Page:A Brief Outline of the Histories of Libraries.djvu/38

32 man began to learn and to think; and this art would not have been profitable if books had not been preserved and arranged for present and future use.

At first these collections were private undertakings, each person gathering for himself and his family; in the course of time kings and dynasties took up the custom and collected books, not only for use, but also to gratify their ambition and to add to their renown. Indeed, it was scarcely within the power of a private person to collect many books, since the process of copying them was a slow and expensive one; though our lately discovered most useful art of printing has now simplified it.