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MERTON COLLEGE, OXFORD.
As an illustration of the former plan I will take the library of Merton
College, Oxford, attributed by tradition to William Reade, Bishop of
Chichester 1368-85; and it has been so little altered that it may be taken
as a type of a medieval collegiate or monastic library. It is a long
narrow room, as all medieval libraries were, with equidistant windows, and
the bookcases stand at right angles to the walls in the spaces between
each pair of windows, in front of which is the seat for the reader. Each
bookcase had originally two shelves only above the desk. I will shew you,
first, a general view of the interior of this library, and then a single
bookcase and seat.[Pg 42]
Next: Chaining Books
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