diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/obhot10.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/obhot10.txt | 1285 |
1 files changed, 1285 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/obhot10.txt b/old/obhot10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..15576d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/obhot10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1285 @@ +Project Gutenberg's On Books and The Housing of Them by Gladstone +#1 in our series by William Ewart Gladstone + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words +are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they +need about what they can legally do with the texts. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 + +As of 12/12/00 contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, +Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, +Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, +Texas, Vermont, and Wyoming. + +As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising +will begin in the additional states. Please feel +free to ask to check the status of your state. + +International donations are accepted, +but we don't know ANYTHING about how +to make them tax-deductible, or +even if they CAN be made deductible, +and don't have the staff to handle it +even if there are ways. + +These donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + + +Title: On Books and the Housing of Them + +Author: William Ewart Gladstone + +Official Release Date: September, 2002 [Etext #3426] +[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] +[The actual date this file first posted = 04/17/01] +[Date last updated: February 25, 2005] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Project Gutenberg's On Books and The Housing of Them by Gladstone +*******This file should be named obhot10.txt or obhot10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, obhot11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, obhot10a.txt + +This Etext prepared by Charles Hall chall@rtpnet.org + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after +the official publication date. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +http://gutenberg.net +http://promo.net/pg + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext02 +or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext02 + +Or /etext01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +Presently, contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, +Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, +Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, +Texas, Vermont, and Wyoming. + +As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising +will begin in the additional states. + +These donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, +EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541, +has been approved as a 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal +Revenue Service (IRS). Donations are tax-deductible to the extent +permitted by law. As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising will begin in the +additional states. + +All donations should be made to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation. Mail to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Avenue +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 [USA] + + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +*** + + +Example command-line FTP session: + +ftp ftp.ibiblio.org +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext02, etc. +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this etext, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the etext, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +**END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.08.01*END** +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +This Etext prepared by Charles Hall chall@rtpnet.org + + + + + +ON BOOKS AND THE HOUSING OF THEM + +BY William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) + + + + +In the old age of his intellect (which at +this point seemed to taste a little of +decrepitude), Strauss declared [1] that the doctrine of +immortality has recently lost the assistance +of a passable argument, inasmuch as it has +been discovered that the stars are inhabited; +for where, he asks, could room now be found +for such a multitude of souls? Again, in view +of the current estimates of prospective +population for this earth, some people have begun to +entertain alarm for the probable condition of +England (if not Great Britain) when she gets +(say) seventy millions that are allotted to her +against six or eight hundred millions for the +United States. We have heard in some +systems of the pressure of population upon food; +but the idea of any pressure from any +quarter upon space is hardly yet familiar. Still, I +suppose that many a reader must have been +struck with the naive simplicity of the hyperbole +of St. John, [2] perhaps a solitary unit of its +kind in the New Testament: "the which if +they should be written every one, I suppose +that even the world itself could not contain +the books that should be written." + +A