Authorities.—The Annual Library Index (New York, 1908)—contains a select list of libraries in the United States; Arthur E. Bostwick, The American Public Library, illust. (New York, 1910)—the most comprehensive general book; Bureau of Education, Statistics of Public Libraries in the United States and Canada (1893)—this has been succeeded by a list of “Public, Society and School Libraries,” reprinted at irregular intervals from the Report of the Commissioner of Education and giving a list of libraries containing over 5000 vols. with various other particulars; Clegg, International Directory of Booksellers (1910) and earlier issues—contains a list of American libraries with brief particulars; John C. Dana, A Library Primer (Chicago, 1910)—the standard manual of American library practice; Directory of Libraries in the United States and Canada (6th ed.; Minneapolis, 1908)—a brief list of 4500 libraries, with indication of the annual income of each; Wm. I. Fletcher, Public Libraries in America (2nd ed., Boston, 1899), illust.; T. W. Koch, Portfolio of Carnegie Libraries (1908); Cornelia Marvin, Small Library Buildings (Boston, 1908); A. R. Spofford, A Book for all Readers ... the Formation of Public and Private Libraries (1905).
France.
French libraries (other than those in private hands) belong either to the state, to the departments, to the communes, or to learned societies, educational establishments and other public institutions; the libraries of judicial or administrative bodies are not considered to be owned by them, but to be state property. Besides the unrivalled library accommodation of the capital, France possesses a remarkable assemblage of provincial libraries. The communal and school libraries also form striking features of the French free library system. Taking as a basis for comparison the Tableau statistique des bibliothèques publiques (1857), there were at that date 340 departmental libraries with a total of 3,734,260 vols., and 44,436 MSS. In 1908 the number of volumes in all the public libraries; communal, university, learned societies, educational and departmental, was more than 20,060,148 vols., 93,986 MSS. and 15,530 incunabula. Paris alone now possesses over 10,570,000 printed vols., 147,543 MSS., 5000 incunabula, 609,439 maps and plans, 2,000,000 prints (designs and reproductions).
The Bibliothèque Nationale (one of the most extensive libraries in the world) has had an advantage over others in the length of time during which its contents have been accumulating, and in the great zeal shown for it by several Paris. kings and other eminent men. Enthusiastic writers find the original of this library in the MS. collections of Charlemagne and Charles the Bald, but these were dispersed in course of time, and the few precious relics of them which the national library now possesses have been acquired at a much later date. Of the library which St Louis formed in the 13th century (in imitation of what he had seen in the East) nothing has fallen into the possession of the Bibliothèque Nationale, but much has remained of the royal collections made by kings of the later dynasties. The real foundation of the institution (formerly known as the Bibliothèque du Roi) may be said to date from the reign of King John, the Black Prince’s captive, who had a considerable taste for books, and bequeathed his “royal library” of MSS. to his successor Charles V. Charles V. organized his library in a very effective manner, removing it from the Palais de la Cité to the Louvre, where it was arranged on desks in a large hall of three storeys, and placed under the management of the first librarian and cataloguer, Claude Mallet, the king’s valet-de-chambre. His catalogue was a mere shelf-list, entitled Inventaire des Livres du Roy nostre Seigneur estans au chastel du Louvre; it is still extant, as well as the further inventories made by Jean Blanchet in 1380, and by Jean le Bègue in 1411 and 1424. Charles V. was very liberal in his patronage of literature, and many of the early monuments of the French language are due to his having employed Nicholas Oresme, Ràoul de Presle and other scholars to make translations from ancient texts. Charles VI. added some hundreds of MSS. to the royal library, which, however, was sold to the regent, duke of Bedford, after a valuation had been established by the inventory of 1424. The regent transferred it to England, and it was finally dispersed at his death in 1435. Charles VII. and Louis XI. did little to repair the loss of the precious Louvre library, but the news of the invention of printing served as a stimulus to the creation of another one, of which the first librarian was Laurent Paulmier. The famous miniaturist, Jean Foucquet of Tours, was named the king’s enlumineur, and although Louis XI. neglected to avail himself of many precious opportunities that occurred in his reign, still the new library developed gradually with the help of confiscation. Charles VIII. enriched it with many fine MSS. executed by his order, and also with most of the books that had formed the library of the kings of Aragon, seized by him at Naples. Louis XII., on coming to the throne, incorporated