Part 13

The library, which is more immediately appropriated to the INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, may consist of 20,000 volumes,[106] and is contained in a long room--perhaps of one hundred feet--of which the further extremity is supposed to be _adorned_ by a statue of VOLTAIRE. This statue is raised within a recess, and the light is thrown upon it from above from a concealed window. Of all deviations from good taste, this statue exhibits one of the most palpable. Voltaire, who was as thin as a hurdle, and a mere bag of bones, is here represented as an almost _naked_ figure, sitting: a slight mantle over his left arm being the only piece of drapery which the statue exhibits. The poet is slightly inclining his head to the left, holding a pen in his right hand. The countenance has neither the fire, force, nor truth, which Denon's terra-cotta head of the poet seems to display. The extremities are meagre and offensive. In short, the whole, as it appears to me, has an air approaching the burlesque. Opposite to this statue are the colossal busts of LA-GRANGE and MALESHERBES; while those of PEIRESC and FRANKLIN are nearly of the size of nature. They are all in white marble. That of Peiresc has considerable expression.

This may be called a collection of _Books of Business_; in other words, of books of almost every day's reference--which every one may consult. It is particularly strong in _Antiquities_ and _History_: and for the latter, it is chiefly indebted to Dom Brial--the living father of French history[107]--that excellent and able man (who is also one of the Secretaries of the Institute) having recommended full two-thirds of the _long sets_ (as they are called) which relate to ancient history. The written catalogue is contained in fourteen folio volumes, interleaved; there being generally only four articles written in a page, and those four always upon the recto of each leaf. This is a good plan: for you may insert your acquisitions, with the greatest convenience, for a full dozen years to come. No _printed_ catalogue of either of these libraries, or of those of the Arsenal and Ste. Geneviève, exists: which I consider to be a _stain_--much more frightful than that which marks the copy of the "_Servius in Virgilium_," just before described!

It remains now to make mention of a _third_ Collection of Books--which may be considered in the light both of a public and a private Library. I mean, the Collection appropriated more particularly for the _King's private use_,[108] and which is deposited beneath the long gallery of the Louvre. Its local is as charming as it is peculiar. You walk by the banks of the Seine, in a line with the south side of the Louvre, and gain admittance beneath an archway, which is defended by an iron grating. An attendant, in the royal livery, opens the door of the library--just after you have ascended above the entresol. You enquire "whether Monsieur BARBIER, the chief Librarian, be within?" "Sir, he is never absent. Be pleased to go straight forward, as far as you can see."[109] What a sight is before me! Nothing less than _thirteen_ rooms, with a small arched door in the centre, through which I gaze as if looking through a tube. Each of these rooms is filled with books; and in one or the other of them are assembled the several visitors who come to read. The whole is perfectly magical. Meanwhile the nephew of M. Barbier walks quickly, but softly, from one room to another, to take down the several volumes enquired after. At length, having paced along upwards of 200 feet of glazed red tile, and wondering when this apparently interminable suite of apartments will end, I view my estimable friend, the HEAD LIBRARIAN deeply occupied in some correction of Bayle or of Moreri--sitting at the further extremity. His reception of me is more than kind. It is hearty and enthusiastic.

"Now that I am in this magical region, my good friend, allow me to inspect the famous PRAYER BOOK of CHARLEMAGNE?"--was my first solicitation to Mons. Barbier. "Gently,"--said my guide. "You are almost asking to partake of forbidden fruit. But I suppose you must not be disappointed." This was only sharpening the edge of my curiosity--for "wherefore this mystery, good M. Barbier?" "_That_ you may know another time. The book is here: and you shall immediately inspect it."--was his reply. M. Barbier unlocked the recess in which it is religiously preserved; took off the crimson velvet in which it is enveloped; and springing backward only two feet and a half, exclaimed, on presenting it, "Le voilà--dans toute sa beauté pristine." I own that I even forgot _Charles the Bald_--and eke his imperial brother _Lotharius_,[110]--as I gazed upon the contents of it. With these contents it is now high time that you should be made acquainted.

