 ; special collns., 52-65,
193 ; book selection methods,
68,69 ', publications, 87 ; open-
ing, 193
British Record Society : publisher
of archives, 173
Broad Cloth Act : letters about,
Leeds, no
Bruce Collection : Edin., 108
Buchanan, George, Collection : St.
Andrews, 121
Bunce Collection : B'ham, 103
Burney, Charles, the younger :
newspaper colln., 61
Business libraries : 134
Butler, Samuel : Camb., 105
By water Collection : Oxf., 118
Cambridge, books on : Camb.,
106
Cambridge University : special
collns., 103-106
Cameron Collection : Edin., 108
Campbell Brown Collection : L'pool,
no
Canada : lib. resources, 275
Cancer research : Lond., 112
Canon Norman Collection : Camb.,
103
Capell Collection : Camb., 105
INDEX
3 2 9
Cardiff : Univ. of S. Wales, special
collns., 1 06
Caricatures : Camb., 106
Carlyle, Thomas : as founder of
Lond. Lib., 250
Carnegie Collection : Lond., 115
Carte Collection : Oxf., 118
Castiglione : Lond., 114
Cathedral Libraries : contents, 251
Catholic Truth Society Publica-
tions : Lond., 65
Cattle : prints of, Harpenden, 109
Celtic literature : Aberdeen, 102 ;
Cork, 106 ; Dublin, 107 ;
Edin., 108 ; Glasgow, 108, 109 ;
Lond., 115
Central Library for Students, see
National Central Library.
Central libraries for students :
importance, 247
Ceramics : Lond., 205
Cervantes : Brit. Mus., 56
Chained Libraries : Hereford, 251 ;
Wimborne Minster, 251
Chandler Library : Oxf., 120
Chandra Shum Shere Collection :
Oxf., 118
Chap-books : Glasgow, 109
Charters :- Edin., 108
Chemical Society : foundation, 130
Chemistry : Leeds, 137 ; L'pool,
137 ; Newcastle, 137
history of, Glasgow, 109
Chetham Library : Manch., 194
Chicago : Pub. Lib., contents, 277
John Crerar Lib., 277
Newberry Lib., 277
Univ. Lib., 277
Chinese : Camb., 106 ; Lond., 113 ;
Oxf., 118
Chiswick Press Collection, 230
Christie Collection : Manch., 117
Church Collection : Oxf., 119
Church House, Westminster : Lib.,
248
Clarendon Collection : Oxf., 118
Classics : first editions, Dublin,
107 ; Glasgow, 109
early editions, Oxf., 119
Greek and Latin, Lond., 114;
Nat. Lib. of Scotland, 241 ; St.
Andrews, 121 ; Edin., 108 ;
Lond., 116
Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode
Collection, 54-55
Clement Litil Collection : Edin.,
107
Cobden Library: Lond., 11 1
Codrington Library : Oxf., 117
Colonial Office Library : cat., 80 ;
form, 222
Commerce: Lond., in
Commercial collection ; Finsbury
Pub. Lib., 230
Conway, Sir Martin : colln. of
reproductions, 203
Co-operation, see Library Co-opera-
tion
Co-operation library : international,
274
Cope Collection : Southampton, 122
Copyright Act : 239
Corbett Collection : B'ham, 103
Cork University College : special
collns., 106
Cotton, Sir John : MSS. given to
nation, 193
Sir Robert : 185 ; as collector
of Anglo-Saxon MSS., 186 ; scope
of colln., 186-187 ; assistant to
Sir Thomas Bodley, 187
County or rural libraries : 244-247 ;
scope and aim, 245 ; how started,
245
Cowell Collection : Camb., 104
Cracherode, see Clayton.
Cranmer, Archbishop, 187
Crerar, John, see John Crerar
Library.