book, even Audubon (I believe the biggest +known), is smaller than a man; but, in relation +to space, I entertain more proximate +apprehension of pressure upon available space from +the book population than from the numbers of +mankind. We ought to recollect, with more +of a realized conception than we commonly +attain to, that a book consists, like a man, +from whom it draws its lineage, of a body and +a soul. They are not always proportionate to +each other. Nay, even the different members +of the book-body do not sing, but clash, when +bindings of a profuse costliness are imposed, +as too often happens in the case of Bibles and +books of devotion, upon letter-press which is +respectable journeyman's work and nothing +more. The men of the Renascence had a +truer sense of adaptation; the age of jewelled +bindings was also the age of illumination and +of the beautiful miniatura, which at an earlier +stage meant side or margin art,[3] and then, on +account of the small portraitures included in +it, gradually slid into the modern sense of +miniature. There is a caution which we ought +to carry with us more and more as we get in +view of the coming period of open book trade, +and of demand practically boundless. Noble +works ought not to be printed in mean and +worthless forms, and cheapness ought to be +limited by an instinctive sense and law of +fitness. The binding of a book is the dress +with which it walks out into the world. The +paper, type and ink are the body, in which its +soul is domiciled. And these three, soul, body, +and habilament, are a triad which ought to be +adjusted to one another by the laws of harmony +and good sense. + +Already the increase of books is passing into +geometrical progression. And this is not a +little remarkable when we bear in mind that +in Great Britain, of which I speak, while there +is a vast supply of cheap works, what are +termed "new publications" issue from the +press, for the most part, at prices fabulously +high, so that the class of real purchasers +has been extirpated, leaving behind as buyers +only a few individuals who might almost be +counted on the fingers, while the effective +circulation depends upon middle-men through the +engine of circulating libraries. These are not +so much owners as distributers of books, and +they mitigate the difficulty of dearness by +subdividing the cost, and then selling such copies +as are still in decent condition at a large +reduction. It is this state of things, due, in my +opinion, principally to the present form of the +law of copyright, which perhaps may have +helped to make way for the satirical (and +sometimes untrue) remark that in times of distress +or pressure men make their first economies on +their charities, and their second on their books. + +The annual arrivals at the Bodleian Library +are, I believe, some twenty thousand; at the +British Museum, forty thousand, sheets of all +kinds included. Supposing three-fourths of +these to be volumes, of one size or another, +and to require on the average an inch of +shelf space, the result will be that in every +two years nearly a mile of new shelving will +be required to meet the wants of a single +library. But, whatever may be the present +rate of growth, it is small in comparison with +what it is likely to become. The key of the +question lies in the hands of the United +Kingdom and the United States jointly. In +this matter there rests upon these two Powers +no small responsibility. They, with their vast +range of inhabited territory, and their unity +of tongue, are masters of the world, which +will have to do as they do. When the +Britains and America are fused into one book +market; when it is recognized that letters, +which as to their material and their aim are +a high-soaring profession, as to their mere +remuneration are a trade; when artificial +fetters are relaxed, and printers, publishers, and +authors obtain the reward which well-regulated +commerce would afford them, then let +floors beware lest they crack, and walls lest +they bulge and burst, from the weight of +books they will have to carry and to confine. + +It is plain, for one thing, that under the +new state of things specialism, in the future, +must more and more abound. But specialism +means subdivision of labor; and with +subdivision labor ought to be more completely, +more exactly, performed. Let us bow our +heads to the inevitable; the day of +encyclopaedic learning has gone by. It may perhaps +be said that that sun set with Leibnitz. +But as little learning is only dangerous when +it forgets that it is little, so specialism is +only dangerous when it forgets that it is +special. When it encroaches on its betters, +when it claims exceptional certainty or +honor, it is impertinent, and should be rebuked; +but it has its own honor in its own +province, and is, in any case, to be preferred to +pretentious and flaunting sciolism. + +A vast, even a bewildering prospect is +before us, for evil or for good; but for good, +unless it be our own fault, far more than for +evil. Books require no eulogy from me; none +could be permitted me, when they already +draw their testimonials from Cicero[4] and +Macaulay.