The Philobiblon of Richard de Bury

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THE LOVE OF BOOKS THE PHILOBIBLON OF RICHARD DE BURY
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY E. C. THOMAS

"TAKE THOU A BOOK INTO THINE HANDS AS SIMON THE JUST TOOK THE
CHILD JESUS INTO HIS ARMS TO CARRY HIM AND KISS HIM. AND WHEN
THOU HAST FINISHED READING, CLOSE THE BOOK AND GIVE THANKS FOR
EVERY WORD OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD; BECAUSE IN THE LORD'S FIELD
THOU HAST FOUND A HIDDEN TREASURE."
THOMAS A KEMPIS: Doctrinale Juvenum

PREFACE

The Author of the Book.
Richard de Bury (1281-1345), so called from being born near Bury
St. Edmunds, was the son of Sir Richard Aungerville. He studied
at Oxford; and was subsequently chosen to be tutor to Prince
Edward of Windsor, afterwards Edward III. His loyalty to the
cause of Queen Isabella and the Prince involved him in danger.
On the accession of his pupil he was made successively Cofferer,
Treasurer of the Wardrobe, Archdeacon of Northampton, Prebendary
of Lincoln, Sarum, and Lichfield, Keeper of the Privy Purse,
Ambassador on two occasions to Pope John XXII, who appointed him
a chaplain of the papal chapel, Dean of Wells, and ultimately, at
the end of the year 1333, Bishop of Durham; the King and Queen,
the King of Scots, and all the magnates north of the Trent,
together with a multitude of nobles and many others, were present
at his enthronization. It is noteworthy that during his stay at
Avignon, probably in 1330, he made the acquaintance of Petrarch,
who has left us a brief account of their intercourse. In 1332
Richard visited Cambridge, as one of the King's commissioners, to
inquire into the state of the King's Scholars there, and perhaps
then became a member of the Gild of St. Mary--one of the two
gilds which founded Corpus Christi College.

In 1334 he became High Chancellor of England, and Treasurer in
1336, resigning the former office in 1335, so that he might help
the King in dealing with affairs abroad and in Scotland, and took
a most distinguished part in diplomatic negociations between
England and France. In 1339 he was again in his bishopric.
Thereafter his name occurs often among those appointed to treat
of peace with Philip of France, and with Bruce of Scotland. It
appears that he was not in Parliament in 1344. Wasted by long
sickness--longa infirmitate decoctus--on the 14th of April, 1345,
Richard de Bury died at Auckland, and was buried in Durham
Cathedral.

Dominus Ricardus de Bury migravit ad Dominum.

The Bishop as Booklover.
According to the concluding note, the Philobiblon was completed
on the bishop's fifty-eighth birthday, the 24th of January, 1345,
so that even though weakened by illness, Richard must have been
actively engaged in his literary efforts to the very end of his
generous and noble life. His enthusiastic devoted biographer
Chambre[1] gives a vivid account of the bishop's bookloving
propensities, supplementary to what can be gathered from the
Philobiblon itself. Iste summe delectabatur in multitudine
librorum; he had more books, as was commonly reported, than all
the other English bishops put together. He had a separate
library in each of his residences, and wherever he was residing,
so many books lay about his bed-chamber, that it was hardly
possible to stand or move without treading upon them. All the
time he could spare from business was devoted either to religious
offices or to his books. Every day while at table he would have
a book read to him, unless some special guest were present, and
afterwards would engage in discussion on the subject of the
reading. The haughty Anthony Bec delighted in the appendages of
royalty--to be addressed by nobles kneeling, and to be waited on
in his presence-chamber and at his table by Knights bare-headed
and standing; but De Bury loved to surround himself with learned
scholars. Among these were such men as Thomas Bradwardine,
afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, and author of the De Causa
Dei; Richard Fitzralph, afterwards Archbishop of Armagh, and
famous for his hostility to the mendicant orders; Walter Burley,
who dedicated to him a translation of the Politics of Aristototle
made at his suggestion; John Mauduit, the astronomer; Robert
Holkot, author of many books; Richard de Kilvington; Richard
Benworth, afterwards Bishop of London; and Walter Seagrave, who
became Dean of Chichester."[2]

[1] Cp. Surtees Society's edition of Scriptores Tres; also
Wharton's Anglia Sacra.

[2] An unsuccessful attempt has been made to transfer the
authorship of the book to Robert Holkot. Various theories have
been advanced against Richard's claims. It is noteworthy that
his contemporary Adam Murimuth disparages him as "mediocriter
literatus, volens tamen magnus clericus reputari," but such
disparagement must be taken with the utmost caution. The really
difficult fact to be accounted for is the omission on the part of
Chambre to mention the book.

