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LEARN TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
FORWARD
INTRODUCTION
HOW TO USE THE BOOK
WORLD RECORDS FOR NATIONAL LIBRARIES
1. FIFTEEN OLDEST NATIONAL LIBRARIES GET PHOTO NL JAPAN
2. OLDEST NATIONAL LIBRARIES IN AFRICA
3. OLDEST NATIONAL LIBRARIES IN THE AMERICAS
4. OLDEST NATIONAL LIBRARIES IN ASIA
5. OLDEST NATIONAL LIBRARIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST GET PHOTO NL TURKEY
6. LARGEST NATIONAL LIBRARIES WITH OVER 10 MILLION BOOKS
7. FIVE LARGEST NATIONAL LIBRARIES IN AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
8. 10 LARGEST NATIONAL LIBRARIES IN THE ASIA
9. 10 LARGEST NATIONAL LIBRARIES IN EUROPE GET PHOTO NL GERMANY IN FRANKFURT
10. FIVE LARGEST NATIONAL LIBRARIES IN LATIN AMERICA
WORLD RECORDS FOR PUBLIC AND SUBSCRIPTION LIBRARIES
11. FIFTEEN LARGEST PUBLIC LIBRARIES
12. LARGEST PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE U.S. AND CANADA
13. LARGEST PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
14. LARGEST PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN ASIA
15. TEN LARGEST PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN EUROPE
16. LARGEST PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN LATIN AMERICA
17. BUSIEST PUBLIC LIBRARIES
18. BUSIEST PUBLIC LIBRARY IN LATIN AMERICA
19. BUSIEST PUBLIC LIBRARY IN ASIA
20. BUSIEST PUBLIC LIBRARY IN EUROPE
21. PUBLIC LIBRARIES WITH THE LARGEST BUDGETS
22. U.S. STATES WITH THE LARGEST AND SMALLEST LIBRARY BUDGETS
23. COUNTRIES WITH THE LARGEST NUMBER OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES
24. TEN U.S. STATES WITH THE LARGEST NUMBER OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES
25. COUNTRIES WITH THE LARGEST AND SMALLEST NUMBER OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES PER CAPITA
26. OLDEST PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
27. OLDEST PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN ASIA
28. OLDEST PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN EUROPE
29. OLDEST PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN LATIN AMERICA
30. OLDEST PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE U.S. AND CANADA
31. OLDEST PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS GET PHOTO BAHAMAS LIBRARY
Comment [GO1]: Print out contents pageso that
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chapters.
Comment [GO2]: Photo for NL J apan
Comment [GO3]: Photo for NL Turkey
Comment [GO4]: Photo NL Germany

32. FIRST PUBLIC LIBRARY COMMEMORATIVE COINS OF THE MILLENNIUM
33. FIRST PUBLIC LIBRARY COMMEMORATIVE POSTAGE STAMP
WORLD RECORDS FOR UNIVERSITY AND ACADEMIC LIBRARIES
34. 20 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
35. 20 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN THE U.S.
36. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN EUROPE
37. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN THE U.K. GET PHOTO OF NEW OXFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
38. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN FRANCE
39. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN GERMANY
40. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN ITALY
41. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN AUSTRIA AND SWITZERLAND GET PHOTO GENEVA UNIVERSITY
42. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
43. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN SCANDINAVIA
44. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN BELGIUM AND THE NETHERLANDS
45. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN IRELAND GET PHOTO OF TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY
46. 3 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN THE VATICAN CITY
47. 5 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN GREECE AND TURKEY
48. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN RUSSIA
49. 20 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN EASTERN EUROPE
50. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN CANADA
51. 5 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS
52. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN J APAN GET PHOTO OF TOKYO UNIVERSITY
53. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN CHINA
54. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN KOREA (SOUTH)
55. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
56. 30 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
57. 30 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN ASIA
58. 14 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN LATIN AMERICA
59. LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES AND TOP UNIVERSITIES: A COMPARISON
60. EARLIEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN THE WORLD GET PHOTO OF ISTANBUL UNIVERSITY
61. 5 OLDEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN THE WORLD
62. EARLIEST ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN EUROPE GET PHOTO OF BOLOGNA UNIVERSITY
63. 10 OLDEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN EUROPE
64. 5 OLDEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN THE U.K. GET PHOTO OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
65. 5 OLDEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN FRANCE
66. 5 OLDEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN GERMANY GET PHOTO OF HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY
67. 5 OLDEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN SPAIN GET PHOTO OF BARCELONA UNIVERSITY
68. 10 OLDEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN EASTERN EUROPE
69. 15 OTHER SIGNIFICANT EARLY UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN WESTERN EUROPE
70. 5 OLDEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN AFRICA
71. 15 OLDEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN THE AMERICAS
72. 10 OLDEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN ASIA
73. 10 OLDEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST
WORLD RECORDS FOR SPECIALITY LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES
74. 10 LARGEST MEDICAL AND NURSING LIBRARIES
75. LARGEST MEDICAL LIBRARIES IN ASIA
76. LARGEST MEDICAL LIBRARY LATIN AMERICA
77. LARGEST BIOMEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC PERIODICALS LIBRARY
78. OLDEST DENTAL AND MEDICAL SCHOOL LIBRARIES
79. LARGEST PHARMACEUTICAL LIBRARIES

80. LARGEST INTERNATIONAL HEALTH LIBRARY
81. LARGEST LIBRARY IN EUROPE ON DEAFNESS AND HEARING LOSS
82. LARGEST ECONOMICS LIBRARY
83. LARGEST GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY LIBRARIES
84. LARGEST LIBRARY IN THE MIDDLE EAST DEVOTED TO OIL EXPLORATION
85. LARGEST ENGINEERING LIBRARIES
86. LARGEST GENEALOGY LIBRARY
87. LARGEST MUSIC LIBRARY
88. LARGEST POETRY LIBRARY
89. LARGEST FILM AND TELEVISION LIBRARY IN EUROPE
90. LARGEST SOUND ARCHIVES
91. LARGEST AGRICULTURE LIBRARIES
92. LARGEST BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY LIBRARY
93. LARGEST SCIENCE LIBRARY
94. LARGEST MILITARY LIBRARIES
95. LARGEST LIBRARY PRISON LIBRARIES
96. LARGEST LAW LIBRARIES
97. LARGEST ART LIBRARY
98. LARGEST LIBRARIES IN EUROPE WITH SPECIALIZED COLLECTIONS OF BOOKS ON AFRICA GET PHOTO OF SOAS
99. LARGEST ASTRONOMY LIBRARY
100. LARGEST LIBRARIES IN EUROPE SPECIALIZING IN EDUCATION
100. LARGEST HISTORY AND ARCHEOLOGY LIBRARIES
101. LARGEST SOCIAL SCIENCES LIBRARY
102. LARGEST RELIGIOUS LIBRARIES GET PHOTO OF LAMBETH PALACE LIVRARY
103. LARGEST LIBRARY IN THE U.K. DEVOTED TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN
104. LARGEST COLLECTION OF SHAKESPEARES PRINTED WORKS
105. OLDEST AND LARGEST NATIONAL ARCHIVES GET PHOTO OF ONE IN LONDON
106. OLDEST NATIONAL ARCHIVES IN THE AMERICAS
107 OLDEST NATIONAL ARCHIVES IN THE MIDDLE EAST
108. OLDEST NATIONAL ARCHIVES IN ASIA
109. OLDEST NATIONAL ARCHIVES IN AFRICA
MISCELLANEOUS WORLD RECORDS FOR LIBRARIES
110. 50 MAJ OR LIBRARIES THAT HAVE SUFFERED DEVASTATING FIRES OR NATURAL DISASTERS
111. LIBRARY WITH THE MOST BRANCHES WORLDWIDE GET PHOTO OF BRANCH IN CZECH REPUBLIC PRAGUE
112. MOST EXPENSIVE LIBRARY
113. OLDEST AND LARGEST MAJ OR PRIVATE LIBRARIES
114. LARGEST CHAINED LIBRARIES
115. 20 UNUSUAL THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN LIBRARIES
116. FIRST OUTER SPACE LIBRARY
117. LARGEST FLOATING LIBRARY
118. LARGEST MOBILE LIBRARY
119. 100 EXCITING FILMS THAT FEATURED LIBRARIES
120. SOME NOTABLE PEOPLE WHO HAVE WORKED IN LIBRARIES OR AS LIBRARIANS
121. 70 TRANSLATIONS OF THE WORD LIBRARYAROUND THE WORLD
122. UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE LIST AND LIBRARIES
123. EARLIEST LIBRARIES
WORLD RECORDS FOR BOOKS, PERIODICALS AND BOOKSTORES
124. 10 OLDEST EXISTING WRITTEN WORKS
125. EARLIEST WRITTEN WORKS IN GERMAN GET PHOTO OF UPSALA UNIVERSITY
126. EARLIEST WRITTEN WORKS IN MAYAN

127. EARLIEST WRITTEN WORKS IN ARABIC AND FARSI (PERSIAN)
128. EARLIEST WRITTEN WORKS IN J APANESE AND KOREAN
129. EARLIEST WRITTEN WORKS IN ITALIAN
130. EARLIEST WRITTEN WORKS IN FRENCH GET PHOTO OF FRENCH TOWN
131. EARLIEST WRITTEN WORKS IN SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE
132. EARLIEST WRITTEN WORKS IN ENGLISH, WELSH, IRISH, AND SCOTTISH
133. EARLIEST WRITTEN WORKS IN DUTCH
134. EARLIEST WRITTEN WORKS FROM SCANDINAVIA
135. EARLIEST WRITTEN WORKS FROM TURKEY AND EASTERN EUROPE
136. EARLIEST WRITTEN WORKS FROM ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
137. EARLIEST WRITTEN WORKS FROM AFRICA
138. OLDEST EXISTING PAPYRUS MANUSCRIPT
139. OLDEST EXISTING PARCHMENT MANUSCRIPT
140. OLDEST EXISTING VELLUM MANUSCRIPT
141. OLDEST WRITTEN WORKS BY SUBJ ECT
142. OLDEST EXISTING BOOKS MADE FROM PAPER
143. FIRST BLOCK PRINTED BOOKS
144. FIRST BOOK PRINTED WITH MOVABLE TYPE
145. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH
146. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN ENGLISH IN THE U.K. GET PHOTO
147. FIRST BOOKS PRINTED IN ENGLISH IN THE U.S.
148. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN FRENCH
149. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN ITALIAN
150. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN SPANISH, PORTUGUESE AND BASQUE
151. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN RUSSIAN AND EASTERN EUROPE
152. FIRST BOOKS PRINTED IN SCANDINAVIA
153. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN IRISH
154. FIRST BOOK PRINTED ARABIC
155. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN TURKISH AND GREEK
156. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN FARSI
157. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN HEBREW
158. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN HINDI
159. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN AUSTRALIA
160. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN CHINESE
161. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN J APANESE AND KOREAN
162. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
163. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN LATIN AMERICA
164. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN AFRICA
165. LARGEST COLLECTION OF BOOKS PRINTED BEFORE 1501
166. OLDEST BOOK MUSEUM
167. 10 EARLIEST DATES IN COPYRIGHT
168. FIRST AUTOBIOGRAPHY
169. FIRST BOOK TO USE PAGE NUMBERS
170. FIRST BOOK WITH ILLUSTRATIONS (NOT PHOTOGRAPHS)
171. FIRST BOOK AND PERIODICALS TO USE PHOTOGRAPHS
172. FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN COLOR
173. FIRST BOOK TO BE PUBLISHED ON TAPE (TALKING BOOK)
174. FIRST REGULAR NEWSPAPERS
175. FIRST PRINTED MAGAZINES
176. FIRST SCHOLARLY OR ACADEMIC J OURNAL

177. FIRST LAW J OURNALS
178. FIRST MEDICAL J OURNALS
179. FIRST WEEKLY BUSINESS J OURNALS
180. FIRST LIBRARY J OURNALS
181. FIRST PAPERBACKS GET PHOTO
182. EARLIEST PROFESSIONAL HANDBOOKS FOR LIBRARIANS
183. LARGEST GENERAL REFERENCE BOOK IN ENGLISH
184. LARGEST GENERAL REFERENCE BOOK IN FRENCH GET PHOTO
185. LARGEST GENERAL REFERENCE BOOK IN GERMAN GET PHOTO
186. LARGEST GENERAL REFERENCE BOOK IN CHINESE GET PHOTO
187. LARGEST GENERAL REFERENCE BOOK IN J APANESE GET PHOTO
188. LARGEST GENERAL REFERENCE BOOK IN ARABIC
189. LARGEST GENERAL REFERENCE BOOK OTHER LANGUAGES
190. BIGGEST, HEAVIEST AND SMALLEST BOOKS
191. BOOKS WITH THE MOST PAGES
192. BIGGEST AND HEAVIEST PERIODICAL
193. MOST POPULAR AUTHOR AMONG LIBRARY USERS
194. MOST WIDELY READ MAGAZINE
195. FIRST BOOK BLESSED BY THE POPE
196. BEST SELLING BOOKS OF ALL TIME
197. MOST TRANSLATED BOOKS
198. FIRST AND MOST PROLIFIC NOVELIST
199. FIRST AUTHOR TO USE A TYPEWRITER
200. FIRST MAJ OR COMPUTER SOFTWARE FOR BOOK PUBLISHING
201. FAMOUS AND INFAMOUS PEOPLE WHO WROTE BESTSELLING BOOKS IN PRISON
202. MOST SEVERE PUNISHMENTS SUFFERED BY A WRITER
203. COUNTRIES WITH THE LARGEST NUMBER OF BOOKS PUBLISHED IN MORE THAN 10 MAJ OR LANGUAGES
204. LARGEST NATIONAL BOOK EXPENDITURE
205. MOST EXPENSIVE BOOK PROJ ECT
206. BIGGEST BOOK LAUNCHES
207. 20 MOST EXPENSIVE BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS GET PHOTO
208. 15 MOST EXPENSIVE BOOKS THAT CAN BE BOUGHT FROM BOOKSTORES
209. MOST OVERDUE LIBRARY BOOK AND THE BIGGEST FINES
210. BIGGEST BOOK FINES
211. 10 STOLEN BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS GET PHOTO
212. MOST FAMOUS PERSONS BARRED FROM BORROWING BOOKS FROM A FAMOUS LIBRARY
213. FIRST MAJ OR BOOK-BURNING RITUAL
214. FAMOUS GOVERNMENT-SANCTIONED BOOK BANS
215. OLDEST BOOKSTORES
216. OLDEST EXISTING BOOKSTORE IN THE AMERICAS
217. OLDEST EXISTING BOOKSTORES IN THE ASIA
218. OLDEST EXISTING BOOKSTORE IN THE AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
219. FIRST AND LARGEST BOOK CLUBS
220. LARGEST ONLINE BOOKSTORE
221. LARGEST ONLINE BOOKSTORE IN EUROPE
222. LARGEST ONLINE BOOKSTORE IN ASIA
223. LARGEST ONLINE BOOKSTORE IN LATIN AMERICA
224. LARGEST ONLINE BOOKSTORE IN AFRICA
225. LARGEST ONLINE BOOKSTORE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
226. LARGEST AND TALLEST BOOKSTORES

227. LARGEST BOOKSTORES AROUND THE WORLD
228. LARGEST PUBLISHERS OF BOOKS
229. OLDEST PUBLISHERS OF BOOKS
230. LARGEST ANNUAL BOOK FAIR GET LONDON BOOK FAIR PHOTO
231. LARGEST ANNUAL BOOK FAIRS IN THE U.S. AND CANADA
232. LARGEST ANNUAL BOOK FAIRS IN ASIA
233. LARGEST ANNUAL BOOK FAIRS IN LATIN AMERICA
234. LARGEST ANNUAL BOOK FAIRS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
235. LARGEST ANNUAL BOOK FAIRS IN AFRICA
WORLD RECORDS FOR LIBRARY BUILDINGS
236. OLDEST EXISTING LIBRARY BUILDINGS
237. FIRST LIBRARY BUILDING TO USE EXTENSIVE ELECTRICAL LIGHTING
238. 10 TALLEST LIBRARY BUILDINGS
239. 10 LARGEST LIBRARY BUILDINGS
240. 10 LARGEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BUILDINGS
241. 10 LARGEST PUBLIC LIBRARY BUILDINGS
242. LARGEST SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIBRARY BUILDING
243. MOST FASCINATING LIBRARY BUILDINGS GET NEW NOMINATIONS
244. 10 MOST FASCINATING NATIONAL LIBRARY BUILDINGS
245. 10 MOST FASCINATING UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BUILDINGS
246. 10 MOST FASCINATING PUBLIC LIBRARY BUILDINGS
247. 10 OTHER FASCINATING LIBRARY BUILDINGS
WORLD RECORDS FOR LIBRARY CATALOGS, DATABASES AND TECHNOLOGY
248. OLDEST LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION SCHEME
249. MOST POPULAR LIBRARY CATALOGING PRINCIPLES
250. LARGEST NATIONAL UNION LIBRARY CATALOGS
251. LARGEST UNION LIBRARY CATALOGS IN EUROPE
252. LARGEST UNION LIBRARY CATALOG IN THE AMERICAS
253. LARGEST UNION LIBRARY CATALOGS IN AFRICA
254. LARGEST UNION LIBRARY CATALOGS IN ASIA
255. LARGEST UNION LIBRARY CATALOGS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
256. LARGEST UNIFIED INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY CATALOG
257. FIRST COMPUTERIZED CATALOG OR OPAC
258. FIRST LIBRARY OPACS IN THE U.S.
259. FIRST LIBRARY OPAC IN EUROPE
260. FIRST LIBRARY OPAC IN AUSTRALIA
261. FIRST PUBLIC LIBRARY OPAC IN THE U.K.
262. FIRST LIBRARY OPAC ASIA
263. FIRST LIBRARY OPAC IN AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
264. FIRST COMPANIES TO DEVELOP LIBRARY OPACS
265. FIRST LIBRARY TO MAKE USE OF MICROFILM
266. FIRST MAJ OR LIBRARY TO DIGITIZE A LARGE SELECTION OF ITS COLLECTIONS
267. FIRST MAJ OR COMPUTER DATABASE
268. LARGEST COMPUTER DATABASE
269. FIRST AND LARGEST DATABASE HOST
270. OLDEST AND LARGEST DATABASE HOSTS IN EUROPE
271. OLDEST AND LARGEST DATABASE HOSTS IN ASIA
272 OLDEST AND LARGEST DATABASE HOSTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
273. FIRST DATABASE HOST TO INTRODUCE NETWORKED CD-ROM ACCESS
274. FIRST INDEXING SERVICE

275. FIRST CITATION INDEXES
276. LARGEST CITATION INDEX DATABASE SERVICE
277. FIRST MAJ OR KWIC INDEXING SERVICE
278. FIRST TABLE-OF-CONTENTS DATABASE
279. FIRST AND LARGEST FULL-TEXT DATABASES
280. LARGEST COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE MICROFORM COLLECTION
281. LARGEST ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICES
282. LARGEST PERIODICALS DIRECTORY DATABASE
283. LARGEST DATABASES WITH ELECTRONIC J OURNALS AND EBOOKS
284. FIRST MAJ OR REFERENCE BOOK ON CD-ROM
285. OLDEST ELECTRONIC NEWSPAPER COVERAGE
286. LARGEST PRODUCERS OF NEWSPAPERS ONLINE AND CD-ROM
287. LARGEST DATABASE ON THE LATEST BOOKS PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH
288. LARGEST DATABASE COVERING REVIEWS OF NEW BOOKS IN ENGLISH
289. LARGEST LIVE FINANCIAL INFORMATION SERVICES
290. LARGEST BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION DATABASES
291. LARGEST BUSINESSES DIRECTORY DATABASE IN THE U.S. AND CANADA
292. LARGEST DATABASE ON BUSINESSES IN EUROPE
293. LARGEST DATABASE ON BUSINESSES IN ASIA
294. LARGEST DATABASE ON BUSINESSES IN AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
295. LARGEST DATABASE ON BUSINESSES IN LATIN AMERICA
296. LARGEST DATABASES ON ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
297. LARGEST COLLECTION OF U.S. AND CANADIAN LEGAL DATABASES
298. LARGEST COLLECTION OF EUROPEAN LEGAL DATABASES
299. LARGEST COLLECTION OF AFRICAN LEGAL DATABASES
300. LARGEST COLLECTION OF ASIAN LEGAL DATABASES
301. LARGEST COLLECTION OF MIDDLE EASTERN LEGAL DATABASES
302. LARGEST MEDICAL AND NURSING DATABASE
303. FIRST AND LARGEST PRINTED MEDICAL INDEXING SERVICE
304. LARGEST BIOMEDICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL DATABASE
305. LARGEST DNA AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY DATABASES
306. LARGEST DNA DATABASE FOR FORENSIC INVESTIGATIONS
307. LARGEST AGRICULTURE, ANIMAL SCIENCE AND BOTANY DATABASES
308. LARGEST BIOLOGY DATABASES
309. LARGEST ZOOLOGY AND MICROBIOLOGY DATABASES
310. LARGEST STM ABSTRACTING, INDEXING AND CITATION DATABASES
311. LARGEST CHEMISTRY DATABASES
312. LARGEST ENGINEERING DATABASES
313. LARGEST CIVIL ENGINEERING DATABASES
314. LARGEST ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING DATABASE
315. LARGEST TECHNICAL STANDARDS DATABASE
316. LARGEST GEOLOGY DATABASES
317. LARGEST GEOGRAPHY DATABASES
318. LARGEST PETROLEUM DATABASE
319. LARGEST ASTRONOMY DATABASES
320. LARGEST NUCLEAR PHYSICS DATABASE
321. LARGEST MILITARY AND WEAPONS DATABASES
322. LARGEST MOVIE DATABASE
323. LARGEST LITERATURE, MUSIC AND SONGS DATABASE
324. LARGEST HISTORY DATABASES

325. LARGEST SOCIAL SCIENCES AND SOCIOLOGY DATABASES
326. LARGEST DATABASES ON ART AND ARCHITECTURE
327. LARGEST DATABASE IN PSYCHOLOGY, RELIGION AND ANTHROPOLOGY
328. LARGEST GENEALOGY DATABASE
329. LARGEST ACADEMIC REFERENCE DATABASES
330. LARGEST DOCTORAL THESES DATABASE IN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA
331. LARGEST DATABASE ON GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND POLITICS
332. LARGEST DATABASE ON PULP AND PAPER INDUSTRIES
333. LARGEST DATABASE ON MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE
334. LARGEST DATABASE ON EDUCATION
335. LARGEST BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATABASE ON TRANSPORTATION INFORMATION
336. LARGEST AIR TRAVEL RESERVATION DATABASES
337. LARGEST IMMIGRATION DATABASE
338. LARGEST FINGERPRINT DATABASE
339. LARGEST LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE ABSTRACTING AND INDEXING SERVICE
340. FIRST COMMERCIAL INFORMATION BROKERAGE
341. MOST POPULAR STAND-ALONE BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATABASE SOFTWARE
342. LARGEST ONLINE INFORMATION EVENTS IN EUROPE
343. LARGEST ONLINE INFORMATION EVENT IN NORTH AMERICA
344. LARGEST ONLINE INFORMATION EVENT IN ASIA AND AFRICA
345. LARGEST DIGITAL IMAGES DATABASE
346. LARGEST PATENT DATABASES
347. LARGEST PATENT DATABASES IN EUROPE
348. LARGEST U.S. PATENTS DATABASE
349. LARGEST DATABASE OF PATENTS IN ASIA
350. LARGEST DATABASE ON TRADEMARKS
351. LARGEST DATABASE ON CHEMICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL PATENTS
352. MOST POPULAR CD-ROM INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SOFTWARE USED IN LIBRARIES TO ACCESS NETWORKED
CDROM DATABASES
353. FIRST MAJ OR CD-ROM DATABASE USED IN LIBRARIES
354. LARGEST SEARCH ENGINES
355. LARGEST ARCHIVES OF WEB PAGES AND FIRST LIBRARY WEBSITES
356. LARGEST LIBRARY DOCUMENT SUPPLY AND INTER-LENDING SERVICE
357. LARGEST SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENT SUPPLY SERVICES
358. LARGEST LIBRARY NETWORK OR CONSORTIUM
359. LARGEST PROVIDERS OF SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES FOR LIBRARIES
360. OLDEST PROVIDERS OF SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES FOR LIBRARIES
361. LARGEST ELECTRONIC TRADING SERVICES FOR LIBRARIES IN THE U.K.
362. 13 GREATEST INVENTIONS USED IN LIBRARIES TODAY
WORLD RECORDS FOR LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE ORGANIZATIONS
363. FIRST LIBRARY SCHOOL
364. OLDEST ACCREDITED LIBRARY SCHOOL IN NORTH AMERICA
365. 10 FIRST UNIVERSITY LIBRARY SCHOOLS IN THE U.S.
366. 10 FIRST UNIVERSITY LIBRARY SCHOOLS IN EUROPE
367. OLDEST UNIVERSITY LIBRARY SCHOOLS IN ASIA
368. FIRST UNIVERSITY LIBRARY SCHOOL IN THE MIDDLE EAST
369. FIRST UNIVERSITY IN THE U.S. TO OFFER AN EXTENSIVE PROGRAM IN INFORMATION SCIENCE
370. FIRST UNIVERSITY IN THE EUROPE TO OFFER AN EXTENSIVE PROGRAM IN INFORMATION SCIENCE
371. TOP 15 U.S. LIBRARY SCHOOLS FOR THE YEAR 20011
372. LARGEST NATIONAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION GET PHOTO OF ONE IN UK

373. LARGEST AND OLDEST NATIONAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION IN EUROPE
375. OLDEST NATIONAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION IN ASIA
376. OLDEST NATIONAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST
377. LARGEST NATIONAL INFORMATION SCIENCE ASSOCIATION
378. MOST PRESTIGIOUS AWARD FOR INFORMATION SCIENTISTS
379. FAMOUS FIRST FULL-TIME LIBRARIANS
380. 15 LIBRARIES WITH OVER 500 STAFF MEMBERS AND THEIR ANNUAL BUDGETS
381. 350 LARGEST AND MOST IMPORTANT LIBRARIES
382. 200 OLDEST LIBRARIES
SAINT JEROME, THE LIBRARIAN'S PATRON SAINT (GET PHOTO FROM AN ART GALLERY OR MUSEUM)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX








Acknowledgments
The British Library and the academic libraries of the University of London and City University in
London (my alma maters), and several public libraries in London, have always been the first places for me
to go for my initial research work for Library World Records. J ust as the case was for the 1st edition of the
book. With the opportunity to travel overseas during the course of finishing the later stages of book, repeat
visits to the several libraries western Europe helped build up comparative statistical data for the book. For
those libraries I could not visit, their websites were the best places for gathering further information.
Particular thanks go to the reference libraries and press offices of the embassies of the U.S., Germany,
France, Turkey, China, South Korea, and J apan. As well as the Australian, South African, and Nigerian
High Commissions. They all provided general reference sources for the book. I want to say a big thank you
to all librarians who responded to my request for votes on the most fascinating library buildings in the
world. Many photographs used in this book are from libraries, bookstores and universities around the world
and I am very grateful for permission to reproduce them in the book. A personal thank you goes in
particular my next neighbor Vivian Williams for finding the precious time to help me do some typing work.
Finally I want to extend my appreciation to everyone else who has corresponded to me personally by e-
mail or has provided me with answers to specific questions I raised or who sent in numerous tips that have
helped to fill in the missing gaps for the book.




Preface to the third edition
Since the first and second edition, Library World Records has now established itself as an indispensable reference
work on libraries and books not just for librarians or library users, but also researchers and students. This third
edition provides updates on the second edition as well as numerous new exciting facts and statistics. The format
and layout in the third edition is the same as the second edition such as the use of entry numbers (also used in the
index). Since this third edition contains new information not used in the second edition, there are more entry list
numbers, but the number of main chapters remains the same as with the second edition. The use of notes at the
end of many entries, which contain further interesting facts, which was widely used in the first and second edition,
is also used in the third edition, and as in the second edition, some entries such as the earliest libraries, are in
essay form rather than in list form. Data and other information are current through the end of 2007.

A major change evident in this new 3
rd
edition, which was frequently requested by researches using the book, is
the addition of detailed information on sources and further reading, which to together with the main bibliography
near the end of the book, will provide valuable starting points for researchers using the book for research projects. I
am indebted to several academics here in London and in the U.S., whom I consulted for help in creating gathering
research references for most parts of the book.







The books that help you the most are those which make you think the most.
Theodore Parker, U.S. theologist and transcendentalist
A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version
in return.
Salman Rushdie, British author.
The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.
Rene Descartes, French philosopher.




Introduction
Have you ever wondered which university in the world has the largest library? Do you know the name of the
oldest public libraries in the Americas? In Europe? What year was the first CD-ROM book released? In what year
was the first book in the United States printed? When was the first major computer database released? To find the
answers to these questions, you could spend days skimming hundreds of reference sources in libraries for this kind
of information. Or you might think about the Guinness Book of World Records, but it does not cover a lot of
information specifically about libraries. However all the answers can be found in this new book.
Library World Records is not just a book about library and book comparisons, it is a remarkable story of libraries
and books from the earliest times to present. The hundreds of facts about libraries, periodicals, books and reference
databases around the world illustrate just how significantly things have evolved from crude and simple to complex
and sophisticated. Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. From the time humans learned to write, they have
not stopped improving the way they communicate their ideas, thoughts, knowledge and inspirations.
The arrangement of specific lists and entries in the book (with regard to geographic area or continent) are in no
particular order of preference, but the following should be noted. A general rule I adopted when organizing specific
lists and entries on libraries in the book was to start first with the geographic area with the most numerous libraries
(including the largest number of library books) and end with the geographic area with the fewest libraries.
For this arrangement, entries and lists for most libraries in the United States and Europe will appear first,
followed by those for libraries in Latin America and Asia, and those for libraries from the Middle East and Africa will
appear last.
University and public libraries combined in the West have a greater number of books for each specific country
than do libraries in countries from other continents or geographic regions. So there are more lists pertaining to
individual countries in the West than the other continents or geographic areas covered in the book.
This arrangement is also used in the lists on World Records for Books, Periodicals and Bookstores. Because
Western languages are widely spoken (officially or unofficially) and understood on an international level around the
world, there are more entries, for instance, on the oldest books written in Western languages.
I have tried to ensure that at least on a continental level, facts and figures on major libraries for each continent
(Africa, Europe, Asia-Pacific region, North and South America etc.) were covered.
If after reading the book, you know of any official or factual information on libraries and books in any country
that is missing from this book, please e-mail me (infolibrary@yahoo.co.uk) the details, including the source of the
information. Such information will be useful for a future edition of the book.
In the course of writing the book, every effort has been made to ensure accuracy. In particular all dates and
total numbers of books are either official, or estimated and verified from several independent and reliable sources.
Library World Records is for anyone who appreciates the important role libraries have played and continued to play
in the development of our modern society.
Each separate entry or list within each chapter is given a number to facilitate use of the table of contents.
(Exceptions are the last two chapters.) Items within each numbered list are themselves numbered according to their
numerical rank. Page numbers are used for the index.
As the book covers mostly world records on libraries, books etc., the word world has been omitted for each
record entry where applicable, thus the entry Largest National Libraries covers the largest national libraries in the
world.
But records for national or continental entries, largest university libraries in France, or oldest public libraries in
Europe for example, will have the appropriate name of the country or continent.
Where possible, if English is not the official language or one of the official languages of a country, then the
name of the national, university or public library in the official language (with transliteration where necessary) is
given alongside the English version.
For some entries, additional information has been provided under the heading Notes. These notes will provide
either useful background information or additional interesting facts.


















WORLD RECORDS FOR NATIONAL LIBRARIES

1.
15 Oldest National Libraries
For most countries of the world, the number one library is always the national library, which is also a very
important cultural institution. For each country the national library normally has a legal right to be given a copy of
every book published in that country. For this reason national libraries tend to have large collections. And in some
countries the national library is the largest library or the only major library available to the public. Many national
libraries around the world began as public libraries such as the national libraries in Russia, South Africa, India,
Argentina, and Bulgaria. In other countries such as Finland, Denmark, Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia, Mexico, and
Israel, a major university library also functions as the national library. The National Library of Singapore began as a
subscription library. In Burma (Myanmar) and the Philippines, the national library also serves as a public library. In
J apan and the U.S. the national library bears the same name as the parliamentary library (i.e. Diet Library and
Library of Congress). Some national libraries are the result of an amalgamation of libraries founded much earlier in

history, some of which were libraries of the monarchy, religious libraries, or private libraries of public figures. In
many large countries, that are divided into several provinces (e.g., Canada, South Africa and China) and states (e.g.
the U.S., Australia and Germany), apart from the main national library in the countrys capital, there may also be
several state or provincial libraries. These libraries in essence function as the main library for the state or provincial
government, as such like national libraries, they then to be also large libraries as well.

The Alexandria Library This library founded around 305 BC by Greek Macedonian king of Egypt, Ptolemy I
Soter is probably the earliest significant national library in the world, and undoubtedly the greatest library in
existence from the time of Alexandria the Greats Empire to the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Expanded by
other kings after Ptolemy I Soter, its first two librarians (great scholars of the day) were Zenodotus of Ephesus
(famous for writing a critical review of the works of the mysterious Greek author Homer), and Callimachus, who
created a subject catalog of the librarys holdings called the Pinakes. This catalog was a masterpiece and was
composed of over 100 scrolls. One of the goals pursued by the owners of the Alexandria Library was to have a copy
of every single book in the worldan ambitious but impossible task given to one of the librarians, a former governor
of Athens named Demetrius. King Ptolemy I himself wrote letters to sovereign leaders and statesmen, requesting
books by prominent writers, poets, doctors, soothsayers, and people in other important professions. At the same
time the library sent out literary experts to search the cities of Europe, North Africa and the Asia Minor region for
important manuscripts, maps and other items to loot. And being a major harbor at the time, foreign ships passing
through Alexandria or moored at the port were thoroughly searched (sometimes with force) for anything significant to
add to the librarys growing collection. The library did not reach its ultimate goal. Nevertheless at its peak, the library
did house over 750,000 parchment and papyrus scrolls, a huge collection for a library of its era. Many of these
documents were in several languages, such as ancient Egyptian, Greek, Hebrew and Latin, written by some of the
greatest experts of the day in astronomy, medicine, law and science. Famous users of the library included Euclid
and Archimedes. The library was destroyed around A.D. 638 (after existing for almost 1000 years) as Arab armies
overran North Africa, and the circumstances of this destruction has been controversial ever since.
Why did Ptolemy I Soter build such as magnificent library? Before the Ptolemaic dynasty took over running all of
ancient Egypt from the Persians under Darius III, following the Battle of Issus (333 BC) with Alexandra the Great,
there were a few monumental libraries of prominence in the Middle East. These belonged to the Babylonian Empire,
e.g. the Borsippa Library founded 1700 BC by King Hammurabi and the Assyrian Empire, e.g. the Nineveh Library
(650 BC) of the Sennacherib and Ashurbanipal (Assurbanipal) reigns. In Egypt itself, the greatest library before the
Alexandria Library had been the one founded Ramses II, the prominent builder of monuments and temples in the
New Kingdom of ancient Egypt. His library was built circa 1250 BC. The Ptolemies were from Macedon, which had
been greatly influenced by the legacy of Hellenistic learning and culture of the ancient Greeks. This was made
possible from the fact that the Greeks were the first in the Western world to master the art of alphabetic writing (from
the Phoenicians) around 800 BC and a thousand years before that the Greeks were began alphabetic writing, they
wrote Mycenaean Linear B tablets (circa 1800 BC) which they had learnt from the Minoan civilization in nearby
Crete. It is in this context that it has to be assumed that the Ptolemies wanted to replicate their rich culturing heritage
in their newly formed city of Alexandria. And what better way to do this, than to build great libraries and museums in
Alexandria, and so further promote Hellenistic learning and culture. With library established, it was then used by
some of the greatest minds of the ancient world, such as Euclid the mathematician, Ptolemy the geographer and
???????????/ add more

Ptolemy I Soter as the first King of Egypt from the Ptolemaic dynasty, set up the first national library in the world,
which also became the greatest library in the ancient world. A New Alexandria Library opened in 2002.

Notes. In 1989 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) initiated work to
recreate the ancient Alexandria Library as the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The new Alexandria Library is located
near the Alexandria University Faculty of Arts campus, in Shatby, close to the Mediterranean Sea. The
completed building, costing over $230 million, now has space for over 4 million books. Many of the books and
manuscripts were contributions and donations received from individuals and governments from around the
world, and so far the total items in the library are just under 300,000. Bibliotheca Alexandrina opened to the
public October 19, 2002. In 2004 a Polish-Egyptian archeological team led by Zahi Hawass, the prominent
Egyptian Egyptologist announced they had discovered remnants of the original site of the Alexandria Library.


The following are the oldest national libraries founded before 1700, which exist today.
1. National Library of the Czech Republic, Prague (Nrodn Knihovna Cesk Republiky). Founded 1366. The most
fascinating sight is the baroque architecture of the Klementium Complex in which the library is situated.
Notes. The national library began with a donation of books by King Charles IV. The history of the library is
closely related with the foundation of the Charles University in 1348.
2. National Library of Austria, Vienna (sterreichische Nationalbibliothek). 1368. The national library of Austria
(Department of Papyri) has over 180,000 papyri and parchments, making it the library with the biggest papyrus
collection in the Europe and the second largest collection after the one at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. A huge
digitization program aided by the UNESCO Memory of the World Register is already underway in Vienna to make
them available via a database to scholars.
Notes. It was founded from the royal collections of Austrian Dukes (starting with Archduke Albrecht III) as part of
the later Imperial Court Library (Kaiserliche Hofbibliothek), during the early period of the Habsburg dynasty. This
royal family ruled Austria from 1278 up to 1918, after the end of the First World War. The library contains the
most beautiful atlas in the world, the 17th century Dutch manuscript Blaeu-Van der Hem (get more data). The
interior of the library has more space for decorations and artifacts than books itself, including a big baroque
state hall (Prunksaal) with statues of King Charles IV and several princes of the Habsburg dynasty.
















3. Marciana National Library, Venice, Venetian Republic (Biblioteca Nazionale de Marciana). 1468.
Notes. Cardinal Bessarione started the library with his own collection of important religious manuscripts. The
Venetian Republic is now part of Italy, and the library still exists under the same name, a legacy of the time Italy
was not a united country, but made of city-states like Genoa and Venice. Today while most countries have one
main national library, ten institutions in Italy are given the title of National Library, at Bari, Rome, Florence,
Milan, Naples, Palermo, Turin, Venice, Potenza and Cosenza. However those at Rome and Florence are the
most prominent.
4. National Library of France, Paris (Bibliothque Nationale de France). 1480.
Notes. The legal status of the National Library of France was acquired in 1617, and the library opened for the
public in 1735. But actual foundation of the library goes back to 1480 when the library was known as the

Bibliothque du Roi and was part of King Louis XI royal library. A collection of books belonging to King Charles
V the Wise (a patron of the arts and of learning), and now part of the national library, dates back further to
1368.

3.tif This old building housed the National Library of France from the late 19th century, till a bigger new national
library building was opened in 1996.

5. National Library of Malta, Valetta (Biblioteka Nazzjonali ta Malta). 1555.
Notes. Books belonging to the Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem started the library. Descendants of
the Knights of the Order of St John were originally in Jerusalem in the 12th century to defend Jerusalem, with
help from the Knights Templar, against Arab forces during the 2nd Crusade. After the crusades ended, the
Knights of the Order of St John were forced to leave Palestine, so moved onto Cyprus in 1291, before being
granted sanctuary in Malta in 1530 by Emperor Charles V.
6. Bavarian State Library, Munich. Germany (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek). 1558.
Notes. Duke Albrecht V founded the library as the Wittelsbach court library during the time Bavaria was a
kingdom and Germany was made up of several city-states and then part of the Holy Roman Empire. Today the
library is not part of the German national library, but it is one of the three largest and most important libraries in
Germany.

4.tif The Bavarian State Library in Munich was the most important library of the Wittelsbach dynasty which
dominated the German Kingdom of Bavaria until the last king of Bavaria, Ludwig III, abdicated in 1918.

