Part 58 (1/2)
Printers, however, were not established in Paris till 1470, and in that same year, they dedicated to Lewis XI one of the first books which they printed. Books were, at this time, very scarce and dear, and continued so for several years, both before and after the discovery of that invention. Twenty thousand persons then subsisted in France by the sale of the books which they transcribed. This was the reason why printing was not at first more encouraged.
Charles VIII added to this literary establishment such works as he was able to obtain in his conquest of Naples. Lewis XII increased it by the library of Potrarch. Francis I enriched it with Greek ma.n.u.scripts; but what most contributed to augment the collection was the ordinance of Henry II, issued in 1556, which enjoined booksellers to furnish the royal libraries with a copy on vellum of all the works printed by privilege; and, under the subsequent reigns, it gradually acquired that richness and abundance which, before the revolution, had caused it to be considered as one of the first libraries in Europe.
In 1789, the _Bibliotheque du Roi_, as it was till then called, was reckoned to contain one hundred and eighty thousand printed volumes, eighty thousand ma.n.u.scripts, a prodigious numbcr of medals, antiques, and engraved stones, six thousand port-folios of prints, and two thousand engraved plates. But, under its present denomination of _Bibliotheque Nationale_, it has been considerably augmented.
Agreeably to your desire, I shall point out whatever is most remarkable in these augmentations.
The buildings, which, since the year 1721, contain this vast collection, formally made part of the _Hotel Mazarin_. The entrance is by the _Rue de la Loi_. It is at present divided into four departments, and is managed by a conservatory, composed of eight members, namely:
1. Two conservators for the printed books, M. M. CAPPERONNIER and VAN-PRAET.
2. Three for the ma.n.u.scripts, M. M. LANGLeS, LAPORTE DUTHEIL, and DACIER.
3. Two for the antiques, medals, and engraved stones, M. M. MILLIN and GOSSELIN.
4. One for the prints and engraved plates, M. JOLY.
The first department, containing the printed books, occupies, on the first floor of the three sides of the court, an extent of about nine hundred feet by twenty-four in breadth. The rooms, which receive light on one side only, are equal in height. In the second room to the right is the _Parna.s.se Francais_, a little mountain, in bronze, covered with figures a foot high, and with medals, representing French poets. Lewis XIV here occupies a distinguished place under the figure of Apollo. It was a present made by t.i.tON DU TILLET.
In another of these rooms, built on purpose, are a pair of globes of an extraordinary size, constructed, in 1683, by Father CORONELLI, a Jesuit, for Cardinal D'ESTReES, who presented them to Lewis XIV. The feet of these globes rest in a lower apartment; while their hemispheres project by two apertures made in the floor of fhe first story, and are thus placed within reach of the observer. Their diameter is eleven feet, eleven inches. The celebrated b.u.t.tERFIELD made for them two bra.s.s circles, (the one for the meridian, the other for the horizon), each eighteen feet in diameter.
Since the year 1789, the department of printed books has received an augmentation of one hundred and forty thousand volumes, either arising from private acquisitions, or collected in France, Italy, Holland, Germany, or Belgium. Among these is a valuable series of works, some more scarce than others, executed in the XVth century, which has rendered this department one of the most complete in Europe. I shall abstain from entering into a detail of the articles a.s.sembled in it, several of which deserve particular notice. A great many ancient specimens of the typographical art are on vellum, and give to this collection a value which it would be no easy matter to appreciate. All the cla.s.ses of it present a great number, the enumeration of which would far exceed my limits.
The department of ma.n.u.scripts, which is placed in a gallery one hundred and forty feet in length, by twenty-two in breadth, has been increased in proportion to that of the printed books. The library of Versailles, that of several emigrants, the chapters of various cathedrals, the Sorbonne, the _College de Navarre_ in Paris, and the different suppressed religious corporations, have enriched it with upwards of twenty thousand volumes; eight thousand of these belonged to the library of _St. Germain-des-Pres_, which was burnt in 1793-4, and was immensely rich in ma.n.u.scripts and old printed hooks.
About fifteen hundred volumes have been taken from Italy, Holland, and Germany. Among those arrived from Italy, we must distinguish the original ma.n.u.script of RUFFIN, a priest of Aquilea, who lived in the IVth century, containing, on papyrus or Egyptian paper, the Latin tranlation of the Jewish antiquities of FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS; the grammar of PROBUS or PALaeMON, a ma.n.u.script of the Vth century, on vellum, in uncial characters; a very beautiful volume in Syriac, containing the Four Evangelists, a ma.n.u.script on vellum of the VIth century; the two celebrated ma.n.u.scripts of Virgil of the VIIth century, the one from the Vatican, the other from Florence, both on vellum. A roll, in good preservation, composed of several skins, sewed together, containing the Pentateuch in Hebrew, a ma.n.u.script of the IXth century. A Terence, with figures of the time and a representation of the masks introduced on the stage by the ancients, together with the various poetical works of PRUDENTIUS; ma.n.u.scripts on vellum of the IXth century. The Terence is that of the Vatican, in praise of which Madame DACIER speaks in her translation.
