Page:Historical essay on the art of bookbinding (IA 0130ARTO).pdf/13



HE precaution to enchain in the plainly furnished library-room of the hospitable monastery a prayer-book, a bible, or such a valuable book of reference as the “Tornafolium,” bequeathed in the eleventh century by Archbishop Léger to his cathedral, appears to have been of as little effect as the innumerable papal sentences of excommunication of the time-honored biblioklept.

René Boulangé in the “Journal de la Librairie,” and he and the Abbé Valentin Dufour in the “Bibliophile Français,” have written some interesting articles on that ancient custom of enchaining books by the way of a description of the Hereford Library.

The library of the cathedral of Hereford is extant in its primitive state. It contains 236 manuscripts,