7. National Library of Belgium, Brussels. Royal Library Albert I (Koninklijke Bibliotheek van Belgi/Bibliothque
Royale de Belgique). 1559.
Notes. The Dukes of Burgundy laid the foundation for the national library starting with a collection of important
manuscripts. Belgium is one of the few countries in Europe that are bilingual, so her libraries tend have two
titles; in French and Flemish (Dutch). Books in the libraries are in both of these languages as well.
8. National and University Library of Slovenia, founded 1595. The University joined with the national library is called
Edward Kardelja University Library, Ljubljana (Edvarda Kardelja Knjinica Univerza v Ljubljani).
9. National Library of Croatia, Zagreb (Nacionalna i Sveuilina Knjinica). 1606.
Notes. Jesuits first established the library collections; it is also part of the Zagreb University Library.
10. National Library of Finland, Helsinki (Helsingin Yliopiston Kirjasto). 1640.
Notes. It is also forms part of the Helsinki University Library, and was first founded in Turku, the old capital of
Finland (formerly called bo, when Finland was then part of Sweden). The library moved to Helsinki in 1828
after the Great Fire of Turku.
11. National Library of Denmark, Copenhagen (Det Kongelige Bibliotek). 1653.
Notes. King Frederick III originally founded the library. It is also part of the Copenhagen University Library
founded in 1482. There are two other locations of the library at Amager and Fiolstrde, but these are part of the
Copenhagen University library. The old national library building of the Slotsholmen site was built in 1906 and is
a copy of Charlemagne's Palace chapel in the Aachen Cathedral. In 1999, a new building was opened at
Slotsholmen, known as the "Black Diamond" or Den sorte diamante in Danish. So named for its outside cover of
black marble and glass (shown below). It houses a concert hall in addition to the library.


5.tif The National Library of Denmark is now housed in a new enthralling building, known locally in Danish as the
Black Diamond which was opened to the public in 1999.

12. National Library of Sweden, Stockholm (Kungliga Biblioteket). 1661.
Notes. This national library began as a collection of books originally belonging to the first Swedish king,
Gustavus Vasa (Gustavus I). Between 1397 and 1523, Sweden had been part of a political union with Denmark
and Norway, but with a Danish monarch (Union of Kalmar). When Sweden left the union in 1523, Norway
remained united with Denmark until the 1814 Congress of Vienna ceded it to Sweden.
13. Prussian State Library, Berlin, Germany (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. Preussischer Kulturbesitz). 1661. The
renovated library building, which opened in 1978, is part of the Kultur-forum, a complex of buildings including the
Philharmonie, the Kammermusiksaal and the Neue Nationalgalerie. The library was featured in Wenders classic film
Wings of Desire. Generously financed by successive German governments, the building housed the largest library in
post-war Germany, until the former East and West German national libraries merged in 1990. Today it is the second
largest library in Germany and called the Berlin State Library. Architects were Scharoun and Wisniewski.

Notes. Prussia is now part of Germany and Poland, and the library is now known as the Berlin State Library.
Frederick William, ruler of Brandenburg, founded the library. Like the Bavarian State Library, it is not part of the
German national library in Frankfurt, but it is one of the three main important libraries in Germany.
14. National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. U.K. 1682.
Notes. It was formerly part of the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, which is still in existence, but now as a
law library. The separation of the library to become a national library occurred in 1925.
6.tif The National Library of Scotland (with 7 million books) is the oldest national library in the U.K. and third largest
library in the U.K., after the British Library in London and the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.
15. National Library of Colombia, Bogot (Biblioteca Nacional de la Colombia). 1777.


2.
Oldest National Libraries in Africa
The two oldest national libraries in Africa are the National Library of South Africa, Cape Town branch founded
1818, and the National Library of Tunisia, Tunis, founded 1845.

3. Oldest National Libraries in the Americas
The 5 oldest national libraries in the Americas are:
1. National Library of Colombia, Bogot (Biblioteca Nacional de la Colombia). Founded 1777.
2.Library of Congress, Washington D.C., U.S. founded in 1800.
J oint 3rd. National Library of Argentina, Buenos Aires (Biblioteca Nacional de la Repblica Argentina) and National
Library of Brazil, Rio de J aneiro (Biblioteca Nacional de Brasil). Both Founded 1810.
4. National Library of Chile, Santiago. (Biblioteca Nacional de Chile). Founded 1813.

J oint 5th. National Library of Mexico, Mexico City (Biblioteca Nacional de Mxico) and National Library of Venezuela,
Caracas (Biblioteca Nacional de Venezuela). Both founded 1833.

4. Oldest National Libraries in Asia
The two oldest national libraries in Asia are the National Library of Georgia, Tbilisi, founded 1846 and the National
Library of India, Calcutta (Kolkata), founded 1902.


5. Oldest National Libraries in the Middle East
1. National Library of Egypt, Cairo (Dr el-Kutub Al-Misryya). 2 million. Founded 1870.
2. National Library of Israel, J erusalem. 4 million books. Founded 1925.

6. Largest National Libraries with Over 10 Million Books
When considering the size of a librarys collections, only the number of books is taken into account throughout
this book; other library materials such as manuscripts, serials (newspapers, journals and so on), microfilms, and
maps are disregarded. In 1964 during an UNESCO conference, it was agreed internationally that a book was
defined as a non-periodical printed publication of at least 49 pages. Many libraries say of their collections that they
have so many items but this includes all kinds of library materials as well as books.
1. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 30 million books. Founded 1800. The national library with the biggest
annual budget, currently about $462 million. The Library of Congress grows at a rate of about 10,000 items a day.

Notes. Among the treasured maps at the Library of Congress is the only remaining copy of German geographer
Martin Waldseemllers original map of 1507, which was the first to show the American continent and the first to
use the word America in honor of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. In the summer of 2001 the German
government gave permission for the former owners of the map (Prince Johannes Waldberg-Wolfegg-Waldsee
library in Wolfegg, Baden-Wrttemberg) to sell it to the Library of Congress for $10 million. The map had been
re-discovered in 1901 by Joseph Fisher, a Jesuit historian, after nearly 400 years during which it was listed as
missing. There where other maps made before 1507 that included the Americas, see entry 63. The Library of
Congress was the most expensive library building before the 20th century, when the Jefferson Building, the
oldest part of the three buildings that make up the library, opened in 1897 at a cost of $10 million. Storage of its
huge collections of books has meant going to extraordinary lengths such as constructing 500 miles of
underground rooms beneath the library building. The rate at which the book collection in the Library of Congress
has grown in size is staggering. In 1900 it had just over 2 million books. The first full time librarian of the Library
of Congress was George Watterson in 1815. During the Second World War the original copies of the 18th
century Constitution and the Declaration of Independence (engrossed upon parchment), were taken from the
Library of Congress to Fort Knox (ordinarily used for storing U.S. gold bullion) in Kentucky for safekeeping. Both
documents are today housed in helium-filled glass cases (this time to protect them against decay) in the
National Archives building in Washington, D.C. In times of war, revolution or political unrest, other important
documents around the world have had similar instances of contingency plans for protection. For instance it is
believed that the famous Dead Sea Scrolls found in secret caves were actually hidden there to protect them
during the first Jewish revolt that occurred between A.D. 66 and 70. During the clashes between the Roman
army and rebel Jews, it was feared the scrolls would be destroyed if the Romans got hold of them. After Roman
Emperor Titus put down the rebellion, the scrolls remained hidden and forgotten until a chance discovery in
1947. Each of the 50 states in the U.S. has a state library. The three largest are New York State Library
(founded 1818 in Albany) with over 3 million books and the oldest in the U.S.; California State Library (founded
in 1850 in Sacramento) and Library of Michigan (founded 1828 in Lansing). Texas State Library in Austin (4th

largest) used to be called the National Library of the Republic of Texas between 1839 and 1848.
7.tif J efferson Building of the U.S. Library of Congress. Even though the U.S. national library bears the name of the
U.S. legislative body, i.e. Congress, the U.S. Senate does have its own library (called the Senate Library), with
about 253,000 books. It was founded in 1871.

2. National Library of China, Beijing (Zhongguo Guojia Tushugan). Founded 1911. 27 million.
Notes. It was previously called the Metropolitan Library of Beijing. A new building for the library was added in
1987. The are 21 provinces in China, each with one large main provincial library. The three largest such libraries
are the Zhejiang Provincial Library, Sichuan Provincial Library and the Hubei Provincial Library.

8.tif The National Library of China is now the largest in Asia and second largest in the world.
3. Russian State Library, Moscow (Rossiskaya Gosudarstvennaya Biblioteka). 24.2 million.
Notes. Known affectionately as Leniska its 42 million items, makes it the second largest library in the world
(after the Library of Congress), in terms of the number of items held in the library. It is also Europes largest
library. Formerly called the Lenin State Library of the USSR (until 1991), it was founded in 1924, a few years
after Vladimir Ilyich Lenins October revolution. But the origin of the library goes back to 1862, when it was part
of the private collection of Count Nickolai Rumyantsev Library. It was then the first public library in Moscow.

4. National Library of Germany, Frankfurt, Leipzig and Berlin (Die Deutsche Bibliothek). 17 million. Founded in 1990
following the merging of the former East German National Library in Leipzig (Deutsche Bcherei, founded 1912) with
the Deutsche Bibliothek in former West Germany (founded 1946). The third location of the national library is in
Berlin, where music materials are kept in the Deutsches Musikarchiv.
Notes. Two other large state libraries also exist in Germany, and are comparable with the national library in
Frankfurt. The first one, the Bavarian State Library in Munich, currently holds 8 million books. The other, the
Berlin State Library (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin), holds about 11 million books. Smaller state libraries also exist in
Stuttgart (Baden Wrttemberg State Library) and Dresden (Saxony State Library). The latter is home to the
famous Dresden Codex (see entry 126).

5. National Library of France, Paris (Bibliothque Nationale de France). 15.3 million. Third largest in Europe. A new
library building opened to the public in 1996, but the librarys actual foundation goes back to 1480.
Notes. Among the millions of photographs at the French National Library is the worlds oldest photograph, taken
by Nicphore Niepce in 1825 (which took 8 hours to develop!). Apart from the 1507 Waldseemller map at the
Library of Congress, the German geographer also made other maps. The one at the national library in Paris is
the 1506 Green Globe. In 1997 the French national library was the first library to provide full-text access to a
great deal of its collections via the Internet. The special catalog called Gallica also provides photographs and
illustrations from the publication (cover page digital image and/or digital images from inside the publication). In
total over 80,000 digitalized books were available to access, including access to important publications that had
once had restricted access such as the French Academy of Sciences publications (Procs Verbaux de
l'Acadmie des Sciences). Normally a librarys catalog only provides brief bibliographic details of its book
collections, so Gallica was a unique deviation from library tradition. Other national libraries around the world
have already began initiatives to provide full-text access to some of their collections, such as the one between
Google and several large academic libraries in the U.S. and the one at the British Library providing access to its
rarest incunabula. The Google project will be released as Google Book Library. The project involves several
large U.S. university libraries collaborating to provide up to 10 million books from their collections available for
digitization and access through Googles search engine. The bulk of the universities are in the U.S. Outside the
U.S., the libraries of Keio University in Japan and Ghent University in Belgium are recent additions. See also
Google Book Search at entry ??



6. The British Library, London. 14.5 million. It is also Europes 4th largest national library, containing 920,000
journals and newspapers (the largest such collection in Europe), as well as 3 million sound recordings.
Notes. Although the British Library was part of the British Museum founded in 1753, it became separate in
1973, and officially different entities in 1998. The British Museum Library itself developed from the Royal Library
of King Henry VII. The new British Library building was opened to the public in 1997. Prior to this, the collections
of the library were housed in several buildings in central London. There are also two other British national
libraries: in Scotland (Edinburgh), founded in 1682, with 7 million books, and in Wales (Cardiff), founded in 1911
and with 5 million books.
7. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, Kiev (Natsionalna Biblioteka Ukrany). 13 million. Founded 1918.

8. National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg (Rossiiskaya Natsionalnaya Biblioteka). Formerly M.E. Saltykov-
Shchedrin State Public Library. 12.1 million.
Notes. Empress Catherine the Great founded the library in 1795.

9.tif The National Library of Russia in St Petersburg is third largest in Russia after the Russian Sate Library in
Moscow and the Russian Academy of Sciences Library in St Petersburg.

9. National Library of Canada, Ottawa (Bibliothque Nationale du Canada). Founded 1953. 11 million. All national
libraries and national archives around the world are normally two separate cultural institutions. But in 2004, following
new legislation, the National Library of Canada was the first to merge with its National Archives (founded in 1872)
into one organization as the Library and Archives Canada. As librarians and library users in Canada debated the
merits of such a merger, one of the reasons given for the merger was that the differences between national libraries
and national archives could no longer be explained, such as the simple question: does a map belong in a library, or
an archive?. Since the merger, national libraries worldwide have been watching with interest, but to date none have
followed suit.
Notes. A second national library of Canada also exists in Montreal, as the Bibliothque Nationale du Qubec.
The above figure is the total for both libraries.

10. National Library of J apan, Tokyo (Kokuritsu Kokkai Toshokan). Founded 1948. 10 million books. Three buildings
comprise the National Library of J apan, or National Diet Library. The Nagata-cho main building, adjacent to the
National Diet (J apans parliament), opened in 1968, and an Annex was added in 1986 to keep up with the expanding
book collection. The Nagata-cho main building is based on a stack system, with the stack space unit measuring 45m
by 45m with 17 vertical levels. The Annex has four floors above the ground, and 8 floors below ground level. Both
buildings are in Tokyo, while a third building, Kansai-kan, in the Kansai Science City, outside Kyoto opened in 2002.
The winners of an open international architecture competition held in 1996 designed the new building. A notable
feature of the new library will be its light and chameleon effects in which abundant greenery and the transparency
of the glass exterior blend well with the surroundings. The illumination of the building is governed by the time of the
day and the season.
Notes. It was originally founded in 1872 during the Meiji period as the Imperial Library or Teikoku Toshokan, but
after the end of the Second World War and following adoption of a new constitution, it was renamed Kokuritsu
Kokkai Toshokan or Diet Library.



7.
5 largest National Libraries in Africa and the Middle East
1. National Library of Israel, J erusalem. 4.8 million books. Founded 1925.
Notes. Also part of the Hebrew University Library in Jerusalem.
2. National Library of Egypt, Cairo (Dr el-Kutub Al-Misryya). 2 million. Founded 1870.
Notes. It began as the royal Khedival Palace Library belonging to Khedive Ismael, one of the rulers of Egypt.
His son Khedive Tawaf later expanding the library. During the time Egypt was ruled by the Turkish Ottoman
Empire from 1517, the rulers of Egypt between 1867 and 1914, were called Khedive and were under the orders
of the Sultan of Ottoman Turkey.
3. National Library of Turkey, Ankara. (Trkiye Milli Kutuphane). 1.3 million. Founded 1948.
4. National Library of Tunisia, Tunis. 1.2 million. Founded 1845.
5. National Library of South Africa, Pretoria and Cape Town. 1.4 million. The Cape Town branch was founded 1818,
while Pretoria branch was founded in 1887.

10.tif The largest national library in Africa, can be found at the National Library of South Africa in Cape Town.

8.
10 Largest National Libraries in the Asia
1. National Library of China, Beijing (Zhongguo Guojia Tushugan). 27 million. See also entry 6
2. National Library of J apan, Tokyo (Kokuritsu Kokkai Toshokan). 10 million. See also entry 6.
3. National Library of Australia, Canberra. Founded 1901. 7.3 million.
Notes. It was the first national library to set up its own website back in 1994. The library played a leading role in
the establishment of the National Library of Papua New Guinea, when in 1975 the then Prime Minister of
Australia announced its Independence gift to people of Papua New Guinea would be a national library building
and its contents. This was possible after consultations with Papua New Guinea leaders. In addition to advising
on the design of the building, the National Library of Australia developed the initial collection. By the end of
1977, huge quantities of ordered materials were arriving, signaling the beginning of the huge job of processing
books, government publications, films and equipment. A special gift from the National Library of Australia was
Papua New Guinean books, films and maps, some of which were valuable historic items not otherwise
available. In 1978, the Australian government formally handed over the keys to the building in Port Moresby.
There are six states in Australia, each with one main state library. The largest is the New South Wales State
Library in Sydney.

11.tif
The National Library of Australia in Canberra is the 3rd largest in the Asia-Pacific region

4. National Library of Armenia, Yerevan. 7 million. Founded 1919.
5. National Library of Kazakhstan, Almaty. 6.5 million. Founded in 1931.

6. National Library of Georgia, Tbilisi. 6 million. Founded 1846.
7. National Library of India, Calcutta (Kolkata). Founded 1902. 4.5 million.
Notes. The national library is the result of the amalgamation of the Calcutta Public Library founded in 1835, with
the Imperial Library in 1903.
8. Akhundov M.F. State Library of Azerbaijan, Baku. 4.5 million. Founded 1923.
9. National Library of New Zealand, Wellington (Te Puna Manatauranga O Aotearoa). Founded 1856. 4.4 million.
10. National Library of Korea, Seoul. 4 million. Founded 1923.

Notes. Several of the former Asian members of the Soviet Union, such as Armenia and Kazakhstan had very
large national libraries, which they inherited when the USSR was dissolved in 1991.

9.
10 Largest National Libraries in Europe
More details of most of the libraries listed below are listed at entry 6

1. Russian State Library, Moscow (Rossiskaya Gosudarstvennaya Biblioteka). 24.2 million.


2. National Library of Germany, Frankfurt, Leipzig and Berlin (Die Deutsche Bibliothek). 17 million. It is the largest
national library in Western Europe.

4. National Library of France, Paris (Bibliothque Nationale de France). 15.3 million.

12.tif As the largest library in France, the National Library of France is based in one of the most intriguing buildings:
4 huge tall glass towers each resembling a book.

2.The British Library, London. 14.5 million.

5. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, Kiev (Natsionalna Biblioteka Ukrany). 13 million. Founded 1918.

6. National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg (Rossiskaya Natsionalnaya Biblioteka). 12.1 million.


7. National Library of Italy, Rome and Florence (Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale). 11 million. The Rome branch was
founded in 1876, and is called Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele II. While the Florence branch
Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale was founded in 1747

13.tif The Marciana National Library, based in the Saint Mark (San Marco) Museum building in Venice, is the 3rd
largest and oldest of Italys 10 national libraries spread over Italy.

8. National Library of Romania, Bucharest (Biblioteca National a Romnei) 8.3 million. Founded 1836. See also
entry 34 for details on the Romanian Academy Library.

9. National Library of the Czech Republic, Prague (Nrodn Knihovna esk Republiky). 6.3 million. Founded 1366.


10. National Library of Austria, Vienna (sterreichische Nationalbibliothek). 6 million. Founded 1368.

10.
5 Largest National Libraries in Latin America
1. National Library of Chile, Santiago. (Biblioteca Nacional de Chile). 4 million. Founded 1813.
2. National Library of Mexico, Mexico City (Biblioteca Nacional de Mxico). 3.3 million. Founded 1833. The building,
of Mexicos number one library, is based on tiled mosaic facades, with Aztec culture themes. The mosaic-decorated
stackroom tower by Diego Rivera is fantastic. OGorman the architect of the library, who was inspired by the works
of U.S. architect Frank Lloyd Wright, is one of Mexicos famous architects. The 10 story and almost windowless
library building opened in December 1979, is located along the famous Insurgentes Avenue (Avenida Insurgentes),
and rubs shoulders with the also famous Olympic Stadium.

Notes. It is also part of the National Autonomous University Library.
3. National Library of Argentina, Buenos Aires (Biblioteca Nacional de la Repblica Argentina). 3 million books.
Founded 1810.
4. National Library of Venezuela, Caracas (Biblioteca Nacional de Venezuela). 2.7 million books. Founded 1833.
The National Library of Cuba (Biblioteca Nacional Jos Marti) in Havana has about the same number of books. It
was founded in 1901.
5. National Library of Brazil, Rio de J aneiro (Biblioteca Nacional de Brasil). 1.8 million books. Founded 1810.
Notes. The first collection of books of the National Library of Brazil belonged to the Portuguese royal family,
who took the books with them when they fled to Brazil, after Napoleon Bonaparte and his forces invaded
Portugal in the late 18th century.

Sources and further Reading. The main sources for this section of the book on national libraries as well as
other selected titles are listed as follows:
National Library Websites
The World of Learning book
KG Saur book


WORLD RECORDS FOR PUBLIC AND SUBSCRIPTION LIBRARIES
A public library is usually a library open to the public that is funded by the government. In many cities and towns
several branches of a main library may exist in different locations. For instance New York Public Library has over 80
branches in the city. Precursors of public libraries in many countries were called circulating or subscription libraries.
Some were part private and part public. Today some subscription libraries have become full public libraries.

11.
15 Largest public libraries

Los Angeles and New York are the two cities in the world with the largest combined collection of public library
books (all library branches in the city), and the largest annual budgets in the world. Below are the largest public
libraries with more than 5 million books.
1. Boston (Massachusetts) Public Library, U.S. 14 million. Founded 1848.
2. Los Angeles County (California) Public Library, U.S. 10.4 million. Founded 1912.

14.tif
As the 2nd largest public library in the U.S., Los Angeles County Public Library has over 84 branches in the city.
This is the East Los Angeles Library.
3. Cincinnati & Hamilton County (Ohio) Public Library, U.S. 9.6 million. Founded 1856.

4. Shanghai Library, China (Shanghai Tushugan). 9.5 million. Founded 1952. See entry 14 for more information.

15.tif
Shanghai Library in China, is the largest public library in the world, outside the U.S. with over 9 million books.


5. Detroit Public Library, (Michigan) U.S. 7.5 million. Founded 1865
6. Toronto (Ontario) Public Library, Canada. 7.65 million. Founded 1884.
Notes. It has 9 million items and an annual circulation of 28 million (probably giving it the highest public library
circulation numbers in the Americas).
7. Nanjing Library, China (Nanjing Tushugan) 7.4 million. Founded 1908.
8. Russian State Public Library for Science and Technology, Moscow. 7.3 million books. Founded in 1958. It is the
largest specialized public library in the world.
9. Queens Borough Public Library, New York City, U.S. 7 million. Founded 1896.
10. Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), Free Public Library U.S. 6.5 million. Founded 1891.
11. Los Angeles City (California) Public Library, U.S. 6.4 million. Founded 1872.
12. Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), U.S. 6.3 million. Founded 1897.
13. Chicago (Illinois) Public Library, U.S. 6 million. Founded 1873.
Notes. Because the existing library building did not have enough space for the expanding book collections, a
new central library called the Harold Washington Library Center opened to the public in 1991, and it is now the
second largest public library building in the world. See list 241.
14. New York Public Library, U.S. Has about 5.9 million books and 84 separate branches. Founded in 1895.
15. Brooklyn Public Library, New York City, U.S. 5 million. Founded 1897


12.
Largest public libraries in the U.S. and Canada
Twelve U.S. public libraries listed in entry 11. the next 4 largest public libraries with moe than 4 million books
are: San Diego (California) Public Library, 4.5; Dallas (Texas) Public Library 4.3; Miami-Dade Public Library (Florida)
4.2. million; Cleveland Public Library (Ohio) 4.1 and Houston (Texas) Public Library, 4 million.
Apart from Toronto Public Library above, the next three largest public libraries in Canada are: Ottawa Public
Library (Ontario) with 2.5 million books, founded 1906; Vancouver Public Library (British Columbia) 2.3 million books,
1887, and Montral City Library (Bibliothque de Montral) in Qubec, province with 2 million books. Vancouver
Public Library has a unique sight, . The exterior of the library building designed by Moshe Safdie resembles the
remnants of the ancient Roman Coliseum in Italy.

16.tif
Vancouver Public Library, the third largest public library in Canada probably has the most recognizable face in the
world: it is shaped like the famous Roman Coliseum in Italy.
17.tif
Miami-Dade Public Library in Florida, is one of several very large public libraries in the U.S. that are able to provide
a nearby out door caf for its users to take a break after using the library.
13.
Largest public libraries in Africa and the Middle East
In the Middle East, the two largest libraries are the Tel Aviv Central Public Library (Shaar Zion) founded 1958
with 950,000 books and the J erusalem City Public Library founded 1961 with 810,000 books. Both located in Israel.
King Abdul-Aziz Public Library in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has over 310,000 books. It was founded in 1985.
In Africa, J ohannesburg Public Library, founded in 1959 has 1.7 million books. Cape Town City Library, founded
in 1947 has 1.2 million books. Both are in South Africa.

Notes. The Cape Provincial Library Service of South Africa based in Cape Town has over 200 affiliated public
libraries and over 70 depot libraries giving a total collection of over 5 million books. While the Transvaal
Provincial Library in Pretoria, founded in 1943 contains over 4.5 million books.

14.
Largest public libraries in Asia
In China, Shanghai Library, (Shanghai Tushugan) founded in 1952, has 9.5 million books, while Nanjing Library,
(Nanjing Tushugan ) founded in 1908 has 7.4 million books. Beijing Society of Library Science Capital Library,
founded 1913, owns over 4.1 million books. In addition to the above three Chinese libraries, several large public
provincial libraries with over 2 million books also exist in China.
The largest Asian public library outside China, is the Delhi Public library in New Delhi, India. It was founded in
1951 in association with UNESCO, and has about 1.7 million books. Bangladesh Central Public Library in Dhaka,
founded in 1958 has just over a million books, it is the main public library in the capital.
The six largest public libraries in J apan are the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library, with 1.4 million books,

founded 1939; Hong Konk Public Library near Victoria Park with over 1 million books; the Aichi Prefectural Library in
Nagoya, holding just over 990,000 books; Kanazawa City Library, 980,000 books, Kanagawa Prefectural Library,
930,000 books, founded 1954 and the Osaka Prefectural Library with over 900,000. The largest public library in
South Korea is the Pusan Civil Library with about 850,000 books. It was founded in 1968.
In Malaysia, the three largest public libraries are Selangor Public Library, 1.6 million books, founded 1971;
Kedah Public Library, Alor Setar, 710,000 books founded 1974 and Penang Public Library, 550,000 books, founded
1817. The largest public library in Taiwan is the Taipei City Library founded in 1952 with 164,000 books. In
Singapore, the largest public library is the Woodlands Regional Library with just over 400,000 books. The new
building for the library opened in 2001.
In Australia the largest public library is the Sydney Public Libraries with 1.7 million books. The largest public
libraries in New Zealand are Auckland City Library (1.1 million, founded 1880) and Wellington Public Library
(710,000 books, founded 1893).

15. 10 Largest public libraries in Europe
The current 10 largest libraries in Europe are:
1. Russian State Public Library for Science and Technology, Moscow. 7.3 million books. Founded in 1958. It is the
largest specialized public library in the world.
2. Mitchell Library, Glasgow, Scotland, U.K. 4.5 million. Founded in 1874.
3. Birmingham Central Public Library, U.K. 3.3 million. Founded 1852.
4. Munich City Library, Germany (Mnchner Stadbibliothek). 3.2 million. Founded 1843.
5. Berlin Central Library, Germany (Zentral und Landesbibliothek Berlin). 3.1 million. Founded 1901.

6. Zurich Central Library, Switzerland (Zentralbibliothek Zrich). 3 million. Founded 1914.

7. Malm City Library, Sweden (Malm Stadsbibliotek). 3 million. Founded 1905.

8. Liverpool Public Library 3 million. Founded 1852.

9. Prague City Library, Czech Republic (Mstk Knihovna v Praze), 3 million, founded 1891.

10. Helsinki City Public Library, Finland (Helsingin Kaupunginkirjasto) founded in 1860 and Lyons Municipal Library
(Bibliothque Municipale de Lyon) in France, founded in 1527, both presently have over 2.8 million books.

18.tif
Malm City Library in Sweden is the largest in Scandinavia and also has the largest single public library building in
Europe.

19.tif
There is so much free space in Swedens Malm City Library that the free spacious seats are everywhere, even in
the librarys verandah as the photograph above shows.



The total collection of all the individual libraries in the 32 boroughs that make up Greater London is now 12
million. The largest ones are the Westminster and Barnet borough public libraries. The London Library, (the worlds
largest independent lending library) was set up in 1841 by Thomas Caryle, today has about 650,000 books. There
are 39 counties in the U.K, the 5 largest county libraries are: Hampshire (Winchester) public libraries, 3.8 million
books; Kent (Maidstone) public libraries, 3.5 million; Lancashire (Preston) public libraries, 3 million and Essex
(Chelmsford) public libraries, 2.8 million.
In France, Bordeaux Municipal Library (Bibliothque Municipale de Bordeaux) has about 1.2 million books. It
was founded in 1740. The combined book collection of public libraries in Paris (including the Georges Pompidou
Center Library) is just over 5 million volumes. The largest is the Paris City Library (Bibliothque de la Ville de Paris).
In Germany, apart from Munich Public Library listed above, the other large public library is the Hamburg Public
Library (Hamburger ffentliche Bucherhallen) owns about 2.6 million books. It was founded in 1899. There are
several public libraries in the German capital Berlin, most beginning with the title Stadtbibliothek. The Berlin Central
Library (Zentral und Landesbibliothek Berlin) is the largest.

20tif
Lyons Municipal Library is the oldest and largest public library in France. The tall building behind the library is also
part of the library building. See entry 246 on the most fascinating public library buildings.

Notes. Other major large public libraries in Europe (excluding those in the U. K., Germany and France) and the
foundation year are Stockholm City Public Library, Sweden. (Stockholms Stadsbibliotek) 2.2 million books,
founded 1927. Dublin City Library, Ireland, 2.1 million, 1884. Rotterdam Municipal Library, Netherlands
(Gemeentebibliotheek Rotterdam), 2 million, 1604. Moscow City Public Library, Russia (Moskva Publichnaya
Biblioteca), 2 million, 1919.. Bucharest City Library, Romania (Biblioteca Municipale Bucuresti), 1.6 million,
1935. Espoon City Public Library, Finland (Espoon Kaupunginkirjasto), 1.5 million, 1869. Barcelona Public
Library, Spain, 1.5 million, 1918. Oslo Deichman Public Library, Norway (Deichmanske Bibliotek), 1.5 million,
1785. Vienna Public Library, Austria (Bchereien Wien), 1.3 million, 1945. Oporto Public Library, Portugal
(Biblioteca Pblica Municipal Porto), 1.4 million, 1833. Metropolitan Ervin Szabo Library, Budapest, Hungary
(Ervin Szabo Knyvtr), 1.2 million, 1904. Warsaw Public Library, Poland (Biblioteka Publiczna Warszawy), 1.2
million, 1907. Antwerp Central Public Library, Belgium (Antwerpen Openbare Bibliotheek), 1 million, 1866.
Tampere City Public Library, Finland (Tampereen Kaupunginkirjasto), 1 million, 1861 Central Library of Sofia,
Bulgaria, 938,000, 1886. Eindhoven Public Library, the Netherlands (Openbare Bibliotheek Eindhoven),
851,000, 1916.Panizzi Municipal Library, Via Emilia, Italy (Biblioteca Municipale Panizzi), 710,000, 1796.


16.
Largest public libraries in Latin America
The five largest public libraries in Latin America are: So Paulo Municipal Library (Biblioteca Municipal Mario de
Andrade), Brazil. 630,000 books, founded in 1925; Mexico Public Library, Mexico City (Biblioteca de Mxico).
510,000, founded in 1946; Rio Grande Public Library, Brazil (Biblioteca Pblica Rio Grandense). 450,000, founded
in 1846; Bernardino Peoples Library, Buenos Aires, Argentina (Biblioteca Popular Bernardino Rivadavia). 159,000,
founded in 1949 and Bahia State Public Library, Salvador, Brazil (Biblioteca Pblica do Estado da Bahia).114,698.

Notes. Public libraries in many Latin American countries such as Argentina are known as popular libraries
(biblioteca popular),but the English equivalent is peoples libraries.

17. Busiest public libraries
New York Public library in the United States is the busiest in the world, receiving over 10 million visitors a year

and having over 3 million registered members. Toronto Public Library in Canada receives an average 7 million
visitors and processes 28 million books and other items such as CD annually. Probably giving it the highest public
library circulation numbers in the world.

18.
Busiest public library in Latin America
The So Paulo Municipal Library in Brazil has been the busiest for decades. The largest library in South America
receives roughly half a million victors each year.
Notes. Since January 2004, every Friday, Mexico Citys subway lends books to commuters to read for their
journey.


19.
Busiest public library in the Asia
At the 2006 Northumbria International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries and Information
Services (sponsored by the International Federation of Library Associations) statistics data from library research
papers indicated that J apanese libraries were the busiest in Asia, including Australia.

20. Busiest public library in Europe
Opened in 1977, the Georges Pompidou Centers state-of-the-art multimedia Public Information Library or BPI
(Bibliothque Publique dInformation) always seems to draw record number of crowds, with at least with 14,000
people a day (or 5 million a year) visiting the library. This figure is about half the total number of people who visited
the New York Public Library. If it isnt the free access without membership cards that attracts the crowds or the
1,800 reading desks, 450,000 books, 2,600 periodicals, and 2,400 DVDs and videos, then its the yearly Festival of
Reality, dedicated to documentary and ethnological film.
Using the standard set by the U.K. Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accounting or CIPFA, which is the
national body responsible for the collection of data on public and local authority services, Birmingham Central Public
Library currently receives 2.3 million visits per year (just under 7,000 a day). This makes it the most visited public
library in the U.K.

21. Public libraries with the largest budgets.
U.S. public libraries share the largest budget in the world, with just over $10 billion made available for the
libraries to spend in the fiscal year 2005. The money came from local, state and federal sources. The 5 biggest
single recipients of public funding in rank order for the fiscal year 2004 where: New York Public Library (largest
single public library budget in the world); Los Angeles County Public Library; Chicago Public Library; Cincinnati &
Hamilton County Public Library and Miami-Dade Public Library.

22. U.S. states with the largest and smallest library budgets
According to the U.S. Department of Education, for the fiscal year 2005, the five U.S. states with the largest

library budgets were : California ($995 million). New York ($903 million); Ohio ($608 million); Illinois ($528 million)
and Florida ($437 million). The five states with the smallest budgets were: North Dakota ($9 million); Vermont ($15.7
million); South Dakota ($16 million); Montana ($16.2 million) and Wyoming ($19 million)

23. Countries with the largest number of public libraries
In 2006, Russia had more than 14,100 public and government funded libraries. The U.S. had over 10,300
public libraries. According to a UNESCO survey in 2005 and other sources the countries with the largest number of
libraries in the major regions of the world are:

Africa: South Africa, 2 NL, 520 PL; Egypt 357 PL and Algeria 102 PL.

Asia: China, 2,689 PL, J apan, 2,742 PL; Australia, 548 PL; South Korea, 320 PL.

Europe: Russia, 14,100 PL, 42 NL, 339 HEL; Germany, 9,800 PL, 6 NL, 256 HEL; Ukraine, 6200 PL; U.K. 3, NL,
5000 PL; France 3,884 PL, 396 HEL; Spain, 3,832 PL; Poland, 3107; Finland, 2700 PL.

Latin America: Brazil, 2,740 PL; Argentina, 2,300 PL and Colombia, 721 PL.

Middle East: Turkey, and Israel, Kuwait, 27 PL.

North America: U.S., 10,300 PL; Canada, 3700 PL,

Abbreviations: PL=public libraries, NL=national libraries, HEL=higher education libraries
Notes. By the start of the 21st century, Russia had a total of almost 64,500 libraries, making it the country with
the largest number of libraries in the world. The American Library Association estimated that there are more
public libraries in the U.S. than McDonalds restaurants. The large number of sophisticated public libraries in the
U.S. can sometimes mean public libraries are subject to surveillance by the government agencies. For instance
in the 1980s, during the Ronald Reagan administration and at the height of the Cold War, the FBI under its
Library Awareness Program tried to recruit public librarians in the U.S. as freelance agents to help in identifying
suspicious use of library materials in U.S. public libraries. But after a few months of fierce opposition from the
American Library Association, the FBI finally abandoned the idea. But in a further case of Big Brother, in
October 2001, the U.S. Congress passed the PATRIOT Act. This law which among other things, allows the FBI
to serve search warrants to public libraries, to enable them to access the confidential records of targeted library
users under suspicion of being involved in terrorism. Once again the American Library Association is fighting the
law, because while the law can be beneficial in investigating terrorism, it can be abused and infringes privacy.
The U.K. has a similar law to the PATRIOT Act called the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which allows
surveillance operations to be conducted on libraries, while the another law allows the law enforcement agencies
to access confidential library records. Reports seem to suggest the U.K.s library association (CILIP) is
supportive of some aspects of the laws.

24. Five U.S. states with the largest number of public libraries
According to the Institute of Education Sciences National Center for Education Statistics recent annual report
published in 2006, Public Libraries in the United States, and supportive data from the American Library Association
and other sources, there are now 10,300 public libraries in the U.S. Making it the second largest in the world, behind
those in Russia. While the total circulation of library materials was 2 billion, the largest in the world. The five states
with the largest number of public libranches (not largest book volumes of the branches) were: New York (largest
number); Illinois; Texas, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Meanwhile Wyoming, Hawaii, Nevada and Rhode Island
had the fewest.


25. Countries with the largest and smallest number of public libraries per capita
The U.K. has more than 5,000 libraries for a population of 60 million. Norway has over 1000 public libraries for a
population of 4.5 million, while Finland has over 2700 public libraries for a population of 5 million. Finland clearly has
the largest number of public libraries per capita. Entry 15 above, also shows that Finland has some of the biggest
individual public libraries in Europe, for its population size. J apan only has just over 2100 libraries for a population of
over 120 million, making it the OECD country (or industrialized country) with the smallest number of public libraries
per capita. The explanation for this is that traditionally, the J apanese do not borrow books from publicly funded
libraries. One reason for the small number of public libraries was that the cultural idea of public libraries only
became significant only after the Second World War, when legislation was passed to begin the establishment of
public libraries in J apan. And only then were funds made more readily to build public libraries. And every April 30
(the date when the library bill became law) is celebrated as Public Library Day.

Notes. In Europe having a large number of public libraries can be translated to mean that the country has a
large number of avid book readers. A survey in 2002 showed that the largest numbers of book readers in
Europe are in the U.K., Finland, Iceland and Sweden. All three have the largest number of public libraries in
Europe per capita. Not surprisingly the most enthusiastic book readers in the world are in the U.S., while it is
Iceland that has the worlds highest literacy rate. UNESCO calculates that Iceland also publishes the largest
number of books per capita.

26. Oldest public libraries in Africa and the Middle East
Koprulu Library established in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1678 with public funds (see list 73, on the oldest university
libraries) , while the Beyazit State Library, also in Istanbul, was opened in 1884. In Israel, the Tel Aviv Central
Library (Shaar Zion) was founded in 1958. In Africa, Luanda Municipal Library, in Angola (Biblioteca Municipal) was
founded in 1873 by the Portuguese colonial government. In South Africa, Cape Town City Library was founded in
1947, while J ohannesburg Public Library was founded in 1959.

Notes. The first African public library act, to legalize the role of public libraries in SubSaharan Africa was the
1948 Ghana Library Board Act. The first major Sub-Saharan general library board, handling the daily running of
public and state university libraries as well as the national library, was the one set up in 1959 in Sierra Leone.
Subscription libraries in South Africa were first set up in 1838; many later became public libraries.

27. Oldest public libraries in Asia
The Koprulu Library (see entry 61) established by Grand Vizier Koprulu Ahmet Pasha in Istanbul in 1678. This
became the first public library in the Middle East Penang Library. Malaysia was founded in 1817 by the British
colonial government. It is now part of the Penang Public Library Corporation (Perbadanan Perpustakaan Awam
Pinang). On the Indian subcontinent Hardayal Municipal Public Library, New Delhi, India was established in 1862.
While in J apan, the Kyoto Public Library (Kyoto Koukai Toshokan), was founded in 1873. In China, the first public
library opened in 1905 in Hunan Province. The Chinese Tianyi Ge Library building in Ningbo, China, although not a
public library, is the oldest existing non-academic library in Asia, outside the Middle East. See entry 236 for more
details.


Notes. Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore was also instrumental to the founding of the Raffles
Subscription Library in 1823, which later became the National Library of Singapore.

In Australia, Melbourne Public Library was founded 1853 and Brisbane Public Library in 1896. The oldest Australian
subscription library was the Sydney Subscription Library, founded in 1826. It is now known as the State Library of
New South Wales. In New Zealand the three oldest public libraries are Christchurch City Library (1859); Auckland

City Library (1880) and Wellington Public Library (1893).

