The Philobiblon [2]
de Bury, Bishop of Durham, Treasurer and Chancellor of Edward III, edited and translated by Ernest C. Thomas, Barrister- at-law, late Scholar of Trinity College, Oxford, and Librarian of the Oxford Union. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co."
For fifteen years the enthusiastic editor--an ideal Bibliophile--had toiled at his labour of love, and his work was on all sides received with the recognition due to his monumental achievement. To the great loss of English learning, he did not long survive the conclusion of his labours. The very limited edition of the work was soon exhausted, and it is by the most generous permission of his father, Mr. John Thomas, of Lower Broughton, Manchester, that the translation--the only trustworthy rendering of Richard de Bury's precious treatise--is now, for the first time, made accessible to the larger book-loving public, and fittingly inaugurates the present series of English classics. The general Editor desires to express his best thanks to Mr. John Thomas, as also to Messrs. Kegan Paul, for their kindness in allowing him to avail himself of the materials included in the 1888 edition of the work. He has attempted, in the brief Preface and Notes, to condense Mr. Thomas' labours in such a way as would have been acceptable to the lamented scholar, and though he has made bold to explain some few textual difficulties, and to add some few references, he would fain hope that these additions have been made with modest caution--with the reverence due to the unstinted toil of a Bibliophile after Richard de Bury's own pattern. Yet once again Richard de Bury's Philobiblon, edited and translated into English by E. C. Thomas, is presented to new generations of book-lovers:-- "LIBRORUM DILECTORIBUS."
THE PHILOBIBLON NEWLY TRANSLATED
PROLOGUE I That the treasure of wisdom is chiefly contained in books
II The degree of affection that is properly due to books
III What we are to think of the price in the buying of books
IV The complaint of books against the clergy already promoted
V The complaint of books against the possessioners
VI The complaint of books against the mendicants
VII The complaint of books against wars
VIII Of the numerous opportunities we have had of collecting a store of books
IX How, although we preferred the works of the ancients, we have not condemned the studies of the moderns
X Of the gradual perfecting of books
XI Why we have preferred books of liberal learning to books of law
XII Why we have caused books of grammar to be so diligently prepared
XIII Why we have not wholly neglected the fables of the poets
XIV Who ought to be special lovers of books
XV Of the advantages of the love of books
XVI That it is meritorious to write new books and to renew the old
XVII Of showing due propriety in the custody of books
XVIII Showeth that we have collected so great store of books for the common benefit of scholars and not only for our own pleasure XIX Of the manner of lending all our books to students XX An exhortation to scholars to requite us by pious prayers
PROLOGUE
To all the faithful of Christ to whom the tenor of these presents may come, Richard de Bury, by the divine mercy Bishop of Durham, wisheth everlasting salvation in the Lord and to present continually a pious memorial of himself before God, alike in his lifetime and after his death.
What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards me? asks the most devout Psalmist, an invincible King and first among the prophets; in which most grateful question he approves himself a willing thank-offerer, a multifarious debtor, and one who wishes for a holier counsellor than himself: agreeing with Aristotle, the chief of philosophers, who shows (in the 3rd and 6th books of his Ethics) that all action depends upon counsel.
And indeed if so wonderful a prophet, having a fore-knowledge of divine secrets, wished so
For fifteen years the enthusiastic editor--an ideal Bibliophile--had toiled at his labour of love, and his work was on all sides received with the recognition due to his monumental achievement. To the great loss of English learning, he did not long survive the conclusion of his labours. The very limited edition of the work was soon exhausted, and it is by the most generous permission of his father, Mr. John Thomas, of Lower Broughton, Manchester, that the translation--the only trustworthy rendering of Richard de Bury's precious treatise--is now, for the first time, made accessible to the larger book-loving public, and fittingly inaugurates the present series of English classics. The general Editor desires to express his best thanks to Mr. John Thomas, as also to Messrs. Kegan Paul, for their kindness in allowing him to avail himself of the materials included in the 1888 edition of the work. He has attempted, in the brief Preface and Notes, to condense Mr. Thomas' labours in such a way as would have been acceptable to the lamented scholar, and though he has made bold to explain some few textual difficulties, and to add some few references, he would fain hope that these additions have been made with modest caution--with the reverence due to the unstinted toil of a Bibliophile after Richard de Bury's own pattern. Yet once again Richard de Bury's Philobiblon, edited and translated into English by E. C. Thomas, is presented to new generations of book-lovers:-- "LIBRORUM DILECTORIBUS."
THE PHILOBIBLON NEWLY TRANSLATED
PROLOGUE I That the treasure of wisdom is chiefly contained in books
II The degree of affection that is properly due to books
III What we are to think of the price in the buying of books
IV The complaint of books against the clergy already promoted
V The complaint of books against the possessioners
VI The complaint of books against the mendicants
VII The complaint of books against wars
VIII Of the numerous opportunities we have had of collecting a store of books
IX How, although we preferred the works of the ancients, we have not condemned the studies of the moderns
X Of the gradual perfecting of books
XI Why we have preferred books of liberal learning to books of law
XII Why we have caused books of grammar to be so diligently prepared
XIII Why we have not wholly neglected the fables of the poets
XIV Who ought to be special lovers of books
XV Of the advantages of the love of books
XVI That it is meritorious to write new books and to renew the old
XVII Of showing due propriety in the custody of books
XVIII Showeth that we have collected so great store of books for the common benefit of scholars and not only for our own pleasure XIX Of the manner of lending all our books to students XX An exhortation to scholars to requite us by pious prayers
PROLOGUE
To all the faithful of Christ to whom the tenor of these presents may come, Richard de Bury, by the divine mercy Bishop of Durham, wisheth everlasting salvation in the Lord and to present continually a pious memorial of himself before God, alike in his lifetime and after his death.
What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards me? asks the most devout Psalmist, an invincible King and first among the prophets; in which most grateful question he approves himself a willing thank-offerer, a multifarious debtor, and one who wishes for a holier counsellor than himself: agreeing with Aristotle, the chief of philosophers, who shows (in the 3rd and 6th books of his Ethics) that all action depends upon counsel.
And indeed if so wonderful a prophet, having a fore-knowledge of divine secrets, wished so