of February,
1667-68, Pepys himself, his wife, and Deb. Willett were busy until near
midnight "titleing" the books for the year, and setting them in order.
They all tired their backs, but the work was satisfactory. . . . . (_See
ante_, p. 78.)

'The books are arranged in eleven curious old mahogany bookcases, which
are mentioned in the _Diary_ under date August 24, 1666. "Up and
dispatched several businesses at home in the morning, and then comes
Sympson to set up my other new presses for my books, and so he and I
fell into the furnishing of my new closett, and taking out the things
out of my old, and I kept him with me all day, and he dined with me, and
so all the afternoon till it was quite darke hanging things, that is, my
maps and pictures and draughts, and setting up my books, . . . . to my
most extraordinary satisfaction."'--Wheatley, _Pepys and the World he
lived in_, pp. 83-4.

[41] _Library Journal_, August, 1878.

_Bookcases._

The chief faults of bookcases arise from their being designed and made
by men who have never used a book. A first requisite in bookcases is
simplicity, bearing in mind that the books are the ornament and not the
bookcases. The cabinet-maker, among other things, is too fond of
embellishments, and sacrifices space to what seem odd angularities and
irregularities.

No bookcase should be above eight and a half feet in height. No ladder
should be necessary to get at books. If books are 'skied' up to the
ceiling they must suffer from the heated air. It is heat, not gas
merely, which damages books.

A room may be made to look very beautiful by being surrounded with fumed
oak bookcases, eight feet high. The shelves should be made movable with
Tonks' patent.[42] Mr. Gladstone[43] speaks of the looseness and the
tightness of movable shelves, the weary arms, the aching fingers, and
the broken finger-nails. This can be avoided by the use of the patent
here named. The bottom cases should be deeper and wider, to take quartos
and folios, but there should always be an extra shelf for turning a
folio section into an octavo section. Nineteen-twentieths of the books
in circulation are octavos and smaller volumes. On each side of the
fireplace there should be an arm projecting about four feet and a half.
The inner side of this should have a comfortable reading-seat, and on
the outer side, farthest from the fire, there may be shelves for books.
If the structural arrangements of the room admi