28.
Oldest public libraries in Europe
The Pisistratus Public Library in ancient Athens, Greece, was set up by Greek scholars circa 540 BC. The
library was later destroyed when soldiers of the Roman Empire overran Greece. The first Roman public library was
set up circa 40 BC in Rome by Gaius Asinius Pollio, the Roman general, historian and poet.
The following are the 11 oldest existing major public libraries in Europe. Due to the early foundation date of
these libraries, many also stock vast collections of old and rare manuscripts produced on paper (incunabula),
parchment, vellum, and papyrus. More details on libraries with large incunabula can be found at entry 165.
1. Vatican Library, Rome, Vatican City (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana). It was founded in A.D. 1451 by Pope
Nicholas V (as a public library), but the original founding date actually goes back to the 14th century. At this time the
construction of the library in Rome was interrupted by the removal of the popes from Italy to France, when Pope
Clement V (French Archbishop of Bordeaux) moved the papal court from Rome to Avignon in 1305, the event called
the Babylonian Captivity. The Vatican Library was completed when the popes returned to Rome in 1377 with the
initiative of Pope Gregory XI. However the problems of having the papacy in the two cities continued with the
election of rival popes or the The Great Schism, until 1417, when Rome was once again the official seat of the
Vatican. The Avignon papal library (Bibliothque Palais de Papes), the largest library in Europe in the 14th century,
still exists today in France. The Vatican Librarys collection includes over 75,000 rare manuscripts, 8000 incunabula
and over 1.5 million books. The Vatican librarians are among the best translators working in a library today. One
former librarian, Cardinal Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti, who worked in the 19
th
century, was fluent in 49 languages.

21.tif
Although the Vatican Library was started as a public library, it has since become the official research library of
the Vatican government and no longer open to the public. Scholars require permission to use the library.
Notes. The Vatican Archives, containing the state papers of the Vatican as a civil and ecclesiastical
government, are distinct from the Vatican Library. By the 15th century the Vatican Library was the largest
library in world, until university libraries in Europe began to expand their libraries, with the influence of both the
Renaissance and the invention of printing. Troops of Napoleon Bonaparte once raided the Vatican Library and
the Vatican Archives and transferred several priceless manuscripts (many related to the Inquisition, which were
subsequently lost) back to Paris, only to be returned after the 1815 Congress of Vienna. As the Vatican library
is a manuscript library, many important historical non-paper manuscripts, such the Codex Vaticanus, a 4th
century A.D. Greek Bible, are still preserved in the library, alongside books printed before 1501 (i.e.
incunabula). One interesting collection of items in the Vatican Library are the several personal letters written by
statesmen over the centuries. One such collection is the love letters written in 1536 by English King Henry VIII
to his new lover Anne Boleyn before he married her, one of the six wives he had in all. In summer of 2009, the
Vatican Library donated copies of King Henry VIII letters to the U.K. as part of the process to unite the rift
between the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church (paving way for the popes state visit to the U.K.
in 2010). The rift between the two churches began during the reign of King Henry VIII.
2. Magdeburg Public Library, Germany (Stadsbibliotek Magdeburg) 1525. Add more info
3. Lyons Municipal Library, France (Bibliothque Municipale de Lyon). 1527. Add more info
4. Bern Public Library, Switzerland, 1528. Add more info

5. Deventer Athenaeum Library, the Netherlands. 1560. It has over 700 incunabula. Add more info

6. Laurentian Library, Florence, Italy (Biblioteca Mediceao Laurenziana). 1571. It owns over 3000 papyrus
documents and 6000 incunabula. The library actually dates back to the 14th century, but it was destroyed in 1494.
Since being re-founded, it has Italys most important and valuable manuscripts, especially its centuriescenturys old
classical and biblical manuscripts.

Notes. The library contains the oldest surviving complete Bible in the world, the Codex Amiatinus, which was
based on the St. Jeromes Vulgate Bible. .It had been written by English monks in the 8
th
centry A.D. at the
Jarrow monastry. The library also contains the oldest accurate map of Africa (Portolano Laurenziano Gaddiano)
made circa 1351 which has left historians baffled about who were the first explorers of the African coast.
Meanwhile, the Marciana National Library in Venice contains another old accurate medieval map (or Portolano),
of Africa, made in the 1400s, called the Fra Mauro Map. See also entry 137.
Notes. A number of Italian public and private libraries with large collections of incunabula (paper and
parchment versions) and papyri such as the Ambrosian Library in Milan and the Biblioteca Comunale
dellArchiginnasio in Bologna (see entry 165) exist today. The oldest is the San Domenico Library (Biblioteca
Studium San Domenico) in Bologna, founded in 1218 in honor of St. Dominic, who established the Roman Catholic
Dominican order (the Dominicans). He had arrived in Bologna to establish a friar in 1218. It has over 2000
incunabula, and 20,000 manuscripts.
7. Rotterdam Municipal Library, the Netherlands (Gemeentebibliotheek Rotterdam). 1604.
8. Ambrosian Library, Milan, Italy (Biblioteca Ambrosiana). 1609.
Notes. The library contains the largest collection of Leonardo da Vincis notebooks, collectively called the Codex
Atlanticus (the second largest such collection are at the Windsor Castle Library in the U.K.) The library was
founded by Cardinal Federigo Borromeo as Italys first official public library and owns 2100 incunabula. A large
proportion of the very rare ancient Greek manuscripts at the Ambrosian Library were acquired by Cardinal
Borromeo from the famous library of the prominent bibliophile and intellectual Gian Vincenzo Pinelli, just a few
months after Borromeo founded the library. A photograph of the library can be seen at entry 120.
9. Mazarin Library, Paris, France (Bibliothque Mazarine). 1643. It owns just over 1000 incunabula and the proud
owner of the oldest original Gutenberg Bible (1455), which today bears its name: The Mazarin Bible. It was acquired
for the library by the famous French doctor and librarian, Gabriel Naud.
Notes. Several European libraries in France and Italy with some sort of public library function were founded in
the 16
th
and 17th century, influenced by the invention of printing and/or the Reformation, such as the Luciano
Benincasa Library in Ancona, Italy, founded in 1669. One public library in France that attracts rare book
researchers is the Nancy City Library in France which has the oldest existing hand-copied edition (1427) of
Claudius Ptolemys Geographia (Cosmographia). The Mazarin Library is now the headquaters of the French
Academy of Sciences.


10. Chetham Library, Manchester, Britain. 1653.
Notes. Even though it started out originally as a subscription library, it later became a public library and is it is
often referred to as the oldest public library in the English-speaking world
11. Marsh Public Library, Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1701 by Irish Archbishop, Narcissus Marsh. It is the oldest
public library in Ireland,
Several other prominent British libraries (not circulating or subscription libraries) do not qualify to be listed as

public libraries. Some were not necessarily open to everyone (e.g., some were barred to women and children or the
working class), while others had books mostly on religion. The oldest of these founded before the 1700s were:
1. Francis Trigge Grantham Library, 1598. Essentially a parish library, and famous for its fabulous chained books,
(see entry 114).
2. Norwich City Library, England. It opened in 1608 as a public library, but it only stocked theological books and
publications.
3. Innerpeffray Library in Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland. 1680. Founded by David Drummond, 3rd Lord Maddertie.
Oldest non academic library in Scotland.
4. Kirkwell Library, Orkney, Scotland. 1683.
5. Leignton Library, Dunblane, Scotland. 1688. In 1734 it was reconstituted as a public library.

3
rd
edition. Although today not a public library, the Lambeth Palace Library, the official library of the Archbishop of
Canterbury in the U.K., ( who is the most senior bishop and the principal leader of the Church of England), was
originally founded as a public library back in 1610. The major collections in the library include all official documents
of the Church of England, as well as thousands of medieval manuscripts and incunabula.

The standard legal status for public libraries in Europe (public libraries as they are today) was only finally
implemented from the 19th century, with the U.K. leading the way. Officially public libraries in the U.K. came into
being with the passing of the 1850 U.K. Public Library Act. Both Canterbury and Warrington public library (listed
below) users had to pay a small admission fee of around 1d to the library before they could use the library, so
technically Salford Public library below is the oldest public library in the U.K. The British Museum Library, founded in
1753, was actually a public library, but it is today one of the U.K.s national libraries, the British Library. The 10
oldest public libraries in the U.K. are:
1. Canterbury Public Library. 1847.
2. Warrington Public Library. 1848.
Notes. Records show that it was founded in November 1848 under the 1845 U.K. Museums Act, 2 years before
the 1850 U.K. Public Library Act. It is nevertheless officially the first public library in the U.K..
3. Salford Public Library. 1849.
4. Norwich Public Library. 1850.
Notes. It was formerly a subscription library, then renamed Norwich Public Library in 1850, when it became the
first public library to adopt the 1850 U.K. Public Library Act.
5. Winchester Public Library. 1851
6. Liverpool Public Library. 1852.
7. Manchester Public Library. 1853.
8. Bolton Public Library. 1854.

9. Oxford Public Library. 1855.

J oint 10.
Kidderminster Public Library and Cambridge Public Library. 1856. Prior to the creation of free public libraries in
the U.K., it was common for members of the public to subscribe to commercial circulating libraries. The largest of
these libraries were based in London. There were more than fifty such circulating libraries in the U.K. by 1750. By
the end of the century such circulating libraries were widespread. In 1801 it was estimated that there were no fewer
than a thousand such libraries. Three candidates for the title of U.K.s oldest subscription libraries are:
1. Chetham Library, Manchester, England. 1653.
2. Edinburgh Circulating Library, Scotland. 1725.
3. Linen Hall Library in Belfast, Northern Ireland. 1788.

Notes. The oldest and only residential library in the U.K. was founded in 1889. Its book collections grew from a
donation of books by the 19th century Prime Minister William Gladstone. The library is named St. Deiniols and
includes a hostel. Today it has over 200,000 books. Based in Hawarden in Flintshire, readers pay an annual
subscription fee.
The London Library, a private subscription library formed in 1841, is the most important surviving subscription
library remaining in the capital. Its collection includes several 19th century books on literature.
In Russia, the M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin State Public Library (later National Library of Russia), was founded
1795 by Empress Catherine the Great, in St. Petersburg. The Russian State Library in Moscow was originally the
first public library in Moscow in 1828. In Germany, the first official German public libraries (Volksbibliotheken) were
established in 1840 in Berlin. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Grazi Husrebegov Library in Sarajevo (Biblioteca
Grazi Husrebegova) was founded in 1537, but mostly has religious (Islam) books and manuscripts.


29.
Oldest public libraries in Latin America
The 10 oldest public libraries in Latin America are:
1. Palafox Library (Biblioteca Palafoxiana ), Puebla, Mexico. Founded 1645. Its library building is the oldest existing
one in the Americas.
2. Santa Fe Public Library, Bogot, Colombia (Biblioteca Pblica Santa Fe). 1777.
3. Buenos Aires Public Library, Argentina (Biblioteca Buenos Aires). 1812. Later became the National Library of
Argentina in 1884.
4. Oaxaca Public Library, Mexico (Biblioteca Pblica Oaxaca). 1826.
5. Chihuahua Public Library Mexico (Biblioteca Pblica Chihuahua). 1829.
6. La Paz Municipal Library Bolivia (Biblioteca Municipal Mariscal Andres de Santa Cruz). 1838.
Notes The oldest public library in Brazil is the Pelotas Public Library (Biblioteca Pblica Pelotense) founded in
1875, the city also contains Brazils oldest university library. San Jose Seminary Library (Biblioteca Seminario
Concilar de San J os) in Bogot, Columbia was founded in 1581. St Benedict Monastery Library (Biblioteca do

Mosteiro de S. Bento) in Rio Janeiro, Brazil, was founded in 1600, but both are religious public libraries.
9.
10.

30.
Oldest public libraries in the U.S. and Canada
Generally speaking, the simplest definition of a public library from U.S. state and federal statute books is: a
public library is an administrative entity, the agency that is legally established under local or state law to provide
public library service to the population of local jurisdiction Peterboro Public Library in New Hampshire established
under these rules is thus the oldest in the U.S., but it was not initially free to use as the explained below.
The 10 oldest public libraries in the U.S. are:
1. Peterboro Public Library, New Hampshire. Founded 1833.
2. Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, New York. 1836.
3. New Orleans Public Library, Louisiana. 1843.
4. Boston Public Library, Massachusetts. 1848.

Notes Boston Public was the first true tax-supported public library in the U.S. because Peterboro, New Orleans,
and Buffalo & Erie public libraries, initially all charged an admission fee. Boston Public Library was also the first
public library to allow people to borrow books.
5. Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library, Ohio. 1856.
6. Cleveland Public Library, Ohio. 1869.
7. Los Angeles Public Library, California. 1872.
8. Chicago Public Library, Illinois. 1873.
9. Houston Public Library, Texas. 1875.
10. Pasadena Central Public Library, California. 1882.

In Canada, Quebec City Library (Bibliothque de Qubec) set up in 1779 by Governor Frederick Haldimand,
began as a subscription library. It stocked books in both French and English. Toronto Public Library (Bibliothque
Publique de Toronto) was founded in 1884. Since Quebec City Library is now a public library, Toronto Public Library
is regarded as the second oldest public library today.

Notes. The very first subscription library in the U.S. was the Library Company of Philadelphia, set up by
Benjamin Franklin in 1732. The Franklin Public Library, in Wrentham, Massachusetts, named in honor of Benjamin
Franklin, is Americas first lending library, having been established in 1778. The oldest subscription library in the
U.S. in continuous service is Darby Library Company, since 1743.


31. Oldest public libraries in the Caribbean Islands
The 5 oldest public libraries in the Caribbean Islands are:
1. Dominican Public Library, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (Biblioteca Dominicana). Founded 1729.
2. Nassau Public Library, The Bahamas. 1837.
3. Bridgetown Public Library, Barbados. 1847. It is also the largest public library in the Caribbean islands with over
165,000 books.
4. Port of Spain Public Library, Trinidad and Tobago. 1851.
5. Carnegie Public Library, San J uan, Puerto Rico. 1916.

32. First public library commemorative coins of the millennium
In 2000, the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, which makes all the coins used in the U.K., celebrated the 150th
anniversary of the U.K. Public Library Act by issuing a special 50 pence coin.
Notes. In 2000 the U.S. Mint in Washington, D.C., issued two special commemorative coins. Both of the coins
are honoring the Library of Congress. One of them was a beautiful ten dollar bimetallic (platinum and gold) coin,
the first ever issued by the U.S. One side of the coin shows the hand of Minerva raising the torch of learning
over the dome of the Jefferson Building. The other commemorative coin was a silver one dollar coin, the first
such commemorative U.S. coin of the millennium.

33. First public library commemorative postage stamp
The New York Public Library in the U.S. was the first public library to be featured on a postage stamp, issued in
1920.
Notes. The Library of Congress first appeared on a U.S. stamp in April 1981, designed by Bradbury Thompson
and based on a 1898 photograph of the Thomas Jefferson Building. The National Postal Museum Library and
Research Center has over 40,000 books and manuscripts, making it the worlds largest philatelic and postal
history library facilities. The Smithsonian Institution Libraries operates the library. The postage stamp itself was
invented in 1840, with the introduction of the Penny Black in 1840 in London, U.K.




Sources and further Reading. The main sources for this section of the book on public libraries as well as other
selected titles are listed as follows:
The World of Learning book
KG Saur book



WORLD RECORDS FOR UNIVERSITY AND ACADEMIC LIBRARIES
Yet the reverence for size continues. The library that has the most books is likely to be regarded as
ipso facto, the best.
Herman Fussler, U.S. academic librarian. 1949.


Universities can be made up of several campuses, either in the same city or in different cities. For instance, the
University of California has branches in 9 cities in the state, but each one is a university in its own right. It follows
that a university may have several libraries in different buildings and locations. It is common for even a single-
campus university library to have a central collection and other collections divided among different faculties and
departments. Hence all numbers of books given below are the total in aggregate of books in all libraries of each
specific university listed, including departmental and faculty libraries. When considering lists for the oldest university
libraries, where the actual opening date of the library is not known, the foundation date of the university is used. But
bear in mind that some university libraries may actually open on the same day a university is officially opened (in
many cases after the foundation date), or after the university is opened, in this case from a few months to a few
years. Some of the earliest universities had no building dedicated to a library; for instance the U.K.s Oxford
University in the 13th century kept its book collection in St. Marys Church nearby until the 14th century.

34. 20 Largest university libraries
N.B. this chapter covering largest university libraries, also includes the largest libraries of academies, which were
particularly numerous in the former communist countries of Eastern Europe. It excludes U.S. university libraries with
less than 8 million books. See entry 35 for a list of 20 largest U.S. university libraries.
1. Harvard University Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. 15 million books. Founded in 1636 with 300 books
bequeathed to the university by J ohn Harvard. Also the oldest university library in the U.S. Apart from Cambridge,
Harvard University also has libraries in Boston, Washington, D.C., and Florence, Italy. Altogether there are just over
90 Harvard University libraries.
Notes. The Harvard University student population currently numbers about 19,600 students. In comparison, the
State University of New York, the largest university in the U.S., has over 250,000 students. Its largest library, at
Buffalo campus, contains about 3.2 million books. The first full-time librarian at Harvard was Solomon Stoddard
in 1643.
2. Russian Academy of Sciences Library, St. Petersburg, Russia (Biblioteka Rossiskaya Akademii Nauk). 14.2
million. Founded in 1714 by Tsar Peter I.
Notes. It was the first state-owned public library of Russia. Another large Russian academy library is the
Russian Academy of Sciences Library for Natural Sciences with 11 million books, founded in 1934 in Moscow
and the INION library (listed below).

4. Institute for Scientific Information on Social Sciences Library, Moscow, INION (Insitut Nauchnoi Informatsii po
Obshchestvennym Naukam) 12.8 million books. Founded 1918.
3. Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. 12 million. Founded 1701.


5. Lomonosov Moscow State University Library, Russia (Nauchnaia Biblioteka Universiteta Lomonosova). 11 million.
Founded 1756.
Notes. It was for several years the only major library in the 18th century available to the public in Russia, till the
M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin State Public Library (later National Library of Russia) was founded 1795 by Empress
Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg.
6. University of Illinois Library, Urbana-Champaign, U.S. 10.5 million. Founded 1867. Third largest U.S. university
library, after the libraries in Harvard and Yale universities.
7. University of California Library, Berkeley, U.S. 10 million. Founded 1868.
Notes. It has the largest university student population in the U.S. after the State University of New York (SUNY)
and City University of New York (CUNY). The MELVYL catalog (the combined University of California libraries
union catalog), is larger than the Harvard University library catalog.

24.tif
Students arriving for lectures at the University of California Berkeley, which is the largest and oldest of 9 University
of California institutions in the state. The combined library collection, makes California, the state with the largest
combined volume of university library books.


8. Romanian Academy Library (Biblioteca Academiei Romne), Bucharest, Romania. Founded 1866. 9.8 million.
Notes. Technically this is one of Romanias three national libraries.

9. University of Toronto Robarts Library, Canada. 9.5 million, Founded 1891.
25.tif
The University of Toronto Robarts Library is the largest, most expensive and tallest library building in Canada.

10. University of Tokyo Library, J apan (Tokyo Daigaku Toshokan). 9.2 million. Founded 1893. Nihon University in
Tokyo, has the largest student population in J apan.

11. Columbia University Library, New York City. 9.2 million. Founded 1784.

12. Oxford University Bodleian Library, U.K. 9 million. see list 36 below.
13. University of Texas Library, Austin, U.S. 8.9 million. Founded 1839.
Notes. It has the fourth largest university student population in the U.S.
14. Stanford University Library, California, U.S. 8.2 million. Founded 1892.
15. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 8.1 million. Founded 1838.
16. University of California Library, Los Angeles, U.S. Founded 1919. 8 million.
Notes. It also has the third largest university student population in the U.S.
17. University of Beijing Library (Peking Daxue Tushugan). Founded 1902. 8 million books
18. Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, Vernadsky Central Scientific Library, Kiev. 8 million. Founded 1919.

19. University of Calgary Library. Canada. 7.6 million. Founded 1966.


20. St Petersburg State University Library, Russia. 7.5 million. Founded 1783.

35. 20 largest university libraries in the U.S.
1. Harvard University Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. 15 million books. Founded 1636
2. Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. 12 million. Founded 1701.
3. University of Illinois Library, Urbana-Champaign, U.S. 10.5 million. Founded 1867.
4. University of California Library, Berkeley, U.S. 10 million. Founded in 1868
5. Columbia University Library, New York City. 9.2 million. Founded 1784.
6. University of Texas Library, Austin, U.S. 8.9 million. Founded 1839.
7. Stanford University Library, California, U.S. 8.2 million. Founded 1892.
8. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 8.1 million. Founded 1838.
9. University of California Library, Los Angeles, U.S. 8 million. Founded 1919.
10. University of Wisconsin Madison Library 7.9 million. Founded 1848.
11. Cornell University Library, Ithaca, New York. 7.7 million. Founded 1865.
12. University of Chicago Library, Illinois, 7.4 million. Founded 1892.
13. Indiana University Library 7.2 million, Indianapolis. Founded 1829
14. University of Washington Library 6.9 million. Founded 1862.
15. University of Minnesota Library, Minneapolis, 6.6 million. Founded 1851.
16. Princeton University Library, New J ersey 6.5 million. Founded 1746
17. Ohio State University Library, Columbus. 6 million. Founded 1873.
18. University of Pennsylvania Library, Philadelphia. 5.8 million. Founded 1750.
19. University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill Library 5.7 million. Founded 1795
20. Duke University Library, Durham, North Carolina. 5.5 million. Founded 1838

Notes. The 8 universities that make up the Ivy League of U.S. prestigious universities are all listed in this list of
20 largest U.S. university libraries except Brown University and Dartmouth College. This seems to provide
further proof that the best universities in the world, then to also have large libraries, see entry 59 for more
details. One of the librarians of Columbia University Library, Melvil Dewey is famous for inventing the popular
Dewey Decimal System for classifying books and also founding the first library school in the world. There are so
many university libraries in the U.S. with over 3 million volumes that most belong to organizations that help to
support these libraries either financially or in a professional capacity to help develop the library. Two major
organizations are the Association of Research Libraries and the Association of College and Research Libraries.


36. 10 largest university libraries in Europe
1. Russian Academy of Sciences Library. (See list 34).
2. Romanian Academy Library. (See list 34).
3. Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences. (See list 34).
4. Lomonosov Moscow State University Library. (See list 34).
5. Bodleian Library, Oxford University, U.K. Founded 1602. 9 million books. A new building of the U.K.s most
famous university library, opened in 1946, designed by Giles Scott. The building consists of 11 floors with external
walls of Bladon stone and Clipsham dressings.
Notes. The main library of U.K.s largest university, the University of London (excluding the Open University),
i.e. the University of London Library at Senate House, had about 2 million books and 98,000 students in 2006
compared to Oxford Universitys 18,000 students. However the combined collections of all the London
University individual libraries are just slightly smaller than the Bodleian. In 1602 Thomas James became the first
full time librarian for Oxford University. By the end of the 17th century most of the books in the Bodleian were in
Latin, with only a handful in English. It was not until the end of the 19th century that the number of books in
English exceeded those in Latin.
6. St Petersburg State University Library (Biblioteka Universiteta Sankt-Petersburga) Formerly Zhdanov State
University Library, St. Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1783. It currently has about 7.5 million books.
Notes. The most famous student using the library in the middle 19
th
century (1850s) was the famous Russian
chemist Dmitri Mendeleev who later discovered the Period Table. The university was originally founded in the
18th century. The most memorable moment in the history of the university library occurred during the Second
World War. While many of the staff and students had been evacuated, other librarians and university staff
stayed on to defend the university against the Nazis during the 900-day siege of St. Petersburg (Leningrad).
Ivan Pavlov, who made famous psychological experiments with dogs that earned him a Nobel Prize, was a
regular user of the university library, as a student reading chemistry and physiology in the 19th century.
7. The University of Paris Library, France (Bibliothque de lUniversit Paris). Has a combined book collection of 7
million books. First university founded 1230.
Notes. The University of Paris is made up of 13 separate universities, all given names with Roman numerals I to
XIII. For instance the library of the University of Paris V is called Bibliothque de lUniversit Paris V. The oldest
is the University of Paris IV, better known as the Sorbonne University of Paris. (see list ??). The University of
Paris also has the 4th largest student population, after the State University of New York, in the U.S., Calcutta
(Kolkata) University, in India, and Mexico National Autonomous University, Mexico City. All four universities had
over 300,000 students in the year 2005 (get new figures for 2 largest in each continent).
8. Berlin Free University Library, Germany (Bibliothek der Freie Universitt Berlin). Founded 1952. 6.4 million.
Notes. It has the second largest university student population in Germany after the Ludwig Maximilians
University in Munich. The other and much older Berlin University (called Humboldt University to avoid confusion
in names) was founded in 1828. But its allegiance with Communism (since it was in the former East German
capital of East Berlin), led several non-communist academics to leave Humboldt University and found the Berlin
Free University in West Berlin. The most unusual branch of the many libraries in the university is the Philological
Library which houses books on languages and linguistics. The library building is shaped exactly like a human
brain!
9. Cambridge University Library, U.K. 6.4 million. Founded 1347.
Notes. Apart from having the U.K.s second largest university library, Cambridge University is also the richest
university in the U.K., worth over $2 billion and with an annual turnover of $300 million.
10. University of London Libraries, U.K. Combined collection of about 5.8 million books. Third largest in the U.K.,

after Oxford and Cambridge university libraries. First library founded in the early 19th century. The libraries of Kings
College and University College London (UCL) are the largest.
Notes. It has the largest university student population in the U.K.

26.tif
The University of London is made up of 20 institutions in London, and combined library collection makes it the third
largest in the U.K. A further library is the university of London Senate House Library shown above. The Senate
administers all the separate universities.

26b.tif
Kings College Maughan Library is the largest of the 20 University of London libraries. Although the outside has a
medieval Gothic look, the inside looks very much 21st century.


37. 10 largest university libraries in the U.K.
1. Bodleian Library, Oxford University. (See list 36.)
2. Cambridge University Library. (See list 36.)
3. University of London Libraries. (See list 36.)
4. J ohn Rylands University Library, Manchester. 4.8 million books. Founded in 1900.
Notes. It also has the second largest university student population in the U.K.
7. University of Birmingham Library. 3 million. Founded 1880.
5. Edinburgh University of Library. 2.7 million. Founded 1580.
Notes. Charles Darwin, who revolutionized our understanding of evolution, did not have sufficient time to use
the library as he spent a little over a year at Edinburgh University studying medicine before dropping out in
1827. Things looked bleak for Darwin until when he went to Cambridge for theological studies, and while there
befriended a botany professor. It was this academic who recommended Darwin for the post of naturalist for the
exploration of South America by a British navy ship. On his return Darwin would publish a book about his
extraordinary voyage and the rest is history.
6. University of Leeds Library, 2.5 million. Founded 1874.
8. University of Glasgow Library, 1.6 million. Founded 1450.
Notes. U.K.s first 24 hour academic library is at Bath University. The round-the-clock library service began in
1996. Bookworms and workaholics will find the service a great way to spend an all-nighter brainstorming. For
those who begin to fall asleep in the early hours of the morning, a softbound book will be a good substitute for a
pillow.
9. Bristol University Library, 1.5 million. Founded 1909.
10. University of Liverpool Library, 1.4 million. Founded 1881.
27.tif
The University of Liverpool has the 10th largest university library in the U.K.

Notes. SCONUL Research Extra is the largest inter-library borrowing scheme in higher education libraries in the

UK. Scholars, university staff and postgraduate students are eligible to borrow books from any participating
institutions (including most of the large university libraries listed above) on production of a SCONUL membership
card.


38. 10 largest university libraries in France
1. The University of Paris Library. (See list 36).
2. Strasbourg National University Library (Bibliothque Nationale et Universitaire de Strasbourg). Founded 1540, 5
million books.
Notes. Like the University of Paris, the university is divided into separate universities, each designated with
Roman numerals.

3. University of Montpellier Library (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Montpellier). Founded 1240. 4.3 million.
Notes. Was divided into three separate universities, each designated with Roman numerals in 1970.
4. University of Lyons Library (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Lyon). 3.1 million. Founded 1970.
Notes. Divided into three separate universities.
5. University of Toulouse Library (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Toulouse). 2.5 million. Founded 1292.
6. Aix-Marseille University Library (Provence University), Marseille and Aix-en-Provence (Bibliothque de
lUniversit dAix-Marseille). 2.3 million. Founded 1413.
Notes. Has the second largest university student population in France, after the University of Paris. While the
Aix-en-Province campus was founded in 1413, the Marseille campus was founded in 1854.

28.tif
This is Province University in Marseille, it has the largest university library in the south of France.

7. Lille University Library (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Lille). 2 million. Founded 1560, (reorganized in 1970).
8. Grenoble University Library (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Grenoble). 1.8 million. Founded 1339 (reorganized in
1970).
9. Orleans University Library (Bibliothque de lUniversit dOrlans). 1.6 million. Founded 1306.
10. Bordeaux University Library (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Bordeaux). 1.3 million. Founded 1441.
Notes. Following the massive 1968 national strike, first initiated by the famous students demonstrations at the
Latin-Quarter in Paris against the Fifth Republic administration of Charles de Gaulle, many French universities
were broken and reorganized between 1969 and 1970, especially with the introduction of Roman numerals
designating separate universities, such as those in Paris, Lyons, Strasbourg, Grenoble, Lille and Toulouse, and
some adopted theses dates as the new foundation date, rather than the much earlier original foundation date.

39. 10 largest university libraries in Germany
1. Berlin Free University Library. (See list 36).

2. Hanover Technical University Library (Bibliothek der Hanover Technische Universitt). 4.8 million books. Founded
1831.
3. University of Leipzig Library (Universittbibliothek Leipzig). 4.8 million. Founded 1409.
Notes. Wolfgang von Goethe, the famous German poet, as a student borrowed books from the Leipzig
University Library. As it was in former Communist East Germany, before 1990 the University of Leipzig was
formerly called Karl Marx University.
4. Martin Luther University Library, Halle-Wittenberg (Bibliothek der Martin Luther Universitt). Founded in 1502. 4.6
million.
5. George Augustus University Library, Gttingen (Bibliothek der Georg-August Universitt). 4.1 million. Founded in
1737.
Notes. It was founded by King George II of Britain and entrusted with the task to act as the German national
library for the eighteenth century. King George II was born in Hanover, Germany as was his father King George
I (Ernest Augustus). They are among several foreign-born kings of Britain/England such as King William III of
Orange born in the Hague, the Netherlands; King William I the Conqueror from Normandy, France and King
Canute from Denmark.

6. Dresden Technical University Library (Universittbibliothek Dresden). 4.6 million. Founded 1828.

7. University of Frankfurt Library (Universittbibliothek Frankfurt am Main). 4.5 million. Founded in 1511.
8. Rupert-Charles University Library, Heidelberg (Ruprecht-Karls Universittbibliothek Heidelberg). 4.3 million.
Founded 1386, hence the oldest in Germany.

9. Humboldt University Library, Berlin (Bibliothek Humboldt Universitt zu Berlin). Founded 1828. 4. million.
10. Ludwig Maximilians University Library, Munich (Bibliothek Ludwig Maximilians Universitt Mnchen). 3.8
Million. Founded 1472. It has the largest university student population in Germany.

Notes. For most of the 1800s, a university library in Germany was run by a university professor, but each was
later headed by a full time librarian. Due to to the historical links of the German State of Saarland with France,
most of the book collection in the University of Saarland Library are in German and French. The newest
university in Germany is at Ansbach, founded in 1996, and is known as Hochschule Ansbach. The word
Houschule is another term for the word university.

29.tif
The largest book-burning ritual in a Western university library in the 20th century occurred outside Berlins
Humboldt University Library, during the Nazi regime in Germany.

40. 10 largest university libraries in Ital y
1. University of Florence Library (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Firenze). Founded in 1321. 4 million books.
2. University of Rome Library (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza). Founded in 1304. 2.9
million.
Notes. It also has the 2nd largest university student population in Europe, after the University of Paris in France.
The word La Sapienza is often used as the sole name of the university to distinguish it from another but
different University of Rome, founded in ??????

3. University of Turin Library (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Torino). 2.6 million. Founded 1404.
4. University of Bologna Library (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Bologna). 1.8 million. Founded 1088.
5. University of Milan (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Milano). 1.3 million. Founded 1923.
6. University of Naples Library (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Napoli). 900,000 Founded 1295.
Notes. It also has the second largest university student population in Italy, after Rome University.
7. University of Padua Library (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Padova). 810,000 Founded A.D. 1122.
8. University of Pisa Library (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Pisa). 735,000. Founded 1343. While Pisa is famous
for the Leanning Tower of Pisa, the university library is famous for reserving the manuscript belonging to Leonardo
Fibonacci (Leber Abaci). The manuscript helped contribute to the introduction of Arabic numerals in Europe, whch
soon replaced Roman numerals. See also list 60???).
9. University of Siena Library (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Siena). 700,000 Founded 1245.
10. University of Pavia Library (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Pavia). 680,000 Founded 1361.

41. 10 largest university libraries in Austria and Switzerland
1. University of Vienna Library, Austria (Universittbibliothek Wien). 5.8 million books. Founded 1365.
Notes. It also has the largest university student population in Austria. The university's Institute of Ethnology
Library owns the largest collection of Chinese and Japanese books in Europe.

30.tif
Vienna University Library in Austria is also the oldest university library in central Europe.
2. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Library, Zrich (Bibliothek Eidgenssiche Technische Hochschule Zrich).
5.6 million. Founded 1855.
Notes. Albert Einstein was the most famous user of the university library, which today has the largest collection
of Einsteins original research papers outside the U.S.

3. Innsbruck University Library, Austria (Universittbibliothek Innsbruck). 3.2 million. Founded 1669. Also called
Leopold-Franzens University. Among the books in the library is the famous book (The Man in Ice) written by the
Innsbruck University professor who, as head of the Innsbruck University Institute of Prehistory, led research on the
equally famous 5300-year old Ice Mummy Oetzi, which was discovered in a glacier in Italian Alps in 1991. It was the
most famous mummy find since the equally famous 3000 year old mummy of King Tukhamond was discovered by
Lord Carnavon in the 1920s.
4. University of Basel Library, Switzerland (Universittbibliothek Basel). 3.1 million. Founded 1460.
5. University of Graz Library, Austria (Universittbibliothek Graz). 3 million. Founded 1586. Also known as Karl-
Franzens University.
6. University of Bern Library, Switzerland (Universittbibliothek Bern). 2 million. Founded 1528.

7. University of Zrich Library, Switzerland (Universittbibliothek Zrich). 1.9 million. Founded 1523.
Notes. It was here in 1905 that Albert Einstein obtained his Ph.D. for the first of several published scientific
papers in a German physics journal, which eventually led to the famous paper on theory of relativity. Einstein
had earlier graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in 1900.
8. University of Salzburg Library, Austria (Universittbibliothek Salzburg). 2 million. Founded 1623.
9. University of Lausanne Library, Switzerland (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Lausanne). 1.8 million. Founded in
1537. It is the largest French-speaking university library in Switzerland.
10. University of Fribourg Library, Switzerland (Universittbibliothek Fribourg). 1.6 million. Founded 1848.

42. 10 largest university libraries in Spain and Portugal
1. Complutense University Library, Madrid, Spain (Biblioteca de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid). Founded in
1293. 2.9 million.
Notes. It also has the largest university student population in Spain.
2. Madrid National Autonomous University Library. Spain (Biblioteca de la Universidad Nacional Autnoma de
Madrid). Founded in 1510. 2.7 million books.
3. University of Coimbra Library, Portugal (Biblioteca Universidade de Coimbra). 2 million. Founded 1290.
Notes. The university was originally founded in Lisbon, before it moved to Coimbra in 1537.
4. University of Saragossa Library, Spain (Biblioteca de la Universidad de Zaragoza). Founded 1480. 1.8 million.
5. University of Barcelona Library, Spain (Biblioteca de la Universitat de Barcelona). 1.6 million. Founded 1430.
Notes. It also has second the largest university student population in Spain.
J oint 6th. Ramon Llull University Library, Barcelona, Spain (Biblioteca de la Universitat de Ramn Llull), founded
1980 and Santiago de Compostela University Library, Spain (Biblioteca de la Universidade de Santiago de
Compostela), founded 1532. Both have 1.5 million books.
7. University of Navarre Library, Pamplona, Spain (Biblioteca de la Universidad de Navarra). 1.3 million. Founded
1952.
8.University of Bilbao Library, Spain. (Biblioteca de Universitaria Bilbao) 910,000. Founded 1886.
9. University of Murcia Library. Spain (Biblioteca de la Universidad de Murcia). 730,000,000.Founded in 1915.
10. Oviedo University Library. Spain (Biblioteca de la Universidad de Oviedo). 712,000. Founded in 1609.

31.tif
Complutense University Library in Madrid the largest university library in Spain and the oldest in the city

43. 10 largest university libraries in Scandinavia
1. Lund University Library, Sweden (Bibliotek Lunds Universitet). 5.3 million. Founded 1671.
2. Uppsala University Library, Sweden (Bibliotek Uppsala Universitet). 5.2 million, Founded in 1477

3. University of Copenhagen Library, Denmark (Bibliotek Kbenhavns Universitet). 1482. 5 million books.
Notes. It is also forms part of the National Library of Denmark. Copenhagen University Library was once open
only to professors, but students enrolled at the university were only finally allowed to borrow books from 1789. A
famous relic at the library is a British cannonball, part of the British bombardment that destroyed parts of the
university in 1807, during the war between Denmark and the U.K. Ironically one of the books of the library hit by
the cannonball was titled Defender of Peace.
4. University of Oslo Library, Norway (Universitet Bibliotek i Oslo). 4.5 million. Founded 1811.
5. University of Helsinki Library, Finland (Helsingin Yliopiston Kirjasto). 3.4 million. Founded 1640.
Notes. It is also part of the National Library of Finland.
6. Gothenburg University Library, Sweden (Gteborgs Universitetsbibliotek). 2.8 million. Founded 1891.
7. University of Stockholm Library, Sweden (Stockholms Universitetsbibliotek). 2.5 million. Founded 1878.
8. University of Trondheim Library, Norway (Universitetsbibliotek i Trondheim). 2.4 million. Founded 1768.
9.Turku University Library, Finland (Turun Yliopiston Kirjasto). 2.3 million. Founded 1922.
10. Abo Academy University Library, Turku, Finland (Abo Akademi Yliopiston Kirjasto). 1.9 million, Founded in 1918

44. 10 largest university libraries in Belgium and the Netherlands
1. Leuven Catholic University Library (Katholieke Universiteitbibliotheek Leuven). Leuven, Belgium. 4 million.
Founded 1425.
Notes. The above university is in the Flemish (Dutch) speaking part of Belgium. There is another university in
the French speaking part of Belgium, called Louvain Catholic University (Universit Catholique de Louvain), and
located in the city of Louvain-la-Neuve. It has about 2 million books. Both universities were originally one,
founded in 1425 by Pope Martin V, but were split up in 1968. The central library was established in 1627. The
university has the largest student population in Belgium.
2. University of Utrecht Library, the Netherlands (Universiteitbibliotheek Utrecht). 4.6 million. Founded 1584.
3. University of Amsterdam Library, the Netherlands (Universiteitbibliotheek Amsterdam). 4.1 million books.
Founded 1578.
4. Gent University Library, Belgium (Universiteitbibliotheek Gent). 3 million. Founded 1817.
5. Groningen State University Library, the Netherlands (Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit te Groningen) 2.9 million.
Founded 1615.
6. Leiden University Library, the Netherlands (Bibliotheek der Universitet Leiden). 2.4 million. Founded 1575.
75. Brussels Free University Library, Belgium (Bibliothque de lUniversit Libre de Bruxelles/ Universiteitbibliotheek
Vrije Brussels). 1.6 million. Founded 1834.
Notes. In 1970 the university was split into Flemish and French universities.

8. University of Lige Library, Belgium (Bibliothque de lUniversit Lige) 2.6. Million. Founded in 1816.
9. Nijmegen University Library, the Netherlands (Universiteitbibliotheek Nijmegen) 2.1 million. Founded 1923.

10. Erasmus University Library, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (Universiteitbibliotheek Erasmus) 1.2 million. Founded
1973.

