A
private library is a
libraryIn a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
under the care of private ownership, as compared to that of a public institution, and is usually only established for the use of a small number of people, or even a single person. As with public libraries, some people use stamps, stickers, or embossing to show ownership of the items. Some people sell their private libraries to established institutions such as the
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
, or, as is often the case, bequeath them thereto after death, through a
willA will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
.
History
The earliest libraries belonged to temples or administration bodies, resembled modern
archiveAn archive is a collection of historical records, or the physical place they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the function of an organization...
s, and were usually restricted to nobility, aristocracy, scholars, or theologians. Examples of the earliest known private libraries include one found in
UgaritUgarit was an ancient port city in the eastern Mediterranean at the Ras Shamra headland near Latakia, Syria. It is located near Minet el-Beida in northern Syria. It is some seven miles north of Laodicea ad Mare and approximately fifty miles east of Cyprus...
(dated to around 1200 BC) and the
Library of Ashurbanipal-External links:. In our time discussion programme. 45 minutes....
in
NinevehNineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
(near modern
MosulMosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
,
IraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
), dating back to the 7th century BC.
Rome
Nearly every house of nobility had a library and virtually every one was split into two rooms: one for Latin texts and one for Greek texts. Rome may very well have been the birth place of specialized libraries, with evidence of early medical and legal libraries.
In the 5th century BC, on the island of
CosKos or Cos is a Greek island in the south Sporades group of the Dodecanese, next to the Gulf of Gökova/Cos. It measures by , and is from the coast of Bodrum, Turkey and the ancient region of Caria. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Kos peripheral unit, which is...
outside the city of Pergamum, a medical school complex with a library was built in the sanctuary of
AsclepiusAsclepius is the God of Medicine and Healing in ancient Greek religion. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters are Hygieia , Iaso , Aceso , Aglæa/Ægle , and Panacea...
. This is the first medical school known to have existed, and subsequently it could be credited with the first specialized library.
Renaissance Europe
The
Golden AgeThe term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology and legend and refers to the first in a sequence of four or five Ages of Man, in which the Golden Age is first, followed in sequence, by the Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, and then the present, a period of decline...
brought with it a renewed interest in conserving the new ideas being put forth by the great thinkers of the day. The Kings of each European country created impressive libraries some of which have become the national libraries of today.
The National Library of France in
ParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(
Bibliothèque Nationale de France) was started in 1367 as the Royal Library of King
Charles VCharles V , called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380 and a member of the House of Valois...
. In
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Cosimo de Medici had a private library which formed the basis of the
Laurentian LibraryThe Laurentian Library is a historical library in Florence, Italy, containing a repository of more than 11,000 manuscripts and 4,500 early printed books...
. The
Vatican libraryThe Vatican Library is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. Formally established in 1475, though in fact much older, it has 75,000 codices from...
was also started in the 15th century.
The creation and expansion of universities prompted the gifting of private libraries to university libraries. One notable donation was by
Humphrey, Duke of GloucesterHumphrey of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Pembroke, KG , also known as Humphrey Plantagenet, was "son, brother and uncle of kings", being the fourth and youngest son of king Henry IV of England by his first wife, Mary de Bohun, brother to king Henry V of England, and uncle to the...
to Oxford University in the early 15th century.
Modern era
Private libraries in the hands of individuals have become more numerous with the introduction of
paperbackPaperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...
books.
Nearly every law firm or hospital has a library for use by its employees. In most of the English speaking world these may also fall into the category of
special librariesA special library is a term for a library that is neither an academic, school, public or national library. Special libraries include law libraries, news libraries, corporate libraries, museum libraries, and medical libraries and are not usually open to the public for use...
, serving as
medical librariesA health or medical library is designed to assist physicians, health professionals, students, patients, consumers and medical researchers in finding health and scientific information to improve, update, assess or evaluate health care. Medical libraries are typically found in hospitals, medical...
or
law librariesA law library is a library designed to assist law students, attorneys, judges, and their law clerks and anyone else who finds it necessary to correctly determine the state of the law....
(though public examples exist of these as well).
Many large corporations also have a library that specializes in serving its specific needs. Scientific establishments are especially apt to have a library to support scientists and researchers. Manufacturing facilities are also likely to have an engineering library to help with troubleshooting and the assembly of complicated parts. In most of the English speaking world these types of libraries are generally not open to the public. They are called "Special Libraries" and their staff often seeks advancement and knowledge by joining the
Special Libraries AssociationSpecial Libraries Association is an international professional association for library and information professionals working in business, government, law, finance, non-profit, and academic organizations and institutions....
.
Library (domestic room)
The word library also refers to a room in a private house in which books are kept. Generally it is a relatively large room that is open to all family members and household guests, in contrast to a
studyA study is a room in a house which is used for paperwork, computer work, or reading. Historically, the study of a house was reserved for use as the private office and reading room of a family father as the formal head of a household, but today studies are generally either used to operate a home...
, which also often contains a collection of books, but is usually a private space intended to be used by one person.
Famous private libraries
- Queen Elizabeth II's library in Windsor castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
- Tianyi Pavilion – The oldest private library in Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
; located in ZhejiangZhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
, ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
- Library of Sir Thomas Browne
No single document gives better evidence of the erudition of Sir Thomas Browne, physician, philosopher and encyclopedist than the 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue of the Library of Sir Thomas Browne...
- Bibliotheca Lindesiana
- Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman Library; located in Aligarh, India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
See also
- Carnegie Library
Carnegie Library, Carnegie Public Library, Carnegie Free Library, Carnegie Free Public Library, Andrew Carnegie Library, Andrew Carnegie Free Library or Carnegie Library Building may refer to any of the following Carnegie libraries:- California :*Carnegie Library , listed on the National Register...
- Private libraries of Hong Kong
- Private libraries of Singapore