codices of the eighth and ninth centuries; an Evangeliarium and Missal which the Emperor Henry II. gave tot he Cathedral of Bamberg, about the year 1000; (This volume is richly decorated with miniatures of the Byzantine school, and its cover with ivory carvings ;) and a magnificent copy of the seven Penitential Psalms, with Musical notes by Orlando di Lasso, and richly illuminated. The Hebrew MSS. are so numerous and so valuable as probably to give the Munich Library the next place, in this department, to Oxford and Leyden. The groundwork of this Hebrew collection was laid by Johann Albrecht Widmannstadt, an Orientalist of the fifteenth century, whose books were purchased by Duke Albert V. To this commencement came repeated accessions, so that many years ago the Royal Library could boast the possession of 313 Hebrew codices, some of them containing from fifteen to twenty distinct works. The catalogues are copious, but are, for the most part, unprinted. Some very expeditious cataloguing proceedings, taken under the Baron von Aretin, when the great increment of monastic books came in, like a flood, in the early years of the present century, proved (in the long run,) to have hindered the work instead of helping it. The energetic Baron thought that if he could get some fast writers to prepare the titles, not for a salary, but "for so much a title", the Catalogue would be sure to make speedy progress. He found no difficulty in getting scribes, at a 'kreuzer' a title-slip. The consequences were (1) that the scribes easily produced their 150 or 200 "title-slips" a day; and (2) that very few of the thousands of "slips" so written were BOOK V. Chapter V. The Royal Libraries of Germany. The MS. treasures at Munich. BOOK V. Chapter v. Libraries of Germany. The Royal Public Library at Dresden. found to have any value, when the real work had to be grappled with in earnest. The regulations of the Munich Library are very liberal, and it is largely frequented.1) §. 3. THE ROYAL PUBLIC LIBRARY AT DRESDEN. The germ of that fine Library 'at Dresden which is now designated the "Royal Public Library", lay in the small collection which the Elector Augustus of Saxony began to form, in the year 1556, in the Castle of Annaburg. Eighteen years after its commencement this collection numbered but 1721 volumes; six years later (1580) it numbered 2354, exclusive of the books of George Fabricius, of Meissen, acquired at about this period, but the precise date of the acquisition of which is not recorded. The Elector Christian I., son of the founder, brought the collection to Dresden, and it was after this removal that it received its first important augmentation, by the purchase of the Library of the von Werther family at Beichlingen, which contained 3312 separate works, In 1595, an inventory made by order of Christian II. states the then contents of the collection at 5668 works and 91 maps and prints. 1 Foreign Office Returns of 1850, (Papers laid before the Select Committee on Public Libraries, 40-69, [afterwards reprinted in App. to 2nd Report]; Petzholdt, Handbuch deutscher Bibliotheken, 266-273; Gessert, Die Cimelien der Münchener Bibliothek (Serapeum, v, 86. Abridged from the Official Catalogue); Jaeck (of Bamberg), Franz Delitsch, and others in Serapeum, 1840, 161-169; 193-203; 336; and subsequent years; Murray's Handbook for Southern Germany, 7th edition (1855), 79; Massmann, Die Xylographa der Staatsbibliothek zu München, (Serapeum, ii, 273318); Burney, Music in Germany, i, 129; MS. Correspondence. ... Under the Elector John George I. the increase of the Library consisted chiefly in the incorporation of two collections-entire, though of no great extent,-those, namely, of the widow of Christian II., and of the Professors Frederick and Christian Taubmann of Wittenberg; the latter in 1651. It was also in this Electorate that the Library was made more liberally accessible. At its close, the number of volumes appears to have been nearly 7000. BOOK V. Chapter V. The Royal Libraries of Germany. organization of the Library by Fred. Augus tus I. It was not until another 'Augustan age' arrived that Increase and Remuch developement was given to the Electoral Library. Frederick Augustus 'the Strong' may almost be regarded as its second founder. He gave it a new habitation, added to it an extensive selection from the Library of the deceased Duke Maurice William of Saxe-Zeitz (sold by auction in 1722 at Dresden), and the entire Library of Johann von Besser, ('Privy Councillor at War, and Master of the Ceremonies'), which contained 13,158 volumes and cost 10,000 dollars; besides other collections less considerable. The principal acquisitions under the Elector Frederick Augustus II. consisted of the mathematical Library of J. G. Waltz, of an important series of works, chiefly on Polish and Prussian history which had been gathered together by the Court-Councillor Braun of Elbingen, and of another and far more extensive collection, on various subjects, which was purchased by the Librarian Gotze, in his travels through Italy and in the Austrian dominions, undertaken expressly for the advantage of the Library. It was also under the rule of this Elector that increased facilities BOOK V. Chapter V. The Royal Libraries of The acquisition of the Bünau Library. were established for the free public use of the Library both by natives and by foreigners. At this period it possessed about 40,000 volumes. On a magnificent collection of Maps in nineteen volumes, shown to visitors as the 'Atlas Regius', Augustus II. is said to have expended upwards of £3000. But it was in the reign of Frederick Augustus III. that the collection first took rank amongst the great Libraries of Europe, and a large share of the credit belongs to Prince Xavier the guardian of the young Elector. Almost at the commencement of this reign, and within a period of only four years, two vast and famous collections were added to the Electoral Library. The Bünau Library owes its wide spread fame, as well to the admirable catalogue which J. M. Francke published of an important portion of it, as to the intrinsic value of its contents. Himself an eminent statesman and a distinguished author, Count Henry von Bünau was as generous in affording facilities to students, as he was liberal in the acquisition of books. At his death his Library contained 42,139 volumes, and included several collections of great curiosity and value which he had bought entire. Its historical department was eminently rich. This purchase was made in 1764, at a cost of nearly 6000 pounds sterling; and, amongst its other advantages, it brought to the Royal Library of Dresden its most celebrated Librarian, in the person of the well-known author of the 'Bünau Catalogue.' BOOK V. Chapter V. The Royal Libraries of Germany. Count Brühl. The Brühl Library was still more extensive and more costly, though not so famous. Its founder,—a man of eminent ability in his way, was far more versed in diplomatic craft and courtly intrigue, than in science The Library of or in literature. Profuse in all his expenditure and sumptuous in his mode of living, it is probable that his Library cost him more money than thought, but it is a noble collection, and its acquisition, at a cost it would seem of between seven thousand and eight thousand pounds, added 62,000 volumes to the Dresden Library. The total number of volumes (including minor augmentations which it is not needful to detail) was thus increased to 174,000. These chief acquisitions of the middle of the last century were followed by a long series of smaller purchases, many of which were of great intrinsic value, and most of which added something to the strength of the Library, in the important class of German History and Archæology. That of the fine arts also received considerable augmentation. At the close of the century, the Library must have possessed almost 200,000 volumes. When, in 1812, Napoleon held his grand levée of Kings in Dresden, he did its Library the honour of borrowing from it a number of books on Russia, which were burnt in the melancholy retreat. I know not whether these were ever replaced. The very choice private Library of Frederick Augustus III. came at his death (in 1827) to the augmentation of the great collection for which, in his life time, he had done so much. The Botanical works were the subject of a special legacy, but all else merged in the |