College and Research Libraries


T h e r e is more excuse for disappointment 
in Chapter X I I , " T h e Costs of L i b r a r y 
Service," not in the information it assem-
bles on the relative sizes of college library 
budgets and on possible economies in cat-
aloging processes, but in its omission of 
any discussion of the costs of service to 
readers, of the expenses of open-access 
stacks, of the cost of a library staff " k n o w -
ing more about the w o r k carried on in the 
several departments"—i.e., the cost of 
carrying out D r . Branscomb's most im-
portant suggestions. 

Finally, " B r i d g i n g the G a p " (Chapter 
X I ) might well have been made the con-
cluding chapter. T h e library staff at 
present cannot even "lead the horse to 
w a t e r , " but this book suggests certain 
changes by which they may work with 
the instructors in this and may better 
justify the instructors' efforts. Suggestions 
include, for example, modifications in 
emphasis in the program of many libraries, 
greater faculty concern for student read-
ing and other library matters, changing 
the status of the librarian, and reworking 
the library program with greater knowl-
edge about the work carried on in the 
several departments of instruction both in 
general and in individual courses. T h e 
application of such general changes might, 
the author suggests, result in specific 
changes such as: more intelligent judg-
ment on the number of duplicates required 
for various titles, modification of circula-
tion rules which would adjust these more 
exactly to the reading demands of the 
course, preparing supplementary bibliog-
raphies, small exhibits on special topics, 
more adequate assistance in connection 
with themes and special assignments, ex-
ploiting the reference librarian for refer-
ence work instead of for information 
about the mere locations of things, certain 

developments in which the instructor is 
moved into the library, location in the 
library of more classes other than seminars, 
simplification of instruction by the li-
brarian in bibliography, and the use of 
the library and more such instruction in 
connection with departmental courses. In 
all this, D r . Branscomb has given us good 
leads.—Henry B. Van Hoesen, Brown 
University, Providence. 

The Medieval Library. J a m e s W e s t f a l l 
Thompson. University of Chicago 
Press, 1 9 3 9 . 6 8 2 p . $ 5 . (University of 
Chicago Studies in L i b r a r y Science.) 

T H I S monumental contribution to the 
history of intellectual development has 
been produced by Professor Thompson, 
now at the University of California, for-
merly professor of medieval history at the 
University of Chicago and lecturer on the 
history of libraries in its graduate library 
school. 

In the production of this noteworthy 
work the author has been assisted by sev-
eral of his present and former students 
at the universities of Chicago and C a l i -
fornia, Ramona Bressie writing the chap-
ter on " L i b r a r i e s of the British Isles in 
the Anglo-Saxon P e r i o d ; " S. K . Padover, 
the chapters on " B y z a n t i n e Libraries," 
" J e w i s h Libraries," " M u s l i m Libraries," 
and " G e r m a n Libraries in the Fourteenth 
and Fifteenth C e n t u r i e s ; " the late Isa-
bella Stone, " L i b r a r i e s of the Greek M o n -
asteries in Southern I t a l y ; " Geneva 
Drinkwater, " F r e n c h Libraries in the 
Fourteenth and Fifteenth C e n t u r i e s ; " 
Claude H . Christensen, "Scandinavian L i -
braries in the L a t e M i d d l e A g e s ; " Doro-
thy Robathan, " L i b r a r i e s of the Italian 
Renaissance;" and Florence E d l e r de 
Roover, " T h e Scriptorium." 

T h e subject matter is treated by periods: 

JUNE, mo 281 



Part I, " T h e E a r l y Middle A g e s ; " Part 
I I , " T h e High Middle A g e s ; " P a r t I I I , 
" T h e Close of the Middle Ages and the 
Italian Renaissance." Part I concerns it-
self with " E a r l y Church Libraries," 
" E a r l y Monastic Libraries," "Libraries of 
the Carolingian Renaissance;" in Parts I I 
and I I I the libraries of the various coun-
tries are treated. T h e book concludes 
with Part I V , " T h e M a k i n g and Care of 
Books in the M i d d l e A g e s . " 

W h i l e the chapters in the body of the 
work are mines of detailed information, 
they resolve themselves necessarily almost 
into catalogs. Part I V , however, is 
much more general in nature and will 
make an especial appeal to the professional 
librarian dealing as it does with " T h e 
Scriptorium," " L i b r a r y Administration 
and the Care of Books," " P a p e r , the Book 
T r a d e , and Book Prices," " T h e Wander-
ing of Manuscripts." T h e book is pro-
vided with a brief "Historical Index." A 
vast amount of bibliographical reference 
and guidance is given in the footnotes. 

T h e significance and value of Professor 
Thompson's herculean achievement is ob-
vious. In the first place it is the first book 
in English or in any other language to 
give " a comprehensive survey of the his-
tory of books and libraries in the period 
of the manuscript." A s such it can be 
hailed as a striking monument to American 
scholarship. In the second place, the work 
is a priceless g i f t to all those whose special 
interest is centered in the Middle Ages. 
It is a vast storehouse of detailed informa-
tion throwing additional light on many 
phases of medieval life. N o t only does 
it bring out into relief the work of the 
church in gathering into itself, preserving, 
and passing on the spiritual and intellec-
tual fruits of the ancient world but it 
illustrates as never before the details of 

the process. Space permits the indication 
of only a f e w of the multifarious conclu-
sions and facts brought out in the work. 

