Libraries
Ancient libraries
See
Bibliotheca.
Libraries with important collections of Greek and Latin MSS
For the benefit of the student is given the following list of the great libraries that
contain important collections of Greek and Latin MSS. or of early editions of the classic
authors: (
a)
 |
|
Vatican Library.
|
Italy. The
Vatican Library at Rome, founded by Pope
Nicholas V.
(1447-1455), the most magnificent collection in the world, though
not the largest. Here are the majority of the MSS. from the convent at Bobbio, in the Middle
Ages one of the richest collections in Europe. Here are also 3000 MSS. brought to the
Vatican from Heidelberg in 1623. In 1655 the greater part of the library of Duke Federigo of
Urbino was purchased by Pope Alexander VII. The collection of Queen Christina of Sweden added
1900 MSS. The last great addition was in 1856, when Pope Pius IX. added 40,000 volumes that
had belonged to Cardinal Mai. In 1894, the whole number of MSS. of all kinds in the Vatican
Library was more than 26,000, of which some 19,000 are Latin, 4000 Greek, and 2000 Oriental.
The printed books number about 220,000. No complete catalogue has yet been
made.—The
Laurentian Library at Florence, founded in 1444 by Cosimo
de Medici, contains some 10,000 Greek and Latin MSS., among them early codices of Vergil
(fourth or fifth century), Tacitus, Cicero's letters
ad familiares, the
Pandects, and Aeschylus. It has however, only 4000 printed volumes.—The
Ambrosian Library at Milan, founded in 1609 by the Cardinal Archbishop
Federigo Borromeo, has 8000 MSS., among them some valuable palimpsests, and 170,000 printed
books.—The
Marcian Library or
Library of St. Mark in
Venice was founded in 1362, and established as a library by Cardinal Bessarion in the
following century. Its Greek MSS. are very valuable, especially those of Aristophanes,
Sophocles, Euripides, and Homer. (See
Homerus.)—The
Biblioteca Nazionale at Naples, opened as late
as 1804 in conjunction with the remarkable
Museo Nazionale, has over 4000 MSS. and 200,000 printed volumes, all catalogued. Among the former are
codices of Lycophron, Quintus Smyrnaeus, the halfburned MS. of Festus, a Charisius,
etc.—The
Biblioteca Casanatense at Rome has lately been united with
the
Biblioteca Vittorio Emanuelo, which contains the great collections made by
the Jesuits of the old Collegio Romano. The united library contains upwards of 6000 MSS. and
500,000 printed volumes.
（
b)
France. France possesses
the largest library in the world in the great
Bibliothèque
Nationale at Paris, founded by Charles V.
(d. 1380). It contains nearly
100,000 MSS. and over 3,000,000 printed volumes, not systematically catalogued. The library
is arranged in four departments—
- 1. Books and Maps;
- 2. Manuscripts;
- 3. Engravings;
- 4. Medals and Antiques.
The collection illustrative of Latin Palaeography is wonderfully complete; and among
the MSS. are famous ones of Sophocles, Euripides, Theocritus, Herodotus, Xenophon (the best),
Plato, Demosthenes, Lucian, Catullus, Cicero, Ovid, Caesar, Sallust (the best), Livy ,
etc.—Many of the provincial libraries in France have valuable MSS., which have been
catalogued at the expense of the French government (1849 foll.).
（
c) Germany and Austria. The
Royal
Library at Berlin, founded by the Elector Frederick William in 1661, has over 15,000
MSS. and nearly 1,000,000 volumes.—The largest library in Germany is the
Royal Library at Munich, founded by Duke Albrecht V. of Bavaria
(1550-1579). It is particularly rich in first editions of the classics derived
from the monasteries, and has 30,000 MSS. and over 1,000,000 printed volumes. Among the MSS.
are important ones of Demosthenes (A), Ovid, and Sallust. The
University
Library at Munich has some 1800 MSS. and 250,000 volumes.—The
Royal
Library at Dresden, founded by the Elector Augustus
(d. 1586), has 400
MSS. and 475,000 printed volumes, besides a very remarkable collection of dissertations,
numbering fully 400,000. It has also a set of incunabula, 2000 in number.—The
Royal Public Library at Stuttgart, founded in 1765, has 3800 MSS. and nearly
500,000 volumes.—The
Ducal Library of Gotha, dating from the
seventeenth century, has more than 6000 MSS., many of which are of great value (see
Codex), and 250,000 volumes.— Most of the
German universities have admirable collections of classical material, especially
Heidelberg (400,000 volumes and many famous MSS.) and
Strassburg, which, though founded as late as 1871, has over 500,000 volumes
and some good codices.— The
Imperial Library at Vienna, founded by
the emperor Frederick III. (or by his son Maximilian) about 1440, has 20,000 MSS., among them
the only codex containing the Fifth Decade of Livy 's history. There are also 6800
incunabula, and 400,000 other volumes.—There are many monastic libraries in Austria
with MSS. of importance, besides large collections of incunabula. Those at Salzburg,
Kremsmünster, and Lembach are the best.
（
d) Belgium and Holland. Brussels has in
the
Bibliothèque Royale one of the finest libraries of Europe, with
30,000 MSS. and 400,000 volumes. There are several famous
codices
Bruxellenses. The
University Library at Ghent (1600 MSS., 275,000
volumes) and that at Liège (1550 MSS., 160,000 volumes) are also
important.—In Holland the
Royal Library at the Hague (4000 MSS.,
250,000 volumes), the
University Library at Leyden (founded by William I. of
Orange, 1575; 5600 MSS., 350,000 volumes), and the
University Library at
Amsterdam have codices of great importance to classical scholars.
（
e) Denmark. The
Royal
Library at Copenhagen, founded in the sixteenth century by Christian III., has many
important classical MSS. (
codices Haunienses) and 500,000 volumes.
（
f) England. The library of the
British Museum in London, founded by Sir Hans Sloane in 1753, is one of the
largest in the world, and in point of system and accessibility the most admirable. It
contains more than 1,500,000 printed volumes, and upwards of 50,000 MSS. of all
kinds—Greek, Latin, Oriental, and Mediaeval. Most important among the classical
MSS. are two codices of Homer, one containing the
Iliad and one the
Odyssey （
codices Townleiani), both among the earliest in
existence.—At Oxford is the
Bodleian Library, founded by Sir Thomas
Bodley in 1602. It contains nearly 500,000 printed volumes and 30,000 MSS., many of them
Oriental. Its collection of
editiones principes of Greek and Latin
authors is one of the finest in Europe.—The
University Library at
Cambridge was established in the early part of the fifteenth century. It has nearly 6000 MSS.
and a number of printed books with MS. notes, among them being some by
Bentley (q.v.). Its printed volumes number about 250,000.—The
library of Trinity College at the same university is also unusually rich in Greek and Latin
MSS. and early editions.
（
g) United States. The American libraries
that are richest in classical works are those of
Harvard University (400,000
volumes) and
Yale University (more than 200,000 volumes). In the library of
Columbia College (200,000 volumes) the early and rare printed editions of
Greek and Latin authors are well represented.
See Petzholdt,
Bibliotheca Bibliographica (Leipzig, 1866);
Madan,
Books in Manuscript (London, 1893); Montfaucon,
Bibliothèque des Bibliothèques des Manuscrits
(Paris, 1739); and Reinach,
Manuel de Philologie Classique, i. pp. 23,
24
(Paris, 1883).
