OLD ENGLISH LIBRARIES
THE MAKING, COLLECTION, AND USE OF BOOKS
DURING THE MIDDLE AGES

by ERNEST A. SAVAGE




PREFACE

WITH the arrangement and equipment of
libraries this essay has little to do: the
ground being already covered adequately
by Dr. Clark in his admirable monograph on The
Care of Books. Herein is described the making,
use, and circulation of books considered as a means
of literary culture. It seemed possible to throw a
useful sidelight on literary history, and to introduce
some human interest into the study of bibliography,
if the place held by books in the life of the Middle
Ages could be indicated. Such, at all events, was
my aim, but I am far from sure of my success in
carrying it out; and I offer this book merely as
a discursive and popular treatment of a subject
which seems to me of great interest.

The book has suffered from one unhappy circumstance.
It was planned in collaboration with my
friend Mr. James Hutt, M.A., but unfortunately,