EVANGELISTARIUM, or PRAYER BOOK--once belonging to CHARLEMAGNE. Folio. The subject-matter of this most precious book is thus arranged. In the first place, there are five large illuminations, of the entire size of the page, which are much discoloured. The first four represent the _Evangelists_: each sitting upon a cushion, not unlike a bolster. The fifth is the figure of our SAVIOUR. The back ground is purple: the pillow-like seat, upon which Christ sits, is scarlet, relieved by white and gold. The upper garment of the figure is dark green: the lower, purple, bordered in part with gold. The foot-stool is gold: the book, in the left hand, is red and gold: the arabesque ornaments, in the border, are blue, red, and gold. The hair of our Saviour is intended to be flaxen.

The text is in double columns, upon a purple ground, within an arabesque border of red, purple, yellow, and bluish green. It is uniformly executed in letters of gold, of which the surface is occasionally rather splendid. It consists of a series of gospel extracts, for the whole year, amounting to about two hundred and forty-two. These extracts terminate with "_Et ego resuscitabo eum in novissimo die. Amen_"

Next comes a Christian Calendar, from the dominical year Dcclxxv. to Dccxcvii. On casting the eye down these years, and resting it on that of Dcclxxxi, you observe, in the columns of the opposite leaf, this very important entry, or memorandum--in the undoubted writing of the time: "_In isto Anno ivit Dominus_, REX KAROLUS, _ad scm Petrvm et baptisatus est filius eius_ PIPPINUS _a Domino Apostolico_;" from which I think it is evident (as is observed in the account of this precious volume in the _Annales Encyclopédiques_, vol. iii. p. 378) that this very book was commanded to be written chiefly to perpetuate a notice of the baptism, by Pope Adrian, of the emperor's son PIPPIN.[111] There is no appearance whatever of fabrication, in this memorandum. The whole is coeval, and doubtless of the time when it is professed to have been executed. The last two pages are occupied by Latin verses, written in a lower-case, cursive hand; but contemporaneous, and upon a purple ground. From these verses we learn that the last scribe, or copyist, of the text of this splendid volume, was one GODESCALE, or GODSCHALCUS, a German. The verses are reprinted in the _Décades Philosophiques_.

This MS. was given to the _Abbey of St. Servin_, at Toulouse; and it was religiously preserved there, in a case of massive silver, richly embossed, till the year 1793; when the silver was stolen, and the book carried off, with several precious relics of antiquity, by order of the President of the Administration, (Le Sieur S*****) and thrown into a magazine, in which were many other vellum MSS. destined ... TO BE BURNT! One's blood curdles at the narrative. There it lay--- expecting its melancholy fate; till a Monsieur de Puymaurin, then detained as a prisoner in the magazine, happened to throw his eye upon the precious volume; and, writing a certain letter about it, to a certain quarter--(which letter is preserved in the fly leaves, but of which I was denied the transcription, from motives of delicacy--) an order was issued by government for the conveyance of the MS. to the metropolis. This restoration was effected in May 1811.[112] I think you must admit, that, in every point of view, THIS MS. ranks among the most interesting and curious, as well as the most ancient, of those in the several libraries of Paris.

But this is the _only_ piece of antiquity, of the book kind, in the Library. Of modern performances, I ought to mention a French version of OSSIAN, in quarto, which was the favourite reading book of the ex-Emperor; and to which Isabey, at his express command, prefixed a frontispiece after the design of Gérard. This frontispiece is beautifully and tenderly executed: a group of heroes, veiled in a mist, forms the back-ground. The only other modern curiosity, in this way, which I deem it necessary to notice, is a collection of ORIGINAL DRAWINGS of flowers, in water colours, by RÉDOUTÉ, upon vellum: in seven folio volumes; and which cost 70,000 francs.[113] Nothing can exceed--and very few efforts of the pencil can equal--this wonderful performance. Such a collection were reasonable at the fore-mentioned price.