the Bibliothèque du Roi with the fine Orleans library at Blois, which he had inherited. The Blois library, thus augmented, and further enriched by plunder from the palaces of Pavia, and by the purchase of the famous Gruthuyse collection, was described at the time as one of the four marvels of France. Francis I. removed it to Fontainebleau in 1534, enlarged by the addition of his private library. He was the first to set the fashion of fine artistic bindings, which was still more cultivated by Henry II., and which has never died out in France. During the librarianship of Amyot (the translator of Plutarch) the library was transferred from Fontainebleau to Paris, not without the loss of several books coveted by powerful thieves. Henry IV. removed it to the Collége de Clermont, but in 1604 another change was made, and in 1622 it was installed in the Rue de la Harpe. Under the librarianship of J. A. de Thou it acquired the library of Catherine de’ Medici, and the glorious Bible of Charles the Bald. In 1617 a decree was passed that two copies of every new publication should be deposited in the library, but this was not rigidly enforced till Louis XIV.’s time. The first catalogue worthy of the name was finished in 1622, and contains a description of some 6000 vols., chiefly MSS. Many additions were made during Louis XIII.’s reign, notably that of the Dupuy collection, but a new era dawned for the Bibliothèque du Roi under the patronage of Louis XIV. The enlightened activity of Colbert, one of the greatest of collectors, so enriched the library that it became necessary for want of space to make another removal. It was therefore in 1666 installed in the Rue Vivien (now Vivienne) not far from its present habitat. The departments of engravings and medals were now created, and before long rose to nearly equal importance with that of books. Marolles’s prints, Foucquet’s books, and many from the Mazarin library were added to the collection, and, in short, the Bibliothèque du Roi had its future pre-eminence undoubtedly secured. Nic. Clément made a catalogue in 1684 according to an arrangement which has been followed ever since (that is, in twenty-three classes, each one designated by a letter of the alphabet), with an alphabetical index to it. After Colbert’s death Louvois emulated his predecessor’s labours, and employed Mabillon, Thevenot and others to procure fresh accessions from all parts of the world. A new catalogue was compiled in 1688 in 8 vols, by several distinguished scholars. The Abbé Louvois, the minister’s son, became head of the library in 1691, and opened it to all students—a privilege which although soon withdrawn was afterwards restored. Towards the end of Louis XIV.’s reign it contained over 70,000 vols. Under the management of the Abbé Bignon numerous additions were made in all departments, and the library was removed to its present home in the Rue Richelieu. Among the more important acquisitions were 6000 MSS. from the private library of the Colbert family, Bishop Huet’s forfeited collection, and a large number of Oriental books imported by missionaries from the farther East, and by special agents from the Levant. Between 1739 and 1753 a catalogue in 11 vols, was printed, which enabled the administration to discover and to sell its duplicates. In Louis XVI.’s reign the sale of the La Vallière library furnished a valuable increase both in MSS. and printed books. A few years before the Revolution broke out the latter department contained over 300,000 vols, and opuscules. The Revolution was serviceable to the library, now called the Bibliothèque Nationale, by increasing it with the forfeited collections of the émigrés, as well as of the suppressed religious communities. In the midst of the difficulties of placing and cataloguing these numerous acquisitions, the name of Van Praet appears as an administrator of the first order. Napoleon increased the amount of the government grant; and by the strict enforcement of the law concerning new publications, as well as by the acquisition of several special collections, the Bibliothèque made considerable progress during his reign towards realizing his idea that it should be universal in character. At the beginning of last century the recorded numbers were 250,000 printed vols., 83,000 MSS., and 1,500,000 engravings. After Napoleon’s downfall the MSS. which he had transferred from Berlin, Hanover, Florence, Venice, Rome, the Hague and other places had to be returned to their proper owners. The MacCarthy sale in 1817 brought a rich store of MSS. and incunabula. From that time onwards to the present, under the enlightened administration of MM. Taschereau and Delisle and Marcel, the accessions have been very extensive.
According to the statistics for 1908 the riches of the Bibliothèque Nationale may be enumerated as follows: (1) Département des Imprimés: more than 3,000,000 vols.; Maps and plans, 500,000 in 28,000 vols. (2) Département des Manuscrits: 110,000 MSS. thus divided: Greek 4960, Latin 21,544, French 44,913, Oriental and miscellaneous 38,583. (3) Département des Estampes: 1,000,000 pieces. (4) Département des Médailles: 207,096 pieces.