The Bishop's Books.
In the Philobiblon, Richard de Bury frankly and clearly describes
his means and method of collecting books. Anyhow his object was
clearly not selfish. The treatise contains his rules for the
library of the new College at Oxford--Durham College (where
Trinity College now stands)--which he practically founded, though
his successor, Bishop Hatfield, carried the scheme into effect.
It is traditionally reported that Richard's books were sent, in
his lifetime or after his death, to the house of the Durham
Benedictines at Oxford, and there remained until the dissolution
of the College by Henry VIII., when they were dispersed, some
going into Duke Humphrey's (the University) library, others to
Balliol College, and the remainder passing into the hands of Dr.
George Owen, who purchased the site of the dissolved College.[3]

[3] Mr. J. W. Clark puts the matter as follows:--"Durham College,
maintained by the Benedictines of Durham, was supplied with books
from the mother-house, lists of which have been preserved; and
subsequently a library was built there to contain the collection
bequeathed in 1345 by Richard de Bury" (The Care of Books, p.
142). Mr. Thomas points out that De Bury's executors sold at
least some portion of his books; and, moreover, his biographer
says nothing of a library at Oxford. Possibly the scheme was
never carried out. In the British Museum (Roy. 13 D. iv. 3) is a
large folio MS. of the works of John of Salisbury, which was one
of the books bought back from the Bishop's executors.

Unfortunately, the "special catalogue" of his books prepared by
Richard has not come down to us; but "from his own book and from
the books cited in the works of his friends and housemates, who
may reasonably be supposed to have drawn largely from the
bishop's collection, it would be possible to restore a
hypothetical but not improbable Bibliotheca Ricardi de Bury. The
difficulty would be with that contemporary literature, which they
would think below the dignity of quotation, but which we know the
Bishop collected."

Early Editions of the Philobiblon.
The book was first printed at Cologne in 1473, at Spires in 1483,
and at Paris in 1500. The first English edition appeared in
1598-9, edited by Thomas James, Bodley's first librarian. Other
editions appeared in Germany in 1610, 1614, 1674 and 1703; at
Paris in 1856; at Albany in 1861. The texts were, with the
exception of those issued in 1483 and 1599, based on the 1473
edition; though the French edition and translation of 1856,
prepared by M. Cocheris, claimed to be a critical version, it
left the text untouched, and merely gave the various readings of
the three Paris manuscripts at the foot of the pages; these
readings are moreover badly chosen, and the faults of the version
are further to be referred to the use of the ill- printed 1703
edition as copy.

In 1832 there appeared an anonymous English translation, now
known to have been by J. B. Inglis; it followed the edition of
1473, with all its errors and inaccuracies.

Mr. E. C. Thomas' Text.--The first true text of the Philobiblon,
the result of a careful examination of twenty-eight MSS., and of
the various printed editions, appeared in the year 1888:

"The Philobiblon of Richard 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 anxiously to consider how he might
gratefully repay the blessings graciously bestowed, what can we
fitly do, who are but rude thanksgivers and most greedy
receivers, laden with infinite divine benefits? Assuredly we
ought with anxious deliberation and abundant consideration,
having first invoked the Sevenfold Spirit, that it may burn in
our musings as an illuminating fire, fervently to prepare a way
without hinderance, that the bestower of all things may be
cheerfully worshipped in return for the gifts that He has
bestowed, that our neighbour may be relieved of his burden, and
that the guilt contracted by sinners every day may be redeemed by
the atonement of almsgiving.

