MIWAIMIIS. 



LIBRARIE& 



iml library 

 " 



to which MOM of his choice* work, had been previously 

 to tho extant of 61,547 volumes, at an amazingly 

 . This M about K9J ; and marly at tho same time an 

 __M fanned with Suhm. who wai old and childless, that 

 r hi* death hi* collection ahould be added to the royal collection, 

 fa OMMidantirn of a moderate annuity, which by hu death fell in in 

 two years. Thk addi another 100,000 volume* to the library, and 

 placed it in that high portion which it bai since maintained. Accord- 

 kf to the ' Nordisk Coo venations- Lexikon,' .publiohed at Copenhagen 

 in 18M, it then contained about 450,000 volume* of printed book* and 

 10,000 of manuscript*. The university library in Copenhagen con- 

 tained at the sine time about 200,000 volume* ; and there was a third 

 library in the *ame city, founded by the will of General Classen in 

 1796, and much ueed, sine* the measure had been adopted of confining 

 it to one subject only, that of natural history. Sweden is very inferior 

 in the matter of libraries to Denmark : the principal library is that of 

 Ik* university of Upsal, which is said in the ' Stockholm Conversations- 

 Lnikon' fur 1857 to contain 130,000 volumes of printed books and 

 boot 7000 manuscript*. The royal library of Stockholm only dates 

 back to the time of Charles X. of Sweden, as his predecessor, Queen 

 Christina, when she left the country on her abdication, took the then 

 royal library with her, and it is now in the Vatican at Home. The 

 Stockholm library amounted in 1857 to 100,000 volumes of printed 

 book* and between 4000 and 5000 manuscripts, and is now (1860) 

 about to be removed from the royal palace, where it has outgrown its 

 apartments, to a new building which has been erected for it from the 

 ifchm of a German architect. 



The great Polish library of Zaluski has been already spoken of on 

 more than one occasion. Us collector is one of the most remarkable 

 men in the annals of libraries. His incessant devotion to that great 

 object the collection of a public library, which he opened during his 

 lifetime, and in which he himself took his seat in the reading-room as 

 one of the readers inspires us with respect, and makes us regret that, 

 according to the Polish historian Lelewel, his method of obtaining 

 books wsa often seriously objectionable. "Some he bought," says 

 Lelewel, " some he acquired by exchange, some he extorted, and some 

 he obtained surreptitiously." The result of his long and patriotic 

 labour* was, that his great Polish library, with not more than five 

 Russian books in it, was carried off to St. Petersburg. The best that 

 can be said in extenuation of the act is, that in Poland itself the treat- 

 ment of libraries was anything but exemplary. Lelewel relates that in 

 the Jagellon library of the university of Cracow, during the Austrian 

 occupation, about 1800, the sparrows built their nests in the piles of 

 volumes, and that the librarian Przybylski called them his best assistant 

 librarians, because they ate the insects. The principal present libraries 

 on the Polish soil are, that of Lcmberg, founded by Count Ossolinaki, 

 formerly director of the imperial library of Vienna ; that of Posen, 

 founded by Count Kaczynski at his private expense for public use ; 

 and that of Cracow. Among Russian libraries, the imperial of St. 

 Petersburg stands of course pre-eminent, and now enjoys the full sun- 

 shine of imperial favour. In the year 1852 the Emperor Nicolas 

 bought for it in a mass the library of the academician Pogodin, for 

 which the sum of 150,000 silver rubles, or 24,000f., was given. The 

 library having outgrown the building, a large extension of it has been 

 ordered, and the work* are in progress. Of the other libraries at St. 

 Petersburg, that of the Academy of Sciences, and of the Rumiantsov 

 Museum, founded by Count Rumiantsov, are the most important, the 

 former containing a splendid collection of Oriental manuscripts, partly 

 acquired by the stiecassei of the Russian arms in Persia. Though 

 Moscow posseami two libraries, one of the synod and another of the 



university, the deficiency of a public library is so much felt, that in 

 1S59 the intention of founding one by subscription was under din- 



The libraries of Kazan, Kiev, and Kharkov ore some of the 

 most important of the provincial libraries, and a general activity 

 nasnanting libraries now prevails in Russia, of which in a few years it 

 may be expected to see thu fruit*. 



England ha* been a country whose condition with regard to libraries 

 WM decidedly in arrear of its general condition with regard to learning 

 and literature. For centuries, its capital was without a public library ; 

 many of it* town* and cities of a size and importance which would on 

 the Continent insure their possessing such an institution, ore still with- 

 out one. While in some localities libraries were so distressingly 

 deficient, in others they were uselewly numerous. With no collection 

 of books beyond subscription libraries of moderate extent at Newcastle 

 or Liverpool, twenty or thirty were congregated at Oxford and 

 Cambridge, wher* however they were never "introduced to each 

 othr," and drew no advantage from the proximity. One great 

 objection existed to almost all the libraries of England-their inacces- 

 sibility in some cases, their too limited accessibility in general. A 

 moTwncut ha* now commenced in two directions: to collect in one 

 locality a gnat monumental library, such as may give to our authors 

 and investigators advantages they hav never enjoyed, but which for 

 the advancement of sound literature are really indispensable; and to 

 scatter all over the country collections of respectability and value, so as 

 to provid* for resident* in all parte reasonable access to source* of solid 

 instruction. It is a great thing that *o much should have been done 

 in England without OMM 



article 



these appliance*. 