[5] But books are the voices of the +dead. They are a main instrument of +communion with the vast human procession of +the other world. They are the allies of the +thought of man. They are in a certain sense +at enmity with the world. Their work is, at +least, in the two higher compartments of our +threefold life. In a room well filled with +them, no one has felt or can feel solitary. +Second to none, as friends to the individual, +they are first and foremost among the compages, +the bonds and rivets of the race, +onward from that time when they were first +written on the tablets of Babylonia and +Assyria, the rocks of Asia minor, and the +monuments of Egypt, down to the diamond +editions of Mr. Pickering and Mr. Frowde.[6] + +It is in truth difficult to assign dimensions +for the libraries of the future. And it is also +a little touching to look back upon those of +the past. As the history of bodies cannot, +in the long run, be separated from the history +of souls, I make no apology for saying a few +words on the libraries which once were, but +which have passed away. + +The time may be approaching when we +shall be able to estimate the quantity of book +knowledge stored in the repositories of those +empires which we call prehistoric. For the +present, no clear estimate even of the great +Alexandrian Libraries has been brought +within the circle of popular knowledge; but it +seems pretty clear that the books they +contained were reckoned, at least in the +aggregate, by hundreds of thousands.[7] The form +of the book, however, has gone through many +variations; and we moderns have a great +advantage in the shape which the exterior +has now taken. It speaks to us symbolically +by the title on its back, as the roll of +parchment could hardly do. It is established that +in Roman times the bad institution of slavery +ministered to a system under which books +were multiplied by simultaneous copying in a +room where a single person read aloud in the +hearing of many the volume to be +reproduced, and that so produced they were +relatively cheap. Had they not been so, they +would hardly have been, as Horace represents +them, among the habitual spoils of the grocer.[8] +It is sad, and is suggestive of many +inquiries, that this abundance was followed, +at least in the West, by a famine of more +than a thousand years. And it is hard, even +after all allowances, to conceive that of all +the many manuscripts of Homer which Italy +must have possessed we do not know that a +single parchment or papyrus was ever read +by a single individual, even in a convent, or +even by a giant such as Dante, or as Thomas +Acquinas, the first of them unquestionably +master of all the knowledge that was within +the compass of his age. There were, +however, libraries even in the West, formed by +Charlemagne and by others after him. We +are told that Alcuin, in writing to the great +monarch, spoke with longing of the relative +wealth of England in these precious estates. +Mr. Edwards, whom I have already quoted, +mentions Charles the Fifth of France, in 1365, +as a collector of manuscripts. But some ten +years back the Director of the Bibliotheque +Nationale informed me that the French King +John collected twelve hundred manuscripts, +at that time an enormous library, out of which +several scores were among the treasures in +his care. Mary of Medicis appears to have +amassed in the sixteenth century, probably +with far less effort, 5,800 volumes.[9] Oxford +had before that time received noble gifts for +her University Library. And we have to +recollect with shame and indignation that +that institution was plundered and destroyed +by the Commissioners of the boy King +Edward the Sixth, acting in the name of the +Reformation of Religion. Thus it happened +that opportunity was left to a private +individual, the munificent Sir Thomas Bodley, to +attach an individual name to one of the +famous libraries of the world. It is interesting +to learn that municipal bodies have a share +in the honor due to monasteries and +sovereigns in the collection of books; for the +Common Council of Aix purchased books for a +public library in 1419.[10] + +Louis the Fourteenth, of evil memory, has +at least this one good deed to his credit, that +he raised the Royal Library at Paris, founded +two centuries before, to 70,000 volumes. In +1791 it had 150,000 volumes. It profited largely +by the Revolution. The British Museum had +only reached 115,000 when Panizzi became +keeper in 1837. Nineteen years afterward he +left it with 560,000, a number which must now +have more than doubled. By his noble design +for occupying the central quadrangle, a desert +of gravel until his time, he provided additional +room for 1,200,000 volumes. All this +apparently enormous space for development is being +eaten up with fearful rapidity; and such is the +greed of the splendid library that it opens its +jaws like Hades, and threatens shortly to +expel the antiquities from the building, and +appropriate the places they adorn. + +But the proper office of hasty retrospect in +a paper like this is only to enlarge by degrees, +like the pupil of an eye, the reader's +contemplation and estimate of the coming time, and +to prepare him for some practical suggestions +of a very humble kind. So I take up again +the thread of my brief discourse. National +libraries draw upon a purse which is +bottomless. But all public libraries are not national. +And the case even of private libraries is +becoming, nay, has become, very serious for all +who are possessed by the inexorable spirit of +collection, but whose ardor is perplexed and +qualified, or even baffled, by considerations +springing from the balance-sheet. + +The purchase of a book is commonly +supposed to end, even for the most scrupulous +customer, with the payment of the bookseller's +bill. But this is a mere popular superstition. +Such payment is not the last, but the first +term in a series of goodly length. If we wish +to give to the block a lease of life equal to +that of the pages, the first condition is that it +should be bound. So at least one would have +said half a century ago. But, while books +are in the most instances cheaper, binding, +from causes which I do not understand, is +dearer, at least in England, than it was in my +early years, so that few can afford it.[11] We +have, however, the tolerable and very useful +expedient of cloth binding (now in some +danger, I fear, of losing its modesty through +flaring ornamentation) to console us. Well, +then, bound or not, the book must of +necessity be put into a bookcase. And the +bookcase must be housed. And the house must +be kept. And the library must be dusted, +must be arranged, should be catalogued. What +a vista of toil, yet not unhappy toil! Unless +indeed things are to be as they now are in +at least one princely mansion of this country, +where books, in thousands upon thousands, +are jumbled together with no more +arrangement than a sack of coals; where not even +the sisterhood of consecutive volumes has +been respected; where undoubtedly an +intending reader may at the mercy of Fortune +take something from the shelves that is a +book; but where no particular book can +except by the purest accident, be found. + +Such being the outlook, what are we to do +with our books? Shall we be buried under +them like Tarpeia under the Sabine shields? +Shall we renounce them (many will, or will +do worse, will keep to the most worthless +part of them) in our resentment against their +more and more exacting demands? Shall we +sell and scatter them? as it is painful to see +how often the books of eminent men are +ruthlessly, or at least unhappily, dispersed +on their decease. Without answering in +detail, I shall assume that the book-buyer is a +book-lover, that his love is a tenacious, not +a transitory love, and that for him the +question is how best to keep his books. + +I pass over those conditions which are the +most obvious, that the building should be +sound and dry, the apartment airy, and with +abundant light. And I dispose with a passing +anathema of all such as would endeavour to +solve their problem, or at any rate +compromise their difficulties, by setting one row +of books in front of another. I also freely +admit that what we have before us is not +a choice between difficulty and no difficulty, +but a choice among difficulties. + +The objects further to be contemplated in +the bestowal of our books, so far as I +recollect, are three: economy, good arrangement, +and accessibility with the smallest possible +expenditure of time. + +In a private library, where the service of +books is commonly to be performed by the +person desiring to use them, they ought to be +assorted and distributed according to subject. +The case may be altogether different where +they have to be sent for and brought by an +attendant. It is an immense advantage to +bring the eye in aid of the mind; to see +within a limited compass all the works that +are accessible, in a given library, on a given +subject; and to have the power of dealing +with them collectively at a given spot, instead +of hunting them up through an entire +accumulation. It must be admitted, however, that +distribution by subjects ought in some degree +to be controlled by sizes. If everything on a +given subject, from folio down to 32mo, is to +be brought locally together, there will be an +immense waste of space in the attempt to +lodge objects of such different sizes in one +and the same bookcase. And this waste of +space will cripple us in the most serious +manner, as will be seen with regard to the +conditions of economy and of accessibility. +The three conditions are in truth all +connected together, but especially the two last +named. + +Even in a paper such as this the question +of classification cannot altogether be +overlooked; but it is one more easy to open than +to close -- one upon which I am not bold +enough to hope for uniformity of opinion and +of practice. I set aside on the one hand the +case of great public libraries, which I leave +to the experts of those establishments. And, +at the other end of the scale, in small private +libraries the matter becomes easy or even +insignificant. In libraries of the medium scale, +not too vast for some amount of personal +survey, some would multiply