Also 4–7 librarie, 5 lyberary, 6 liberary, librarye, β. 4–5 librair(e, Sc. librar. [a. F. librairie (1380 in Godefroy), now only in sense ‘bookseller’s shop’ = It., Sp. libreria, Pg. livraria, repr. Com. Rom. *librarīa (with suffix -īa, -Y), f. L. librāri-um (F. libraire bookseller), subst. use of librārius adj., concerned with or employed about books, f. libr-, liber book, believed to be a use of liber bark (see LIBER), the bark of trees having, according to Roman tradition, been used in early times as a writing material. Late L. librāria (sc. taberna) occurs with the sense ‘bookseller’s shop.’
The Rom. word admits of being viewed as f. libro book + -arīa, but this leaves the ultimate analysis unaltered.]
1. A place set apart to contain books for reading, study or reference. (Not applied, e.g., to the shop or warehouse of a bookseller.) In various applications more or less specific.
a. Applied to a room in a house, etc.; also, † a bookcase. In mod. use, the designation of one of the set of rooms ordinarily belonging to an English house above a certain level of size and pretension.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. pr. v. 15 (Camb. MS.). The walles of thi lybrarye aparayled and wrowht with yuory and with glas.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, VI. i. (1554), 142. Bochas pensief stode in his library.
1488. Inventory, in Archæologia, XLV. 120. On the south side of the Vestrarie standeth a grete library.
1779. M. Tyson, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 195. I there saw his library, i. e. the Room which once contained his Books.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, i. The library occupied the west side of the chateau.
1854. W. Collins, Hide & Seek, II. ii. (1861), 161. Zack descended cautiously to the back parlour, which was called a ‘library.’
b. A building, room, or set of rooms, containing a collection of books for the use of the public or of some particular portion of it, or of the members of some society or the like; a public institution or establishment, charged with the care of a collection of books, and the duty of rendering the books accessible to those who require to use them.
For lending, reference library, see those words. Free library, a library that the public are permitted to use without payment, esp. one maintained by a municipality out of the rates.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. vi. 30. In caas a greet clerk wolde go into a librarie and ouer studie there a long proces of feith writun in the Bible.
1530. Palsgr., 35. A boke in the library of Gyldehall in London.
1637. Decree Star Chamb., in Milton’s Areop. (Arb.), 23. To be Sent to the Librarie at Oxford.
1708. Act 7 Anne, c. 14 § 1. Whereas of late Years several Charitable … Persons have … erected Libraries within several Parishes and Districts.
1850. Act 13 & 14 Vict., c. 65 § 7. That Admission to such Libraries and Museums [established by Town Councils] shall be free of all Charge.
1900. G. C. Brodrick, Mem & Impr., 210. The Merton Library is admitted to be the oldest specimen of mediæval libraries in England.
c. (More fully, circulating library.) A private commercial establishment for the lending of books, the borrower paying either a fixed sum for each book lent or a periodical subscription.
These are of two kinds: the establishments on a large scale that issue books to subscribers all over the country, and the smaller establishments, usually in the hands of a bookseller, which circulate among local subscribers books either kept in stock or borrowed from one of the larger ‘libraries.’ In watering-places, the ‘libraries’ sometimes have reading-rooms attached, and were formerly places of social resort (cf. quots. 1835). In the West end of London some of the ‘libraries’ act as agencies for the sale of tickets for places of amusement.
1835. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Tales, i. (1892), 261. The ‘dear girls’ … had been at different watering-places for four seasons; they had gambled at libraries,… sold at fancy fairs [etc.]. Ibid., iv. 325. The library [at Ramsgate] was crowded. There were the same ladies and the same gentlemen who had been on the sands in the morning.
Mod. Advt., Now ready at all the libraries, Mr. —’s great novel, —.
2. The books contained in a ‘library’ (sense 1); ‘a large collection of books, public or private’ (J.).
13[?]. S. Erkenwolde, 155, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1881), 269. We haue oure librarie laitid þes longe seuene dayes.
a. 1540. Barnes, Wks. (1573), 195/1. Let all the Liberaries bee sought in England.
1613. R. C., Table Alph. (ed. 3), Librarie … a great number of books.
1760. trans. Keysler’s Trav., III. 52. Cardinal Brancaccio has bequeathed a good library to this church.
1838. Thirlwall, Greece, II. 64. Pisistratus … is said to have been the first person in Greece who collected a library.
1872. Yeats, Techn. Hist. Comm., 373. In universities, as well as in cloisters, libraries were very small.
β. 1390. Gower, Conf., I. 14. And slouthe kepeth the libraire Which longeth to the Saintuaire.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., Prol. 96. In deskis xij hymselue, as half a strete, Hath boked thair librair vniuersal.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, I. Prol. 100. (Comment) Ptolome … gadderit togidder in ane librar xxxvj thousand volummys.
1580. Extracts Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1882), IV. 183, marg. New librare.
b. Often used in the titles given by publishers to a series or set of books uniform or similar in external appearance, and ostensibly suited for some particular class of readers or for students of a particular subject, as in ‘The Library of Useful Knowledge’ (1826–1856), ‘The Parlour Library’ (consisting of novels, 1847–1863), ‘Bohn’s Standard Library,’ etc. Formerly also in the titles of bibliographical works, and of periodicals.
1692. (title) The Compleat Library: or News for the Ingenious. Containing Several Original Pieces. An Historical Account of the Choicest Books Printed…. Notes on the Memorable Passages happening in May. As also the State of Learning in the World. To be Published Monthly.
1713. The Student’s Library: a choice Collection of Books, In all Faculties and Parts of Learning. [A catalogue of books.]
1714. (title) The Ladies Library. Vol. I. Written by a Lady. Published by Mr. Steele.
c. transf. and fig.; esp. used to denote (a) a great mass of learning or knowledge; (b) the objects of a person’s study, the sources on which he depends for instruction. In quot. 1523 = a catalogue, list.
a. 1450. Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.), 88. We xal lerne ȝow the lyberary of oure Lordys law lyght.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), v. 227. The lybrary of reason must be vnclosed.
1523. Skelton, Garl. Laurel, 780. Of all ladyes he hath the library Ther names recountyng in the court of Fame.
1549. Compl. Scot., Ep. Ded. 7. I began to reuolue the librarye of my vndirstanding.
1570. Dee, Math. Pref., 27. One Drop of Truth … more worth then whole Libraries of Opinions.
1654. Trapp, Comm. Ezra vii. 6. Ye may be as learned as Tostatus … who was a living library.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl. (1848), 74. Able to make the world both his Library and his Oratory.
1686. J. Dunton, Lett. fr. New Eng. (1867), 75. I darken his Merits if I call him less than a Walking Library.
a. 1703. Burkitt, On N. T., Matt. xxiii. 7. These Pharisees were for carrying a library of God’s law on their clothes, scarce a letter of it in their hearts.
1883. J. Hawthorne, Dust, I. 104. Cards and men formed the library of the Duchess of Marlborough.
3. attrib., as library apartments, door, room, stairs; † library-keeper, a librarian; library tax, the obligation imposed by law on publishers to supply gratis a copy or copies of the books published by them to certain public libraries.
1832. G. Downes, Lett. Cont. Countries, I. 486. One of the *library apartments is handsomely adorned with statues.
1861. J. Edmond, Children’s Ch. at Home, iii. 49. A gentle tap at the *library door.
1647. Trapp, Comm. Rom. iii. 2. This was their prime privilege, that they [the Jews] were God’s *library-keepers.
1743. Birch, Life Boyle, Wks. 1772, I. p. lvi. Dr. Thomas Barlow, then chief library-keeper of the Bodleian Library.
1785. Boswell, Tour Hebrides, 61. At the college there is a good *library-room.
1598–9. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), II. 482. The seelinge of the *Library staires.
Hence Libraryize v. (nonce-wd.) trans., to place in a library; Libraryless a., without a library.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., III. xviii. 199. Once a dunce, void of learning but full of Books, flouted a library-lesse Scholar with these words.
1796. Coleridge, Biog. Lit. (1847), II. 361. If you see nothing in it [Beddoes’s Essay] to library-ize it, send it me back next Thursday.