A s for libraries understood as a room, 
rooms, or building especially designed for 
the arranging of books in orderly fashion 
where they can be available for use on 
the spot—libraries in the modern sense of 
the word—these scarcely make their ap-
pearance before the fifteenth century. In 
the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries a 
rectangular hole left in the thickness of 
a wall might serve to hold the bibles, 
psalters, service books, and the f e w works 
of the church fathers which constituted 
the indispensable core of any monastic or 
cathedral library. A chest or two kept in 
the sacristy might also be used as well as 
wooden presses. When during the Caro-
lingian period and especially in the twelfth 
century, intellectual activities rapidly 
quickened, the production and accumula-
tion of books so increased that better 
facilities for their storage and use became 
necessary. T h e n in the larger monasteries 
and cathedrals a separate room would be 
set aside for the copying of manuscripts, 
for their storage, and for their use. If 
the number of copyists, monks, and some-
times lay scribes was large enough (twelve 
or fifteen as the case might be), two 
rooms, one above the other, might be 
found: the lower room was the Scrip-
torium where the scribes did their w o r k ; 
the upper room was the library proper 
where shelves made their appearance. On 
these the books (many of them very large 
folios) were laid flat with their edges fac-
ing out. On the edge, rather than on the 
book, were inscribed author and title. 
Rough classifications were sometimes used. 
Catalogs, at first merely inadequate lists 
scribbled on a blank page or fly leaf, be-
came fuller and more numerous. T h e 

2 282 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



idea of a "union catalogue" even made its 
appearance about 1400 when an English 
Franciscan conceived the idea of making 
one for all the libraries of the Franciscan 
order in England. 

T h e range of intellectual interests in 
the Middle Ages is reflected by an ar-
rangement frequently found in the larger 
libraries in the twelfth and thirteenth 
centuries. B y this arrangement the ma-
terial was divided into seven classes: ( 1 ) 
archives, ( 2 ) scriptural texts and com-
mentaries, ( 3 ) constitutions, ( 4 ) council 
and synodal proceedings, ( 5 ) homilies and 
epistles of the fathers, ( 6 ) lectionaries, 
( 7 ) legends of martyrdom. T h i s took 
care of the religious and ecclesiastical ma-
terial. Secular literature was placed by 
itself and divided on the basis of the seven 
liberal arts: grammar, rhetoric, logic, 
arithmetic, geometry, music, and astron-
omy. T h e titles in these subdivisions 
(if the joint contents of various libraries 
be included) comprised the whole range 
of Latin literature as we have it today; by 
1200, all the works of Aristotle in Latin 
translation, several books in Greek, and 
grammars of Greek and H e b r e w ; also 
Justinian's Code, Digest, and Institutes. 

These few examples must suffice to in-
dicate the varied contents of this invalua-
ble work of reference. N o brief review 
can hope to give more than a suggestion 
of the wealth of interesting material that 
it contains.—Curtis H. Walker, Vander-
bilt University, Nashville. 

A Comparative Study of Cataloging Rules 
Based on the Anglo-American Code of 
1Q08, with Comments on the Rules and 
on the Prospects for a Further Exten-
sion of International Agreement and 
Co-operation. J . C . M . Hanson. Uni-
versity of Chicago Press, [C1939] 144P. 

$2. (University of Chicago Studies in 
Library Science.) 
WHEN bookmen find at last the long 

desired "time to w r i t e " we are apt to look 
for the reminiscent fruits of observation 
and experience. From no librarian would 
such a book be more welcome than from 
James Christian Meinich Hanson, profes-
sor emeritus of the University of Chicago 
Graduate Library School, and dean of 
catalogers. Characteristically, however, 
the first book which D r . Hanson issues 
from his well earned leisure is not lei-
surely, but a workmanly canvas of the 
technical basis for increased cooperation 
among librarians and bibliographers. 

T a k i n g from the Anglo-American Cat-
alog Rules of 1908, the first 1 3 5 rules 
which deal with the choice of main entry 
forms, the author digests each in turn in 
the order made familiar to catalogers by 
long usefulness. T h e n systematically he 
summarizes the practice prescribed by the 
eighteen major cataloging codes of Amer-
ica and Europe. These codes are listed 
in the opening pages in f u l l bibliographic 
detail. F o r citation in the text a shortened 
characteristic symbol is used for each. 
Thus, B M refers to the British Museum 
Rules, F R to the Regies et usages of the 
Association des Bibliothecaires Frangais. 
Included are two English codes (British 
Museum, Cambridge University), two 
German codes (Munich, Prussian In-
struktionen), two Swiss codes (Basel, 
Z u r i c h ) , two Italian (Italian government, 
V a t i c a n ) , and one each Belgian, Danish, 
Dutch, French, Norwegian, Spanish, and 
Swedish. Of these D r . Hanson cites the 
Prussian the Anglo-American, and the 
Vatican codes as the most influential. 
Dates of issue vary from Cutter, 1904, to 
the Vatican Norme, 1 9 3 1 . T h e latter is 
now in process of revision and reissue and 

JUNE, 1940 283