Libraries in the Medieval and Renaissance Periods

Libraries in the Medieval and Renaissance Periods - The Rede Lecture Delivered June 13, 1894

The former commends itself to the practical turn of mind characteristic of the present day; common sense urges that mechanical ingenuity, which has done so much in other directions, should be employed in making the acquisition of knowledge less cumbrous and less tedious; that as we travel by steam, so we should also read by steam, and be helped in our studies by the varied resources of modern invention. There lies on my table at this present moment a Handbook of Library Appliances, in which[Pg 6] fifty-three closely printed pages are devoted to this interesting subject, with illustrations of various contrivances by which the working of a large library is to be facilitated and brought up to date. In fact, from this point of view a library may be described as a gigantic mincing-machine, into which the labours of the past are flung, to be turned out again in a slightly altered form as the literature of the present. If, on the other hand, a library be regarded as a Museumand I use the word in its original sense as a temple or haunt of the Musesvery different ideas are evoked. Such a place is as useful as the otherevery facility for study is givenbut what I may call the personal element as affecting the treasures there assembled is brought prominently forward. The development of printing, as the result of individual effort; the art of bookbinding, as practised by different persons in different countries; the history of the books themselves, the libraries in which they have found a home, the hands[Pg 7] that have turned their pages, are there taken note of. Modern literature is fully represented, but the men of past days are not thrust out of sight; their footsteps seem to linger in the rooms where once they walkedtheir shades seem to protect the books they once handled. What Browning felt about frescoes may be appliedmutatis mutandisto books in such an asylum as I am trying to portray: ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 19415
Author: Clark, John Willis
Release Date: Oct 1, 2006
Format: eBook
Language: English