16 
The Vatican Collections 
sired. This is given to an usher, who brings the volumes to the seat. Other 
rules have to do only with the care of the manuscripts. 8 They are posted 
near the entrance and should be read, but are only such as would occur to a 
careful student. In the Biblioteca there is only one registration for the year, 
but a slip of dismission must be obtained on passing out, to be presented to 
the cloak-room usher. On descending from the Biblioteca to the Library of 
Consultation, one should obtain a numbered metal disk to present there. In 
drawing books from the Biblioteca it is necessary to fill out a stub, as well 
as a detachable call slip. 
Biblioteca di ConsultazioneS This is quite new, having been founded in 
1892, for the use of those using the manuscripts. It is rich in periodicals, 
published archive material, and helps of all kinds. The books are arranged 
for the most part in a geographical order; but some are arranged by subjects, 
as popes, etc.; and some by classes, as catalogues, etc. There are two card 
catalogues, one of authors, and one according to the classification just men¬ 
tioned. This system is somewhat difficult to master, especially as no key is 
furnished, but one has the compensating advantage of being able to go freely 
to the stacks. 
Biblioteca Vaticana. This is one of the oldest libraries in the world, but 
it still remained comparatively small when Nicholas V. and other popes of 
the Renaissance began their endeavors to make it the greatest manuscript 
collection in Christendom. 8 Since that time its history has been one of con¬ 
stant growth. Napoleon, it is true, did in 1797 send 500 volumes to Paris, 
but these were returned in 1815, with no more than two or three exceptions. 3 4 5 6 
Particularly of late years many whole libraries have been added by gift or 
purchase. Some of these have been preserved in their independence, and 
others amalgamated with the Vatican collection proper. Where the prove¬ 
nance of such collections is important it is noted in the subsequent chapter 
on this library. The helps to the use of these manuscripts are well ordered, 
and for the most part made with extreme care. For each collection there is 
an inventory and an index. Generally manuscripts in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, 
and other scripts are treated separately. These guides, are all free of access 
on shelves in the study r*oom. 
Archivio Vaticano. If the archives which it contains have an origin of 
questionable, at any rate of remote date, the Archivio has a birthday, and that 
in modern times. Although the idea of collecting the archives from the 
several departments and making one general collection had been long in con¬ 
templation, it was Paul V., by bulls of 1611 and 1613, who took the actual 
step, and founded the Archivio upon its present basis. 7 Since then, as has 
been mentioned, the successive popes have continually enriched it by special 
orders, until it contains, undoubtedly, the great bulk of the pontifical archives 
3 The printed rules in the Archivio require that all notes be submitted for examination, 
but this rule is not enforced. 
4 M. Ugolini, La Nuova Biblioteca Leonina nel Vaticano (Rome, 1893, pp. 17 with 
plan). 
5 See Franz Ehrle, S. J., Historia Bibliothecae Romanorum Pontihcum (Rome, 1890, 
PP- 775 ) ; Paul Fabre, La Bibliotheque Vaticane (Paris, 1895, pp. 112) ; G. B. Rossi, La 
Biblioteca della Sede Apostolica ed i Catalogi dei suoi Manuscritti (Rome, 1884, pp. 68) ; 
Eugene Muntz and Paul Fabre, La Bibliotheque du Vatican au XV e Siecle (Paris, 
1887, pp. viii, 380). 
8 Leopold Delisle, “Les Archives du Vatican”, in Journal des Savants, 1892, pp. 429- 
441 , 484-501. 
7 F. Gasparolo, “ Costituzione dell’ Archivio Vaticano e suo primo Indice sotto il 
Pontificato di Paolo V.”, in Studi e Documenti, 1887, pp. 1-64. 