has been given in the English Cyclopaxlia to the 



llritish Museum. No other collection in the metropolis is of so 

 much importance as some in the provinces. The library of the London 

 Institution in Kinsbury Circus is an establishment at the head of a 

 class, once promising to become more numerous than it ever became 

 the proprietary libraries, set on foot by a union of shareholders, 

 who, in addition to the purchase of the share, contribute an annual 

 subscription, which defrays the going-on expenses of the establish- 

 ment. An enthusiasm for these valuable institutions was a pleasing 

 feature at the commencement of the century ; the Royal Institution, 

 the London, the Russell, and the Surrey were established within a few 

 years of each other, beginning with 1803. The library of the London 

 Institution was formed with admirable taste and judgment by extensive 

 purchases at the sales of the Marquis of Lansdowne and others in 1806 

 and subsequent years. As Professor Porson was the librarian, it may 

 be supposed that German was not in the ascendant, but in other 

 modern literatures French, Spanish, Italian the collection is much 

 richer than usual, By a liberal regulation, each shareholder or pro- 

 prietor is entitled to give admission to two readers; and the noble 

 library -room of the London Institution, close to the city of London, 

 but looking out on the trees and turf of the Circus, has been the 

 scene in which the literary tastes and feelings of many a young fellow- 

 citizen of Milton have been imbibed or strengthened. The library 

 contains 60,000 volumes ; but less money is annually expended on the 

 books than on the lectures, which are one of the principal attractions 

 in this as in most similar establishments. In the Royal Institution, 

 founded before the London, in 1803, science has always been the 

 most prominent feature ; and from its Laboratory the discoveries of 

 Davy and Faraday have emanated, to spread through Europe. The 

 library is reported to contain about 26,000 volumes. The Russell 

 Institution is an establishment of the same kind, but of less import- 

 ance. Two others of the class, the Surrey and the Aldersgate 

 Institutions, have, after some years of prosperity, sunk and disappeared, 

 a lamentable proof that without permanent endowment such institu- 

 tions ore liable to dissolution as well as decay. Persons have been 

 known to purchase shares in an association of this kind with the 

 express purpose of proposing to break up the institution and divide the 

 property, reckless of the detriment they might inflict on the literary 

 prospects of coming generations. In cases where the original .-pint. 

 survived iu the body of tho members, such proposals have been rejected 

 with the indignation they deserve. 



Many associations of this kind exist in the suburbs of London, at 

 Islington and elsewhere ; and the Mechanics' Institutions, which were 

 originally founded at Glasgow, but introduced to London in 1823, may 

 be regarded as a humbler form of the same kind of establishment. 

 The " London Library," in St. James's Square, has a somewhat dif- 

 ferent character. The London Library is, in fact, a proprietary circu- 

 lating library, while the London Institution and others of its class are 

 proprietary reading-rooms. The libraries of the Clubs another series 

 of proprietary libraries are iu appearance some of the most splendid 

 rooms in London, and are in some cases remarkable for tin' intrinsic 

 value as well as for the fine condition of their volumes. The library 

 of the Athcmcum contains, for instance, a good collection of English 

 history. 



The libraries of the learned societies, and of the inns of court, are in 

 many instances of considerable importance, and in some not exclusively 

 of a professional or limited character. That of thu Hoyal Society, 

 lately removed to Burlington House, stands at the head, with 5(1,000 

 volumes. The Antiquarian, the Geographical, the Royal Asiatic, and 

 the Linnecan societies have collections which comprise many valuable 

 works, but which, in some cases, are almost wholly made up of 

 donations or exchanges, and it would be vain under those circum- 

 stances to expect completeness. The libraries of the inns of court are 

 differently situated, and more than one of them has lately been the 

 object of liberal expenditure. The library of Lincoln's Inn, is the oldest 

 In London, its foundation dating from 1497, but the noble edifice in 

 which it stands was only erected in 1845, on what was formerly a 

 portion of the gardens. It has been made the repository of a greatly 

 extended collection of books, not only of English, but of American, 

 colonial, and foreign law, amounting, when Mr. Spilsbury the librarian 

 published on account of it in 1856, to 27,000 printed books and 7"n 

 manuscripts. A new building is now erecting for the library of thu 

 Middle Temple, rendered necessary by the recent enlargement of the 

 collection. There are two libraries in London chiefly intended for tho 

 clerical profession, but of a more public character than most of those 

 whieh have been enumerated. The library of Sion College, in London 

 Wall, of which all the incumbents of benefices in the city of Lond 

 fellows, was founded as far back as 1630, when, on the Etor.John White 

 building .1 row of almshouses on the usual one-story plan, it struck 

 one of his friends that the space above them, otherwise thrown away, 

 would afford an excellent opportunity for building a library, without 

 any expense for ground, and the notion was carried out. The collection 

 is said to amount to 40,000 volumes, and admission can be granted by 

 any Fellow of the college or by the librarian. The Dissenters' library, 

 in Redcross Street, founded by Dr. Williams, is of about half the 

 number of volumes and of still more easy access. 



The " administrative" libraries of London are not prominent. The 

 libraries of the Houses of Lords and Commons, both in the new Houses 

 of Parliament, but entirely distinct, are of recent formation; the 



