BOOK V. Chapter I. Library at Paris. ceedings which elicited so impassioned a protest from The Imperial M. Paul Lacroix (better known as le bibliophile Jacob,) a few years ago, are by no means of recent introduction. Another traveller, who resided in Paris during the winter of 1815-16, witnessed a similar spectacle to that which delighted Pinkerton, and adds still more emphatically: "I saw a great number sitting at the tables taking notes, ... and admired the very respectful care which was taken of the books." It is obvious enough that these statements may be strictly accurate and yet there may be substantial grounds for the conclusion, that (having regard to the character and contents of the Library) a good practice may, in this instance, have been pushed greatly too far. Progress of the Library under Under the 'Restoration' the Library seems to have the Restoration. kept the even tenor of its way. If it made no acquisitions so brilliant as those of preceding years, neither was its good working impeded by any serious internal dissensions, such as we shall find chequering its history in years yet to come. Such noticeable accessions as accrued otherwise than by the regular operation of the 'Dépôt légal', belong rather to the accessory departments of antiquities and medals than to those of MSS. and printed books. The famous collections of Cousinéry, of Cailliaud, of Cadalvène, of Allier de Hauteroche, contributed in rapid succession to the aggrandizement of the former, as did also the acquisition--perhaps more curious and costly than intrinsically valuable-of the celebrated ‘Zodiac of Dendera.' In the reign of Charles X., and but a little while before the Revolution of 1830, BOOK V. Chapter I. the MS. Department received a curious accession in a series of Mexican MSS., amongst which was a sort of The Imperial report from the commissioners sent by Montezuma into the camp of Cortes. At this period, the number of volumes of printed books was estimated at 460,000, exclusive of unbound pamphlets and works still incomplete; that of Manuscripts at nearly 80,000; the number of medals at 120,000; that of prints, at nearly 1,200,000, arranged in upwards of 6000 portfolios, The annual inment of printed books was, was, on the on the average, 9000 works, two-thirds of which were French. Library at Paris. 1828. The Royal Ordinance of the 30 March 1828 increased Organization of the number of Departments to five, namely: 1. Printed Books; 2. Manuscripts; 3. Medals and Antiquities; 4. Prints; 5. Maps; each having a single responsible Keeper. The Board was to consist of these five officers, and no more. A discretionary power for the appointment of AssistantKeepers, according to circumstances, was vested in the Minister of the Interior. Until the number of Keepers should, by death or resignation, be reduced to five, no new appointments were to be made. Soon after the elevation of the late King to the throne of France, an elaborate inquiry (by a Commission, of which Cuvier was chairman) was instituted into the organization and working of the Royal Library. BOOK V. Chapter I. Library at Paris. This inquiry led to a Report to the King from M. GuiThe Imperial zot, then Minister of Public Instruction, and to a Royal Ordinance (14 November 1832) for the modification of the existing system. 1832. Organization of By this decree the division of the entire establishment into four departments was reverted to, as was also the constitution of the Board of Officers, by Keepers and Assistant-Keepers. Out of three candidates nominated by and from this Board was chosen by the Minister of Public Instruction a Director (President ex officio), and by the Board itself, a Vice-President and Secretary. The Director was appointed for five years, and was always re-eligible. The Vice-President was chosen annually, and was re-eligible for one year only. The Secretary was also chosen annually, but was always reeligible. The relations of the Director with the Ministry of Public Instruction were clearly laid down, and upon him was imposed the special duty of reporting, at large, to the Minister, on the growth and progress of the Library, once in every six months. In the able document by which M. Guizot explained and vindicated the decree which he then submitted for the Royal sanction, he lays great stress on the advantages which had resulted from the creation of the Board of Officers,-"especially that participation in the business of the Library which it accorded to all the Keepers; the publicity which thence resulted; and, above all, that elective principle which it had introduced into the nomination of the members; and which has preserved the Royal Library from those arbitrary nominations that have proved so hurtful to other esta BOOK V. Chapter I. Library at Paris. blishments of the same kind." He dwells also on the advantages which had accrued from the presence of the The Imperial Assistant-Keepers at the Board (one of the points which had been changed by the Ordinance of Charles X.), and on the proved impolicy of reducing the number of responsible officers at the very time when the rapid growth of the Library was largely adding to their duties. The Board thus called into being was composed of sixteen members, nine of whom were Keepers (Conservateurs) and seven Assistant-Keepers (Conservateurs-adjoints). Three out of the four departments were divided into two sections, and the other (that of Manuscripts) into three, so that each Keeper was more especially charged with the superintendence of a single section. In M. Guizot's words: "The Keepers, in their respective sections, have to occupy themselves with the business of the section; in their departments, with the business of the departments; in the Board, with the business of the whole Library." ments of M. Gui 1835. In March, 1835, an elaborate "Réglement concernant Further developla Bibliothèque Royale" carried out, in greater detail, the zot's system, in views of the illustrious Minister of Public Instruction, and, amongst other things, aimed especially so to regulate the loan of books as to retain the public utility of the practice whilst guarding it from abuse. Praet. Van Praet died in October, 1836, at the age of Death of Van eighty-three years; nearly fifty-three of which had been passed in the service of the Royal Library, which engrossed all his energies. Of his vast bibliographical attainments, the principal memorials, (in addition to the BOOK V. Chapter I. Library at Paris. grateful recollections of the many students for whose The Imperial profit they were so frequently and so liberally put forth), are the Catalogue des livres imprimés sur vélin de la Bibliothèque du Roi (5 vols., Paris, De Bure, 1822, 8vo.), and the Catalogue des livres imprimés sur vélin qui se trouvent dans des Bibliothèques tant publiques que particulières.1 At this epoch the number of volumes contained in the Library was stated to be as follows: Of Printed Books, about 650,000 volumes; Of Manuscripts, more than 80,000 volumes. The sum annually spent on the purchase of books was £1256. The number of days during which it was accessible to readers was about 115 in the year; and the average number of readers was estimated at from 300 to 500 daily.2 §4. HISTORY OF THE ROYAL LIBRARY, FROM The Death OF VAN PRAET TO THE PRESENT TIME (1837-58). The organization established by M. Guizot continued in force about four years. Early in 1839, M. de Salvandy, then his successor in the Ministry of Public Instruction, introduced some considerable changes into the existing system, and in so doing opened a long and 1 This admirable Catalogue was first commenced in 1813 (Paris, De Bure, fol.) on a plan so extensive that the author was deterred from completing it on the original scale; preferring to destroy nearly the whole impression of a thick folio volume (570 pages). Seven copies on paper, and two on vellum, are all that are known to have survived. (Brunet, Manuel du libraire, iv, 567.) 2 Panizzi, Information on Foreign Libraries, printed in the Appendix to Report from Select Committee on British Museum, 1836, pp. 542-562. |