Part 24 (1/2)
Provided always that no book which has been given to the library on condition of being kept perpetually chained therein shall, by virtue of this statute, be on any pretence removed from it, except only when it needs repair.
Provided also that every book in the library which is to be selected and distributed shall have a certain value set upon it by the Master and the two Deans, and that indentures shall be drawn up recording the same.
Once in every two years, in the Michaelmas Term, a fresh selection and distribution shall be held of every book which is not chained in the Library--the precise day to be fixed by the Master and the Senior Dean.
No book so selected and distributed shall pa.s.s the night out of College, except by permission of the Master and the President and the other Dean who is not President; provided always that the said book be not kept out of the College for six months in succession.
If it should happen that a given book be not brought in and produced on the aforesaid day of fresh selection and distribution, then the person who is responsible for it shall pay to the Master, or in his absence to the Senior Dean, the full value of the said absent book, under pain of being put out of commons until it be restored.
Every Fellow who is not present on the aforesaid day shall appoint a deputy, who shall be prepared to bring in any books which may have been lent to him, on the day when a fresh distribution is to take place, under pain of being put out of commons[267].
The statutes given in 1350 to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, by the Founder William Bateman (Bishop of Norwich 1344-56), contain rules which are more stringent than those already quoted, and were evidently written in contemplation of a more considerable collection of volumes. A list of the books which he himself presented to Trinity Hall is appended to his statutes, and a special chapter (_De libris collegii_) is allotted to the Library. This may be translated as follows:
On the days appointed for the general audit of accounts [in the Michaelmas and Easter Terms] all the books which have been received, or shall be received in future, either from our own liberality, or from the pious largess of others, are to be laid out separately before the Master and all the resident Fellows in such manner that each volume may be clearly seen; by which arrangement it will become evident twice in each year whether any book has been lost or taken away.
No book belonging to the aforesaid College may ever at any time be sold, given away, exchanged, or alienated, under any excuse or pretext; nor may it be lent to anybody except a member of the College; nor may it be entrusted in quires, for the purpose of making a copy, to any member of the College, or to any stranger, either within the precincts of the Hall or beyond them; nor may it be carried by the Master, or any one else, out of the Town of Cambridge, or out of the aforesaid Hall or Hostel, either whole or in quires, except to the Schools; provided always that no book pa.s.s the night out of College, unless it be necessary to bind it or to repair it; and when this happens, it is to be brought back to College as soon as possible after the completion of the binding or the repair.
Moreover, all the books of the College are to be kept in some safe room, to be a.s.signed for the College Library, so that all the Scholars of the College may have common access to them. We give leave, however, that the poor scholars of the college may have the loan of books containing the texts of Canon and Civil Law for their private use for a certain time, to be fixed at the discretion of the Master and the three Senior Fellows, provided they be not taken out of College; but the books of the Doctors of Civil and Canon Law are to remain continuously in the said Library Chamber, fastened with iron chains for the common use of the Fellows[268].
It is evident that this statute was regarded as a full and satisfactory expression of what was required, for it is repeated, with additions or omissions to suit the taste of the respective founders, in the statutes of New College (1400), All Souls' (1443), Magdalen (1479), Corpus Christi (1517), Brasenose (1521), Cardinal College (1527) and S. John's College (1555), at Oxford; and in those of King's College, Cambridge.
Among these changes a few are sufficiently important to require special notice. At New College William of Wykeham allows students in civil law and canon law to keep two text-books ”for their own special use during the whole time they devote themselves to those faculties in our College, provided they do not possess such books of their own”; the ”remaining text-books, should any be left over, and also the glosses or commentaries of the Doctors of civil and canon law, may be lent to the persons belonging to those faculties by the method of annual selection, as in the other faculties”; the ”books which remain una.s.signed after the Fellows have made their selection are to be fastened with iron chains, and remain in the Common Library for the use of the Fellows[269]”; the wishes of donors, whether expressed by will or during their lifetime, are to be respected; and, lastly, the safety of the Library is to be secured by three locks, two large, and one small, of the kind called ”a clickett.”
The keys of the two former are to be kept by the Senior Dean and the Bursar respectively; of the clickett each Fellow is to have a separate key. At night the door is to be carefully locked with all three keys[270].