32.tif
Despite being destroyed twice during the two World Wars, Leuven Catholic University in Belgium and its library
building (the oldest and largest in Belgium) has still managed to maintain the same architectural style.
45.
3 largest university libraries in Ireland
1. Trinity College, Dublin University Library. 3.8 million books. Founded 1592. The current building was built
between 1712 and 1724 and designed by Thomas Burgh. Its Long Room, with arched ceilings is a famous sight,
with books filling the entire length of the room, as well as to the ceiling. The most famous book in the library is the
Book of Kells, which is the most remarkable artifact of medieval Celtic art.
2. National University of Ireland Library, Dublin, Cork, Maynooth and Galway. 2.5 million. Founded 1840s and 1850s.
Maynooth campus was founded in 1795.
Notes. In medieval times, Galway was the most important center of learning in Ireland. Trinity College Library
receives by law a copy of every book published in the U.K. This began in 1801 (when Ireland was then part of
the U.K.), and has continued long after Ireland gained its Independence. The other five legal deposit libraries in
the U.K. entitled to receive, free of charge, a copy of every single book produced in the U.K. are: Bodleian
Library (Oxford University), Cambridge University Library, the national libraries of Scotland and Wales, and the
British Library.
3. University College Library, Dublin, Galway and Cork. 2 million books. Founded 1849.

46.
3 largest university libraries in the Vatican City
1. Pontifical Gregorian University Library. Rome (Biblioteca Pontificia Universit Gregoriana). 1.3 million books.
Founded 1553.
Notes. Because Latin is one of the six languages of instruction, its library has the largest collection of academic
books in Latin, after those in the library of St. Thomas Aquinas Pontifical University Library.
2. Pontifical Lateran University Library, Rome (Biblioteca Pontificia Universit Lateranese). 810,000. Founded 1773.
3. St. Thomas Aquinas Pontifical Library, Rome (Biblioteca Pontificia Universit S. Tommaso DAquino ). 570,000.
Founded 1580.



47. 5 largest university libraries in Greece and Turkey
1. Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki Library (Bibliotheke Aristoteleio Panepistimio Thessalonikus). 2 million

books. Founded 1927.
2. National and Capodistrian University Library. Athens (Bibliotheke Athinisin Ethnikon Kai Kapodistriakon
Panepistimio). 1.2 million. Founded 1837.

3. Ankara University Library (Ankara niversitesi Ktphane). 750,000 1946
4. Istanbul (Constantinople) University Library, Turkey (Istanbul niversitesi Ktphane). 620,000. Founded 1455.
5. Hacettepe University Library, Ankara and Beytepe, Turkey (Hacettepe niversitesi Ktphane). 370,000 books.
Founded 1206.

48. 10 largest university libraries in Russia
1. Russian Academy of Science, St Petersburg. (See list 34)
2. Lomonosov Moscow State University Library. (See list 34.)
3. St Petersburg University Library. (See list 34.)
4. Kazan State University Library. 4.9 million books. Founded 1804.
Notes. V.I. Lenin was a famous user of the library in the late 1880s. He graduated with a first-class degree in
law from the university.
5. Irkutsk State University Library. 4.2 million. Founded 1918.
6. Tomsk State University Library. 3.5 million. Founded 1888.
7. State Central Polytechnic Library, Moscow. 3.1 million. Founded 1961.
8. Saratov State University Library. 3 million. Founded 1909.
9. Rostov State University Library. 2.8 million. Founded 1915.
J oint 10
th
Voronezh State University Library, founded 1918 and Moscow Technical University Library, founded 1930.
Both just over 2.7 million books.

49. 20 largest university libraries in Eastern Europe
N.B.: this list excludes libraries in Russia.

1. Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, Vernadsky Central Scientific Library, Kiev. 8 million. Founded 1919.
2. Lithuanian Technical University Library, Vilnius. 7 million books. Founded in 1957
3. St Cyril and St Methodius National Library, Sofia, Bulgaria. 5.4 million Founded 1921.
4. University of Vilnius Library, Lithuania (Biblioteka Universitas Vilnensis). 5.2 million. Founded in 1570.
Notes. The library remained closed for almost 100 years, when the university was shut down by the Russian
government in 1832.
5. Simferopol State University Library, Ukrained. 4.9 million. Founded 1918.

6. Estonian Academic Library, Tallinn. 4 million. Founded 1946
7. J agiellonian University Library, Krakw, Poland (Biblioteka Universytet Jagielloski). 3.9 million. Founded 1364.
Notes. The most famous user of the library in the 15th century was Nicolaus Copernicus as a student from
1491. He also studied at Italys Bologna and Padua universities. His book on astronomy upset many scholars
and the Vatican (who banned it). His publishers eventually printed the book, but only after adding a clever
preface to exonerate them from criticism.
8. Wroclaw University Library, (Biblioteka Universytet Wroclaw). Poland. 3.3 million. Founded 1945
9. Taras Shevchenko University of Kiev Library, Ukraine. 3.6 million. Founded 1834.
J oint 10th. Mickiewicz University Library, Poznan, Poland (Biblioteka Universytet im Adama Mickiewicza w
Poznaniu), founded 1919 and Cluj-Napoca Lucian Blaga University Central Library, Romania (Biblioteca Centrala
Universitatea Lucian Blaga), founded 1872. Both have 3.5 million books.
11. Charles University Library, Prague, Czech Republic (Knihovna Univerzita Karlova v Praze). 3.4 million. Founded
1348.
12. Odessa University Library, Ukraine. 3.3 million. Founded 1807.
13. St. Clement Ohridski National and University Library, Bitola and Skopje, FYR Macedonia (Sveti Kliment Ohridski
Narodna i Univerzitetska Biblioteka). 3.2 million. Founded 1944.
Notes. The university library is also part of the National Library of FYR Macedonia.
J oint 14th. University Tartu of Library, Estonia, founded in 1802 and Khakiv State University, Ukraine, founded 1805.
Both own 3.1 million books.
Notes. During the 19th century, students caught stealing books from the library were punished by being locked
up in a building at Tartu University that is today called the Students Lock-Up Museum.
J oint 15th. University of Bucharest Library, Romania (Biblioteca Universitatea Bucuresti), founded 1694 and Ivan
Franko State University, Lviv, Ukraine, founded 1661. Both possess 2.5 million books.
16. Warsaw University Library, Poland (Biblioteka Universytet Warszaawie). 2.4 million. Founded 1817
17. The Marie Curie-Sklodowska University Library of Lublin, Poland (Biblioteka Universytet Marii Curie-
Sklodowskiej w Lublinie), founded 1944 and the National and University Library, Ljubljana, Slovenia (Narodna
Univerzitetna Knijnica Ljubljani) founded in 1595, both have 2.3 million books.
18. Belarus State University, Minsk. 2.2 million. Founded in 1921.

J oint 19th. St. Clement Ohridski University, Bulgaria Library. Sofia (Sofiski Universitet Sveti Kliment Ohridski),
founded 1931 and University of Belgrade Svetozar Markovic Library, Serbia (Univerzitet u Beograd Biblioteka
Svetozar Markovic ), founded in 1863. Both with 2 million books.
J oint 20th. Mikhail Eminescu University Central Library, Iasi, Romania (Biblioteca Centrala Universitatea Iasi),
founded 1872 and Comenius University of Bratislava Library, Slovakia (Univerzita Kninica Komenskeho v
Brastislave) founded in 1465. 2 million books.

33.tif
The National & University Library of Slovenia is one of three East European universities (in former Yugoslavia) that
combine the function of the national library and university library together. The only other European libraries with this

sort of arrangement are in Scandinavia.


50. 10 largest university libraries in Canada
1. University of Toronto Robarts Library. 9.5 million books. Founded 1891.
Notes. It also has the largest university student population in Canada.
2. University of Calgary Library. 7.6 million. Founded 1966.
3. Laval University Library (Bibliothque de lUniversit Laval) Quebec City. 5.3 million . Founded 1663.
4. McGill University Library, Montreal (Bibliothque de lUniversit de McGill) 5 million. Founded 1855.
5. University of Alberta Library. Edmonton. 4.8 million. Founded 1906.
6. British Columbia University Library, Vancouver. 4.6 million. Founded 1908.
7. University of Waterloo Library. 4 million. Founded 1961.
8. Montreal University Library (Bibliothque de lUniversit Montral). 3.1 million. Founded 1878.
9. University of Western Ontario Library, London. 3 million. Founded 1878
10. Saskatchewan University Library, Saskatoon. 3 million. Founded 1907.

51. 5 largest university libraries in Caribbean Islands
1. University of the West Indies Library, founded 1948. Over 2 million books. This university has 14 campuses in
several islands in the Caribbean Sea and central America (mostly English-speaking countries) . These are in
J amaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Antigua & Barbuda, Belize, the Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman
Islands, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the
Grenadines. The largest libraries are at the Kingston Campus in J amaica (over 750,000 books), and the St
Augustine Campus in Trinidad & Tobago (over 430,000 books).

2. Ruben Martinez Villena Library, University of Havana, Cuba. 945,000 books. Founded 1728.

3. University of Puerto Rico Library, San J uan. 520,000 books. Founded 1903.

4. University of Puerto Rico Library, Mayaguez. 410,000 books. Founded 1911.

5. University of Guyana Library, George Town. 380,000 books. Founded 1963.


52. 10 largest university libraries in Japan
1. University of Tokyo Library. (See list 34.)
2. University of Kyoto Library (Kyoto Daigaku Toshokan). 7 million books. Founded 1899
3. Waseda University Library, Tokyo (Waseda Daigaku Toshokan). 5.1 million. Founded 1882.

4. Kansai University Library, Osaka (Kansai Daigaku Toshokan). 4.8 million. Founded 1914
5. Kyushu University of Library, Fukuoku (Kyushu Daigaku Toshokan). Founded 1889. 3.6 million.
6. Hokkaido University Library, Sapporo (Hokkaido Daigaku Toshokan). 3.3 million. Founded 1876.
7. University of Kobe Library (Kobe Daigaku Toshokan), founded 1949 and Hiroshima University Library (Hiroshima
Daigaku Toshokan), founded 1949. Both 3.1 million.
Notes. More than half of the books at Hiroshima University Library are in foreign languages, notably English.
This makes the library, the largest with English language books in Japan.
8. Nagoya University Library (Nagoya Daigaku Toshokan). 2.9 million. Founded 1939.
9. Ryukoku University Library, Kyoto (Ryukoku Daigaku Toshokan) 2.5 million Founded in 1639 (oldest university in
J apan).
10.Hitotsubashi University Library (Hitotsubashi Daigaku Toshokan) 2.2 million. Founded 1887.
Notes. Tenri Central Library in the city of Tenri has over 2 million books, and is part of Tenri University, founded
in 1930. The library is also a public library as it is open to members of the public to borrow books. The university
also has a museum (called the Sankokan Museum), open also to the public.

53. 10 largest university libraries in China
1. University of Beijing Library (Peking Daxue Tushugan). Founded 1902. 8 million books.
Notes. The most famous name associated with the library is Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung). The Chinese leader
was not a student of the university, but an assistant librarian. Beijing University is known locall as Bei Da (short
form of Beijing Daxue).
2. Chinese Academy of Sciences Library, Beijing. 6.7 million. Founded 1951.
Notes. The official name of the library (adopted in 1985) is the Documentation and Information Center of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences or DICCAS.
3. University of Nanjing Library (Nanjing Daxue Tushugan). 6.3 million. Founded 1908.
4. Fudan University Library, Shanghai (Futan Daxue Tushugan). 4.1 million. Founded 1905.
5. Zhengzhou University, Henan (Zhengzhou Daxue Tushugan). 3.9 million. Founded 1956.
6. Sichuan Union University Library, Chengdu (Sichuan Daxue Tushugan). 3.6 million. Founded 1994. It is the
newest university in China.
7. Tsinghua (Qinghua) University Library, Beijing (Ching-hua Daxue Tushugan) 3.6 million. Founded 1911.
8. Shandong University Library, (Shandong Daxue Tushugan) 3.31 million. Founded 1901.
9. Hebei University Library, Baoding (Hebei Daxue Tushugan). 3.1 million. Founded 1921.
10. Nankai University Library, Tianjin (Tientsin). 3 million. (Nankai Daxue Tushugan). Founded 1919.

54. 10 largest university libraries in Korea (South)

1. Seoul National University Library, 3.1 million. Founded 1946.
2. Kaya University Library, Kyungbuk, 2.9 million. Founded 1993.
J oint 3rd. Yonsei University Library, Seoul, 2.2 million. Founded 1885. It is the second oldest university in South
Korea, after Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul which was, founded in 1398.
Keimyung University Library, Taegu, 2.2 million. Founded 1954.
4. Ewha Womens University Library, Seoul. 1.7 million. Founded 1886.
Notes. South Korea has a number of universities open only to female students. Three other prominent such
universities in the capital Seoul are; Sookmyung Womens University, founded 1906, Seoul Womens University
founded in 1961 and Duksung Womens University, founded in 1950. India too has women-only universities. The
Indian city of Kodaikanal, is the location for the Mother Teresa Womens University.
5.Hong-Ik University Library, Seoul. 1.4 million. Founded 1946.
6. Kyung Hee University Library, Seoul. 1.2 million. Founded 1949.
7. Kyungpook National University Library, Taegu, 720,000. Founded 1946.
9. Pusan National University, 695,000. Founded 1946.
8. Chonnam National University Library, Kwangu, 620,000. Founded 1952
10.Chosun University Library, 610,000. Founded 1946.

55.
10 largest university libraries in Australia and New Zealand
1. University of Sydney Fisher Library. 5.1 million books. Founded 1852.
2. University of Melbourne Library. 3 million. Founded 1855.
3. New South Wales University Library, Sydney. 2.8 million. Founded 1949.
4. Australian National University Library. Canberra. 2.1 million. Founded 1946
5. Queensland University Library, Brisbane. 2 million. Founded 1910.
6. University of Adelaide University Library. Founded 1874. 2.2 million
8. Monash University Library, Clayton. 2 million. Founded 1958.
7. University of Auckland Library, New Zealand. 1.9 million. Founded 1883.
9. University of Canterbury Library, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1.6 million. Founded 1873.
10. Victoria University Library, Wellington, New Zealand. 980,000. Founded 1899.

57.
10 largest university libraries in India


1. University of Mumbai (Bombay), 875,000 books. Founded 1857
2. University of Lucknow, 710,000 books. Founded 1921. add more here and rearrange them properly.
3. Visva Bharati University, Birbhams??? 750,000 books. Founded 1921.
4. University of Mysore, 60,000 books. Founded 1916.
5. Osmania ??? University Library, 540,000 books. Founded in 1918.
6. AliGarh Muslim University Library, 810,000 books. Founded in 1875 as the Anglo Mohamedian Orental College.
7. University of Allahabanl?? Library, 690,000 books. Founded in 1887.
Notes. Pondiacherry University offers lectures in French as well as Indian languages, a legacy of the fact that
Pondiacherry was a former French colony. The Indian Institute of Technology (founded in 1958) offers degree
courses and has branches in New Delhi (the Indian capital) as well as in Mumbai, Chennai, Kan Pur?? and
Kharapuri??. The main central library in Chennai contains over 2 million books. Meanwhile the Indian Institute of
Science in Bangalore (also offering degree courses) has a library with over 550,000 books.


56. 30 largest university libraries in Africa and the Middle East.
1. Hebrew University Library J erusalem, Israel (Bet Ha-Sefarim Ha Leummi Weha- Universitai). 4.8 million books.
Founded 1892.
Notes. Also part of Israels National Library and the Berman National Medical Library, and is officially called the
Jewish National and University Library.
2. Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. 4.3 million. Founded 1982
3. University of Cairo Library, Egypt. 1.8 million. Founded 1908. It has the largest student population in Africa.
4. University of South Africa Library, Pretoria. 1.7 million books. Founded 1873.
5. University of Haifa Library, Israel, founded 1963. Founded 1.6 million.
6. Al-Azhar University Library, Cairo, Egypt, founded A.D. 985. Founded 1.6 million.
7. University of Cape Town Library, South Africa. Founded in 1829. 1.5 million.
8. University of Tehran Library, Iran. 1.4 million. Founded 1949.
9. University of Witwatersrand Library, J ohannesburg, South Africa. 1.2 million. Founded 1922.
Notes. The most famous student using the library in the 1940s was Nelson Mandela, while on a law course.
10. King Saud University Library, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 1.2 million. Founded in 1957.
11. University of Pretoria Library, South Africa. 1.1 million. Founded 1908.
12. Israel Institute of Technology Library, Haifa. 960,000. Founded 1912.
13. University of Stellenbosch Library, South Africa. 952,000. Founded in 1895.

14. University of Tel Aviv Library, Israel. 810,000. Founded 1953.
15. Islamic University of Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Library, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 700,000. Founded 1974.
16. University of Algiers Library, Algeria. 760,000. (Bibliothque de lUniversit dAlger). Founded 1880.
17. Ben Gurion Negev University Library, Beersheva, Israel. 730,000. Founded 1966.
18. American University Library, Beirut, Lebanon. 630 000. Founded in 1866.
Notes. Prior to the 1991 Gulf War, Baghdad University Library, the largest in Iraq, had about 700,000 books,
while Mosul University Library had about 660,000 books. Both now have a smaller collection of library books.
19. University of Natal Library, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa 645,000. Founded 1909.
20. University of Nigeria Library, Nnsuka. 630,000. Founded 1960.
21. University of Ibadan Kenneth Dike Library, Nigeria. 615,000. Founded 1948. Also oldest university in library in
Nigeria.
22. University of Ghana, Balme Library, Accra, founded 1948 and the University of Dar es Salam Library, Tanzania.
Founded 1961. Both contain 610,000 books.
23. J omo Kenyatta Memorial Library, University of Nairobi, Kenya. 600,000. Founded in 1959.
24. American University in Cairo Library, Egypt. 512 000. Founded in 1919.
25. Assiut University Library, Egypt. 501,000. Founded 1957.
26. Obafemi Awolowo University Library, Ife, Nigeria. 479,000. Founded 1961.
27. Helwan University Library, Egypt. 465,000. Founded 1975
J oint 28th. University of Lagos Library, Nigeria, founded 1962 and Makere University Library, Kampala, Uganda.
Both possesses 410,000 books.
29. Cheikh Anta Diop University Library, Dakar, Senegal (Bibliothque de lUniversit Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar).
390,000. Founded 1950.
30 University of Khartoum, Sudan. 357,000. Founded 1945.

34.tif
The University of Lagos Library, behind the Senate building in the photograph, is the oldest and largest in Nigerias
largest city and former capital.

Notes. About a half a dozen more South African academic libraries have large collections with over, or
approaching 500,000 books, and only the top five largest university libraries in South Africa are listed here . In
the first edition of this book, Zimbabwe University Library in Harare (founded in 1955),was listed among the
major large universities libraries in Africa. But due to the current political and financial problems facing the
country, the librarys collections have been drastically reduced.



57. 30 largest university libraries in Asia
N.B.: this list excludes libraries in Australia, China, J apan, India and South Korea. See lists 52 to 57.

1.National Science and Technology Library of Kazakhstan, Almaty. 7 million. Founded 1960.

2. Kazakh Academy of Sciences Central Library, Almaty. 6.3 million. Founded 1932.

3. Azerbaijan Scientific and Technical Library, Baku. 6 million. Founded 1928
4. University of Dhaka Library, Bangladesh. 5.5 million. Founded in 1921.
5. Armenia Scientific and Technical Library, Yerevan. 5.1 million. Founded 1927.
6. Pyongyang Academy of Sciences Library, North Korea. 3.8 million. Founded 1952.
7. Georgian Academy of Sciences Central Library, Tbilisi. 3.4 million. Founded 1941.
8. Tbilisi State University Library, Georgia. 3.2 million. Founded 1918.
9. Central Library of the Armenian Academy of Science, Yerevan. 3.1 million. Founded 1935.

10. National Taiwan University Library, Taipei. 4 million. Founded 1928.



35.tif
The National University of Taiwan Library is the largest university library in Taiwan.


11. Soochow University Library, Taipei, Taiwan. 3.3 million. Founded 1900.

12. Central Library of the Azerbaijan Academy of Science, Baku. 2.5 million. Founded 1925.

13. National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan. 2.3 million. Founded 1927.
14. Malaya University Library, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Perpustakaan Universiti Malaya). 2.2 million. Founded
1957.

15. Baku State University, Azerbaijan. 2.1 million. Founded 1919.

16. University of Hong Kong Library, 2 million. Founded 1911.

17. Chinese University of Hong Kong Library (Xianggang Zhongwen Daxue Tushugan), 1.8 million. Founded 1963.
16. New Delhi University Library, India. 1.6 million. Founded 1922.
18. Yerevan State University, Armenia. 1.5 million. Founded 1931.
19. Singapore National University Library, 1.36 million. Founded 1946


36.tif
The National University of Singapore Library central Library is the largest university library building in Asia.

20. National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. 1.1 million. Founded 1927.
21. University of the Philippines Diliman Library, Quezon City, Metro Manila. 988,000. Founded 1908.
22. Banaras Hindu University Library Varanasi, India, , 910,000. Founded 1915.

23. University of Calcutta (Kolkata) Library India 890,000. Founded 1857.
Notes. It has the largest student population in Asia, see entry 36.

J oint 24th. Tamkang University Library, Taipei, Taiwan. founded 1950 and Chulalongkorn University Library,
Bangkok, Thailand, founded 1910. Both contain 840,000 book.
25. Thammasat University Library, Bangkok, Thailand. 822,000. Founded 1934.
26. Vietnam National University, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. 810,000 books. Founded in 1993 by the merger of
several universities in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
27. Penang Science University Library, Malaysia. 743,000. Founded 1969.
28.Panjab University Library, Chandigarh, India. 730,000. Founded 1947.
29. Fu-J en Catholic University Library, Taipei, Taiwan. 700,000. Founded in 1925 in Beijing and moved to Taipei in
1961.
J oint 30th. J awaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, founded 1969 and the Chinese Culture University Library,
Taipei, Taiwan, founded in 1962. Both contain over 635,000 books.
Notes. Several former members of the Soviet Union, such as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan had very
large libraries of academies, (as seen in East European countries like Russian, Ukraine and Romania) which
they inherited when the USSR was dissolved in 1991.The largest university library in Pakistan is the University
of Punjab in Lahore, with over 480,000 books and founded in 1882.
58. 15 largest university libraries in Latin America
1. Buenos Aires University Library, Argentina. (Biblioteca de la Universidad de Buenos Aires). 4 million books.
Founded 1821.
Notes. It has the second largest student population in Latin America.
2. So Paulo Federal University Library, Brazil (Biblioteca de la Universidade Federal de So Paulo). 3.7 million.
Founded 1934.
Notes. It has the largest student population in Brazil.
3. Mexico National Autonomous University Library, Mexico City (Biblioteca de la Universidad Nacional Autnoma de
Mxico). 3.3 million. Founded 1555.
Notes. Also forms part of the National Library of Mexico. It has the largest student population in Latin America.

4. Rio de J aneiro Federal University Library, Brazil (Biblioteca Universidade de Rio de Janeiro). 2 million. Founded
1920.
5. University of Guadalajara Library, Mexico (Biblioteca de la Universidad de Guadalajara). 1.2 million. Founded
1752.
6. Rio Grande Federal University Library, Porto Alegre, Brazil (Biblioteca Central de la Universidade Federal de Rio
Grande). 950,000. Founded 1971.
7. La Plata National University Library, Argentina (Biblioteca de la Nacional Universidad de La Plata). 810,000.
Founded 1905.
8. Tamaulipas Autonomous University Library, Ciudad Victoria (Biblioteca de la Universidad de Tamaulipas).
Mexico. 710,000. Founded 1956.
9. Puebla Autonomous University Library, Mexico (Biblioteca de la Universidad de Puebla). 630,000. Founded
1578.
10. Minas Gerais Federal University Library, Belo Horizonte, Brazil (Biblioteca Federal de Minas Gerais
Universidade). 630,000. Founded 1927.
11. Pernambuco Federal University Central Library, Recife, Brazil (Biblioteca Central da Universidade Federal de
Pernambuco). 610,000. Founded 1968.
12. Rio de J aneiro Pontifical Catholic University Library, Brazil (Biblioteca Pontificia Universidade Catlica de Rio
Janeiro). 600,000. Founded 1941.
13. Concepcion University Library, Chile (Biblioteca Universidad de Concepcion). 460,000. Founded 1919.
14. Spanish American University Library, Tijuana, Leon and Puebla, Mexico (Biblioteca Universidad
Iberoamericana). 410,000. Founded 1919.
15. Central Pontifical Catholic University Library, Lima, Peru (Biblioteca Central de la Pontificia Universidade
Catlica del Per). 402,000. Founded 1917.

37.tif
The University of Recife library, is the largest in Northern Brazil

59. Largest university libraries and top universities: a comparison
The beginning of this list of largest university libraries has a famous quote from U.S. librarian Herman Fussler
about large university libraries being among the best. Whether this is true or not is pretty much open to further
debate. However it is possible to match and correlate a proven internationally recognized list of the best universities
in the world with the list of largest university libraries given in this book in this chapter, the list of largest special
libraries given in the next chapter and at list 381 which features 345 largest libraries. The best reliable current
source for the best universities in the world is the list compiled by both the U.K. newspaper Times Higher Education
Supplement and Quacquarelli Symonds, a company with offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia, that produces popular
guides for students wanting to study in foreign countries, i.e. study abroad. The list produced is called the THES -
QS World University Rankings. Below is an interesting selection of universities that appear in both the largest
university and specialty libraries list compiled in the 3
rd
edition of Library World Records and the list of 500 best

universities compiled in the THES - QS World University Rankings for 2010.
Europe
France: University of Paris, Strasbourg National University; University of Montpellier; University of Toulouse;
University of Lyon.
Germany: Berlin Free University; Rupert Charles University, Heidelberg; Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich;
Humboldt University, Berlin; George Augustus University, Gottingen; University of Frankfurt; Tubingen University.
Italy: University of Rome (La Sapienza); University of Bologna.
U.K.: Oxford University; Cambridge University; University of London schools and colleges; University of Edinburgh;
University of Manchester; University of Glasgow; University of Birmingham; University of Leeds.
Russia: Lomonosov Moscow State University; St Petersburg University; Tomsk State University; Kazan State
University.
Spain: Madrid Autonomous University; Complutense University, Madrid; University of Barcelona; Navarra University,
Pamplona, Zaragoza University.
Portugal: University of Coimbra.
Belgium: Louvain (Leuven) Catholic University; Brussels Free University; Lige University.
The Netherlands: University of Amsterdam; Leiden University; Utrecht University.
Ireland: University of Dublin, Trinity College; National University of Ireland, Galway.
Switzerland: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich; University of Basel; University of Zurich.
Austria: University of Vienna.
Sweden: Uppsala University and Lund University.
Denmark: University of Copenhagen.
Finland: University of Helsinki.
Norway: University of Oslo.
Greece: Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki; National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
Czech Republic: Charles University, Prague.
Poland: J agiellonian University, Krakw.

Americas
Brazil: Sao Paulo Federal University; Rio de J aneiro Federal University.
Canada: McGill University, Montreal; University of Toronto; University of British Columbia, Vancouver; University of
Alberta, Edmonton; University of Waterloo.

Mexico: Mexico National Autonomous University, Mexico City
U.S.: Harvard University, Massachusetts; Yale University, Connecticut; Stanford University; University of California,
Berkeley; Columbia University; Michigan University, Ann Arbor; University of California, Los Angeles; University of
Texas, Austin; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Asia
China: Beijing University; Nanjing University; Fudan University, Shanghai; Tsinghua University, Beijing.
Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong.
J apan: University of Tokyo; Kyoto University; Kyushu University, Fukuoku; Hokkaido University; Waseda University,
Tokyo; Kobe University.
India: J awaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; University of New Delhi.
Malaysia: University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.
Singapore: National University of Singapore.
South Korea: Seoul National University; Yonsei University, Seoul. Chonnam National University, Kwangu.
The Philippines : University of the Philippines, Quezon city.
Taiwan: National Taiwan University, Taipei.
Australia: Australian National University, Canberra; Melbourne University Library; University of Sydney; Monash
University, Clayton; New South Wales University, Sydney; Queensland University, Brisbane; University of Adelaide.
New Zealand: University of Auckland.
Middle East and Africa
Israel: Ben Gurion University, Negev.
Turkey: University of Istanbul.
Egypt: University of Cairo.
South Africa: University of Cape Town; University of Witwatersrand, J ohannesburg; University of Pretoria.
Nigeria: University of Ibadan.
Notes. One cant help but notice the interesting observation that at least two or all of the top 5 largest university
libraries for each country compiled in Library World Records are also listed in the THES - QS World University
Rankings, e.g. the list for universities in the U.K, Germany, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S. to name a few. Not
surprisingly the top university listed in the THES - QS World University Rankings is Harvard University, which also
has the largest university library in the world. While the list above covers universities worldwide, several countries
produce their own rankings of the best universities in their country. For instance the Times Higher Education
Supplement also produces the full list for U.K. universities, while in Germany the DAAD (German Academic
Exchange Service) produces the full list for Germany universities. The League of European Research Universities or
LERU is a partnership of 20 top universities in Europe. All but three of the members of LERU are also listed in
Library World Records in the list of largest university libraries. In the United States, 6 of the 8 universities that make
up the Ivy League of U.S. prestigious universities are all listed in this books list of 20 largest U.S. university libraries.
Perhaps after all Herman Fusslers conjecture about the largest university libraries being the best as well was spot

on in some ways!

60. Earliest university libraries in the world
A number of educational institutes that qualify to be called universities predate Al-Qarawiyin University, the oldest
existing university today, (see entry 61 below). The very first university in the world was probably the Buddhist
Takshila (Takshashila or Taxila) University, established around 600 BC in the ancient city of Takshila (capital of the
former kingdom of Gandhara), in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. But it vanished centuries later,
and very little is known about its library collection today. But some notable relics from the ancient university exists
today, such as the Gandharan Buddhist Scrolls (see entry 124) which can be viewed at the British Library today and
at the Taxila Archeological Library in Pakistan. The second earliest universities to be established in the world after
Takshila University are the old Alexandria University in Egypt, and the Academy and Lyceum in ancient Greece, all
three having been founded in the 4th century BC. The only one in existence today is Alexandria University, which
was re-founded in 1938. It had been originally founded as the Mouseion by the Ptolemies, the same dynasty that
created the famous Alexandria Library centuries before. Famous students at the university included Archimedes,
Euclid and Earstosthenes). The Greeks in particular also set up speficic schools for subjects, for instance both
Euclid and Pythagors (3
rd
centuey BC) set uo schools for teaching mathematics) Gondi Shapur (J ondi or J undi
Shapur) University in Iran was founded by Persian King Shapur I of the Sassanian dynasty. It was once a leading
medical university in ancient Persia and dates back to the 3rd century A.D. (circa A.D. 270), although it no longer
exists. Many of the preserved ancient medical texts from Gondi Shapur university library are good examples of pre
Islamic medical knowledge in the Middle East. The popular university attracted scholars from other regions,
particularly from Greece and India, who in the 7
th
century A.D. brought along classical Greek and Indian texts that
were subsequently translated into Persian. When the Arabs overran Persia in the 8
th
century A.D., they made Gondi
Shapur University the scholastic center of the Islamic Empire (leading to the establishment of famous Islamic
education centres in Baghdad and Damascus such as the House of Wisdom, see list 123 under Islamic Empire). In
this way the Persian translations of classical Greek and Indian texts were now passed on the Arabs and translated
into Arabic. By the beginning of the 10
th
century A.D., with the addition of several important Greek texts recovered
from Alexandria, practically the whole extant body of Greek scientific and philosophical writings had been translated
into Arabic. It was during this transition that an advanced Indian (Hindu) decimal or base-10 numeral system were
brought to the attention of 10
th
century A.D. scholars Arabic scholars in Baghdad most notably Ali ibn Ahmad and Al-
Khwarizmi working in the House of Wisdom. This decimal numeral system had been used for centuries on the Indian
subcontinent during the Gupta dynasty (from the 5
th
century A.D. by mathematicans such as Brahmagupta). Al-
Khwarizmi and other Arabic scholars then made slight modifications of the discovery for their own use, by changing
the shape of the Indian numerals. The Arab world thus began to actively use these Hindu decimal numeral system
throughout the Islamic Empire, which included Spain. In the late 10
th
century A.D., mercants living in Spain started
using decimal numbers for accounting and book-keeping purposes, having picked it up while trading in Baghdad and
Damascus. Before then the abacus was used for accounting purposes. The use of these numerals did not go
unnoticed by the local Spanish population. This is why the earliest documentary proof of the existence the Hindu-
Arabic decimal numeral system in Europe can be found in Spain at the San Lorenzo de El Escorial Monastic Library
northwest of Madrid, (see list 120 under Philip II). In this library is a rare Latin manuscript called Codex Vigilanus,
compiled circa late A.D. 900s, which contains details of the Indian decimal numeral system adopted by the Arabs
with modifications. Translators at the Toledo Translation School in Spain around the 12th century A.D. (see under
Islamic Empre at list 123) translating Arabic texts into Latin stumbled across these numeral systems and called them
Arabic numerals. Along with the independent efforts in the 13
th
century A.D. of Leonardo Fibonacci, (who had
access to the mathematics texts of Al-Khwarizmmi), all of Europe (first in Spain and Italy) began to replace their
current Roman numeral system with Arabic numerals. Roman numerals itself had developed around the 3
rd
century
BC in Rome. The use of Arabic numerals in Europe eventually became in widespread use from the early 1400s at
the start of the Renaissance. The ancient city in which Gondi Shapur University (destroyed during the Mongolian
invasions of the 13
th
century A.D.) was located near the city of Ahvaz or Ahwaz in western Iran, where a modern
university (founded in 1955) existed under the same name. Today the Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism
Organization in the province of Khuzestan (where the ancient Gondi Shapur University was located) is working to
ensure surrounding environs where the ancient university once stood are protected from farming activities and

neglect. The organization has described the surrounding site of Gondi Shapur University as the worlds first
University City, modeled on the same plan as the famous Alca de Henares University City in Spain. However unlike
the Spanish University City, Godi Shapur University environs is not on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Around the
4th century A.D., in ancient city of Antioch, (today near the Turkish town of Antakya) there existed a religious
(Christianity) educational institution known as the School of Didorus, which had a significant library of Christian
manuscripts. Another ancient center of learning in ancient Syria was the School of Nisibis, founded circa A.D. 458. It
was based on the earlier School of Edessa (near Urfa in Turkey), both cities then under the Persian Sassanian
Empire, which had conquered the cities from the Byzantine Empire. The institute also offered religious courses in
Christianity. The most famous book from the School of Nisibis library is Carmina Nisibena, an important historical
manuscript still used by researchers today. The School of Nisibis began to decline in the 11th century, after the
Arabs had overran the Persian Empire. Both Edessa and Antioh, about 600 years later, would later become two of
the four Crusader States founded after Pope Urban II instigated the First Crusade. Nalanda University and
Vikramshila University, both Buddhist universities, located in what is today the northeastern state of Bihar, in India,
were founded circa A.D. 414 and A.D. 760 respectively. They were well known centers of Buddhist education for
scholars from all over Asia, and their large library collections contained some of the important Buddhist texts of the
day. Both universities are no longer in existence, having been completely destroyed by Muslim armies in the 12th
century (notably the A.D. 1193 capture of Bihar by the Muslim Persian forces of the Ghurid dynasty). This
destruction was a major factor in the gradual decline, academic teaching and practicing of Buddhism in northern
India. In Western Europe, between the periods from the Barbarian invasions (5
th
century A.D.) until the eleventh
century (when first university founded in Christian Europe, Bologna University. was founded) there were no major
educational establishments, and this period of time is often called the Dark Ages. One prominent but short-lived
educational institute that did exist was created in the 8
th
century A.D. at Aachen (near the Belgian border with
Germnay). It was set up by Alcuin, an educational advisor for Charlemange, the Holy Roman Emperor. In China,
there were four famous ancient academies that were important educational and religious (Confucianism) centres.
The oldest is the Bailudong (or Lushan) Academy in the city of J iujian, founded in A.D. 940, and also known by the
name White Deer Cave Academy in later centuries. It was abandoned near the end of the Northern Song dynasty.
Next is the Yuelu Academy in the city of Changsha founded in A.D. 976 (which still exists today as Hunan
University). The other two ancient Chinese educational institutions are the Suiyang (Songyang) Academy, founded
in 990 A.D. and the Shigu Academy founded in A.D. 1031. Finally in Hanoi today, there is a building known as the
Temple of Literature, built in A.D. 1076. It is credited as being the first national university of Vietnam, and continued
to function as a university until 1779. The library contains early Buddhist texts of the period. In 1483 another national
university was built. The present National University of Vietnam, which has campuses in both Hanoi and Ho Chi
Minh City, was founded in 1993 by an amalgamation of several institutes of higher learning.
Notes. Three further existing educational establishments predate Al-Qarawiyin University. The first is Nanjing
University in China. It dates back to A.D. 258 as the Imperial College of Emperor Sun Xiu, during the period in
China known as the Three Kingdoms. But the original university no longer exists. Modern Nanjing University
was founded in the early 20th century. Istanbul (Constantinople) University Library in Turkey was founded in
A.D. 430 and thus founded before Al-Qarawiyin University, so technically should also be called the oldest
existing university in the world. However after the Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire and Constantinople fell to
the Turkish Ottoman Empire, the university was re-founded in 1453. The third educational establishment to
predate Al-Qarawiyin University, was founded in what is today Lebanon, then under the Byzantine Empire. It
was founded circa 5
th
century A.D.. A reason why it was closed down is given at list 62. A full list of the 150
oldest university libraries in the world is at list 381.

61. 15 oldest university libraries in the world
The following are the 5 oldest university libraries founded before the start of the 12th century and still in existence
today.
1. Al-Qarawiyin University Library, Fez, Morocco. (Bibliothque de lUniversit El-Qaraouiyin). Founded circa A.D.
859.

Notes. This university is not to be confused with Al-Akhawayn University in the city of Ifrane, close to Fez.
Fatima Feheri, a wealthy woman who came to Morocco from Tunisia, founded the library as part of the Al-
Qarawiyin Mosque. Since time immemorial religion has played a very important role in the development of
academic or intellectual learning and eventual establishment of the earliest colleges and universities, first as
seminaries, some of which then later developed into full universities. As seen in list 60, the first universities in
world were educational institutions offering academic instruction in either Buddhism or Confucianism. E.g. the
oldest university in South Korea, Sungkyunkwan University Library, (founded in Seoul in 1398), began as a
Buddhist seminary. Although Buddhism created the worlds first university (Takshila university circa 600 BC) it
and none of the several other ancient Buddhism universities that followed, exists today, as all were
systematically destroyed when various Muslim states from the 12
th
to 16
th
centuries (e.g. the Ghaznavids, the
Ghurid Empire, the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire) overran much of modern day Pakistan and
Northern India (sites of several early Buddhist educational centers). While early universities in Western Europe
developed from Christian cathedral schools, early universities in the Arab world developed from Islamic
education centers in mosques. It was not uncommon to find a big library in mosques throughout the Islamic
world. Mosque libraries are called vakif libraries in Turkey. The most famous scholar to use the library was Arab
geographer Leo Africanus, whose notebooks and manuscripts was for over 400 years, one of Europe's chief
sources of information about Islam. The Babylonian captivity and other social and political events following it
such as the Roman destruction of Jerualem by Hadrian, that led to the Diasporas of adherents of Judaism, led
to the reason why no early Jewish seminaries, universities and colleges existed until the 1800 (e.g. Hebrew
Union College founded in 1875). Just as early seminaries attached to churches, mosques and ???? had well-
stocked libraries. Some of the early synagogues also had large libraries, especially in the Beit Midrash (study
building) of the synagogue. The 16
th
century A.D. Ari Ashkenazi Synagogue based in Israel (then under the
Ottoman Empire) is an example of some of the oldests extant synagogues in Israel. The oldest extant
synagogues in Europe is the Santa Mara la Blanca in Spain founded 1180 (now a church).. It is not known if the
ruins oldest synagogue discovered in world in Delos, Greece, (dated 150 and 128 BC) had a library of some
sort.

In 3
rd
edition, replace put photo of Al-Qquawiyin: Renowned traveler and writer Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon was a
scholar at the worlds oldest contunuing university, Al-quawariyin University in Morocco.
2. Hunan University Library, Changsha, China, A.D. 976.
Notes. It began as the Yuelu Academy, one of 4 famous ancient Confucianism academies (seminaries) in
China. Changsha is in Hunan Province. In neighboring Jiangxi Province is another of the ancient academies, called
the Bailudong (or Lushan) Academy in city of Jiujian, founded in A.D. 940. Hunan Province itself is historically the
cradle Chinese writing, as the first examples of full-length human writing in China (i.e. the Orace bones) was
discovered in Hunan Province.
3. Al-Azhar University Library, Cairo, Egypt. A.D. 970.
Notes. This university library also began as a mosque library founded by the Fatimid dynasty, and is largest
library in Egypt, after the national library and Cairo University library.
4. Al-Nizamiyah University Library, Baghdad, Iraq. A.D. 1070.

