CHAPTER VI. THE TOWN LIBRARIES OF GERMANY. In most other countries, each of which was con- KOHLRAUSCH, History of Germany, cxxvii, (English BOOK V. Chapter VI. Town Libraries of Germany. St. Mary's Libra ry at Dantzic. THE small collection of the Church of St. Mary at Dantzic is one of the earliest of the existing Libraries of Germany, having been founded at the beginning of the fifteenth century in the thick of the dreary war between the King of Poland and the Teutonic Order. A worthy clerical dignitary of that day, Andreas von Slommow by name, a member of the order and "priest of our Lady at Dantzic" (Pfarrer czu unser frauen in Danczk), determined to found a Library and to furnish it with good books, especially of Holy Scripture, (nemlich in der hilgen schrift) to the intent that those who came after him should be able to teach and shew to the people the way of truth and of eternal salvation' TOWN LIBRARIFS AT RATISBON. 435 BOOK V. Chapter VI. of Germany. (das sie das volk den weg der warheit und den weg der ewigen saligkeit leren und weizen, mogen und wissen), as Town Libraries is said in the Teutonic Grand-Master's Letter of Ratification of 1413. The Library thus founded has continued to this day. In 1791, it is said to have numbered 300 old folios, besides books in other sizes, and MSS. It need scarcely be added that many rare incunabula are here preserved.' The beginnings of the Town Library of Ratisbon date from 1430, when the Canon Conrad of Hildesheim gave some juridical MSS. Until the time of the Reformation it seems to have been the only public collection, and to have contained nothing but law-books. When the Lutheran struggle gave a new impulse to theological studies, a special Divinity Library was begun at the cost of the Town, and before the end of the sixteenth century another, expressly for the Clergy, and apparently maintained by them. But the old Library also grew, and became, in course of time, a mixed collection; and at length the City Magistrates wisely determined to amalgamate the three collections into one Public City Library, to be established in a new and capacious building. This was accomplished in the year 1784. Six years later I find it stated that the Library possessed 20,000 volumes of books; about an equal number of maps, and a series of dissertations, 16,000 in number. Recently a selection of the rarer and choicer books was made for the benefit of thegreat Library at Munich; but 1 Petzholdt, Handbuch deutscher Bibliotheken, 78, 79; Serapeum. Town Library of Ratisbon. BOOK V. Chapter VI. the Town Library of Ratisbon is said still to contain Town Libraries 25,000 volumes, accessible to the Public, during two hours of every day in the week, Sundays excepted. of Germany. Thurn and Taxis Library at Ratisbon. The Ulm Collection. The Thurn and Taxis Court Library at Ratisbon is also public, and has been so from its foundation in 1775, at which date Prince Charles Anselm of Thurn and Taxis purchased the Library of the Baron von Ickstatt, of Ingoldstadt. This collection was enlarged from time to time by many acquisitions, not the least noticeable of which is a very curious series of books and tracts,-purchased on three several occasions,relating to the History of the Thirty Years War and of the Seven Years War. Here also is an extensive assemblage of dissertations on juridical, historical, philological and medical subjects. The arrangement of the Library (established by Baron von Westerholt, Librarian during the latter portion of the last century), was as follows:-I. Mathematics; II. Theology; III. Philosophy; IV. Jurisprudence; V. Medicine; VI. History; VII. Politics; VIII. Philology and Polite Literature; IX. Arts and Manufactures; X Miscellanies." The Ulm collection, also, in its beginnings, ranks amongst the earliest of the Town Libraries of Germany. Prior to 1440, Henry Nythart or Neidhart gave 300 MSS. as the foundation of a Public Library in the 'Cathedral of Our Dear Lady', for the preservation arrangement and organisation of which his surviving family 1 Petzholdt, ut supra, 313-315. 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 behältniss der vorgemeltten drühundert 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. The Royal Library of the Town of Erfurt was forTown Libraries merly the Library of the University, and was originally Chapter VI. of Germany. Royal Town founded in 1440. In 1510 it was almost wholly destroyed, 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 his age. In bibliographical undertakings of all kinds 1 "Communis litteratorum 'prodtwτns", as Conringius calls him, in a letter to Böcler (Guhrauer, Bibliothekarisches über Leibnitz's Leben, etc.) |