BOOK 11. Chapter I. coved angles and separated by heavy ribs, supporting a deeply sunk diamond-panel ceiling, relieved with richly Libraries built carved mouldings, pendent drops, etc. "The floor of the clear space is of marble, and that of the alcoves is of the best southern pine, bedded in cement, on brick arches. The alcoves will contain more than two hundred thousand volumes, but only those on the floor of the hall are now shelved for books. Each alcove, besides being lighted from the clear space, is also illuminated by a skylight admitting direct light from the roof of the building. As the alcoves are constructed in the rear, in the form of a V, there are no dark corners. .... Four flights of circular iron stairs connect the several tiers of alcoves and galleries. "All the shelves in the building are of wood, and are covered with a fire proof solution of glass." 1 This mere recital will, I think, suffice to shew that the new Library is an ornament to Boston, and that some of its arrangements may be usefully imitated. As I had occasion to mention at the close of the preceding volume, a spacious and handsome Library is now in the course of erection at Liverpool. I the less regret that the reasonable limits of this chapter preclude all description of the new building, inasmuch as it is still far from completion; and also because it is impossible to speak with entire satisfaction of the management of that preliminary competition, which elicited (as all who visited Liverpool on that occasion 1 Proceedings at the dedication of the Building for the Public Library of the City of Boston, Jan. 1, 1858 (Bost., 1858), 163-168. The new Library at Liverpool. BOOK II. Chapter I. will remember) a very creditable display of architectural Libraries built. skill. In all other respects, the building will be an honour to the great city in which it is placed, and to the liberal merchant by whose munificence it is erected. CHAPTER II. LIBRARIES PROJECTED. Security against fire is the first important consideration, .... and the next is quietness. The first requires that no material except stone, brick or iron should be employed in the walls, floor, and roof; and the last that it should stand. . removed from a public thoroughfare. Within, especially in this climate, there can scarcely be too much light. GWILT (Encyclopædia of Architecture, 792). THE rapidly increasing growth of the Imperial Library at Paris-seemed at length almost to have exhausted the capacities even of that vast accretion of buildings. Fears have been repeatedly expressed that the weight of books was too great for its stability.' Count Léon de Laborde in his excellent, though unfinished, work, De l'organisation des bibliothèques dans Paris, asserts that whatever danger of this kind may have really existed, was owing to the absurdity of placing the heaviest loads on the topmost floors. "There are," he says, "rooms on the ground-floor which are almost empty, and rooms on the first floor which are scarcely filled; but on the third floor the books are closely packed, and on the fourth they are heaped up; the cases are multiplied, and means are ingeniously contrived for increasing the weight of the ten thousand annually in-coming volumes, as though it were sought to solve the problem: What weight will an old building carry, if it be loaded in a manner the most riskful, because most contrary to the plain rules of good sense?"" "But despite all this," he adds, "the Maza BOOK 11. Chapter II. Libraries projected. BOOK II. Chapter II. jected. Many were the plans for a new building, and many the Libraries pro- projects for changing the site. In respect to their immediate purpose, these plans and projects are now things of the past, but a summary review of them will not the less, on that account, form useful material for the object now in hand. Visconti's plan for reconstruct Library. M. Visconti's plan preserved a considerable portion ing the Imperial of the present building, but materially altered or simplified its internal arrangement, and completed the parallelogram by covering the ground between the Rue Vivienne and the Rue Colbert. He proposed to place the Reading Room in the centre of the great galleries for books, and to allot to the officers a separate building. The various departments of MSS., Prints, Medals, and Maps were to have had their accommodation-not always it would seem of the most suitable kindamongst the smaller apartments on either side. rine Palace continues firm, and defies the projectors to construct more substantially, a building as wholesome, as dry, as well isolated, and as well adapted for the security of the choice treasures it contains." And he proceeds to shew that all the increased accommodation which is needed, may be obtained by judicious restorations and additions to the present buildings. BOOK II. Chapter II. jected. plan for recon Imperial Library. Long afterwards, M. Léon de Laborde also prepared a well-studied and very elaborate plan for the Libraries prore-arrangement and partial re-construction of the present building, by which, as he conceives, space De Laborde's would have been afforded for the growth of the col-structing the lections, at the present average rate of increase, for three centuries to come. By this plan, the historical portions of the Mazarine Palace would be preserved; ample accommodation-within the building, yet sufficiently isolated to avoid the danger of fire,-would be afforded to the officers, and provision made both for the safe custody and the effective display of the treasures which the Library contains, in its MSS., its rare printed books, and its prints, medals, and other antiquities. The subjoined plan shews the proposed arrangement of the principal floor, and presents, I think, no unsuitable model for a great Library of the first class. The arrangement proposed by M. de Laborde for the Bureau des Conservateurs' is very ingenious, and will be best illustrated by a cut: |