The Great Book-Collectors | Page 8

'most noble
and copious store'; but he gave to the King of Northumbria, in
exchange for a large landed estate, the magnificent 'Cosmography'
which his predecessor had brought to Wearmouth.
St. Wilfrid presented to his church at Ripon a Book of the Gospels on
purple vellum, and a Bible with covers of pure gold inlaid with
precious stones. John the Precentor, who introduced the Roman liturgy
into this country, bequeathed a number of valuable books to
Wearmouth. Bede had no great library of his own; it was his task 'to
disseminate the treasures of Benedict.' But he must have possessed a
large number of manuscripts while he was writing the Ecclesiastical
History, since he has informed us that Bishop Daniel of Winchester and
other learned churchmen in the South were accustomed to supply him
constantly with records and chronicles.
St. Boniface may be counted among the collectors, though he could
carry but a modest supply of books through the German forests and the
marshes of Friesland. As a missionary he found it useful to display a
finely-painted volume. Writing to the Abbess Eadburga for a Missal, he
asked that the parchment might be gay with colours,--'even as a
glittering lamp and an illumination for the hearts of the Gentiles.' 'I
entreat you,' he writes again, 'to send me St. Peters Epistle in letters of
gold.' He begged all his friends to send him books as a refreshment in
the wilderness. Bishop Daniel is asked for the Prophecies 'written very
large.' Bishop Lulla is to send a cosmography and a volume of poems.
He applies to one Archbishop for the works of Bede, 'who is the lamp
of the Church,' and to the other for the Pope's Answers to Augustine,
which cannot be found in the Roman bookshops. Boniface was Primate
of Germany; but he resigned his high office to work among the rude
tribes of Friesland. We learn that he carried some of his choicest books
with him on his last ill-fated expedition, when the meadow and the
river-banks were strewn with the glittering service-books after the
murder of the Saint and his companions.
Egbert of York set up a large library in the Minster. Alcuin took charge
of it after his friend's death, and composed a versified catalogue, of

such merit as the nature of the task allowed. 'Here you may trace the
footsteps of the Fathers; here you meet the clear-souled Aristotle and
Tully of the mighty tongue; here Basil and Fulgentius shine, and
Cassiodorus and John of the Golden Mouth.' As Alcuin was returning
from book-buying at Rome he met Charles the Great at Parma. The
Emperor persuaded the traveller to enter his service, and they
succeeded by their joint efforts in producing a wonderful revival of
literature. The Emperor had a fine private collection of MSS. adorned
in the Anglo-Frankish style; and he established a public library,
containing the works of the Fathers, 'so that the poorest student might
find a place at the banquet of learning.' Alcuin presented to the
Emperor's own collection a revised copy of the Vulgate illuminated
under his personal supervision.
Towards the end of Alcuin's career he retired to the Abbey of St.
Martin at Tours, and there founded his 'Museum,' which was in fact a
large establishment for the editing and transcription of books. Here he
wrote those delightful letters from which we have already made an
extract. To his friend Arno at Salzburg he writes about a little treatise
on orthography, which he would have liked to have recited in person.
'Oh that I could turn the sentences into speech, and embrace my brother
with a warmth that cannot be sent in a book; but since I cannot come
myself I send my rough letters, that they may speak for me instead of
the words of my mouth.' To the Emperor he sent a description of his
life at Tours: 'In the house of St. Martin I deal out the honey of the
Scriptures, and some I excite with the ancient wine of wisdom, and
others I fill full with the fruits of grammatical learning.'
Very few book-lovers could be found in England while the country was
being ravaged by the Danes. The Northern Abbeys were burned, and
their libraries destroyed. The books at York perished, though the
Minster was saved; the same fate befell the valuable collections at
Croyland and Peterborough. The royal library at Stockholm contains
the interesting 'Golden Gospels,' decorated in the same style as the
Book of Lindisfarne, and perhaps written at the same place. An
inscription of the ninth century shows that it was bought from a crew of
pirates by Duke Alfred, a nobleman of Wessex, and was presented by

him and his wife Werburga to the Church at Canterbury.
It seems possible that literature