tain date).

As a type of this system I shall take the library of Corpus Christi
College, founded in 1516 by Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester. The library
was ready for the fittings by the end of March in the following year, as
we learn from a building account preserved by Hearne:

8 Henry VIII. This boke made from the xvth day off March
unto the xxxti day off the same Moneth [30 March, 1517].

Md. couenauntyd and agreid wyth Comell Clerke, for the
makyng off the dextis in the liberary, to the summe off
xvi, after the maner and forme as they be in Magdaleyn
college, except the popie heedes off the seites, thes to
be workmanly wrowght and clenly, and he to have all
maner off stooff foond hym, and to have for the makyng
off on dexte xs the sum off the hole viii. li.[333]

[Illustration: Fig. 70. Bookcases and seat in the Library at Corpus
Christi College, Oxford.

From a photograph taken in 1894.]

The arrangement and appearance of these most interesting cases will be
understood from the general view (fig. 70) and from the elevation (fig.
71), but I shall proceed to describe them with some minuteness.

[Illustration: Fig. 71. Elevation of one bookcase in the Library of Corpus
Christi College, Oxford.]

The library occupies the first floor of the south side of the quadrangle
opposite to the entrance. It is 79 feet 6 inches long, by 21 feet broad,
with ten equidistant windows, about 3 feet 6 inches apart, on each side.
At the west end there is an inner library, occupying the angle between the
south and west sides of the quadrangle. On each side there are nine
bookcases, each 8 ft. 6 in. high, 2 ft. wide, and 7 ft. 6 in. long,
divided by partitions into three compartments.

I have carefully studied these cases on several occasions, and it seems to
me that the only alterations introduced since the original construction
are: (1) the addition of about two feet to the upper portion of the case
in order to provide additional shelf-room; (2) a slight change in the
arrangements of the desk for the reader; and (3) the addition of the
catalogue frame, which by its style is evidently Jacobean, to the end next
the central alley. Originally each case had two shelves only, one on the
level of the desk (Fig. 71, G, H), and the second about half-way between
it and the original top of the case (_ibid._ E, F). Before chaining fell
into disuse the cases were heightened so as to provide an additio