BOOK V. Chapter II. change." Two rooms are assigned to the special arran The Minor Li- gement and use of this growing collection. braries of Paris. Library of the Institute. The nucleus of the present Library of the Institute was the old City Library (Bibliothèque de la Ville), founded by the eminent magistrate, M. Morieau, who died in 1759, bequeathing to the municipality his collection of 14,000 printed volumes, and 2000 MSS., on condition that it should be publicly accessible. To this gift a liberal addition was made by M. Bonamy, the first and eminently learned Librarian. The Library of the Institute having been plundered during the first Revolution. that of the City was transferred to it, by way of compensation. At present this collection amounts to nearly 80,000 volumes. It exhibits the best possible selection of the principal works in all the important branches of human knowledge; and it may be truly said that it is kept up to the actual state of science and learning. In the acquisitions which are made, the object is not to search for rare editions, but to obtain such as possess some peculiar merit. Academical collections of all kinds and of all countries, magazines and journals of science and literature in all languages, are to be found here in greater number than anywhere else. This collection is reserved for the members of the five Academies of which the Institute is composed; but all strangers presented by them are admitted, and it is de facto public. This list is far from exhausting the Parisian Libraries which merit detailed description; but I must pass on to the Provincial Libraries of France. CHAPTER III. THE PROVINCIAL LIBRARIES OF FRANCE. Si toute Commune avait le droit, ou plutôt usait de celui qu'elle a de poursuivre quiconque détériore ses Archives, ou s'en empare, plus d'un antiquaire ou soidisant tel pourrait figurer au greffe, avec son cabinet. BOUCHER DE PERTHES, (Petit Glossaire, i, 221.) L'histoire des bibliothèques communales est partout à peu près le même: formée par des confiscations; abandonnées aussitôt aux ravages des vers et de l'humidité, ou aux déprédations des particuliers; organisées enfin avec les écoles centrales, à peu près détruites avec elles, et réorganisées de nouveau, d'une manière plus durable sans doute, dans ces dernières années. RAVAISSON, (Rapports sur les Bibliothèques, 108, 109.) BOOK. V. Chapter III. Libraries of It would need small pains to parallel, in the case of many French Municipalities, those instances of gross The Provincial breach of trust, by the neglect and dilapidation of Libraries, which, in a preceding chapter, I have brought home, (as I think,) to certain English Corporations. The salient difference between the Town Councils of Britain and those of France, in relation to the theme of this book, does not consist in the absence, from the one group, of the abuses which have disgraced some BOOK V. Chapter III. Libraries of conspicuous members of the other. It lies in the fact, The Provincial so honourable for France, that there have long existed shining examples among her Municipalities of reverence for those literary glories which have so largely Town Councils helped to make her great amongst nations. The conably with Eng- trast is not that all the Corporations of the one coun Within what limits French contrast favour lish, as to the Libraries. maintenance of try have been illiterate and narrow-minded; and all those of the other cultivated and far-seeing; but simply that in some eminent instances French Municipal Councils have consistently displayed, during a series of years, an enlightened appreciation of the value of the store-houses of learning. They have shewn an honest sense of the responsibility entailed on those who have become, even if it be by mere routine or chance, no less the official administrators of the trusts of the dead, than the guardians of the rights of the living. Whilst in Britain, the utmost that can yet be said of Town Councils, in this sphere of activity, is that here and there they are beginning to give indications of a higher and healthier consciousness of their duties, in relation to matters in which Communities have assuredly a common interest, not less important than is their concern in the "lighting, paving, and cleansing" of their streets, or the proper regulation of their market-places. In France, as elsewhere, the chief Libraries of the Departments, have drawn largely upon the stores of the old Monastic collections. But they also owe much to the liberality of private persons. It seems probable that minute inquiries would show even a larger admixture of the latter element with the former, than has LEGAL STATUS OF THE PROVINCIAL LIBRARIES. 317 BOOK Y. Chapter III. Libraries of France. existed in most other parts of Continental Europe. But, unquestionably, the circumstances connected with the The Provincial suppression of the Religious Communities have had a predominating effect in modelling the constitution and organization of the Town Libraries of France, and in fixing their relations with the Government and its functionaries. To some extent such relations are still controlled Legal status of by those Decrees of the Constituent Assembly, passed in 1789 and 1790, which prescribed certain measures for the preservation, scheduling, and legal custody of the manuscripts and books of the suppressed Monasteries. The Legislative Assembly, in its turn, directed, with greater detail, the continuation of the work. It anticipated, indeed, (on paper), sixty-six years ago (Febr.1792) that general catalogue of the literary wealth of France which is at length being steadily converted into fact. Another decree of the Convention (7 Messidor, An II.-1793) fixed the distinction between Libraries and Record Repositories (Dépôts d' Archives), and laid a foundation for that systematic transmission of books to provincial Libraries, on which the French Institute reported three years later, and which by subsequent legislation and official practice has become a permanent source of increase. The government of Napoleon (20 Febr. 1809) declared all Manuscripts in Libraries (whether belonging to the Departments or to the Towns,) and in all other 1 Collection complète des Lois, Décrets, etc., 14 Nov. 1789; 20-26 Mars, 13-19 Oct., 28 Oct. et 5 Nov. 1790; Ibid. 2-4 Janv., 8 Févr. 1792; Messidor, An II.; 26 Fruct. An V. etc. Comp. Dictionnaire de l'Administration Française, § Bibliothèques Publiques. the Provincial Libraries. BOOK V. Chapter III. Libraries of France. public establishments, to be the property of the State, The Provincial and directed that none such should be printed without the sanction of the Minister of the Home Department. This, I believe, continues to be the letter of the law, but in practice the Councils (General or Communal) decide on such points in all ordinary cases. By a law of 11 Oct. 1832, all Libraries accessible to the Public were placed under the inspection of the Minister of Public Instruction. By another law, of the 22nd Febr. 1839, that Minister had the right of appointing Librarians. But on this point a modification was soon effected by M. Villemain for the purpose of transferring such appointments (in the case of towns to the Mayor of the town in which the Library existed. In other cases, and until the 9th March 1852, certain boards and functionaries, subordinated to that Minister, had the right to nominate. By the Decree of that date such nomination ceased; Keepers were thenceforth to be apppointed by the highest power, (then, "le Chef de l'État,") on the proposition of the Minister, and subordinate functionaries by the Minister as its delegate ("par délégation du Chef" &c.) In other respects the Libraries, whether belonging to towns or otherwise, continue to be governed in accordance with previous legislation. All those of importance share, in greater or less degree, in the distribution of the public books, consisting (1) of those deposited by copy tax:(2) of those subscribed for, by way of an "Encouragement to learning" (somewhat more truthfully so called than a copy-tax can be); and (3) of those printed at the Imperial Printing Office. |