Notes. The university was one of two universities founded by Vizier Nizam al-Mulk (Vizier of the first Turkish
Seljuck sultan, Alp-Arslan.) The Turkish Seljuk Empire had earlier on captured Baghdad from the Arabs in A.D.
1050. Open to scholars from all over the Muslim world, the university was one of the first prominent Islamic
centers of education or colleges also known as madrasahs and masjids. The capture of Baghdad by Hulagu
Khan in 1258 following the Mongolian invasion of Arab lands partially destroyed the university library. Tamerlane
(Timur The Lame), later inflicted further devastation on many rebuilt libraries of the madrasahs and masjids in
Baghdad, when he conquered Baghdad and Damascus in 1392. Both these Mongol invasions and the
fragmentation of the Abassid Dynasty contributed to the gradual decline in the tremendous advances in arts,
humanities and science, (first began in ancient Greece and then in ancient India), that the Arabs had built up

over the last four centuries (prior to the invasion) over much of the world except in China. The mantle of
philosophy and intellectual creativity was now taken up by Western Europe (spared a similar destructive
invasion of the Mongols, this time by Batu Khan in 1241?), which was by 1400 experiencing the start of
humanism and the Renaissance. Although Tamerlane destroyed several madrasahs when he invaded Badgdad,
he did build several madrasahs of his own. One example is the Saray Mulik Khanum madrasah which was
named after Tamelaness wife. During the period of the Turkish Ottoman Empire which overran Iraq and most of
the Arab lands from 1517, the concept of madrasahs was continued and many well-stocked libraries were
founded in these madrasahs. The first major Turkish Ottoman library of the madrasahs open to the public (with
funding from charitable organizations, i.e. a public library) was the Koprulu Library established by Grand Vizier
Koprulu Ahmet Pasha in Istanbul in 1678. This became the first public library in the Middle East. The madrasahs
were officially abolished in Turkey in 1924, but they still exist in several Moslem countries such as Saudi Arabia
and Pakistan.

5. Bologna University Library, Italy (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Bologna). A.D. 1088. In its early days it had a
strong links with the Roman Catholic Church and many of its students and lecturers were Christian scholars. The
universitys library in the early days apart from a large collection of religious books also had a large proportion of
books on law, as this course was the main non-religious course taught at the university until the 13
th
century, when
other courses were offered and books in other subjects grew along side law and religion books in greater numbers.
Reliable sources of medieval records in several national archives in Italy, seem to indicate that both Parma
University and Salerno University were founded before Bologna University, but others (including different official
sources) indicate Parma and Salerno universities were founded after Bologna University.

6. Padua University Library, Italy (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Padova). 1122.
7. Modena University Library, Italy (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Modena). 1160.

8. Vicenza University Library, Italy (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Vicenza). 1204.
9. Hacettepe University Library, Ankara, Turkey (Hacettepe niversitesi Ktphane). 1206.

10. Palencia University Library, Spain (Biblioteca de la Universidad de Palencia). 1210.
11. Salamanca University Library. Spain (Biblioteca de la Universidade de Salamanca). 1218.
12. University of Paris Sorbonne Library, France (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Paris). 1230.
13 . Mustansiriya University Library, Baghdad, Iraq. 1233. Founded by Abbasid Caliph al-Mustansir as a Madrasha.
14. Montpellier University Library, France (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Montpellier). 1240.
15. ??????????????????????????????????????

62. Earliest academic libraries in Europe
Aristotles Peripatetic School Library in the Lyceum was set circa 335 BC in Athens, Greece. Famous Romans
such as Marcus Cicero later made use of the library.

Notes. Higher education in ancient Greece began in Athens at the Academy, established in about 387 BC by
Plato, and together with the Lyceum offered advanced study of philosophy. Subsequent schools of philosophy,
modeled upon Platos, were also called academies; this term was eventually used to indicate any institution of
higher education or the faculty of such an institution. Platos Academy remained in existence until A.D. 529
when the Byzantine Emperor Justinian closed it down. British historian Bethany Hughes (When the Moors Rules
Spain) points out a good reason for the closure of this famous Greek institution. With Christianity a new state
religion in the Western, and then Eastern (Byzantine) Empire from the 5
th
century A.D., a lot of vigorous efforts
were made to make people turn away from paganism and embrace Christianity. Because of this, Christians in
the Byzantine Empire were often suspicious of classical Greek and Roman texts by e.g. by Aristotle, Plato,
Ptolemy and Euclid (since they had been all writen by pagans). Thus Byzantine Emperor Justinian had a good
reason to shut Platos Academy. This gives a clue as to why between A.D. 529 until A.D. 1088 (foundation of
Bologna University), no major higher educational insitutes were founded in Europe. All this meant that when the
Arabs/Moors came across hundreds of important classical Greek texts (following the capture of Alexandria in
641 A.D., home to the several Greek/Byzantine schools as well as the famous Alexandria Library) they became
the sole custodians of abandoned classical Greek knowledge. Knowledge gained from these classical texts
(via translating texts mainly in Greek and some in Latin into Arabic) made the Islamic Empire, from the early to
9
th
to late 14
th
centuries, the foremost leader in scientitific, geographical and medical knowledge (see list 141).
For instance the Moors set up the largest library and the first university in Europe (Crdoba University in Spain,
see list 67). It was only through the work of translating classical Greek texts from Arabic back into to Latin at
Toledo Translation School in Spain (see list 123) among others, that Europe re-discovered classical Greek
texts, which later became the springboard for the birth of the Renaissance and eventually leading to the
Western Europe taking over as the foremost centre for academic learning, inventing and making new
discoveries in humanities, science and medicine.

39.tif
Aristotle, Greek philosopher set up the earliest major educational institute in Europe, at the Lyceum in Athens,
Greece.

63. 10 oldest university libraries in Europe
The history of European academic libraries begins with the founding of libraries in monasteries in the middle
Ages. When the Western Roman Empire fell in A.D. 476, much learning and reading was restricted to the libraries in
monasteries where monks such as St. Benedict encouraged the importance of reading manuscripts. Example of
these early 6th and 7th century monastic libraries include those of St Gallen in Switzerland, J arrow in the U.K.,
Fulda in Germany, Luxeuil in France, and Monte Cassino in Italy. From the early 11th century libraries in cathedrals
began to replace libraries in monasteries as centers for learning. But unlike monastic libraries, the libraries in
cathedrals and cathedral schools were designed for educational rather than inspirational and religious reading.
Scholars believe universities grew out of cathedral schools. Some well-known cathedral libraries were at York in the
U.K., Rouen in France, Hildesheim in Germany, and Barcelona in Spain.
Coupled with the fact that from the Middle Ages, education was firmly established in monasteries and
cathedrals and lectures were theological in content, many pre-Renaissance European university libraries, were run
by theological librarians such as monks and scribes. It is thus sometimes difficult to differentiate a library set up
purely for religious studies and one for academic studies, which included theology. Prior to the 17th century, book
and manuscript collecting in Europe was mainly a royal, religious or private pursuit. By the early 17th century many
princes, churchmen, and wealthy collectors were organizing their collections with the help of librarians and then
opening their collections to the scholarly public. The following are the oldest university libraries in Europe. Crdoba
University in Spain, was founded in the 10th century A.D., but is not included here, see entry 67.
1. Bologna University Library, Italy (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Bologna). Founded A.D. 1088. See also entry
61.

2. Padua University Library, Italy (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Padova). 1122.
Notes. It has the oldest existing university library building in Italy and in Europe.
3. Modena University Library, Italy (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Modena). 1160.
Notes. The famous Cantino World Map, made by Alberto Cantino in 1502, the most accurate map in the world at
that time to include the newly discovered Americas, is housed at Modena Universitys Biblioteca Estense.
However Martin Waldseemllers map of 1507, (see entry 6) at the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington D.C.,
also showed the continents of North and South America, but crucially, was the first map to use the word
America The library also contains the famous 15th century Borso d'Este Bible.
4. Vicenza University Library, Italy (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Vicenza). 1204.
5. Palencia University Library, Spain (Biblioteca de la Universidad de Palencia). 1210.
6. Salamanca University Library. Spain (Biblioteca de la Universidade de Salamanca). 1218.

7. University of Paris Sorbonne Library, France (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Paris). 1230. The University of Paris,
a leading centre of late medieval learning and especially scientific thought, was separated from the cathedral school
of Notre Dame. The Sorbonne University of Paris Library is the oldest university library in France. It gets its name
from its founder Robert de Sorbon, the chaplain to French King Louis IX. The present building in the photograph
dates from 1885.


40.tif

8. Montpellier University Library, France (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Montpellier). 1240.
9. Perugia University Library, Italy (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Perugia). 1243.
10. Siena University Library, Italy (Biblioteca Universit degli Studi di Siena). 1245.

64. 5 oldest university l ibraries in the U.K.
1. Cambridge University Library. Founded 1347. The university was originally founded in the 13th century.
Peterhouse College Library was the first in 1302.
2. St. Andrews University Library. 1413.
3. Glasgow University Library. 1451.
4. Aberdeen University Library. 1494.
5. Edinburgh University Library. 1582.
After the establishment of Oxford and Cambridge universities, no more universities were created in the England
between 1400 and the 1825 (except Scottish Universities). Thus a period of 400 years passed before the
establishment of University College London in 1826 and King's College London in 1829 (both part of the University
of London in 1836). The 5th oldest university in England was the University of Durham in 1832. Further universities
in the U.K. were founded from the 1850s, with the first being the numerous Victorian Red Brick universities. There

has been no valid explanation as to why Oxford and Cambridge universities were the sole higher education
institutes in England for so long, despite several universities being founded all over Europe during this period.

Notes. Oxford University Library was originally founded in 1249 by the Bishop of Worchester, but troops of King
Edward VI destroyed the library in 1550. The library was re-founded 1602 by James Bodley and called the
Bodleian Library. The library of Eton College, near London, the oldest public school in the U.K. (founded by King
Henry VI), dates back to 1440.


41.tif
Oxford Universitys Bodleian Library above, was founded in the 13th century but was re-founded in 1602, hence the
title of U.K. oldest university library goes to the one at Cambridge. This is one of the newer buildings of the library,
opened in 1946.
65. 5 oldest university l ibraries in France
1. University of Paris Sorbonne Library (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Paris). Founded 1230.
2. Montpellier University Library (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Montpellier). 1240.
3. Toulouse University Library (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Toulouse). 1292.
4. Avignon University Library (Bibliothque de lUniversit dAvignon). 1303.
Notes.
Avignon University is the oldest medieval university south of France, and the city has so many 14th century walls
and ramparts built by the resident popes who also founded the university
The 14th century university itself is almost surrounded 14th century walled gates. This can be explained by the fact
that Avignon was once the headquarters of the Vatican when Pope Clement V moved the papacy from Rome to
Avignon in 1309. During that period of time several parts of the city was walled with Gothic buildings built by the
Vatican authorities. The walls encircle the university and today are part of the entrance gates of the university. By
the time the papacy returned back to Rome, the Avignon papal library was the largest library in Europe in the 14
th

century before the start of the Renaissance, when the Vatican Library, university libraries in Italy and Spain, and
early national libraries (such as those at Austria and the Czech Republic) began to get bigger in volumes and
surpass that at Avignon. Before Avignon Papal Library held the record for Europes largest library, the record holder
between the 8th to 13th centuries was Crdoba University Library, in Spain, (see entry 67).
5. Orleans University Library (Bibliothque de lUniversit dOrlans). 1306


66. 5 oldest university l ibraries in Germany
1. Rupert-Charles University Library, Heidelberg (Ruprecht-Karls Universittbibliothek Heidelberg). Founded 1386.
Notes. In 1623, as an appreciation for financial help given to Maximilian, the Duke of Bavaria by Pope Gregory
XV, in his religious conflict with Protestants, during the Thirty Years War, a generous gift was sent to the pope.
The gift was in the form of 3,000 manuscripts and 4000 books from the Heidelberg University Library (The
Palatina Library), which were donated to the Vatican Library in Rome. About 200 years later some were
returned for political reasons.
2. Cologne University Library (Universittbibliothek Kln). 1388. Following a trend with Europes oldest universities,

the new University of Cologne Library in Germany has replaced the older buildings of the ancient university, rather
than it being modernized.

3. Erfurt University Library (Universittbibliothek Erfurt). 1392.
Notes. Martin Luther, who began the Reformation in the Roman Catholic Church, graduated from here in 1505
with a Ph.D. in law
4. Wurzburg University Library (Universittbibliothek Wrzburg). 1402
5. Leipzig University Library (Universittbibliothek Leipzig). 1409.

67. 5 oldest university l ibraries in Spain
Notes. Crdoba University was originally founded in the 10th century A.D. (long before Italys Bologna
University). The Moorish Omayyad (Umayyad) Caliphate ruler of the Spain, Al-Hakem who had established
Qurtuba (Crdoba) University, also established its famous library, which became largest library in Europe
between the 9th and 13th centuries. Crdoba, as capital of the Umayyad Caliphate in Spain, was the thus first
European city in the medieval period to have an Institute of higher education established. The Umayyad
dynasty rule of Spain from the 8th to 15th century A.D. was brought to an end when Crdoba and Granada
were recaptured by Christian Spanish forces in the 13th century and 15
th
centuries respectively (during the
reconquista). Crdoba University was then neglected and a few years later was permanently abandoned. The
modern University of Crdoba was re-founded in 1972.

1. Palencia University Library (Biblioteca de la Universidad de Palencia). Founded 1210.
Because of a decline of university functions, with staff leaving for the more popular Salamanca University, the
entire library collections of Palencia University were transferred to Valladolid and Salamanca university libraries
at the end of the 13th century, and the university closed down.
2. Salamanca University Library (Biblioteca de la Universidad de Salamanca). 1218.
Christopher Columbus consulted the university library before embarking on his famous voyage in 1492, and on
his return gave several lectures here on his discoveries in the Americas, (which he mistakenly thought were in
Asia). The 16
th
century Duchess of Medina-Sidonia Library in southern Spain today contains most of Columbus
journals/diaries on his voyages. The owners of the library came from a wealthy Spanish family who helped fund
the voyages of Columbus to the new world.
3. Valladolid University Library (Biblioteca de la Universidad de Valladolid). 1290.
4. Complutense University Library, Madrid (Biblioteca de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid). 1293.
5. Lleida (Lrida) University Library (Biblioteca de la Universidad de Lleida). 1297.

44.tif
The University of Crdoba Rabanales Library, in Spain. The university was one three such institutions (others at
Granada, Cdiz and Seville) founded by the Umayyad Moors, when Spain was under Islamic rule. Crdoba
University was re-founded in 1972.

68. 10 oldest university libraries in Eastern Europe

1. Charles University Library, Prague (Knihovna Univerzita Karlova v Praze). Czech Republic. Founded 1348.
2. J agiellonian University Library, Krakw (Biblioteka Universytet Jagielloski). Poland. 1364. Until the end of the
1930s, the main library of the J agiellonian University was once situated in the 15th century building known as
Collegium Maius. This old library building is today the second oldest surviving university library building in Eastern
Europe. Collegium Maius is now part of the J agiellonian University Archives and Museum. The J agiellonian
University as has the largest collection of incunabula in Eastern Europe.
3. Pcs University Library, Hungary (Knyvtr Pcsi Egyetem). 1367.
4. Comenius University of Bratislava Library, Slovakia (Univerzita Knjinica Komenskeho v Brastislave). 1465.
5. Palacky University Library. Olomouc (Knihovna Univerzita Palackho v Olomouchi). Czech Republic. 1566
6. Eotvos Lorand University Library (Knyvtr Etvs Lornd Egyetem). Budapest, Hungary. 1561.
7. Vilnius University Library (Biblioteka Universitas Vilnensis). Lithuania. 1570.

45.tif
The old J agiellonian library building (Collegium Maius) in Krakow, Poland, contains mostly rare manuscripts and
incunabula. The new library building is featured at entry 245.

8. Edward Kardelja University Library, Ljubljana (Edvarda Kardelja Knjinica Univerza v Ljubljani). Slovenia. 1595. It
is part of the National and University Library of Slovenia.
9. Ivan Franko State University Library, Lviv, Ukraine. 1661.
10. Zagreb National and University Library (Nacionalna i Sveuilina Knjinica u Zagrebu). Croatia. 1669.

Notes. Knigsberg University was founded in 1544, but it was destroyed in the Second World War. A new
university called Kaliningrad University was opened in 1967. Kaliningrad region is a Russian territory (enclave)
between Lithuania and Poland; in historic times it was part of the German enclave of East Prussia, and its main
city Knigsberg is todays Kalingrad City. The Gdansk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences was founded
in 1596.

69. 15 other significant earl y university libraries in Western Europe
1. Coimbra University Library, Portugal (Biblioteca Universidade de Coimbra). Founded 1290.
2. Lisbon University Library, Portugal (Biblioteca Universidade de Lisboa). 1291.

46.tif
New modern buildings of Lisbon University Library in Portugal, the second oldest in university library in Portugal.

3. University of Vienna Library, Austria (Universittbibliothek Wien). 1365. It is the oldest university in German-

speaking parts of Europe (Germany, Austria and Switzerland).
4. Louvain (Leuven) Catholic University Library, Belgium (Katholieke Universiteitbibliotheek Leuven /Universit
Catholique de Louvain). 1425.
5. University of Basel Library, Switzerland (Universittbibliothek Basel). 1460.
6. Uppsala University Library, Sweden (Bibliotek Uppsala Universitet). 1477.
Notes. The library is the oldest in Scandinavia and contains the famous 6th century A.D. Codex Argenteus the
oldest surviving fragment in from the 4th century A.D. texts of Bishop Ulfilas translations of the Bible in Latin into
the Old German Gothic language.
7. University of Copenhagen Library, Denmark (Bibliotek Kbenhavns Universitet). 1482.
8. University of Zrich Library, Switzerland (Universittbibliothek Zrich). 1523.
9. University of Bern Library, Switzerland (Universittbibliothek Bern). 1528.
10. University of Lausanne Library, Switzerland (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Lausanne) 1537. It is the oldest and
largest French-speaking university library in Switzerland.
11. Pontifical Gregorian University Library. Rome. Vatican City (Biblioteca Pontifica Universit Gregoriana). 1553.
12. University of Geneva Library, Switzerland (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Genve) 1559.
13. Leiden State University Library, the Netherlands (Universiteitbibliotheek Leiden). 1575.
14. Amsterdam University Library, the Netherlands (Universiteitbibliotheek Amsterdam). 1578.
15. University of Utrecht Library, the Netherlands (Universiteitbibliotheek Utrecht). Founded 1584.

70. 5 oldest university l ibraries in the Africa
N.B. This list excludes libraries in Morocco and Egypt. See list 73.
1. Fourah Bay College Library, Free Town (Sierra Leone University). Founded 1828 by the British Church
Missionary Society, CMS.
Because of its educational links with Durham University in the U.K., meaning its qualifications were recognized by
the U.K. and hence elsewhere in Europe, many leading African academics and politicians based in Africa, who had
earned a degree from the middle 19th century up to the 1950s, were graduates from Fourah Bay College, or to a
lesser extent Monrovia University. Both were the only major educational institutions in the region (with the exception
of North and South Africa) at that period of time. Hence Fourah Bay College became one of the four leading centres
for intellectual activity in Africa between the 1830s and 1950s (the three others being the universities in Egypt
,Morocco and South Africa). There were some instances of African students at European universities before the
1800s. For instance according to the renowned historian Basil Davidson (check ur books for source )in 1733 at the
Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, African student Anton Wilhelm Amo originally (from what is today
modern Ghana) obtained a PhD in law. Wikipedia claims that he was the first African known to have attended a
European university. Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg also establsiehd an annual Anton Wilhelm Amo
Prizeinhis honor. From the 1960s when several sub-Saharan African countries started to become independent and
set up their indigenous universities offering internationally recognized degrees, the link with Durham University was

no longer necessary and was finally ended in the late 1960s. The University of London administered the awarding of
degrees for the University of Ghana from 1948 and several other universities in Sub-Saharan Africa until the 1970s.
The most famous and first graduate of Fourah Bay University was Samuel Ajai Crowther, who went to become the
first African bishop in the 1830s. The second graduate, Henry Carr, became the first African senior civil servant in
the colonial administration of Africa from the 1920s.
2. Cape Town University Library, South Africa. 1829.
3. Monrovia University Library, Liberia. 1851.
4. Orange Free State University Library, Bloemfontein, South Africa. 1855.
6. University of South Africa, Pretoria 1873.
5. University of Algiers Library, Algeria (Bibliothque de lUniversit dAlger). 1880.
7. Orange Free State University Library, Bloemfontein, South Africa. 1855.
8. Gordon Memorial University Library, Khartoum, Sudan. 1902. It began as a college set up by Field Marshall
Herbert Kitchener after the British conquest of Sudan in 1898.
9. Rhodes University Library, Grahamstown, South Africa. 1904.
10. University of Natal Library, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, and the University of Pretoria Library, South Africa.
Both founded 1908

Notes. There were no further universities founded in sub-Saharan Africa from 1922 (Witwatersrand University,
Johannesburg, South Africa) until the 1948 (University of Ghana, Accra). Another Sudanese University was
founded in 1912 (Omdurman Islamic University), but it only received university status in 1965. Makere
University (Uganda) was originally established in 1922 but between 1963 and 1970, it was reorganised and its
founding date in now given as 1970. The earliest university library founded in subSaharan Africa was probably
that of Sankore University in Timbuktu (Tombouctou), in modern day Mali, as part of the Sankore Mosque. It
was an Islamic university set up in the 14th century by King Mansa Musa, when Timbuktu, a town originally
founded by the Berber Tuaregs from Morocco in the 11th century, was part of the Malian Empire (which
flourished between the 10
th
century and the 1460s). Sankore University was later under the Songhai Empire
from the 1460s. The university was destroyed in 1593 by an invasion of Spanish mercenary forces employed by
Morocco, and the extensive Arabic manuscripts in the library were transported back to Moroccan libraries in
Fez. In 1999 an American scholar, Professor John O. Hunwick discovered some remnants of manuscripts and
other relics that once belonged to Sankore University Library. They had been written by 16th century academic
called Mahmoud Kati. His descendants had been safely kept the manuscripts from generation to generation.
While many of the 600 year old manuscripts were written in Arabic, but some were actually written in the local
Fulani language, using the Arabic script and making them some of the earliest texts in an African language,
(see the notes on entry 137), There are now ongoing efforts to use modern technology to preserve the
manuscripts as so many are rotting away.
Alongside Sankore University, two other early (but less prominent) universities founded in Timbuktu were
Djinguereber (Jingarayber), and Sidi Yahia university built in the early 15th century. Another group of West
African Berber-founded towns called Chinguetii and Quandane, in the Adrar region of Mauritania were both the
sites of 15th century Islamic educational institutions. And they had the second most prominent Islamic libraries
in West Africa, after the one at Sankore University. The cultural significance of these ancient libraries as
prominent centres of learning in West Africa, contributed to Timbuktu, Chinguetii and Quandane being part of
the UNESCO World Heritage List. Finally, the oldest city in Sub-Saharan Africa, Jenne-Jeno (founded circa 200
BC in modern day Mali???????) once had a famous mosque (with a large library) built in the 15
th
century,
However the mosque fell into ruin in the 19
th
century.

Comment [GO5]: Replace

47.tif
Fourah Bay College in Free Town is the oldest academic institution in sub-Saharan Africa. This photograph
shows one of the earlier college buildings, (housing the library) which was destroyed in 1997 during the civil war.
A new building was constructed a few years later.

71. 20 oldest university libraries in the Americas
1. Santo Domingo Autonomous University Library, Dominican Republic (Biblioteca de la Universidad Autnoma de
Santo Domingo). Founded in 1538.
Notes. The University was founded by Papal Bull of Pope Paul III. The present library building dates from 1927.
Not surprisingly Santo Domingo, founded in 1496, is the oldest city in the Americas founded by European
explorers. Its cathedral has the tomb of Christopher Columbus, although the Seville Cathedral in Spain also
claims it has the remains of the great explorer.
2. St. Nicholas of Hidalgo Michoacn University Library, Morelia, Mexico (Biblioteca de la Universidad Michoacana
de San Nicols de Hidalgo). 1549.
3. Mexico National Autonomous University Library, Mexico City, Mexico (Biblioteca de la Universidad Nacional
Autnoma de Mxico). 1551.
Notes. Spanish King Charles I (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) founded the university. It was closed in 1810,
during the Mexican War of Independence. Re-opening in 1910, eventually its library becoming part of the
National Library of Mexico.
4. St Mark (San Marcos) National University Library, Lima, Peru (Biblioteca de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de
San Marcos). 1552. Oldest University in South America.
5. St Thomas (Santo Tomas) University Library, Bogot, Columbia (Biblioteca Universidad Santo Toms). 1580.
6. Ecuador Central University Library, Quito (Biblioteca Universidad Central del Ecuador). 1586.
7. Puebla Autonomous University Library, Mexico (Biblioteca de la Universidad Autnoma de Puebla). 1598.
Notes. Puebla also has the oldest existing non-academic library building in Latin America, founded in 1645 (see
World Records for Library Buildings).
8. Crdoba National University Library, Argentina (Biblioteca de la Universidad Nacional de Crdoba). 1615.
9. Yucatan Autonomous University Library, Mrida, Mexico (Biblioteca de la Universidad Autnoma de Yucatan).
1624.
10. San Francisco Xavier Royal Pontifical University Library, Sucre, Bolivia (Biblioteca de la Universidad Real y
Pontificia de San Francisco Xavier). 1625.
11. J esuit College Library, Quebec City, Canada (Bibliothque de lUniversit Jesuit). 1635.
Notes. Technically Jesuit College is not a full university; the next three oldest universities in Canada are the
University of Laval, Quebec City which was originally founded in 1663; the University of New Brunswick in
Fredericton, founded in 1785 and St. Marys University in Halifax, which was founded in 1803.

12. Harvard University Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. 1636

13. Rosario University Library, Bogot, Columbia (Biblioteca Universidad del Rosario). 1653.

14. William & Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia , U,S. 1693


15. Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut. 1701.

Notes. Most Brazilian universities were founded in the 20th century, but the oldest university is the Pelotas
Federal University in southern Brazil, founded in 1883. The very first academic library to be established in the U.S.
was a library set up in 1620, in Henrico, Virginia (just after the Pilgrims on board the ship Mayflower landed in
Plymouth). A gift from Thomas Burgrave, this library was part of an early abortive plan to set up a college in Virginia.
See entry 382 for the list of the 4 oldest U.S. libraries founded in the 1600s.

72. 20 oldest university libraries in the Asia
1. Hunan University Library, Changsha, China, Founded A.D. 976. The university dates back to time it was known
as the Yuelu Academy during the Song dynasty. Changsha is located the basin of the Yellow River, the location
scholars say is the cradle of Chinese civilization.
Notes. Chinese leader Mao Zedong was born in Changsha and was also a student at the university, before
working as a librarian at Beijing University Library.
2. Sungkyunkwan University Library, Seoul, South Korea, 1398. Founded as a Buddhist university.

3. Pontifical Santo Toms University Library, Manila, the Philippines. 1611.

Notes. Another Filipino university library, San Carlos University Library in Cebu City was founded in 1595, but it
gained university status in 1948, after being closed in 1769 when Jesuits were expelled from the Philippines,
and re-opening in 1783.
4. Ryukoku University Library, Kyoto, J apan. 1639. Oldest University in J apan.
5. Sydney University Library, Australia. 1850.
J oint 6th. Calcutta (Kolkata), Bombay (Mumbai), and Madras (Chennai) university libraries (all in India), and
Padjadjaran University Library, Bandung, Indonesia (Perpustakaan Universitas Padjadjaran). 1857.
7. Keio University Library, Tokyo, J apan. 1858.
8. Hokkaido University Library, Sapporo, J apan. 1876.

J oint 9th. Waseda University Library, Tokyo, J apan and Punjab University Library, Lahore, Pakistan. Both founded
1882.

10. Yonsei University Library, Seoul, South Korea. 1885

University of Melbourne 1853
University of Adelaide 1874
University of Tasmania 1890

University of Otago , New Zealand 1869
American University of Beirut 1866
University of hong Kong 1887.
Meiji University Tokyo 1881
Allahabad university India 1887
University of Tokyo 1684???
University of Beijing 1898


73. 20 oldest university libraries in the Middle East
1. Al-Qarawiyin University Library, Fez, Morocco. (Bibliothque de lUniversit El-Qaraouiyin). Founded circa A.D.
859. See entry 61 for more details.
2. Al-Azhar University Library, Cairo, Egypt. A.D. 985. See also entry 61.
3. Al-Nizamiyah University Library, Baghdad, Iraq. A.D. 1070. See also entry 61.
4. Hacettepe University Library, Ankara, Turkey (Hacettepe niversitesi Ktphane). 1206.
5. Mustansiriya University Library, Baghdad, Iraq. 1233. Founded by Abbasid Caliph al-Mustansir as a Madrasha.
6. Istanbul (Constantinople) University Library, Turkey (Istanbul niversitesi Ktphane). 1455.

Notes. The university was believed to have been founded as Constantinople University by Theodosius II, during
the time Constantinople was part of the Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire around A.D. 430, and re-founded
after Constantinople fell to the Turkish Ottoman Empire led by Sultan Mehmet in 1453.
7. Istanbul Technical University Library, Turkey (Istanbul Teknik niversitesi Ktphane). 1773.
8. J esuit University of St. J oseph Library, Beirut, Lebanon (Bibliothques de lUniversit St-Joseph). 1875
9. American University of Beirut Library, Lebanon (Bibliothque de lUniversit de Beirut dAmricain) 1866. Beirut
also once had an ancient Byzantine university (law college), founded circa 5th century A.D. during the time of
Byzantine emperor J ustinian.
9. University of Rangoon, Burma. 1878.
10. Hebrew University Library, J erusalem, Israel. 1892.
Notes. Although not an educational institute, the Astan Quds Razavi Documentation Centre Library in Mashhad,
Iran is the oldest existing reference library in Iran. It was founded in 1460 and is a prominent research library on
Islam.

Sources and further Reading. The main sources for this section of the book on university and academic
libraries as well as other selected titles are listed as follows:
University library websites.
The World of Learning book
KG Saur book

WORLD RECORDS FOR SPECIALTY LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES
Special libraries are libraries that devote their book collections to one or more specialized subjects such as
medicine, law, humanities and business. As such they are more likely to be found in companies, in research
institutes or other scholarly bodies, or government-funded libraries. Very few are open to members of the public, as
they are primarily for company staff or researchers and members of a research institute. While this section deals
with libraries, there is a section in this book dealing with the largest databases in specialized subjects like law and
medicine (see entries 290 to 350). Hence this book covers for instance in the case of medicine; the largest medical
libraries and the largest medical databases.

74. 10 largest medical and nursing libraries
1. National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. Has over 5 million medical books and over 6500 different
medical serials. Founded in 1836 as the Library of the Surgeon-Generals Office, it is located on the campus of the
National Institutes of Health, which has its own medical library. One of the most widely accepted acquisition guides
used by medical librarians in the U.S when deciding which medical books to purchase, and approved by the U.S.
Medical Library Association, is the Brandon-Hill List, named for the list's compilers Alfred N. Brandon and Dorothy R.
Hill.
2. Russian State Medical Library, Moscow. 3.9 million. Founded in 1923.
3. German National Library for Medicine, Cologne (Deutsche Zentralbibliothek fr Medizin). 1.3 million. Founded in
1908.
48.tif
The German National Library for medicine, based in Cologne is Western Europes largest medical Library.
4. Harvard University Medical School Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. Also known as Francis Countway
Medical Library. 1.1 million. It was founded in 1960.
5. New York Academy of Medicine Library, U.S. 810,200. Founded in 1847.
Notes. It is the largest public medical library in the world.
6. National Academy of Medicine Library, Paris, France (Bibliothque de lAcademie National de Mdicine). 530,000
books. Founded 1762.
7. Yale University Medical School Library, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. 430,000. Also known as the Harvey
Cushing / J ohn Whitney Medical Library.
8. Royal Society of Medicine Library, London, U.K. 413,000 books. Founded 1805. It is the largest postgraduate
biomedical lending library in the U.K.
9. Karolinska Institute Library (Karolinska Institutet Bibliotek), Stockholm, Sweden. It contains more than 360,000
medical books and about 900 medical serials, and is involved in awarding the famous annual Nobel Prize in
Physiology & Medicine. Largest medical library in Scandinavia.
10. National Medical Library, Prague, Czech Republic, Narodni lekarska Knihovna. 115,000 books. Founded in
1949.


Notes. There are also other several large national medical libraries in Europe (which are distinct from the main
national library). The Russian Central Epidemiology Institute, in Moscow has over 4 million volumes but this
figure may include not just books, but also medical reports, microforms, manuscripts and other publications.

The five largest medical libraries in the U.K. are: Royal College of Surgeons Libraries, London and Edinburgh
(founded 1505); the Royal College of Physicians Libraries, London and Edinburgh (founded 1518), the Royal
Society of Medicine Library, London, founded 1805; the National Institute of Medical Research Library, London,
founded 1920 and the British Medical Association Nuffield Library, London, founded in 1832. The combined library
collection of these five libraries is over 2 million medical books and over 7000 different medical serials.
The U.K. Royal College of Nursing Library is the largest nursing library in Europe, with over 60,000 books.

75. Largest medical libraries in Asia
The Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Library, based in Beijing has over 2.8 million books. It was founded
in 1917.

76. Largest medical library Latin America
The Pan American Health Organization, (Organizacao Pan-Americana da Saude), runs the Latin-American
Health Sciences Information Centre or BIREME in So Paulo, Brazil. Founded in 1967 it has over 175,000 books
and 3,500 biomedical journals. Although based in Brazil, library membership is open to all medical researchers and
doctors from Latin America.


77. Largest biomedical and scientific periodicals library
The Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (or CISTI), founded in 1924 in Ottawa, has a huge
serial collection of over 16,000 journals and more than 2 million technical reports. It functions as a Canadas national
science library and also has about 4.3 million books on science, technology and allied subjects. It is also Canadas
foremost publisher of scientific journals and books through the NRC Research Press, its publishing arm and also
operates a huge international electronic journal service called the CISTI catalog.


78. Oldest dental and largest medical school libraries
The University of Maryland Dental School Library in Baltimore, U.S., was founded in 1842 is the oldest in the
world.
Notes. The worlds largest dental library is the American Dental Association Library in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. It
was founded in 1859 and has over 40,000 books on dentistry and 16,000 dental and medical journals. The
British Dental Association Library in London, is the largest dental library in Europe, with over 12,000 books.

The two oldest medical school libraries in the world are, Florence Medical School Library, in Italy, (Biblioteca Scuola
Medica Firenze) founded in 1287, and the Salerno Medical School Library, also in Italy (Biblioteca Scuola Medica

Salernitana), was established in 13th century. In France, Montpellier University Medical School Library was set up in
the 14th century. Pennsylvania University Medical School Library, Philadelphia, U.S., was opened in 1775, and in
1788, the library of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (CPP) was founded. They are both the oldest medical
school libraries in the Americas. The two oldest medical school libraries in Asia are: Calculatt (Kalkota) Medical
College Library, India, founded in 1835. Panaji Medical School Library was set up in Goa in 1845, (a Portuguese
colony till 1961), and now a state in India. Today it is now part of Goa. University. In the U.K., the London Hospital
Medical Library was founded in 1786. It is now part of London University Queen Marys School of Medicine and
Dentistry Library in London. The Royal College of Surgeons Library in Edinburgh was founded in 1505, and the
Royal College of Physicians Library in London was founded in 1518, However both these colleges are not exactly
medical schools, but institutes for qualified surgeons and physicians. However both have the oldest medical libraries
in the U.K.

.
79. Largest pharmaceutical libraries
Based in New York, Pfizer, the worlds largest pharmaceutical company (known for the drug Viagra) also has
the largest pharmaceutical library with over 130,000 titles on subjects such as pharmacy, biochemistry, organic
chemistry and pharmacology. In the U.K., Boots Pharmaceutical Research Library in Nottingham has over 70,000
books, while books in GlaxoSmithKline libraries in the U.K. and overseas total over 95,000.

80. Largest international health library
The library of the World Health Organization Library in Geneva, Switzerland has a collection of over 150,000
medical books, and is open to medical researchers and academics from around the world.

81. Largest library in Europe on deafness and hearing loss
The Royal National Institute for the Deaf Library in London, U.K., which is part of the University College Library
also in London, stocks more than 10,000 books, devoted to deafness, hard of hearing and electronic gadgets to
improve hearing.

82. Largest economics library
The German National Library of Economics in Kiel (Deutsche Zentralbibliothek fr Wirtschaftswissenschaften) is
the largest in the world with over 3 million books and over 10,000 periodicals on all aspects of economics. It was
once a part of the Kiel Institute of World Economics, at the Kiel University in Germany, but both are now two
separate entities. The library of the London School of Economics and Political Science (part of London University),
the second largest in Europe, currently has more than 1 million books and some 28,000 journals. Sidney Webb
founded the library in 1896 as the British Library of Political and Economic Science. The library is the editorial office
of the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, and also has extensive archives on world economics dating
from the 19th century. The Stockholm School of Economics Library in Sweden, founded in 1909, with over 250,000
books, is the largest in Scandinavia.
49.tif
The German National of Economics, based in Kiel is largest economics library in the world
83. Largest geography and geology libraries

The American Geographical Society Library has over 130,000 books. It is based at the University of Wisconsin
Milwaukee Golda Meir Library. Its library holdings extend back as far as second generation vellum copies of the
famous 15th century Rome edition of Greek genius Claudius Ptolemys eight-volume atlas Geographia. This
manuscript had been originally completed in A.D. 150 at the Alexandria Library in Egypt. The oldest original map in
the collection is a world map dating from 1452 and compiled in Italian by the Venetian cartographer Giovanni
Leardo. The Russian Geological Library in St Petersburg, founded in 1880, contains 320,000 books.
In Asia the Chinese Institute of Geography Library in Beijing, owns 95,000 books on all aspects of geography,
the largest such library in Asia. Also in China is the Institute of Oceanology in Qingdao with 110,000 books.
Notes. The Geographia (also known as Cosmographia) was the explorers bible for more than 1000 years after
it was completed. Famous 15th and 16th century sailors such as Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama and
Ferdinand Magellan used the book as a guide for planning their overseas explorations. A mistake in Ptolemys
geographic calculations on the size of the oceans contributed to Columbus believing he was in Asia when in
fact he was in the Americas. See entry 211 for details on how The Geographia was rediscovered in the 15th
century. The Arabs probably were the first to use knowledge gained from the Geographia, to explore the New
World. A Chinese manuscript known as the Sung Document (so called because it was written during the time of
the Chinese Sung dynasty between A.D. 960 and 1279) provides fascinating details of a voyage made in 1178
by Arab sailors from the Philippines to the Americas. This was more than 300 years before the voyage of
Christopher Columbus. The Arab sailors traveled from southern Philippines across the Pacific Ocean and
landed on the coast of what is now California, a land the Chinese called Mu-Lan-Pi, then made a return journey
to the Philippines. Some of the Chinese sailors in the Philippines who were lucky enough to travel with the Arab
sailors to Mu-Lan-Pi, sent word of the feat back to Canton (Guangzhou) the same year, where the Sung
Document originated. Canton (Guangzhou) at that time had a large population of Arab and Asian Muslims
explores and scholars, and the very first mosque in China (Huaisheng) was built there in A.D. 670. The problem
was the Arab sailors made no further voyages to follow up the 1178 voyage, nor did Chinese sailors. And when
the Portuguese and Prince Henry the Navigator began the Iberian age of overseas explorations in the 15th
century that eventually lead to the voyage of Columbus, none of them had ever heard of the Sung Document.
Hence like the insignificance of Leif Erikson and the Norwegian Viking landings in the Americas (Newfoundland)
around A.D. 1000, Columbus remains the official discoverer of the New World in 1492. And credit to the
crossing of the huge 10,000 mile Pacific Ocean, starting from either east of Asia or west of the Americas, goes
to Ferdinand Magellans three-month voyage of 1521 (it takse just under 3 weeks with todays ships). Marco
Polo, the Italian traveler, visited extensively China in the 13th century, but there is no mention of the Sung
Document in his famous story about his travels (see entry 201). Had Columbus or any other European explorers
known about the Sung Document, the history of the Americas would have been very different. The whereabouts
of the Sung Document today are unknown as it may exist today under a Chinese title. Efforts by the author
(during research work for this book in 2006) to see if the manuscript is in the National Library of China, via
emails, drew a blank. However the author was referred to an English book about Chinese explorers. This book
published in 2002, titled 1421: The Year China Discovered America by Gavin Menzies provides documentary
evidence to suggest that in the 15th century Chinese explorer Zheng He circumnavigated the world before
Magellans 1521 voyage. Zheng He also reached the Americas before Columbus did in 1492, starting from the
Chinese coast and traveling eastwards to the coasts of California, (shipwrecks of 15th Chinese vessels have
been found in Sacramento, California). The Sung document could have been one of the numerous sources of
data used by the Chinese explorers during the planning of the 1421 voyage. But we can never be certain about
this for sure. But Menzies book does mention 3 manuscripts written in 1178,1225 and 1349 by Chinese
scholars, using data obtained from Chinese explorers of the day, about the geography of the world. The
manuscript written in 1225 (i.e. during the Sung dynasty) was titled Zhu Fan Zhi by Zhao Rru Kua. The book has
information on the discovery of foreign-looking peoples (not Europeans) on far away lands in waters east of
China. Could these foreign-looking peoples be the first evidence of American Indians living in what is today the
Californian coast or perhaps first evidence of Pacific Ocean islanders? Could this book written in 1225 be
related to the Sung Document? Is it the Sung Document?. Documentary evidence of the Moslems being first to
use knowledge gained from the Geographia also exists. For instance In 1340, Persian writer Hamdollah
Mostowfi produced a world map based solely on Claudius Ptolemys atlas.

