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diff --git a/37850.txt b/37850.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e96234c --- /dev/null +++ b/37850.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2667 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Remarks on the practice and policy of +lending Bodleian printed books and manuscripts, by Henry W. Chandler + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Remarks on the practice and policy of lending Bodleian printed books and manuscripts + +Author: Henry W. Chandler + +Release Date: October 26, 2011 [EBook #37850] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMARKS ON LENDING BODLEIAN BOOKS *** + + + + +Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, Matthew Wheaton and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + REMARKS + + ON THE + + PRACTICE AND POLICY OF LENDING + + BODLEIAN + + PRINTED BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS. + + BY + + HENRY W. CHANDLER, M.A. + + + FELLOW OF PEMBROKE COLLEGE, OXFORD; + WAYNFLETE PROFESSOR OF MORAL AND METAPHYSICAL PHILOSOPHY, + AND A CURATOR OF THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY. + + Oxford: + B. H. BLACKWELL, + 50 AND 51, BROAD STREET. + 1887. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The present 'Remarks' are a reprint, with many omissions and additions, +of two privately printed papers which were communicated to the Curators +last year. From November, 1884, for about twelve months, I did very +little more than watch attentively the way in which Bodleian business is +transacted, to me at once a novelty and a surprise. For some purposes +writing is preferable to talking, and accordingly in November, 1885, I +printed a memorandum containing many gentle hints--+phonanta +sunetoisin+--which I faintly hoped might eventually prove beneficial to +the Library. Next came a Memorandum 'on the Classed Catalogue,' a thing +which some Curators look on as a most valuable work, and others as an +interminable and wasteful absurdity. This was followed by a paper 'on +the Bodleian Coins and Medals', with some observations on the proposal +to transfer the collection to the Ashmolean Museum. As far as could be +seen, all this expenditure of ink and money did no harm, and no good. In +May, 1886, a committee was appointed to draw up regulations for loans of +books; and in June the Curators received a paper 'on the lending of +Bodleian Books and Manuscripts,' as also Bishop Barlow's Argument +against lending them, then for the first time printed as a whole; and +in both the illegality of the borrowers' list was pointed out, and very +broad hints given, not only that the present loan statute is defective, +but why, and in what manner it is so. If these hints, facts, and +arguments had been addressed to the twelve signs of the Zodiac, they +could not have produced less visible effect; and it was wonderfully +amusing to find, that more than half my brethren could not for the life +of them see what to everybody else was plain as a pikestaff; so on we +went in the well-beaten path, steady as old Time himself, looking +neither to the right hand nor to the left, and, what is more remarkable, +never for one moment looking ahead. Finally, at the beginning of +October, came a paper on 'Book-lending as practised at the Bodleian'; +and this proved to be the last straw; for on October 30th, partly by +words and partly by that silence which gives consent, it was plainly +intimated that these papers were unwelcome. One friend, and only one, +had a good word to say for them; so far as they contained collection of +facts he approved of them, but no further. As my little experiment +failed so lamentably, I am hardly likely to repeat it, or to put so +severe a strain on the good nature and patience of my colleagues as ever +again to trouble them with a scrap of printed paper. This puts me into a +sort of quandary. I abhor pen and ink, and should like to hold my tongue +and spare my pocket; but that is impossible as things are. I cannot +stand by and see men who know no better trying (with the best possible +intentions) to get the Bodleian on to an inclined plane, down which it +must rapidly slide to perdition, without loudly protesting against their +acts. What then is to be done? Private feelings must be respected, yet +not so as to impede the performance of a duty to the Library and to the +University. The atmosphere of a meeting is not conducive to calm and +rational discussion; I cannot make speeches; the board does not relish +either facts or arguments in print. Only one course remains then; +whenever there is anything to be said about the Bodleian or its +management (and there is much that ought to be, and must be said sooner +or later), it shall no longer be privately printed and given away to +unwilling recipients, but published and sold. In this way all parties +will be satisfied: those who are interested in the Library can buy; +those who are not, can protect themselves against annoyance. So much by +way of explanation. + +When at length the board determined to apply for a new statute, and did +in November what anybody but ourselves would have done in June, the hope +was expressed that the statute would be introduced at once, and then +pushed through Congregation and Convocation as rapidly as possible in +the present term; whereupon somebody observed, that it would be just as +well not to hurry the business; and this seems to have been the view +adopted by Council. + +If Convocation could only seize the full significance and incalculable +value to present and future generations of a library of reference, a +library, that is, where, at all lawful times, every book deposited in it +should always be forthcoming in a moment, it would at once see that from +such a library no lending whatever ought to be permitted, simply because +lending and deposit are practical contradictories; and if Convocation +could plainly see this, it would make very short work of any statute +which legalized loans. There is no denying, however, that in the present +day the public mind, as it is playfully called, and the University mind +as well, is in a wonderfully flabby condition. Nobody seems to be +thoroughly convinced of the unquestionable truth, that every possible +plan in this world is open to objections more or less serious, and so +they go hunting about for a scheme that shall embrace all good and +exclude all evil; such people are emphatically limp and unpractical. All +that is offered to our choice here below is a lesser evil, and +experience has proved over and over again, that it is a lesser evil +never to lend a book out of such a library as the Bodleian, than it is +to lend one. But if the University in its inscrutable wisdom should +choose to do the wrong thing, there are more ways than one of doing +it,-- + ++esthloi men gar haplos, pantodapos de kakoi.+ + +It might, for instance, confine the actual granting of a loan to +Convocation. If an application for a book were made, the University +might impose on the Curators the duty of stating in writing their +reasons for advocating the loan, and Convocation might determine to +lend, if it judged those reasons to be sound. This would be an +approximation to what was the law (though not by any means the practice) +prior to 1873; nor could it be described as a retrograde step, unless +the reformation of a bad habit is necessarily a step backwards. + +If, however, the University resolves to copy the practice of foreign +libraries, it might be wise, first, to appoint a small committee to +discover and report what that practice really is. If, like a mob of +monkeys, we are determined to imitate, it is just as well that our +imitation should be a good one, and not a caricature. + +In either, or indeed in any, case some effectual provision should be +made for enforcing the statute; it ought no longer to be possible for +the Curators to act with impunity as they have been in the habit of +acting for almost a quarter of a century. + +A good many of my friends are strong party men of a more or less rabid +type, and I hope that they are well informed when they tell me that this +purely literary question about the Bodleian is not going to be turned +into one of those faction fights, which occasionally disturb and +disgrace this place; but that each man will judge for himself, and vote +accordingly, without divesting himself of what little reason he may +happen to possess, and blindly following a leader, who may know and care +less about the matter than he does himself. I hope that it will be so, +yet I have my doubts; for this vile spirit of faction clings like the +robe of Nessus to all who have ever been weak enough, or wicked enough, +to yield to its temptations; and one side is just as bad as the other. +Whether Convocation can be got to see the real question in these +unlearned and vulgar times may be questionable; at any rate, I should +have felt myself a traitor to Bodley, to Oxford, and to learning itself, +if I had not done what little I could to prevent an act, which, if +perpetrated, must end, sooner or later, in the irreparable damage, or +the complete destruction of a library intended by its founder to be a +perpetual help to all true scholars, an inexhaustible treasure-house of +learning to last as long as England itself. + + H. W. C. + + _Oxford, + Jan. 15th, 1887._ + + + + +_Remarks on the Practice and Policy of lending Bodleian Printed Books +and Manuscripts._ + + +Before offering any remarks on the policy of lending books out of the +Bodleian Library it may be well to give a brief account of the practice +of lending, so far as it has been sanctioned there. From the foundation +of the Library down to 1873, though practised, it cannot be said to have +been sanctioned at all, except as regards certain books given on the +condition that they should be lent. + +On the 20th of June, 1610, a complete Bodleian Statute was promulgated +and confirmed in Convocation (Appendix Statutorum, p. 5 sqq. ed. 1763). +This statute was drawn up by Sir Thomas Bodley himself, and the eighth +section of it--'de Libris extra Bibliothecam non ferendis, aut ullo modo +commodandis'--fully expresses his firm and rooted detestation of +book-lending. Bodley's own words, of which the Latin statute is a +literal translation, run thus:-- + +"And sith the sundry Examples of former Ages, as well in this +University, as in other Places of the Realm, have taught us over-often, +that the frequent Loan of Books, hath bin a principal occasion of the +Ruin and Destruction of many famous Libraries; It is therefore ordered +and decreed to be observed as a Statute of irrevocable Force, that for +no Regard, Pretence, or Cause, there shall at any time, any Volume, +either of these that are chained, or of others unchained, be given or +lent, to any Person or Persons, of whatsoever State or Calling, upon any +kind of Caution, or offer of Security, for his faithful Restitution; and +that no such Book or Volume shall at any time, by any whatsoever, be +carried forth of the Library, for any longer space, or other uses, and +Purposes, than if need so require, to be sold away for altogether, as +being superfluous or unprofitable; or changed for some other of a better +Edition; or being over-worn to be new bound again, and immediately +returned, from whence it was removed. For the Execution whereof in every +Particular, there shall no Man intermeddle, but the Keeper himself +alone, who is also to proceed with the Knowledge, Liking, and Direction +of those Publick Overseers, whose Authority we will notify in other +Statutes ensuing[1]." + +[1] Reliquiae Bodleianae, p. 27. + +This statute has the great merit of being so plain and clear, that no +one could mistake its meaning. It was further fenced about by the +statute 'de materia indispensabili,' Tit. X.Sec.11.5, as explained in +'Barlow's Argument,' p. 6. It was not totally and absolutely impossible +to borrow a book from the Bodleian, but it was only Convocation, moved +to the act in a solemn and specified way, that could by any legal means +lend it. From 1610 to 1856, then, such was the law which everybody in +the University was bound to obey, and, as far as I can discover, +everybody did obey it, with the few exceptions that will presently be +mentioned. + +In 1624 William, Bishop of Lincoln, wished to borrow a book, but was +denied[2]. In 1628 Sir Thomas Roe gave twenty-nine manuscripts, and +"proposed that his books should be permitted to be lent out for purposes +of printing, on proper security being given; a proposition which was +accepted by Convocation[3]." In 1629 the Earl of Pembroke presented the +Barocci Collection, and "he was willing that the MSS. should, if +necessary, be allowed to be borrowed." Borrowed accordingly they were, +and one at least suffered irreparable injury in very early days[4]. In +1634 we were presented with Sir Kenelm Digby's splendid manuscripts: +"the donor stipulated that they should not be strictly confined to use +within the walls of the Library;" but afterwards left the University to +treat them as it pleased[5]; so that they fell under the general +Bodleian Statute. + +[2] Barlow's Argument, p. 9. + +[3] Macray, Annals, p. 51. + +[4] Barlow, p. 10; Macray, Annals, p. 55. + +[5] Macray, Annals, p. 59. + +Between 1635 and 1640 came Laud's magnificent donations. He "directs in +his letter of gift, that none of the books shall on any account be taken +out of the Library 'nisi solum ut typis mandentur, et sic publici et +juris et utilitatis fiant,' upon sufficient security, to be approved by +the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors; the MS. in such cases being +immediately after printing restored to its place in the Library[6]." +This stipulation of Laud should be carefully borne in mind, because it +will be found that of late years the Curators have not observed the +terms of the gift. Doubtless they did not know what Laud's directions +were; yet men who undertake the office of trustees are bound to know +their duties. In 1636 the University refused leave to Laud himself, who +wished to borrow Rob. Hare's MS. _Liber Privilegiorum Universitatis_[7]. +In 1645 Charles I, in ignorance of our statutes, applied for a book and +was refused; in 1654 Cromwell wanted a book for the Portuguese +Ambassador, and was likewise refused[8]; and it is much to the credit of +both, that they not only acquiesced, but expressed their approval of the +Bodleian rule. + +[6] Macray, Annals, p. 61. + +[7] Macray, Annals, p. 82. + +[8] Barlow's Argument, p. 9. + +On August 29, 1654, a grace was passed in Convocation, which permitted +Selden to borrow MSS. from the collections of Barocci, Roe, and Digby, +provided he did not have more than three at a time, and that he gave +bond in L100 (not L1000 as Hearne states[9]) for the return of each of +them within a year[10]. Barlow[11] declares that this was illegal and +null; and it may be observed in passing that the whole history of the +Selden bequest needs fresh investigation. This same year that grand +scholar's books began to arrive in Oxford, and his executors stipulated, +as a condition of the gift, that no book from his collection should +hereafter be lent to any person upon any condition whatsoever. This also +must by no means be forgotten, because we shall by and by see the +Curators again and again strangely oblivious of the conditions on which +the University received these invaluable books. + +[9] Barlow's Argument, p. 3. + +[10] Macray, Annals, p. 79. + +[11] Argument, p. 8. + +At the Visitation on Nov. 8, 1686, it was ordered that notice be given +that 'nullus in posterum quemlibet librum aut volumen extra Bibliothecam +asportet,' and that monition be sent to every College and Hall for the +return of any books taken out within three days[12]. + +[12] Macray, Annals, p. 109. + +In 1789 a lazy and incompetent Librarian, John Price, is said to have +lent the Rector of Lincoln a copy of Cook's Voyages, presented to the +Library by George III, telling him that the longer he kept it the +better, 'for if it was known to be in the Library, he (Price) should be +perpetually plagued with enquiries after it[13].' What the Curators were +about to permit such irregularities it is difficult to imagine; at any +rate here you had eight picked men--Dr. Joseph Chapman, President of +Trinity, Vice-Chancellor; the two Proctors; Dr. Randolph, Professor of +Divinity, and afterwards successively Bishop of Oxford and of Bangor; +Dr. Vansittart, Professor of Civil Law; Dr. Vivian, Professor of +Medicine; Dr. Blayney, Professor of Hebrew; William Jackson, Professor +of Greek and afterwards Bishop of Oxford:--they are men, citizens, +members of a learned corporation, trustees; they have solemnly sworn by +everything which they profess to hold sacred, that they will faithfully +observe the statutes; and what was required of them? As much sense of +duty as you expect and commonly find in a watcher or a gamekeeper; yet, +till they were roused by the public protest of Dr. Beddowes, they seem +to have shewed no trace or feeling of responsibility at all. + +[13] Macray, Annals, p. 198. + +Down to the year 1856 the Bodleian Curators were eight in number, +namely, the Vice-Chancellor, the two Proctors, and the Regius +Professors of Divinity, Hebrew, Greek, Medicine, and Civil Law. Eight is +rather a large number, and the larger any board is the weaker becomes +the sense of personal responsibility. No man feels that he is answerable +for anything, because he is sunk and extinguished in a majority or a +minority; and yet, without a keen sense of personal responsibility, all +business is laxly and badly done, even when it is done