subdivision, and +some restrain it. An acute friend asks me +under what and how many general headings +subjects should be classified in a library +intended for practical use and reading, and +boldly answers by suggesting five classes +only: (1) science, (2) speculation, (3) art, +(4) history, and (5) miscellaneous and +periodical literature. But this seemingly simple +division at once raises questions both of +practical and of theoretic difficulty. As to the +last, periodical literature is fast attaining to +such magnitude, that it may require a +classification of its own, and that the enumeration +which indexes supply, useful as it is, will not +suffice. And I fear it is the destiny of +periodicals as such to carry down with them a +large proportion of what, in the phraseology +of railways, would be called dead weight, as +compared with live weight. The limits of +speculation would be most difficult to draw. +The diversities included under science would +be so vast as at once to make sub- +classification a necessity. The olog-ies are by no means +well suited to rub shoulders together; and +sciences must include arts, which are but +country cousins to them, or a new +compartment must be established for their +accomodation. Once more, how to cope with the +everlasting difficulty of 'Works'? In what +category to place Dante, Petrarch, +Swedenborg, Burke, Coleridge, Carlyle, or a hundred +more? Where, again, is Poetry to stand? +I apprehend that it must take its place, the +first place without doubt, in Art; for while it +is separated from Painting and her other +'sphere-born harmonious sisters' by their +greater dependence on material forms they are all +more inwardly and profoundly united in their +first and all-enfolding principle, which is to +organize the beautiful for presentation to the +perceptions of man. + +But underneath all particular criticism of +this or that method of classification will be +found to lie a subtler question -- whether the +arrangement of a library ought not in some +degree to correspond with and represent the +mind of the man who forms it. For my own +part, I plead guilty, within certain limits, of +favoritism in classification. I am sensible +that sympathy and its reverse have something +to do with determining in what company a +book shall stand. And further, does there +not enter into the matter a principle of +humanity to the authors themselves? Ought +we not to place them, so far as may be, in +the neighborhood which they would like? +Their living manhoods are printed in their +works. Every reality, every tendency, endures. +Eadem sequitur tellure sepultos. + +I fear that arrangement, to be good, must +be troublesome. Subjects are traversed by +promiscuous assemblages of 'works;' both by +sizes; and all by languages. On the whole +I conclude as follows. The mechanical +perfection of a library requires an alphabetical +catalogue of the whole. But under the shadow +of this catalogue let there be as many living +integers as possible, for every well-chosen +subdivision is a living integer and makes the +library more and more an organism. Among +others I plead for individual men as centres +of subdivision: not only for Homer, Dante, +Shakespeare, but for Johnson, Scott, and +Burns, and whatever represents a large and +manifold humanity. + +The question of economy, for those who +from necessity or choice consider it at all, is +a very serious one. It has been a fashion to +make bookcases highly ornamental. Now +books want for and in themselves no +ornament at all. They are themselves the +ornament. Just as shops need no ornament, +and no one will think of or care for any +structural ornament, if the goods are +tastefully disposed in the shop-window. The man +who looks for society in his books will +readily perceive that, in proportion as the face of +his bookcase is occupied by ornament, he +loses that society; and conversely, the more +that face approximates to a sheet of +bookbacks, the more of that society he will enjoy. +And so it is that three great advantages come +hand in hand, and, as will be seen, reach +their maximum together: the sociability of +books, minimum of cost in providing for +them, and ease of access to them. + +In order to attain these advantages, two +conditions are fundamental. First, the shelves +must, as a rule, be fixed; secondly, the cases, +or a large part of them, should have their +side against the wall, and thus, projecting +into the room for a convenient distance, they +should be of twice the depth needed for a +single line of books, and should hold two +lines, one facing each way. Twelve inches +is a fair and liberal depth for two rows of +octavos. The books are thus thrown into +stalls, but stalls after the manner of a stable, +or of an old-fashioned coffee-room; not after +the manner of a bookstall, which, as times +go, is no stall at all, but simply a flat space +made by putting some scraps of boarding +together, and covering them with books. + +This method of dividing the longitudinal +space by projections at right angles to it, if +not very frequently used, has long been +known. A great example of it is to be found +in the noble