84. Largest library in the Middle East devoted to oil exploration
With the Middle East having very large petroleum deposits, many libraries there have important book collections

on oil exploration, refining and petrochemical engineering. The King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
Library in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (founded 1963), is the largest of its kind in the Middle East and currently has over
380,000 books covering chemical engineering and petroleum production among others.
Notes. The university was established by the well-known former Saudi Oil Minister Sheik Ahmed Yamani with
the help of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University and the American University in
Beirut, Lebanon.

85. Largest engineering libraries
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering library at the University of Illinois in the U.S. (Grainger
Engineering Library Information Center) has the largest university engineering library in the Americas. There are
currently over 300,000 books. The university also has the largest chemistry library in the world. The largest
mechanical engineering library in the world is the library of the American Society for Mechanical Engineers or ASME
(founded in 1880 in New York), with about 200,000 books. The largest electrical engineering library in the world
belongs to the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering). Set up in 1884, it has over 220,000 books.
The IEEE, based in Piscataway, New J ersey, in the U.S., also publishes about 35% of the total books in the world
on electronics and electrical and computer engineering. Based close to the Sorbonne University of Paris in France,
the cole Polytechnique Library has the second largest collection of general engineering books in Europe, with over
133,000 books at the last count. It was founded in 1796. Established in 1820, the Institution of Civil Engineers
Library in London, U.K., has the largest library for civil and structural engineers in Europe, housing some 100,000
titles. In Asia, the largest collection of books on engineering is at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Library in
Beijing.
Notes. The libraries of the five major engineering societies in the world (outside Europe) comprising the IEEE,
the ASME, the ASCE (American Society for Civil Engineers), the AIME (American Institute for Mechanical
engineers) and the AIchE (American Institute for Chemical Engineers) founded the Engineering Societies
Library or ESL in 1915. The combined collections of the ESL, which has been based at the Linda Hall Library in
Kansas City since 1995, number over 600,000 volumes. This makes the Linda Hall Library the largest (privately-
funded) engineering and technology library in the world.

86. Largest genealogy l ibrary
The Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. is the largest in the world. Part of the Mormon Church of
J esus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it has over 300,000 books, 2.4 million rolls of microfilms and over 2 billion names
in its databases. It was founded in 1894 as part of the library of the Genealogical Society of Utah.

87. Largest music library
U.S. Library of Congress Music Division, Washington, D.C., founded in 1897, has about 1.4 million books all on
all aspects of music. It also has the largest collection of sound recordings in the world. The Eastman School of
Music at the University of Rochester in New York, has the largest music library in an academic library. Its Sibley
Music Library has over 750,000 books and other items. The William and Gayle Cook Music Library, Indian
University, Bloomington has over 500,000 books.

88. Largest poetry library
Founded in 1953, the Poetry Library based at the Royal Festival Hall in London, U.K., is the largest of its kind in
the world devoted to modern poetry, with over 95,000 books.


89. Largest film and television library in Europe
The British Film Institute Library in London provides access to over 40,000 books on film and television in
English and fifteen or more other languages. In addition it holds 5000 periodical titles, dating back to the earliest
years of cinema in the 19th century. The Library of Congress National Film Registry has ????????? The British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Library in London has the largest audio-visual library collection in Europe. In-
between the 1950s and 1970s, many old BBC material in the archives were destroyed after a periof of time until a
policy of preserving such old archives was implemented in he late 1970s. Reuters, AFP, Xinha and AP, leading
news agencies around the world, as well as large newspaper titles worldwide also have large audio-visual libraries.
Notes. The University of California, Los Angeles, has the largest collection of film and television programs in a
university (the earliest is from the year 1890), this is not surprising as the university is close to Hollywood. The
worlds largest collection of U.S. and foreign produced films are in the U.S. Library of Congress. It includes the
oldest existing motion pictures, made by Thomas Edison, and the Pathe and Lumiere brothers in the 1890s.
While libraries are busy replacing acid-based books with alkaline-based books (see entry 142), audio-visual
libraries are also busy replacing their old nitrate-based films with acetate-based films as nitrate-based films
deteriorate quicker over time. Films made before the 1950s were mostly nitrate-based.

90. Largest sound archives
The British Librarys National Sound Archive has over 1 million disks and over 150,000 tape recordings of sounds.
This is the largest such collection in Europe.
91. Largest agriculture libraries
The U.S. National Agricultural Library, in Washington, D.C., which is part of the agricultural research service of
the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has more than 3.5 million books. It was founded in 1862. The Russian Academy
of Agricultural Sciences Library, in Moscow (Rossiskaya Akademiya Selskokhozyaistvennyjk Nauk) has over 3
million books and periodicals. It was founded in 1930. The largest agricultural library in Western Europe is the David
Lubin Memorial Library, which is based at the headquarters of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in
Rome, Italy. The library currently has over 1.2 million books, and was founded in 1952. The largest agricultural
libraries in Asia are; the library of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAD). Established in 1957 in
Beijing, it has over 690,000 books. The J apanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Library (Norin
Suisansho Toshokan) stocks over 310,000 books. Meanwhile the Chinese Institute of Soil Science Library in Beijing
has 115,000 books.

92. Largest botany and zoology library
The Zoological Society of London Library in the U.K. has over 200,000 books and is the largest of its kind in the
world. This is also the largest library in a zoo, as the Zoological Society of London Library is based in the famous
London Zoo. The largest library on aquatic sciences and fisheries in Europe is the National Marine Biological
Library, in Plymouth, U.K. Founded 1887, the library has over 14,000 books. In Asia, the Kunming Institute of
Zoology Library in China is the largest zoology library, with about 150,000 books. The Chinese Institute of History of
Natural Sciences Library contains over 113,000 books.
The library of the New York Botanical Gardens in the U.S. (called the LuEsther T. Mertz Library) possesses
more than 300,000 books, making it the largest botany library. The largest botany library in Europe is at Berlin Free
University in Germany. It Botanical Museum Library has 120,000 books. The largest library on plant and horticulture
in the Europe is the Royal Botanical Gardens Library, Kew, London, U.K. The library contains over as about 75,000
books and 4,000 periodicals. It was set up in 1852.


93. Largest science library
The German National Library of Science and Technology (Die Technische Informationsbibliothek or TIB) is a
specialist library for all areas of technology and its fundamental sciences, especially chemistry, computer science,
mathematics and physics. It is the world's largest specialist library in science. The holdings of the joint German
National Library of Science and Technology and University Library Hannover comprise a total of 8.2 million volumes,
microforms and CD-ROMs as well as subscriptions to 21,000 general and specialist journals. Of these,
approximately 18,000 are technical and scientific journals. There is also 1.2 million media units as well as 3,000
journals concerning the arts and social sciences. The holdings also contain conference reports, research reports,
patent specifications, norms, standards, dissertations as well as Eastern European and East Asian specialist
literature.

94. Largest military libraries
The largest military libraries tend to be either those administered by government departments, or the military
libraries attached to military colleges or academies. The 5 largest government department libraries, or non academic
military libraries are:
1. Library of the Central House of the Russian Army, Moscow, Russia (Biblioteka tsentral'nogo doma Rossiiskoi
Armii), 5.6 million books. Formerly called Library of the Central House of the Soviet Army (up to 1991). Founded in
??
2. British Ministry of Defense Library, Whitehall, London, 750,000 books. Founded in 1964. The extensive collection
includes books from the ministrys famous predecessor, the former War Office Library (1684 to 1963).
3.The Pentagon Library, Department of Defense, Washington D.C. 155,000 books. Founded in 1944. The Defense
Departments more expensive library is at the National Security Agency (see entry 112).
4. French Defense Ministry Library, Paris (Bibliothque Ministrie de la Dfense), dates back to the 16th century.
186,000 books.
5. German Federal Defense Ministry Library, Bonn (Bibliothek Bundesministerium der Verteidigung, founded in
1955. 130,000 books.
The two largest military libraries in Latin America are: Central Library of the Navy (Biblioteca Central de la Armada)
in Buenos Aires, Argentina, founded in 1914, with over 110,000 books. The Brazilian Army Library (Biblioteca do
Exercito) in Rio J aneiro, founded in 1881, has just over 91,000 books.
The five largest academic or military college libraries in the world are:
1. The combined collections of the three U.S. military academies at West Point in New York, Annapolis in Maryland
(Naval Academy) and Colorado Springs in Colorado (Air Force Academy). 3.2 million.
2. Air University Library, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, U.S. 2.6 million. Founded in 1946.
3. National Defense University Library, Fort McNair, Washington, D.C. 500,000. Founded in 1982.
4. Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, Library, Camberley, U.K. 321,000.
Notes. The Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, was formed in 1947 as the successor to the Royal Military
Academy, Woolwich, founded in 1741, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, founded in 1801. Established

in 1875, the Institution of Royal Engineering Library in Brompton Barracks, Chatham, has over 40,000 books on
military engineering. The Joint Services Command and Staff College Library in Shrivenham is the second
largest military library in the U.K.
5. Royal Military College Library (Bibliothque Ecole Militaire), Paris, France. 180,000. Founded in 1751.
Notes. Napoleon Bonaparte made good use of books at the library of the Royal Military College Library in Paris
while he was a student there. He completed his military training in 1784, and was commissioned as a second
lieutenant.

50.tif
Bibliothque Ecole Militaire in Paris, Frances largest military library was founded by French King Louis XV.

95. Largest library prison libraries
According to the U.S. J ustice Department, Bureau of J ustice Statistics, the largest prison libraries for the 2.5
million inmates in the U.S. in 2006, are at Cook County J ail in Chicago (Illinois) and Los Angeles County J ail
(California). Europes largest, Fleury-Mrogis Prison located in the French city of ????, has several libraries,
managed by ???. The three largest prison libraries in the U.K. are at Wandsworth (largest), Liverpool and Brixton
prisons. A library is a legal statutory requirement in the U.K.s 139 prisons. The Prison Service College Library in
Wakefield has over 210,000 books on penology, criminology etc. The library also holds official prison reports for the
U.K. going back to 1835. See entry 201 for details of famous and infamous people who wrote bestsellers while
serving a prison sentence.


96. Largest law libraries
Harvard University Law Library was founded in 1817, the same year as the law school. It is the worlds largest
law library, with about 2.5 million law books, manuscripts and other library items such as legal gazettes and
periodicals, and is also the oldest university law library in the U.S.
Notes. The U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., is the second largest law library in the world, as it has
more than 2 million law books. Columbia University Law Library is the third largest in the U.S with approximately
800,000 volumes, followed by New York University Law Library with 710,000 books, (5th largest in the world)
The largest law library on the Internet is www.lawresearch.com, which has over 1 million legal Internet
resources. The largest law library in Canada is York Universitys Osgoode Hall Law School Library in Toronto. It
was founded in 1889 and its collections total over 400,000 books. This also makes it the largest law library of
the Commonwealth countries.

The largest law library in Europe is the Cujas Library (Bibliothque Cujas) which is part of the Sorbonne University of
Paris, France. There are over 130,000 books in the library.
In the U.K. apart from the British Librarys law collection, the 15th century Lincolns Inn law library in London
(oldest of the four Inns of Court law libraries for U.K. lawyers), has about 180,200 law books. Oxford University
Bodleian Law Library has the largest collection of academic law books in the U.K. (200,000 titles).
The largest law library in Asia is Chinas Tsing Hua University Law School Library in Beijing. It currently holds
just over 110,000 books
Notes. So valuable were the majority of law books in Lincolns Inn Law Library that they were all secured by
chains in the library until 1771.


51.tif
The Inns of Court law libraries in the U.K. was once the largest chained law library in the world


97. Largest art library
Based in New York, the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library is the largest in the world with more than
250,000 books and about 1,300 periodicals. Established in 1890, its book collection is diverse, encompassing
architecture, art history, painting, sculpture, graphic arts, and archaeology. The National Art Library in London is the
largest in Europe with over 170,000 books and manuscripts. At the Smithsonian Institution of Archives of American
Art in San Marino, California, the Huntington Library has the largest collection of books about the history of visual
arts. It was founded in 1954. The Russian State Art Library in Moscow is he second largest in Europe with over
100,000 books.

98. Largest libraries in Europe with specialized collections of books on Africa
1. London University School of African and Oriental Studies or SOAS, U.K. Founded in 1920 its library has over
850,000 books and 4,500 periodicals, as well as extensive collections of archives and manuscripts written in African
and Asian languages.
2. Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs African Library (Bibliothque Africaine), Brussels. It has over 480,000 books,
and was developed from a collection started by King Leopold II in the 1860s.

99. Largest astronomy library
The United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., has over 100,000 books on all topics of astronomy
including space exploration and astrophysics. It was established in 1830.

100. Largest libraries in Europe specializing in education
Comenius Library (Comenius-Bcherei), founded 1871 in Leipzig, Germany has over a 460,000 books on
education and teaching on all levels. Founded in 1902, the Institute of Education Library (part of London University)
has over 300,000 books and more than 2000 periodicals. The largest government library devoted to education is the
U.S. National Library of Education in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1878.


101. Largest social sciences library
The Russian Academy of Sciences Institute for Scientific Information on Social Sciences Library in Moscow, better
known by the acronym INION (Insitut Nauchnoi Informatsii po Obshchestvennym Naukam) has over 12.8 million
books. It was founded in 1969.
Notes. The London School of Economics and Political Science has the second largest collection of books on social
sciences in Europe. The largest history library is at the Russian State Public History Library in Moscow, stocking 3.6
million books. It was founded in 1938. The largest collection of archeological books in a European museum the

Ashmolean Museum Library in Oxford, founded in 1683 with over 180,000 books. The Oriental History Library in
Tokyo (Toyo Bunko) has over 950,000 books, including rare Chinese and J apanese manuscripts, and Western
books on Asia.



53.tif
The London School of Economics and Political Science has the largest social science library in Western Europe


52.tif
The Ashmolean Museum Library in Oxford, U.K. has Europes largest collection of archeological books in a
European museum


102. Largest religious libraries
For information on the earliest religions librars see section onEarliest libraries at list???
CHRISTIANITY
Established in 1969 the Flora Lamson Hewlett Library in Berkeley, California, has over 500,000 books on
Christianity. It is part of the Graduate Theological Union. Based in New York, the American Bible Association
presently has about 44,000 books, including the largest collection of ancient and modern copies of the Bible in
several languages. The largest Christian library in Europe is in the St. Gallen Monastery in eastern Switzerland. The
library, called Stiftsbibliothek, contains over 150,000 books and the monastery, which dates back to the A.D. 719, is
the premiere tourist attraction in the city of St. Gallen and a UNESCO Heritage site.
Notes. The largest publisher of books on Christianity in the world is Thomas Nelson, based in Nashville,
Tennessee, U.S. The largest Christian library in Latin America is the St Benedict Monastery Library (Biblioteca
do Mosteiro de S. Bento) in Rio Janeiro. Founded in 1600, it has over 95,000 books. In the Bible, the word
library (obvious approximate translation from Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin words for library or place to
store books) is only mentioned once. 2
nd
Maccabees, chapter 2, verse 13, talks about the library of Neemais.
This is not to say that just one library existed in the timeline covered by the Bible from a historical point of view
(circa 3000 BC to A.D. 100, covering the periods from the Book of Genesis to Book of Revelation). An
explanation is the fact that the Bible covers mostly religious, inspirational and historical context. Libraries and
libary work in those days were more part of academic backgrounds and topics on libraries came up only when
educational subjects were involved. Information on religious libraries (libraries in monasteries and cathedrals)
were deemed not essential to be included in the Bible by authors of the various Bible books. However the word
books occus several times in the Bible (mostly in the New Testament). Before the widespread use of papyrus
and parchment, it was common to write on objects such as wood, clay stone etc (i.e. inscriptions). The word
inscription occurs just now once, at the famous verse concerning the Unknown Godat the Acts, chapter 17,
verse 23. The Apostle St Paul, while travelling near Mars Hill, somewhere in Athens, Greece, gave his
Areopagus speech and talks about finding at altar with the inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Pieter Willem
van der Horst in the book Hellenism, J udaism, Christianity: essays on their interaction, mentions that the short
inscription in Greek was most probably referring to the Greek deity known as Agnostos Theos and St Paul was
using this inscription to drive home his point against the worship of idols in ancient Greece.


ISLAM
The largest non-academic Islamic libraries are in the Al-Mutawakki Mosque, Samarra, Iraq; Shah Faisal
Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan; and the Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. Hartford Seminary Library,
founded in 1834, probably has the largest Islamic library in the U.S. The collections (totaling over 75,000 volumes)
include hundreds of rare Arabic and Islamic manuscripts and a collection of thousands of books and other materials
from the personal library of D. B. Macdonald, at one time the premier Arabist in the U.S. The Hartford Seminary is
also one of the largest official U.S. repositories for all materials published in the Middle East. The library of the
Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions, founded in 1972, in Carmel, New York has over 70,000 books on
the 5 major religions in Asia.

BUDDHISM
The library of the Sakya Buddhist Monastery in Shigate, Tibet, is the largest in the world with over 46,000
books, including thousands of sutras (teachings and discourses of the Buddha). The monastery itself was originally
founded in A.D. 1073 by Khon Konchog Gyalpo. Shigate is the seat of the Panchen Lama, the highest spiritual
Buddhist authority, below the rank of the Dalai Lama. The largest Buddhist library outside Tibet is the Tawang
Buddhist Monastery Library in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh in India. It is also over 300 years old.
Notes. Buddhist libraries in Thailand (which are the largest in numbers, outside China and Japan) are called ho
trai.

J UDAISM

The largest J ewish libraries in the world are the Hebrew University Library, J erusalem, Israel, the J ewish
Theological Seminary of America Library in New York, the Bibliothque de Alliance Isralite Universelle, Paris,
France, and the Budapest Synagogue Library in Hungary.

HINDUIHISM
The largest Hinduism libraries are at the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu Nepal, and the Tirupati-Tirumala
Temple of Sri Venkateswara (Balaji), Andhra Pradesh, India.
103. Largest library in the U.K. devoted to women and children
The Womens Library, with over 60,000 volumes, based in Londons Whitechapel, was founded in 1927, when it
was located in London Guildhall University. The library collection include books on past and present famous women
who have made important contributions to U.K. society, and is the most extensive of such a collection in the U.K.
Incidentally, the only womens lending library in the U.K. is the Glasgow Womens Library. In Russia, the St
Petersburg Children's Library is the largest of its kind in the world. It opened in 1982.

54.tif
The Womens Library in London is a special library devoted only to issues facing women in the U.K society, it library
collections among others includes books on the most famous women in the U.K. over the last few centuries.

104. Largest collection of Shakespeares printed works
The Folger Shakespeare Library, founded in 1930 in Washington, D.C., has more than 300,000 books. Henry
Clay Folger, who had an intellectual passion for buying rare books on Shakespeare, founded the library.

105. Oldest and largest national archives

The growth of archives for the preservation of state and commercial documents started in Europe during the
late Renaissance period. The Vatican Archives in Rome (Archivio Segreto Vaticano) dates back to 1611 (some
archives however date further back to the 4th century A.D. collections of Pope Damascus), while the Swedish
Chancery Archives was set up in 1618. However, Europes first modern state archives was the French National
Archives (Archives Nationales de France), established in 1789. It was also the first to use microfilm to archive
documents. The largest modern archives is the U.S. National Archives in Washington D.C. Europes 2 largest
archives are The Vatican Archives in Rome and the General Archives of Simancas, in Spain.

Notes. In 2004, Canada broke library tradition by merging its National Library with its National Archives. Most
countries normally have these two institutions as separate entities. One of the holdings in the Vatican Archives
most sought after by scholars are the files pertaining to the Inquisition, which were not available for research
until 1998, when the Vatican Archives permitted limited access to the Inquisition files.

55.tif
The first modern archives, is the French National Archives in Paris.


106. Oldest national archives in the Americas
The National Archives of Argentina was set up in Buenos Aires in 1821.
Notes. The National Archives of Mexico dates back to 1790, but was not officially opened until 1900.

107 Oldest national archives in the Middle East
The National Archives of Egypt has been in existence since 1828.

108. Oldest national archives in Asia
The National Archives of India was set up in 1891.

109. Oldest national archives in Africa
This appears to be the National Archives of Angola, set up by the Portuguese colonial government in 1654 (an
earlier smaller archive had been founded in 1603, but was destroyed by the Dutch in 1641). In the 1970s a new
archive was established after Angola gained independence.

Sources and further Reading. The main sources for this section of the book on national archives and
subscription libraries as well as other selected titles are listed as follows:
The World of Learning book
KG Saur book

MISCELLANEOUS WORLD RECORDS FOR LIBRARIES
110.
50 major libraries that have suffered devastating fires or natural disasters
ARRANGE IN CHORNICAL ORDER OK)
1. Alexandria Library, Egypt. The collection of 750,000 parchment and papyrus scrolls of the greatest library of the
ancient world was destroyed with fire by an Arab army led by Arab general Amr Ibn-al-As in A.D. 638 on the orders
of Caliph Omar I in Mecca, after surviving two earlier devastating fires. Caliph Omar was said to have justified the
burning of the library by quoting the famous words, if the writings of the Greeks in the library agree with the Koran
they are unnecessary and need not be preserved, but if they disagree they are blasphemy and will be destroyed
So either way the Alexandria Library lost out and was thus destroyed. One of two other earlier fires to devastate the
library was started by J ulius Caesar in 47 BC, when he got involved in a political struggle between Queen Cleopatra
and her younger brother Ptolemy XIII. A brand new Alexandria library was opened in 2002.

56.tif
The ancient Greek Alexandria Library in Egypt, before it was destroyed by fire in A.D. 638

2. Harvard University Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Suffered a devastating fire in 1764, which destroyed over
90% of its collection of books (it was the largest library in the original 13 colonies in the 17th and 18th century at that
time). Luckily donations rebuilt the library to its original size in just two years. The British, in charge of the colonies,
did not start the fire, as it would be another 12 years before the American Revolution. Today Harvard University
Library is the largest university library in the world.
3. U.S. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. It was burnt down in 1814 by British forces during a brief war
between the U.S. and the U.K. over Canada and the sea trade. And in 1851, another fire caused by a faulty chimney
flue destroyed over 30,000 books.
4. Lomonosov Moscow State University Library, Russia. In 1812 as the invading army of Napoleon Bonaparte from
France marched onto Moscow, locals there set fire to the city, and in the ensuring inferno the university library was
among buildings obliterated. Even when the library was rebuilt, it was further damaged during the Second World
War. But its collections were again rapidly rebuilt at such a pace that today it is the largest university library in
Europe.
5. Russian Academy of Sciences Library, St. Petersburg, Russia. The largest fire to damage a major library in the
20th century happened here in February 1988. Nearly 2 million books were destroyed as well as a third of the
newspaper holdings.
6. National library of Finland, Helsinki. When this library was based in the old Finnish capital of Turku (bo), as the
Helsinki University Library, much of it was destroyed by fire in 1827. The library was moved to Helsinki in 1828 and
rebuilt from scratch.
7. British Library, London. Over 250,000 books were lost in 1941 during the Second World War, when German
incendiary bombs started fires that forced the library to close until 1946.

8. Belize libraries. In 1931 an unnamed hurricane wrecked devastating havoc by destroying all libraries in this
central American state.
9. Louvain (Leuven) Catholic University Library, Belgium. The library was destroyed completely twice as a result of
the two World Wars, first in 1915, and the second time in 1940, in both instances due to invasion by the German
army. As a result the university library had to be rebuilt twice.
10. National Library of Algeria, Algiers. It was rebuilt in 1962, after a huge fire set by OSS (French organization
opposed to the granting of independence to Algeria) destroyed the library.
11. Hamburg University Speersort Library, Germany. Totally destroyed during the Second World War. It was one of
several large German libraries to suffer devastation in the war, which included the Berlin State Library and the
Bavarian State Library in Munich.
12. Copenhagen University Library, Denmark. It was rebuilt from scratch, when its entire collection was destroyed in
the fire of 1728 in Copenhagen.
13. National Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo. The library (which dates back to the time Sarajevo was
part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire) was razed to the ground by Bosnian-Serb forces during the 19921995 civil
war, which forces also destroyed the library of the Oriental Institute containing irreplaceable rare manuscripts.
14. National Library of Cambodia. Phnom Penh. Troops of Pol Pots Khmer Rouge forces wrecked the library in
1975, forcing it to close until 1980, when Vietnamese troops (who invaded Cambodia in 1978) drove the Khmer
Rouge out of the countrys urban areas.
15. Ambrosian Library, Milan, Italy. During the liberation of Italy by Allied forces during the Second World War, the
library was severely damaged by fire, and a large number of rare manuscripts were lost forever.
16. Chicago Public Library. U.S. In 1871 the Great Chicago Fire destroyed what was the predecessor of the Chicago
Public Library, a subscription library. This older Chicago library was not huge, (its total book collections was under
50,000 at the time). But the destruction of the library was what gave rise to the founding of the Chicago Public
Library in 1873. Because appeals for donation of books by descendants of Chicagoans living in Europe, who heard
news about the fire, caused so many donated books to be sent to Chicago, legislators in the city had to pass an Act
to establishing the Chicago Public Library.
17. Bucharest University Library, Romania. During the 1989 Romanian revolution, the central library was completely
destroyed. Following the overthrow of the communist regime, the library was later rebuilt.
18. Heidelberg University Library was Germanys oldest university library, containing some of the most treasured
manuscripts outside of Italy during the Renaissance. The library was totally destroyed during the War of the Palatine
Succession in 1693.

19. The famous Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar, Germany (a UNESCO World Heritage site), famous for
many medieval manuscripts was burnt down accidentally by sparks from a faulty cable in 2004. Over 50,000 books
were destroyed outright, (many found later to be rare and irreplaceable). A further 60,000 books were severely
damaged with water used to douse the fire. An expensive $20 million restoration project was completed in 2007.
20. In 2003, the Iraqi National Library in Bagdad was burnt down, and in the process priceless 16th to 18th century
Turkish Ottoman manuscripts (dating from the time Bagdad was an important city of the Ottoman Empire), as well
as Sumerian and Babylonian cuneiforms, were lost.
21. Tokyo University Library was destroyed during a massive earthquake in 1923 and later rebuilt, only to be
destroyed again during the Second World War. It was rebuilt again after the war ended.
22. Fourah Bay College Library in Free Town, Sierra Leone is part of the oldest academic institution in sub-Saharan

Africa, as it was founded in 1828. It was thus one of the few most important educational institutes in Africa for many
decades from the 1830s. It was obliterated during the civil war of the early 1990s. It has since been rebuilt.
23. During the 2004 Asian Tsunami, several public, college and school libraries were ruined in Sri Lanka and
Indonesia. After the natural disaster, taskforces were set up with the help of UNESCO and western governments to
rebuild the libraries.
24. In 1755 a massive earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal caused a fire that destroyed the Royal Library (later National
Library of Portugal). Portuguese King Dom J osordered the construction of a new library soon afterwords.
25 It is theorized that the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate and destruction of several cites such as Baghdad during the
1258 Mongolian invasion, put an end to the flourishing Islamic libraries. One such famous library was the House of
Wisdom Library in Baghdfad (see list ???). Thousands upon thoudsnds of mansicripts wewre destroyed by fire by
the Mongolian army of Haguagu Khna ??

Notes. Libraries in the U.S. granted landmark status by local or state government review boards have legal
protection against demolition. A remarkable incident occurred near the end of the Second World War with the
Berlin State Library in Germany in flames. A young Russian soldier called Yuri Knorosov risk serious burning to
randomly snatch two books from the burning library. After the war Knorosov became a Mayan language scholar
after reading and discovering that one of books he had saved at the Berlin library was actually the only surviving
copy of the Madrid Codex in Germany. After university training, Knorosov published a number of research
papers on deciphering Mayan cuneiforms which was translated from Russian by other scholars who realized
Knorosovs work was very essential to the understanding of Mayan inscriptions. During the Sino-Japanese wars
of the 1930s, over 500 libraries were ruined in China. When the Second World War later broke out, the National
Library of China in Beijing, shipped its most rare and irreplaceable books and manuscripts to the U.S. Library of
Congress for safe keeping. After the war, China reclaimed them. Taking a cue from this, the Library of Congress
transferred the Declaration of Independence manuscript to Fort Knox for security reasons, in case the war
spread to the U.S. After the war, it was transferred to the National Archives. Today libraries destroyed by natural
disasters (or accidentally or deliberately such as in times of war) can get extra help in reconstruction with
generous funds made available from both UNESCO and the World Bank. See also entry 213 on book-burning
rituals.,

111. Library with the most branches worldwide
The British Council, the U.K.s international organization for educational and cultural relations, has over 1441
libraries and information centers in 110 countries. The largest library is in Bombay (Mumbai) in India. In Moscow,
Russia there exists the M. I. Rudomini State Library for Foreign Literature founded in 1922. In this case, instead of
having branches all over the world, this library has exchange agreements with over 2000 libraries worldwide in 98
countries for continuous annual supply of a selection of important books published in each country. It thus has over
4.8 million books, making it the library with the largest collection of foreign language books. The library is also
occupies the same buildings housing several large international libraries, such the American Cultural Centre, the
British Council and the French Cultural Centre libraries. It is thus a popular destination for foreign tourists in Moscow
wanting to keep up-to-date with news from home.
Notes. Several countries around the world have similar organizations for promoting educational and cultural
activities in foreign countries. Most notable are the Institut Franais (or Alliance Franais) of France, which has
over 150 branches in more than 50 countries, and the Goethe-Institut of Germany, which has over 128 branches
in 76 countries. Both have over 600 libraries attached to these organizations. The Spanish equivalent of the
above cultural institutions is the Instituto Cervantes, based in Madrid, with branches worldwide.

57.tif

The British Council Library branch in Recife, Brazil. The circles in a square arrangement is the easily
recognized logo of the British Council branches worldwide.

112. Most expensive library
The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) library based at Fort George Mead in Maryland is believed to be more
secure than the CIA, Israeli Mossad, British MI6, French DGSE, and former Russian KGB libraries, in terms of the
huge cost of implementing high-tech security devices and computer systems. These include the worlds most
sophisticated voice recognition systems, as well as retinal and finger print digital scanners, in addition to body heat,
body movement, and sound digital sensors (as seen in the spy films Sneakers, Enemy of the State and Mission
Impossible). The NSA Library collections include several PC terminals linking to a Cray supercomputer system
(used especially for code breaking work), extremely sensitive and classified intelligence publications as well as the
best books written on cryptology (cryptography and cryptoanalysis), bugging devices and eavesdropping. The huge
audio-visual collection includes hundreds of dossiers with (National Reconnaissance Office) Keyhole KH-12, and
Lacrosse-3 spy satellite photographs and 3-dimensional imagery. The library budget has been estimated at over a
billion dollars per annum (based on a 1997 Freedom of Information Act law suit filed by Steven Aftergood, director of
the Federation of American Scientists Project on U.S. Government Secrecy). This is the largest annual library
budget anywhere in the world (and is larger than the annual budgets of many third world countries in Africa and the
Caribbean). The second largest annual library budget in the world is that of the U.S. Library of Congress, at $462
million per annum. Among university libraries, Harvard has the largest annual budget, with over $200 million. New
York Public Library has an annual budget of over $100 million. For more library budgets see also list 380 5
libraries with over 800 staff members and their annual budgets.

113. Oldest and largest major private libraries
The Boston Athenaeum was set up in 1807, from a need for a library to store the collections of the Anthology
Society. Its huge collection of books (today, over a half a million) made it the largest private library in the U.S. It is
now a subscription library, and yearly membership is available to members of the public.

Notes. In Europe private libraries were already well established from the Middle Ages, and most had religious
books, such as the large 14th century library of Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham in the U.K.


114. Largest chained libraries
The use of chains in libraries to prevent theft began at the Sorbonne Library at University of Paris, France in the
early 13th century. The largest chained library in the world today can be found in the Hereford Cathedral library in
the U.K. When it was built circa 1079 A.D.. it did not employ chains right away, until the late 14th century. The
chained library contains just over 1,500 books, both handwritten and printed. Each book is attached to an oak
bookcase with a chain. Another famous large chained library in the U.K. is the Francis Trigge Library in Grantham,
founded in 1598. The most famous chained library in Italy was the Laurentian Library in Venice. Manuscripts were
chained to the reading desk up till the early 20th century. So valuable were the majority of law books in at the U.K.s
Lincolns Inn law library that they were all secured by chains in the library until 1771, despite the fact that the law
students using the books were at a faced severe restrictions trying to study with the books. In fact before the use of
electronic tags hidden in books to prevent their being stolen from libraries and bookstores, several major European
university libraries such as the Leiden State University in the Netherlands, used chains fastened to their books, as
this was the only serous option available. The problem with chained libraries is that you could not take a book and
read it in your favorite corner in the library.

Notes. The Hereford Cathedral librarys 700 years old Mappa Mundi is the largest complete medieval map in
Europe today. Luckily it is not chained to the bookshelf!.

58.tif
This monument to the era of chained books at entrance of U.K. library is a relic reminding visitors about the limited
technology available in those days to protect books from being stolen. Today libraries have some many choices
such as CCTV cameras and electronic tags.

115.
8 unusual things that happened with and libraries
1. In 2005 it was reported in New York City newspapers that a homeless and poor creative writing student at New
York University (name withheld) had lived in the universitys Bobst Library for over 8 months without the university
authorities knowing about it. This may not be surprising since the library is open 24 hours a day. He kept his
belongings in the librarys lockers and washed in the lavatory. His plight was only found out when the students
dramatic website recounting his quest to earn a decent education in New York was spotted. Known now as the
Bobst Boy he was promptly given a free room in the residence hall to complete his studies. While finishing up his
Masters degree in 1998, author of Library World Records, also slept for a few nights at City Universitys 24 hour
Computer Centre in London, while desperate to beat a looming deadline to submit his thesis.
2. In 2001, thousands of books were destroyed at the Loreto College Library in Darjeeling, India, in 2001, by dozens
of hungry langur monkeys, who were after the food in the students lunch boxes. Local wildlife officials hands were
tired as they said they could not capture the monkeys without upsetting the worshippers at the nearby Hindu
Mahakal Temple, who love feeding the monkeys, and see them as sacred and as having a symbolic relationship
with the temple. Over the last decade, there had been similar periodic raids by the monkeys (who are no longer
afraid of humans due to the constant caring attention given to them by the temple worshippers) on the long suffering
Loreto college. The 2001 attack was one of the largest and the international media picked up the story and some
exaggerated headlines around the world translated as said Monkeys chew up college library.

3. In 1999, staff repairing bookshelves at the rare book section of the National Library of Italy in Florence stumbled
across the lostremains of Dante, Italys greatest poet in a sack and a letter indicating it was the remains of Dante.
It has been investigated and the conclusion is that remains had been mislaid by a staff in the library 70 years ago.
Back in 1865 on the 600th anniversary of his birth, scientists opened Dantes tomb and donated a small quantity of
his remains to the library. It was last seen in 1929, when librarians at a world congress in the library exhibited it to
visitors. Staff at the library described the find as a very emotional, saying it was the only remnant of Dante in
Florence. It has since been stored in a secret location in the library.

4. In 2007, Barbican Public Library in London celebrated its 25th anniversary with a strange treasure hunt.
Photographs were hidden randomly in books and users given clues, on the librarys website, needed to track down
the books with hidden photographs and locate the prizes.

5. For many years the Central Bank of Nicaragua building in Managua was also the location for the National Library
of Nicaragua. This odd combination began in 1964. It is not known if the secure bank vaults was inside the library.

6. The National Institute of Studies and Research Library in capital of Guinea-Bissau was turned into a military
garrison by soldiers in 1998. But first they had to destroy several thousands of books to make way for military
equipment and sleeping quaters.

7. The Kukes Public Library in Kosovo, Albania, was turned into a drinks bar in 1995. It was later used to house
hundreds of refugees when Albania was occupied by the Yugoslav army.


8. In 2003, two FBI agents visited College of Santa Fe's Fogelson Library to pick up an unusual item, a librarian had
kept waiting for them: an envelope containing a small pox sample and possible the deadly small pox virus. The story
of how this sample ended up in the library began when a librarian reading through an 1888 book on Civil War
medicine, came across a small yellow envelope which was tucked tightly between pages. After removing the
envelope from the book, the librarians noticed that the top of the envelope had the words: "scabs from vaccination of
W.B. Yarrington's children. Below the words was the signature Dr W.D. Kelly the book's author. After some
Google research, the librarian decided not to open the envelope, but email details of the discovery to the National
Museum of Civil War Medicine in Fort Frederick. The staff at the museum got very excited about the envelope and
passed on details of the find to Washington's Walter Reed Army Medical Center, who in turn contacted the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. The CDC replied they would like to see it. When the FBI
arrived, they collected the envelope and gave it to New Mexico Department of Health, who then finally passed it on
to the CDC in a triple-bagged, overnight mail package. At the CDC the envelope was stored in a deep freezer to
undergo a battery of tests soon in hope that the envelope could shed light on the development of American smallpox
vaccines. As for the librarian who found the envelope and did the smart thing not to open it, instant one-day stardom
beckoned, as the media got hold of the story and ran it on the front pages.


116. First outer space library
The libraries on board the former space stations Skylab (U.S.), Mir and Salyut 6 and 7 (USSR/Russia), were
the first ever permanent space libraries (the book collection at Skylab was a bit smaller as the space station had
room for only three people at one time). Due to zero gravity and security risk of floating books in the air, the books
had specific standard weights and were fasten to the shelves (reminiscent of the famous medieval chained libraries
at entry 114). The current permanent space lab, the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting the earth, has a small
library in the Russian-built Zvezda service module unit. There is no space for libraries on board the U.S. space
shuttles and the Russian Soyuz space crafts, save for space for a bookshelf for storing the operating manuals.
While on earth, future cosmonauts (travelling on board a Soyuz to the ISS) at the library of the famous Yuri Gagarin
Cosmonauts Training Center in Moscow can be penalized for even the smallest of mistakes regarding reading
books. South Koreas first choice for the first Korean in space, was rejected when he made a number of mistakes
with the library books, which included the sending a library book to South Korea without permission from the
Russian librarians and reading another library book at the center without permission. Library rules were broken
because the library had some several sections were books could only be read on a need to know basis a phrase
often used for top secret documents. Apparently the library has several books that have restricted access,
something that normally applies only in military libraries or libraries attached to spy agencies.

117. Largest floating library
Built in 2004, by Alstom Marine's Chantiers de l'Atlantique of France, and some 800 companies, mostly French,
the Queen Mary 2 or QM2 is the world's 2nd largest passenger ship at 1,138 feet long and 238 feet high as tall as a
21-story building It is also the most expensive, costing $800 million to build. The ship features a planetarium, 22
elevators and the world's largest floating library. Because of the size of the ship meant there is lots of spacious
room, and the long length of time for a standard cruise, a well stocked library was included. The ship is operated by
the British Cunard Lines, which operates the vessel and is owned by Miami-based Carnival Corp. Built in 2006,
Royal Caribbean Internationals passenger ship Freedom of the Seas is larger than the QM2, but its library collection
is smaller in size.