at all. The +artificial privacy of our proceedings is also an evil. In theory all our +meetings are public, so far at least as Convocation is concerned; in +fact, they are private; yet, if the University always knew not only what +is done, but who it is that does it; if our acts were duly published, as +they ought to be, in the University Gazette, probably both board and +University would be the better for it, and it is certain that the +affairs of the Library would be none the worse. + +If Bodley argued that men who teach a subject are necessarily acquainted +with its literature, and are consequently the fittest guardians and +directors of a library, he argued very badly, and in ignorance of facts. +Ability to teach a subject is one thing; knowledge of the literature of +that subject--such knowledge as is required in the superintendents of a +library--is a totally different thing. The two may be indeed united, but +very rarely are so. A man, for instance, may be a finished Latin scholar +without ever having heard of Coster's Donatus, and without being able to +offer an opinion on that or on any of the other editions in which Dutch +libraries glory. Probably not one man in fifty who reads the sentence +which I have just written will have the very remotest idea of its true +meaning; and if he has not, it will not follow that he is a dunce, or +that he is a poor Latinist; all that follows is that he has much to +learn before he is fit to take any part in the management of a large +library. What is wanted, what in fact is necessary, is that sort of +knowledge which the Italian government proposes to give to all employed +in the libraries under its control. In Rome and in Florence a course of +bibliographical instruction and examination has lately been instituted. +The syllabus of the course, which is a very good one, lies before me, +and in it the subject is divided into six parts: 1. Paleografia, 2. +Bibliologia, 3. Bibliografia, 4. Biblioteconomia, 5. Amministrazione, 6. +Lingue. The knowledge required is neither recondite nor profound, yet I +shudder to think what the result would be were we Curators to submit +ourselves to the tender mercies of this Italian board. To speak for +myself, I should have faced such an examination without the least +trepidation some twenty years ago; but now, though I have been trying to +brush up faded knowledge, I would not stake a single sixpence on a +favorable issue; and to judge from all I have seen and heard during the +last two years, I suspect that, though a few might perhaps scramble +through, the great majority of us would emerge from the ordeal more +completely plucked than was the unhappy bird, which Diogenes introduced +to the astonished disciples with the words 'Here is Plato's man!' + +In 1856 the University, probably suspecting that the board as originally +constituted was not the best that could be devised, yet timidly +shrinking from a radical and salutary reform, endeavoured to improve +matters by a measure which, if it remedied one defect, unquestionably +increased another. It made a board already too large, still larger by +the addition of five members elected by Congregation. In the course of +thirty years fourteen different men have been so elected. That all were +properly qualified to discharge the duties of their office no one will +assert who knows what those qualifications are. Why they were chosen the +University best knows. If Congregation would but remember what a unique +and priceless treasure it possesses in this noble library, if it only +knew how easy it is for rashness and ignorance to damage and to ruin it, +how difficult it is even for knowledge to preserve it, ability and +willingness to serve it would be the indispensable and the only +qualifications demanded, and neither age nor rank, dignity, nor above +all party, would be for one moment taken into account. It may be +remarked that all the thirteen Curators very rarely attend a meeting: in +the course of the last two years such a thing has happened once only; +but a board, the members of which attend intermittently, is apt to show +signs of discontinuity in its proceedings; and a firm, consistent policy +is as necessary in the management of a library as it is in any other +affair of life. What is wanted in Curators is common sense, business +capacity, and a special knowledge of books. No one would dream of +appointing any man an inspector of locomotives on a railway, unless he +were thoroughly acquainted with the structure and working of a +locomotive, and capable, at a push, of driving it himself: a large +library is as complex as a locomotive, and quite as difficult to manage +effectively. Experts, who are not so numerous as might be supposed, will +back me in this assertion; but Convocation must not be astonished if it +is hotly and contemptuously denied. + +The minutes of the Curators' Meetings begin on March 20, 1793, and, with +a break of some four years when there are none (from Nov. 26, 1849, to +May 27, 1854), they continue to the present time. + +On Dec. 7, 1803, four printed books were allowed to go out of the +Library 'for the use of the Clarendon Press, to be returned when done +with,' contrary to statute so far as appears; and there was a somewhat +similar transaction on June 2, 1815. + +On Nov. 27, 1841, the sum of L500 was paid for the Sanscrit MSS. of +Prof. H. H. Wilson, who 'stipulated that the Boden Professor of Sanscrit +for the time being should be allowed the privilege of borrowing MSS. +(not more than two volumes at one time), giving for them a receipt, and +engagement for their safe return.' + +In 1850 came the Government Commission. The Commissioners have a good +deal to say about the Bodleian, which will be found in their Report made +in 1852, p. 115 sqq. I do not quote their remarks for a reason which +appears to me valid. There were seven Commissioners all told, and +although they were very eminent persons, there was not one amongst them, +so far as I can discover, who had any special knowledge of libraries, or +of the best way of managing them. Moreover, I myself heard one of those +seven Commissioners say, more than once in the course of conversation, +that he should think it no particular misfortune if the Bodleian and its +contents were totally destroyed. Nor do I feel called upon to incur the +expense of reproducing _in extenso_ the evidence on which the +Commissioners based their recommendations. It may be sufficient to say +that the following witnesses were in favour of the lending system, some +with restrictions and some with hardly any:--the Rev. R. W. Browne; the +Rev. R. Walker; the Rev. B. Jowett; the Rev. W. H. Cox; E. A. Freeman, +Esq.; the Rev. H. Wall; the Rev. R. Congreve; Sir E. Head; N. S. +Maskelyne, Esq.; and the Rev. J. Griffiths. It is not very easy to say +whether Prof. H. H. Wilson and Dr. Greenhill did or did not belong to +the lending party; but if they did, they proposed such restrictions as +would materially lessen the evil. Prof. H. H. Vaughan (a most wordy +person) wished to confine the right of borrowing to the Professors. +Against lending were H. E. Strickland, Esq.; Prof. W. F. Donkin; the +Rev. R. Scott; Travers Twiss, Esq.; Dr. Macbride; the Rev. E. S. +Ffoulkes; and Dr. Phillimore: and I hope nobody will be offended if I +say that knowledge of books and the way to use them is, as might be +expected, very much more conspicuous in those who oppose lending than in +those who advocate it. The Rev. R. W. Browne observes, that 'probably +manuscripts and such books as are unable to be replaced should not be +lent, because it would be quite worth the while of those who wished to +consult them to visit the Library for that purpose.' It is not often +that one meets with so cogent a piece of reasoning, and Mr. Browne's +'because' proves that he had studied Logic with considerable benefit; he +also thinks that the system in the Public Library at Cambridge 'works +well.' Another witness tells us that 'the experience of the Cambridge +University Library, and of many foreign libraries, shews that this +[i.e. lending under certain restrictions] can be done without danger, and +with small loss compared to the immense benefit obtained by it.' Sir +Edmund Head also admires the Goettingen and Cambridge plan, and avers +that experience has proved that the risk of loss and damage is +groundless. How different are these airy speculations from the hard +facts of Mr. Bradshaw the Cambridge Librarian, of the Librarian of the +Advocates' Library at Edinburgh, and of Mr. Panizzi (see below, p. 50 +sqq.); but then these gentlemen had the immense and perhaps unfair +advantage of knowing what they were talking about. + +In 1853 a Report and Evidence upon the recommendations of H. M.'s +Commissioners was presented to the Heads of Houses. "The Committee think +that the opportunity at present allowed for lending books in _special +cases_, by permission of Convocation, is sufficient to meet extreme +cases; and that it is unnecessary to give power to the Curators to lend +books from the Library." + +Dr. Pusey's evidence (p. 172) is that of a man who knows something of +books, and he points out how very fallacious is Sir E. Head's reference +to the Goettingen Library, which is altogether of a different character +from the Bodleian. "In 1825 it consisted almost entirely of modern +books, and whatever accessions it may since have had, it cannot, like +the Bodleian, have any large proportion of books, which, if lost, could +not be replaced." Dr. Pusey is strongly against lending Bodleian books; +but how little of principle there was in his objection will be seen +further on, where we shall find him more than once advocating loans. The +Rev. C. Marriott is also, on very sensible grounds, against lending; yet +it should in common fairness be known that he borrowed a most valuable +manuscript out of Oriel College Library, and died with it in his +possession. It was nearly sent to Africa by his executors, and was at +last, together with other books, actually _given_ (in all innocence of +course) to Bradfield College, from which establishment Oriel at last +retrieved it; so that in his case, as in that of Dr. Pusey, excellent +principles were joined to very loose practice. + +Dr. Bandinel, Bodley's Librarian, gives evidence which is short and +sweet. "However weighty some reasons may appear, the evidence materially +preponderates against lending books out of the Library. I need only +quote one great authority, that of Niebuhr," which he does; the passage +is given below, p. 49. Dr. Bandinel also adds, "I have had a long +conversation with the Librarian of the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh, +who stated, that upon comparing the books in that Library with their +different Catalogues previous to the formation of a new Catalogue, it +was found that owing to the practice of lending books from the Library +they had lost upwards of 6000, indeed very near 7000 works." Evidence, +p. 325; an instructive comment on the lending system. + +About this time, however, 'University Reform,' the true meaning of which +most of us here know, was in the air, and on May 22, 1856, the old +Library Statutes were abolished and an entirely new one enacted. +Bodley's own statute against letting books go out of the Library was of +course abrogated. That Convocation still retained the right to lend is +beyond question; but did anybody else, Curators or Librarian, acquire +the right to do so? That the University did not intend to convey any +such right seems perfectly clear; for the 11th clause of the new statute +(which is identical with the present statute, Tit. XX. iii. Sec. 11, +paragraphs 1 to 6) is headed "De libris extra Bibliothecam ad tempus +detinendis, _aut etiam_ efferendis." Now whoever says '_or even_ to have +them taken out,' and then proceeds to order whither they shall be taken, +namely to the Camera, forbids by implication their removal from the +Library on any other terms, or to any other place than those expressly +mentioned. That the University, whatever its intentions may have been, +did not as a matter of fact convey the right to any one is obvious from +the statute itself; and as the Curators never at any time possessed the +right of lending books, it is equally plain that they could not acquire +it without an express commission from the University. That the Curators +themselves were of this opinion is clear from a resolution of theirs +arrived at on Oct. 29, 1859, more than three years after the statute was +passed. I should say that in the interval no loan was sanctioned by +Convocation, or, so far as appears, even applied for. On Oct. 29, 1859, +nine Curators being present, 'The Vice-Chancellor mentioned the desire +of the Rev. Mr. ---- to be allowed to have books out of the Bodleian +Library for the purposes of study by Grace of Convocation. The Curators +resolved:--That it was not expedient that such a proposition should be +made to Convocation.' The Curators, or a majority of them, did not dream +of arrogating to themselves the power of lending, and they, as well as +the applicant, assume as self-evident that books could not be borrowed. +Books could be sent to the Camera; they could not go elsewhere without +the sanction of Convocation. The new statute then did not make lending +(except by Convocation) lawful, nor was there any intention to make it +lawful. + +That same year, on Nov. 8, a Curator gave notice that he would +move:--'That Books and MSS. be taken out of the Bodleian Library under +special conditions with consent of the Curators;' that is, according to +my view of the case, he gave notice of a motion to take by force and +illegally a power which the University had not given; but it does not +appear by the minutes that any such motion was actually made. + +On Oct. 25, 1860, 'leave was granted by Convocation for the lending two +Laud Manuscripts, 561 and 563, being copies of the _Historia +Hierosoylmitana_, by Albert of Aix, to the French Government[14].' Of +this loan there is, I believe, no trace in the minutes, but it is one +more proof that the Curators, or a majority of them, did not believe +either in their right or in their power to lend books. Whether +Convocation lent these two Laudian manuscripts under bond duly approved, +and for the purposes of publication, Mr. Macray does not state; but it +looks very much as if the University was just as ignorant of its +obligations as the Curators of a later date were of theirs. + +[14] Macray, Annals, p. 295. + +On Feb. 4, 1862, a man applied for a printed book, which he wanted for a +law case in which he was engaged; the result was this:--"Resolved--That, +there being nothing in the present statutes to forbid the exercise of +the discretion of the Curators in such a case, the book in question be +lent, under such securities and with such precautions as the Librarian +may deem necessary." Let any man read the eleventh and twelfth sections +of the present Bodleian Statute (identical, so far as the present +question is concerned, with that of 1856), and he will see that no +discretion is left to the Curators at all; there is no hint, however +faint, of "such a case." In 1862, Feb. 4, the Curators assume that they +have a power to lend books; on Nov. 7 of the same year they go a step +further, for they leave it 'to the discretion of the Librarian to lend, +if he shall deem fit, a certain MS. to the Belgian Government.' Having +themselves no power to lend, they authorise the Librarian to lend if he +chooses. + +In 1863, Feb. 17, notice was given of the following motion:--'That on +application from the Professors teaching at the Museum the Bodley +Librarian be empowered to lend, for a limited time, any books bearing on +the subjects there taught that are wanted by the Students at the Museum; +the books to be returned at the end of each term:' and on March 17 of +the same year this motion was carried with certain alterations, 'and it +was resolved that it should be referred to the Council with a view on +their approval of obtaining the sanction of Convocation'; in other +words, the Curators acknowledged that Convocation could lend, and that +they themselves could not lawfully do so. + +In 1859 the Curators, or a majority of them, are clear that they have no +power to lend: in 1862 they assume that they have the power, moreover +they exercise it, and they authorise the Librarian to lend a MS. to the +Belgian Government; yet on Feb. 16, 1864, they appear to disclaim this +power, for they resolve, 'That it be proposed to Convocation to lend +three Icelandic MSS.