Admittance to the “salle de travail” is obtained through a card procured from the secretarial office; the “salle publique” contains 344 places for readers, who are able to consult more than 50,000 vols. of books of reference. Great improvements have lately been introduced into the service. A “salle de lecture publique” is free to all readers and is much used. New buildings are in process of construction. The slip catalogue bound in volumes dates from 1882 and gives a list of all accessions since that date; it is divided into two parts, one for the names of authors and the other for subjects. There is not yet, as at the British Museum, an alphabetical catalogue of all the printed works and kept up by periodical supplements, but since 1897 a Catalogue général des livres imprimés has been begun. In 1909 the 38th vol. containing letters A to Delp had appeared. Some volumes are published each year, but the earlier volumes only contain a selection of the books; this inconvenience has now been remedied. Among the other catalogues published by the Printed Book Department, the following may be mentioned: Répertoire alphabétique des livres mis à la disposition des lecteurs dans la salle de travail (1896, 8vo), Liste des périodiques français et étrangers mis à la disposition des lecteurs (1907, 4to, autogr.), Liste des périodiques étrangers (new ed., 1896, 8vo) and Supplement (1902, 8vo), Bulletin des récentes publications françaises (from 1882, 8vo), Catalogue des dissertations et écrits académiques provenant des échanges avec les universités étrangères (from 1882, 8vo). The other extensive catalogues apart from those of the 18th century are: Catalogue de l’histoire de France (1885-1889, 4to, 11 vols.); Table des auteurs, par P. Marchal (1895, 4to), with the following autographed supplements: Histoire locale (1880); Histoire généalogique et biographies (1884); Mœurs et coutumes, archéologie (1885); Histoire maritime et militaire (1894); Histoire constitutionnelle (1895); Sciences médicales (1857-1889, 3 vols., 4to); Histoire de la Grande-Bretagne (1875-1878, autogr.); Histoire de l’Espagne et du Portugal (1883, autogr.); Histoire de l’Asie (1894); Histoire de l’Afrique (1895, autogr.); Histoire de l’Amérique, par G. Barringer (1903-1908, autogr.); Factums et autres documents judiciaires antérieurs à 1790, par Corda et A. Trudon des Ormes (1890-1907, 8 vols., 8vo); Catalogue général des incunables des bibliothèques publiques de France, par M. Pellechet et L. Polain, t. i.-iii. (1897-1909, 8vo); Livres d’heures imprimés au XVe siècle conservés dans les bibliothèques publiques de Paris, par P. Lacombe (1907, 8vo), &c. In the Geographical section there is L. Vallée’s Catalogue des cartes et plans relatifs à Paris et aux environs de Paris (1908, 8vo). The following should be mentioned: Bibliographie générale des travaux historiques et archéologiques publiés par les sociétés savantes de la France, par R. de Lasteyrie avec la collaboration d’E. Lefèvre-Pontalis, S. Bougenot, A. Vidier, t. i.-vi. (1885-1908, 4to). The scientific division of this work (in two parts) is by Deniker. The printed catalogues and the autographed and manuscript lists of the Département des Manuscrits are very numerous and greatly facilitate research. For the French there are: H. Omont, Catalogue général des manuscrits français (1895-1897, 9 vols. 8vo); H. Omont, Nouvelles acquisitions (continuation of the same catalogue, 1899-1900, 3 vols. 8vo); H. Omont, Anciens Inventaires de la Bibliothèque Nationale (1908-1909, 2 vols. 8vo); E. Coyecque, Inventaire de la Collection Anisson sur l’histoire de l’imprimerie et de la librairie (1900, 2 vols. 8vo). Without repeating the catalogues mentioned in the tenth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, it is yet necessary to mention the following: Catalogue de la collection Baluze; Inventaire des sceaux de la collection Clairambault; Catalogue de la collection des cinq-cents et des mélanges Colbert; Catalogue des collections Duchesne et de Bréquigny; those of the Dupuy, Joly de Fleury, and Moreau collections, and that of provincial history, &c. For the Greek collection the most important catalogues have been made by H. Omont, the present Keeper of the Manuscripts, and these are: Inventaire sommaire des MSS. grecs (1886-1898, 4 vols. 8vo); Catalogus codicum hagiographicorum graecorum (1896, 8vo); Facsimilés des plus anciens MSS. grecs en onciale et en minuscule du IXe au XIVe siècle (1891, fol.); as well as Description des peintures et autres ornements contenus dans les MSS. latins, par H. Bordier (1883, 4to). The lists of the Latin MSS. are: Inventaire des manuscrits