Etude sur la construction des bibliothèques by Léon de LabordeReview by: David KaserLibraries & Culture, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Winter, 1995), pp. 106-107Published by: University of Texas PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25542721 .

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106 L&C/Book Reviews

The French culture of Qu?bec also includes the Francophones of Acadia, On

tario, and the Western provinces, as well as those of Louisiana, which is quite alive

in the "imaginaire Qu?b?cois." Louisiana stimulates the Qu?b?cois imagination to a high degree, because of its exotica, its location, its language, its food, and its

music; Louisiana also represents the perfect example of what Qu?bec does not as

pire to become: The French Quarter of North America.

Ever since the publication of French historian Fernand Braudel's works, we have

known that culture and territory often overlap in many areas, and this book offers

a reflective study of their interrelations. Finally, this thorough and seminal book

explores the two-centuries-old issue of "how-to-be French-in-English-America."

Marcel Lajeunesse, Universit? de Montr?al

Etude sur la construction des biblioth?ques. By L?on de Laborde. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 1993. 163 pp. DM 34.80. ISBN 3-478-09716-8.

Persons acquainted with the history of library architecture will recall this title as

a monograph that was first published in Paris in 1845. Indeed this new volume

contains a facsimile of the original Paris printing. In addition, however, it also

comprises substantial new material, including a complete translation of the

Marquis de Laborde's Etude into German, together with a full biographical sketch

of his life, both prepared with extensive scholarly paraphernalia by Annelies

Krause. There is also a valuable preface by editor Peter Prohl. The whole con

stitutes Volume 1 of a projected publisher's series entitled "Dokumente zum

Bibliotheksbau. ' '

De Laborde's original piece was written in anticipation of the development of

new quarters for France's Biblioth?que Royale, a project that culminated in the fol

lowing decade with the construction of Labrouste's Biblioth?que Nationale. The

present translation and reprinting of the work have been stimulated, in the editor's

words, by President Mitterand's announcement in 1988 that he had resolved to

erect "... einer der gr??ten, oder der gr??ten und modernsten Bibliothek der

Welt" (55). This building, of course, is now under construction as the new home for

the Biblioth?que de France, also in Paris.

Those who have not read this essay previously are in for a great treat. The au

thor conducts his readers on a European bibliothecal "grand tour" in the manner

of a skilled and cultured guide. He comments upon the entire range of relevant

literature existing in the 1840s, and he remarks in extenso on a very large number of

library buildings of all kinds. His valuable insights, both laudatory and critical, are

couched in a felicitous prose style that makes the entire reading a very pleasant

experience. The German translation is faithful, preserving much of the manner of

the original. Footnotes, tables, and illustrations are frequent and full.

De Laborde deserves to be reread by library building planners today. Although

he allowed that any library building should be sufficiently imposing both to rep

resent appropriately the aegis under which it served and to honor effectively the

cultural attainments represented by its contents, his principal concerns were for

library function. He began with the premise that:

La premi?re condition d'un ?tablissement litt?raire de ce genre est donc de pou

voir garantir la conservation des livres; la seconde, de faciliter leurs recherches;

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107

la troisi?me, de donner aux gens studieux, avec les commodit?s de l'?tude, ce

silence, ce recueillement qui dispose les plus distraits ? la r?flexion (3).

He thus rejected monumentality for the sake of monument, and he was quick to

criticize library buildings that he felt carried it too far. For example, of the Radcliffe

Camera he opined that "les livres sont sacrifi?s ? l'architecture", and as a resuit

"Donc tout l'ensemble on sent comme une grandiose et magnifique nullit?" (22). The same could be said for many library buildings constructed in our own era.

David Kaser, Indiana University

The Winchester Bible. By Claire Donovan. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993. 64 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-8020-6991-6.

Walter Oakeshott's The Artists of the Winchester Bible (London, 1945) and The Two Winchester Bibles (Oxford, 1981) are the standard works on this important Ro

manesque manuscript. The first book focused on the varied painting styles of the

manuscript's historiated initials. The more recent one enlarged on that topic and

explored the broader context of the manuscript as well; this book is roughly the

size of the original manuscript and gives the reader a good idea of its hefit and

scale. It is a solid art history book, priced for libraries and collectors.

Now, twelve years later, The Winchester Bible has been "published on the occasion

of the nine hundredth anniversary of the consecration of Winchester Cathedral," as the back cover notes. This new publication is aimed at and priced for the general

reader, and is a scholarly effort despite its unassuming format. It explores the his

tory and codicology of the manuscript in a brief, clearly written text accompanied

by generous illustrations. The author is well qualified for this discussion of the

blend of the decorative and functional integral to the nature of medieval manu

scripts, as shown in her earlier book The de Brailes Hours: Shaping the Book of Hours in

Thirteenth-Century Oxford (Toronto, 1991). Donovan divides The Winchester Bible into two parts. She begins the first by in

troducing the Bible and exploring its history under the headings "The Bible and

the Monks of Winchester," "St. Jerome and the Medieval Bible," and "The Pa

tronage of Henry of Blois." Each short section places the manuscript in a different

context, ranging from its placement at Winchester and its possible patron in

Bishop Henry of Blois, to the broader subject of the importance of the biblical text

in the Middle Ages. Then, in "Making the Bible," Donovan uses the myriad clues

left in the Winchester Bible to narrate the steps in its construction. This is perhaps the most interesting portion of the book, and it is definitely the most useful for the

serious reader, because of its nicely organized exploration of the codicology of the

Bible. This manuscript is invaluable from the point of view of the codicologist be cause of its unfinished status. Donovan notes, "The Winchester Bible both informs

and continues to challenge notions about the making of an illuminated manu

script" (31). In this section she discusses every facet of the layout of the book, from its parchment, for which some 250 calves must have been required, to the

styles of its six highly individual illuminators. Throughout this first part, the text is

illustrated with good color photographs, many of which were new for this publica tion (4).

The second part of Donovan's book, "Genesis to Apocalypse," walks the reader

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