--to the Icelandic Society in Copenhagen at the +request of the Danish Minister.' They either had the power to lend, or +they had not: if they had, this application to Convocation was +unnecessary; if they had not, they had been occupied for some time in +the not very dignified employment of ignoring a statute which it was +their peculiar duty to observe. + +On April 20, 1864, Dr. Pusey most inconsistently moves that a Syriac MS. +be lent; and on May 11 lent it was. + +In 1865, March 11, a foreigner has leave 'to borrow Arabian MSS., +provided the application for the use thereof be made through the Saxon +Minister, and a bond for L50 entered into for the safe return.' + +On June 3, 'the use of Manuscripts 169--187 was granted on the +application of Lord John Russell to the French Government for the use of +the Imprimerie of Paris [_sic_] for two months.' + +In 1866 the Curators lent manuscripts to the University Library of +Goettingen; and in 1868, Jan. 31, 'it was resolved to lend MS. Selden B. +31 to the Prussian Government.' Ye Gods and Goddesses! We only got +Selden's books at all by consenting to the condition that they never +should be lent under any circumstances whatever; and here we have five +Curators, 'all honorable men,' quietly sending off one of Selden's +manuscripts to Germany. On March 21st of the same year, three Curators +send off another of Selden's MSS. to London. In 1868 an application for +the loan of four Hebrew manuscripts was granted, and apparently they +went to a private house. On Feb. 9, 1869, two Curators, one being Dr. +Pusey, 'were requested to act in the matter of the loan of Hebrew MSS. +to Mr. ---- of ---- College, Cambridge.' On April 17 of the same year a +Laudian MS. was lent to Mr. ----; there is not a syllable in the minutes +about a bond, though that was absolutely necessary, nor any statement +that the book was required for the purpose of publication; Laud's +stipulations are quietly, and no doubt ignorantly broken under the +presidency of the Vice-Chancellor. From this time loans are perpetually +being made; and at least six manuscripts other than those mentioned +above were lent this year. At one meeting (May 22) the whole business +was the granting of loans. In 1870 fifteen MSS. at least were lent, +including one of Douce's--poor fellow! he little dreamt of the fate in +store for his lovely books. One MS. out of the archives was sent to +Philadelphia! In 1871 some thirty manuscripts were lent; many to private +hands; others to Berlin, Cambridge, and Philadelphia. Not content with +these exploits, the Curators positively sent the 39th volume of the +Camden Society's publications to Rouen! In 1872 nearly thirty +manuscripts were lent: one 'subject to the approval of the Librarian,' +thus granting to him concurrent authority with themselves. These books +went some to private persons; others to Cambridge, London, Leyden, +Berlin, Munster, Leipzic, Kiel, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. The +manuscript sent to Munster was an old English book of Laud's; there was +no bond, nor is there any hint that it was lent for publication. Besides +manuscripts they lent printed books, amongst the rest Tyndale's New +Testament of 1534! This portentous act was perpetrated on May 25th, +1872; and the same day there appears this entry on the minutes: 'In +reference to applications for loans during the Long Vacation, it was +agreed, on the suggestion of the Librarian, that he be empowered in +urgent cases, with the assent of two Curators, to grant loans during the +Long Vacation'; an utterly illegal resolution not rescinded till 1886. + +For ten years, ever since 1862, the Curators had been lending, on their +own authority, and without a shadow of statutable right, manuscripts and +printed books to persons in Oxford and other parts of England, as well +as to foreign countries: will it be believed that on Feb. 8, 1873, the +Librarian was asked to state his opinion as to 'the lending of books out +of the Library under proper restrictions;' and that on Feb. 28 of the +same year, 'it was agreed that the Curators should proceed by statute to +take power to order the lending out of books under certain +restrictions'? Why this was the very thing they had been doing for years +past; and now by agreeing 'to proceed by statute' they plainly declare +their opinion that for all those years they had been doing something for +which they had no statutable warrant. However, they drew up a draft +statute which was laid before Council, and Council promptly 'struck out +the proposal to lend books out of the Library;' whereupon on March 8th, +1873, one of the Curators moved 'that Council be requested to insert a +provision that books be lent out from evening to morning. This was +agreed to'. On which resolution I shall make no remark, for fear my pen +might run away with me; but most people will be able to supply that +comment which I refrain from making. + +This very year 1873 they lent the York Missal, unless in the judgment of +the Librarian 'too valuable to be lent out of the Library': there is a +touch of modesty in this which disarms me, otherwise I could say +something very true, but very unpleasant. The same year an application +was made for one of the Douce MSS., but 'by reason of regulations as to +Douce MSS. this was refused.' What regulations these were it would be +interesting to know, for I cannot discover that there are at present any +regulations, at all events in writing. + +At length the Curators obtained their desire. On March 25, 1873, a form +of statute was proposed by one Head of a House and seconded by another, +and on May 2, 1873, it was carried without a division in the following +shape: (Tit. XX. iii. Sec. 11. 10.) Liceat Curatoribus, sicut mos fuit, +libros impressos et manuscriptos, scientiae causa, viris doctis sive +Academicis sive externis mutuari: that is to say, _Let it be lawful for +the Curators, as the custom has been, to borrow books printed and +manuscript in the interest of knowledge for learned men, whether Members +of the University or not_. A board of grave and learned men--_viri +variis doctrinis et literis imbuti_, as the statute says--wish to do +openly, what they had been in the habit of doing, as it would appear, +unknown to Council, and against its wishes (for it 'struck out the +proposal to lend books out of the Library'): there is something droll in +that, but it is nothing to what came of it. They petition for leave to +_lend_, walk off perfectly contented with a permission to _borrow_, and +nobody sees the joke! 'Reform' seems not only to have impaired our +knowledge of Latin, but to have diminished our sense of the +ridiculous--a most dolorous result. That Convocation intended by this +strangely worded statute to convey to the Curators the power to _lend_ +books is beyond question; it is equally beyond question that it conveyed +the power to _borrow_ them, for in good Latin and in our statute Latin +alike, _mutuari_ means not to lend, but to borrow, as every Latin +Dictionary from the Hortus Vocabulorum down to Lewis and Short +testifies; and as to our statute Latin we find: quantum magister ... +potest de cista de Guildeforde mutuari (Anstey, p. 99); quod magister +regens mutuari possit quadraginta solidos (_ibid._ p. 132); de eadem +mutuari poterit ad usum suum proprium.... quinque marcas (_ibid._ p. +338). As _mutuari_ is correctly used in the barbarous language of our +old statutes, so is it in the more polished Latinity of the Laudian +code, in which the word occurs once, and I think only once, and as the +devil of mischief will have it, in the Bodleian Statute itself, where 'e +cista D. Thomae Bodley mutuari' means 'to borrow from Sir Thomas Bodley's +chest'. The meaning of the word then is clear beyond dispute, and what +it means in one part of the statutes it must mean in another. There is +plenty of barbarous Latin in our statute book, but in every case it is +justified or excused by long usage, or by the fact that other learned +bodies have constantly used the same or similar language; but the +statute of 1873 is probably the only one either in ancient or modern +times, where without necessity, without precedent, and without warning, +a word which means and always has meant one thing is used under the +erroneous impression that it means another, and that not by schoolboys, +but by their elders. A statute, however, means what it plainly says: +with the intentions of a legislative body we have no concern except in +so far as they are clearly expressed, and every prudent judge knows what +grave evils spring from neglect of this principle of interpretation. +(See Dwarris On Statutes, p. 580 sqq.) + +Whether this statute really gives the power to lend may be disputed. On +the one hand it may be said, that those who borrow a book _for_ learned +men may do what they like with it, and may therefore lend it. At first +sight this seems probable and reasonable, but the more it is thought of +the less probable does it appear. On the other hand it may be said, that +since the statute does not plainly and expressly give the Curators the +power to lend, they have no power to do so at all. Be that as it may, no +such scruples troubled the minds of the Curators; every one seems to +have been completely mesmerised, and this singular statute was +straightway put in practice after a fashion; for on June 23, 1873, 'an +application from Professor ---- was considered, asking for loan of such +books or MSS. as he might require, at the discretion of the Librarian, +under the provisions of Sec.11, ch. 10 of the Bodleian amended statute, +during the present vacation. Mr. ---- and Mr. ---- made similar +applications. It was agreed to accede to the request in the case of the +three applicants respectively'; that is to say, within a few days of the +passing of the statute it is broken. The Curators do not agree to borrow +books for the applicants, the only thing the statute allowed them to do; +the statute says not one word about the discretion of the Librarian, +nor does it allow the Curators in this case to leave anything to it: in +the buying of books (Stat. XX. iii. Sec. 4, 4) they may leave much to his +discretion, but nowhere else is any such permission given: so the +Curators took it. They did not do what the statute says they may do, and +they did do what no statute permits them to do; and as they began that +day, so have they continued to this moment. No change is made in the +minutes. Before as well as after the passing of this statute the form +always is 'applications for loans,' or some equivalent phrase. In 1873 a +dozen MSS. or more, besides printed books, including the Hereford +Missal! were lent exactly as before, some to private persons, some to +libraries, and they went to Leeds, Cambridge, Utrecht, Kiel, Berlin, &c. + +In 1874 more than twenty MSS. were lent to Jena, Cambridge, Marburg, +Vienna (two of the Junius collection were sent there), and to private +hands. In 1875 MSS. were sent to St. Petersburg, Bonn, Vienna, Paris, +Cambridge, Edinburgh, Konigsberg, Heidelberg, and some to private +houses; three printed books also were lent, without a shadow of reason +so far as can be seen, to a gentleman residing in the Temple. + +On Oct. 30 two of the sub-librarians applied 'for the privilege of +taking books out of the Library. Their application was agreed to upon +the terms stated in the minutes of June 23, 1873, in the case of a +similar application from others.' + +And here it should be noticed that all the loans do not by any means +necessarily appear in the minutes. Owing to the illegal resolution of +the Curators of May 25, 1872, (see above, p. 16,) no loans during the +Long Vacation are there entered. Moreover, at some time unknown to me +the Librarian was quietly permitted to let certain persons borrow books +at his discretion, and there at last grew up, it is to be presumed, with +the knowledge of the Curators, what the Library officials call the +Borrowers' List, and what after a time appears in the minutes as 'the +privileged list.' As every one can see, there is nothing whatever in +the statute to justify all this. + +I do not for one moment mean to charge the Curators with doing anything +which they thought to be improper or beyond their discretion; but I do +most distinctly charge them with having in fact exceeded their +statutable powers, and with taking the law into their own hands, all, I +doubt not, with the best and most innocent intentions. Unfortunately +some of the most mischievous acts in the world have been done with the +best and purest intentions. Like all other members of the University the +Curators have promised to observe the statutes, and the Vice-Chancellor +and Proctors have not only done that, but have solemnly pledged +themselves to see that the statutes are observed, and are moreover armed +with power to enforce them. If statutes are absurd, it is clearly the +duty of those who control legislation in this place to get them +abolished or amended without delay; if they are not absurd, all are +bound to obey them. As regards the Bodleian there is a special order +(XX. iii. Sec. 12. 3) directing the Curators what to do with an imperfect +statute, and how to do it; but it is one thing to make a statute; it is +a very different thing to get people to obey it. No one who sees the +ease with which statutes are made and unmade, can doubt, that if those +of the Bodleian are defective in any respect, it needs but a word from +one or two members of Council to have all defects remedied. If the +Curators want fresh powers, or more discretion, and greater latitude of +action than they are at present allowed, they have but to ask and +obtain; but I protest most vehemently against the usurpation of powers +not granted by the University as a thing _pessimi exempli_. If the +Bodleian Curators are to do exactly as they like, the University might +just as well spare itself the trouble of legislation. If the University +deliberately chooses to have its statutes nullified, there is, I +suppose, no help for it; yet I cannot but suspect that the University +has no knowledge--at all events no clear and distinct knowledge--of the +way in which we have dealt with the statutes which were intended to mark +out our duties. The secret growth of 'the borrowers' list' is as +singular a thing as is to be found in the history of the Bodleian. The +Curators and the Curators alone have, by a statute of their own +devising, a right to borrow; yet the late Librarian assumed to himself +the right of naming persons who are to have the privilege of borrowing, +and the Curators quietly allowed it, without, as I believe, the faintest +suspicion that they were doing what was wrong. + +In 1876 eleven MSS. went some to private persons, others to Augsburg, +Paris, Goettingen, Heidelberg, Cambridge: the book sent to Augsburg +without bond, and without guarantee for publication, was one of Laud's +Greek MSS. On June 24 an application 'from Mr. ---- for use of books at +home during Vacation' was 'assented to.' In 1877 some fourteen or +fifteen MSS. were sent to Heidelberg, Paris, Cambridge, London, Rome, +Copenhagen, Munich, Marburg, besides printed books: the book sent to +Munich was one of Laud's, again in total defiance of all his +stipulations. + +In 1878 a dozen MSS., or more, went to different people, to Bonn, to +Pesth, Leyden, and Rostock, besides printed books: one book with +illuminations was refused, 'as being one of a class not lent out.' I +have before observed that I know of no written rules at all. On Oct. 26 +of this year the Curators surpassed themselves, for there was an +application 'from the Rev. ----, Fellow of ---- College, for permission +to borrow works from the Library to be taken to his rooms. In this +matter it was agreed that power to act on the clause 10, Sec. 11 of the +Bodleian Statute _be delegated_ by the Curators to the Librarian.' There +were ten Curators present on this memorable occasion. The Curators are +themselves delegates, and if they had the right to delegate to the +Librarian the power which the University delegated to them, then what is +sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander: if the Curators _mero +motu_ may delegate their powers, the Librarian may with equal right and +equal reason delegate his, and so on _in infinitum_, to the utter ruin +of all sense of responsibility. + +It would be tedious to enumerate all the loans; suffice it to say that +they have gone on year after year; and from this point I shall only +mention a few notable cases. + +On May 31, 1879, 'the request of Professor ---- to borrow printed books +from the Library was granted.' Considering that only seven months +before, the Curators had resolved 'to delegate' their lending powers to +the Librarian, it is strange that they did not refer the applicant +straight to that official. + +In 1880, June 11, a Selden MS. was ordered to Paris; ten Curators were +present, and it is to be presumed that not one of them knew, what he was +bound to know, namely, the special stipulation made with respect to all +Selden's books. + +On Oct. 29, 1880, the Junior Proctor gave notice of the following +motion:--'That in the case of MSS. sent out on loan to persons resident +within the United Kingdom, a pecuniary bond shall be executed by the +person to whom such MS. is lent, of such value as shall be determined +from time to time by the Curators, unless the MS. is sent for use only +within the precincts of the British Museum, or some other approved +Public Library.' On Nov. 27 this motion was made and lost. + +In 1881, June 4, 'an application from ---- for the use of books dealing +with the subject of Biblical Chronology at his own house appeared to the +Curators to fall under the provisions of the Statute XX. iii. Sec. 11, 10; +the Librarian exercising discretion as to the number of volumes issued.' +On Oct. 26, 1878, not three years before, the Curators formally +'delegated' their powers to the Librarian; on May 31, 1879, they assume +that they possess what they have 'delegated'; and here they do the same +thing, and all this without any formal and solemn resumption by them of +their 'delegated' powers. On Oct. 29, 1881, it was reported that +Professor ---- of Cambridge had not returned a manuscript borrowed _four +years_ before, and the Vice-Chancellor was requested to communicate with +the Professor in the matter. The manuscript never has been, and in all +probability never will be restored, and our only consolation must be the +fact that it was a transcript of another manuscript in the Bodleian, not +on that account necessarily of little value, for a transcript may, and +sometimes does, become of inestimable value; why it does so, all +acquainted with books know. + +In 1882, Feb. 11, a Laudian MS. was ordered to Heidelberg, and a Selden +MS. to St. Petersburg. On Dec. 2, 1882, 'it was agreed that Mr.