Cripplegate Institute : scope, 227
Croker, John Wilson : as collector
of French Revolution pamphlets,
60
Crombie Collection : St. Andrews,
121
Currie Bequest : Victoria and
Albert Museum, 214
Cytology : Camb., 103
Czecho-Slovak : Oxf., 120
Czecho-Slovakia : history, Lond.,
in
Daniel Hanbury Collection : Lond.,
113
Dante : Camb., 105, 106 ; Lond.,
115 ; Oxf., 120
D'Arbois Jubainville Collection :
Cork, 106
Daulby-Roscoe Icelandic Collec-
tion : Lond., 115
Day's Library : management and
activities, 250
Deeds : Leeds, no; Reading, 121
De Morgan Library : Lond., 114
Denison Roebuck Collection : Leeds,
no
Department of Overseas Trade
Library : contents, 224
330
INDEX
Departmental Library : definition,
98
Dermatology : Lond., 116
Dewey Decimal System : Ministry
of Labour, 223 ; merits, 12
Brussels Expansion, Lond., 222
Dey-Masson Collection : Aberdeen,
102
Dictionaries : object and scope,
27-3 ; types, 31-33
Dictionary catalogue : definition,
IO-II
Digby, Sir Kenelm : collns. of,
189-190
Dilke Collection of Keats relics,
231
Directories : scope, 33
collns., Glasgow, 109 ; New-
castle, 117; Oxf., 120
Directory of Special Libraries :
work of, 235
Diseases, tropical: Lond., 113
Dissertations, University : Lond.,
65 ; Oxf., 118
Dr. Williams's Library : scope and
regs., 227-228 ; orig. and con-
tents, 248
Donaldson, Sir James : library of,
St. Andrews, 121
Doncaster Collection : Camb., 103
Douce Collection : Oxf., 118
Dramatic literature : Camb., 105 ;
Oxf., 118, 121
Drummond, William, of Hawthorn-
den Collection : Edin., 107
Dublin, Central Library for Stu-
dents, 247
Dublin University : special collns.,
106
Dundee University College : special
collns., 106
Dunfermline, Central Library for
Students, 246
Durham, maps of : Durham, 107
Durham University : special collns.,
107
Dyce Bequest : Victoria and Albert
Museum, 214
Early printed books : Camb., 105,
106; Glasgow, 109 ; Lond., 114;
Manch., 117; St. Andrew's,
121
Economics : B'ham, 105 ; Camb.,
105; Lond., 111-112, 113-114;
Manch., 117
Economy, political : Camb., 106 ;
Leeds, no; Oxf., 117; Reading,
Edinburgh, New (United Free
Church) College : special collns.,
107
University : special collns., 107-
108
Edmund Garrett Collection : Camb.,
105
Edward Fry Library : Lond., 112
Edwards, Major Arthur : benefac-
tor to Brit. Mus., 53
Edwards, Passmore, see St. Bride
Foundation Library : origin, etc.
Egyptology: Lond., 116
Electricity: Lond., Ill ; Chelms-
ford, 243
Embryology : Camb., 103
Encyclopaedias : definition and
scope of, 30-31
Engineering : Aberdeen, 137 ; Acton,
230 ; B'ham, 137; Glasgow, 137 ;
Leeds, 137; L'pool, 138; New-
castle, 138
England : lib. resources, 269
Englefields of Reading, papers of
the : Reading, 121
English Church Union Theological
Library, 248
Erasmus : books by and about,
Camb., 106
Erskine Allon Collection : Camb.,
105
Ethel Sargent Collection : Camb.,
104
Euing Collections : Glasgow, 108
Exeter Cathedral Library : collns.,
194
Exley Collection : Bristol, 103
Facsimiles and reprints : Lond., 115
Fagel Collection : Dublin, 107
Fairfax, Lord : gift to Bodleian in
1673, 190
Falconer, Ian Keith, see Ian Keith
Falconer Collection.
Ferguson Collection : Glasgow, 109
Fiction Question, see Public
Libraries.
Finlayson Collection : Manch., 117
Fish and fisheries : Grimsby, 243
Fitzalan, Henry, Earl of Arundel :
lib., 187-188
Forbes Collection : Edin., 108
Forbes Collection : Manch., 117
Forbes, Principal, Collection : St.
Andrews, 121
Foreign Office Library : contents
and scope, 220
Forster Bequest : Victoria and
Albert Museum, 214
INDEX
33i
France : lib. resources, 272
Franco-German War, see Tele-
grams.
Freeman, E. A., Collection : Manch.,
117
Frere, Mary, see Mary Frere Collec-
tion.
Frida Mond Collection : Lond., in
Friends' Reference Library, 248
Fry, Edward, see Edward Fry
Library : Lond.
Furniture : Lond., 205 ; Shoreditch,
229 ; Bethnal Green, 230
Gaelic Literature, see Celtic.
Garrett, Edmund, see Edmund
Garrett Collection.
Garrick, David : lib. of plays, 58
Geldart Law Library : Oxf., 119
Genealogy and heraldry : Camb.,
104 ; Oxf., 118 ; see also Heraldry.