118. Largest mobile library
The first modern mobile libraries (horse drawn carriages) in Europe were set up in Scotland, Britain in 1810. In
the Middle East the camel is the synonymous with travelling in the Arabian deserts. However another use for the
camel was soon found, with camels being employed as caravans to carry library books from the 9th century. Soon

this new use of camel became widespread. When Muslim forces defeated the Byzantine Emperor Michael III in ???,
he was ordered by the victors to send to Baghdad a camel caravan with books from Constantinoples important
libraries. An extreme example of camels being used to transport books can seen in the case of the 10th century
Grand Vizier of Persia (now Iran), known as Abdul Kassem Ismael. He was such a prolific bookworm that he took
his entire library collection of over 100,000 books (volume total probably exaggerated) wherever he went with him.
Employing over 500 camels, which carried the books in an alphabetic order. Camel drawn libraries can still be found
today in many remote parts of the world, such as in some Kenyan villages.
119.
100 exciting films that featured libraries
Hollywood and other national film industries around the world such as Bollywood in India are not exactly
obsessed with making a blockbuster movie featuring lots of interesting library scenes, but many libraries did get to
star in major films! Here of 50 of them, that should be part of a real librarians DVD collection.
The Day of the Jackal (1973). Edward Fox (as J ackal, an assassin hired by a French paramilitary organization)
pays a visit to the newspaper section of the British Library in London, looking for information as part of his plot to
assassinate Charles de Gaulle. Based on a novel by British author Fredrick Forsyth.
All the Presidents Men (1976), The U.S. Library of Congress has starred in many films in the 20th century and
this film is one of most popular due the fact the film is based on political facts of the 1970s. Dustin Hoffman and
Robert Redford play the famous journalists who uncovered the Watergate bugging scandal. In the film, Hoffman and
Redford do some detective work at the library trying to figure out the confidential borrowing activities of a particular
user of the library who happens to work for the White House and the CIA. Actor J ames Murtaugh also plays the role
of a Library of Congress staff member assisting the two men in their quest. However back in the 1970s real
librarians did not give access to confidential borrowing activities of library users, it was illegal. But today this is legit
as it comes under the 2001 Patriot Act (see also page list 23). The library at the White House is also featured in the
film.
Carrie (1976). Sissy Spacek is shown in a high school library searching for books on paranormal telekinetic
powers, which she possesses. Based on a novel by U.S. author Stephen King.
il Casanova di Federico Fellini (1976). Donald Sutherland plays Casanova in this Italian film about the life
Casanova who, apart from his famous antics as a womanizer, also worked seriously as a librarian in the Czech
Republic.
Fahrenheit 451 (19??). A fascinating tale about the destruction of books in an imaginary society. Based on a
novel of the same title by U.S. Sci-Fi writer Ray Bradbury.
Escape from Alcatraz (1979). Clint Eastwood (incarcerated in the notorious Alcatraz Island Prison) is seen very
busy each day at the impregnable islands prison library.
War Games (1983). California State Library books on computers interests Matthew Broderick (a teenage
computer whiz kid), who almost starts the Third World War after hacking into the Pentagon computer systems.
Ghostbusters (1984). Los Angeles Public Library gets an unscheduled visit by a bunch of scary ghosts, and all
hell is let loose as the ghosts run amok. Who ya gonna call?
Wings of Desire (1987). This German film features Bruno Graz and Peter Falk at the giant Berlin State Library
in Germany.
Fatal Attraction (1987). A passionate but deadly love affair is confessed quietly by Michael Douglas to his
lawyer in a law firms library (the worst possible place to make such a confession); it is hoped no one overheard him.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Harrison Ford, as Indiana J ones, the worlds greatest
archaeologist, digs a big hole in a library in Venice, Italy (making a lot of noise in the process), to reveal a secret
passage underneath and some ancient secrets about the Knights Templar and the Holy Grail.
Operation Condor (1991). From Hong Kong film studios comes this sequel to an earlier film called Amour of
God. J ackie Chan as secret agent Asian Hawk, and his beautiful female sidekick, plan his imminent Sahara Desert
mission at the stunning 18th Royal Library in Madrid (Real Biblioteca), Spain, that looks very much like the Vatican
Library interior.
The Pelican Brief (1993). A law library is used by J ulia Roberts in her efforts to solve a high level conspiracy
against judges.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Tim Robbins, a jailed bank executive, does a miracle when he becomes
an amateur librarian overnight and almost single-handedly transforms the small Shawshank State Prison library in
Maine, into a well stocked library that would rival a public library. Money to improve the library came from Robbins
rather persistent letters for financial help sent to the Maine Senate. Could this be a tip some public libraries with
budget problems could learn from? Based on a Stephen King novella.
Goldeneye (1995). Trigger-happy KGB guards in a Russian military library shoot at Pierce Brosnan and a
beautiful girl, and in the ensuing armed confrontation, many books get destroyed. Based on the J ames Bond novel
by British writer Ian Fleming.
Party Girl (1995). Parker Posey works as a temporary librarian in New York City, to earn money to pay back a
fine for hosting an illegal party. She soon masters several library skills such as using the complex Dewey Decimal
Classification and ends up a professional librarian to the amazement of her work colleagues. An entertaining movie
for library school students.
Hak hap or Black Mask (1996). J et Li plays a librarian in Hong Kong, who also metamorphoses into a masked
martial arts super hero to help cops fight mysterious superhumans.
City of Angels (1998). The movie shows scenes in the San Francisco Public Library, with Nicholas Cage in a
rendezvous with angels.
Mercury Rising (1998). FBI agent Bruce Willis uses a public library computer to locate the whereabouts of e-
mails that seem to come from the super secret National Security Agency.
Most Wanted (1999). Framed for murdering the first lady, Gulf War veteran Keenen Ivory Wayans and doctor
J ill Hennessy, who unwittingly filmed the shooter, visit a local public library in Los Angeles to search Westlaw
databases, while on the run, trying to find out who set up Wayans. While in the library, a silly security guard
recognizes Wayans from TV reports, but instead of capturing him and dialing 911, he asks Wayans for his
autograph, then lets him leave!
The Ninth Gate (1999). J ohnny Depp (a rare book expert) is seen visiting private libraries in Europe looking for
follow-ups and leads to locating copies of a rare book about occultism and demons. During his visits, he has several
mysterious close shaves such as escaping with a few scorches from a burning library in Paris, and dodging falling
scaffoldings at a rare bookstore in Portugal.
The Mummy (1999). Rachel Weisz, an Egyptologist and librarian at the library of the Museum of Antiquities in
Cairo demonstrates the complex technique how to shelve a single book on a high bookshelf, while standing and
balancing perilously on a tall ladder. What at first seems like a simple task, ends up in a debacle, as all the
bookshelves (set in a circular arrangement) fall like dominoes one by one, leaving the entire books scattered all over
the library. To rub salt into the injury, her boss orders her to tidy up the library by herself or else!...
Murder of the Crows (1999). Disbarred lawyer Cuba Gooding J r, desperately searches a public library in
Louisiana, in effort to find indentify a writer who framed him for murder. The mysterious writer had unwittingly given
him an unpublished manuscript, which Gooding J r later takes credit for when the manuscript becomes a bestseller,
and earns him a short period of fame.
The Crimson Rivers (2000). This French movie stars J ean Reno and Vincent Cassell who both play French
police detectives make numerous trips to a university library in the French city of Guernon Trying to piece together
bits of pieces of information to solve a case involving a murdered librarian from the university.
Beautiful Life (2000). This is a J apanese movie about a librarian and a hairdresser who meet by chance in a car
accident and later meet up regularly in a Tokyo library to develop their blossoming friendship.
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone (2001). David Radcliffe (the orphaned son of wizards) is shown
looking for information in Oxford Universitys Bodleian Library. Based on J .K. Rowlings popular childrens story
books. The film was released in the U.S. as Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone.
Revelation (2001): While searching for clues about an ancient relic called the Loculus of the Knights Templar,
in a race against time to prevent the immortal Grand Master from recovering the relic, billionaires son J ames D'Arcy
and alchemist Natasha Wightman visit the rare books section at Cambridge University Trinity College library in the
U.K. for some research. The librarian (played by Derek J acobi) allows them to view a rare parchment manuscript as
long as they wear plastic gloves to keep human stains at bay. Before leaving the library, D'Arcy tires up the librarian,
after discovering he some how works for the Grand Master, and asked him if they could photocopy parts of the
manuscript. When the librarian ignores the question, D'Arcy improvises, by simply tearing off the part of the rare
manuscript he wanted to photocopy!
Toshokan Sensou (Library war) (???): A ??????? played by Iku Kasahara

Read or Die: OVA (2001): A colorful J apanese manga adventure film about the British Library (portrayed as an
intelligence agency) and secret agent Yomiko Readman, aka "The Paper" who works at the fictitious Special
Operations Division of the British Library. The job of agent Yomiko is to obtain rare manuscripts and books from
libraries around the world and engage in defeating the bad guys who either dislike books or love to steal or destroy
books. The anime film is a hilarious look at world of libraries and books, and had a 2003 sequel called Read of Die:
the TV.
Ballistic Sves vs Eckers (2003.) The magnificent Vancouver Public Library in Canada, takes repeated direct
hits from heavy artillery, machine guns and RPGs as FBI agent Antonio Banderas and a SWAT team try to capture
a top female assassin played by Lucy Liu. Luckily a lot of CGIs were used in the film, and today a visit to the
Vancouver Public Library shows no scars of the deadly ground assault by the SWAT team.
Last Life in the Universe (2003.) An intriguing Thai and Australian production about a J apanese librarian (played
by J apanese superstar Tadanobu Asano) in Bangkok, Thailand, on the run from the J apanese Mafia, the Yakuza.
The Devils Library (2003.) This is an interesting New Zealand horror film. Swiss actresses Nadine Bernecker as
Amy, is among a dozen different people who accept an invitation to have dinner with Richard Thompson, not
knowing he is infact the devil. While at the dinner table, Amy spots a large private library and as she curiously
browses through the book collection on many subjects, the Richard Thompson informs her, his library contains
every single book burnt by man since time immemorial. Amy is not sure whether to believe this or not, but soon
discovers from the books contents, that the library must belong to someone very sinister. By the time Amy and the
other guest figure out who their host really is, it is too late.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003). Sean Connery as Allan Quatermain and the rest of the
extraordinary gentlemen face a Mexican standoff with the henchmen of a masked bad guy known as the Fantom, in
a Victorian era library. When the henchmen open fire and the extraordinary gentlemen return fire, what happens to
the library and its books, after the shooting ends, is anyones guess.
The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (2004.) Noah Wyle as a new librarian for the Metropolitan Library, soon
discovers his job is much more than being a librarian. Part of his duties include protecting incredible relics and
artifacts not normally found in a library such as Pandoras Box and the Ark of the Covenant. He soon becomes
involved in a quest to recover the biblical Spear of Destiny stolen from the library, that takes him to exotic places
such as the Amazon forest in Brazil and the Himalayas.
National Treasure (2004). Lovely views of both the U.S. Library of Congress and the National Archives in
Washington D.C, are part of scenes in the film. While in the library, Nicholas Cage and J ustin Bartha debate about
pro and cons of stealing the Declaration of Independence document from the National Archives, to save it from
being stolen by a former friend played by Sean Bean.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004). Denzel Washington plays a Gulf War veteran, and has to rely on several
important resources of the New York Public Library such as the audiovisual room and the microfilm room, to help
him make sense of alleged Pentagon and CIA mind control experiments.
Day After Tomorrow (2004). J ake Gyllenhaal and his friends take refuge at the New York Public Library, after
the New York City as well as parts of the library get hit by Tsunami-sized tidal waves of water caused by a global
warming event. Not content with the safe haven provided by the library, as soon as snow storms start to get worse,
J ake and his buddies next proceed to burn priceless library books as fuel to make a fire in order to keep them warm
in the freezing temperatures. At one point there is a debate as to whether it is ok to burn a book by the renowned
philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. But no debate ensures when a large voluminous collection of boring
books on U.S. taxes are discovered. At least J ake can forgiven for his dreadful act of destroying public property, as
he was given the go ahead to burn the books to keep warm, by his parents over the phone.
The Librarian: Return to King Solomons Mines (2006) Noah Wyle returns as Flynn Carsen in this sequel to the
first movie in 2004 (see above). On this occasion, Wyle (part librarian, part Indiana J ones) finds himself in Africa on
the way to the fabled King Solomons mines. He encounters many tribulations while in his African adventure such
as attacks by a hippopotamus. A third film was also made titled The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice, due for
release in 2008, see bellow.
National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007). A sequel to the 2004 film, National Treasure, The Library of
Congress once again plays host to Nicholas Cage and J ustin Bartha. This time helping Nicholas Cage solve riddles
and puzzles related to U.S presidents from Abraham Lincoln and a super-secret book the FBI want so badly.
Several different angles of the library were shot, including a scene were Cage is on top of the Thomas J efferson
Building in hot pursuit. The other significant library scene was filmed at the University of Maryland and its Theodore

R. McKeldin Library, where extras used in the scene were actually students from the university as well as staff
librarians.
Anna M: An intriguing French movie about a librarian working at the famous National Library of France in Paris,
who for some reason becomes dangerously obsessed with a married man. There are several great excellent shots
of the national library in the movie.
The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice (2008) Noah Wyle returns in this final third exciting installment about
a librarian turned bounty hunter and adventurer. In this film Wyle, as Flynn Carsen is on a well-deserved vacation
from his perilous day job in the library. However dj vu strikes and he soon ends up on a quest to find a rare scroll
that has the secrets to resurrect the vampire Count Dracula in Romania.
The Hollywood Librarian: A Look at Librarians Through Film (2007). Ann Seidl (a real librarian from Denver,
Colorado in the U.S.) made this movie as a rather amusing and enjoyable tale of the way librarians have been
portrayed on cinema over the decades. The movie scores good points on such topics such as book censorship and
privacy laws. A must-see-it-now movie by a librarian for librarians.
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008). In this movie, Asian superstars J et Li and Michele Yeoh are
seen examining a rare parchment manuscript in an ancient Chinese library. The film gives a good illustration on how
ancient Asian libraries looked like thousands of years ago.
Dracula 3D Emperor (2012). The movie introduces us to what Count Draculas personal library looked like
hundreds of years ago. There is a tense and intruguing moment in the film, when J onathan Harker (played by Unax
Ugalde) arrives to catalog all the books in the library. As Count Dracula (palyed by Thomas Kretschmann) gives
Harker a brief tour of the library, he does a double take when he notices that a glass reflection only shows himself
and books and that Couny Draculas own reflection is absent, despite standing next to him.

Put these as above style
Youre a Big Boy Now (1966), New York Public Library; The Graduate (1967), University of Southern
Californias Doheny Library; Foul Play (1978), Pasadena Public Library; Sakara no Sono (a.k.a. The Cherry
Orchard, 1981), Fukagawa Library, Tokyo; Twelve Monkeys (1995), Philadelphia Public Library, Ridgeway branch;
Robo Cop (1997), Dallas Public Library; Mr. Magoo (1997), Vancouver Public Library, Canada; Double Jeopardy
(1999), Vancouver Public Library, Canada; Charlies Angels (2000), Huntington Library, San Marino, California;
Cadaverous (2000), New York Universitys Bobst Library; Sweetest Thing (2002), Huntington Library, San Marino,
California; and Red Dragon (2002), the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation
Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. The board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of
1988, was reauthorized in 1992, 1996, and 2005 by acts of Congress. The 1996 law also created the non-profit
National Film Preservation Foundation, which is affiliated with the National Film Preservation Board but which raises
money from the private sector.

Notes. A lot of the libraries mentioned above play the role of offering the stars of the film a place to search for
reliable information. This turns out to be a beneficial way to encourage millions of viewers of the film to use their
local libraries more often. For some reason the Vatican Library and Kings College Library (part of London
University) were not featured in the Da Vinci Code (2006), even though the Dan Browns book (from which the
film was adapted) does mention Professor Langdon and police inspector Neveu visiting these libraries. However
the film does show Langdon played by Tom Hanks and Neveu (played by Audrey Tautou) on their way to
Chelsea public library in London (not mentioned in the Dan Browns novel), only to use a cell phone while on the
bus, to go online and search for information via Google and ultimately skip visiting the library. The most famous
and perhaps controversial bookstore scene in a major movie, was filmed at New Yorks Manhattan Barnes &
Noble for the 1997 film Conspiracy Theory. When book Catcher in the Ride?? is purchased by ex CIA agent
J erry Fletcher (played by Mel Gibson), it triggers a sophisticated surveillance system run by the CIA that keeps
track anyone who purchases the book in a book store. The surveillance system which includes GPS, allows the
CIA to pinpoint which bookstore the book was purchased from. This lead to an exciting chase scene between
Gibson and the CIA hitmen centered around buildings adjoining the bookstore. It is not know whether in real life
the CIA does indeed carry out surveillance on bookstore purchases. Not everything we see in cinemas or on
television that depicts libraries or librarians has a happy ending. Back in the summer of 1996, a new
advertisement for Packard Bell computers in the U.S. caused an outrage among librarians. Designed by Saatchi

and Saatchi, the advertisement seemed to portray libraries as scary dark places with spiders creeping out of
dusty books and a skinhead as a librarian uttering the dreaded keep quiet sound, shhh It suggested that
those looking for information were better off using a Packard Bell computer to access information sources at
home, such as via the Internet, than visiting their local library. The slogan for the advertisement was, Wouldnt
you rather be at home? After a couple of runs, the advertisement was eventually withdrawn to the relief of
librarians, who no doubt saw it as the worst advertisement made depicting libraries. In October 2007, several
UK county public libraries such as Kent County Libraries in Bromley initiated advertising inside library books.
The scheme run by a direct marketing company involved inserting over 500,000 advert cards inserted into
books. Companies wanting to advertise their goods or services would pay a fee which will be shared in a
percentage agreed by the host library and the direct marketing company. If the scheme is successful it is
expected to cover all public libraries in middle 2008 with around 3 million insets made available per month.
Whether this scheme will be have a positive response from users of the library remains to be seen. eee

How a librarian invented the word Oscars.
There are several stories about the origin for the Oscar statuette. But the official version is that in 1934, an
Academy librarian named Margaret Herrick remarked excitedly that the statuette looked like her uncle Oscar. The
name stuck, and the Academy staff began referring to the 34.3 cm statuette as "Oscar." The Academy officially
adopted it in 1939. Before 1939, the award, a ten-inch gold-plated bronze statue of a man with his arms in front of
him resting on the handle of a sword, was known only as "the statuette." Mrs. Herrick, who later became executive
director of the Academy, came to regret the remark that she made in a mad moment of whimsy. The Oscar, which
weighs 3.85 kg is carefully cast in a metal alloy called britannium, and plated with 24 carat gold. It depicts a
crusader knight, grasping a sword. The knight stands on a film reel, with five spokes that represent the five original
branches of the Academy: directors, actors/actresses, writers, producers and technicians.

120. Some notable people who have worked in libraries or as librarians
Over the centuries, hundreds of famous people, and some infamous, have been involved in library work or
worked for a while as librarians. Below are some.
Al-Khwarizmi. This 9th century Persian mathematician, who invented Al-Jabr (Algebra), worked as a librarian in
the famous library of Abbasid Caliph Al-Mamun, in Baghdad, also known as the House of Wisdom. Latinization of Al-
Khwarizmi was the origin for the word algorithm.
Allesandi Arturo, Chilean president, worked at the National Library of Chile in the 1940s.
J alal ud-Din Akbar. Mogul emperor of north India organized a rather meticulous Islamic library in 1605. Among
other things he helped catalog all the books in his library and stored them in arrangements, such as by author or
calligrapher, and by language, such as Hindi, Greek, Arabic and Persian.
Avicenna. This well known Persian physician, also known as Ibn Sina, classified medical books in a Baghdad
library in the 11th century A.D., making them easier to find by the Arab doctors of the day who used the library.
Ashurbanipal (Assurbanipal), Assyrian King, helped developed the famous Nineveh library in the 600s BC. He
was also involved in organizing the librarys catalog in Sumerian cuneiform script.
Karl Ernst von Baer, Estonian zoology professor and a founding father of developmental biology, was appointed
librarian of the Russian Academy of Sciences library, St. Petersburg, in 1843.
J ohn Billings was the U.S. surgeon instrumental in the development of the U.S. National Library of Medicines
Index Medicus medical journal abstracting services, which evolved into todays MEDLINE database. J ohn Billings
worked at the Surgeon General's Office Library, which later gave rise to the National Library of Medicine.
St. Benedict. This Italian monk was also a librarian for the Monte Cassino monastery, near Rome, from A.D.
510. He was famous for his Benedictine Rules, which stipulate that everyone should have time to study in a library.
(A translation of the rules by Dom J ustin McCann in 1961 was the winner of an award for best English language
translation.)
Alfredo Baquerizo worked at a public library in Ecuador, and later became president of the country in the early
1900s.
Baybars I. This famous Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria established the Al-Zahiriyah Library in Damascus.
Hector Berlioz, French composer, was employed as librarian at the Paris Conservatoire (a school of music) in

1838.
Cardinal Bessanone of Venice, Italy, began the famous Marciana National Library, which is today the oldest of
Italys ten national libraries, and the third largest.
Simon Bolvar, Latin American hero and soldier. Founded the National Free University (Universidad Nacional de
la Libertad) in Trujillo, Peru in 1824, the same year after helping Peru gain its hard fought independence from Spain.
Bolvar was also involved in helping to set up the universitys first library.
59.tif
Latin American revolutionary Simon Bolivar helped set up the National Free University and its library in Trujillo, Peru.

J orge Luis Borges, Argentine author, was a librarian at the National Library of Argentina in the 1940s.
Federico Borromeo. Bishop of Milan founded the Ambrosian Library in Milan around 1609. It later became
Italys first public library.

60.tif
Bishop Borromeo founded its the first public library in Italy in 1609. His statue can be seen in front of the Ambrosian
Library.

Laura Bush. The former U.S. first lady, who has a master of library science degree from the University of Texas,
worked as a librarian at Houston Public Library, Dawson Elementary School Library and Dallas Public Library.
J immy Carter, the former president of the U.S, once worked on the board of the University of Georgia Library,
before becoming governor in the state of Georgia.
Giovanni Casanova. Thbraryis Italian adventurer in 1785 began a 13-year career as a librarian for Count von
Waldstein in the chateau of Dux in Bohemia, Czech Republic.
Charlemagne. Also known as Charles the Great, this French king and first Holy Roman Emperor set up in A.D.
800 the Aachen palace library, (near the German border with Belgium today), and helped expand it into a major
library of the time.
Frank OConnor. This famous Irish writer and director of Dublins Abbey Theatre once worked as a librarian at
Trinity College Library.
Marcel Duchamp. The famous French-American artist, worked previously as a librarian at a public library in
Paris.
Mikhail Eminescu. This famous Romanian poet worked in the 1870s as a librarian at the Iasi (J assy) University
Library. The University is today named after him.
Fredrich Engels, German philosopher, was appointed librarian at the Schiller-Anstalt library in the late 19th
century.
Eratosthenes. This prominent ancient Greek geographer was a chief librarian at the Alexandria library in ancient
Egypt, around the 2nd century BC. Significantly, all the librarians at the Alexandria Library were scholars, such as
poets, critics, and grammarians. They included Zenodotus, the writer; Aristophanes, the grammarian who invented
several punctuation marks used today such as the asterisk * and circumflex marks; Callimachus, the poet who wrote
the 120 volumes of Greek bibliography (a famous catalog of the library called Pinakes); and the only female
librarian, the Platonist philosopher named Hypatia (see below).
Michael Faraday, this famous British scientist worked as a book binder at the library of the Royal Institution from
1812. It was this opportunity to read books and periodicals in the evening when not binding books in the library that
led Faraday eventually discovering the basic principles of electro-magnetism.
Abigail Powers Fillmore, first wife of Millard Fillmore, president of the United States from 1850 to 1853,
established the first White House Library.
Notes. U.S. presidents since Rutherford B. Hayes have had libraries named after them. These presidential
libraries are more museums and archives than libraries because they mostly contain official documents related
to the presidents term in office. They are administered by the U.S. National Archives and Records
Administration. Before Rutherford B. Hayes, outgoing presidents took their official papers with them, and some
ended up in university or state libraries.
Benjamin Franklin, U.S. politician and inventor, helped set up the first subscription library and library serial in

the U.S., in the 1730s. Was librarian of the Library Company of Philadelphia for a brief period He famously called his
subscription library founded in 1731 the mother of all North American subscription libraries.
J ohann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, supervised the J ena University library in Germany between 1817
and 1832.
Notes. Another famous name associated with Jena University is Karl Marx, who received his Ph.D. in 1841. But
he wrote the first volume of the classic book Das Kapital (known as the Bible of the working classes) in London
in 1867, making use of the British Library for much of his research.
J . Edgar Hoover. This U.S. law enforcement officer, lawyer and first FBI director worked as a cataloger at the
U.S. Library of Congress.
Notes. J. Edgar Hoover once ordered the FBI to carry out clandestine surveillance on many writers suspected
of un-American activities. Those targeted included Ernest Hemingway, for whom the FBI had a huge dossier,
Sinclair Lewis, James Baldwin, W.E.B Dubois, Alfred Kinsey and Allen Ginsberg,
King Hammurabi, Babylonian King and the sixth ruler of the first dynasty of Babylon. While he is famous for
putting together the Code of Laws, he is equally famous for setting up the second most important major library in
ancient times, after the libraries founded by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia. Among the books in the library, of
course was his Code of Laws.
David Hume, Scottish philosopher and historian, worked as a librarian at the Library of the Faculty of Advocates
Edinburgh (National Library of Scotland) from 1757.
Hypatia. She was a well-known ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician alongside Plato and Plotinus.
She worked for some time as a librarian at the Alexandria Library in ancient Egypt.
Immanuel Kant, German philosopher, in the middle 1700s was assistant librarian at Knigsberg Castle library
(now in modern day Kaliningrad).
Stephen King, this famous horror fiction writer, worked as a library assistant, at the University of Maine Folger
Library, while a student at the university in the late 1960s.
Nadezhda Krupskaya, the famous former Russian first lady, was a cultural crusader and the librarian wife of
Lenin the founded of the USSR. She became a prime figure in the movement to centralize Soviet library services
and helped her husband set up 50,000 public libraries throughout the USSR. Following the Russian Revolution
many women were recruited into librarianship and a rapid feminization of the profession occurred.
Lao-Tzu, Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism, was a librarian in a Henan province library in the 6th
century BC, perhaps the first official librarian in China. He was in charge of the library, which housed original
government records during the Zhou dynasty.
Mohamed Khatami, former Iranian President, was former head of the National Library of Iran in Tehran.
Philip Larkin, British poet, was also a librarian at Hull University Library, U.K.
Gottfried von Leibniz. This German philosopher and mathematician worked as a librarian in the law courts of
Hanover from 1676 and later as a librarian of the duke of Braunschweig-Lneburg. He is often considered the
greatest librarian of his generation, even though he was a scientist and not a librarian.
Mahmud I, Turkish Ottoman sultan, founded many libraries in the 18th century, such as the Faith Library, and
the Ayasofya Library built in Ayasofya Mosque in St. Sophia (Hagia Sophia), which is a masterpiece of Ottoman
architecture.
Notes. During the Ottoman era, several other sultans founded libraries in Constantinople (Istanbul), such as
Sultan Ahmet and Sultan Sleyman the Magnificent, who set up the famous library of the Sleymaniye Mosque,
the largest mosque in Istanbul. Most of these libraries were situated among a collection of buildings composed
of a mosque, a medrese (high school of theological studies), a primary school, a hospital, and a kitchen for the
poor. The mosque libraries were also called vakif libraries and the very first official vakif library in Istanbul was
set up in 1459. In Istanbul today, the Topkapi Museum Library contains many Islamic manuscripts collected by
sultans, generals, and other officials of the Ottoman Empire since 1452.

Archibold Macleish, poet and assistant U.S. Secretary of State, was employed as head librarian at the U.S.
Library of Congress between 1939 and 1944, an appointment that did not meet the approval of the American Library
Association because he lacked the appropriate graduate degree.
Angelo Mai, 19
th
century Italian Cardinal worked as the head librarian at the Ambrosian Library. He is credited
for uncovering several forgotten ancient Rome texts.


J ules Mazarin, French cardinal and a first minister to Louis XIII, founded the Mazarin Library in Paris in 1643.
He employed French physician Gabriel Naud as its first librarian. The Library was originally set up in the Htel
Tubeuf in Paris, eventual home for the French National Library. Gabriel Naud, studied medicine at Paris and
Padua. In 1629 he became librarian to Cardinal Bagni, and later on in 1641 was librarian to Cardinal Barberini, both
Vatican cardinals.
Ulrike Meinhof, the infamous German radical leftist terrorist, started out as a journalist and librarian. She was
one of the founders of the 1970s to 1980s Red Army Faction in Germany. Ironically it was in a library that in April
1970 Meinhof and other members of the Red Army Faction hactched a daring plan to smuggle out co-founder
Andreas Baader. While imprisoned in West Berlin, Baader had been allowed to visit a public library for research on a
book Baader claimed he and Meinhof had been writing together. But unbeknowd to the German authjrieries, while in
the West Berlin libray, Baader was succeeesful in smugleing Baader out ouf the librarys window during a gun fight,
into a short-lived freedom on the run.
Golda Meir. The former Prime Minister of Israel had earlier worked as a public librarian in the U.S. city of
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She became Prime Minster in 1969.
Gabriel Naud, French doctor. See details on Mazarin above.
Pope Nicholas V. A former librarian to Cosimo de Medici (involved in setting up Italys famous Laurentian
Library), he began to build up the Vatican Library in the Vatican City in 1451.
Christopher Okigbo, the Nigerian poet was acting librarian at the University of Nigeria in Nnsuka, where he
helped to found the African Authors Association. He was killed while fighting as a soldier during the Biafran war.
Antonio Panizzi. This famous Italian lawyer and politician worked at the British library in the 19th century.
Pierre Pasquier. The French Governor General of Indochina (French colonies of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia)
helped organize the Bibliothque Pasquier, which later became the National Library of Vietnam.
Boris Pasternak. The famous author Dr Zhivago, was previously a librarian at the Soviet Ministry of Education.
Phillip II, King of Spain (Felipe II), in 1563 set up the famous San Lorenzo de El Monastic Library northwest of
Madrid, which today has one of the best collections of Arabic manuscripts in Europe. The contents of the library
(rare manuscripts and incunabula) and way the librarys interior was designed (painted ceilings, etc) makes it stand
along side the greatest and most beautiful 16th and 7th century non-academic library buildings, including Mazarin
Library in Paris, the Vatican Library in Rome, the Laurentian Library in Florence and the Ambrosian Library in Milan.
Today the librarys manuscripts are famous record holders. For instance the library contains the earliest
documentary proof of the existence of Arabic numerals in Europe, (see list 60), and the oldest manuscripts made
from paper in Europe, (see list 142). The library is now part of the UNESCO Heritage List.
Notes. Among the rare Arabic manuscripts in the library is the oldest handwritten book on paper in Europe,
dating from A.D. 1009. The El Escorial Monastic Library owns some of its rare Arabic books to the lucky chance
interception by Spanish ships of a small vessel in the Mediterranean Sea carrying the entire private library of
important handwritten books belonging to Sharif Zaydan, sultan of Morocco. He was fleeing Spain, after Spanish
Christians were gradually recapturing many cities ruled by the Moors.

61.tif
Spanish King Charles II went the extra mile in planning the El Escorial Monastic Library he founded in 1563, that it,
that today it is not only a stunning library to visit, it is Spains most famous 16th century library.

Pope Pius XI. Before becoming Pope in 1922, he worked for many years in the Ambrosian Library in Milan,
Italy, as chief librarian. He also helped to reorganize the Vatican Library collections in Rome. Several other popes
have worked in the Vatican Library or in other libraries such as those in monasteries.
J oseph Priestley. This British chemist, who isolated many gases, including oxygen, worked as a librarian for the
2nd Earl of Shelburne, William Petty Fitzmaurice (British statesman and Prime Minister), in 1772.
Ptolemy I, Greek Macedonian general and king of Egypt, founded the famous Alexandria Library.
Henry Pu Yi. This last Chinese emperor of the Qing dynasty in the 1960s worked as a librarian in Beijing. The
story of his life was made into a successful film The Last Emperor in 1988.
Rama V of Chakri (Chulalongkorn), King of Thailand, founded the National Library of Thailand in 1905. His

palace was the first home for the library. In 1834, his predecessor Rama IV made a chance rediscovery of a long
forgotten oldest inscription of the Thai script by its inventor the King of Sukhothai (Rama Khamheng or
Ramkhamhaeng) in A.D. 1292 (see entry 136).
Giuseppe Ripamonti, an Italian historian worked at the Ambrosian Library in Milan.
Count Nikolai Rumyantsev. This Russian politicians library became part of the Russian State Library, Europes
largest library.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Russian novelist, dramatist and poet, became a prison librarian in the infamous gulag
run by J oseph Stalin.
Robert de Sobon was the French theologian, who as chaplain to French King Louis IX, founded the Sorbonne
University Library in Paris, in the 13th century, which still bears his name.
Ainsworth Spofford, U.S. journalist, author and co-founded of UNESCO, helped develop the U.S. Library of
Congress in the early 20th century.
J ohn Strindberg, Swedish playwright and novelist, was a library assistant at the Royal Library in Stockholm,
Sweden, in the late 1870s.
Marcus Trajan, Roman emperor in A.D. 98117, founded the largest library in the Roman Empire. It was
patronized by the leading philosophers, scientists, astronomers and politicians of the day.

62.tif
Marcus Trajan one of Rome's most popular emperors, ordered the construction the largest and most popular library
in the empire.

Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong), Chinese leader, worked at the Beijing University Library from 1918 as an
assistant to the chief librarian, who happened to be Li Ta-chao, founder of the Chinese Communist Party.
Alexandre Vattemare, French ventriloquist, who was a famous 19th century vocal lobbyer for free public library
access and free exchange of books between Europe and North America. His efforts helped with the making Boston
Public Library in Massachusetts, the first real tax-supported public library.
Oscar Wilde. During his time spent in Reading Prison, this British writer looked after the prison library. Among
his responsibilities was taking books to other prisoners and repairing books damaged by them.


121
100 translations of the word library around the world
Latin Libraria
*Greek Bibliotheke
Esperanto Biblioteko / Librejo
English Library
Spanish Biblioteca
Italian Biblioteca
Portuguese Biblioteca
Romanian Biblioteca
French Bibliothque
German Bibliothek
Dutch Bibliotheek
Flemish Bibliotheek
Swedish Bibliotek
Icelandic Bibliotek
Norwegian Bibliotek
Danish Bibliotek
Macedonian Biblioteka
Faeroese Bokasavnid

*Hebrew Bibliotek
Polish Biblioteka
*Russian Biblioteka
*Ukrainian Biblioteka
*Serbian Biblioteka
*Bulgarian Biblioteka
Irish Leabharlanna
Finnish Kirjasto
Hungarian Knyvtr
Turkish Ktphane
Czech Knihovna
Slovakian Kninica
Slovenian Knijnica
Croatian Knjinica
*Farsi Ketab-khaneh
*Arabic Maktaba
*Urdu Qutab-khana
*Hindi Pustakalaya
*Bengali Granthagar
*J apanese Toshokan
*Chinese Tushugan
*Korean Tosogwan
*Thai Hongsamud
Maori Matauranga
Malaysian Perpustakaan
Indonesian Perpustakaan
Filipino Aklatan
Vietnamese Thu vin
Swahili Maktaba
Igbo Ulo Akwukwo
Afrikaans Bibliotheek
*Berber Maktaba

*Indicates transliteration (Romanization) from non-Roman script such as Cyrillic and Devanagari. The most
common word for a library in Europe is derived from the Greek word for library, but apparently English is the only
major language that uses the Latin word. In Arabic a bookstore is also called Maktaba and a library can also be
called Dr al-Kutub or house of books. Hungarian and Finnish and are not Indo-European language in origin,
hence the difference in the word for library. Irish, and several former Yugoslav republics has been less influenced by
Greek and Latin, so the word for library is very different compared to the rest of Europe. Vietnamese, Malaysian,
Filipino and Indonesian are the only major Asian languages that use the Latin alphabet.
Notes. The French word for library is bibliothque, but the French word for bookstore is librairie. So it can
sometimes cause confusion to an English-speaking tourist who mistakenly reads the sign on a bookstore to
mean a public library. The Spanish word for bookstore is librera, but it can also be spelled as libera, which in
English can be confused for Liberia, an African country.

122. UNESCO World Heritage List and Libraries
The first important connection between UNESCO and libraries is the generous funding from UNESCO for
establishing new libraries (such as the new Alexandria Library in Egypt), maintaining existing libraries (in many
developing countries) or repairing libraries hit by natural disasters or man-made events such as military conflicts.
The library at UNESCO contains the latest information on the World Heritage List. This list is produced annually and
for 2012 there are ??? sites on the list from over 115 countries?? across the world that are considered to be an

essential part of the world's cultural and natural heritage.
Some of the oldest and most significant libraries in this book are on the list. Among libraries on the list are:
those of Sankore University and related areas in Timbuktu (Tombouctou), in Mali; the University in Caracas Library
in Venezuela; the Alcala de Henares University Library in Spain; the St Gallen Monastic Library called
Stiftsbibliothek in Switzerland; the famous Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar, Germany; the Chinguetii and
Quandane libraries and surrounding areas in Mauritania; the Haeinsa Temple and its library in South Korea; and the
San Lorenzo de El Escorial Monastic Library and surrounding environs, in Spain. These libraries are all featured in
this book, and can be located via the index pages. The U.K. has trying hard to get the famous library of the
Venerable Bede at the ?????? onto the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The UNESCO Memory of the World Register was set up in the early 1990s to preserve valuable preserve
valuable library books, manuscripts and archive collections around the world and ensure their dissemination
worldwide. Some of the oldest and most significant texts in the world are listed. Among world famous rare books
and manuscripts on the register are the Vedas from India (see entry 124); the Codex of Suprasl (see entry 135); the
remaining books of the old Malatesta Library in Italy (see entry 236); the Mushaf of Othman (the oldest Koran in the
world) in Uzbekistan (see entry 127) ; Martin Waldsemllers famous map of 1507 in the U.S. Library of Congress
(see entry 6); the Mappa Mundi from the U.K. (see entry 114); and the Gutenberg Bible, and Jikji Simgyeong a
Korean book which UNESCO accepts is the oldest evidence of movable metal type. The book was printed in 1377
so is older than the Gutenberg Bible, (see entry 143). In the Americas, the oldest library whose books are on the
register is the Palafox Library in Puebla, Mexico, which was founded in 1645 (see entry 236) . Every 2 years, since
2004, UNESCO awards the UNESCO/J ikji Memory of the World Prize to individuals or institutions that have made
significant contributions to the preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage, it is named after Jikji
Simgyeong. One particular library collection on the list worth mentioning is the books belonging to the Corvinian
Library Bibliotheca Corviniana in Hungary. This library was founded in 1460, and was the second greatest collection
of books in a library in Europe in the Renaissance period, after those of the Vatican Library. Bibliotheca Corviniana
was wrecked when the Turkish Ottoman Empire overran Hungary in the 1526 Battle of Mohcs. Today the surviving
collections of the library are well preserved all over Europe in libraries in Austria (largest, since Hungary was once
part of the Austria-Hungary Empire), France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Turkey, the U.K. and the U.S.
63.tif
UNESCO, based in Paris, France, has several schemes, projects, and initiatives created towards looking after
libraries and books and disseminating their rich cultural legacy to the rest world, such as through the World Heritage
List and the Memory of the World Register.


123. Earliest libraries
Necessity they say is the mother of invention. It was the invention of writing that led to the need to store written
documents for later use and research by others. Thus the credit to starting up the first library goes to the ancient
Sumerians, who lived in the southern part of ancient Mesopotamia, now in modern-day Iraq, notably at the town of
Warka where the first clay tablets have been uncovered. They devised an early form of writing, the cuneiform
system, around 3500 BC. The Sumerians began to store and organize collections of their written documents (clay
tablets), as libraries around 2700 BC. Some of the clay tablets in these 4300 year old libraries were small enough
to be held in the hand.
Libraries were also set up in several other ancient civilizations apart from the Sumerians. The following are
some of the other early significant libraries of the world that were founded before A.D. 1000. Almost all of them no
longer exist, except for some preserved ruins.

