Part 29 (1/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 72. Bookcase in the Chapter Library, Hereford Cathedral.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 74. Part of a single volume, shewing the clasp, the ring for the chain, and the mode of attaching it: Hereford.]

From a sketch taken in 1876.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 75. A single volume, standing on the shelf, with the chain attached to the iron bar: Hereford.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 76. Iron bar and socket, closed to prevent removal of the bar: Hereford.]

As the books were to stand upright on a shelf, not to lie on their sides on a desk, it was necessary to attach the chain in a different manner. A narrow strip of flat bra.s.s was pa.s.sed round the left-hand board (fig. 74) and riveted to it, in such a manner as to leave a loop in front of the edge of the board, wide enough to admit an iron ring, an inch and a quarter in diameter, to which one end of the chain was fastened. The book is placed on the shelf with the fore-edge turned outwards, and the other end of the chain is fastened to a second ring, rather larger than the former, which plays along an iron bar (fig. 75). For the two upper shelves these bars, which are in. in diameter, are supported in front of the shelf, at such a distance from it as to allow of easy play for the rings (fig. 73). Each bar extends only from part.i.tion to part.i.tion, so that three bars are needed for each shelf. For the lowest shelf there are also three bars, set two inches behind the edge of the shelf, so as to keep the rings and chains out of the way of the desk. The bars for the upper shelves rest in iron sockets screwed to the woodwork at the juncture of the horizontal shelves with the vertical divisions and ends respectively.

The socket fixed to the end of the bookcase which was intended to stand against the wall is closed by an iron plate (fig. 76), so that the bar cannot pa.s.s beyond it. At the opposite end, that which would usually face the alley between the two rows of bookcases, the bars are secured by lock and key in the following manner. A piece of flat iron is nailed to the end of the bookcase, just above the level of the uppermost shelf (fig. 77).

Attached to this by a hinge is a hasp, or band of iron, two inches wide, and rather longer than the interval between the two shelves. Opposite to each shelf this iron band expands into a semicircular plate, to which a cap is riveted for the reception of the head of the socket in which the bar rests (fig. 77); and just below the middle shelf it drops into a lock and is secured by a key (fig. 73). A second hasp, similarly constructed, secures the lowest of the three bars; but, as that bar is behind, and not in front of, the shelf to which it belongs, the arrangements described above are reversed. One lock and key serves for the ironwork belonging to the three shelves.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 77. Iron bar, with part of the iron plate or hasp which is secured by the lock and keeps the bar in place: Hereford.]

The chains are made of links of hammered iron as shewn in the sketch (fig.

78) which represents a piece of one of the actual size. There is usually a swivel in the centre, probably to prevent twisting. They vary somewhat in length, and in the length of the links, according to the shelf on which the books to which they belong are ranged, it being obviously necessary to provide for the convenient placing of a book on the desk when a reader wished to consult it. The most usual dimensions are 3 ft. 4 in., 3 ft. 6 in., 4 ft. 3 in.

The removal of any of the volumes, or the addition of a new one, must have been a tedious and inconvenient operation. The bar would have to be withdrawn, and all the rings set free. Moreover, if this change had to be effected in one of the compartments remote from the end of the case which carried the lock, the bar belonging to each of the other compartments would have to be withdrawn before the required volume could be reached.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 78. Piece of chain, shewing the swivel: Hereford.

Actual size.]

If the views (figs. 70, 71) of the book-cases at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, be attentively examined, it will be seen that the ironwork exactly resembles that at Hereford. We find similar sockets to contain the bars at the junction of the horizontal shelves and vertical uprights, and a similar system of iron hasps to prevent the bars from being withdrawn.

The desk for the reader would of course vary according to individual taste. As a general rule it was attached to the ends of the case by strong hinges, so that it could be turned up and got out of the way when any alteration in the ironwork had to be carried out. Iron hooks to hold it up were not unfrequently provided. One of these, from the Bodleian Library, is here figured (fig. 79). It was also usual to provide a slit in this desk, about 2 in. wide, as close as possible to the shelf, for the chain attached to the book in use to pa.s.s through. This is well shewn in the view of a single book-case in Merton College, Oxford (fig. 83).

I will next describe the library of Merton College, Oxford. There is still considerable doubt respecting the date of some of the bookcases, but the appearance of the library is so venerable, so unlike any similar room with which I am acquainted, that it must always command admiration, and deserve study[335].

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 80. Exterior of the Library at Merton College, Oxford, as seen from 'Mob Quadrangle.'

From a photograph by H. W. Taunt, 1899.]

The library occupies the whole of the first floor of the south side of ”Mob Quadrangle” and the greater part of the same floor of the west side (fig. 80). It is entered through a doorway in the south-western angle of the court, whence a staircase leads up to the vestibule (fig. 81). This room is separated from the two divisions of the library by lofty oak screens, elaborately carved and ornamented in the style of the early renaissance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 79. Hook to hold up the desk. Bodleian Library, Oxford.]

The two rooms into which the library is divided have a uniform width of 20 ft. 6 in. The west room, called by tradition Old Library, is 38 ft. 6 in.

long (A, B, fig. 81); the south room, or New Library, is 56 ft. 6 in. long (C, D, fig. 81).

The west room is lighted by seven equidistant lancet windows in each of the west and east walls, and by two dormer windows of peculiar design on the side of the roof next to the court. The south room is similarly lighted by ten lancets in each of the north and south walls, and on the side next to the court by two dormer windows like those in the west room.

This room moreover has an open s.p.a.ce at the east end, about 10 ft. long, lighted by a window of two lights in each of the north and south walls respectively, and by an oriel of five lights in the east wall. In both rooms there is a waggon-roof of five cants boarded, and divided into panels by molded ribs with little bosses at the intersections (fig. 82).

The blank wall at the north end of the west room is panelled with oak of an elaborate and beautiful design for a height of about 12 ft. (fig. 82).

The s.p.a.ce above this is decorated with panels of plaster-work. The large square central panel contains the arms of the college; the circular panel to the west those of John Whitgift (Archbishop of Canterbury 1583-1604); and the similar panel to the east those of Sir Henry Savile (Warden 1585-1621).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 81. Ground-plan of the Library at Merton College, Oxford.]

The east end of the south room is similarly treated, but the oak panelling is less elaborate. In the plaster-work above it the arms of the college are flanked on the north by those of George Abbot (Archbishop of Canterbury 1611-1633) and on the south by those of Sir Nathaniel Brent (Warden 1621-1651).