BOOK V. Chapter X. The Libraries of Poland and To this act of spoliation the Imperial Library of St. Petersburg owes, if not its existence, at least its first "acquisition" of importance. Nor it is needful to dwell Library at St. upon dates. If, with Bacmeister, we even trace some Russia. The Imperial Petersburg. Could beginnings of the Imperial Library as far back as the year 1714, we shall still find the sapling of like origin with the graft. The books of 1714 were seized during the invasion of Courland, just as the books of 1795 were snatched in the swoop on Poland. Nor does the courtly academician think fit to affect the smallest prudery about the matter. "It was thus," he says, "that Paulus Emilius, the conqueror of Perseus, carried to Rome that monarch's books-the first that were seen in the capital of the world. Thus Sylla, after subjugating Athens, gathered from Athenian books a Library alike extensive and choice. Peter the Great followed in the footsteps of these great men."1 Bacmeister have foreseen the achievements of 1795, his vocabulary would scarcely have supplied words sufficiently eulogistic. Later writers, however, have sometimes thought it desirable to fortify Russian practice by modern examples. But the parallel limps. The French, when they conquered Italy and Belgium, stripped the Libraries of those countries, indeed, of some of their choicest rarities. But the Russians, when they triumphed over the independence of Poland, carried off, in bulk, the largest collection of books which that country could boast of. The Library thus seized had been built up with refined tastes and liberal sympathy. 1 Bacmeister, Essai sur la Bibliothèque de l'Académie des Sciences de St. Petersbourg (1776), 47. THE IMPERIAL LIBRARY AT ST. PETERSBURG. 545 BOOK V. Chapter X. Poland and The Library into which it was transformed has often been augmented with lavish expenditure; but the domi- The Libraries of nant spirit that has animated its management has been narrow, jealous, and servile. The one was free to all comers; the other has been open to every body-who was in no respect obnoxious to the Russian police. 1 Imperial Library. The Imperial Library at St. Petersburg, augmented Growth of the by various other collections, and by purchases both extensive and systematic, amounted, in 1849, to 451,532 printed volumes, and 20,689 volumes of MSS. Under the present Emperor, the Imperial Library has made large progress by more legitimate means. Baron von Korff, in his Report for 1856, describes that year as one of the most notable in its history both for accessions and augmented use by the Public, and also for some remarkable typographical exhibitions. The accessions in this year appear to have exceeded 10,000 volumes, and included the entire Library, eminently rich in Sclavonic philology, of Jungmann, a well-known collector in that department. Of late years, the official reports have been annually published in the S. Petersburgher Zeitung, and reprinted in the Serapeum. I gather from them that in some years (as in 1855, for instance, notwithstanding the war), the accessions, from all sources 2 1 Foreign Office Returns, 1850, 338. 2 Von Korff, Jahresbericht der K. Bibliothek zu St. Petersburg, für 1856 (Serapeum [Intell.-Blatt,] xviii, 152-189; xix, [1858], i, seqq.) 3 Amongst these sources I find one, the official mention of which runs thus:-"Besides the taxed or censorship copies (Censur-Exemplaren), the Library received gratis from the officers of customs, in pursuance of an enactment of 1854, about 2000 volumes which had been confiscated for various reasons (die aus verschiedenen Gründen confiscirt worden wa Vol. II. 35 BOOK V. Chapter X. Poland and Russia. Probably, together, have reached 15,000 volumes. The Libraries of for the entire period from 1849 to 1858, they will have averaged 8000 volumes a-year. On this basis, the present total would be 527,500 printed volumes and about 21,000 MSS. The management of the Library is detailed at length in the Appendix to the Report of the Select Committee on the British Museum (p. 449 et seqq.). Supplementary information on that head, of later date, will also be found amongst the Foreign Official Returns appended to the Report from Select Committee on Public Libraries of 1850. Library of the The Library of the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg was drafted from that early "Imperial Library," the origin of which I have already narrated; and the bulk of which Catherine I., in 1726, presented to the newly-instituted society. It continued to increase, by the bounty and by the enterprise of succeeding Czars. Bacmeister (whom we know already) has minutely chronicled its progress: after telling of the many collections it had successively absorbed, he breaks into this philosophical reflection,-"It is an astonishing thing that war, which everywhere else has been fatal to the sciences, has in Russia been advantageous to them. It was war that favoured the first establishment of our Library, and it is to war that we are indebted for the chief additions that have been made to it." But, since ren"). Jahresbericht der Kaiserl. Oeffentlichen Bibliothek zu St. Petersburg, für 1855, § iv, A. 1 Jahresbericht, etc., ut supra, § iv, D. 2 Bacmeister, Essai, ut supra, 61. LIBRARY OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 547 Bacmeister's days, other sources of augmentation have BOOK V. Chapter X. Poland and assisted its growth. In 1802, for instance, it received The Libraries of an important addition, in the Library and cabinet of Count Boutourlin, purchased by the Emperor Alexander. It is also entitled to a copy of every book printed within the Russian dominions. This collection contained, on the 1st January 1849, a total of 112,213 volumes (including MSS. as well as printed books), of which 24,933 were Russian, and 87,280 foreign. There were besides 6688 printed books and MSS. set apart in the "Asiatic Museum" of the Academy.1 Roumianzoff Museum. The third public Library of St. Petersburg is that of Library of the the Roumianzoff Museum," which became a public establishment in 1827. It contained, in 1849, 32,258 printed volumes, 965 MSS., 4260 prints, and 590 maps, &c. The Imperial Private Library is in the Palace of the Hermitage. It includes the Library of Diderot, purchased by the Empress Catherine in his lifetime, with permission to the vendorof becoming its usufructuary for the remainder of his days; and also a considerable collection of the papers of Voltaire. It is a splendid Library, of more than 80,000 printed volumes, besides its fine MSS., of the Voltairian portion of which M. Léonzon-Leduc has given an excellent account in the Report of his Mission of 1847.3 * Rapport addressé à M. de Salvandy, Ministre de l'Instruction Publique par M. Léonzon-Leduc, chargé d'une mission littéraire en Finlande et en Russie, etc., Octobre 1847. (Archives des Missions Scientifiques, 1850, tom. i, 39.) CHAPTER XI. THE LIBRARIES OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. Books in Spain have always been both scarce and dear, for where there are few purchases, prices must be high to remunerate the publisher or importer. The Public Libraries of Spain are few and imperfect. Those recently formed in provincial towns consist of brands rescued from the suppressed convents, and chiefly relate to monastic and legendary lore. Every collection or Library in Spain is subject to dilapidations of various kinds. There is seldom any catalogue, and should one exist, it is soon mislaid. None, then, can check Directors or Empleados who pick out the plums, or exchange imperfect copies for the good ones; and thus men, beggars by birth, end with fine Galleries and Libraries. FORD (Handbook of Spain, third edit., 84). BOOK V. Chapter XI. Spain and Portugal. at Madrid. THE principal Library of Spain is the Biblioteca The Libraries of Real, at Madrid, which dates from the reign of PhilipV., and is now lodged in an edifice, once the mansion of Royal Library the Alcanices family, on the Plaza del Oriente. It is open to all comers, as far at least as the printed books are concerned. The reading-tables are placed in three spacious apartments, corresponding to as many sides of the edifice, which is built round a court, with a fine staircase in the centre; in the middle of these rooms are rows of tables provided with writing materials and chairs; and against the walls are the book-shelves, |