library of Trinity College, +Cambridge, and is the work of Sir Christopher +Wren. He has kept these cases down to +very moderate height, for he doubtless took +into account that great heights require long +ladders, and that the fetching and use of +these greatly add to the time consumed in +getting or in replacing a book. On the other +hand, the upper spaces of the walls are +sacrificed, whereas in Dublin, All Souls, and +many other libraries the bookcases ascend +very high, and magnificent apartments walled +with books may in this way be constructed. +Access may be had to the upper portions by +galleries; but we cannot have stairs all round +the room, and even with one gallery of books +a room should not be more than from +sixteen to eighteen feet high if we are to act on +the principle of bringing the largest possible +number of volumes into the smallest possible +space. I am afraid it must be admitted that +we cannot have a noble and imposing +spectacle, in a vast apartment, without sacrificing +economy and accessibility; and vice versa. + +The projections should each have attached +to them what I rudely term an endpiece (for +want of a better name), that is, a shallow +and extremely light adhering bookcase (light +by reason of the shortness of the shelves), +which both increases the accommodation, and +makes one short side as well as the two long +ones of the parallelopiped to present simply +a face of books with the lines of shelf, like +threads, running between the rows. + +The wall-spaces between the projections +ought also to be turned to account for +shallow bookcases, so far as they are not +occupied by windows. If the width of the interval +be two feet six, about sixteen inches of this +may be given to shallow cases placed against +the wall. + +Economy of space is in my view best +attained by fixed shelves. This dictum I will +now endeavor to make good. If the shelves +are movable, each shelf imposes a dead +weight on the structure of the bookcase, +without doing anything to support it. Hence +it must be built with wood of considerable +mass, and the more considerable the mass +of wood the greater are both the space +occupied and the ornament needed. When the +shelf is fixed, it contributes as a fastening to +hold the parts of the bookcase together; and +a very long experience enables me to say +that shelves of from half- to three-quarters of +an inch worked fast into uprights of from +three-quarters to a full inch will amply suffice +for all sizes of books except large and heavy +folios, which would probably require a small, +and only a small, addition of thickness. + +I have recommended that as a rule the +shelves be fixed, and have given reasons for +the adoption of such a rule. I do not know +whether it will receive the sanction of +authorities. And I make two admissions. First, +it requires that each person owning and +arranging a library should have a pretty +accurate general knowledge of the sizes of his +books. Secondly, it may be expedient to +introduce here and there, by way of exception, +a single movable shelf; and this, I believe, +will be found to afford a margin sufficient to +meet occasional imperfections in the +computation of sizes. Subject to these remarks, I +have considerable confidence in the +recommendation I have made. + +I will now exhibit to my reader the +practical effect of such arrangement, in bringing +great numbers of books within easy reach. +Let each projection be three feet long, twelve +inches deep (ample for two faces of octavos), +and nine feet high, so that the upper shelf +can be reached by the aid of a wooden stool +of two steps not more than twenty inches +high, and portable without the least effort in +a single hand. I will suppose the wall space +available to be eight feet, and the projections, +three in number, with end pieces need only +jut out three feet five, while narrow strips of +bookcase will run up the wall between the +projections. Under these conditions, the +bookcases thus described will carry above +2,000 octavo volumes. + +And a library forty feet long and twenty +feet broad, amply lighted, having some +portion of the centre fitted with very low +bookcases suited to serve for some of the uses of +tables, will receive on the floor from 18,000 +to 20,000 volumes of all sizes, without losing +the appearance of a room or assuming that +of a warehouse, and while leaving portions +of space available near the windows for +purposes of study. If a gallery be added, there +will be accommodation for a further number +of five thousand, and the room need be no +more than sixteen feet high. But a gallery +is not suitable for works above the octavo +size, on account of inconvenience in carriage +to and fro. + +It has been admitted that in order to +secure the vital purpose of compression with +fixed shelving, the rule of arrangement +according to subjects must be traversed +partially by division into sizes. This division, +however, need not, as to the bulk of the +library, be more than threefold. The main +part would be for octavos. This is becoming +more and more the classical or normal size; +so that nowadays the octavo edition is +professionally