added the 2,428,954 vols. contained in the university libraries.
There are over 300 departmental libraries, and as many
Libraries of the Departments.
belong to learned societies. The increase in the
provincial libraries is slower than that of the Parisian
collections. With the exception of 26 libraries
connected specially with the state, the others are municipal
and are administered under state control by municipal librarians.
The original foundation of most of the libraries dates but a short
time before the Revolution, but there are a few exceptions.
Thus the Bibliothèque d’Angers owes its first collection to Alain
de la Rue about 1376; it now contains 72,485 vols., 134 incunabula
and 2039 MSS. That of Bourges dates from 1466 (36,856
vols., 325 incunabula, 741 MSS.). The library of Carpentras was
established by Michel Anglici between 1452 and 1474 (50,000
vols., 2154 MSS.). Mathieu de la Porte is said to be the founder
of the library at Clermont-Ferrand at the end of the 15th century;
it contained rather more than 49,000 vols. at the time of its
union with the Bibliothèque Universitaire.
Amongst the libraries which date from the 16th century must be mentioned that at Lyons founded by François I. in 1527; it possesses 113,168 vols., 870 incunabula and 5243 MSS. That of the Palais des Arts has 82,079 vols., 64 incunabula and 311 MSS.
In the 17th century were established the following libraries: Abbeville, by Charles Sanson in 1685 (46,929 vols., 42 incunabula, 342 MSS.); Besançon by Abbé Boisot in 1696 (93,580 vols., 1000 incunabula, 2247 MSS.). In 1604 the Consistoire réformé de la Rochelle established a library which possesses to-day 58,900 vols., 14 incunabula, 1715 MSS. St Étienne, founded by Cardinal de Villeroi, has 50,000 vols., 8 incunabula, 343 MSS.
The principal libraries founded during the 18th century are the following: Aix-en-Provence, established by Tournon and Méjane in 1705 (160,000 vols., 300 incunabula, 1351 MSS.); Bordeaux, 1738 (200,000 vols., 3491 MSS.); Chambéry, 1736 (64,200 vols., 47 incunabula, 155 MSS.); Dijon, 1701, founded by P. Fevret (125,000 vols., 211 incunabula, 1669 MSS.); Grenoble, 1772 (260,772 vols., 635 incunabula, 2485 MSS.); Marseilles, 1799 (111,672 vols., 143 incunabula, 1691 MSS.); Nancy, founded in 1750 by Stanislas (126,149 vols., 205 incunabula, 1695 MSS.); Nantes, 1753 (103,328 vols., 140 incunabula, 2750 MSS.); Nice, founded in 1786 by Abbé Massa (55,000 vols., 300 incunabula, 150 MSS.); Nîmes, founded by J. T. de Séguier in 1778 (80,000 vols., 61 incunabula, 675 MSS.); Niort, by Jean de Dieu and R. Bion in 1771 (49,413 vols., 67 incunabula, 189 MSS.); Perpignan, by Maréchal de Mailly in 1759 (27,200 vols., 80 incunabula, 127 MSS.); Rennes, 1733 (110,000 vols., 116 incunabula, 602 MSS., income 8950 frs.); Toulouse, by archbishop of Brienne in 1782 (213,000 vols., 859 incunabula, 1020 MSS.).
Nearly all the other municipal libraries date from the Revolution, or rather from the period of the redistribution of the books in 1803. The following municipal libraries possess more than 100,000 vols.: Avignon (135,000 vols., 698 incunabula, 4152 MSS.), of which the first collection was the legacy of Calvet in 1810; Caen (122,000 vols., 109 incunabula, 665 MSS.); Montpellier (130,300 vols., 40 incunabula, 251 MSS.); Rouen (140,000 vols., 400 incunabula, 4000 MSS.); Tours (123,000 vols., 451 incunabula, 1999 MSS.); Versailles (161,000 vols., 436 incunabula, 1213 MSS.).
The following towns have libraries with more than 50,000 volumes: Amiens, Auxerre, Beaune, Brest, Douai, le Hâvre, Lille, le Mans, Orléans, Pau, Poitiers, Toulon and Verdun.
The catalogues of the greater part of the municipal libraries are printed. Especially valuable is the Catalogues des MSS. des bibliothèques de Paris et des Départements, which began to appear in 1885; the MSS. of Paris fill 18 octavo volumes, and those of the provinces 50.
The libraries of the provincial universities, thanks to their reorganization in 1882 and to the care exhibited by the general inspectors, are greatly augmented. Aix has 74,658 vols.; Alger 160,489; Besançon 24,275; Bordeaux 216,278; Caen 127,542; Clermont 173,000; Dijon 117,524; Grenoble 127,400; Lille 215,427; Lyons 425,624; Marseilles 53,763; Montpellier 210,938; Nancy 139,036; Poitiers 180,000; Rennes 166,427; Toulouse 232,000.
Since 1882 the educational libraries have largely developed; in 1877 they were 17,764 in number; in 1907 they were 44,021, containing 7,757,917 vols. The purely scholastic libraries have decreased; in 1902 there were 2674 libraries with 1,034,132 vols., whilst after the reorganization (Circulaire of March 14, 1904) there were only 1131 with 573,279 vols. The Société Franklin pour la propagation des bibliothèques populaires et militaires distributed among the libraries which it controls 55,185 vols., between the years 1900 and 1909.
