145 



LIBRARIES. 



LIBRARIES. 



218 



associations ; and they often show signs of diligence and sagacity in the 

 choice, arrangement, and management of the collections. One of 

 the points of contrast which produces the most forcible impression on 

 an English visitor of Boulogne from Dover or Folkestone, is the striking 

 superiority in regard to opportunities for self-cultivation and improve- 

 ment enjoyed by the residents in French provincial towns. 



In Germany, the land of universities, the number of eminent 

 libraries is, as might be expected, large. Five great collections of 

 special interest are at present in existence there the Imperial Library 

 at Vienna, the Royal Libraries at Munich, Dresden, and Berlin, and 

 the University Library at Gottingen. The library of Vienna, founded, 

 it is said about 1440, consisted in 1660, when Lambeciuswas appointed 

 librarian, of about 80,000 volumes, and a Latin inscription to that 

 effect was placed over the door, with a declaration, that the collection 

 yielded to no library on earth in the number and value of its books 

 and in the variety of languages it contained. Augmented by the 

 addition of the collections of several of its librarians Blptz, Tengnagel, 

 Lambecius as they successively deceased, it also acquired at his death 

 the 15,000 volumes of Prince Eugene. The magnificent building 

 which was afterwards erected for it by the architect Fischer of Erlach, 

 continued for many years the finest library-room in Europe. Denis, 

 who published in 1775 his excellent 'Introduction to Bibliography,' 

 was unhappily tempted, in a moment of weakness, to assert that the 

 library then contained about 800,000 volumes ; and, when in 1796 he 

 had himself become chief librarian, he repeated the assertion with 

 the authority which his position gave him. Balbi, in his ' Essay on the 

 Library of Vienna," published sixty years afterwards, demonstrated 

 with sufficient certainty, that even in 1789 the number could not have 

 been more than 196,000, but he maintained that the statement of 

 ") which was formerly erroneous had now in the lapse of years 

 become correct, while the analysation of his own statement showed, 

 cm tin- contrary, that the proper cypher was far below it. There can 

 be little doubt that now, in I860, that number has at length been 

 really attained and passed, but the exact amount of what the library 

 contains is still uncertain. Petzholdt, in 1853, stated it at 885,000. 

 The liberality of the ini}ierial court has not been extended largely ill 

 the establishment. When Mosel published his history of the library 

 in 1885, he stated that the number of visitors to the reading-room 

 having increased beyond what the room would conveniently hold, the 

 y had been resorted to of not allowing more than a certain 

 number to enter, and no new reading-room appears to have been 

 erected since. The space for the placing of books is so limited, that 

 in the magnificent architectural saloon, rows of volumes are said in 

 gome cases to .-tand four deep. The library of Vienna is, in its com- 

 position, a fine specimen of a great palatial library, mainly formed by 

 the gradual accumulation of centuries. 



The library of Munich, originally founded in the period between 

 1550 and 1579, was for more than two hundred years a collection of no 

 the number of volumes in 1795 being known to be not more than 

 11,000. In 1808 a totally new era for the library begun, by the disso- 

 lution of many of the great monasteries of Bavaria, the libraries of 

 which were transferred to the royal collection. These libraries, being 

 situated for the most part in or near the country where the earliest 

 productions of printing were issued, and having been in a flourishing 

 state at the period, were remarkably rich in early specimens of the 

 art ; and the consequence of bringing them together was the formation 

 of an unequalled collection of these " cradle-books," or " incunabula," 

 and itleo of a great assemblage of duplicates. The kings of Bavaria, 

 taking a pride in the immense stores of learning of which they had 

 IK masters, added liberally by purchase to the collection, which 

 would ntlicrwisc have been singularly one-sided, and in 1843 a new 

 building was added to the other remarkable edifices of Munich, in which 

 the ground -floor was occupied by the archives of the kingdom, ami the 

 first-floor by the great library. One feature of the construction does 

 credit to the architect, Gaertner, and demands especial notice. 

 There is no book throughout the building which cannot be readily 

 reached by the hand, without the necessity of using steps or ladders, a 

 necessity fraught with accident, which, as imposed in many libraries, 

 has caused the death of several librarians, and is likely to cause the 

 death of more. The numbers of the library of Munich have been a 

 in for years the reasons have been already given for which 



4 |o.i \.ilumrs may be assumed as the nearest approximation. The 



library at Dresden, begun in 1556 by the then elector of Saxony, first 



roe into importance after the year 1760. The Counts Biinau and 



J'.ru'lil. c,f l)reden, were long rival book-collectors Bunau forming nn 



excellent collection on the German plan, studiously and economically 



assembling from all quarters the books that threw most light on 



literature, history, ami science; his rival, Count Briihl, the frivol'iu- 



favouritr of Augustus 1 1 1. .elector of Saxony and king of Poland, giving 



a high price for choice copies and rare editions, such as are more prized 



:iernl in the libraries of Italy than nf Germany. \Vitliin torn 



the death of these magnates placed both their libraries on sale 



>th were bought by the king, who thus formed a library at once 



did bibliographical value. Th Biinau collection was of Micjrt 



. nd th Hruhl of r,-_',niio ; mid the former is stil 



well-known to scholars by its I'v-lli-iit though untinisli' ,! , 



printed catalogue, made by the librarian, Francke. The library at 



n, which is located in the magnificent Japanese jalace, continued 



'or some time to receive liberal augmentations, but has been of late years 

 nsufficiently supplied with funds. A volume upon it was published 

 by the late librarian, Falkensteiu, of a kind such as it would be 

 desirable to have for every library, a description of a walk through the 

 rooms, with a brief but lucid statement of what are the treasures in 

 every department. The number of volumes is now stated at over 

 300,000. 



