[37] Wheatley, Pepys and the World he Lived in, p. 84.
[38] I believe these rules were originally drawn up by Mr. B. R. Wheatley.
[39] No bookshelves ought to be beyond the reach of a moderately tall person.
[40] 'The books were numbered consecutively throughout the library, and, therefore, when rearranged, they needed all to be renumbered. All hands were pressed into this service, and we read that on the 15th of February, 1667-68, Pepys himself, his wife, and Deb. Willett were busy until near midnight "titleing" the books for the year, and setting them in order. They all tired their backs, but the work was satisfactory. . . . . (See ante, [p. 78].)
'The books are arranged in eleven curious old mahogany bookcases, which are mentioned in the Diary under date August 24, 1666. "Up and dispatched several businesses at home in the morning, and then comes Sympson to set up my other new presses for my books, and so he and I fell into the furnishing of my new closett, and taking out the things out of my old, and I kept him with me all day, and he dined with me, and so all the afternoon till it was quite darke hanging things, that is, my maps and pictures and draughts, and setting up my books, . . . . to my most extraordinary satisfaction."'—Wheatley, Pepys and the World he lived in, pp. 83-4.
[41] Library Journal, August, 1878.
[42] Tonks' fittings are specially adapted for the shelves of book-cases or other shelves, the adjustment of which has, from time to time, to be varied to suit the varying requirements of a library, &c. The method hitherto generally adopted for such shelves is to support them at each end by two studs, the heads of which are mortised into the shelf, and the pins driven or otherwise fitted into holes two or more inches apart, bored in two rows into the upright frames; these holes are very seldom accurately fitted to the pins, and even where so done in the first instance, from the shrinking or expansion of the wood, they soon become too large or too small for the pins, and the alteration of the adjustment of a shelf is thereby rendered an extremely troublesome operation. The patent fittings remedy this, and save both time and trouble; in place of the rows of holes so far apart, metal strips perforated at intervals of three-quarters of an inch for the reception of the very simple but strong metal plates, which take the place of the old studs, are mortised in and screwed to the frames. The insertion, at the required intervals, of the plates into the perforations in these strips is made instantaneously, consequently the position of a shelf can be easily altered without an irritating expense of trouble, and waste of time. The thinness of the plates renders any mortising in the shelf unnecessary, and the small intervals between the perforations in the strips enables the whole space occupied by the shelves to be used most economically. These fittings, when used with a shelf sufficiently strong itself to bear the weight, will support without strain more than half a ton.
[43] Nineteenth Century, March, 1890.
[44] Edwards, Memoirs of Libraries, ii., 736.
[45] The Sizes of Books.—The Associated Librarians of Great Britain decided upon a uniform and arbitrary scale for the measurement and description of the sizes of books. In consequence of the many and varied sizes of papers now manufactured, the terms folio, quarto or 4to., octavo or 8vo., twelvemo or 12mo., and so on, as indicating the number of folds in the printed sheets, can no longer be relied upon as a definite guide to the sizes of books, hence the change, as follows:—