Authorities.—Information has been given for this account by M. Albert Maire, librarian at the Sorbonne. See also the following works:—Bibliothèque Nationale: I. Bâtiments, collections, organisation, département des estampes, département des médailles et antiques, par Henri Marcel, Henri Bouchot et Ernest Babelon. II. Le Département des imprimés et la section de géographie. Le Département des manuscrits, par Paul Marchal et Camille Couderc (Paris, 1907, 2 vols.); Félix Chambon, Notes sur la bibliothèque de l’Université de Paris de 1763 à 1905 (Ganat, 1905); Fosseyeux, La Bibliothèque des hôpitaux de Paris (Revue des bibliothèques, t. 18, 1908); Alfred Franklin, Guide des savants, des littérateurs et des artistes dans les bibliothèques de Paris (Paris, 1908); Instruction du 7 Mars 1899 sur l’organisation des bibliothèques militaires (Paris, 1899); Henri Jadart, Les Anciennes bibliothèques de Reims, leur sort en 1790–1791 et la formation de la bibliothèque publique (Reims, 1891); Henry Marcel, Rapport adressé au Ministre de l’Instruction Publique, sur l’ensemble des services de la bibliothèque nationale en 1905 (Journal Officiel, 1906); Henry Martin, Histoire de la bibliothèque de l’Arsenal (Paris, 1899); E. Morel, Le Développement des bibliothèques publiques (Paris, 1909); Théod. Mortreuil, La Bibliothèque nationale, son origine et ses accroissements; notice historique (Paris, 1878); Abbé L. V. Pécheur, Histoire des bibliothèques publiques du département de l’Aisne existant à Soissons, Laon et Saint-Quentin (Soissons, 1884); M. Poète, E. Beaurepaire and E. Clouzot, Une visite à la bibliothèque de la ville de Paris (Paris, 1907); E. de Saint-Albin, Les Bibliothèques municipales de la ville de Paris (Paris, 1896); B. Subercaze, Les Bibliothèques populaires, scolaires et pédagogiques (Paris, 1892).
Germany (with Austria-Hungary and Switzerland).
Germany is emphatically the home of large libraries; her former want of political unity and consequent multiplicity of capitals have had the effect of giving her many large state libraries, and the number of her universities has tended to multiply considerable Germany.collections; 1617 libraries were registered by P. Schwenke in 1891. As to the conditions, hours of opening, &c., of 200 of the most important of them, there is a yearly statement in the Jahrbuch der deutschen Bibliotheken, published by the Verein deutscher Bibliothekare.
The public libraries of the German empire are of four distinct types: state libraries, university libraries, town libraries and popular libraries. The administration and financial affairs of the state and university libraries are under state control. The earlier distinction between these two classes has become less and less marked. Thus the university libraries are no longer restricted to professors and students, but they are widely used by scientific workers, and books are borrowed extensively, especially in Prussia. In Prussia, as a link between the state and the libraries, there has been since 1907 a special office which deals with library matters at the Ministry of Public Instruction. Generally the state does not concern itself with the town libraries and the popular libraries, but there is much in common between these two classes. Sometimes popular libraries are under the supervision of a scientifically administered town library as in Berlin, Dantzig, &c.; elsewhere, as at Magdeburg, we see an ancient foundation take up the obligations of a public library. Only in Prussia and Bavaria are regulations in force as to the professional education of librarians. Since 1904 the librarians of the Prussian state libraries have been obliged to complete their university courses and take up their doctorate, after which they have to work two years in a library as volunteers and then undergo a technical examination. The secretarial officials since 1909 have to reach a certain educational standard and must pass an examination. This regulation has been in force as regards librarians in Bavaria from 1905.
Berlin is well supplied with libraries, 268 being registered by P. Schwenke and A. Hortzschansky in 1906, with about 5,000,000 printed vols. The largest of them is the Royal Library, which was founded by the “Great Elector” Frederick William, and opened as a public library in a wing of the electoral Berlin. palace in 1661. From 1699 the library became entitled to a copy of every book published within the royal territories, and it has received many valuable accessions by purchase and otherwise. It now includes 1,230,000 printed vols. and over 30,000 MSS. The amount yearly expended upon binding and the acquisition of books, &c., is £11,326. The catalogues are in manuscript, and include two general alphabetical catalogues, the one in volumes, the other on slips, as well as a systematic catalogue in volumes. The following annual printed catalogues are issued: Verzeichnis der aus der neu erschienenen Literatur von der K. Bibliothek und den Preussischen Universitäts-Bibliotheken erworbenen Druckschriften (since 1892); Jahresverzeichnis der an den Deutschen Universitäten erschienenen Schriften (since 1887); Jahresverzeichnis der an den Deutschen Schulanstalten erschienenen Abhandlungen (since 1889). There is besides a printed Verzeichnis der im grossen Lesesaal aufgestellten Handbibliothek (4th ed. 1909), the alphabetical Verzeichnis der laufenden Zeitschriften (last ed., 1908), and the classified Verzeichnis der laufenden Zeitschriften
