Fig. 131. Bookcase in the north room of the University Library, Cambridge, designed by James Essex, 1731-1734.
The fashion of which I have been tracing the progress in England had been accepted during the same period in France, where some beautiful specimens of it may still be seen. I presume that the example was set by the wealthy convents, most of which had been rebuilt, at least in part, in the then fashionable classical style, during the seventeenth century[514]. At Rheims a library fitted up by the Benedictines of Saint Remi in 1784 now does duty as the chapel of the Hôtel-Dieu. Fluted Corinthian columns supporting an elaborate cornice divide the walls into compartments, in which the books are ranged on open shelves. The room is 120 ft. long, by 31 ft. broad, with four windows on each side. With this may be compared the public library at Alençon, the fittings of which are said to have been brought from the abbey of the Val Dieu near Mortain at the Revolution. The room is 70 ft. long by 25 ft. wide. Against the walls are 26 compartments or presses, alternately open and closed. Each of these terminates in an ogee arch enriched with scrolls and a central shield. The whole series is surmounted by a cornice divided by console brackets, between which are shields, probably intended originally to carry the names of the subjects of the books.
Fig. 132. Interior of the Library of the Jesuits at Rheims, now the Lingerie de l'Hôpital Général.
Lastly, I must mention the libraries of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette at Versailles. The walls are lined with a double row of presses, each closed by glass doors. The lower row is about four feet high, the upper row about ten feet high. The wood-work is painted white, and enriched with wreaths of leaves in ormolu. As a general rule the books are hidden from view by curtains of pleated silk.
I mentioned in a previous chapter[515] that additional space was provided for the library in a French monastery by raising the roof of an existing building, putting in dormer windows, and converting the triangular space so gained into a library by placing in it bookcases of a convenient height, and connecting them together by a ceiling. I have fortunately discovered one such library still in existence at Rheims. It belonged originally to the Jesuits, who had constructed it about 1678, and when the Order was expelled from France in 1764, and their House became the workhouse (hôpital général) of the town, it was fortunately made use of as the lingerie, or linen-room, without any material change. Even the table has been preserved. The view here presented of the interior ([fig. 132]) may serve to give a general idea, not merely of this library, but of others of the same class. The decoration of the ceiling is coarse but effective. On the coved portion of it, within the shields, are written the subjects of the books on the shelves beneath. I made a list of these and have printed them on the margin of my ground-plan ([fig. 133]). This plan also shews the arrangement of the bookcases. They are placed at a distance of five feet from the walls, and are returned to meet each window, thus forming convenient bays for private study. The space between the bookcases and the wall was used as a store-room[516].