BOOK V. Chapter VI. of Germany. Subsequent accessions, however, in some respects compensated the Augsburgh Library for the losses Town Libraries which political changes had entailed upon it. As early as 1808, steps were taken to collect what remained of the Libraries of the dissolved Monasteries, after the selections for the Royal Library at Munich had been made. In this way 5100 volumes from the Monastery of St. George; 5904 from that of the Holy Cross; 9727 from the Dominican Convent; 6690 from the Franciscan; 3654 from the Capuchin; 9658 from that of St. Ulrich; and 2058 from that of St. Maurice-amounting in the aggregate to 42,791 volumes-were brought together for the formation of a Provincial Library (Kreisbibliothek) which in 1811 was incorporated with the Town Library. That of the Jesuits-which nearly a century before had been augmented by the collection of the famous Conrad Peutinger-had already been received. Six years later the Kreisbibliothek of Eichstadt (containing portions of several conventual Libraries, and especially of that of the Augustinian Canons of Rebdorf,) and a selection from other Libraries belonging to the former province of the upper Donau, were similarly incorporated. In 1835 the Library of the Jesuits of Mindelheim was also brought to Augsburgh. After the elimination of what was deemed worthless this collection still numbered "3168 books". Whilst the United Library of the Town and Province was thus largely augmented, duplicate books were from time to time thrown out and sold, and the produce of the sale devoted to the acquisition of new books. At present the Library contains, in the aggregate, BOOK V. Chapter VI. of Germany. about 100,000 volumes of printed books and 400 MSS., Town Libraries and is accessible to thePublic thrice a week. The general superintendence is vested in a Committee, so composed as to represent the educational institutions of the City as well as the Central government and the local magistrates. The present Librarian is G. C. Mezger, who has published an excellent history of the Library.1 St. Mary's Church Library at Halle. The germ of the Library at St. Mary's Church in Halle was a small gift of money in 1562, for the purchase of Luther's works, "thereby to make a beginning of the Library of Our Lady" (dass man davor kaufen sal die thomos Dn. Dr.Marthini Lutheri und hiermit den Anfangk der liberey zu U. L. Fr. machen). On this modest foundation a good superstructure has been gradually erected. In 1616 the authorities of the town purchased the collection of the Chancellor Distelmeier, containing 3300 volumes, chiefly in the classes History and Jurisprudence. In 1690, Dr. J. Oelhafen bequeathed (or, more accurately, his death then gave full effect to a previous conditional gift,) a collection of 1600 volumes, chiefly French and Italian, to be separately preserved and arranged. Passing over many minor acquisitions, two others, both of which came by bequest and were accompanied by a similar stipulation, have a claim to notice. The one, that of the Library of C. G. 1 Mezger, Geschichte der vereinigten Kreis- und Stadt-Bibliothek in Augsburg. Mit einem Verzeichnisse der ... Handschriften (1842, 8vo.); and subsequent communications by him, in the Serapeum; Petzholdt, ut supra, 11-15. BOOK V. Chapter VI. of Germany. Zschackwitz, containing nearly two thousand volumes, chiefly in History and Jurisprudence; the other, that of Town Libraries the Professor and Librarian J. G. Kemme, consisting of 3650 works. In the aggregate, the Marian Library now contains nearly 20,000 volumes of printed books, of which 300 are Incunabula; and about 100 MSS. The strength of the collection lies in the classes Theology and History. The sum usually available for the purchase of books is but a small one-some 150 dollars --and in its appropriation special attention is paid, first, Systematic Theology, and secondly, to national and more particularly local History. The books-those excepted which are of peculiar rarity or value-are lent. The clergy and the official functionaries of Halle have the first claim to the use and enjoyment of the collection; which is, however, accessible, both to the other inhabitants and to strangers, on the guarantee of persons of known responsibility.1 In its beginnings, the Goerlitz Library-which has been variously designated 'Gymnasium Library'; 'Town Library'; 'Milich's Library'; and 'Council Library',-may be traced to the fourteenth century and to the Franciscan Monastery of Goerlitz. It was transferred from that community to the Gymnasium in 1565, and during the century and a half which followed received several augmentations both by purchase and by gift. But its most important acquisition came through the bequest, by J. G. Milich, in 1727, of a Library of 7000 volumes of printed books and 200 MSS., together with a small col 1 Petzholdt, ut supra, 165-167. Public or Town Library of Goerlitz Vol. II. 29 BOOK V. Chapter VI. of Germany. lection of medals. It contained, in 1845, upwards of Town Libraries 12,000 volumes of printed books and 300 MSS. There is also another Library attached to the Gymnasium, the special object of which is to provide poor students with books to assist their sudies, and to this end it is to a great extent composed of schoolbooks. It is called 'Armen-Gymnasial-Bibliothek', and was founded in 1751. In the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul there is a very small but rather curious Library, the foundation of which was laid more than four centuries ago by the bequest of the MSS. of Johann Goschitz, These, however, in the days of the Reformation, found their way into the Franciscan Library, and are still preserved in the collection which has just been described. Other small bequests were subsequently made to the Church Library nearly all of which consist, either of MSS. or of Incunabula. In 1799, it comprised but 280 volumes. Town Library of Luneburg. Goerlitz possesses another collection, designated the Library of the Academy of Sciences of Upper Lusatia. This collection was commenced in 1799, but first acquired importance by the bequests of A. T. von Gersdorf and K. G. von Anton, both of whose very valuable collections were received in 1807. About thirty years later, nearly 1000 volumes, the majority of which relate to the history of Lusatia, were bequeathed by the Pastor J. C. Jancke. In 1845, the Library contained 32,000 volumes of printed books and 450 MSS.* The old Library of the Barefooted Friars of Saint Mary's became, in 1555, the groundwork of the present 1 Petzholdt, ut srpra, 146, 147. BOOK V. Chapter VI. of Germany. Town Library of Luneburg, the last three monks of that Community having presented it to the Council and Town Libraries to this beginning the Library of St. Mary's Church was not long afterwards added. Rickemann, preacher at St. Nicholas, gave five or six hundred volumes in 1695; and H. von Witzendorf, about 1000 volumes in 1713. No other very noticeable acquisition appears to have been made until 1852 when the greater part of the Library of the dissolved Ritter-Akademie, containing upwards of 10,000 volumes, was added to the collection. The present total contents exceed 22,000 volumes; the classes best represented being those of Theology, History, and Philology, which include some of the curiosities and rarities of printing. Of MSS., there are about 300, chiefly theological. The collection is freely accessible once in the week, but is not much used. That of the Ritter-Akademie, the recent addition of which has given importance to the Town Library, was itself in its origin a monastic Library, having belonged to the Benedictines of St. Michael's, and was especially rich in the department of Philology. When the Academy was dissolved the collection had grown to nearly 18,000 volumes. Of these about 3000 went to the University Library of Gottingen; somewhat less than 1000 to the Royal Library at Hanover; between 10,000 and 11,000 to the Luneburg Library. What remained were shared between the Johanneum and the Seminary for Schoolmasters. 1 1 Petzholdt, ut supra, 249, 250. |