were distributed, e.g. on August 26, 1500, "choice was made of the
books on philosophy; it was found there were in all 349 books, which
were then distributed." This was a large number: at King's,
Cambridge, less than half a century before, there were only 174 books
on all subjects, and in the Cambridge University Library in 1473,
only 330.

If a book was borrowed, great precautions were taken; the Warden of
Merton in 1498 had to obtain the leave of the college to take out a
book which he wanted; then, "in the presence of the four seniors," he
received his book, depositing two volumes of St. Jerome's
Commentaries as pledges for its safe return. A similar ceremony, with
a similar entry in the register, marked the replacement of the book
in the library. Though printing was already beginning to multiply
books, yet then, and for long after, a book was a most valuable
possession. The features of these venerable tomes are well described
by Crabbe:

"That weight of wood, with leathern coat o'erlaid,
Those ample clasps, of solid metal made,
The close pressed leaves, unclosed for many an age,
The dull red edging of the well-filled page,
On the broad back the stubborn ridges rolled,
Where yet the title shines in tarnished gold,
These all a sage and laboured work proclaim,
A painful candidate for lasting fame."

Such books are numbered by hundreds in every college library, and it
is only too true of them that: