Part 39 (2/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 113. Bookcase in the old Library of King's College, Cambridge, made with the bequest of Nicholas Hobart, 1659.]
A similar return to ancient forms is to be found in the library of Queen's College, Oxford, begun in 1692. The architect is said to have been Nicholas Hawkesmoore, to whom the fittings, put up in the first fourteen years of the eighteenth century[459], are also ascribed. This library is 123 ft. long by 30 ft. wide. There are ten bookcases on each side at right angles to the walls between the windows. Each case is about 11 ft. high, and 2 ft. 6 in. wide; but, though their ornamentation is in the style of the period, of which they are splendid examples, their general design exactly reproduces the old type. In their original state they were provided with desks, though there is no evidence that the books were chained; they had only two shelves above that which was on the level of the top of the desk; and there was a double seat between each pair of cases. The s.p.a.ce above the second shelf, between it and the cornice, was occupied by a cupboard, handsomely ornamented with carved panels, for small books or ma.n.u.scripts[460]. In fact, the only innovation which the designer of these remarkable cases permitted himself to employ was to make the moldings of their cornices continuous with that of the panelwork which he carried along the sides of the room, and into the jambs of the windows.
The s.p.a.ce below the desk was utilised for books, but, as these were found to be inconvenient of access, the desks and seats were taken away in 1871, and dwarf bookcases provided in front of the windows.
When the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury built their library, now called the Howley-Harrison Library, in 1669-70, they constructed a room on strictly medieval lines. It is 65 ft. long by 21 ft. broad, with seven equidistant windows in the north wall and six in the south wall. The bookcases, which are plain medieval stalls, project from the walls at right angles between the windows.
There is another cla.s.s of libraries which must be briefly mentioned in this chapter, namely, those connected with parish churches and grammar-schools. I suppose that after the destruction of monastic libraries all over the country, the dearth of books would be acutely felt, and that gradually those who had the cause of education at heart established libraries in central situations, to which persons in quest of knowledge might resort.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 114. Ground plan of Library, Grantham, Lincolns.h.i.+re.
Scale one quarter of an inch to one foot.]
The library (fig. 114) at Grantham in Lincolns.h.i.+re occupies a small room, 16 feet from north to south by 14 feet from east to west, over the south porch of the parish church, approached by a newel stair from the south aisle. It was founded in 1598 by the Reverend Francis Trigg, rector of Wellbourn; and in 1642, Edward Skipworth ”out of his love and well-wis.h.i.+ng to learning, and to encourage the vicars of Grantham to pursue their studies in the winter-time, gave fifty s.h.i.+llings, the yearly interest thereof to provide firewood for the library fire.” From this language I conclude that the original gift of books was made for the benefit of the vicar for the time being.
There are three bookcases set against the walls, each about 6 ft. high and 6 ft. long. A considerable number of the books still bear their chains, which are composed of long flat links closely resembling those at Guildford, with a ring and swivel next to the bar. The library--room, bookcases, and books--was carefully restored and repaired in 1894[461].
At Langley Marye or Marish in Buckinghams.h.i.+re near Slough, a library was founded in 1623 by Sir John Kederminster ”as well for the perpetual benefit of the vicar and curate of the parish of Langley, as for all other ministers and preachers of G.o.d's Word that would resort thither to make use of the books therein.” He placed it under the charge of the four tenants of his almshouses, who were to keep safe the books, and the key of the room, under stringent penalties[462].
The library is a small room on the south side of the church, entered through the squire's pew, to which there is a separate door in the south wall. The fittings are of an unusual character, and have been preserved unaltered. The whole room is panelled at a distance of 15 in. from the wall, so as to make a series of cupboards, in which the books are contained. The doors of these cupboards are divided into panels, alternately square and oblong. Each of the former contains a small figure painted in colours on a black ground; each of the latter a s.h.i.+eld, or some heraldic device. The inner surface of these doors is similarly divided into panels, on each of which is painted an open book. Above the cupboards, just under the flat ceiling, is a series of more or less imaginary landscapes, doing duty as a frieze. Over the fireplace is a very beautiful piece of decoration consisting of a large oval s.h.i.+eld with various coats of arms painted on it. It is set in an oblong panel, in the spandrels of which are painted seated figures of Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Fort.i.tude, with their emblems and suitable mottoes[463].
In 1629, the following entry occurs in what is called ”the Church Book” of Cartmel, in Lancas.h.i.+re:
14 July, 1629. It is ordered and agreed upon that the churchwardens seate in the body of the churche shall be enlarged both in the wideness and in the deske that the bookes given unto the church may bee more convenientlie laid and chained to remain there according to the directions of the donors[464].