Geography : L'pool, 1 10
Geological Society : foundation, 130
Geological Survey and Museum :
opening as a Pub. Lib., 135
Geology : Edin., 138 ; Glasgow,
138 ; Leeds, 138 ; L'pool, 138
George Grote Library : Lond., 114
German : Camb., 103 ; Lond., 63 ;
Oxf., 118, 120
Germany : lib. resources, 272, 273
Gervans Library: Oxf., 119
Gibb Collection : Camb., 106
Glasgow, United Free Church Col-
lege : special collns., 108
University : special collns.,
108-109
Glass : Sheffield, 138
Godolphin Collection : Oxf., 120
Goethe: Lond. in; Oxf., 120
Goldsmiths' Company's Library :
Lond., 113-114
Gollancz Collection : Lond., 115
Goodyear Library : Oxf., 119
Gott, Benjamin, & Sons, collection
rel. to : Leeds, 109
Gough Collection : Oxf., 118
Gould, Sabine Baring- : ballad
colln., 61
Government publications : British,
Lond., in
Colonies, Lond., in
Dominions, Lond., in
Germany, Lond., Ill
Holland, Lond., 111
India, Lond., in
U.S.A., Lond., in
Government reports : medical and
sanitary, Lond., 113
Graham Research Library : Lond.,
116
Gramophone records: Lond., 114
Grant, Sir Alexander : endower of
Nat. Lib. of Scotland, 241
Grave Collection : Lond., 115
Greek, see Classics : Greek and
Latin.
Grenville Library : Brit. Mus., 55
Grillparzer, works by or about :
B'ham Univ., 103
Grote, George, see George Grote
Library.
Guide book : definition, 17
Guildhall Library : history, 225-
226 ; contents, 226 ; class., 226 ;
as a Pub. Lib., 226
Guy's Hospital : books by Guy's
men, Lond., no
Hagar Collection : Manch., 117
Halifax, Earl of : pamphlets, Lond.,
115
Halliwell - Phillipps Collection :
Edin., 107
Hamilton Collection : Glasgow, 109
Hampshire, books and maps of :
Southampton, 122
Hanbury, Daniel, see Daniel Han-
bury Collection.
Harleian MSS. : Brit. Mus., 52
Harley, Robert, Earl of Oxford :
collector of MSS., 192
colln. purchased by nation, 193
Harpenden, Rothamsted Exp.
Station : special collns., 109
Harvard University Library : con-
tents and scope, 276-277
Hatton, Sir Christopher : gift to
Bodleian, 190
Headlam Collection : Camb., 104
Hearniana : Oxf., 120
Hebrew : Camb., 104, 105, 106 ;
Lond., 115 ; Oxf., 11 8-1 19
Hegel : works rel. to, Leeds, 1 10
Hellenic Studies, see Society for the
Promotion of Hellenic Studies.
Hensleigh Wedgwood Collection :
B'ham, 103
Heraldry : Camb., 104 ; Lond., 206 ;
Oxf., 118
Herbals : Lond., 112, 113
Herbert Thompson Collection :
Lond., 115
Heslop Collection : Newcastle, 117
Hill, Birkbeck, see Birkbeck Hill
Collection.
Historical MSS. Commission : pub-
lications, 80, 172
332
INDEX
History : Camb., 105, 107 ; Edin.,
108; Leeds, 109, no; Lond., 114,
116, 207; Manch., 117; Oxf.,
117, 119; Reading, 121
American, Lond., in, 115; Oxf.,
120
Byzantine, Lond., in
Canadian, Lond., 11 1
Czecho-Slovac, Lond., 11 1
English Church, Lond., 113
Jewish, Lond., 115
Mediaeval, Oxf., 119
Military, Lond., 111
Roman, Manch., 117
Spanish and American, Leeds, 109
Holland and Belgium : lib. re-
sources, 274
Homer : Oxf., 118
Hoover War Library : San Fran-
cisco, 278
Hope Collection : Oxf., 118
Horace : Manch., 117
Houses of Parliament, Libraries of :
scope, 218-220
Hiigel, Baron von, Collection: St.
Andrews, 121
Huguenot Society : as publisher
of archives, 173
Hume, Joseph : pamphlets, Lond.,
ii5
Hunterian MSS. : Glasgow, 109
printed books, Glasgow, 109
Huntington Library : San Fran-
cisco, 278
Hutchinson Library : Lond., 112
Huth, Alfred : bequest to Brit.
