LIBRAIZY, an edifice or apartment destined for holding a considerable number of books placed regularly on shelves ; or the books themselves lodged in it. Some authors refer the origin of libraries to the Ilebrews; and observe, that the care those people took for the preservation of their sacred books, and the memory of what concerned the action of their ancestors, became an example to other nations, particularly to the Egyptians. Osimandya, king of Egypt, is said to have taken the hint first; and, according to Diodorus, had a library built in his palace, with this inscription over the door, IATPEION. Nor were the Ptolemvs, who reigned in the same country, less curious and magnificent in their books.
The scripture also speaks of a library of the kings of Persia, Ezra v. 17. vi. 1., which some imagine to have con sisted of the historians of that nation, and of memoirs of the affairs of state ; but, in effect, it appears rather to have been a repository of laws, charters, and ordinances of the kings. The Hebrew text calls it the house of treasures, and after wards the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up. We may, with more justice, call that a library, men tioned in the second of Esdras to have been built by Nehe miah, and in which were preserved the books of the prophets, and of atvid, and the letters of their kings.
The first who erected a library at Athens was the tyrant Pisistratus : and yet Strabo refers the honour of it to Ark totle. That of Pisistratus was transported by Xerxes into Persia, and was afterwards brought back by Seleucus Nicanur to Athens. Long after, it was plundered by Sylla, and re established by Adrian. Plutarch says, that under Eurnenes there was a library at Pergamus, containing 200,000 books. Tyrannion, a celebrated grammarian, contemporary with Pompey, had a library of 30,000 volumes. That of Ptolemy Philadelphus, according to A. Gallius, contained 700,000 hich were burnt by Caesar's soldiers.
Constantine, and his successors, erected a magnificent library at Constantinople ; which in the eighth century con tained 300,000 volumes, all burnt by order of Leo Isaurus; and among the rest, a copy of the Iliad and Odyssey, written in letters of gold, on the entrails of a serpent.
The most celebrated libraries of ancient Rome. were the Ulpian, and the Palatine. They also boast much of the libraries of Paulus tEmilius, who conquered Perseus ; of Lucili us Lucullus, of Assinius Pollio, Atticus, Julius Severus, Dornitius Serenus, Pamphilius Martyr, and the enmerors Gordian and Trajan.
Anciently, every large church had its library ; as appears by the writings of St. Jerome, Anastasius, and others. Pope Nicholas laid the first foundation of that of the Vatican, in 1450.
The Bodleian library at Oxford, built on the foundation of that of duke Humphrey, exceeds that of any university in Europe, and even those of all the sovereigns of Europe, except the emperor's and the royal library of France, which are each of them much older. It was first opened in 1602,
and has since found a great number of benefactors ; parti•u larly Sir Robert Cotton, Sir II. Savil, Archbishop Land, Sir Kenelm Digby, Mr. Allen, Dr. Pococke, Mr. Selden, and others. The Vatican, the Nedicean, that of Bessarion at Venice, and those just mentioned, exceed the Bodleian in Greek manuscripts; which yet outdoes them all in Oriental manuscripts.
As to printed books, the Ambrosian at Milan, and that of Wolfenbuttle, are two of the most remarkable, and yet both inferior to the Bodleian. The principal public libraries in London, beside that of the Museum, are those of the College of Heralds, of the College of Physicians, and of Doctors' Commons, to which latter every bishop, at the time of his consecration, gives at least £20, sometimes £50, for the pur chase of books; those of Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple, and Middle Temple ; that of Lambeth, founded by archbishop Bancroft, in 1610, for the use of succeeding arch bishops of Canterbury, and increased by the benefitctions of archbishops Abbot. Sheldon, and Tennison, and said to con sist of at least 15,000 printed books, and 617 volumes in manuscript ; that of Redcross-street, founded by Dr. Daniel Williams, a presbyterian divine, and since enriched by many private benefirctions ; that of the Royal Society, called the Arundelian, or Norfolk library, because the principal part of the collection formerly belonged to the family of Arundel, and was given to the society by Henry IIoward, afterwards duke of Norfolk, in 1666, which library has been increased by the valuable collection of Francis Aston, Esq., in 1715, and is continually increasing by the numerous benefiletions of the works of its learned members, and others : those of St. Paul's, and of Sion College ; the Queen's library, erected by Queen Caroline in 1737 ; and the Surgeons' library, kept in their hall in Lincoln's Inn Fields. In order to give some idea of the construction of a library, it will be necessary to know the different sizes of paper, and for this purpose the following table will be found useful : Inches.
1. Foolscap 131 by 161 2. Crown 15 20 3. Demy 171 22 4. Medium 18 23 5. Royal l 9i 24 6. Super-royal l91 27 7. Elephant 23 8. Imperial 22 30 9. Columbier 231 34 10. Atlas 26- 341, 11. Double Elephant, or Grand Eagle 261 40 The dimensions of the shelves, and their distances from each other, will therefore be determined by the kind of books intended to be deposited on them.