Libraries of to-day.

The provision of buildings to house a vast number of books for the edification of the people is a comparatively modern problem, and we need not seek far for an explanation of this phenomenon. In earlier times, up to and including the fifteenth century, each and every book was labor-iously written and re-written by hand, and was painstakingly illustrated or "illuminated'' with flowing designs and decorative capital letters. Each volume therefore reflected the individuality of its creator, and became a true work of art, rare in that it was absolutely unique, incapable of exact reproduction. Many months of labour were often spent in the production of a single volume. Craftsmen versed in the art of manuscript illumination were by no means numerous, members of the religious orders being practically the only persons who could even write. Books were therefore very few, of great value, and almost universally of a religious nature, thus becoming objects of reverence, to be carefully stored and guarded from unhallowed hands. To study them would have been almost sacrilege. The aim of this Thesis is therefore, firstly, to examine the details of the library plan, and secondly, to illustrate how they may best be adapted to its functions and made to express them. To these ends, it has been broadly divided into two parts