Mus., 57-58
Hymnologies : Glasgow United
Free Church College, 108
Ian Keith Falconer Collection :
Edin., 107
Icelandica : Lond., 115, 117
Iconography : Lond., 207
Imperial Institute : lib., 132, 224
Incunabula: Lond., 63-64, 115
Index Generalis : scope, 266-267,
268 ; failings of, 268 ; statistics
contained in, 269-271
Indexes : analytical, 37-38 ; value
of, 37
India Companies Dutch and
English East and West : Dublin,
107
India Office Library : contents and
regs., 223
Inigo Jones Collection: Oxf., 121
Institute of Civil Engineers : founda-
tion, 130
Institute of Mechanical Engineers :
foundation, 130
Institution of Engineers and Ship-
builders, Glasgow : foundation,
130
Institutional Libraries : special
character of, 233
Irish books : Camb., 106 ; Dublin,
107; Glasgow, 108
Iron and Steel Institute : founda-
tion, 130
Italian : Oxf., 118
Italy : lib. resources, 271-272
Jacobite literature : Aberdeen
Univ., 102
Japanese : Bristol, 103 ; Camb.,
106
Jevons Collection : Manch., 117
Jewish Historical Society : as
pub. of archives, 173
John Byrom Shorthand Collection :
Manch., 244
John Crerar Library : cat., 20, 277 ;
see also Chicago.
John Rylands Library : mentioned,
252 ; origin and contents, 193,
244
Johns Collection : Camb., 106
Johnson, Samuel : see Johnsoniana.
Johnsoniana : Oxf., 120
Joint Standing Committee on
Library Co-operation : organ-
ization and rules, 95-96
Jones, Inigo, see Inigo Jones Col-
lection.
Junius, Francis : bequest to Bod-
leian, 190
Keats, John : literature and relics
rel. to, Hampstead, 231
Kelmscott Press, 57
Kennett, Bishop White : Oxf.,
119
Kepier School Library : Newcastle,
116
King's Library : Brit. Mus., 53-54
Knight, Dr. John : Lib. of, Camb.,
103
Laing Charters, Edin., 108
MSS., Edin., [08
Lambeth Palace Library : regs.,
228
Lansdowne Tracts : Lond., 115
Laud, Archbishop, colln., 190
Law: Edin., 107; Manch., 117;
Nat. Lib. of Scotland, 241 ;
Oxf., 117, 119
INDEX
333
Law: Greek, Manch., 117
International, Lond., 112
Roman, Oxf., 119
Lawes and Gilbert MSS., Harpen-
den, 109
Leather : Bermondsey, 230
Leeds University : special collns.,
109-110
Leigh Collection : Oxf., 119
Librarian, the : duties, 258-262 ; see
also Public Libraries.
Libraries : purpose and scope, 7-9 ;
organization, 9 ; hours of open-
ing, 286-287 ; conditions of
admission to, 287 ; types of cats,
employed, 287 ; Outlier, 246 ;
rules and regs., 288-289
Library Co-operation, Joint Stand-
ing Committee on, 96
Library of Congress : annual acces-
sions, 265 ; special collns., 275 ;
Union Cat., 282
Light Literature in Public Libraries,
see Public Libraries.
Lincoln Cathedral Library : collns.,
194
Linnaean Society: foundation, 130
Literature : Oxf., 121
Economic, Lond., Ill, 113-114
English, Oxf., 118, 120; Vic-
toria and Albert Museum, 214
French, Oxf., 118
Georgian, Oxf., 119
German, Lond., 11 1 ; Oxf., 118
Oriental, Camb., 103, 104, 106;
Lond., 113; Manch., 117
Saxon, Oxf., 118
Stuart, St. Andrews, 121
Litil, Clement, see Clement Litil
Collection.
Liturgical works : Camb., 104
Liverpool University: special collns.,
no
" Livres jaunes " : Lond., 111
Local collections : Guildhall, 231 ;
Willesden, 231
Logic : Camb., 106
London, Bedford College for
Women: special collns., no
East London College : special
collns., no
Guy's Hospital Medical School :
special collns., no
Institute of Historical Research :
special collns., 111
King's College : special collns.,
116
London Hospital Medical School :
special collns., in
London, London School of Econo-
mics: special collns., 111-112
Middlesex Hospital Medical
School, special collns., 112
Regent's Park College : special
collns., 112
Royal Army Medical College :
special collns., 112
Royal College of Music : special
collns., 112
St. George's Hospital Medical
School : special collns., 113
St. John's Hall : special collns.,
113
School of Oriental Studies :
special collns., 113
School of Pharmacy : special
collns., 113
Tropical Diseases Library :
special collns., 113
University : special collns.,
113-114
University College : seminar
libraries, no
University College : special
collns., 1 1 4-1 1 6
University College Hospital
Medical School : special collns.,
116
Wesleyan College : special collns.,
116
Westfield College : special collns.,
117
books on : Bishopsgate Inst.,
227 ; Guildhall, 226 ; Univ. Coll.