And now, my good friend, suppose I furnish you with an outline of the worthy head-librarian himself? A.A. BARBIER has perhaps not long "turned the corner" of his fiftieth year. Peradventure he may be fifty three.[114] In stature, he is above the middle height, but not very tall. In form, he is robust; and his countenance expressive of great conciliatoriness and benignity. There is a dash of the "old school" about the attire of M. Barbier, which I am Goth enough to admire: while his ardour of conversation, and rapidity of utterance, relieved by frequent and expressive smiles, make his society, equally agreeable and instructive. He is a literary bibliographer to the very back bone; and talks of what he has done, and of what he purposes to do, with a "gaieté de coeur" which is quite delightful. He is now engaged in an _Examen Critique et Complément des Dictionnaires Historiques les plus repandus_;[115] while his _Dictionnaire des Auteurs Anonymes et Pseudonymes_, in 4 vols. 8vo., and his _Bibliothéque d'un Homme de gout_," in five similar volumes, have already placed him in the foremost rank of French bibliographers. Such is his attention to the duties of his situation, as Librarian, that from one year's end to the other, with the exception of Sundays, he has _no holiday_. His home-occupations, after the hours of public employment (from twelve to four) are over, are not less unintermitting--in the pursuits of literary bibliography.

It was at this home, that M. Barbier shewed me, in his library, some of the fruits of his long and vigorously pursued "travail." He possesses Mercier Saint Léger's own copy of his intended _third_ edition of the _Supplement to Marchand's History of Printing_. It is, in short, the second edition, covered with ms. notes in the hand-writing of Mercier himself.[117] He also possesses (but as the property of the Royal Library) the same eminent bibliographer's copy of the _Bibliothèque Française De La Croix du Maine_, in six volumes, covered in like manner with ms. notes by the same hand. To a man of M. Barbier's keen literary appetite, this latter must prove an inexhaustible feast. I was shewn, in this same well-garnished, but unostentatious collection, GOUJET'S own catalogue of his own library. It is in six folio volumes; well written; with a ruled frame work round each page, and an ornamental frontispiece to the first volume. Every book in the catalogue has a note subjoined; and the index is at once full and complete.[118] M. Barbier has rather a high notion, and with justice, of Goujet: observing to me, that _five_ volumes, out of the _ten_ of the last edition of Moreri's Dictionary--which were edited by Goujet--as well as his _Bibliothéque Française_, in eighteen duodecimo volumes--entitled him to the lasting gratitude of posterity. On my remarking that the want of an index, to this _latter_ work, was a great drawback to the use which might be derived from it, M.B. readily coincided with me--and hoped that a projected new edition would remedy this defect. M.B. also told me that Goujet was the editor of the _Dictionnaire de Richelet_, of 1758, in three folio volumes--which had escaped my recollection.

My first visit to M. Barbier was concluded by his begging my acceptance of a copy of the _first edition of Phædrus_, in 1596, 12mo.; which contained, bound up with it, a copy of the _second_ edition of 1600; with various readings to the _latter_, from a MS. which was burnt in 1774. This gift was expressly intended for Lord Spencer's library, and in a few months from hence (as I have previously apprized his Lordship) it shall "repose upon the shelves" of his Collection.[119]

It is now high time to relieve you; as you must begin to be almost wearied with BIBLIOGRAPHY. You have indeed, from the tenor of these five last letters, been made acquainted with some of the chief treasures in the principal libraries of Paris. You have wandered with me through a world of books; and have been equally, with myself, astonished and delighted with what has been placed before you. Here, then, I drop the subject of bibliography--only to be resumed as connected with an account of book-men.

[91] [Because I have said that M. FLOCON was "from home" at the time I visited the library, and that M. Le CHEVALIER was rarely to be found abroad, M. Crapelet lets loose such a tirade of vituperation as is downright marvellous and amusing to peruse. Most assuredly I was not to know M. Flocon's bibliographical achievements and distinction by _inspiration_; and therefore I hasten to make known both the one and the other--in a version of a portion of the note of my sensitive translator: "M. Flocon is always at work; and one of the most zealous Librarians in Paris: he has worked twenty years at a Catalogue of the immense Library of Ste. Geneviève, of which the fruits are, twenty-four volumes--ready for press. Assuredly such a man cannot be said to pass his life away from his post." CRAPELET, vol iv. p. 3, 4. Most true--and who has said that HE DOES? Certainly not the Author of this Work. My translator must have here read without his spectacles.]