The royal library of Berlin is the modem representative of the 

 Sectoral library, founded in 1650. It has had the honour of receiving 

 the attention of Frederick the Great, the account of whose proceedings 

 with it is a record of weak caprice which may tax even the admiration 

 of Mr. Carlyle. Its augmentations have been more gradual than those 

 of Munich and Dresden, and its progress has been accelerated instead 

 of diminished during late years, under the administration of Dr. Pertz. 

 A collection of Sanscrit manuscripts, a collection of Aldines, and above 

 all a collection of German literature the Meusebach library of 86,000 

 volumes, have much increased its value. The number of volumes is 

 now stated at over 500,000. 



The university library at Gottingen is remarkable for the novelty of 

 the grounds upon which it attained its celebrity. Founded with the 

 university itself, in 1 734, it already contained from 5.0,000 to 60,000 

 volumes, when Heyne went to Gottingen, in 1763, and from that period 

 it began to manifest the effects of the industry and learning which as 

 its librarian he began to devote to it. With a liberal but not profuse 

 expenditure, judiciously directed, he produced, in the course of a few 

 years, a library in which every kind of research, literary or scientific, 

 might be pursued with a success beyond that attainable in other 

 libraries, because this collection had been brought together by system 

 and most other collections by chance. Whenever the university of 

 Gbttingen was mentioned, the library was sure to be mentioned with 

 it. It was the silent and permanent Professor which drew the most 

 students to Gottingen. Its arrangements with regard to cataloguing 

 and otherwise were cited as all but perfect, and a diligence was 

 expended upon them which certainly claimed admiration, even if in 

 some cases carried to excess. Of late years its fame is not quite so 

 bright as formerly. Statements have varied as to its numbers : an 

 official return made to the English Foreign Office in 1850 gives the 

 number of volumes as about 350,000, counting as a volume whatever 

 comes as such from the hands of the binder, whether containing a 

 pamphlet of a few pages or fifty such pamphlets. 



There is also an important library at Stuttgard, belonging to the 

 King of Wirtemberg, and stated to contain in 1860 upwards of 200,000 

 volumes, including the largest collection of Bibles in the world : and 

 an interesting library at Wolfenbuttel, formed by the Dukes of Bruns- 

 wick, one of whom, in the latter part of the l^th century, found his 

 chief pleasure in writing the catalogue. Every part of Germany 

 abounds with libraries, of interest from their antiquity or their 

 curiosity, of all of' which some mention will be found in Dr. Julius 

 Petzholdt's often reprinted * Handbuch. der Deutschen Bibliotheken,' 

 in which he also gives lists of the books written respecting them, their 

 catalogues, &c. The libraries of Germany, compared with others in 

 the principal countries of Europe, have been remarkable for their com- 

 prehensive character. When the Italian libraries chiefly consisted of 

 Italian books, the Spanish libraries of Italian and Spanish,, the French 

 of Italian, .Spanish, and French, the English of Italian, Spanish, 

 French, and English, all with the addition of the classics, the German 

 consisted of all these languages, with the addition of German. It is in 

 German libraries also that are most frequently to be found the leading 

 volumes of the secondary languages of Europe, but they are not 

 remarkably rich in this point of view. There is no large collection of 

 Knssiau, apparently, in any German library, with the exception of that 

 of Gottingen, in which one was commenced but not adequately 

 continued. 



The other countries of continental Europe must be passed over on 

 the present occasion with very brief notice. The libraries of Belgium 

 are mostly of recent formation, a great destruction among the old 

 collections having taken place at the time of the French Revolution. 

 Voisin, the historian of the Belgian libraries, states that the Jesuit 

 libraries alone numbered more than 800,000 volumes in Belgium at the 

 time of the dissolution of the order, and that in 1840 the whole 

 number of books in the public libraries was less, amounting altogether 

 to little more than 700,000. A royal library was first founded at 

 Brussels in 1836, by the purchase of the collection of 60,000 volumes 

 belonging to Van Hulthem of Ghent, an amateur who had formed an 

 unequalled collection of books on Belgium, and the sale of whose 

 library presented an opportunity which the government wisely deter- 

 mined not to let escape. 



In Holland , the library at the Hague is larger than that of Amsterdam ; 

 but the Dutch collections in general are of less extent and importance 

 than might have been expected. Denmark is remarkable among tho 

 smaller countries of Europe for the spirit and sagacity which it has dis- 

 played on the subject of libraries. The royal library of Copenhagen far 

 .surpassos every other collection in Scandinavia in numbers and intercut. 

 It is uhierty foniit-cl, like the Dresden collection, of the amalgamation of 

 two private libraries those of Count Thott, an eminent collector, ami 

 of Suhm, the most popular hist-irian of Denmark. The collection of. 

 Thott was not acquired entire, but at the sale of bis library of 120.000 

 ' volumes, tha largest private collection ever formnd in Denmark, the 



