At the time to which Balbi refers,—the outbreak of the French Revo lution,—the library of the king of France in Paris was currently believed by some to amount to three hundred thousand, by others to five hundred thousand volumes, and was considered by Frenchmen and competent judges the noblest collection in Europe. The authority on which Balbi assigns it so low a number as 149,000, is that of actual counting—the fatal test, the application of which has suddenly shrunk the dimensions of so many far-famed libraries. Van Praet the librarian, who himself accomplished the operation, tells us in the preface to his ' Catalogue dee livres iinprim4s sur vain,' published in 1S22, that " counted one by one in 1791, the number of volumes only amounted to 152,868 ; namely, 23,243 in folio, 41,373 in 4to., and 88,252 in 8vo. and of lesser sizes." Guided by this positive information, Balbi is of course perfectly justified hi giving the number he states. But he seems not to have been aware that the Zaluski library, which be only places immediately above it, was counted also, and with a result which is startling. Seized by the Russians in 1795 and transported to St. Petersburg, where it now forms the basis of the Imperial library, the volumes were counted on their arrival, and were officially stated to amount to the enormous number of 262,640. The enumeration which was sup plied by the Russian government, and is given with various particulars in the Report of a Committee of the House of Commons on the Museum library in 1836, is not very clear in some respects, for in one portion of it, 43,000 pamphlets are inserted as so many volumes, and in another, 120,000 pamphlets which are mentioned are not added into the total sum. But estimating these 163,000 pamphlets as 16,300 volumes, of ten to a volume, according to a convenient rule adopted by Balbi, the number of volumes transported to St. Petersburg will be in round numbers upwards of 235,000. It should not be forgotten that there is undeniable evidence that the library had been seriously pillaged while still at Warsaw. If this number be correct, and it is as well vouched for as the census of most libraries, it will not only follow that the collection of books made in his lifetime by one Polish bishop with the assistance of another, was the largest collection ever made at private expense, but that it actually surpassed in numbers the magnificent library of the kings of France, and was at the head in that point of all the collections in Europe, some of which had been gathering together for centuries at the expense of nations.
In the wars which followed the French revolution, many a revolu tion took place in the affairs of libraries. The royal library of France was augmented enormously both in extent and value by the absorption of the libraries of the suppressed religious houses, and the contributions levied on conquered foreign states. The latter treasures were restored at the restoration of peace, but the French library remained in 1815 what it still continues, the largest and most celebrated library in Europe. Van Praet in 1822 spoke of it as having increased two thirds from the time when he counted it in 1791, and as containing 450,000 volumes, not including as many pamphlets and pieces bound in volumes or kept in portfolios, and it was then augmenting at the rate of 7000 volumes a year, and 3000 fugitive pieces. In the year 1850 the number of volumes in the library, according to an official return procured by the British ambassador, was 750,000, of which 50,000 were volumes of tracts or pamphlets containing about ten tracts each, and therefore in all 500,000. In 1855, in the preface to the new
classed catalogue now in course of publication, it was stated that the collection comprised 1,500,000 volumes and pamphlets, without drawing a distinction between the two.
If we adopt Van Praet's estimate of the number of volumes and tracts being equal, there will then be 735,000 volumes and 735,000 tracts ; and counting the tracts according to Balbi's method at ten to a volume,'the number of volumes in 1855 will be 808,500, to which if we add augmentations at the rate of 11,000 volumes a year, the total will in 1860 be 863,000.
The Zaluski library, removed to St. Petersburg, was for some time left there in a state of such neglect that, when again counted in 1803, it was found to have diminished by decay and theft to 238,633 volumes —a number still remarkably high. It was again injured by its sudden removal, on Napoleon's invasion of Russia, from St. Petersburg to a remote village, to keep it out of the way of the invaders, who, in this case, as there were Poles among them, would only have been recovering their own property. In 1833 and 1834 it was augmented, as we learn from the Official Guide to the library, by more than 125,000 volumes, procured by the Emperor Nicolas from the spoils of several Polish magnates and public institutions, in particular from those of Prince Czartoryski's country seat at Pulawy and the library of the society called the " Friends of Knowledge " (the Polish Royal Society) at War saw. Finally, the more ordinary and creditable mode of augmenting the library by purchases and donations came into operation ; and in the Official Guide for 1850 we are told that the library then contained upwards of 600,000 volumes of printed books, together with collections of manuscripts, engravings, &c. In the annual report of the librarian for 1858, the last we have seen, the number of printed volumes, pamphlets, and pieces added in that year is given as 38,136; and in the same year the officials of the library issued a detailed comparison of 'its state in 1850 and 1858, from which the following items are taken.
In the Guide to the Imperial Public Library of St. Petersburg,' published in 1860, the numbers given are 840,853 printed volumes, 29,045 manuscripts, and 66,162 engravings.
It would appear from these numbers that the library of St. Peters burg is now the second library of the world, and increasing with more rapidity than any other. This impression, however, must not be too hastily adopted. There is a collection now publishing by the English Patent Office, of all the descriptions of patents of inventions that have been enrolled there from the institution of patents in the time of James I. up to the present year. This voluminous and costly collection, which is printed at the expense of patentees, is presented by the Patent Office to a great number of foreign libraries, and among others to the imperial library at St. Petersburg. The number of patents for the year 1857 is no less than 3200, published in as many separate pamphlets, which are bound in the set at the British Museum in 96 thickish volumes. In counting the volumes at the Mufseum they will be reckoned at 96. while we are told on good authority that at the library at St. Petersburg they are counted in 3200, making a difference in the returns of the same annual sot of more than 3100, and in the returns for the whole collection of patents of more than 24,000 volumes.