BIT OF OLD ENGLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20958, 22 August 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

BIT OF OLD ENGLAND.

HEREFORD'S CHAINED LIBRARY. TREASURE MADE SECURE. LONG LABOUR OF LOVE. A long labour of lovo and ingenuity has been finished at Hereford. The old chained library lias been put back in its place and now can bo seen as it was when it was set up in tho Cathedral Lady Chapel 300 years ago. about the same time that Sir Thomas Godley caused the chained library to be made in Duke Humphrey's room at the Bodleian in Oxford. This is indeed a treasure, one of those inheritances of the past that make the soil of England, so to speak, so rich, says tho Children's Newspaper. The work has been superintended by Canon Streeter and the expense most nobly borne by Mr. H. C. Moffatt, of Salisbury. A visitor can walk by these presses, as the bookcases were called, and know that each of the 1482 chains is exactly as it was when the book was first put in its place. The visitor can ponder on strange things—that until 1700 all library furniture was rnado on the model of chained libraries; that all over England there wero chained libraries, and fragments of many still exist. Perhaps tho strangest thing is to realise how long tho habit held. At Chetbam

Hospital, Manchester, books -were still chained in 1742, at the Bodleian in 1751, as other Oxford libraries in 1790, at King's Library, Cambridge, in 1777. Changes With the Times. As • changes camo with the changing ' times and libraries increased and the conditions for students altered it was inevitable that the chains should be removed, and it was quito natural that no one should think the material worthy of preservation. There are always things in a, library that must be denounced as litter and from time to time removed, just as a housewife is driven to make a periodical clearance or else build a room on the house to store lumber in. The result is that in many, churches and libraries in England there are a few chains left, but not the complete fittings. The reassembling of the parts of Hereford Chained Library is a true tale of adventure. In 1841 the bookcases were taken to pieces and used elsewhere. Twelve" years later someone discovered that a mistake had been made. Such of the bookcases as could be found, sadly mutilated, were put back, but not properly put together.' When the present work of restoration began it was determined that the library parts should be reassembled as they were in 1590. This meant much knowledge on the part of the leader of the campaign and much patience in his helpers. Pieces of the bookcases were found all over the church, which was searched yard by yard. Marvellous Jig-Saw Puzzle. The original seats for readers had been joined together as pews in the transepts. Part of a bookcase had been made into a surplice-hanging cupboard in a vestry. Another part had been turned into a carpenter's bench. Day by duy trifles were found. An original desk-hinge was discovered in two pieces on different days. In one bright hour 14 original desk brackets were found. When the work began it was hoped to reassemble four bookcases. In the end seven were finished. Mercifully, most of the manuscripts and somo of the old books had never been deprived of their chains. Hanging from the ceiling were 1000 chains in rows. The greatest task was finding tho brass clips which were used to fasten the chains (o the books, for each was separately made and no two were alike. There was great joy in the library one day when it was discovered that the brass clips taken from the books when the bulk of the library was unchained had been tossed into an old box, and no one had troubled to throw them away! This marvellous jig-saw puzzle is finished, and now, for as long as Hereford Cathedral endures, another fragment of Old England is secure.