----, +Fellow of ---- be one of the persons privileged to take out books. It was +agreed that the Librarians be allowed to take out books and MSS. for +their own use.' + +In 1883, Jan. 27, the Librarian suggested 'that all Fellows and +ex-Fellows of Colleges should be entitled to have books out of the +Library'; the suggestion was not adopted. On the same day, 'Mr. ---- +(---- College) and Dr. ---- were placed on the list of persons specially +entitled.' On March 3 of the same year, 'Dr. Frankfurter's application +to be placed on the privileged list of borrowers was assented to.' There +we have it at last, in black and white--_the privileged list of +borrowers_, as unstatutable and as illegal a thing as could well be +permitted. The words '_let it be lawful for the Curators to borrow books +for learned men_,' (always supposing the Latin not to be downright +nonsense,) cannot convey to the Curators the power to let other people +borrow books; for if they could, then any words may have any meaning, +which comes to the same thing as saying that they have no meaning at +all. Yet it is on these words, and on these words alone, that the +'borrowers' list' has been made to depend; though how educated men can +have extracted from this statute any meaning whatever which would +justify, or even seem, in the most distant way, to justify the act of +conveying to others the power to borrow books from the library is one +of the most astonishing things that I ever met with in the whole course +of my life. But it will be said that the Bodleian Curators for thirteen +years understood _mutuari_ to mean 'lend', and therefore they might +institute a 'borrowers' list'. It is an astonishing, not to say +staggering, fact that they did so understand it, yet the borrowers' list +is none the less illegal. Nay, I have heard a Curator in his place +maintain, that as there could be no doubt what the University intended +when it passed this statute, _mutuari_ in this place must mean 'lend'. +Much as I admired the boldness of the assertion, I was unable to commend +either the law or the logic of it; the consequences which would at once +follow from the position, that if the intentions of a legislative body +are clear it matters not how it expresses them, are too palpably absurd +to find acceptance with ordinary minds. However, let it be supposed, +that instead of _mutuari_ the word actually used were _commodare_. You +are still no better off. The University on this hypothesis gives to the +Curators as a board the power of lending a specific book to a specific +person, and that is all. It does not give the Curators the power to +invest any person or persons with the right or privilege of borrowing +books, still less does it convey the power of creating a class of +persons who have such a right or privilege. This is not only clear to +plain common sense, but, as I am advised, is plain as a matter of law; +and I am further assured that, if any book is damaged or lost in +consequence of the Curators persisting in such a course, they become +themselves personally liable to the University. + +This illegal borrowers' list comprises at this moment (subtracting one +dead man and double entries) one hundred and eleven persons, besides the +Clarendon Press. Among these persons are two ladies, who can have no +conceivable right to be where they are, for even those whose tolerant +Latinity suffers them to take _mutuari_ for _commodare_ will hardly +maintain that '_viris doctis_' covers learned women. It includes too +non-residents and foreigners; and I am informed that manuscripts have +been sent for the use of one of these persons more than a hundred miles +as the crow flies. Books are sent by post, and Bodleian money is spent +to pay for carriage. The finances of the Library, however, deserve a +paper all to themselves, and some day they shall have one. + +On May 26, 1883, 'an application from Dr. Leumann to be placed on the +privileged list was agreed to.' On Oct. 20, of the same year, two +persons were 'placed on the privileged list of readers;' and on Nov. 24, +another 'was placed on the privileged list;' and from that moment to the +present no other formula is employed in the minutes. + +In 1885, Oct. 31, the Librarian applied 'for authority to decline +requests for loans of Selden MSS. and books, and of Laud's MSS. (except +for purposes of publication), without referring the application to the +Curators, as being contrary to the terms of the respective donations. +This was agreed to.' It was, and to my great astonishment it passed +without any remark whatever. + +In 1886, March 13, 'Liceat Curatoribus' was ruled to mean 'the consent +of a majority of Curators;' that is to say, the illegal resolution of +May 25, 1872, was silently rescinded. On May 15 of the same year a +committee of four was appointed to consider the practice of loans. At a +meeting on June 19, another name was added to the borrowers' list. Every +Curator knew that the legality of their practice with respect to loans, +and especially with respect to the borrowers' list, had been openly +challenged; notwithstanding this, and in spite of protest then and there +made, the chairman put the name to the vote, and a majority actually +voted for it. This proceeding was, in my opinion (and not in mine only), +irregular and improper to say the least of it, but it was highly +characteristic. After waiting to see whether the Vice-Chancellor or any +other Curator would call attention to the charge brought against the +board, and finding, as I was sure would be the case, that no one shewed +any disposition to do so, I gave notice of a motion for the next +statutable meeting:--_That the borrowers' list be abolished as illegal; +that all books in the hands of borrowers be at once recalled as having +been illegally lent; and that for the future the Statute XX. iii. Sec. 11. +10 be faithfully observed._ + +On June 28 it was agreed (I being silent for an obvious reason) that +during the Vacation all the Curators in Oxford should meet every +fortnight in the Library at 2 p.m. solely to consider applications for +loans. During the Vacation six such meetings were summoned. On July 10, +three Curators met and refused an application; on Aug. 21, and on Sept. +11, only two were present, and of course declined to act; on Sept. 25, +and Oct. 9, I, who attended all the meetings, found myself alone; on +Oct. 23, there were six of us, and business was adjourned on the ground +that the whole question of loans would be debated on Oct. 30. +Accordingly, on Oct. 30, _all_ the Curators made their appearance, a +thing I never saw before, though they were not all present during the +whole of the proceedings. The motion to abolish the borrowers' list was +duly made and seconded; then, after some confused talk, which could not +be dignified by the name of a debate, an amendment was moved, 'That the +consideration of the regulations under which books _be lent_ be referred +to a committee'; and this was carried, all the Curators being present. +An instruction to the committee was also moved, 'To consider what +alteration is required in the statute with regard to the borrowing of +books'; which was also carried. Next we considered the report of the +committee on loans, and returned it in a somewhat mangled condition to +the reconsideration of those who drew it up. After that, applications +for loans numbered 1 to 16 were discussed, and _all_ were refused. This +exhausted the agenda paper, and should, I apprehend, have finished the +business of the day. However, an application for the loan of manuscripts +_not_ on the agenda paper was considered, and the board, which up to +that moment had refused all applications, including one from Sir +Richard Burton, granted the loan of _seventeen_ manuscripts to _one_ +man. In self-defence, let me say that I always vote against all loans +when there is a division. + +On Nov. 8 the loan committee recommended that Council be asked to +propose amendments in Stat. Tit. XX. sect. iii. Sec. 11, and thought that +'the farther consideration of the rules framed by them and amended at +the Curators' meeting on Oct. 30 should for the present be postponed.' +On Nov. 25, ten Curators being present, this recommendation was +considered. One of the Curators thought that while there was 'no harm' +in applying for a new statute, yet that it was 'a waste of time' and 'a +little ridiculous': another wished to move an amendment and have the new +statute in _English_, but some of us saw (though no one said so) that +such an amendment would be a highly comic confession on the part of the +_viri variis doctrinis et literis imbuti_; and accordingly it was not +pressed. Then the same Curator proposed that _commodare_ should be +substituted for _mutuari_, and that _sicut mos fuit_ should be struck +out. Four voted for this amendment, which was lost. Even had it been +carried, it would still have been unlawful to lend books to women, for, +as was pointed out at the time, _vir_ means _a man_; but the minority +was in no mood to be affected by philological facts. The original +recommendation was then passed. + +The board having thus expressed its opinion that a new statute was +necessary to enable it to lend books had, it might be thought, asserted +that the existing statute does not enable it to do so; accordingly we at +once turned our attention to applications for loans. The first article +applied for was not a book at all, but an inscribed bronze vessel; and +it was observed that we have no statutable right, in other words no +power whatever, to lend such a thing; whereupon some one remarked that +it might be done, _because it is not forbidden_, an argument, which (if +valid) would lead to some startling conclusions. + +However, that a decree of Convocation to authorise the loan of this +vessel should be asked for was duly moved and seconded; then the +Curator, who wished to patch the Bodleian Latin statute with a bit of +English, moved as an amendment 'that the Curators lend it', quite +ignoring the fact that they had no statutable power to do so. For this +amendment three Curators voted, one abstained, and the rest voted +against it: finally the original motion was carried. After that, two +loans of books were refused and three were granted. + +In applying for a decree to enable them to lend this vessel the Curators +turned over a new leaf. The whole Bodleian statute consists of ten +octavo pages, eleven lines and four words: it can be read out aloud in +thirty minutes, and by eye alone in half that time: there is, therefore, +no excuse whatever for not knowing its contents, and still less for not +obeying it. It is not my purpose at the present moment to point out how +often, and in how many ways, we drive a coach and four through statutes +intended to control our actions; but to complete the subject of loans, +and dismissing the practice of book-lending from further consideration, +it may be noted that the Stat. XX. iii. Sec. 11. 9 allows the Curators +under specified conditions to place certain prints and drawings either +in the Radcliffe or in the Taylor Building; but with this exception, if +exception it be, no power is anywhere given to them to lend any picture, +coin, antiquity, or other object belonging to the library. Nevertheless +I find the following entries in the minutes:-- + +On April 26, 1865, 'it was agreed to lend "Miniatures" to the Lords of +the Committee of Council on Education to be exhibited in the South +Kensington Museum.' + +On Oct. 28, 1865, 'the Curators sanction the loan of such Pictures as +may be desired for the National Exhibition of Portraits at Kensington in +1866.' + +On Dec. 12, 1865, 'that the loan of the Pictures according to the list +sent, save that of Sir Thomas Bodley, be granted to South Kensington +Museum Exhibition of National Portraits.' + +On March 8, 1867, 'a letter from the Secretary of the Earl of Derby was +read asking for the loan of eighteen Pictures for exhibition at +Kensington. This was acceded to.' + +On Jan. 31, 1868, 'it was resolved ... to lend to the Leeds Exhibition +the Portraits they wish of Yorkshire Worthies.' + +On Feb. 5, 1870, 'an application from Mr. Cosmo Innis, of the General +Register house, Edinburgh, for the loan of the old map of Britain of the +14th century, which hangs on the wall of the Library, to be traced in +facsimile, under the care of Sir Henry James, for the 2nd volume of the +National MSS. of Scotland, was granted.' + +On Feb. 14, 1874, 'an application from the South Kensington Museum was +read, asking for the loan of remarkable specimens of Book-binding for +next year's International Exhibition. In this matter it was agreed that +the Museum should be invited to send a person to Oxford to inspect, and +that it should be left to the discretion of the Librarian to decide upon +lending any specimen required.' + +On April 28, 1877, 'an application from Mr. Blades [_sic_] on behalf of +Caxton memorial committee for the loan of certain early printed books to +a Public Exhibition at South Kensington was considered and granted.' + +On May 26, 1877, application 'for Bibles to be sent to the Caxton +Exhibition. This was granted, and the Librarian was directed to take +such measures as might be necessary to ensure secure transmission.' + +On May 11, 1878, permission was given to lend the Selden Portrait to the +Nottingham Art Exhibition; and an application from the Bath and West of +England Agricultural Society for works of art, &c. for their approaching +meeting at Oxford, was considered. This was left to the Librarian's +discretion. + +On Nov. 13, 1880, Wyngarde's Plan of London 'to be granted under a bond' +to Mr. Wheatley. + +On April 29, 1882, the Portrait of Sam. Butler was lent to the +Worcestershire Exhibition of Fine Arts. + +On Feb. 2, 1884, Drake's Chair was lent to the Mayor of Plymouth. + +On May 2, 1885, 'the Librarian presented applications from the +Exhibition of Inventions now being held for the loan of certain MSS.; +certain early printed books; certain works on music. It was agreed that +the Librarian be empowered to lend out of the above as required, as he +may think well, to the Exhibition.' + +At this last meeting I was present, and the following is a verbatim copy +of my note written the same day:-- + +'An Exhibition of Inventions (I have not got the name correctly) applied +for the loan of certain MSS. and books from Bodleian: 5 MSS. Liturgies: +3 Bodley MSS. 515, 775, 842: Gough, Missal 336: an Ashmole book, and 2 +English.--I objected, but the loan was carried, except as to 775 +Bodley.' I have lately been informed that one of the books sent up to be +stared at by the mob of sightseers was a Selden book: this I neither +knew nor could have known at the time, or it should have been stopped, +if protesting could have stopped it. + +In every one of these cases the Curators, with the most perfect +innocence, took upon themselves to do what they had not a shadow of +right to do. If the University is content to have its property so dealt +with that in case of damage or loss its only remedy would be to mulct +the Curators, there is nothing more to be said; but it is just as well +that the University should know what has been done in the past, and what +would have been done in the future, had not a protest been made against +the practice; and even now, though the board as a board has seemingly +condemned its former doings, it still contains a stubborn and impenitent +minority. If the University wishes its statutes to be obeyed, it should +ordain substantial pecuniary fines for breaches of them; if it does not +care whether they are obeyed or not, it is a pity that it wastes its +time in enacting them. + + * * * * * + +And now as to the policy of lending the printed books and manuscripts of +the Bodleian. The question is not whether it is a good or a bad thing to +lend books, nor whether it is a good thing for this or that library to +do so; it is simply whether it is right to lend Bodleian books. It may +be argued that it is right to do so-- + +1. Because books are made to be used, and they will be very much more +used if they are lent than if they are not; moreover it is generally +more convenient to read in one's own room than it is in a public place. +Some men cannot read, certainly cannot read and think in a library, or +in the midst of company; I cannot myself, and all that I have ever been +able to do in such places is to make extracts, verify references and the +like; but to read a book as I should in my own room is to me, and +probably to many people, impossible. If you go to a public institution +you must go when it is open; you must sit still; you must not whistle or +make a noise; you must not smoke; you cannot lie down and read on your +back; you cannot throw the book aside, go for a walk, and resume your +perusal; you cannot read quietly over the fire of an evening; you cannot +read in the small hours of the night, and so on _ad infinitum_. Yet all +this you can do if you are allowed to borrow the books. You can then +treat them exactly as if they were your own. It is clear that this +argument may be expanded in a multitude of ways, and no one is so +destitute of imagination as not to be able to fill up the details to +suit his own particular case and fancy. + +The answer to it is very simple. You cannot by any device or contrivance +combine the advantages of private and of public property. He who wishes +to use the books of a public library must submit to many personal +inconveniences; and the man who is unwilling to deny himself for the +general good is the very last person in the community to whom any favour +ought to be shown, and of all people he least deserves the favour of +borrowing. He who has ever been foolish enough to lend his own books +freely, learns by almost unvaried experience that hardly one man in +twenty can be trusted: your book comes back (when it comes back at all) +more damaged by a month's outing than the owner would occasion in fifty +years. The book of a public library is even less regarded, as a rule, +than that belonging to a friend; for the friend may have a sharp tongue, +and a knack of using it, whereas a librarian is an official; even if he +ever has time to look through the books when they are returned, his +censure is disregarded, and after all accidents will happen, and the +book might possibly have been equally damaged had it never left the +library walls. It is really astonishing how few men there are in the +present day who know how to use a book without doing it real and often +serious damage. Over and over again have I seen men who would be very +angry to be called boors deliberately break the back of a book. Over and +over again, both in libraries and in private rooms, have I seen the +headband broken, simply because people did not know how to take a book +off a shelf. Again and again I have seen men of education (but grossly +ignorant for all that of the ways of books) play such pranks with my own +volumes as made me shudder. The horrid trick of turning a leaf by +wetting a finger I have seen practised in this seat of learning over and +over again by Graduates, by Professors, by Heads of Houses; and years +ago I saw that same nasty trick played _pro pudor!