Forewarned therefore through the admonition of the Psalmist's
devotion by Him who alone prevents and perfects the goodwill of
man, without Whom we have no power even so much as to think, and
Whose gift we doubt not it is, if we have done anything good, we
have diligently inquired and considered in our own heart as well
as with others, what among the good offices of various works of
piety would most please the Almighty, and would be more
beneficial to the Church Militant. And lo! there soon occurred
to our contemplation a host of unhappy, nay, rather of elect
scholars, in whom God the Creator and Nature His handmaid planted
the roots of excellent morals and of famous sciences, but whom
the poverty of their circumstances so oppressed that before the
frown of adverse fortune the seeds of excellence, so fruitful in
the cultivated field of youth, not being watered by the rain that
they require, are forced to wither away. Thus it happens that
"bright virtue lurks buried in obscurity," to use the words of
Boethius, and burning lights are not put under a bushel, but for
want of oil are utterly extinguished. Thus the field, so full of
flower in Spring, has withered up before harvest time; thus wheat
degenerates to tares, and vines into the wild vines, and thus
olives run into the wild olive; the tender stems rot away
altogether, and those who might have grown up into strong pillars
of the Church, being endowed with the capacity of a subtle
intellect, abandon the schools of learning. With poverty only as
their stepmother, they are repelled violently from the nectared
cup of philosophy as soon as they have tasted of it and have
become more fiercely thirsty by the very taste. Though fit for
the liberal arts and disposed to study the sacred writings alone,
being deprived of the aid of their friends, by a kind of apostasy
they return to the mechanical arts solely to gain a livelihood,
to the loss of the Church and the degradation of the whole
clergy. Thus Mother Church conceiving sons is compelled to
miscarry, nay, some misshapen monster is born untimely from her
womb, and for lack of that little with which Nature is contented,
she loses excellent pupils, who might afterwards become champions
and athletes of the faith. Alas, how suddenly the woof is cut,
while the hand of the weaver is beginning his work! Alas, how the
sun is eclipsed in the brightness of the dawn, and the planet in
its course is hurled backwards, and, while it bears the nature
and likeness of a star suddenly drops and becomes a meteor! What
more piteous sight can the pious man behold? What can more
sharply stir the bowels of his pity? What can more easily melt a
heart hard as an anvil into hot tears? On the other hand, let us
recall from past experience how much it has profited the whole
Christian commonwealth, not indeed to enervate students with the
delights of a Sardanapalus or the riches of a Croesus, but rather
to support them in their poverty with the frugal means that
become the scholar. How many have we seen with our eyes, how
many have we read of in books, who, distinguished by no pride of
birth, and rejoicing in no rich inheritance, but supported only
by the piety of the good, have made their way to apostolic
chairs, have most worthily presided over faithful subjects, have
bent the necks of the proud and lofty to the ecclesiastical yoke
and have extended further the liberties of the Church!

Accordingly, having taken a survey of human necessities in every
direction, with a view to bestow our charity upon them, our
compassionate inclinations have chosen to bear pious aid to this
calamitous class of men, in whom there is nevertheless such hope
of advantage to the Church, and to provide for them, not only in
respect of things necessary to their support, but much more in
respect of the books so useful to their studies. To this end,
most acceptable in the sight of God, our attention has long been
unweariedly devoted. This ecstatic love has carried us away so
powerfully, that we have resigned all thoughts of other earthly
things, and have given ourselves up to a passion for acquiring
books. That our intent and purpose, therefore, may be known to
posterity as well as to our contemporaries, and that we may for
ever stop the perverse tongues of gossipers as far as we are
concerned, we have published a little treatise written in the
lightest style of the moderns; for it is ridiculous to find a
slight matter treated of in a pompous style. And this treatise
(divided into twenty chapters) will clear the love we have had
for books from the charge of excess, will expound the purpose of
our intense devotion, and will narrate more clearly than light
all the circumstances of our undertaking. And because it
principally treats of the love of books, we have chosen, after
the fashion of the ancient Romans, fondly to name it by a Greek
word, Philobiblon.

CHAPTER I

THAT THE TREASURE OF WISDOM IS CHIEFLY CONTAINED IN BOOKS

The desirable treasure of wisdom and science, which all men
desire by an instinct of nature, infinitely surpasses all the
riches of the world; in respect of which precious stones are
worthless; in comparison with which silver is as clay and pure
gold is as a little sand; at whose splendour the sun and moon are
dark to look upon; compared with whose marvellous sweetness honey
and manna are bitter to the taste. O value of wisdom that fadeth
not away with time, virtue ever flourishing, that cleanseth its
possessor from all venom! O heavenly gift of the divine bounty,
descending from the Father of lights, that thou mayest exalt the
rational soul to the very heavens! Thou art the celestial
nourishment of the intellect, which those who eat shall still
hunger and those who drink shall still thirst, and the gladdening
harmony of the languishing soul which he that hears shall never
be confounded. Thou art the moderator and rule of morals, which
he who follows shall not sin. By thee kings reign and princes
decree justice. By thee, rid of their native rudeness, their
minds and tongues being polished, the thorns of vice being torn
up by the roots, those men attain high places of honour, and
become fathers of their country, and companions of princes, who
without thee would have melted their spears into pruning-hooks
and ploughshares, or would perhaps be feeding swine with the
prodigal.

Where dost thou chiefly lie hidden, O most elect treasure! and
where shall thirsting souls discover thee?

