BOOK V. Chapter VI. of Germany. made careful provision as appears from two several deeds, the one of 1443 and the other of 1465, still ex- Town Libraries tant (.... zu volstrecken des obgenannten, Her Hainrich Nytharts Säligen loblichen maynung, nach Sinem abganng, von unnserm gute, ain liberey, in unnser lieben frowen Pfarrkierchen hie zu Ulme... zu ewiger versorgnüss und behältnüss der vorgemeltten drühunndert Bücher, bawen und machen haben laussen, &c.) In 1516 Ulrich Krafft gave books expressly for a Town Library, which collection was, seventeen years afterwards, augmented by the purchase of that of the preacher C. Sam and subsequently by other acquisitions. In 1658 the Library founded by Neidhart and that founded by Krafft were incorporated. The Dietrich collection, containing 3000 volumes, was added in 1703. That of the Town-Physician J. Frank, containing about 2000 volumes, was bequeathed in 1725. No other very important accession seems to have been made until 1826 when E. Schad of Mittelbiberach gave his Library,— 7000 volumes strong. Other considerable acquisitions have since been made, including a valuable series of works on local history which had been formed by von Glöckler. During its existence of four centuries, the Library has had the misfortune to have been removed four times-once in consequence of a fire in which it sustained some loss. Its present contents, however, are estimated at 40,000 volumes, and it is still rich in the literature of the middle ages. It is freely accessible both to townspeople and to strangers." 1 Naumann, Ueber die Neithartsche Bibliothek im Münster zu Ulm (Serapeum, v, 193-203). 2 Petzholdt, ut supra, 353-361. BOOK V. Chapter VI. of Germany. Library at Erfurt. The Royal Library of the Town of Erfurt was for Town Libraries merly the Library of the University, and was originally founded in 1440. In 1510 it was almost wholly desRoyal Town troyed, and what remained was of small account until 1717, when the munificence of Philipp Wilhelm, Count von Boineburg, restored it to splendour by the gift of the fine Library which he had inherited from his father, and had himself considerably increased.. He also left a fund for its maintenance and further augmentation. The Boineburg collection was placed in the Law School. The inscription Hic mortui vivunt, appears above the door. A statue of the founder adorns the Library, and beneath it is the inscription Hic muti loquuntur. At a later period the Libraries of the dissolved monasteries at Erfurt were here incorporated, as was also the Council Library, and, still more recently a small but ancient collection (containing about 900 volumes) from the Amplonian College, which had been founded by Amplonius Ratink in 1412, and continued to exist until 1816. The present contents of the Erfurt Library are stated to be upwards of 40,000 volumes of Printed Books and 1000 MSS. The Boineburg portion of the Royal Library at Erfurt derives especial interest from the share which was taken in its formation and arrangement by the illustrious friend of its founder, Leibnitz, as well as from the founder's own long and intimate communion with nearly all the eminent continental writers and scholars of In bibliographical undertakings of all kinds. his age. 1 "Communis litteratorum 'epyodtwη5", as Conringius calls him, in a letter to Böcler (Guhrauer, Bibliothekarisches über Leibnitz's Leben, etc.) Count Boineburg evinced a keen interest. It was to BOOK V. Chapter VI. of Germany. his prompting that we own the curious letter of Con- Town Libraries ringius, De Bibliotheca Augusta quæ est in arce Wolfenbuttelensi, and he repeatedly (though successfully) urged upon Conringius' Ducal master the publication of a complete catalogue of that famous collection. He speaks of Naude's "Avis pour dresser une bibliothèque" as one of his favourite books, and presses his correspondent, Johann Conrad Dietrich, to undertake a somewhat similar work on a more extensive plan:-G. Naudei liber de instr. bibl. mihi in primis carus est, remitte igitur eum proxime, aut accinge te operi quod urgeo, bibliothecario;—and, at a later period, we find him inducing Leibnitz to make a classed catalogue of his entire Library. This