_ in the sacred +precincts of the Bodleian itself _on a manuscript_, which will bear to +its last moment the impression of the dirty thumb (and it _was_ dirty) +that perpetrated the uncleanly act. Often and often you see a man +sitting close over the fire with a well-bound volume; a few such +experiments will ruin the binding of any book; if it is his own, well +and good, though even so the act is that of a barbarian: but suppose it +a Bodleian book, what then? Why in that case the binding bills will be +higher than ever, to say nothing about the ruin of the book itself. A +man who knows how to handle a book will use a volume habitually for +years and leave no trace of wear and tear behind him; but the average +man, even though he may be a Master of Arts, is, not unfrequently, +totally unfit to have the use of any books in good condition, even in a +library, much less out of one. + +The scholars and readers of former days seem to have been far more +careful in their habits than men are now. Look at the books of the great +collectors--Grolier, the Maioli, Selden, De Thou, the Colberts, and the +like. These men read their books; and Grolier and Thomas Maioli +certainly lent them: yet even after all these years, though time and +neglect may have ruined the magnificent bindings--bindings such as few, +if any, modern collectors ever indulge in--the books themselves are +internally spotless. I have myself scores of volumes, many of them three +or four hundred years old, clean and pure as the day they were issued +from the press; they have most certainly been used and read, but used by +men of clean hands and decent habits. In the present day books are so +common and so cheap, and modern readers too frequently so unrefined, +that they get into a vile habit of misusing them, and to such +persons--that is, to the great majority--the books of a public library +cannot be safely trusted except under the very strictest supervision. +The slovenly practice of placing one open book on another, a practice +sternly forbidden in many foreign libraries, may be seen in full swing +both at the Camera and in the Bodleian; and no one seems to be aware how +ruinous it is, or to have the least suspicion that he who knows how to +handle books never treats them so. Treated in a cleanly and decent +manner, there is not the least reason why a book printed on good paper +should not last for twenty centuries or more; treated as they are too +often treated here in Oxford, they will hardly last as many months. + +By lending the books as we illegally do, we are perceptibly hastening +the destruction of a library intended by its founder and benefactors to +be a blessing for generations of scholars yet unborn. + +2. Books are to be lent, and what is more ought to be sent out of +Oxford, because it is an immense convenience to students at a distance +to have Bodleian treasures close at hand. Not a doubt about it; vastly +convenient. Suppose I am studying Greek sculpture, it would be very +convenient to get all the master-pieces sent from the various galleries +of Europe to London or Oxford. It would not only be a convenience, but a +joy and a delight, to have over the Venus of Melos. Instead of sitting +for hours together, as I used to do, in the Louvre, it would be much +more convenient to go down to the New Schools and gaze on that glorious +and divine being. Does any one suddenly scent an absurdity in the +supposition? Why so do I, but the absurdity is in the whole argument, +not in the particular application of it. Some people who have not a gift +for seeing the point of things will ride off by saying that the Venus is +a majestic beauty, and that the expense of her carriage and insurance +would be enormous. Such an objection is pointless, because it evades the +question of convenience; but let us take a case where weight will not +oppress us. Say you study Greek gems; would it not be very convenient to +have some of the best from Naples, from Paris, from Rome, and from +Vienna, sent here to the Bodleian, where you could study them at your +leisure? They are more portable than books, far less liable to damage, +and hardly more valuable. Do you think that any guardian of such +treasures would be so foolish as to listen to your request? Would any +nation, city, or even University, permit it? + +The cases, it will be said, are not parallel. Gems, coins, medals, +statuettes, are too valuable to be lent; the books and manuscripts which +the Bodleian Curators lend are comparatively valueless. I am by no means +sure of that fact. I have before now tapped at a friend's door, and +receiving no answer entered his room to leave a message or what not, and +have more than once seen lying on his table an eleventh-century Bodleian +manuscript of a certain classic author, a book of inestimable value, the +_codex archetypus_ of every other copy now in existence. Any stranger +could have entered that room, and any enterprising literary thief--a not +uncommon and particularly detestable animal--might have slipped this +priceless book into his pocket. I am by no means sure that very valuable +manuscripts have not been, in spite of remonstrance, lent out within the +last two years; but it is beyond all dispute that not so very long ago +the thing was done, and any man or any body of men who will allow one +such thing to be done are quite capable of allowing a dozen to be done. + +Let it, however, be granted, for the purposes of the present argument, +that we now, having a clearer perception of our responsibilities, only +allow comparatively worthless manuscripts to be sent to France, to +Germany, Russia, or India; for our manuscripts, be it observed, travel +as far afield as Bombay. Now what makes a book or manuscript +comparatively worthless? It is so, either because it is one of many +copies, or because it is a poor and faulty copy. If it is one of many, +why in the name of all that is absurd should we be asked to send our +goods away (at our expense and risk let it be remembered) when _ex +hypothesi_ there are many other copies in existence? why cannot the +foreign student go to some one of those copies? why should we be called +on to gratify his laziness or consult his convenience? If the copy be a +poor one, he who asks for the loan of it must be a noodle, for who cares +for the readings of a confessedly inferior book? Is it not clear as day +that the man who at Rome, or Heidelberg, or Bombay, asks for the loan of +a manuscript, believes it to be a good and valuable copy? moreover, if +he believes so, is it not in the highest degree probable that his +judgment is correct, seeing that his attention is in a special manner +concentrated on the matter? And if it be a good and valuable copy, what +becomes of the plea that we only lend comparatively worthless books? +Have we any common sense amongst us? I really confess that there are +times when I come to the conclusion that we have none; for if we had, +how could we be deceived by pretexts so flimsy and fallacious? All the +manuscripts which we now lend are most certainly valuable, and their +loss or damage would be irreparable; all talk of comparative worth or +worthlessness is futile, and is merely used as so much dust thrown in +the eyes of those who (I am sorry to say it, but it must be said) ought +to have a higher conception of their duties. + +3. Some maintain that MSS. and books should be lent out because 'more +work' will be done by that device. It is difficult to see why. It is +inferred, in fact, that 'more work' will be done, because it is more +convenient to work at home than it is in a library. A partial answer to +this fallacious plea has been already given, but I cannot pass over the +particular form of it without a protest. The cant that is talked +now-a-days about 'work' is enough to make one sick. As far as my +experience extends, the very notion of work, as opposed to fidgetty +pottering, is not possessed by fifty men in the place; the very +conception of thoroughness and comprehension is gone; and as to +learning, why the thing has almost vanished; of 'science' we have enough +and to spare, but what in the world has become of all our knowledge? +Briefly, at the present moment and in this place, all this wretched +pretence of 'work' is arrant imposture. A few, and only a few, know what +it means, and they would never dream of talking about it. + +But I have heard this argument about 'more work' put in another form, +and it obviously is a theme on which endless variations may be composed. +Suppose, it is said, a very poor scholar, anxious to give the world a +critical edition of some book, and further suppose that there is a +valuable manuscript at St. Petersburg, another at Stockholm, another in +Paris, another in Oxford, and so on; let the poor scholar live where you +like, say in Giessen, and suppose him to be totally unable to defray the +expense of a journey to these several places, and to have no means of +paying for collations made by others, and no confidence in their +correctness, even if he could pay for them; would it not be an advantage +to literature that all these manuscripts should be sent to Giessen for +the use of the poor scholar aforesaid; and would it not be a dead loss +to the world of letters, if, by refusing so to lend them, you prevented +the poor scholar from constructing a critical and admirable text of the +author in whom he is interested? This purely hypothetical case I have +heard put in all seriousness, and used as a knock-me-down sort of +argument; yet it must occur to any one with a grain of common sense that +it is only too easy to 'suppose' anything; that it would not require the +imaginative powers of a baby to go one step further, and suppose the +poor, the ardent and the ripe scholar to have just money enough or pluck +enough to carry him to the places which he wishes to visit, (I note +parenthetically that a real student, a man to read of whose exploits +warms one's heart, Cosma de Koeroes, started on his extraordinary +expedition to the East with 100 florins and a walking-stick, for being +what he was, he dispensed with luggage,) or you might suppose brains +enough in his neighbourhood to perceive that so deserving a creature of +the pure imagination might fairly enough be helped or--but it is +needless and foolish to dream with one's eyes open, and practical men +generally object to discuss purely hypothetical cases. Yes, my excellent +but fanciful friend will say, this is all very well, but _if_ there were +such a case, what would you do? Well, to speak for myself, I should +prefer to wait till the poor scholar's exchequer was in a more +flourishing condition, or why should I not take a turn at 'supposing' +myself? and perform the very easy trick of imagining a more ripe +scholar, a more enthusiastic student, endowed not only with brains, but +blessed with means to gratify his whims, and then, without the least +violence, I might suppose the result to be a much more correct, a much +more critical edition than my friend's phantom scholar could ever by any +possibility concoct. But to return to the region of reality; I answer +that not even in the case supposed, or in any case would I lend out +manuscripts, and this for more reasons than I have patience to write +down. One remark may, however, be made. We are constantly requested to +send manuscripts abroad 'for collation,' and we not unfrequently send +them. Will any one be good enough to mention to me a single collation of +a Greek or Latin classic made by any scholar by profession of any +manuscript of fair length--say, if you like, 300 pages of octavo +print--which is faithful, or which can be depended on? Even if it were a +defensible practice to send manuscripts abroad for collation, it can +never be a defensible practice to expose them to all the risks they +necessarily run, and after all reap as a net result collations not worth +the paper they are written on. + +I hope that these considerations may satisfy my imaginative friend that +there is not that force in his argument which he supposes; but if he is +still unconvinced, let us agree to consider the case of the poor scholar +when it actually occurs on its merits, and let it be conceded as a thing +not impossible, that should all the supposed conditions exist, we might +for once in a way move Convocation to lend a manuscript for the use of +so singular and so deserving a character; how does that justify us in +sending manuscripts abroad when no such conditions exist? The most I +have ever yet heard pleaded on behalf of these foreign students was, not +that they could not afford to come to Oxford, but merely that it was +much more convenient to have a book sent out to Hungary or Russia, than +it was for the Hungarian or Russian to visit us. I dare say it was more +convenient to him, but it has already been observed that he who wishes +to use public property must and ought to submit to not a few personal +inconveniences. It would, too, be interesting to know whether, supposing +any of us possessed a very valuable book of our own, we should be ready +and willing to lend it as freely as we lend these books which are not +ours. I will answer for myself that I certainly should not, and that it +would be grossly inconsistent in me to lend University property when I +decline under precisely similar circumstances to lend my own. + +4. Again, it is argued that since foreign libraries are willing to lend +to us we ought to reciprocate their liberality: we ought, it is said, to +be as liberal as France or Germany are. To the end of time men will be +the dupes of phrases and the slaves of words, yet it is a little strange +that we, who fancy ourselves in some respects raised above the mob, +should see any force in this singular perversion of language. Who does +not detect the hollow and worthless nature of that 'liberality' which +lends, not what is its own, but what is another's? In what possible +sense, except an illusory and fallacious one, can the Bodleian Curators +credit themselves with the virtue of 'liberality' when they hand over, +not their own property, not anything which they collectively set great +store on, not anything which it would grieve them deeply to lose, but +something not their own? Such liberality seems to me to be as cheap as +it is worthless; as easy as it is unreal. But, it will be objected, that +the University empowers them so to lend, and that it would be +'illiberal' in them to accept loans from others and refuse themselves to +lend. As to the powers given by the University, I have already said +something; the rest of the plea may be sufficiently answered by a single +line from Hamlet-- + + "Neither a borrower nor a lender be." + +Sound, wholesome advice to all, whether taken as Polonius intended it, +or as I now use it. It would be mean and shabby to borrow if you refuse +to lend, for it would be conniving at a vice which you decline to +commit. Would it not be more rational to argue that all lending out of +Bodleian books being bad, we therefore decline to benefit (if benefit it +be) by a practice which we disapprove of in principle? To argue simply, +as I have heard some do, that because foreign libraries are willing to +lend us books, _therefore_ we ought to be willing to lend them books, +is, as an argument, about as valid as it would be to say, 'My friend X +has signified his willingness to lend me his banjo, and therefore I am +bound to lend him my Erard's piano, if he asks for it': not every one +would see the force of such reasoning. If the lending of books from such +a library as the Bodleian be, as I maintain it is, bad in principle, it +can never become right because other libraries are willing to be loose +in their practice. + +But suppose we look a little more closely into this alleged 'liberality' +of foreign countries, where lending in some form or other is the rule +rather than the exception. And here let it be observed that 'library' +though one word covers things as different as chalk is from cheese. +Libraries differ not merely in quantity, in the number of volumes which +they contain: