THE CHAINED LIBRARY

Over the past few weeks your editor has been squeezing in time to read "The Book on the Bookshelf" by Henry Petrosky, first profiled in The E-Sylum on October 25, 1999. The book is a fascinating account of the evolution of the bookshelf, something we bibliophiles take for granted today.

One step in the evolution was the chained library. In the era preceding the modern printing press, books were laboriously hand-made and thus all were quite rare and valuable.

"To assure that books were not moved from their rightful lectern, they were chained to it.

A chained book cannot be read unless there is some kind of desk or table on which to rest it within the length of the chain; that fact conditioned the structure of the bookcase. Again, since a chained book cannot be moved to the window, the window must be near the book; that determined the plan of the building...

Among the first implications of chaining was to obviate the need for the constant availability of keys to unlock rooms, chests, or armaria. The books were openly available but secured by chains that ended in rings strung on a long rod, as shower curtain rings are on a shower rod." p60.

About a week after reading this passage I was struck with a realization that the evolution continues today, and in one sense has come full circle. Today's scholars sit not just in front of books, but computer screens as well. While becoming less expensive each year, computers are still a valuable item that the owners don't want to "walk away".

At my office I use a laptop computer, and when I'm not carrying it with me, it remains fastened to the desk by the means of a long, low-tech chain. Someday technology will further reduce the cost of the device such that the chains will once again disappear from desks, no doubt to return again to secure the next generation's newfangled devices.

Wayne Homren, Editor

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The E-Sylum: Volume 3, Number 22, May 28, 2000, Article 5

THE CHAINED LIBRARY

Wayne Homren, Editor