At All Souls' College, the founder, Henry Chichele (Archbishop of Canterbury 1414-43), makes the books to be chained the subjects of definite choice. The principle of an annual selection is maintained, except for ”those books which, in obedience to the will of the donors, or the injunction of the Warden, the Vice-Warden, and the Deans, are to be chained for the common use of the Fellows and Scholars.” Further, the preparation of a catalogue is specially enjoined. Every book is to be entered in a register by the first word of the second leaf, and every book given to the Library is to bear the name of the donor on the second leaf, or in some other convenient position. The books are to be inspected once in every year, after which the distribution, as provided for by Bateman and Wykeham, is to take place. Each Fellow who borrows a book is to have a small indenture drawn up containing the t.i.tle according to the first word of the second leaf, and an acknowledgment that he has received it. These small indentures are to be left in charge of the Warden, or, in his absence, of the Vice-Warden[271].
In the statutes of Magdalen College, the founder, William Waynflete (Bishop of Winchester 1447-87), maintains the provisions of Wykeham and Chichele, but introduces an injunction of his own, to the effect that every Fellow or Scholar who uses the Library is to shut the book he has consulted before he leaves and also the windows; and the last to use the Library at night is to go through the whole room and see that all the windows are shut and not to leave the door open--under a severe penalty[272].
At Corpus Christi College, the founder, Richard Fox (Bishop of Winchester 1501-28), insists upon safeguards against the indiscriminate chaining, of books:
No book is to be brought into the Library or chained there, unless it be of suitable value and utility, or unless the will of the donor have so directed; and none is to be taken out of it, unless it so happen that there be there already a considerable number on the same subject, or that another copy in better condition and of greater value, to take its place, have been presented by some benefactor.
By this means those books which are of greater value, or which contain material of greater utility to students in each Faculty, will be stored up in the Library; while those which are not fit for the Library, or of which a sufficient number of copies already exist in it, may be distributed to the Fellows of the College, according to the system of indentures between the borrower and the President, or in his absence the Vice-President, or one of the Deans[273].
The Bishop was evidently afraid that the Library should be overcrowded, for he even allows books to be sold, in the event of their becoming so numerous as to be no longer of use to the Fellows for the purpose of being borrowed.
Lastly I will translate the following College Order or Statute which was in force at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Unfortunately it is without date, but from internal evidence may take rank with some of the earliest enactments already quoted.
Let there be in the aforesaid House a Keeper of the Books, who shall take under his charge all the books belonging to the community, and once in each year, namely on the feast of the Translation of S. Thomas the Martyr [7 July], or at the latest within the eight days immediately following, let him render to the community an account of the same, by exhibiting each book in order to the Master and Fellows.
The inspection having been made, after the Fellows have deliberated, let him distribute them to each Fellow in proportion to his requirements. And let the said Keeper have ready large pieces of board (_tabulas magnas_), covered with wax and parchment, that the t.i.tles of the books may be written on the parchment, and the names of the Fellows who hold them on the wax beside it. When they have brought their books back, their names shall be erased, and their responsibility for the books shall come to an end, the keeper remaining liable. So shall he never be in ignorance about any book or its borrower.
No book is to be taken away or lent out of the House on any pretext whatever, except upon some occasion which may appear justifiable to the major part of the community; and then, if any book be lent, let a proper pledge be taken for it which shall be honourably exhibited to the Keeper[274].
Let us consider, in the next place, what points of library-management have been brought into the most prominent relief by the above a.n.a.lysis of College statutes. We find that the ”Common Books” of the House--by which phrase the books intended for the common use of the inmates are meant--are placed on the same footing as the charters, muniments, and valuables (_jocalia_). They are to be kept in a chest or chests secured by two or three locks requiring the presence of the same number of officials to open them. These volumes may not be borrowed indiscriminately, but each Scholar (Fellow) may choose the book he wants, and write a formal acknowledgment that he has received it, and that he is bound to restore it or pay the value of it, under a severe penalty. Once a year the whole collection is to be audited in the presence of the Master of the College and all the Fellows, when a fresh distribution is to be made. The books not so borrowed are to be put in ”some common and secure place”; an arrangement which was subsequently developed into a selection of books required for reference, and the chaining of them in ”the Library Chamber for the common use of the Fellows.”
The Register of Merton College, Oxford, contains many interesting entries which shew that these directions respecting the choice and loan of books were faithfully observed. I will translate a few of them[275]:
On the twenty-fourth day of October [1483] choice was made of the books on philosophy by the Fellows studying philosophy.
On the eleventh day of November [1483], in the Warden's lodging, choice was made of the books on theology by the Fellows studying theology[276].
On the eighteenth day of March [1497] choice of books on logic was held in the Common Hall[277].