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of printed inventories. The preparation of the Latin
inventories was begun in 1594. All the inventories are
in the reading-room; catalogues for the printed books
are to be found partly in the reading-room, and partly
in the Consultation Library.
The preparation of manuscript catalogues for special divisions of the manuscripts was begun at an early date. All of these are still retained in their manuscript form; their printing was commenced as early as the seventeenth century. For example, An- astasius Kirscher pubhshed a catalogue of the Coptica Vaticana in his " Prodrome Coptico" (1636); in the years 1675-93 appeared a detailed catalogue of the Hebraica by Giulio Bartolocci, in 1747 the catalogue of the Capponiana, and in 1821 that of the Cicognara collection. Apart from these and similar pubhea- tions, there are in the reading-room fifteen volumes of printed inventories of manuscripts: (1) Mai, "Cata- logus codicum BibUotheca; Vaticanae (OrientaUa) " (1831). (2-4) Assemani, S. E. and J. S., " Bibliothecae apostolicEe Vaticana? Codicum Manuseriptorum Cata- logus":!, " Codices EbraicietSamaritani" (1756);II, III, "Codices chaldaici sive syriaci" (1758, 1759).
(5) Stevenson (sen.), "Codices Palatini gi'a'ci" (18S5). (Cf. SyUburgius, "Catalogus librorum man- useriptorum gra>corum in BibUotheca Palatina Elec- toral!" in "Monumenta pietatis et literaria virorum . . . illustriuni selecta", Frankfort -on -the -Main, 1702.) "Codices gvseci Reginje Suecia: et Pii II" (1888). (6) Feron and Battaglini, "Codices Otto- boniani graeci" (1893). (7) Stornajolo, "Codices Urbinates graeci" (1895). (8) Stevenson (jun.), "Codices Palatini latini", I (1886). (9) Salvo-Cozzo, "Codici Capponiani" (1897). (10) Vatasso and Franchi de' Cavalieri, "Codices Vaticani latini", I (codd. 1-678), 1902. (11-12) Stornajolo, "Codices Urbinates latini", I (1902), codd. 1-500; II (1912), 500-1000. (13-15) Mai-ucchi, "Monumenta papy- racea cegyptia" (1891). "Monumenta papyracea latina" (1895). "II grande papiro egicio deUa Bib- lioteca Vaticana" (1889).
There are in addition six special catalogues, not compiled by the officials of the library: (1) Poncelet, "Catalogus Codicum hagiographicorum latinorum" (1910). (2) "Hagiographi Bollandiani et Franchi de' Cavalieri, Pius. Catalogus codicum hagiographi- corum gra'corum" (1899). (3) Ehreneberger, "Libri liturgici manuscripti" (1897). (4) Forcella, "Cat- alogo dei manoscritti riguardanti la storia di Roma, che si conservano nella Biblioteca Vaticana" (4 vols., Rome, 1879-85). (5) Bertini, "Codici Vaticani ri- guardanti la Storia Nobiliare" (Rome, 1900).
(6) Crispo-Moncada, "I Codici Arabi, nuovo fondo (iella Biblioteca Vaticana" (Palermo, 1900).
The volumes by Stevenson on the Codices Palatini have been revised by de Rossi, who prefixed his re- nowned treatise: "be Origine, Historia, Indicibus Srrinii et Bibliothecae Sedis Apostolica> Commenta- tio ", pp. cxxxii (cf . also de Rossi, " La Biblioteca della Santa Sede Apostolica ed i Cataloghi dei suoi mano- scritti", 1884). Four other inventories on the Codices latini, Urbinates gra?ci, and Vaticani grasci are in the press. A further volume on the Vaticani latini and one on the Borgiani arabici are also in preparation. For the books of the consultation hbrary there is an exhaustive card catalogue according to the system of Staderini. For the collections of the Prima Rac- colta there are seven folio volumes of Indices, and for these two volumes of inventories. A manuscript catalogue of the incunahutn ("Editioncs Sa>culi XV BibUotheca; Vaticana;", in large folio), in three vol- umes with appendix, also stands in the consultation library. Of the exceedingly valuable Miscellanea bequeathed by de Rossi there is a bulky manuscript inventory of 1898 and an alphabetical index. The Biblioteca Barberini has its okl excellent catalogue in imperial folio, ten of the volumes being accessible to
the public. For the other departments there are also
catalogues, e. g. twenty volumes for the Raccolta
Generale, a catalogue of the Zeladiana in Cod. Vat.