[92] _Editiones Italicæ_; 1793. _Præf._

[93] Vol. i. p. 63-7. It is there observed that "there does not seem to be any reason for assigning this edition, to a _Roman_ press."

[94] See page 116 ante

[95] See page 139 ante.

[96] See page 145 ante.

[97] [Now the property of the Right Hon. T. Grenville; having been purchased at the sale of Mr. Dent's Library for 107_l_.]

[98] M. Crapelet doubts the truth of this story. He need not.

[99] [See the account of M. Barbier, post.]

[100] It is on a small piece of paper, addressed to M. Barbier: "Cherchez dans les depôts bien soigneusement, tous les ouvrages d'ANDRE CIRINE: entr'autres ses _De Venatione libri ii: Messanæ_ 1650. 8vo. _De natura et solertia Canum; Panormi_, 1653. 4to. _De Venatione et Natura Animalium Libri V. ibid_, 1653. 3 vol. in 4to.--tous avec figures gravées en bois. Peut être dans la _Bibl. des Théatres_ y étoient-ils. Je me recommande toujours à M, Barbier pour la _Scala Coeli_, in folio, pour les _Lettres de Rangouge_, et pour les autres livres qu'il a bien voulu se charger de rechercher pour moy." ST. LEGER.

[101] The Abbé Hooke preceded the abbé Le Blond; the late head librarian. The present head librarian M. PETIT RADEL, has given a good account of the Mazarine Library in his _Recherches sur les Bibliotheques_, &c. 1819, 8vo.; but he has been reproached with a sort of studied omission of the name of Liblond--who, according to a safe and skilful writer, may be well considered the SECOND FOUNDER of the Mazarine Library. The Abbé Liblond died at St. Cloud in 1796. In M. Renouard's Catalogue of his own books, vol. ii. p. 253, an amusing story is told about Hooke's successor, the Abbé Le Blond, and Renouard himself.

[102] _Bibl. Spenceriana_, vol. i. p. 3, &c. and page 154 ante.

[103] When Lord Spencer was at Paris in 1819, he told MM. Petit Radel and Thiebaut, who attended him, that it was "the finest copy he had ever seen." Whereupon, one of these gentlemen wrote with a pencil, in the fly-leaf, "Lord Spencer dit que c'est le plus bel exemplaire qu'il ait vu." And well might his Lordship say so.

[104] _Bibliomania_, p. 50. _Bibliographical Decameron_, vol. ii. p. 493.

[105] Mons. Petit-Radel has lately (1819) published an interesting octavo volume, entitled "_Recherches sur les Bibliothéques anciennes et modernes,&c._ with a "_Notice Historique sur la Bibliothéque Mazarine_: to which latter is prefixed a plate, containing portraits in outline, of Mazarin, Colbert, Naudé and Le Blond." At the end, is a list of the number of volumes in the several public libraries at Paris: from which the following is selected.

ROYAL LIBRARY _Printed Volumes_ about 350,000 _Ditto, as brochures_, &c. 350,000 Manuscripts 50,000

LIBRARY OF THE ARSENAL Printed Volumes 150,000 Manuscripts 5,000

LIBRARY OF ST. GENEVIEVE Printed Volumes 110,000 Manuscripts 2,000

MAZARINE LIBRARY Printed Volumes 90,000 Manuscripts 3,500

LIBRARY OF THE PREFECTURE (Hotel de la Ville) Printed Volumes 15,000

------- INSTITUTE Printed Volumes 50,000

This last calculation I should think very incorrect. M. Petit Radel concludes his statement by making the WHOLE NUMBER OF ACCESSIBLE VOLUMES IN Paris amount to _One Million, one hundred and twenty-five thousand, four hundred and thirty-seven_. In the several DEPARTMENTS OF FRANCE, collectively, there is _more_ than that number. But see the note ensuing.

