It must be admitted that humility was a virtue not much studied by the cardinals or their satellites, their books were sumptuously bound, with their arms ostentatiously emblazoned on the covers, and their book-plates were also of the most pompous description.
When ex-libris became fashionable theirs were the largest and the most elaborate, the insignia of the Church being added to their family arms, and nothing was omitted which could show how vastly superior these men were to their predecessors, the poor fishermen of Judea.
First among the Church dignitaries, who were also statesmen, comes the name of the powerful Cardinal Richelieu, who formed a valuable library, partly by purchase, but principally by robbery or intimidation. To do him justice, however, he dedicated in his will his books to the use of the public, and his grand-nephew saw that his wishes were obeyed. The first idea of creating a free public library in France was due to J. A. de Thou, who, dying in 1617, left all his valuable collections ad usum publicum: but his will was ignored, and his books were dispersed.
Richelieu followed his example, and later on the Cardinal Mazarin, his successor, realized the idea by leaving his magnificent library, with funds to maintain it, for the free use of the public.
Mazarin, that “Laquais parvenu au Cardinal,” the councillor and the minister, if not the husband, of Anne of Austria, the man who, with all the cares of an unruly state on his shoulders, still found time to accumulate two enormous libraries. Of these the first was compulsorily sold in 1652, but the second remains, and now forms the nucleus of the Bibliothèque Mazarine in Paris. It was of this collection that Loret wrote:
“Mais, surtout, la bibliothèque
Contenant maint œuvre à la gréque,
Et des rangs de livres nombreux
Persans, latins, chinois, hébreux,
Turcs, anglois, allemans, cosaques,
Hurons, iroquois, siriaques,
Brefs tant de volumes divers
D’auteurs tant en proze qu’en vers,
Qu’on peut, sans passer pour profane,
Alleguer que la Vaticane
N’a point tant de livres de prix,
N’y tant de rares manuscrits.”
Mazarin confided his books only to the most expert binders; Le Gascon, Saulnier, and Petit were employed by him, whilst he kept a number of clever binders constantly at work in his library under his own supervision. His favourite style was red morocco, stamped on the sides with his arms, surmounted by the cardinal’s hat, and in the angles a monogram, either C. J. M. (Cardinal Jules Mazarin), or simply J. M.
“Livres tant rares que vulgaires
Dont chascun jusqu’aux plus coquins
Revestu d’un beau marroquin,
D’une ravissante manière.”
Thus bound, emblazoned, and identified, the books of Cardinal Mazarin certainly needed no ex-libris, nor does it appear that he used one.
Bishop Huet, who gave his books to the Jesuits, has already been mentioned as the cause of several fine ex-libris.