they also differ enormously in quality and value. The +University Library of Goettingen some forty years ago was estimated to +contain 350,000 volumes. The Grenville Library (now part of the British +Museum) consists in round numbers of 20,000 volumes, each of which cost +on an average _two pounds, fourteen shillings_; and this small but most +choice collection would in the present day probably sell for a sum +almost sufficient to purchase the whole of the Goettingen 350,000 +volumes. The Bodleian is equalled and even far surpassed in point of +numbers by other libraries, but for quality and real value there are not +in all the world a dozen that could, or by any competent person would, +be compared with it, and this fact makes all the difference when lending +is in question. You might lend and lose half the books at Goettingen, and +still be able without very much trouble or expense to replace them to +the satisfaction of that University. By losing a single half-dozen of +some of our Bodleian books, you might seriously maim and cripple a large +department; and as to replacing the half-dozen, you might just as well +try to replace the coal in our coal pits. I have seen it stated that all +the great libraries of Europe lend, except the Vatican and the British +Museum: even Mr. Panizzi, forgetting for the moment what he well knew, +says, 'In all libraries on the Continent they lend books, but here +[i.e. at the British Museum] I hope they will never lend them: it is +quite right not to lend them' (Report on British Museum, 1850, p. 230). +And even if all do lend (and all do not), it would no more follow that +they ought to do so, than it follows that no man should do right, +because all men are sinners. Why are we to follow a foreign fashion? Why +are we to follow a multitude to do evil? We are quite strong enough to +act properly, if we only had the infinitesimal amount of courage +needful. Even if it were true that every great library in Europe does a +foolish thing, why should we, with the true spirit of slavish imitation, +be equally foolish? + +Amongst the libraries, which may be with more or less justice compared +with the Bodleian, are the National Library of Paris; the British +Museum; the Vatican; the Royal Library of Munich; the Imperial Library +of St. Petersburg; the Imperial Library at Vienna; the Ambrosian at +Milan. Thirty odd years ago only _two_ of these ever lent a book, and +then hardly in the sense in which any one in Oxford would understand +that phrase. At this very moment, the British Museum, the second or +third largest and finest library in the world, does not lend; the +Vatican does not lend; the Ambrosian library, great in printed books, +greater in manuscripts, does not lend; the Escurial, famed for its +Arabic manuscripts, never lends, not even within the limits of Spain; +the Municipal Library of Ravenna, a name well known to all students of +Aristophanes for its famous codex, never lends; nor does the Angelica at +Rome: and there are more libraries of which this is true. Few, however, +would believe till they have tried the experiment, how difficult it is +for a private person to get really trustworthy information as to the +practices of foreign libraries. + +Again, all foreign libraries that practise lending lend under +restrictions unknown to us in Oxford. At the Bodleian there are no +written rules at all, and, as far as I know, there never have been any. +The present Librarian rightly felt that such a state of things ought +not to be allowed; he accordingly drew up a draft set of regulations; it +was at his request that the committee mentioned above, p. 26, was +appointed, and but for his sense of duty the board would possibly never +have perceived that rules were requisite. The Italian government +controls some 33 libraries, and the rules for loans fill 83 paragraphs +and 18 pages quarto. Without the special leave of the Minister of +Instruction, no government librarian in Italy can lend manuscripts, +printed books of the 15th century, very rare editions, books with +autographs of celebrated men or with important notes, books printed on +vellum, books with plates of much value, or the chief value of which +consists in the engravings, expensive works, works in many volumes, +coast surveys, maps, atlases, books finely bound or otherwise valuable, +old music. In other words, _no librarian can lend any manuscript +whatever, or any valuable printed book, without special leave_. The +restrictions on loans to foreign countries are also numerous. + +The National Library of Paris, the largest in the whole world, also +lends, but never in the wild fashion sanctioned in this place. Here are +the very words of the 'Reglement,' Art. 115: 'Peuvent seuls etre pretes +dans le departement des imprimes, les doubles qui ne font pas partie de +la reserve, pourvu, en outre, qu'il ne s'agisse ni de livres +particulierement precieux, ni de dictionnaires, ni de journaux, ni de +morceaux ou partitions de musique, ni de volumes appartenant a de +grandes collections ou contenant des figures hors texte. + +'Ne peuvent pas non plus etre pretes les romans, ni les pieces du +theatre moderne, ni les ouvrages de litterature frivole. Le conservateur +apprecie en premier ressort les circonstances qui permettent ou non de +preter un livre.' + +Art. 116: 'Peuvent seuls etre pretes dans le departement des manuscrits, +les volumes qui ne sont pas particulierement precieux par leur rarete, +leur antiquite, les autographes ou les miniatures qu'ils contiennent, ou +par toute autre circonstance dont le conservateur est juge en premier +ressort.' + +This library then _never lends anything but duplicates_, and only such +duplicates as are _not_ part of the reserve, i.e. part of the more +valuable section of the library, and not even such duplicates if they +are specially valuable. + +The libraries of Germany and Switzerland have rules substantially the +same as those adopted in France and Italy; and it is the same with +Belgium when they lend at all. In the Bibliotheque Royale de Belgique, +Art. 41 of the 'Reglement' runs thus: 'Dans la section des imprimes, les +ouvrages d'un usage journalier, les livres rares, de luxe ou a figures, +les editions du XV^e siecle, les livres sur velin ou sur grand papier, +ceux dont les reliures sont precieuses ou remarquables, les collections +ou parties de collection considerable _ne sont jamais pretes au +dehors_.' + +As to the Imperial Library of St. Petersburg, the Director writes under +date Dec. 11, 1886: 'la Bibliotheque Imperiale n'a pas le droit, d'apres +la loi, de preter ses manuscrits aux personnes particulieres, que sur la +demande des autorites competents, et pour les personnes hors des limites +de la Russie, que par l'entremise du ministere des affaires etrangeres +avec l'autorisation de Sa Majeste. En meme temps je crois devoir +ajouter, que les manuscrits les plus precieux ne sortent jamais de la +Bibliotheque, dans aucun cas, de meme que les codes dont s'occupent les +savants du pays.' + +It would be impossible to do in any of these foreign countries what is +done in Oxford. Expensive illustrated works are, as I have heard, had +out of the library, and are then used to illustrate lectures--a short +and easy method of bringing books to ruin. + +To trust to discretion alone, whether it be the discretion of a +librarian or of a board, is to lean on a broken reed; and in most +foreign libraries that discovery has long since been made: it is high +time that we made it too, if we are foolish enough to sanction the +practice of lending. + +When it is said then that _all_ great foreign libraries lend, let it +always be remembered, in the first place, that strictly speaking all do +not lend; and, in the second place, that those which lend restrict the +practice in a way never dreamt of here. + +Such then are the arguments for lending: they may be stated in other +terms, and they may be indefinitely varied in shape, but when reduced to +their ultimate forms they simply come to this--that by lending books out +the utility of the library is increased, the convenience of readers is +consulted, the progress of learning is facilitated, and international +courtesy is promoted--all very good things in themselves and much to be +desired, but, as always in this world, we have to balance good with +evil, and to take that course which involves the least inconvenience on +the whole. + +I confess that it rather depresses me to have to argue the question at +all, and if the _genius loci_ affected all minds as it affects mine, the +very faintest suspicion of degrading and vulgarising such an institution +as the Bodleian would be enough, and more than enough, to settle the +matter; and surely it is a degradation of that noble library to look on +it, as some seem to do, as a sort of enlarged and diversified Mudie's. +Our books may be all over Oxford, nay, all over Europe; they may be in +Germany, in France, in India, in Russia, in London, at Cambridge, and +heaven only knows where. What is all this but the first step towards +turning the Bodleian into a vast and vulgar circulating library? I must +say again, as I have said elsewhere, that the Bodleian Library is +absolutely unlike any other library in the world; it is in its way +peerless and unique; it was founded and augmented by learned men for +learned men; it was never meant for the motley crew which in the present +day crams the Camera and the Library itself. It is sad to one who can +remember what the Bodleian was even thirty years ago to see such rapid +decline, such manifest tokens of disregard for all that once rendered +the place a sacred spot. But this is to wander from my immediate +business, and what I conceive to be the abuse, I might even say the +gross abuse of the Bodleian, for which the Curators are directly +responsible, must be matter for some other paper. + +It seems to be the notion of some people in this University that the +Bodleian Library is a fit place for readers of any and of every kind. +They have not knowledge enough of books or of libraries to see that a +library suitable only to scholars of a high class is not a library +adapted to learners and schoolboys. + +Any one beginning microscopic work will find all, and more than all, his +wants satisfied for a long time to come by a five guinea instrument, and +he is not unlikely to damage even that. Suppose that, instead of such an +instrument, you gave him at once a two hundred pound microscope by Smith +and Beck, or Ross, what would happen? He would be utterly bewildered by +the complexity of it, utterly unable to use it as it should be used, and +he would most certainly before long so damage it as to render it useless +to all who could make a proper use of it. Between a first-rate +microscope by Ross and a three or five guinea instrument the difference +is much less than is the difference between the Bodleian and a library +fit for undergraduates, or generally for the unlearned. By introducing +undergraduates, schoolboys, and girls into such a library as the +Bodleian, you in fact degrade the library to base uses, and render it +_pro tanto_ inconvenient, to use a very mild term, to all who are fit to +benefit by it, and who were intended by the founder to have the +advantage of it. + +'What my experience has taught me,' says a most learned bibliographer +(1. R. 121)[15], 'is, that it ought never to be attempted to use, as a +popular library, the large libraries intended in the first instance for +a superior class of readers;' and he adds further, that 'on every +occasion, when it has been tried, the greatest part of the riches +accumulated in the old library have been rendered useless.' + +[15] Report from the Select Committee on Public Libraries, ordered by +the House of Commons to be printed 23 July, 1849, quoted by pages as 1. +R. A second volume ordered to be printed 1 August, 1850, is quoted also +by pages as 2. R. These Blue books contain an immense amount of +information on all the libraries of Europe, and although the information +is some forty years old, it is still indispensable to all who wish to +acquaint themselves with the subject. The evidence also given is of the +most varied kind, and very instructive. + +If it is in any sense useful to lend books out of the library, it is far +more useful, all things considered, not to lend them. + +Every man of the least intelligence can see the difference between a +library of reference and one from which books are lent. A library of +reference, or a library of deposit, is one where books are to be +perpetually preserved as carefully as may be for the convenience of +scholars and students, and for the promotion of sound and solid +learning; and lending any book from such a library is obviously +inconsistent with the very purpose for which it is founded. 'I think,' +says the Solicitor-General for Scotland, speaking of the Advocates' +Library, 'that (lending books out) is quite inconsistent with the proper +preservation of a great library' (1. R. 95).[16] And another very able +witness, Mr. Colles, one of the library committee of the Royal Dublin +Society, gives it as the result of his experience that no lending should +be allowed in such a library. 'I speak,' he says, 'against the interest +of my own family when I say this: but I think that the public use of the +library would be increased by not lending.' And again, 'The two (i. e. +libraries of reference and of circulation) ought to be separated, just +as banks of issue should be separated from banks of deposit. I wish to +be understood on this point: an individual painter or sculptor might be +greatly benefited by borrowing out a capital picture from the National +Gallery, or the Torso, Venus, or Portland Vase from the British Museum; +but such a loan would by no means benefit artists in general, or advance +the ultimate interests of painting or sculpture. This holds good equally +with regard to valuable books.' (1. R. 185.) + +[16] See note [15]. + +This question as to the expediency of lending books out of such +libraries as the British Museum or the Bodleian has been hotly debated +both at home and abroad for the last eighty years or more, and I wish I +had space to detail the arguments that have been used, not by men +ignorant of books and eager only to consult their own convenience, or to +obtain credit for a spurious liberality; but by those who really and +truly knew all the ins and outs of the matter they were talking about, +and who were quite as anxious to promote learning as we are ourselves. +Take, for instance, the late Mr. Thomas Watts, keeper of printed books +in the British Museum, one of the very rarest of men, a librarian who +thoroughly knew his business, at all events so far as printed books were +concerned, and quite unequalled as regards all questions of organisation +and administration. He carries impartiality almost to excess, for he +says, speaking of lending, 'It would, perhaps, be expedient to examine +the subject more closely before a final determination was come to on +either side; for while the Bodleian Library is strictly non-circulating, +the books are freely lent out to the members of the University from the +University Library of Cambridge, and yet any material difference in the +condition of the two libraries to the disadvantage of that of Cambridge, +is certainly not a matter of public notoriety.' This statement appeared +in 1867, and Mr. Watts evidently did not know that lending had been +practised by the Bodleian Curators ever since 1862 (see above, p. 14); +nor was he seemingly aware of the facts detailed by Mr. Bradshaw, or of +such gross abuses as that which Mr. Bradshaw told a friend of my own. He +said that on a certain occasion a graduate had a dinner party, and that +he borrowed from the University Library certain expensive illustrated +works to be laid on the table to amuse his guests; Bradshaw was +powerless, though indignant at an act so disgraceful. Carefully however +as Mr. Watts holds the balance, it seems unquestionable that he himself +condemned the practice of lending from such libraries as the British +Museum or the Bodleian; for after writing a column or more, in which he +shows every disposition to lend books where it is possible to do so +without causing more harm than good, he considers Mr. Spedding's +proposal to lend a book wanted by a reader in London to the British +Museum library--the very thing in fact which we now are in the habit of +doing, he then says; "By this ingenious arrangement some of the +advantages proposed by the lending system would certainly be afforded, +under safeguards not now obtainable; but there would still remain the +strong objection that a reader wishing to examine a particular book +known to be in a particular library might be subjected to a +disappointment which he is now in no hazard of. This objection is +tersely stated in a passage from a letter by Niebuhr, which was quoted +by the Commissioners for examining into the University of Oxford. 