Lond., 116
London Library : regs., 224 ; con-
tents, 224-225, 250 ; sub. cat.,
11, 12 ; cat., 19
Lumley, Lord John : lib., 187
Luther : Oxf., 120
tracts, Edin., 108; Oxf., 118
Macbean Collection : Aberdeen, 102
M'Callum Collection : Glasgow, 109
M'Grigor Collection : Glasgow, 109
McKay Collections : St. Andrews
Univ., 121
Mackinnon Collection : Edin., 108
Madden Collection : Camb., 106
Madrigals: Lond., 112
see also Ballads.
Malan Library: Oxf., 119
Malone Collection : Oxf., 118
Manchester : books rel. to diocese,
Manch., 117
Manchester : Chetham's Library :
foundation and contents, 244
University : special collns., 117
334
INDEX
Manton Marble Collection : Lond.,
in
Manuscripts : collns., Camb., 104-
105 ; Edin., 108 ; Florence, 272 ;
Glasgow, 108, 109 ; Harpenden,
109; Oxf., 118; Paris, 272;
Munich, 274; Rome, 273; Vercelli,
Verona, 272
Anglo-Norman, Leeds, 109
Anglo - Saxon, Camb., 104 ;
Exeter, 194 ; Edin., 194 ; Glas-
gow, 194 ; Lincoln, 194 ; Manch.,
194 ; Worcester, 194
cats, of, 194-198, 281
Chinese, Oxf., 118
Eastern, St. Andrews, 121
German, Lond., 114
Heraldic, Oxf., 118
Medical, Oxf., 120
Medical lectures, Lond., 113
Oriental, Lond., 113
Sanskrit, Camb., 103; Oxf., 118
Maps: Oxf., 120; Camb., 106; Brit.
Mus., 54 ; see also under individual
towns.
Maps and charts : Admiralty Lib.,
221 ; Lib. of Congress, 275
Marillier Collection : Manch., 117
Marsden Collection : Lond., 113
Marsden Library : Lond., 11 1
Mary Frere Collection : Camb., 104
Mathematics : Bristol, 103 ; Lond.,
114, 115; Newcastle, 117; Oxf.,
119; St. Andrews, 121
Matthew Paris Chronicle : Camb.,
104
Mearns Collection : Glasgow, 108
Medical research : Lond., 115
Medical Society of Edinburgh :
foundation, 129
Medical Society of Liverpool :
foundation, 129
Medical Society of London : foun-
dation, 129
Medicine : Aberdeen, 138 ; B'ham,
139 ; Bristol, 103 ; Camb., 105 ;
Dundee, 107 ; Edin., 139 ; Glas-
gow, 139 ; Leeds, 139 ; L'pool,
139; Lond., in, 112, 113, 116;
Manch., 139 ; Newcastle, 139 ;
Oxf., 118, 119, 120; Sheffield,
139
Medico-Chirurgical Society of Aber-
deen : foundation, 130
Melsted Icelandic Collection : Leeds,
in
Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street :
lib., 248
Merz Library : Newcastle, 117
Metal work : Lond., 205
see also Art metal work.
Methods of reading, 41-46
Mill, John Stuart : Oxf., 120
Mining : Aberdare, Atherton,
Wigan, 243
Mining and Metallurgy : B'ham,
139; Glasgow, 139; Sheffield,
139
Ministry of Agriculture : lib. and
regs., scope and arrangement,
222-223
Ministry of Health : lib., 223
Ministry of Labour : lib., 223
Mocatta Collection : Lond., 115
Mond, Frida, see Frida Mond
Collection.
Monier- Williams Library : Oxf., 119
Monro Collection : Oxf., 119
Montague House, see British
Museum.
Morgan Library, see New York :
Morgan Library.
Morley, Henry, Library : Hamp-
stead, 231
Morris, William : books from press
of, Brit. Mus., 57
Morrison Chinese Library : Lond.,
113
Mortara Collection : Oxf., 118
Mudge, Isadore, New Guide to
Reference Books, 17
Contents, 20
Works of Reference, list of, 34
Mudie's Library : regs. and ac-
tivities, 250
Muirhead Collection : Manch., 117
Munich Staatsbibliothek : contents,
274
University Library : contents, 274
Municipal Libraries : description
of contents and regs., 242-243
Muniment Collection : St. Andrews',
121
Munro Collection : Oxf., 118
Music : Camb., 105 ; Glasgow, 109 ;
Lond., 114; Oxf., 119
history of : Lond., 112
scores : Lond., 112, 114
Musical instruments : history,
Lond., 112, 205
Musicians: lives of, London, 112
Mythology: Oxf., 119; Lond., 207
National Central Library : as a
central repository, 225, 240 ;
purpose and regs., 246
National Liberal Club Library,
objects of, 234-235
INDEX
335
National Library for the Blind :
mentioned, 234, 240 ; contents,
management and regs., 249
National Library of Ireland : con-
tents, 242
National Library of Scotland :
origin and contents, 241
National Library of Wales : con-
tents, 241-242
National Physical Laboratory : lib.,
132
Natural history : B'ham, 139; Camb.,
104; Glasgow, 139; Leeds, 139;
L'pool, 139; Manch., 139
see also Botany.
