Birmingham age-herald., 1895-04-14

founded in 16S0. In 1882 the active carry
 ing out of the plan was committed to
 the dean of the Faculty, Sir George Me
 Kensie of Rosehaugh, who may be con sidered to have founded the library. The number of volumes in the library,
 which is on the ground floor of the Par
 liament house, is computed to be 265,-a 900. Of the special collections the most important are the Astoega collection of
 old Spanish books. purchased by thed Faculty for f4000 in 1924; the Thorkelin collection, consisting of 1900 volumes, res lating chiefly to the history and anti-E quities of the northern nations; the Diet rich collection of over 100000 German pamphlets, including many of the writ ings of Luther and Melancthon, pur-c chased for the small sum of fS0, and the, Comte collection.
 The librafy of Trinity college, Dub- [ lin, originated in the year 1901, when theti English army determined to commem- } crate their victory over the Spanish troops at Kinsale by some permanent monument. Accordingly they subscribed f1800 to establish a library in the Uni versity of Dublin. All of the books were at first deposited in Dublin Castle, and it was only after the restoration that the college obtained them. The library now contained 1920 000 volumes and 1880 manuscripts. About 5000 are added every year.
 Gay Paris Well Supplied
 Paris is much better provided with great public libraries than London or any city in the world. Besides the Bibliothe- que Rationale there are other great H. braries, each having over 120,000 vol umes.
 Paris can claim the largest library in the world in the Bibliotheque Rationale. The real foundation of the institution, which was formerly known as the Bib- liotheque du Roi may be said to date from King John, the black princes cap-
 tive, who had considerable taste for
 books and who bequeathed his royal library of manuscripts to his successor, Charles V.
 Charles V organized his library in the Louvre. He was very liberal in his pat ronage of literature, and many of the early monuments of the French lan- guage are due to his having employed scholars to make translations from an- cient texts.
 Under the management of Abbe Big
 non the library was removed to it's pres
 ent home in the Rue Richelieu. A few
 years before the revolution the total
 number of printed books was 300 0o0
 The revolution was serviceable to the li- brary now called Bibliotheque Rationale by increasing it with forfeited collections belonging to eXiles and to suppressed re- ligious communities. Napoleon in creased the government grant, and by the strict inforcement of the law con corning new publications realized in part his idea that the library should be uni versal in character.
 Some Big Figures
 The official estimate of the number of volumes in this grat library reaches the extraordinary total of 2,29O,000. The an- nual additions are 45,0 ,000. The collection | of books on French history is in itself an enormous library of 40, 900 volumes. The maps and charts are said to number | 300.000 The manuscripts numbered in | 1876 g, 700 volumes, and the department | of medals possessed in 1873 1430S0 coins. The Royal library of Munich contains the largest collection of books in Ger many. It was founded by Duke AL brecht V of Bavaria Q550-79), who made numerous purchases from Italy and in- corporated the libraries of the Nurem- berg physician Scnedel, and of J. J. Fugger The number of printed volumes is close to 100000. It is especially rich in incunabula. many of them being de-. rived from the libraries of the monaste- ries closed in 1903.
 The building erected for this collection
 under King Louis I in 1S32-43 is consid-
 cred model library structure. The archives are bestowed on the ground floor, while the two upper floors are devoted to the library, which occu-
 pies seventy-seven departments. Berlin is well supplied with libraries,
 seventy-two being registered in 1875.
 The largest ia the Royal library, founded by the great elector, Frederck William,
 and opened by him in 1861.
 The largest library in Austria and one of the most important collections in Eu- rope is the Imperial Public library, founded by the Emperor Frederick III in 144O, although it's illustrious librarian, Lambecius, attributes this honor to Fredericks son, Maximilian. The sum devoted annually to the purchase of books is 26. .250 fiorins. The main library is said to be one of the most splendid halls in Europe.
 Rich in Ancient Works As the old center of civilization Italy | is of course the country where the oldest | libraries are found and where the most valuable manuscripts are preserved. The Vatican library at Rome and the
 Laurentian library at Florence are sufii- | cient to rank Italy before most of the states in that respect. Tn spite of long | centuries of persecution and suffering. | italy is still rich in books and manu-
 scrints. There are probably more books
 in united Italy than in any country ex- | cept France.