Lat. 9198, etc., which upon request is placed at the
disposal of scholars in exceptional cases. Among the
printed catalogues of books is that of Enrico Steven-
son, jun., "Inventario dei hbri stampati Palatino-
Vaticani" (1886-91). The authorities of the Vatican
Library are preparing (1912) a "Catalogo dei cata-
loghi mss. deila BibUoteca Vaticana ", which will be of
high scientific and practical interest. It will show
that as early as the sixteenth century the Vatican
Library possessed catalogues of such perfection that
we admire them even to-day.
AU readers who wish to use only printed literature are earefuUy excluded from the library. In view of the exclusively manuscript character of the Vatican as a scientific institution, this is readily comprehen- sible. The accommodations of the Vatican Library are entirely inadequate to meet the demands of the general public in search of printed books. Should the Vatican Library thus lose its unique position, the other large libraries of Rome, instituted for the consultation of printed books, would suffer. Further- more, the present conditions have been sanctioned by the past, and have been fully tested by experience. (Consult Ehrle, "Zur Gesch. der Katalogisierung der Vaticana" in "Historisches Jahrbuch der Gorres- Gesellschaft", 1890, 718-27.)
(5) Manuscript-repairing and Bookbinding Depart- ment. — The Vatican has always possessed a book- binding department, and also a department for renovating manuscripts as well as the skill of the period allowed. In the last decades special chemico- scientific attention has been devoted to the preserva- tion and freshening of faded parchment manuscripts as well as to the preservation of paper manuscripts whose existence is wholly or partially threatened by a corroding ink. One of the most successful library boards in these investigations is that of the Vatican, which has since 1896 extensively employed every dis- covery that contributed to the preservation of its manuscript treasures. At the proposal of the prefect of the Vaticana an international conference to con- sider the question of the preservation of manuscripts assembled at St. Gall in the summer of 1898, and its consultations were attended with the greatest success (cf. Posee, "Handschriften-Konservierung. nach den Verhandlungen der St. Gallener Internationalen Konferenz zur Erhaltung und Ausbesserung alter Handschriften von 1898, sowie der Dresdener Kon- ferenz deutscher Archivare von 1899", Dresden, 1899). A series of model restorations were made in the Vatican repair-shop, not only of its own valuable manuscripts, but also those of ecclesia-stical posses- sion elsewhere. In his "Note upon the Present State of the Vercelli Gospel" in the "Second Report of the Revision of the Vulgate" (Rome, 1911, pp. 20 sqq.), Abbot Ciasquet describes a particularly tlitlicult work of this kind. Besides these works, which are per- formed by specially trained and careful workers, the binding of the manuscripts is also undertaken, the arms of the reigning pope and of the present cardinal librarian being placed on the binding. The coats of arms are omitted from the covers of printed books. A fire, which liriike out in this shop some years ago, caused little damage, but it led to the introduction throughout the whole hbrary of mechanical appliances against fire. In this respect the Vatican siuisasses every other library.
(6) The Publications of the Vatican Library. — The administration of the Vatican Library makes it its aim, since the fimdamental ri>organization of the whole institution by the prefect, Father Ehrle, S.J. (who resigned his place vohmtarily to Father Ratti of Milan in 1912). to employ officials with a view to their own literary productions. This policj', wlu'ch