Natural History Museum, South
Kensington : lib., 132
Newberry Library, Chicago, see
Chicago : Newberry Library.
Newcastle, Armstrong College :
special collns., 117
Newspapers : Brit. Mus., 61-62,
64,85-86; Leeds, no; Oxf., 118
libraries attached to : useful-
ness, 236
see also Burney, Charles, the
younger.
New York, Library resources, 276
Morgan Library, 276
Pratt Institute Library, 276
Public Library collections, 276
Nichols Collection: Oxf., 118
Noble Collection : L'pool, 1 10
Oceanography : Edin., 108
Operas: English, Lond., 112
Italian, Lond., 112
Oppenheimer Collection : Oxf., 118
Ornithology : Bristol, 103
Otway Collection : Camb., 105
Overstone Library : Reading, 121
Oxford University : special collns.,
1 1 7-12 1
Oxford University Library : foun-
dation, 188 ; extent in 1598,
188 ; function, 188
Palaeography: Lond., 115
Palaeontology : Camb., 103
Palestine : Glasgow, 109
Pamphlets: Lond., 115; Oxf., 118-
120
political, Lond., 65, 116; Dur-
ham, 107
theological, Lond., 116
Civil War, Oxf., 121 ; Lond., 59;
Leeds, 59
French Rev., London, 60, 115
Classical, Camb., 104
Panizzi, Sir Anthony, 66, 67
Papyri, Greek : facsimiles, Sheffield,
122
Paris, Matthew : see Matthew Paris
Chronicle
Parker, Archbishop : founder of
mod. libs., 184 ; collector of
Anglo-Saxon MSS., 185 ; loca-
tion of his books, 185 ; gift to
Camb. Univ. Lib., 192
Parker Collection : Sheffield, 122
Parliamentary papers : Camb., 106 ;
Lond., 64, in, 112
Poll Books : Lond., 65
proceedings: Lond., in
Patent Office Library : cat., 19,
80 ; first public scientific lib.,
132, 135
Pathology: Lond., in
Periodicals: Lond., 116; Oxf., 118
importance in research work, 142
Persian : Oxf., 119
Pharmaceutical Society : founda-
tion, 130
Pharmacology : Aberdeen, 102
Pharmacopoeias: Lond., 113
Philippine Islands : Edin., 108
Phillips Collection : Aberdeen, 102
Philology : B'ham, 103 ; Lond.,
in; Manch., 117; Oxf., 119
Philosophy : Newcastle, 117; St.
Andrews, 121
mediaeval, Glasgow, 109
Photographs : Victoria and Albert
Museum, 212
Physical Society, London : lib., 1 10
Physical Society of Edinburgh :
foundation, 130
Physiology: Lond., 11 1
Pipe Roll Society : publications, 173
Pius IX: newspaper cuttings rel.
to, Cambridge, 106
Place Collection : Brit. Mus., 65
Poland : lib. resources, 274
Pollock Collection : Camb., 105
Pope, Alexander: works rel. to,
231
Postage stamps : Brit. Mus., 63 ;
Leeds, 109
Posters, war : Lond., 62
Powell Welsh Library : Swansea,
122
Pratt Institute, see New York, Pratt
Inst. Lib.
Preussische Staatsbibliothek, Ber-
lin : contents, 274
Prince Lee Collection : Manch.,
117
Prints and drawings : Lond., 81
336
INDEX
Pryme Collection : Camb., 106
Prynne : tracts, Camb., 106
Psalmodies : Aberdeen Univ., 102
Public Health : Glasgow, 139
Public Libraries : number in Lond.,
228 ; necessity for co-operation,
229, 230 ; special collns., 229 ;
endowed, 243-244 ; standard of
selection in light literature, 295
Public Record Office : calendars and
indexes, 80; pubs, of, 1 71-172
Quin Collection : Dublin, 107
Rabelais : Camb., 105
Radcliffe-Crocker Collection : Lond.,
116
Ratdolt, Erhard : books from press
of, Lond., 115
Rawlinson Collection : Oxf., 118
Reading, and reading methods, 25
Reading, University : special collns.,
121
Record Commission (1800-1837) :
publications, 171
Reed Collection: Lond., 115
Reference Books, methods of using,
25
Re* .m Club Library : contents,
234
Reformation, the : Nat. Lib. of
Scotland, 241
Religion: comparative, Lond., 116;
Manch., 117
Renaissance: Manch., 117
Ritschl Collection : Camb., 106
Robertson Collection : Glasgow, 109
Robertson Smith Collection : Camb.,
103
Robinson Collection : Manch., 117
Roebuck, Denison, see Denison
Roebuck Collection.