'It is +lamentable,' writes Niebuhr from the University of Bonn, 'that I am here +much worse off for books than I was at Rome, where I was sure to find +whatever was in the library, because no books were lent out; here I find +that just the book which I most want is always lent out.' There are few +libraries from which books are lent of which stories are not current +respecting the abuse of the privilege, of volumes kept for years by +persons too high or too venerable to be questioned. The rules of such +institutions are often laxly observed by those from whom we should least +expect such disregard. In Walter Scott's correspondence with Southey +there is a passage in which he recommends him not to show publicly a +book which he had sent him, because it belongs to the Advocate's +Library, and it is forbidden for those books to be sent out of +Scotland." + +The opinion then of one of the most accomplished librarians that ever +lived is, on the whole, adverse to the system of lending. I believe it +to be quite impossible for a man of his enormous knowledge of the +subject to come to any other conclusion than that at which he arrived: +the less a man knows about books and libraries, the more inclined he is +to the pernicious system of lending; the more he knows about them, the +less inclined he is to countenance anything of the kind; such at least +has been my experience. + +The late Mr. Henry Bradshaw of Cambridge was a most learned librarian +and an accomplished bibliographer. He has not, so far as I am aware, +expressed in print his plain opinion of the lending system; but no one +can read his paper on the Cambridge University Library, (The University +Library, ... by Henry Bradshaw, Librarian of the University, Camb. 1881. +8vo.,) without seeing that he bitterly regretted the practice which +prevails and has long prevailed in that place. The Bodleian has a +history, a noble and honourable history: the Cambridge University +Library has none, at all events none that is not disgraceful. 'One +reason,' he says (p. 6), 'for the dearth of materials in the Library for +its own history is to be found in the circumstance that the Library is +really scattered over the whole country.' And again, 'We have often +heard of the principal benefactors to the Bodleian Library having been +induced to bequeath their own libraries to the University of Oxford from +seeing the careful way in which the bequests of their predecessors have +been housed and kept together. The coincidence at Cambridge is too +striking to be accidental, where we find that only two such bequests are +on record': this statement he subsequently corrects into 'three' instead +of two: and again, 'It is probable that by drawing attention to the fact +that none of the great collectors of the last two hundred years have +thought fit to leave their books to our University Library, we may be +pointing to a lesson which our successors may profit by, even though we +are too indifferent to pay any attention to it ourselves.' + +The inference plainly to be drawn from these and other passages is that +the writer strongly disapproved of the practice which he was obliged +officially to countenance. From 1600 down to the last ten or fifteen +years the history of the Bodleian Library has been on the whole a +history of which every true scholar, and every genuine lover of books +may be proud; the history of the Cambridge Library for the +corresponding period has been an almost unbroken record of disgraceful +carelessness, and the root of all the evil has been the practice of +lending, as will be clear to any one who will take the trouble to read +Mr. Bradshaw's paper. There has been, as there always must be, where +such a practice is allowed, wholesale robbery. In 1772 the library was +inspected and 'a large number of rare books were reported to be +missing.' (p. 28.) The latest previous inspection had been in 1748, when +902 volumes were reported as missing from the old library alone ... the +loss was the result of that wholesale pillage spoken of before. It is +very singular that the very same year that the inspection shewed such +serious losses to have happened from unrestricted access, the University +should have made fresh orders (the basis of those now in use), +permitting more fully this same freedom of access. The _Cicero de +Officiis_ printed in 1465 on vellum, a Salisbury Breviary printed in +1483 on vellum (the only known copy of the first edition), the Salisbury +_Directorium Sacerdotum_ printed by Caxton (the only known copy), are +three instances out of many scores of such books which might be +mentioned as purloined during the latter half of the eighteenth century, +simply from this total disregard of all care for the preservation of the +books. Even manuscripts were lent out on ordinary tickets; and it was +seemingly only owing to the strong remonstrances of Mr. Kerrich, the +principal Librarian of the day, that a grace was passed in 1809, +requiring that no manuscript whatever should be borrowed, except with +the permission of the Senate, and on a bond given for the same to the +Librarian. "We have the ticket, but we cannot get the book back," Mr. +Kerrich says: "and to this day the book in question has never been +returned." (p. 28.) Such are the disgraceful acts of men bred at an +English University, compared with whom the common pickpocket appears +positively respectable. + +Mr. Panizzi, principal Librarian of the British Museum, a man whose +knowledge of libraries and of books has rarely been equalled, was +asked, 'Are you of opinion that there should be in all countries +libraries of two sorts, namely, libraries of deposit, and libraries +devoted to general reading and the circulation of books?' answered, +'That is another question. I think the question of lending books is a +very difficult question to answer. I have enquired in all countries, +and, as far as experience goes, I find that, in spite of all the +precautions taken, of the regulations, and of everything which is done, +books disappear; they are stolen or spoiled.' (2. R. 62.) And again: 'I +do not think that lending can well be adopted without great risk of +losing books; the question is whether there might not be remedies; I +think from all experience I never found that librarians had succeeded in +preventing stealing.' He also tells a very instructive story of some +rare books stolen from the library at Wolfenbuettel, and be it noted that +Panizzi and Watts knew more of their profession than a whole army of +ordinary librarians. Let no one fancy for one moment that a congress of +librarians is necessarily a congress of men really acquainted with +either bibliography or with books; it may, perhaps, on some occasions +include one or more who answer to that description, but in general it +does not do so. 'La bibliographie,' says Richou, 'est une science exacte +qui demande une preparation assez longue et que la pratique developpe. +Les bibliothecaires improvises en ignorent jusqu'a l'existence et se +preoccupent peu de l'acquerir. Il ne faut pas chercher ailleurs la cause +de la mauvaise administration d'un grand nombre de bibliotheques +publiques, car le mal est commun.' (_Traite de l'Administration des +Bibliotheques publiques_, p. 82.) + +The opinion expressed by Mr. Watts and Mr. Panizzi, and implied by Mr. +Bradshaw, is, I am convinced, the opinion of all men who are acquainted +with this question in its length, breadth, and depth. + +How comes it then, some one may ask, that foreign librarians do not +speak out against the practice? Because it is not in general the habit +of foreign officials to have opinions of their own, and still less to +express them, if they have them, when such opinions are not fashionable, +or not likely to advance those who utter them: and this goes a long way +towards explaining the answers given to questions put by the English +Government nearly forty years ago to the custodians of libraries where +(though under many restrictions) lending was, and is practised. The +general tenor of the answers is that books do not suffer more than might +be expected, that losses are comparatively rare, that when loss is +suffered the books can generally be replaced, and that when they cannot +their value can almost always be recovered from the borrower. Such, I +say, is the general tenor of the answers, but few who know anything +about circulating libraries will accept such answers as satisfactory. +Before the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War the Germans printed +splendid books, and not unfrequently bound them grandly; but for the +last two hundred years few German librarians, unless trained in France +or England, have known what a really fine book is, or whether it is in +what a Frenchman would call good condition. In other words, when they +say that books lent are not much damaged, it must be always remembered +that notions of damage are relative, and most German librarians are in +all probability like an old friend of my own, who holds that no book is +in really ill condition, provided the readable part of it is still +legible: the title may be torn or gone; 'I don't want to read the +title,' says he: the covers may be broken or destroyed; 'Cannot you read +an unbound book?' he asks; and so on. There is this difference, however; +my friend does know when a book really is in good condition. Moreover, +there are, or at least there were, some foreign librarians who have +dared to tell the truth. Thus (see 2. R. 161-171), from the returns made +by eighteen libraries in Belgium, we learn that the library of Antwerp +(19,148 vols.) never lent; that no manuscripts were ever lent from that +of Bruges; that manuscripts and rare books were never lent from the +library of Malines; that valuable books were never lent from the +library of Louvain; that no manuscripts or valuable books were ever lent +from the library of Mons; and that such books and manuscripts were never +lent from any of the University libraries. Nevertheless, some lending +there was from some libraries; and it was asserted that little damage +was done the books. Very different is the answer of the Librarian of +Tournay (2. R. 163): 'Cette coutume a des inconvenients assez graves: +impossibilite pour certains lecteurs de consulter les ouvrages dont ils +ont besoin: rentre tardive des livres pretes; perte ou deterioration des +volumes.' The Librarian of Nassau (2. R. 299), very unlike most of his +brethren, says, 'das Verleihen der Buecher asserhalb der Anstalt hat +allerdings die nachtheilige Folge dass dieselben in kurzer Zeit, im +Aussern wie im Innern stark mitgenommen werden. Die Einbaende werden +verstossen und schaebig und der Druck durch Schnupfer und Raucher oft +aufs Unangenehmste beschmutzt,' with more to the same effect. Even at +the Royal Library of Berlin it is admitted that 'die Buecher und Einbaende +werden dadurch mehr beschaedight und verdorben' (2. R. 304); and at the +University Library, 'die Abnutzung durch die Studirenden ist sehr stark' +(2. R. 305). The answer from the University Library at Bonn is, +'Nachtheilige Folge beim Verleihen der Buecher waren troz der +sorgfaeltigsten Ueberwachung nicht immer zu vermeiden. Manche Baende kamen +beschmutzt auch verstuemmelt zurueck.' There are very similar answers from +a few other libraries both of Germany and Italy. Common sense and a +little experience will tell any one to which class of testimony credence +should be given. + +As to replacing a lost or damaged book, the thing is by no means so easy +as it looks. What is common to-day may be rare a year hence, and quite +unprocurable on any terms in two years time. 'Then,' says Ignoramus, 'it +will be reprinted, and you may buy that'; but the man who talks so +wildly cannot be argued with, because he does not know the elements of +the subject of which he is speaking. Suppose you lose the 19th edition +of the _Christian Year_, you do not replace the book by purchasing the +100th edition, as all experts know. 'Buy another copy of the 19th then', +says Ignoramus; but it may be that you have to pay a very high price for +it, and it sometimes happens that you cannot get it at all. 'If you do +not get the book, you can recover its value.' Even supposing that you +can--and here in Oxford we have no machinery by which we can recover a +farthing--how is a man who wants to see a particular book benefited by +being told that he cannot see the book because it has been lent and +lost, but that the Library has received compensation? Well might Panizzi +say that the question of lending is a very difficult question; it is so +difficult that a volume would hardly contain an enumeration of all its +complexities. + +Consider the case of books, printed and manuscript, lent out to those on +the borrowers' list, a list, be it observed, which, according to the +lawyers, has not the least statutable warrant. In the first place, you +have not the least assurance or guarantee that any one of them knows how +to use a book without damaging it, and, as I have already said, it is an +almost uniform and invariable experience, that borrowers of books do +damage them. All book-lovers know this so well, that they make very sure +of their man before they intrust a valuable or well-bound book to him, +but we at the Bodleian do not. Pixerecourt, a great collector, was so +convinced of this fact that he inscribed over his library door these +sadly true lines-- + + Tel est le triste sort de tout livre prete + Souvent il est perdu, toujours il est gate. + +How unfit some at least on the borrowers' list are to be intrusted with +books, how little notion they have of taking care of them, is clear from +many facts which might be mentioned. In the library itself you may see +almost any day abundant proof of the unfitness of those admitted to +enjoy the privileges which are allowed them. On May 19th, 1885, a +Curator came into my room and said, 'I was walking through the Bodleian +looking for ---- when I saw a sight which made me sick.' 'You may see +many such sights there,' said I; 'what was it?' 'I saw a bevy of women +with an illuminated MS., and they were turning over the leaves, all +looking at it.' On Friday, August 21st, 1885, I myself counted at one +desk at the Selden end _sixty-four_ volumes, all had out by one reader; +on the table was a MS. open, and on it two or three books; another was +open on the floor, and so on. On April 22nd, 1886, I saw on a desk also +at the Selden end three (I believe four) Sanscrit MSS. They were open +and kept so by books placed on them, sundry printed books also open one +on the other, and in my note written the same day I find the observation +that it was 'a miserable spectacle of untidiness and reckless disregard +for precious volumes.' It would be easy to add more, for from the first +I have kept notes of all that I see in the library, and of much that I +hear about it--this, however, is enough to show what may be expected +when people carry off books home. There no prying eye will see them, no +one is likely to come suddenly round a corner and observe their +proceedings. Things are really bad enough _in_ the library as it is; and +they are as bad or worse in the Camera, where books are most shamefully +ill-used. I have notes of some things which I have observed there, and +of a conversation which I had with a person of sharp eyes and wits. One +Curator alone can do very little; if all would, even it were only +occasionally, do what I do habitually (Tit. XX. iii. Sec. 12, 2), it would +be far easier than it now is to put a stop to some rather serious +abuses. Let it be distinctly understood that in saying all this I do not +blame any person or persons whatever, except the readers. In the British +Museum Reading-room a man placed where the officials sit could, with a +machine-gun, comfortably pick off every reader in less than a minute, +because he could rake every desk; the Bodleian is so picturesque and so +peculiar in its construction, that Argus himself would be completely +non-plussed, if ordered to keep his eyes on the readers, for even this +highly-endowed being had not the dragon-fly power of seeing round +corners; and from the Librarian's seat you might discharge a Gatling gun +straight up 'Duke Humphrey,' with no other result than the downfall of a +little dust, and the smashing of the west window; as to hitting a +reader, you might as well try to shoot the Invisible Girl. At the Camera +there is just the same difficulty, which will hardly be overcome till +the laws of nature are reformed, and light condescends to travel in +convenient curves. The regular officials have quite enough to do, if +they attend only to their necessary work, which pins them down to one +spot, and totally precludes them from exercising (even if they possessed +it) the saintly privilege of bilocation. To come back to the point: +books are badly used in the library itself. Now I ask any man of common +sense, whether it is possible that books treated so vilely in the +library itself will be better treated in a private house? + +I am not going to tell any tales, but this I may say, that before I +became a Curator I have seen Bodleian books (once a very rare book) in +strange places, and under circumstances by no means conducive to their +preservation. The thing must be so: it is as much as the most vigilant +officer can do to prevent damage being done under his very eyes, and it +stands to reason that no mercy will be shown a book as soon as it is +fairly out of the building. + +Again, when a man borrows a book from the Bodleian, you have not the +least assurance that he will not in his turn lend it. This I know has +happened with one book at least belonging to another library in Oxford. +Sir Walter Scott had, perhaps, as much conscience as it is possible for +a literary man to have, yet he lends Southey a book borrowed from the +Advocates' Library (see above, p. 49) contrary to rule; and what Scott +would do, Scott's inferior in character and morals would most certainly +not scruple to do. + +When a book is lent out to any one on the borrowers' list no contract +is entered into, either verbally or in writing, that the book shall be +returned at any specified time, nor in fact that it shall ever be +returned at all. Are the Curators quite sure that they have any legal +power to compel a return under such circumstances? + +Unless a book is carefully collated when it is returned, it will always +be impossible to say with truth that it has been returned intact; and if +every book is to be collated on its restoration to the library, we shall +have no small increase of work, and increase of work always means, as we +well know, increased expense. + +The lending of books to private houses then involves the very probable, +and in many cases the absolutely certain, damage of the book, and its +possible total loss without the least remedy, and without the slightest +recompense or penalty. A manuscript was lent to the late Professor ----, +and it is hardly necessary to say that it has never been returned, and +this is, I fancy, at least the second instance within a very few years +of total loss, for which neither the public nor the University ever +received one atom of benefit. + +Even if the Bodleian were not one of the two great reference libraries +of this country, if it were merely a large and fine library of no very +great national importance, there would still be no excuse for borrowing +from it; for there is no town of its size that contains so many books as +Oxford. In every College there is a library, which is not unfrequently +full of fine books--Christ Church, All Souls', St. John's, Worcester, +Merton, Corpus, Oriel, Magdalen and Queen's are all remarkable; and if +we count in manuscripts there is hardly a single College without its +gems and rarities. Nor is there the slightest difficulty in making a +proper use of all these treasures. Any one really fit to use a College +book is always permitted to do so, nor is there in general any objection +to lending if the borrower is known to be trustworthy: the fault, if +any, is rather the other way. 