work has unfortunately disappeared, but Leibnitz has recorded the great pains he took in its preparation and dictation (the actual pen-work was, of course, left to an amanuensis), and the minute detail with which it was executed. His words run thus: "Insonderheit aber kann ich zweener Hauptpunkte nicht übergehen, dieweil ich mit jedem fast einen ganzen Winter zubracht, deren der eine ist ein Index, welchen ich über seine ganze Bibliothek habe auf sein inständig Begehren dergestalt verfertiget (obschon die Mühe des Abschreibens von andern geschehen), dass dergleichen wohl zuvoren nicht gesehen worden, massen alles auf das genaueste darin gebracht, und vermöge dessen über alle Materien die davon handelnde Autores zu finden und ein einiger Traktat oft an mehr als zehn Orten allegirt wird."1 Erfurt has also a Synod Library, founded in 1646. 1 Guhrauer, ubi supra. BOOK V. Chapter VI. of Germany. It is said to include some Hebrew MSS. of value which Town Libraries were purchased from the Jews at the time of their expulsion'; some valuable MS. materials for the history of Erfurt, and a series of rare editions of the Holy Bible. 2 In the year 1445, Dr. Conrad Kühnhofer presented Town Library of some books to the Senate of Nuremberg as the foun Nuremberg. dation of a Town Library (zur Zierlichkeit und löblichen Dingen der Stadt zu einer Liberey zu gebrauchen); but it was not until the Reformation had brought in its train the dissolution of Monasteries that any thing very effectual was done either for the collection of books, or for their proper accommodation and arrangement. The Augustinians, the Dominicans, and the Carthusians were then made to contribute their respective collections towards the augmentation of the Town Library. In 1525, the books thus collected were placed in a building which Dr. Petzholdt describes as the Auditorium Aegidianum, and which a recent traveller calls the "Scottish Cloister of St. Giles." In 1538, they were removed from thence to their present abode, in the vacated monastery of the Dominicans. The first important augmentation which followed was the gift by Jerome Paumgärtner, the friend of Luther and Melanchthon, of his Library (in 1565), an example which was soon and extensively imitated by physicians, jurists, and theologians in a long and honourable series. In the middle of the eighteenth century, 1 Keysler, Travels through Germany, etc., iv, 331. 2 Petzholdt, ut supra, 116-183; Foreign Office Returns of 1850. BOOK V. Chapter VI. of Germany. Collections add ed to the old Town Library. a collection of special value which had been formed by C. J. Imhoff, and which included a remarkable Biblio- Town Libraries theca rerum Norimbergensium, was obtained by bequest. In 1766, the Senate purchased for 15,000 florins the Library of A. R. Solger, containing about 8500 volumes, famous for its fine series of editions of the fifteenth century, as well as for other merits. Shortly afterwards, another Lutheran clergyman bequeathed a Bibliotheca Melancthoniana of nearly 2000 volumes. The Syndicus C. S. Zeitler bequeathed in 1773 a curious collection, extending to nearly 1000 volumes, and consisting exclusively of the works of writers who had taught Jurisprudence at Altdorf. mentations since 1800. During the present century the Senate of Nuremberg Further aughas increased the utility of the Town Library, by incorporating with it three distinct collections of books, which were already public but had been elsewhere located. These were (1.) the collection of books chiefly relating to Nuremberg and its vicinity, which had been brought together by Professor G. A. Will of Altdorf, and is known as the Bibliotheca Norica- Williana; (2.) the Marperger collection of works, both printed and MS.,. chiefly in the class Jurisprudence, extending to several thousand volumes; and (3.) a collection of about 700 volumes of works, chiefly in Ascetic Theology, which had been designated Convertitenbibliothek. The present contents of the Library are stated to exceed 50,000 volumes of printed books, and about 800 MSS. Among the latter are some precious Biblical MSS.; some of the productions of the indefatigable 'CobblerPoet', Hans Sachs; a very curious Hebrew MS. (mis |