The ma.n.u.scripts of the ancient Dukes of Burgundy, which had so long const.i.tuted the ornament of the library of Brussels, now increase the fame of those which the _Bibliotheque Nationale_ already possessed of this description. Their number is about five hundred volumes; the greater part of them are remarkable for the beauty and richness of the miniatures by which they are embellished, and one scarcely inferior in magnificence to the primer of Anne de Bretagne, wife of Lewis XII, to that of Cardinal Richelieu, to the primer and battles of Lewis XIV, and to a heap of other ma.n.u.scripts which rendered this _ci-devant Bibliotheque du Roi_ so celebrated in foreign countries.
Five large apartments on the second floor are occupied by t.i.tles and genealogies, which are still preserved here, in about five thousand portfolios or boxes, for the purpose of verifying the claims to property, and a.s.sisting the historian in his researches.
The department of medals, antiques and engraved stones has, since 1789, also experienced an abundant augmentation. The medals are in a cabinet at the end of the Library; the antiques are in another, above it, on the second floor.
In 1790, the engraved stones which had been previously locked up in the drawers of the council-chamber at Versailles, were conveyed hither, to the number of eight hundred. It would be too tedious to dwell on the beauty, merit, and scarceness of these stones, as well as on their finished workmans.h.i.+p and degree of antiquity. Among them, the beautiful ring, called the _seal of Michael Angelo_, claims admiration.
In 1791, some antiquities which const.i.tuted part of the treasure of _St. Denis_, were brought hither from that abbey. Among these valuable articles, we must particularly distinguish the chalice of the Abbot SUGER; a vase of sardonyx, with two handles formed of raised snakes, on which are represented, with admirable art, ceremonies relating to the wors.h.i.+p of Bacchus; a large gold cup, ornamented with enamel of various colours; a very large urn of porphyry, which formerly served as a sepulchral monument; several baptismal fonts; the arm-chair of King Dagobert, a piece of very extraordinary workmans.h.i.+p for the time in which it was executed.
Among the valuable articles removed hither from _La Sainte Chapelle_ in Paris, in the same year, are to be particularly remarked a sardonyx, representing the apotheosis of Augustus, and commonly called _l'agathe de la Sainte Chapelle_. This stone is the largest and rarest known of that species. It was brought to France in the year 1383 by king Charles V.
At the end of 1792 the cabinet of medals of _St. Genevieve_, forming in the whole seventeen thousand articles, and its fine collection of antique monuments, increased the new riches acc.u.mulated in the _Bibliotheque Nationale_. In 1794, a beautiful series of antiquities, consisting of a great number of imperial medals, of nations, cities, and kings, of all sizes, in gold, silver, and bronze, together with little painted figures, busts, instruments of sacrifices, &c. arrived here from Holland.
In 1796, the department of medals was also enriched by several articles from the _Garde-Meuble_ or Jewel-Office. Among them were some suits of armour belonging to several of the kings of France, particularly that of Francis I, that of Henry IV, and that of Lewis XIV. These were accompanied by a quant.i.ty of arms, helmets, s.h.i.+elds, breast-plates, and weapons used in the ancient tournaments, as well as quivers, bows, arrows, swords, &c.
Towards the end of the year 1798 and in 1799, several valuable articles arrived here from Italy, among which are two crowns of gold, enriched with precious stones, worn by the ancient kings of Lombardy, at the time of their coronation; the engraved stones and medals of the Pope's cabinet; a head of Jupiter aegiochus, on a ground of sardonyx, a master-piece of art, which is above all eulogium; the celebrated Isiac table, in copper incrustated with silver, a valuable table of Egyptian mythology, which is presumed to have been executed, either at Alexandria or at Rome, in the first or second century of the christian era; some oriental weapons; a _fetfa_ or diploma of the Grand Signior contained in a silk purse, &c.
The department of prints and engraved plates, formed of the celebrated cabinets of MAHOLLES, BERINGHEN, GAIGNIeRES, UXELLES, BEGON, GAYLUS, FONTETTE, MARIETTE, &c. contained, before the revolution the most ample, rich, and valuable collection in Europe.
It is placed in the _entresol_, and is divided into twelve cla.s.ses.
The first cla.s.s comprehends sculptors, architectural engineers, and engravers, from the origin of the French nation to the present day, arranged in schools.
The second, prints, emblems, and devices of piety.