THE WORLD'S LARGEST LIBRARIES.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 9818, 30 August 1897, Page 4

THE WORLD'S LARGEST LIBRARIES.

The largest and the noblest collection''of books in the world is to be found in the National Library of France. This wonderful collection contains no fewer than 2,600,000 bound volumes and about 1,300,000 copies of pamphlets; in other worda, it contains about double the books at the British Museum. The building was afc one time the home of Cardinal Mazarin. To Charles V. belongs the honour of having been its founder. Upon the suppression of the monasteries, all the books belonging to them were added. to this library. The oldest manuscript book in this library—and, as a matter of fact, in the world—is the " Papyrus Prisse," which is more than fifty-six centuries old. Ainonjj; other old books in the same place may W mentioned Chinese MSS. t dated 2000 u.c.s Charlemagne's Bible, written on parchment and illuminated with letter of gold, bearing the date of 781.

The British Museum Library, containing about 1,650,000 bound volumes, is the second important library in the world. It was opened in 1759, and it really originated in a bequest of Sir HeuryjSloane, consisting of 50,000 volumes. In 1757 George 11. sold the library of printed books which had been collected by the Kings of England, and further gave the institution the important privilege of being supplied with a copy of every book published in Great Britain., x The Museum contains a vast store of priceleee literary treasures. It possesses the Codex Alexandrinus, a MS. of the Bible iafolu?, quarto volumes, well written on vellum in uncial Greek during the fifth century, sad a collection of Bibles, the largest and thi most valuable in the world. The Imperial Library of Ruseia, eatab« lished by Peter the Great, in 1714, is the third among the world's great libraries, It contains about 1.200,000 volumes, and about 26,000 manuscripts." The most important of these manuscripts in this library ia the famous "Codex Sinaiticus" of the Greek Bible, brought from the Convent of St. Catherine o*>. Monnt Sinai by Professor Tisohendorf in 1859. The fourth largest library is the Royal Library of Berlin, with 850,000 volume* It was opened in 1661 by the great Elector, Frederick William. But German jr h« 5,000,000 more books than England. The Royal Library of Munioh contains 64tMXXJ books and 400,000 pamphlets. The Eoyri Library at Stuttgard is famous for its fine collection of Bibles, which inductee copies of the Eliot Indian Bible of 1663, ttofcrt printed in the New World, and oi the Aitken Bible, issued in 1782.