'But,' says some borrower, 'the book that +I want is in no College library, and it is in the Bodleian.' Is it not +plain to every man of sense, that the book which is in no College +library, and is in the Bodleian, is just the book which ought not to be +lent, under any conceivable circumstances? Lending even from College +libraries has been the cause of innumerable losses--in fact, nothing in +Euclid is more true than the proposition, that sooner or later A BOOK +LENT IS A BOOK LOST. + +Of the losses which the library at Cambridge has sustained, something +has been said above (p. 51). All libraries, however carefully kept, are +exposed to occasional and exceptional depredations. Paulus, the +celebrated German professor, stole one manuscript at least from the +Bodleian; the thefts in German, Russian, Italian, and French libraries +are only too notorious. Are we to give additional facilities by lending +books out? Even when lent to the greatest scholars, and presumably to +careful men, books are by no means safe. Every one knows how, not so +long ago, two or more of the most ancient manuscripts of Jornandes were +destroyed while in the hands of Mommsen. Fire invaded his rooms; the +professor escaped unharmed (of course he did), but the manuscripts were +destroyed. Literature and scholarship gained nothing by this loan, +though all future generations have lost much. Had common sense been the +ruling principle of the libraries from which Mommsen obtained these +manuscripts, they would have been safe at this moment. The convenience, +perhaps the laziness, of an individual was consulted, and the world has +lost what can never be replaced. + +Mr. Watts, whom I have already quoted, says in speaking of lending, 'The +testimony of Molbech, the librarian of the Royal Library of Copenhagen, +where lending is permitted, is to the effect, not only that the risk is +greater, as must of course be the case where books are removed from +supervision and control, but that in practice great damage is found to +ensue.' If we are told, as very likely we shall be told, that no such +damage occurs here, I am somewhat at a loss to answer; perhaps it will +be enough to observe that different men unavoidably have different ideas +of what constitutes damage, and that what is not always immediately +discovered may hereafter be detected when it is too late to assign the +blame to the real offender. + +Under the present system of administration, for which the Curators are +responsible, the actual, and, it may be, the unavoidable wear and tear +of books in the library itself, even in the choicer portions of it, is +great enough to deter any man in the future from acting as Douce did in +the past. The way in which very precious volumes are knocked about is +plain enough to any one who visits the interior of the library as +constantly as I do, and as all Curators are by statute empowered and +even ordered to do. Readers are impatient, sometimes unreasonable; +immense numbers of books can only be reached by means of ladders; the +whole establishment is undermanned, and though the small staff does its +best to protect the books, they are notwithstanding much bumped about. +One consequence of this rough usage is that the standard of carefulness, +as it may be called, is very naturally lowered, and as a further +consequence the estimate of what constitutes damage is lowered in +proportion. + +There are many readers, or there certainly have been readers in the +library, who have not hesitated to make marks in printed books and +manuscripts. The man who will do such a thing as this in the library, +will not hesitate to do it when he gets the book into his own +possession. Now all avoidable wear and tear is so much real loss to the +library, and detracts in that proportion from its utility. It may be +useful to A or B to borrow books from the Bodleian, but it cannot be +useful to the University or to future generations that the life of any +book should be carelessly or needlessly abridged. + +It will be admitted that no book can be in two places at the same time; +if a volume is in the rooms of Mr. X or Mr. Y, it cannot at that moment +be produced in the Bodleian should a reader happen to want it. One of +the great advantages of such a library as the Bodleian, if it were +properly administered, is that a visitor is sure to find the book which +he comes to consult. This is perfectly well understood by such men as +Mr. Watts (see above, p. 49); it was brought home to the mind of +Niebuhr, and it has been one of the reasons why all lending has up to +the present moment been most rigidly forbidden at the British Museum. In +a library like the Bodleian, where the practice of lending prevails as +it now does, a man may put himself to great inconvenience in order to +visit it; he may even travel from Berlin, and when he arrives he may +find that all his trouble has been in vain; the very book he wants is +out: at the British Museum, where up to the present time knowledge and +common sense have prevailed, every man is sure that he can at once get +any book whatever that he finds in the catalogue. It is a thousand +pities to destroy this confidence; one of the great uses of a library +like ours disappears when things are so ill managed, and I believe that +there are in the Bodleian men who could tell of some grievous +disappointments caused by our modern laxity. I know very well that we +shall be told that such cases are few and trivial: be it so. Who does +not see that as the present practice extends, as extend it must, one of +the great advantages of a grand library will at last vanish? Nothing can +be more strictly useful to all real students than the absolute certainty +of obtaining at once any book that can be found in the catalogue. + +No limit seems to be placed on the borrower's powers; he may, for +anything that appears to the contrary, have any number of books or +manuscripts out. Now when we see the practice of more than one reader +_in_ the library, we may form a pretty shrewd guess of what men will do +in the way of borrowing. I am well within the mark when I say that at +least _one hundred_ volumes have been ere now allowed out to one reader +at a time. + +The present Librarian has been trying, I believe, to check this morbid +appetite for superfluous volumes; but it is not always an easy thing to +root out a bad habit. + +Any one who examines the slips in the various parts of the Bodleian, as +I habitually do, will be struck by two things; the immense number of +volumes had out by the same reader or readers, and the length of time +that volumes are allowed to remain off the shelves; and this is in great +measure the fault of a system for which we are answerable. What takes +place in the library will undoubtedly sooner or later take place out of +it. A borrower is not, so far as I know, limited as to the number of +volumes he may have out; neither is he limited as to the time he may +keep them out. The present Librarian informed me that when he came into +office he found that one book had been out of the library for _nine_ +years, and that others had been off the shelves for very long periods of +time. And such things must happen, if you sanction this wretched system +of lending. It is perfectly easy to do what constant experience has +shown to entail on the whole the minimum of evil; it is easy to keep +your books within the library as they do at the British Museum; but if +you once lend, there is no drawing of lines possible. Altogether there +are about one hundred and eleven persons on the borrowers' list already. +It is said that the Curators can refuse any application if they choose; +of course they can, but as a matter of fact no application ever has been +refused, and every name added will make it more and more difficult, more +and more invidious to refuse any one. Every Oxford resident is +potentially on the list, and he may be actually on it whenever he likes. +What is this but the beginning, and something more than the beginning, +of that wretched system which Mr. Bradshaw speaks of above? (p. 50.) The +dissolution of our magnificent library is already insidiously begun; and +why is all this gratuitous and irreparable mischief to be done? why is +that vast storehouse intended for the use and benefit of generation +after generation of scholars to be scattered and at last destroyed? +Simply to gratify the vulgar, selfish convenience of this or that +individual regardless of the general good. The whole is to be +sacrificed for a part, and for what a part! The present Librarian has +been trying to do something to check this disastrous and ruinous +practice, but the Curators are responsible for it, not the Librarian. + +Manuscripts and printed books when lent out of Oxford are as a rule not +lent to private houses but deposited in some library. What happens +abroad I do not know, though I confess to having my suspicions. If a +manuscript were lent to some one in a Cathedral town, it would be +deposited in the Cathedral library; and we comfort ourselves with the +belief that in such a place it would be secure, and that it would not on +any account be removed from that library elsewhere. An acquaintance of +my own, a very safe man, has had a Bodleian manuscript of great value +out for some years, and it is lent not to him directly, but to a library +where alone he is to use it. It may be that this arrangement is actually +carried out, and I do not know that it is not, yet I would bet five +pounds to a penny that if I went to his house I should find the Bodleian +book kicking about in his study, where, in fact, though exposed to a +thousand risks of damage and even destruction, it is really safer than +in the library where we suppose it to be. For one Cathedral library I +can answer: a book would hardly be safer there than it would be on a +public and unwatched book-stall, and such I have no doubt whatever is +the case with more than half the places to which we send books for safe +custody. There is as little conscience about books in this stupid and +wicked world as there is about umbrellas, and one of the most important +and most useful functions of a body like the Curators of the Bodleian is +to set up a high standard in such matters. It is our duty as trustees to +take lofty ground, and to be sensitive where the world is listless and +careless; and even if we do not really feel exactly as we ought, we are +bound, like Gertrude, to 'assume a virtue though we have it not'; it is +very laudable hypocrisy if the real article cannot be had. Yet I hope +that it can, and that upon consideration we may all see that the +convenience of a few is not for a moment to be compared with the +convenience of many, and that we shall awake to the fact that we, of all +people, ought not to countenance in any way whatever any practice which +may tend in the remotest degree to damage the only institution in Oxford +of which any rational being can in the present day be justly proud. + +Lending of books has many more evil consequences, proximate and remote, +than I have enumerated; but there is one which at the risk of being +tedious must be mentioned. The glorious part of the Bodleian, the part +contributed by Bodley himself, by Laud, by Selden, Pembroke, Digby, Roe, +Rawlinson, &c., consists largely of gifts. Every man who knows anything +at all about books, every one who loves them, is perfectly well aware +that very few men will bequeath their libraries to an institution which +emulates the American or the English circulating and commercial +establishment. Barlow knew this, Bradshaw knew it (see above, p. 50); +every one knows it, who has the least acquaintance with the habits and +peculiarities of collectors. The Bodleian has to my certain knowledge +already lost very rare books indeed which it might have had, but for +this penny-wise and pound-foolish policy. Neither Rawlinson nor Douce +would ever have been such fools as to leave us what they did, could they +have foreseen how little sense of our duties and of our interests we +have shown. Bodley over and over again, and in the strongest terms, +forbad the lending of his books; Selden's executors only delivered his +books to us on the express condition that they never should under any +circumstances be lent; Laud stipulated that his books should not be +lent, except for one particular purpose and in one particular way. The +Bodleian is what it is, because till quite recent times we adhered to +the rule of common sense, not to say to that of common honesty, and it +is ever to be regretted that we departed from a course which was at once +safe and honourable. There will be no more Douces, no more Rawlinsons, +until we have returned to better ways and proved the sincerity of our +repentance. I have heard it maintained that the days of great +benefactors are over, that in some way not explained men's characters +and habits have changed. I cannot admit this; men are now what they +always were, and collectors in all ages are singularly alike. Only let +us be as prudent, as worldly wise, and, I will add, as honest as our +predecessors were, and there is no reason why the munificent benefactors +of the past should not be rivalled by equally munificent benefactors in +the future. Mr. Bradshaw (above, p. 50) is decidedly of opinion that +carelessness with regard to books prevents benefactions, and that care +attracts them. Barlow is of the same mind, and indeed the thing is too +obvious to be insisted on. It is only those who know little or nothing +of the feelings which actuate the real lovers of books who doubt about +such very simple facts as these. + +To conclude this part of the subject; the arguments against the lending +of books out of such a library as the Bodleian may be briefly summed up +thus: lending is bad, because books are necessarily exposed to needless +and certain risks of damage and of downright loss; because one of the +great ends served by a large library is defeated, in that no man can be +certain of obtaining a book known to be in it; because lending leads +sooner or later to the destruction of a library; because it dries up the +great sources from which large numbers of the most valuable books are +derived; because it is disapproved of by all those who have the largest +and widest experience of books and their management; because, finally, +it is in violation of the express directions of Bodley, of Selden, of +Laud and others, and almost certainly contrary to the wishes of all our +great benefactors, even though they may not have said as much. Reason +and authority are equally against it; and the cause of learning and of +literature can never be permanently served by a practice which tends to +destroy that without which learning and literature alike are impossible: +whatever advantages may seem to attend it, are more than counterbalanced +by disadvantages so great, that none but those who recklessly sacrifice +the future to the present, the interests of generations yet to come, to +the selfishness of the generation that now is, can regard it with any +favour or even with common patience. We have by the sturdy honesty of +our predecessors received a vast treasure which they carefully preserved +intact; we are its guardians and trustees, and we are bound in honour +and honesty to hand on to our successors, undiminished and unimpaired, +what we have received only as a trust, not as a something which we may +spend or destroy at our pleasure. Any wilful act of ours which tends, +however remotely, to damage the Bodleian Library is not only a +scandalous breach of duty, but a crime against learning itself, in which +I for one will have no part or share. + + BAXTER, PRINTER, OXFORD. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + +The plus character (+) is used to enclose transliterated Greek. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Remarks on the practice and policy of +lending Bodleian printed books and manuscripts, by Henry W. 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