A Library Takes Shape

Books, Benches, and Borrowers

The Vatican Library developed rapidly. These documents let us watch it grow. The catalogues show how the thousands of manuscripts were organized and stored. Most were not shelved, but chained to what were called "benches,"--actually tables with benches attached to them. Each of these was dedicated to a particular subject. Readers working in the library had to study the books in place. But it also operated a circulating system. Readers could sign books out, but they also had to take the chains that had held them to the table (a forceful reminder to bring them back); and the pope himself might write a recall notice if important texts were kept away too long. One could also lose one's privilege for climbing over the tables instead of walking around them or for other offenses. Pico della Mirandola, the brilliant 23-year-old philosopher who wrote a famous "Oration on the Dignity of Man," lost his privileges when his dissident theology shocked the papal curia.

Please continue the exhibit in the room:

Or walk all the way back to the Main Hall. You can also simply turn around and go back to "Vatican Library".