The will of Humphry Chetham, a wealthy merchant of Manchester, dated 16 December, 1651, directs 200 to be spent on certain specified books,
to be, by the discretion of my Executors, chained upon Desks, or to be fixed to the Pillars, or in other convenient Places, in the Parish Churches of _Manchester_ and _Boulton in the Moors_, and in the Chapels of _Turton_, _Walmesley_, and _Gorton_, in the said County of _Lancaster_[465].
The bookcase at Gorton[466] is a cupboard of oak, 7 ft. long by 3 ft. high and 19 in. deep, raised upon four stout legs, 22 in. high. On opening the doors, the interior is seen to be divided into two equal parts by a vertical part.i.tion, and again by a horizontal shelf. The shelf and the part.i.tion are both 9 in. deep, so as to leave a considerable interval in front of them. The bars--of which there is one for each division--rest in a socket pierced in a small bracket screwed to each end of the case, in such a position that the bar pa.s.ses just in front of the shelf. A flat piece of iron, nailed to the central division, carries a short hasp, which pa.s.ses over the junction of the bars, and is there secured by a lock. By this arrangement no person could withdraw either bar without the key. The chains, of iron, tinned, are of the same type as those at Hereford, but the links are rather longer and narrower. They are attached to the volume in the same manner, either near the bottom of the right board, or near the top of the left board. There are scars on the lower edge of the case, and on the legs, which seem to indicate that there might once have been a desk. Otherwise, the books, when read, must have rested on the reader's knees. The whole piece of furniture closely resembles one dated 1694 at Bolton in Lancas.h.i.+re to be described below (fig. 116).
The bookcase at Turton[467] resembles that at Gorton so closely that it needs no particular description. The doors are richly carved, and on the cornice above them is the following inscription, carved in low relief:
THE GIFT OF HUMPHRY CHETHAM ESQVIRE. 1655.
Besides these parochial libraries Mr Chetham directed the foundation (among other things) of ”a Library within the Town of _Manchester_, for the Use of Scholars, and others well affected, to resort unto ... the same Books there to remain as a public Library for ever; and my Mind and Will is, that Care be taken, that none of the said Books be taken out of the said Library at any Time ... the same Books [to] be fixed or chained, as well as may be, within the said Library, for the better Preservation thereof.” In order to carry out these provisions the executors bought an ancient building called the _College_, which is known to have been completed before 1426 by Thomas Lord de la Warre, as a college in connexion with the adjoining collegiate church, now the Cathedral[468].
The library was placed in two long narrow rooms on the first floor, the original destination of which is uncertain. They are at right angles to each other, and have a united length of 137 ft. 6 in., with a breadth of 17 ft. The south and west walls are pierced with fourteen three-light windows, probably inserted by Chetham's executors; the east and west walls are blank.
The existing fittings, though they have been extensively altered[469] from time to time, are in the main those which were originally put up. The bookcases, of oak, are placed in medieval fas.h.i.+on at right angles to the windows. They are 10 ft. long, 2 ft. wide, and were originally 7 ft. high, but have been pieced apparently twice, so that they now reach as high as the wall-plate. Each pair of cases is 6 ft. apart, so as to make a small compartment, closed by wooden gates, which now open in the middle; but a lock attached to one side of the end of each case indicates that originally the gates were in one piece. The cases are quite plain, with the exception of a few panels at the end. On the uppermost of these, which is oblong, and extends from side to side of the case, the subjects of the works are written: as PHILOSOPHIA; and beneath, in smaller characters, _Mathematica_, _Physica_, _Metaphysica_. All indications of chaining have been obliterated, but a reference to the earliest account-book which has been preserved, that beginning 20 April, 1685, shews that the founder's directions were obeyed:
20 Apr. 1685. To James Wilson for Cheining ten books 0 2 6
” 1686. -------------- for making 26 large Claspes and Cheining 26 bookes 0 4 4
9 Mar. 1686-87. -------------- for Cheining and Clasping 12 doz. bookes 00 18 00
Chains were evidently kept as a part of the stock-in-trade of the library, to be used as required, for, at the end of an Inventory taken 18 November, 1684, we find:
Alsoe in the Library two globes; three Mapps; two queres of larg paper to make tables; a paper fol-booke; A Ruleing penn; 24 dossen Chains; A geniological roul; and a larg serpent or snaks skin.
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