Certes, thou hast placed thy tabernacle in books, where the Most
High, the Light of lights, the Book of Life, has established
thee. There everyone who asks receiveth thee, and everyone who
seeks finds thee, and to everyone that knocketh boldly it is
speedily opened. Therein the cherubim spread out their wings,
that the intellect of the students may ascend and look from pole
to pole, from the east and west, from the north and from the
south. Therein the mighty and incomprehensible God Himself is
apprehensibly contained and worshipped; therein is revealed the
nature of things celestial, terrestrial, and infernal; therein
are discerned the laws by which every state is administered, the
offices of the celestial hierarchy are distinguished, and the
tyrannies of demons described, such as neither the ideas of Plato
transcend, nor the chair of Crato contained.

In books I find the dead as if they were alive; in books I
foresee things to come; in books warlike affairs are set forth;
from books come forth the laws of peace. All things are
corrupted and decay in time; Saturn ceases not to devour the
children that he generates; all the glory of the world would be
buried in oblivion, unless God had provided mortals with the
remedy of books.

Alexander, the conqueror of the earth, Julius, the invader of
Rome and of the world, who, the first in war and arts, assumed
universal empire under his single rule, faithful Fabricius and
stern Cato, would now have been unknown to fame, if the aid of
books had been wanting. Towers have been razed to the ground;
cities have been overthrown; triumphal arches have perished from
decay; nor can either pope or king find any means of more easily
conferring the privilege of perpetuity than by books. The book
that he has made renders its author this service in return, that
so long as the book survives its author remains immortal and
cannot die, as Ptolemy declares in the Prologue to his Almagest:
He is not dead, he says, who has given life to science.

Who therefore will limit by anything of another kind the price of
the infinite treasure of books, from which the scribe who is
instructed bringeth forth things new and old? Truth that
triumphs over all things, which overcomes the king, wine, and
women, which it is reckoned holy to honour before friendship,
which is the way without turning and the life without end, which
holy Boethius considers to be threefold in thought, speech, and
writing, seems to remain more usefully and to fructify to greater
profit in books. For the meaning of the voice perishes with the
sound; truth latent in the mind is wisdom that is hid and
treasure that is not seen; but truth which shines forth in books
desires to manifest itself to every impressionable sense. It
commends itself to the sight when it is read, to the hearing when
it is heard, and moreover in a manner to the touch, when it
suffers itself to be transcribed, bound, corrected, and
preserved. The undisclosed truth of the mind, although it is
the possession of the noble soul, yet because it lacks a
companion, is not certainly known to be delightful, while neither
sight nor hearing takes account of it. Further the truth of the
voice is patent only to the ear and eludes the sight, which
reveals to us more of the qualities of things, and linked with
the subtlest of motions begins and perishes as it were in a
breath. But the written truth of books, not transient but
permanent, plainly offers itself to be observed, and by means of
the pervious spherules of the eyes, passing through the vestibule
of perception and the courts of imagination, enters the chamber
of intellect, taking its place in the couch of memory, where it
engenders the eternal truth of the mind.

Finally we must consider what pleasantness of teaching there is
in books, how easy, how secret! How safely we lay bare the
poverty of human ignorance to books without feeling any shame!
They are masters who instruct us without rod or ferule, without
angry words, without clothes or money. If you come to them they
are not asleep; if you ask and inquire of them they do not
withdraw themselves; they do not chide if you make mistakes; they
do not laugh at you if you are ignorant. O books, who alone are
liberal and free, who give to all who ask of you and enfranchise
all who serve you faithfully! By how many thousand types are ye
commended to learned men in the Scriptures given us by
inspiration of God! For ye are the minds of profoundest wisdom,
to which the wise man sends his son that he may dig out
treasures: Prov. ii. Ye are the wells of living waters, which
father Abraham first digged, Isaac digged again, and which the
Philistines strive to fill up: Gen. xxvi. Ye are indeed the most
delightful ears of corn, full of grain, to be rubbed only by
apostolic hands, that the sweetest food may be produced for
hungry souls: Matt. xii. Ye are the golden pots in which manna
is stored, and rocks flowing with honey, nay, combs of honey,
most plenteous udders of the milk of life, garners ever full; ye
are the tree of life and the fourfold river of Paradise, by which
the human mind is nourished, and the thirsty intellect is watered
and refreshed. Ye are the ark of Noah and the ladder of Jacob,
and the troughs by which the young of those who look therein are
coloured; ye are the stones of testimony and the pitchers holding
the lamps of Gideon, the scrip of David, from which the smoothest
stones are taken for the slaying of Goliath. Ye are the golden
vessels of the temple, the arms of the soldiers of the Church
with which to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, fruitful
olives, vines of Engadi, fig-trees that are never barren, burning
lamps always to be held in readiness--and all the noblest
comparisons of Scripture may be applied to books, if we choose to
speak in figures.

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