Rome : lib. resources, 273
Ross Collection : Glasgow, 108
Rothamsted Experimental Station,
see Harpenden, Rothamsted Ex-
perimental Station.
Rotherham, Thomas, Archbishop
of York : benefactor of Camb.
Univ. Lib., 192
Rousseau : Leeds, no
Routh Collection : Durham, 107
Royal Academy : lib., 203
Royal Agricultural Society : foun-
dation of, 130
Royal Collection: St. Andrews, 121
Royal Colonial Institute Library :
contents and regs., 233
Royal Dublin Society : founda-
tion, 129 ; becomes Nat. Lib. of
Ireland, 242
Royal Historical Society : as pub.
of archives, 173
Royal Institute of British Archi-
tects : lib., 203
Royal Libraries : Brit. Mus., 52-54
Royal Library : foundation and
growth, 187-188 ; scope, 187-188
Royal Medical and Chirurgical
Society : foundation, 130
Royal Photographic Society : foun-
dation, 130
Royal Society of Arts : foundation,
129
Royal Society of Edinburgh : foun-
dation, 129
Royal Society of London : founda-
tion, 128
Russian: Lond., in, 114
Rylands Collection : L'pool, 1 10
Rylands Heraldic MSS., Oxf., 118
Rylands, John, see John Rylands
Library.
Sacramento : State Library, 277
St. Andrews University : special
collns., 121
St. Bride Foundation Library :
origin in books of Wm. Blades,
227 ; augmented by gift from
Passmore Edwards, 227 ; con-
tents, 227 ; scope, 135
Sale catalogues : Lond., 65, 86
Salisbury Collection : Cardiff, 106 '
Salting Bequest : Victoria and
Albert Museum, 214
Samaritan : Camb., 104
San Francisco : lib. resources, 277-
278
Sanders Collection : Camb., 106
Sanskrit: Camb., 103; Oxf., 118,
119
Sargent Collection : B'ham, 103
Scandinavia : lib. resources, 274
Scandinavian: Lond., 116; Oxf.,
119
Schuster Library : London, 112
Science: Manch., 117: St. Andrews,
121
general, and technology : B'ham,
138; Glasgow, 138 ; Manch., 138
Science Museum : cat., 19 ; scope
of lib., 132, 135
Scientific research libraries : 133
Seeley Collection : Camb., 103
Selden MSS., 190
I Society : pubs., 173
INDEX
337
Shakespeariana : Camb., 105 ; Edin.,
108; Lond., no; Oxf., 118
Shaw-Lefevre Library : Lond., 114
Sheffield University : special collns.,
122
Shelley, P. B. : Oxf., 118
Shorthand, John Byrom, see John
Byrom Shorthand Collection.
Sion College Library : borrowers,
228
Slavonic Library : Lond., in
Sloane, Sir Hans, 52 ; colln. pur-
chased by nation, 193
Smith, W. F., see W. F. Smith
Collection.
Socialism: Lond., 112
Society for Nautical Research : as
pub. of archives, 173
Society for the Promotion of
Hellenic Studies : lib., 203
Society for the Promotion of
Roman Studies : lib., 203
Society of Antiquaries : as pub. of
archives, 173 ; lib., 203
Somerset, Protector : and the Guild-
hall Library, 225, 226
Source Books : Lond., no
Southampton Collection : Camb.,
105
Southampton, University College :
special collns., 122
Southwark : maps, Lond., no
Spanish : Camb., 106 ; Nat. Lib.
of Scotland, 241'; Oxf., 120
and American history, see His-
tory : Spanish and American.
Special libraries : contents and
scope of, 140
Special library : definition of, 98 ;
working of, 98-99
Spence Watson Collection : New-
castle, 117
Stanford University : lib., 277
State Libraries : contents and regs.,
241-242
State papers: Oxf., 118; Lond.,
65
Irish, Oxf., 118
Stillie Music Library : Glasgow,
109
Stokes, Whitley, see Whitley Stokes
Library.