latins et nouvelles acquisitions jusqu’en 1874 (1863-1874, 7 pts. 8vo) and Manuscrits latins et français ajoutés aux fonds des nouvelles acquisitions 1875-1881 (1891, 2 vols. 8vo), by M. Delisle; M. Omont published Nouvelles Acquisitions du département des manuscrits (1892-1907, 8 pts. 8vo), and B. Haureau, Notices et extraits de quelques manuscrits latins (1890-1893, 6 vols. 8vo). The principal modern catalogues of the oriental collection are: B. de Slane, Catalogue des MSS. arabes, avec supplément (1883-1895, 4to); E. Blochet, Catalogue des MSS. arabes, persans, et turcs de la collection Schefer (1900); E. Blochet, Inventaire des MSS. arabes de la collection Decourtemanche (1906); F. Macler, Catalogue des MSS. arméniens et géorgiens (1908). For other oriental languages the following catalogues have been compiled: MSS. birmans et cambodgiens (1879); MSS. chinois, coréens et japonais (1900-1907); MSS. coptes (1906); MSS. éthiopiens (1859-1877); MSS. hébreux et samaritains (1867-1903); MSS. indo-chinois (in the press); MSS. malayo-polynésiens (in the press); MSS. mazdéens (1900); MSS. mexicains (1899); MSS. persans, t. i. (1905); MSS. sanscrits et pâlis (1899, 1907-1908); MSS. siamois (1887); MSS. syriaques et sabéens (1874-1896); MSS. thibétains (in the press), &c. The catalogues of manuscripts in modern languages are nearly all completed. The Départements des Médailles et des Estampes possess excellent catalogues, and the following should be mentioned: E. Babelon, Catalogue des monnaies grecques (1890-1893); E. Babelon, Inventaire sommaire de la collection Waddington (1898); Médailles fausses recueillies, par Hoffmann (1902); Muret et Chabouillet, Catalogue des monnaies gauloises (1889-1892); Prou, Catalogue des monnaies françaises (1892-1896); H. de la Tour, Catalogue de la collection Rouyer, 1re partie (1899); Catalogues des monnaies et médailles d’Alsace (1902); Cat. des monnaies de l’Amérique du Nord (1861); Cat. des monnaies musulmanes (1887-1891); Cat. des plombs (1900); Cat. des bronzes antiques (1889); Cat. des camées antiques et modernes (1897-1899); Cat. des vases peints (1902-1904, 2 vols.). In the Département des Estampes the following should be mentioned: F. Courboin, Catalogue sommaire des gravures et lithographies de la Réserve (1900-1901); Duplessis, Cat. des portraits français et étrangers (1896-1907, 6 vols.); H. Bouchot, Les Portraits au crayon des XVIe et XVIIe siècles (1884); Cat. des dessins relatifs à l’histoire du théâtre (1896); F. Courboin, Inventaire des dessins, photographies et gravures relatives à l’histoire générale de l’art (1895, 2 vols.), &c.
The Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal was founded by the marquis de Paulmy (Antoine-René d’Argenson) in the 18th century; it received in 1786 80,000 vols. from the duc de La Vallière. Before its confiscation as national property it had belonged to the comte d’Artois, who had bought it from the marquis de Paulmy in his lifetime. It contains at the present time about 600,000 vols., 10,000 manuscripts, 120,000 prints and the Bastille collection (2500 portfolios) of which the inventory is complete; it is the richest library for the literary history of France and has more than 30,000 theatrical pieces.
L’Inventaire des manuscrits was made by H. Martin (1885-1899, t. i.-viii.); the other catalogues and lists are: Extrait du catalogue des journaux conservés à la Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal (“Bulletin des biblioth. et des archives” t. i.); Archives de la Bastille, par F. Funck-Brentano (1892-1894, 3 vols. 8vo); Notice sur les dépôts littéraires par J. B. Labiche (1880, 8vo); Catalogue des estampes, dessins et cartes composant le cabinet des estampes de la bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, par G. Schefer (1894-1905, 8 pts. 8vo).
The Bibliothèque Mazarine owes its origin to the great cardinal, who confided the direction to Gabriel Naudé; it was open to the public in 1642, and was transferred to Rue de Richelieu in 1648. Dispersed during the Fronde in the lifetime of Mazarin, it was reconstituted after the death of the cardinal in 1661, when it contained 40,000 vols. which were left to the Collège des Quatre-Nations, which in 1691 made it again public. It now has 250,000 vols.; with excellent manuscript catalogues.
The catalogues of incunabula and manuscripts are printed: P. Marais et A. Dufresne de Saint-Léon, Catalogue des incunables de la bibliothèque Mazarine (1893, 8vo); Supplément, additions et corrections (1898, 4 vols. 8vo); Catalogue des MSS., par A. Molinier (1885-1892, 4 vols. 8vo); Inventaire sommaire des MSS. grecs, par H. Omont.