The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1847-07-10

nv contains much more than quarter Of tho
books which have issued from the press dur-
ing the four centuries in which the art OF
printing has Aourished. As there is no pub
iished catalogue of any one Of these Libraries
which at all represents its actual state, it is
not surprising that such an estimate as we
have made should be so vague as it is; bet
it does s,rpris, us that the amounts Of their
numbers should also be, as they in fact are,
nearly as vague. Whatever difficulty there
may be in aseertaining the literary contents
of library, one would suppose it to be a
comparative easy task to ascertain, with
some degree Of accuracy, the numerical
amount Of volumes purely mechanical
process. But such is not the case and it is
therefore very difficult to institute positive
comparison between any two Libraries. At
all times, ten and hundreds Of thousands
have been spoken of Familiarity. To what
is said of the 100000 volumes in the Alex
andria library, founded by Ptolemy Phila-
delphus, We attach Just 50 much faith as We
do to the legend Of the 1000 virgins oil
cologne. The Gottingen library has been
quoted repeatedly by the number of 300, 900.
We have now before us, in the writing OF
the librarian, DR.. Renecke, that in 1885,
though it had 100000 rorks, it had but
200, 900 uolumes, the number which We
have used in our statement. The Biblio-
heque du Roi, at Paris, processes to have
Csc, 900 volumes Now, we have seen the
rooms in the Rue Richelieu, from the ground
| hoOr where the books ON vellum, the edi.
tones principles and the incunabula of the
topographic art, are secluded from the pro.
fame eyes of vulgar readers, to the show.
rooms on the first floor, where the public
wander and wonder, and the dismal garrets
above, full Of masses of unbound and uncat
alogued books . in dire confusion piled
We have also seen the British Museum IL
brary, and its well packed and well-ordered
shelves, and We find it difficult to reconcile
the relative numbers given with the relative
space of each library, and to believe thai
one is less than one half Of the other. Great
allowance must be made for modes Of enum.
Grafton. IL every brochure and every pam
phlet and every one of the 90. 900 pamphlets
OF the French Revolution alone, which the
British Museum contains, were severally
enumerated, as We suspect to be the case in
France and elsewhere, the number would
be, perhaps 100000, an amount which
though large, is still vastly inferior to 100,
600. We have lately seen in the newspa
pers ali amusing statement, which we be
lieve TO be nearly accurate, that the printed
books in the British Museum library occupy
ten miles of shelf. We are not about to
give here the mileage. nor the superficial
nor the cubic contents of the European H.
braries for even il they were measured OF
sxuared. or cubed with tolerable accuracy
their relative length, or surface. or bulk
would be no criteria by which to Judge o.
their relative value. Munich might well at
ford to part with its disposable 100, 900 vol
umes, re ected even of America, for portion
Of the collection Of private English gentle
man, Mr.. Grenville. Our purpose in men
tioning these numerical details is, that oul
readers may be able to form some idea Of wha
catalogue of books OIL large scale mus
really be- If the number of printed book:
and brochures in the British Museum b,
400, 900, the titles or entries would be a
least 800, 900. In the first volume of the
new catalogue, we find about 1000 entire:
or titles under the single name Of Aristotle
Quarterly Rerier.