called the library edition. Then +there should be deeper cases for quarto and +folio, and shallower for books below octavo, +each appropriately divided into shelves. + +If the economy of time by compression is +great, so is the economy of cost. I think it +reasonable to take the charge of provision for +books in a gentleman's house, and in the +ordinary manner, at a shilling a volume. +This may vary either way, but it moderately +represents, I think, my own experience, in +London residences, of the charge of fitting +up with bookcases, which, if of any +considerable size, are often unsuitable for removal. +The cost of the method which I have adopted +later in life, and have here endeavored to +explain, need not exceed one penny per +volume. Each bookcase when filled represents, +unless in exceptional cases, nearly a solid +mass. The intervals are so small that, as a +rule, they admit a very small portion of dust. +If they are at a tolerable distance from the +fireplace, if carpeting be avoided except as to +small movable carpets easily removed for +beating, and if sweeping be discreetly +conducted, dust may, at any rate in the country, +be made to approach to a quantite negligeable. + +It is a great matter, in addition to other +advantages, to avoid the endless trouble and +the miscarriages of movable shelves; the +looseness, and the tightness, the weary arms, +the aching fingers, and the broken +fingernails. But it will be fairly asked what is to +be done, when the shelves are fixed, with +volumes too large to go into them? I admit +that the dilemma, when it occurs, is +formidable. I admit also that no book ought to be +squeezed or even coaxed into its place: they +should move easily both in and out. And I +repeat here that the plan I have +recommended requires a pretty exact knowledge by +measurement of the sizes of books and the +proportions in which the several sizes will +demand accommodation. The shelf-spacing +must be reckoned beforehand, with a good +deal of care and no little time. But I can +say from experience that by moderate care +and use this knowledge can be attained, and +that the resulting difficulties, when measured +against the aggregate of convenience, are +really insignificant. It will be noticed that +my remarks are on minute details, and that +they savor more of serious handiwork in the +placing of books than of lordly survey and +direction. But what man who really loves +his books delegates to any other human +being, as long as there is breath in his body, +the office of inducting them into their homes? + +And now as to results. It is something to +say that in this way 10,000 volumes can be +placed within a room of quite ordinary size, +all visible, all within easy reach, and without +destroying the character of the apartment as +a room. But, on the strength of a case with +which I am acquainted, I will even be a little +more particular. I take as before a room of +forty feet in length and twenty in breadth, +thoroughly lighted by four windows on each +side; as high as you please, but with only +about nine feet of height taken for the +bookcases: inasmuch as all heavy ladders, all +adminicula requiring more than one hand to +carry with care, are forsworn. And there is +no gallery. In the manner I have described, +there may be placed on the floor of such a +room, without converting it from a room into +a warehouse, bookcases capable of receiving, +in round numbers, 20,000 volumes. + +The state of the case, however, considered +as a whole, and especially with reference to +libraries exceeding say 20,000 or 30,000 +volumes, and gathering rapid accretions, has +been found to require in extreme cases, such +as those of the British Museum and the +Bodleian (on its limited site), a change more +revolutionary in its departure from, almost +reversal of, the ancient methods, than what +has been here described. + +The best description I can give of its +essential aim, so far as I have seen the +processes (which were tentative and initial), is +this. The masses represented by filled +bookcases are set one in front of another; and, +in order that access may be had as it is +required, they are set upon trams inserted in +the floor (which must be a strong one), and +wheeled off and on as occasion requires. + +The idea of the society of books is in a +case of this kind abandoned. But even on this +there is something to say. Neither all men +nor all books are equally sociable. For my +part I find but little sociabilty in a huge wall +of Hansards, or (though a great improvement) +in the Gentleman's Magazine, in the Annual +Registers, in the Edinburgh and Quarterly +Reviews, or in the vast range of volumes +which represent pamphlets innumerable. Yet +each of these and other like items variously +present to us the admissible, or the valuable, +or the indispensable. Clearly these masses, +and such as these, ought to be selected first +for what I will not scruple to call interment. +It is a burial; one, however, to which the +process of cremation will never of set purpose +be applied. The word I have used is +dreadful, but also dreadful is the thing. To have +our dear old friends stowed away