Suppressed books : Lond., 65
Surgery : Lond., 112
Swansea, University College : special
collns., 122
Switzerland : lib. resources, 274
Systematic catalogue : definition,
9-10
Tailoring : Bethnal Green, 230
Tanner Collection : Oxf., 118
Tapling, Thomas Keay : collector
of postage stamps, 63
Taylor Psalmody Collection : Aber-
deen, 102
Taylor-Schecter Collection : Camb.,
106
Technical libraries : 134; important
tools, 142-149
Telegrams : received during Franco-
German War; Camb., 106
Textiles : Blackburn, Bolton, Brad-
ford, 243 ; Leeds, 108, 140; Lond.,
205 ; Manch., 139, 140
Theodores Collection : Manch.,
117
Theology : Camb., 104 ; Edin.,
108 ; Glasgow, 109 ; Lond., 112 ;
Manch., 117; Oxf., 119, 120;
St. Andrews, 121
Dutch : Lond., 113
Elizabethan: Lond., 113
German eighteenth - century :
Lond., 113
mystical : Oxf., 120
-Spanish: Oxf., 120
Stuart: Lond., 113
Theology, see also Bede Library of
Christian Faith ; Church House,
Westminster ; Memorial Hall,
Farringdon Street ; English
Church Union Theol. Lib. ;
Friends' Ref . Lib. ; Dr. Williams's
Library.
Theses : Lond., 114
Thomason Collection : Camb., 106
Thomason Collection of Civil War
pamphlets : Lond., 59
Thomason Collection of ballads :
Lond., 60
Thompson, Herbert : see Herbert
Thompson Collection.
Thompson Yates Research Library :
London, in
Times' Book Club : management
and activities, 250
Title-pages : collections, 62
Tobacco : English industry, Lond.,
112
Topography : Aberdeen, 102 ;
B'ham, 103 ; Camb., 104, 106 ;
Durham, 107 ; Glasgow, 109;
Lond., Brit. Mus., 69 ; Manch.,
117; Oxf., 118; Reading, 121;
Southampton, 122
Toynbee Collection : Oxf., 118
Transport: Lond., Ill
Treaties: Lond., in
338
INDEX
Trinity College, Dublin, see Dublin
University
Turkish : Camb., 106
Tweedy, Sir John : Lond., 116
Typography : books on, 135
Union Catalogue : definition and
examples of, 281, 282
Union Finding List : definition and
examples, 281 ; principle, 282 ;
value as an aid to research, 284
Union List : Frankfort, 282
U.S.A. : Lond., 115
U.S.A. Bureau of Education : list
of American Libs., 267
lib. resources, 275
U.S. Surgeon-General's Office : lib.,
276
University Extension Lectures :
class libs., 247
University of California : lib., 277
Veitch Collection : Glasgow, 109
Venn Collection : Camb., 106
Vernon, Col. Edward : gift to
Bodleian, 191
Victoria and Albert Museum Lib-
rary: scope and contents, 204-
214 ; accom. in, 208 ; regs. for
borrowing, 208-209 ; cat., 209-
210 ; ready -reference books, 210-
211 ; photographs, colln. of,
211-213; exhibits, 213-214; Be-
quest Libs., 214
Wade Collection : Camb., 106
Wagner : Leeds, 1 10
Wanley, Humphrey : lib. to Harley,
192 ; index, 195 ; cat. of Anglo-
Saxon MSS., 195
War, Civil: Leeds, no; Oxf., 121
War Collection, 19 14-18 : Camb.,
106 ; see also Hoover War Lib-
rary : San Francisco.
War, Franco-German, see Telegrams .
War Office Library : 221 ; cat., 80
Ward, A. W., Library of : Camb.,
105
Wardrop Collection : Oxf., 119
Warner Collection : Oxf., 1 20
Washington, D.C. : lib. resources,
275-276
Watson Collection : Sheffield, 122
Welsh language and literature :
Aberystwyth, 241 ; Bangor, 103 ;
Cardiff, 106, 241 ; Glasgow, 108 ;
Swansea, 122, 241
Wesley, John and Charles, Collec-
tion of books of : Lond., 116
W. F. Smith Collection : Camb.,
105
Wheatstone Collection : Lond., in
Whinfield Collection : Oxf., 119
Whitley Stokes Library : Lond.,
"5
Wigglesworth Collection : Bristol,
103
Williams, Dr., see Dr. Williams's
Library.
Witchcraft : Glasgow, 109
Witt, Sir Robert : colln. of repro-
ductions, 203
Woman, work and status of : Lond.,
no
Women's movement : Camb., 104
Worcester Cathedral Library :
collns., 194
Worms, Polychaete : Sheffield, 122
Wye, South-Eastern Agricultural
College : special collns., 122
Wylie Collection : Glasgow, 109
Zimmer Collection : Dublin, 107
Zoology : Camb., 103
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