[106] [Mons. Crapelet says, 60,000 volumes: but I have more faith in the first, than in the second, computation: not because it comes from myself, but because a pretty long experience, in the numbering of books, has taught me to be very moderate in my numerical estimates. I am about to tell the reader rather a curious anecdote connected with this subject. He may, or he may not, be acquainted with the Public Library at Cambridge; where, twenty-five years ago, they boasted of having 90,000 volumes; and now, 120,000 volumes. In the year 1823, I ventured to make, what I considered to be, rather a minute and carefull calculation of the whole number: and in a sub note in the _Library Companion_, p. 657, edit. 1824, stated my conviction of that number's not exceeding 65,000 volumes, including MSS. In the following year, a very careful estimate was made, by the Librarians, of the whole number:--and the result was, that there were only.... 64,800 volumes!]

[107] Now, numbered with THE DEAD. Vide post.

[108] [The translation of the whole of the concluding part of this letter, beginning from above, together with the few notes supplied, as seen in M. Crapelet's publication, is the work of M. Barbier's nephew.]

[109] [For M. Barbier Junior's note, which, in M. Crapelet's publication, is here subjoined, consult the end of the Letter.]

[110] See pages 65-7 ante.

[111] [This conclusion is questioned with acuteness and success by M. Barbier's nephew. It seems rather that the MS. was finished in 781, to commemorate the victories of Charlemagne over his Lombardic enemies in 774.]

[112] [This restoration, in the name of the City of Toulouse, was made in the above year--on the occasion of the baptism of Bonaparte's son. But it was not placed in the King's private library till 1814. BARBIER Jun.]

[113] [Now complete in 8 volumes--at the cost of 80,000 francs!]

[114] [The latter was the true guess: for M. Barbier died in 1825, in his 60th year.]

[115] It was published in 1821. In one of his recent letters to me, the author thus observes--thereby giving a true portraiture of himself-- "Je sais, Monsieur, quelle est votre ardeur pour le travail: je sais aussi que c'est le moyen d'être heureux: ainsi je vous félicite d'être constamment occupé." M. Barbier is also one of the contributors to the _Biographie Universelle_,[116] and has written largely in the _Annales Encyclopédiques_. Among his contributions to the latter, is a very interesting "_Notice des principaux écrits relatifs à la personne et aux ouvrages de J.J. Rousseau_." His "_Catalogue des livres dans la Bibliothéque du Conseil d'Etat_, transported to Fontainbleau in 1807, and which was executed in a handsome folio volume, in 1802, is a correct and useful publication. I boast with justice of a copy of it, on fine paper, of which the author several years ago was so obliging as to beg my acceptance. [From an inscription in the fly-leaf of this Catalogue, I present the reader with a fac-simile of the hand-writing of its distinguished author.]

[Autograph]

[116] [I "ALONE am responsible for this Sin. _Suum Cuique_." BARBIER, Jun.]

[117] [These volumes form the numbers 1316 and 1317 of the Catalogue of M. Barbier's library, sold by auction in 1828.]

[118] [Consult _Bibl. Barbier_: Nos. 1490, 1491, 1861.]

[119] [The agreeable and well instructed Bibliographer, to the praises of whom, in the preceding edition of this work, I was too happy to devote the above few pages, is now NO MORE. Mons. Barbier died in 1825, and his library--the richest in literary bibliography in Paris,--was sold in 1828. On referring to page 197 ante, it will be seen that I have alluded to a note of M. Barbier's nephew, of which some mention was to be made in this place. I will give that note in its _original language_, because the most felicitous version of it would only impair its force. It is subjoined to these words of my text: "Be pleased to go strait forward as far as you can see." "L'homme de service lui-même ne ferait plus cette rêponse aujourd'hui. Peu de temps après l'impression du Voyage de M. Dibdin, ce qu'on appelle une _organisation_ eut lieu. Après vingt-sept ans de travaux consacrés à la bibliographique et aux devoirs de sa place, M. Barbier, que ses fonctions paisibles avoient protégés contre les terribles dénonciations de 1815, n'a pu régister, en 1822, aux délations mensongères de quelque commis sous M. Lauriston.

_Insere nunc, Meliboee, pyros; pone ordine vites_!

J'ai partagé pendant vingt ans les travaux de mon oncle pour former la bibliothéque de la couronne, et j'ai du, ainsi que lui, être mis a la retraite au moment de la promotion du nouveau Conservateur." CRAPELET, vol. iv. p. 45.