in +catacombs, or like the wine-bottles in bins: the +simile is surely lawful until the use of that +commodity shall have been prohibited by the +growing movement of the time. But however +we may gild the case by a cheering +illustration, or by the remembrance that the +provision is one called for only by our excess of +wealth, it can hardly be contemplated without +a shudder at a process so repulsive applied +to the best beloved among inanimate objects. + +It may be thought that the gloomy +perspective I am now opening exists for great +public libraries alone. But public libraries +are multiplying fast, and private libraries are +aspiring to the public dimensions. It may be +hoped that for a long time to come no grave +difficulties will arise in regard to private +libraries, meant for the ordinary use of that +great majority of readers who read only for +recreation or for general improvement. But +when study, research, authorship, come into +view, when the history of thought and of +inquiry in each of its branches, or in any +considerable number of them, has to be presented, +the necessities of the case are terribly +widened. Chess is a specialty and a narrow one. +But I recollect a statement in the Quarterly +Review, years back, that there might be +formed a library of twelve hundred volumes +upon chess. I think my deceased friend, Mr. +Alfred Denison, collected between two and +three thousand upon angling. Of living +Englishmen perhaps Lord Acton is the most +effective and retentive reader; and for his +own purposes he has gathered a library of +not less, I believe, than 100,000 volumes. + +Undoubtedly the idea of book-cemeteries +such as I have supposed is very formidable. +It should be kept within the limits of the dire +necessity which has evoked it from the +underworld into the haunts of living men. But it +will have to be faced, and faced perhaps +oftener than might be supposed. And the +artist needed for the constructions it requires +will not be so much a librarian as a +warehouseman. + +But if we are to have cemeteries, they +ought to receive as many bodies as possible. +The condemned will live ordinarily in pitch +darkness, yet so that when wanted, they may +be called into the light. Asking myself how +this can most effectively be done, I have +arrived at the conclusion that nearly two-thirds, +or say three-fifths, of the whole cubic +contents of a properly constructed apartment[12] +may be made a nearly solid mass of books: +a vast economy which, so far as it is applied, +would probably quadruple or quintuple the +efficiency of our repositories as to contents, +and prevent the population of Great Britain +from being extruded some centuries hence +into the surrounding waters by the exorbitant +dimensions of their own libraries. + + - The End - + +FOOTNOTES: + +1- In Der alte und der neue Glaube + +2- xxi, 25. + +3- First of all it seems to have referred to the red +capital letters placed at the head of chapters or other +divisions of works. + +4- Cic. Pro Archia poeta, vii. + +5- Essays Critical and Historical, ii. 228. + +6- The Prayer Book recently issued by Mr. Frowde at +the Clarendon Press weighs, bound in morocco, less +than an once and a quarter. I see it stated that unbound +it weighs three-quarters of an ounce. Pickering's +Cattullus, Tibullus, and Propertius in leather binding, +weighs an ounce and a quarter. His Dante weighs less +than a number of the Times. + +7- See Libraries and the Founders of Libraries, by +B. Edwards, 1864, p. 5. Hallam, Lit. Europe. + +8- Hor. Ep. II. i. 270; Persius, i. 48; Martial, iv. lxxxvii. 8. + +9- Edwards. + +10- Rouard, Notice sur la Bibliotheque d'Aix, p. 40. +Quoted in Edwards, p. 34. + +11- The Director of the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, +which I suppose still to be the first library in the +world, in doing for me most graciously the honors of +that noble establishment, informed me that they full-bound +annually a few scores of volumes, while they +half-bound about twelve hundred. For all the rest +they had to be contented with a lower provision. And +France raises the largest revenue in the world. + +12- Note in illustration. Let us suppose a room 28 feet +by 10, and a little over 9 feet high. Divide this +longitudinally for a passage 4 feet wide. Let the passage +project 12 to 18 inches at each end beyond the line of +the wall. Let the passage ends be entirely given to +either window or glass door. Twenty-four pairs of +trams run across the room. On them are placed 56 +bookcases, divided by the passage, reaching to the +ceiling, each 3 feet broad, 12 inches deep, and separated +from its neighbors by an interval of 2 inches, +and set on small wheels, pulleys, or rollers, to work +along the trams. Strong handles on the inner side of +each bookcase to draw it out into the passage. Each +of these bookcases would hold 500 octavos; and a room +of 28 feet by 10 would receive 25,000 volumes. A room +of 40 feet by 20 (no great size) would receive 60,000, +It would, of course, be not properly a room, but a +warehouse. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's On Books and The Housing of Them by Gladstone + |