Babylonia. Borsippa Library was founded 1700 BC by King Hammurabi. It is probably the second earliest
significant library to be founded in ancient times after the ones set up by the Sumerians. The most important and
famous book (clay tablet) was King Hammurabis Code of Laws, and it is now preserved at the Louvre Museum in
Paris, France.


Ancient Egypt. The most important library established by the pharaohs was the Ramses II library, in Thebes. It
was founded circa 1250 BC, and its collections were composed entirely of papyrus scrolls, inscribed with
hieroglyphics and hieratic script. Bon Brier, a well-known writer and TV presenter of documentaries about the
ancient Egyptians, describes Ramses II as the greatest builder of monuments in ancient Egypt, with the two famous
rock temples at Abu Simbel his greatest legacy.


Assyria. The Nineveh Library (near modern day Mosul in northern Iraq), originally started by King Sennacherib,
was developed fully around 650 BC by King Ashurbanipal (Assurbanipal). The library had over 20,000 clay tablets
and was the greatest library in Assyria. The Nineveh library was first discovered by British and French archeologist
in the 19th century Remnants of the library can be seen today at the British Museum in London.


Ancient China. Several major ancient libraries were in existence in China from 500 BC. The first known
Chinese librarian was the philosopher Lao-Tzu, who was appointed keeper of the royal historical records (written on
silk, bamboo and wood) of the libraries of the Zhous (Chou) dynasty rulers, in about 550 BC. The libraries were
situated in the modern day Chinese province of Henan. The most famed library of Chinas numerous past dynasties
is the Wenyuange Imperial Library of the Qing (Manchu) dynasty which began in 1644. Based in Beijing, its
numerous books and manuscripts, some dating back 1000 years to the Song dynasty (A.D. 960-1279), had been
deemed very valuable and well preserved over the centuries. When the Qing dynasty ended in 1911 and revolution
broke out in China, the new recently founded National Library of China made it a top priority to obtain the entire
collection of the Wenyuange Imperial Library.

Ancient Greece. The three earliest and greatest libraries of the ancient Greek world were among the worlds
best. The Alexandria Library was founded 305 BC by King Ptolemy I Soter (after Greek Macedonian King Alexander
the Great conquered Egypt). The Serapeum or Serapieion Library was founded 230 BC in the temple of Serapis
(near the Italian port of Pozzuoli, then an ancient Greece town), while the Pergamum Library near present-day
Smyrna (Izmir), in Turkey, was founded 175 BC by Attalus I and Eumenes II.
Notes. With Alexandria, in ancient Egypt, the principal market for buying and selling papyrus, the ancient Greek
scribes obtained their papyrus from Alexandria via the port of Byblos (which gave its name to the Bible).
Following an embargo on the export of papyrus from ancient Egypt by King Ptolemy Philadelphus, the price of
papyrus became expensive. So starting from about 6 BC the use of parchment, made typically from the skin of
calf, goat, and sheep (which had been used in insignificant amounts since 300 BC alongside papyrus), in
manuscript production was encouraged at the Pergamum Library and elsewhere in ancient Greece. Later on,
vellum (which was made from specially prepared calf skin) was introduced. However several Greek scholars still
made papyrus rolls until the 14th century A.D.. During the French Revolution of the 18th century, the skins of
some of the aristocrats executed with the guillotine, were used by a bookbinder in Meudon, France, to produce
a copy of the new Constitution of 1791 drafted by the Constituent Assembly. The Pergamum Library was
actually used as a romantic gift. Although the romance between Roman general Marc Anthony (Marcus
Antonius) and Queen Cleopatra ended in tragedy, as William Shakespeare reminds us, the romance did involve
one of the most expensive romantic gifts ever given for centuries before the fall of the Roman Empire, when
Marc Anthony raided the Pergamum Library and gave Cleopatra its entire contents of over 200,000 parchment
and papyrus scrolls books. Since this library was the main rival to the greatest library in existence then, the
equally famous Alexandria Library in Egypt, the Pergamum Library collections was probably worth a huge
amount in todays money. Sadly the library was completely destroyed in the 3rd century A.D..

Western Roman Empire. When ancient Greece became part of the expanding infant Roman Empire around
146 BC, all of its important libraries became Roman libraries. The most important library was the Ulpian Library,
founded by Marcus Trajan in A.D. 114 in Rome. Among the important manuscripts stored in Roman libraries are the
Rylands Papyrus and the Codex Vaticanus. The only Roman library that has survived the ages is the Piso Library,
set up by Lucius Calpunrius circa A.D. 20 in the ancient city of Herculaneum, close to Pompeii. Although the
eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 destroyed the library, it was discovered among the volcanic ash

ruins of Herculaneum in 1754. Hundreds of preserved Piso Library papyrus and parchment scrolls, some just lumps
of charcoal, can be seen today at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Italy. Since the Coptic Egyptian
Church (1st century A.D.) is much older than the Roman Catholic Church (4th century A.D.), the first Christian
libraries were Coptic Church libraries, founded when St Mark was in Egypt. The important Christian library in the
Middle East is believed to be the one founded in J erusalem by Bishop Alexander in A.D. 250. The earliest Christian
libraries in Rome were founded by Pope Damascus (bishop of Rome, in the 4th century A.D.) and Pope Agapetus
(6th century A.D.). According to the gospels in the Bible and Diarmaid MacCulloch in A History of Christianity: The
First Three Thousand Years, the very first Christian church was founded in J erusalem (then part of Roman
Palestine), when followers of J esus Christ, (after the Crucifixion) led by St James, the first Bishop of Jerusalem,
founded the J ewish Christian Church circa A.D. 30. This church has evolved today into the J erusalem Church of the
Holy Sepulcher, and its library is a treasure trove of past and present biblical manuscripts. From J erusalem,
Christianity then spread into Europe reaching Greece circa A.D. 49 with the arrival of St Paul (the Greek Orthodox
Church foundation date is often given as A.D. 33). Due to terrible persecutions, the early Christan Church in
Rome founded by St Peter, functioned discreetly. But after the Romans destroyed J erusalem following the J ewish
revolt in Palestine (A.D. 70) the Christian Church then moved onto Egypt (Alexandria), where St Mark founded
the Coptic Church (A.D. 71). Meanwhile St Peter founded the Christian Church of Antioch, in Syria in the 3
rd

century A.D.. The Christan Church in Rome formally became the official state religion in the Roman Empire circa 4
th

century A.D.. When Emperor Constatine founded Constantinople in A.D. 330 as the new capital of the Empire, a
branch of Christian church was then set up there. Roman Catholism based in Rome (using the Latin alpabet for its
sacred scriptures), broke away from the original Christian (Orthodox) Church based in J erusalem, Antioch,
Alexandria, and Constantinople (using the Greek alphabet for its sacred scriptures). in A.D. 1054 (EastWest
Schism). Before the break, the early Chrisrtian churches in J erusalem, Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, and
Constantinople were part of the five patriarchs of the Pentarchy (A.D. 500s to A.D. 1054). By the end of the last
Crusade, the early churches in J erusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria were under permanent muslem rule. Leaving
the both Greek Orthodox Church in Athens and one in Constantnople (both early members of the Eastern
Orthodox Church) to continue the faith. During the 9
th
and 11
th
century A.D., much of Eastern Europe, became new
members of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Eastern Roman Empire. The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire was carved out of the Roman Empire in A.D.
285 by Emperor Diocletian. Emperor Constantine the Great (who converted to Christianity in A.D. 311), founded the
Byzantium Imperial Library in A.D. 332 in Constantinople (which he founded in A.D. 330, now called Istanbul). The
library rose to contain some of the most important Christian manuscripts (in parchment, vellum and papyrus) of the
day, with many written in Greek, the official language of the Byzantine Empire. Much of the collection of Christian
manuscripts was made possible from the late 4th century A.D. when Theodosius I the Great encouraged Christianity
as a state religion of the Roman Empire, and put an end to pagan worship. The Byzantium Imperial Library was
destroyed in the 13th century, when the armies of the 4th Crusade invaded Constantinople. With the fragmentation
of the Western Roman Empire, the Benedictines and friars in monastic libraries preserved the collections of these
Christian libraries across the whole of Europe. Today many of these manuscripts are preserved in the Vatican
Library.

Islamic Empire. The earliest significant Islamic libraries were founded during the time of the Abbasid Caliphate
in Baghdad from about A.D. 750, when the first mosques were built. Some important manuscripts of these libraries
(usually situated in a building in a mosque) included Arabic translations of important Indian texts such as
Panchatantra and Siddhanta. During the ninth century, the famous library of Abbasid Caliph Al-Mamun, in Baghdad,
also known as the House of Wisdom or Bayt al-Hikmah, had important translation departments. Here language
scholars such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq translated texts dating from the civilizations of the Assyrians and Babylonians to
those in Greek, Persian and Sanskrit, into Arabic. Donations from Byzantine Emperor Leo III were among the many
sources for classical Greek texts. Another important source for the House of Wisdom was Gondi Shapur University
Library in Persia (see entry 60). Most of the Abbasid Caliphate was destroyed later on in the 1258 Mongolian
invasion. The Moorish Omayyad (Umayyad dynasty) Caliphate based in Crdoba, Spain from the 8th to 12th
century A.D. was another important Islamic caliphate that had extensive libraries . The library of Caliph Al-Hakem II
in Crdoba was the largest library in Islamic Spain, with over 500,000 manuscripts, and became the largest library in
Europe during the caliphates existence. The library was part of the Crdoba University Library which the Omayyad
Moors established in Spain in the 10th century. Other important Islamic libraries were founded in later caliphates,

such as those of the Fatimids in Cairo (famous for the Caliph Al-Hakim bi Amar Library in 1004) , and the 12th
century Ayyubid Caliphate of Saladin (Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub). This later caliphate which deposed the Fatimid
dynasty in 1171, was involved in the 3rd Crusade (A.D. 1192) battle with Richard the Lionheart of England (featured
in the film Kingdom of Heaven). A number of Islamic religious libraries were also founded in J erusalem. The last
major Arab kingdom in the Middle East to establish Islamic libraries before the Middle East was conquered by the
Mongols in the 1250s and later the Turkish Ottoman Empire in 1517, was the Egyptian Mamluk (Mameluke) dynasty.

Notes. When the Moorish city of Toledo in Spain was captured by Christian Europe in 1085, its libraries, which
contained many important scientific and medical texts of the Greek and Roman era as well as Arabic
translations, changed hands. Using Jews in Spain as translators for the Arabic texts (because both Arabic and
Hebrew languages have similar origins as well as scripts), all of the manuscripts in the libraries were translated
into Latin at what was the famous Toledo translation school. Many indigenous Arabic texts, as well as those
originally translated from classical Greek texts, were then translated into Latin. A lot of these texts were copies
originally from the 3rd century Persian Gondi Shapur University (see entry 60) and the House of Wisdom (see
above) As every city and town of Islamic Spain was retaken, their library collection was translated into Latin, and
this continued until 1492 when Granada, the last Moorish state, was captured, thus ending over 700 years of
Arab colonization that began in A.D. 711. It is believed that the fall of Toledo and the opening of its many
libraries to European scholars of the day was one of the contributing factors (along with the knowledge gained
from manuscripts written during the Greek and Roman periods which were brought back by the crusaders from
Byzantium in the 13th century) to the revival of intellectual learning in Christian Europe prior to the Renaissance.
Among the many benefits introduced by the work of the translation school at Toledo was the adoption of Arabic
numerals and the symbol zero, an Arabic word. The most popular translation work at the school was that of
Italian scholar Gerard of Cremona whose book the Megale Syntaxi better known as the Almagest, was an
Arabic translatopn of Ptolemy's outstanding 2
nd
century A.D. astronomical work. It had been originally translated
from Greek into Arabic by Muslim scholar Al-Hajjaj in A.D. 827. One of the translations of the text of famous
Persian mathematician Al-Khwarizmi at the Toledo Translation School was by English monk Adelard of Bath
written in the 12th century. The translation went on to become a major mathematics textbook in the Medieval
Europe.

For a list of the oldest existing libraries today see entry 382.

66.tif
The Toledo Translation School near Madrid in Spain played an important part in the revival of Western intellectual
learning prior to the start of the Renaissance.

Sources and further Reading. The main sources for this section of the book on ancient libraries as well as
other selected titles are listed as follows:
??????
Comment [GO6]: Hasnt this been quoted
elsewhere?

WORLD RECORDS FOR BOOKS, PERIODICALS AND BOOKSTORES

The majority of books on human evolution indicate that early humans such as Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalis) in
Europe and Hobbit (Homo floresiensis) in Asia, 170,000 years ago years ago, almost certainly could not speak in a
primitive form of language because the arrangement of their larynxes prevented full vocalization. Communication no
doubt took place by other means such as hand gestures, grunts and shouts. Modern humans (Homo sapiens
sapiens), who evoved about 125,000 years ago first in Africa, then several thousands years later leaving Africa and
appearing in the Asia (100,000 to 70,000 BC), then onto Europe (50,000 BC) and finally in the Americas (20,000 to
13,000 BC), fared much better. Their larynxes were well developed for speech. However in 2007, it was reported
that German researchers at the Max Planc Institute had discovered that Neanderthals DNA did indeed have a gene
similar to the FOXP2 gene in humans which is associated with speech. During pregnancy, if a mutation occurs in the
FOXP2 gene, then at child birth, the child will develop speech problems. The research at the institute was deemed
was inconclusive as to whether this meant Neanderthals could actually talk. (Scientific American Cave Speak: Did
Neanderthals Talk?).

When did the very first languages originate? Both Spencer Wells in The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey and Dr
Lucia Cavalli-Sforza, in Genes, Peoples and Languages, give a time frame for the origin of languages, based on
Mitochondrial DNA analysis: the major migration of modern humans from Africa to the rest of the world began
50,000-70,000 years ago, even though Modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens had evolved about 100,000 to
125,000 years ago in Africa. Hence the earliest forms of modern human ancient languages probably began from
70,000 years ago outside Africa and a bit earlier within Africa. The April 2010 issue of the journal Science published
results of an extensive research project led by Dr Quentin D. Atkinson that indicated that the origin of modern
human languages was is in the region of southwestern Africa were the Khoisan language (so called click-languages)
is at least 50,000 years old, (around the date that modern humans were migrating from Africa). Other scientist such
as Dr Alice Roberts (The Incredible Human Journey) pinpoints the exact region as a tribe in Namibia.

How did very first languages develop outside Africa? In The Origin of Language: Tracing the Evolution of the Mother
Tongue Professor Merritt Ruhlen theorizes that languages spoken today, developed from a single mother tongue,
tens thousands of years ago. For instance, in Europe, Iran and the Indian subcontinent, the very first mother tongue
developed from an unnamed language, termed Proto Indo-European and a 2003 study by academics Dr Quentin D.
Atkinson and Dr Russell Gray using Bayesian analysis put the date at which Proto Indo-European first came into
use as 9,500 years ago somewhere in Anatolia or Modern day Turkey, (Nature, Language-tree divergence times
support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European origin). In August 2012 Atkinson and his team reinforced this 2003
theory with new supporting data which was published in Nature journal. Early speakers of Proto Indo-European
included the Kurgans circa 4000 BC who lived in Anatolia. Proto Indo-European gave rise to ancient languages such
as Sanskrit, the Germanic languages, Greek and Latin among others, all of which later became the ancestors of all
the modern languages in Europe, Iran and the Indian subcontinent. Exploring the German Language mentions the
fact that Germanic languages were already being spoken circa 2000 to 1000 BC. The Hittite language, spoken in
what is today Turkey, is the earliest Indo-European language with written records which date back to circa 1600 BC,
despite this fact modern Turkish is not Indo-European in origin. Noam Chomsky, the well known evolutionary linguist
writing in Language and Mind compliments the study of the evolution of language by theorizing that that watching
the way a child tries to master a language shows that modern humans have a built-in ability or Universal Grammar
that has the blueprint for learning how to speak a language. For instance as writing and the alphabet had not yet
been invented around the time Proto Indo-European was being developed and spoken, children learning the ancient
mother tongue would not find it hard to master it, in the absence of writing (but presence of Universal Grammar),
and pass it on their descendants. This concept was illustrated in the amazing case of the Nicaraguan deaf children,
who invented a brand new language from scratch back in the early 1980s. Several languages (e.g. as seen in China
and India) originally developed from dialects of one original language. Over the years, these dialects began to
become very distinct from each other and soon became languages in their own rights. Some languages (such as
Swahili) developed from pidgins, where two languages (in the case Arabic and local native language) merged from
bilingualism over a long period of time and soon became a Creole. More of this is discussed in the book
Pidginization and Creolization as Language Acquisition.


Why did writing take place much later compared to languages? Am important fact between speaking a language
and writing it down is that for a particular language with an alphabet, people were speaking languages for decades
before the language was recorded in writing. For instance Exploring the German Language reveals that Germanic
languages used in places such as Germany and Scandinavia were already been spoken circa 2000 to 1000 BC. But
the date of the discovery of the first major inscriptions in Germanic languages in the Runic alphabet was around
A.D. 150. Likewise, Celtic languages go back circa 2000 BC. However Celtic text in the Ogham alphabet only
appeared from A.D. 300. One major reason for this is that the development of ancient writing took a much different
and complex path compared to the development of ancient languages. While languages developed from within
communities of ancient people living closeby and needing to communicate with one another, writing was a skill
much copied from other ancient people living hundreds of miles away. For instance the majority of modern
European languages are Indo-European in origin while much of the modern languages of the Middle East are
Semitic in origin (excluding for example languages used in Iran and Turkey which are non-Semitic), consequently
Indo European and Semitic languages are totally unrelated to each other. However Indo European languages
groups adopted modified versions of the same semitic alphabet invented in the Middle East. In the book Writing and
Script: A Very Short Introduction, Andrew Robinson notes that the development of writing happened several
thousands of years later after languages had developed, because the need to be able to read and write was not an
immediate requirement to sustain the simple life of ancient societies, with the ability to speak distinct languages
already in place.

Before humans invented writing, they first drew pictures on objects such as stone and wood and in caves. The
oldest radiocarbon-dated cave paintings in the world go back to 30,000 BC, such as the 1994 discovery of the Cro-
Magnon Chauvet cave paintings in France (Werner Herzog, Cave of Forgotten Dreams). Elsewhere in ancient
Turkey, at the Beldibi cave are images of animals such as bison carved on stones dating circa 15,000 BC (Denise
Schmandt-Besserat, When writing met Art: From symbol to Story). Next short symbolic and / or pseudo-numerical
inscriptions appeared alongside pictures or separately. An example, dating 9,000 to 11,000 years old, are stone
monuments at Gbekli Tepe, a hill-top Neolithic site in southeastern Turkey (Alice Roberts, The Incredible Human
Journey). Among the symbols uncovered at Gbekli Tepe were those of boars and wild cats. Klaus Schmidt an
expert at the site suggests a rather more signiganct discovery, in that the site was where nomadic hunter-gatheres
first became farmers. None of these however were full-lengh human writing, which only appeared after proto-writing
had evolved. Proto-writing first took shape by accident when merchants in the first emerging city-states in and
around the Fertile Crescent needed to perform some sort of accounting, and invented a way to record counts. David
M Burton in the book The History of Mathematics: An Introduction, gives excellent examples of the use of tally marks
to record counts. These symbolic and numerical inscriptions occured in a variety of geometric shapes, the most
common being circular disks, triangles and cones. Burton notes that the oldest inscriptions are dated to about 8000
BC (i.e. in use from about 10,000 years ago). All these non full-lengh human writing are termed proto-writing.
However some scholars limit proto-writing to the earliest forms of human writing, and the best candidate for the
oldest candidate for primitive proto-writing appears to be signs found in a cave at Peche Merle in France dating from
20,000 BC.

Eventually, over time, symbols joined together, developing into full-length writing (pictographic scripts such as
Mayan, Chinese and Egyptian hieroglyphics as well as Linear A and B scripts developed in this way. J ohn
DeFrancis (Visible Speeech: The Diverse Oneness of Writing Systems) defines full-lengh human writing as a
system of graphic symbols that can used to convey any and all thought. It is clear, for example the primitive
humans who drew the Cro-Magnon Chauvet cave paintings, were trying to convey their thoughts on the various wild
animals that they came across.

Sumerian was the language of perhaps the first civilization in the world (based in what is now modern day Iraq), and
it was spoken extensively around 6000 BC. Then from about 3500 BC, or over 5000 years ago, people living in
Sumer finally began writing. Inasmuch as Sumer was the worlds first civilization to develop writing, would it have
progressed even further without inventing writting? Andrew Robinson (Writing and Script: A Very short Introduction)
provides an answer in a few words: civilization cannot exist without spoken language, but it can exist without written
communication. How and why did Sumer become the first major civilization in the world and the birthplace of writing?
Professor J ared Diamond in his book Guns, Germs and Steel provides some interesting answers. His book, which
also spawned a Discovery TV documentary, shows that at about 9,000 BC, during the Neolithic Age or New Stone

Age, people living in the Middle East, in particular, Mesopotamia and nearby vicinities such as ancient Syria and
J ordan, where the climate was hot, but not too hot as in tropical East Africa (where humans first originated) or too
cold as in most of Europe (recovering from the last Ice Age, which had only disappeared circa 12,000 BC), did
something unique, no other ancient people in world had done before. They began to cultivate plants for food and
breed and domesticate animals. These parts of the Middle East were thus the first regions any where in world to
move from hunter-gathers to farmers. Among the first foods to be farmed were staples such as wheat, barley and
legumes, which can be grown in huge quantities. With surplus food now produced in abundance and hundreds of
people now living in one place at the same time for long periods of time (i.e. no longer nomadic), populations soon
grew to become large villages then into small towns and cities. Soon city states such as Ur, Kish, Uruk and Lagash
in Sumer emerged and then trade and commerce soon commenced between and within these city states, leading to
an organised society: a big phenomenal social revolution. And from an organized society, the invention of writing
was inevitable: first appearing as short symbolic and numerical inscriptions often used in trade as a way to keep
track of transactions, and then developing into full-length writing. This was the characteristic way the first writing
method in the world, Sumerian Cuneiform writing developed. This is why Mesopotamia is called the Fertile Crescent,
the cradle of all civilizations. The book The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics provides another good
example of how ancient scripts developed. In its analysis of the origins of the Linear B script used in Crete circa
1450 BC, the motivation for the development of the script stemed from the fact that as the agricultural economy of
Crete grew, data from bureaucratic systems and details on land-holdings became to large to be organized and
controlled from memory. To be able to correctly document things like transactions and other accounting matters, a
way to record business on clay tablets was developed. Professor Diamond explains further that the transition from
hunter-gathers to farmers, soon spread around the world leading to other ancient civilizations within and outside
Mesopotamia such as those of the ancient Egyptians, the Elamites, the Babylonians and the Hittties (the Turkish
City of atal Hyk, on the northen edge of the Fertile Crescent had a population of some 7000 persons when it
was founded circa 6000 BC. Various sources name it as the worlds oldest city and the largest and best-preserved
ancient city anywhere in the world). In eastern Asia, farming (based on millet, pigs, and goats) first began
independently in China (East Asias oldest civilization and the first to develop writing) just after it began in the
Middle East. Farming (wheatbarley/cattlepigssheep agricultural complex) reached Europes first civilization, that
of the Minoans in ancient Crete and Greece between 6000 to 7000 BC (Bogucki and Crabtree, Ancient Europe 8000
B.C.--A.D. 1000: An Encyclopedia of the Barbarian World), and it is to no surprise that Crete and Greece were the
first places in Europe to develop writing systems. Only in remote places of the world, such as the Artic (several
nomadic tribes live here), the Amazon rainforest (nomadic Indians), the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the Kalahari
Desert (nomadic San people) and parts of Melanesia auch as Papua New Guinea, do remnants of ancestors of
hunter-gathers still exists today and the concept of writing is predictably non-existent. A unique feature of most of
the early major Neolithic civilizations with large populations was that they were located near a major river and valley.
This is the case for the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia (Tigris and Euphrates Rivers); India (Indus River); Egypt
(River Nile) and China (Yellow and Yangtze Rivers). The main reason for this was the obvious need to have
abundant sources of water for farming, which was was a requirement to sustain the move from hunter-gathering to
farming.

Prior to the invention of paper, clay tablets were used as writing materials in ancient Sumer, Babylonia and
Assyria and the later civilizations that overran these. While the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans used
papyrus in addition to clay, later on, parchment and vellum were the chief materials used in Europe and the Middle
East, replacing papyrus. In some instances tablets dipped in wax were used as well. Silk, bamboo, bones, bronze
and linen were the main writing materials in China, Korea, and many other East Asian cultures that had written
forms of their languages before the arrival of paper. On the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia, lontar leaves,
tree barks such as birch bark, palm leaves as well as bamboo were used as writing materials. Across the Atlantic in
the Americas, before the arrival of Columbus and the conquistadors, for ancient civilizations such as the Maya,
Moche, and Aztec, the chief materials for writing were stone, wood, and deerskin. The change from papyrus to more
long-lasting parchment for the production books in large quantities in Europe began circa 6 BC at the Pergamum
Library in ancient Greece, (although the earliest use of parchment as a writing material dates back to 300 BC, long
before the Pergamum Library was founded). Early books made from parchment had a problem though, text could
only be written on one side and it is difficult to refer to a particular part of the book (e.g. as locating words from the
index page today). This problem was solved with the introduction of the parchment codex. The change from

parchment rolls to parchment codex began about 1st century A.D. in the Roman Empire, and was used extensively
in Christian book makers from the time the Roman Catholic Church was founded in 4th century A.D..
Following the invention of writing in, three writing systems or scripts were eventually developed over the
centuries:
1. Alphabetic writing systems were used for languages such as Arabic, Latin, English, Greek, Russian, Hebrew,
Malay, and Korean.
2. Syllabic writing systems (known as syllabaries or pseudo-alphabets) were used on the Indian subcontinent and in
East Asia (known as Indic writing systems) for languages such as Hindi, Khmer, Bengali, Burmese, J avanese
(Indonesia), Thai, Tibetan, Tamil and Sinhalese (Sri Lanka), as well as some nonAsian languages such as Amharic
(Ethiopia).
3. Pictographic, logographic and ideographic writing systems were first used for Sumerian cuneiforms and ancient
Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphics, and ideograms are used today in China and J apan.
Today there are more than some 53 scripts. The Khmer (Cambodian) script is the largest with 74 letters, 39
vowels, 10 digits, and 14 other punctuation marks. One of the Melanesian languages of Papua New Guinea in the
Pacific Ocean called Rotokas has the shortest alphabet, with only 11 letters. Modern Chinese script commonly uses
just over 8,000 ideograms (but the total number of ideograms in existence are between 40,000 and 50,000). A
J apanese child must learn about 2,000 Chinese ideograms, or Kanji, as well as two J apanese phonetic scripts,
Hiragana and Katakana, both with about 45 symbols. All three make up the J apanese script. A Roman alphabet (for
use in transliteration of ideograms) was introduced in J apan in 1981 and called Romanjii, and another in 1958 for
the Chinese, called Pinyin. The Korean script is not an ideographic one but a full alphabet using modified symbols
adapted from Chinese script. Korean script has two Roman alphabetic systems, the McCune-Reischauer System
and the Korean Ministry of Education System. So complex are J apanese and Chinese scripts that it takes a child
several years longer to master the script than compared to a child learning how to use the Roman script.

Notes. In March 2001, an international forum was hosted in Baghdad by the Iraqi government to celebrate the
5000th birthday of the invention of writing. But the oldest proof of human writing is just over 8000 years old, (see
the sections on Chinese, Sumer and Greek texts at entry 124 below, for more details). Out of the 53 alphabets
and scripts in use today for over 6000 languages, both the Roman and the Arabic scripts are the most
commonly used international alphabets, as they are used as official orthography by several countries on more
than two continents. The Roman or Latin script is used for about 110 languages mostly in Europe, sub-Saharan
Africa and the Americas. The Arabic script is used in over 20 languages including much of the Middle East with
Arabic populations and much of Sub-Saharan Muslim African countries for languages such as such as Hausa,
Swahili and Somali; Berber language (Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania and Algeria); Farsi (Iran); Urdu
(Pakistan); Pashto (Afghanistan); Azeri (Azerbaijan) and Malay (Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia). Countries that
have used two or more scripts officially for the national language include Turkey (Roman and Arabic script);
Romania (Roman and Cyrillic script); Indonesia (Roman and Arabic script); Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania
(Arabic and Roman script for Swahili); Mongolia (Mongolian Cyrillic script); (Korea (Chinese and Korean script);
Vietnamese (Chinese and Roman script); Azerbaijan (Arabic, Cyrillic and Roman script; Kazakhstan (Arabic and
Cyrillic script) and Uzbekistan (Arabic, Cyrillic and Roman script.) A 3
rd
major script used in several countries
(but mostly in Asia) is the Brahmi script. It had spread from India (where it exists as Devani gari) to be used in
modified forms for several East Asian countries such as the Bengali, Burmese, Laotian and Thai scripts. In
western China, the Uighurs (Uyghurs), use both Chinese and Arabic script. A major similarity in the spread of
the Roman, Arabic and Brahmi scripts is that they were spread from places they originated to other places via
religion. Arabic script was spread via Islam, Roman script was spread via Christianity and the Brahmi script was
spread via Buddhism. In other words these three major religions played a critical role in making millions of
people around the world literate in mediaeval times. This is backed up by the fact the majority of the oldest
written manuscripts (such as the Vedas) and all the first original printed books around the world were firstly on
religious topics (this is taken up in detail in next section). Another important fact is that several scripts used
today (or extinct) around the world were invented by religious figures. For instance Bishop Ulfilas in what is
today Germany invented the now extinct Gothic script, St Cyril and his brother St Methodius invented the Cyrillic
script. In Japan, Kukai, a Buddhist priest invented the Kana script, while in Armenia Bishop Mesrop Mashots
invented the current Armenian alphabet. Most of the oldest and earliest libraries and universities founded

around the world such as Bologna University in Italy, were founded by religious figures. Thus the critical
acacemic role played by relgion in the Middle Ages was both enormous and a lasting legacy. For most
languages around the world today, writing is horizontally from left to right, so a book is opened on the right-hand
side. There are however some exceptions. Arabic and Hebrew documents are both written horizontally from
right to left (as they were both strongly influenced by Aramaic which was written from right to left), so a book is
opened from the left-hand side. However the Devanagari script which was also descenced from the Aramic
script (via the Brahmi script) is writen from left to right. Another exception is seen in the African languages Geez
and Amharic used in Ethiopia), both have Semitic origins like Arabic and Hebrew but are read from left to right.
Meanwhile both Chinese and Japanese can typically be written in vertical columns from right to left or
horizontally from left to right, or from right to left.
Another major difference seen in texts from around the world is the word order for modifiers, e.g. whether or not
an adjective (modifier) precedes the noun. For example in Swedish, Dutch, German, English and Greek texts,
we write a tall man, not a man tall and three persons, not persons three. However in texts for languages
such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanan, Russian, Irish, Thai, Hebrew and Welsh the opposite is true:
the modifier (but rarely including numbers) comes after the noun. So while in English we say a tall man, in
Spanish it is correctly written as un hombre alto, in Italian un uomo alto, in Welsh dyn tal, in Irish fear ard
All translate as a man tall or man tall. Despite this difference in word order, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of
Language explains that Russian, English, and Spanish texts have a similarity in the position of a verb. Or all use
what linguists call the subjectverbobject or SVO sentence structure alongside German, French, Italian,
Chinese Mandarin, Thai, Vietnamese and Greek. Meanwhile Turkish, Farsi, Hungarian, and several Asian
languages such as Urdu, Sinhalese, Hindi, Nepali, Burmese, Japanese and Korean texts belongs to languages
that use the subjectobjectverb or SOV sentence structure. Scottish, Welsh, Irish Arabic and Hebrew use the
third most common method called the verb-subject-object or VSO sentence structure. Together all three
different types of sentence structures are used in over 95% of todays texts.
The remaining 5% of languages (some with no writing sstems) use verbsubjectorder sentence structure, e.g.
austronesian languages like Malagasy, Maori, Javanese, Hawaiian etc. The much rarer objectsubjectverb
sentence structure and object-verbe-subject sentence structures are used by indigenous American tribes in the
Amazon, Peru and Mexico.
For example the man (subject) closed (verb) the door (object) is written in most Asian languages as the man
(subject) the door (object) closed (verb). This explains why if a paragraph in a Hindi text is translated word for
word into English, it will make no sense at all. Another anomaly is seen from the fact that while all the Romance
languages like French, Spanish and Italian (which all descended from Latin) use the SVO sentence structure;
classical Latin used the SOV sentence structure!
Photo of Arabic book opened from left handside

Sources and further Reading.
David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, Cambridge University Press; 2 edition 1997
Scientific American Cave Speak: Did Neanderthal s Talk?. October 2007

The Origin of Language: Tracing the Evolution of the Mother Tongue / Merritt Ruhlen

Dr. Atkinson and Russell Gray Language-tree divergence times support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European
origin. Nature, Nature 426, 435-439 (27 November 2003)

Noam Chomsky, the well known evolutionary linguist writing in Language and Mind

Spencer Wells The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey
Dr Lucia Cavalli-Sforza, Genes, Peoples and Languages,

Comment [k7]: Takephoto

The April 2010 issue of the journal Science published results of an extensive research project led by Dr Quentin
D. Atkinson GET FULL J OURNAL DETAILS

Andrew Robinson Writing and Script: A Very Short Introduction,

Exploring the German Language / Sally J ohnson and Natalie Brabe

Werner Herzog, Cave of Forgotten Dreams Blu Ray, 2010

D.M. Burton in the book The History of Mathematics: An Introduction,

J ohn DeFrancis (Visible Speeech: The Diverse Oneness of Writing Systems

Professor J ared Diamond in his book Guns, Germs and Steel

Bogucki and Crabtree, Ancient Europe 8000 B.C.--A.D. 1000: An Encyclopedia of the Barbarian World

George L Campbell Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. 1997. New York.

Hadumod Bussman. Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics Routledge. 1996. New York.

Andersen, R (ed) 1983. Pidginization and Creolization as Language Acquisition.

Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Worlds Ancient Languages

The Blackwell Encyclpdeia of Writing Systems
The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet
Amalia E. Gnanadesika


124. 10 oldest existing written works
The following are ten major groups of inscriptions, manuscripts and text fragments from around the world. Most
date from well before A.D. 1, and are thus thousands of years old. Since radiocarbon dating and other scientific
criteria for determining age cannot always guarantee precise dates, approximations or rough estimates are a way to
get round this.


1. Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria. Clay tablets from Sumer (in southern Mesopotamia, near the Tigris and Euphrates
valley of present-day Iraq), inscribed in Sumerian cuneiform writing, are dated from circa 3500 BC, and are thus
about 5500 years old. Some of these tablets were discovered by French archaeologists in 1877 at the ancient town
of Lagash (now Telloh in southern Iraq). Many museums around the world, such as the Louvre in Paris, display
many fragments from these ancient clay tablets, including the oldest storybooks such as The Epic of Gilgamesh (the
biblical story of Noah and the great flood) and The Lord of Aratta. A number of scripts based on the Sumerian
cuneiform appeared later on, notably the Elamite script. Fragments of clay tablets found at Suse (Susa), the capital
of the ancient kingdom of Elam, in south-western modern Iran, were dated at 3100 BC. Proto-Elamite cuneiform
inscriptions are the 3
rd
oldest writing system invented in the world after that of the Sumerians and the Egyptians
When the Sumer civilization declined, it was taken over by the Akkadian Empire of Sargon I, which in turn was
superseded by the Babylonian and Assyrian empires. Several 4200-year-old cuneiform clay tablets inscribed in Old

Akkadian, the language of ancient Babylonia and Assyria dating from about 2650 BC, have been uncovered. Like
the clay tablets from Sumer, museums today also display many fragments of these ancient clay tablets from
Babylonia and Assyria. Later on in time, the Hittites, (originally from parts of what is today modern Turkey), who
overran the Babylonian Empire, began inscribing hieroglyphic and cuneiform writings on clay and stone circa 1600
BC. Some were written in Middle Akkadian cuneiform, the rest in Hittite hieroglyphics. In 1906 German
archaeologists discovered thousands of Hittite clay tablets from the ruins of the ancient Hittite capital Hattusas, (near
the modern Turkish town of Boghazky, east of Ankara). The cuneiform script was not just confined to Mesopotamia
and the surrounding areas alone. In the area known as the Levant, (before the alphabetic script was invented, see
under Syria and Palestine), the cuneiform script was also widely used in ancient Lebanon (Phonecia), ancient Syria
(Aram) and Palestine (Canaanan), especially in the city-sates. People living in ancient J ordan, Iran, Turkey and
eastern Egypt also produced several cuneiform inscriptions. Examples of cuneiform inscriptions found outside
Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria include the Elba Tablets (ancient Syria) discovered in 1975 by Italian archaeologist
Paolo Matthiae dating from 1900 BC; the Edomite inscriptions (ancient J ordan, notably Petra), dated 2700 BC; the
Mari inscriptions (ancient Palestine) of King Zimri-Lim dated at 1800 BC and the Akkadian Tel-el-Amarna tablets
of Canaanite king Abdi-heba found in 1887 in ancient Egypt, dated at 1400 BC. Hittite inscriptions from Ancient
Turkey, (already discussed before) in cuneiform are dated 1400 BC. The Old Persian cuneiform inscriptions of
the Achaemenid Empire of Cyrus the Great in Persia (modern Iran) are dated at circa 550 BC and quiet different
from the much older Proto-Elamite cuneiform inscriptions.
The Akkadian language which was spoken widely in the Babylonian, Sumer and Assyrian (as the lingua franca of
the Middle East) and its script existed from circa 2700 BC to about 500 BC. Akkadian was then replaced gradually
by the Aramaic language and its script as the de facto lingua franca and script in the Middle East until the
emergence of Arabic and its script in the 6
th
century A.D..
Notes. There also exist stone fragments of archaic pre-cuneiform inscriptions, (known as the early Uruk period
inscriptions of Sumer) that are older than the Lagash tablets. Three such examples are the Hoffman Tablet,
preserved at the General Theological Seminary in New York and another stone tablet at the Pennsylvania
University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia, both date from 5100 BC. The other pre-
cuneiform relic is known as the monuments Blau (or monuments blue), and are pieces of greenish stone housed
at the Ashmolean Museum and the British Museum in the U.K. and dated at 4800 BC. All 7000-year-old
fragments were retrieved from the royal tombs in the city of Ur (the biblical birthplace of Abraham) in the 1920s.
Even though these are not regarded as full-length examples of human writing, as they are merely short
inscriptions and often numerical, nevertheless together with the Jiahu script from ancient China, they are the
oldest surviving samples of any form of primitive human writing today.
Sources and further Reading
George L Campbell Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. 1997. New York.

The Blackwell Encyclpdeia of Writing Systems
The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet / Amalia E. Gnanadesika
Reading the Past: Ancient Writing from to the Al phabet / JT Hooker
2. Egypt. Before the ancient Egyptians began using papyrus to write on, inscriptions were made on stone (clay was
not available in the Nile Valley). The earliest simple hieroglyphics (short inscriptions and symbols) were in use
around 4000 BC (predynastic Egypt, or before Menes, the founding king of the 1st Egyptian dynasty). The oldest
extant such stone hieroglyphic inscriptions are those of the Naqada I culture, dating back to 3500 BC and preserved
at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, U.K.. Some of the inscriptions depict the work of Shera, the priest of Send,
and hence the stone is known as the Send Inscription.
Flinders Petrie, who was among those who discovered the worlds first alphabet (see section on Syria and
Palestine), is credited as being among the first to discover pottery belonging to the period of time that predated the
Naqada I culture. During that period, writing heiegulocis had not yet being invented, but he was able to date the
period of the cultue by styding the pottery. His technique, today called seriation, involved using pottery to date other

objects.
The ancient Egyptians first used papyrus reeds, from the plant Cyperus papyrus (which gave rise to the word
paper), for full-length human writing around 3200 BC (Naqada III culture). In 1988 German archeologist Gnter
Dreyer discovered inscriptions on ivory tags that pushed back the earliest date of full-length Egyptian hieroglyphics
to 3300 BC.
The Prisse Papyrus made in ancient Egypt around 2300 BC is the oldest existing written work on papyrus. It was
named after Prisse dAvennes, the French Egyptologist, and the contents of the papyrus, written in hieratic script,
are based on the teachings of Ptah-Hotep, Grand Vizier under the 5th Egyptian dynasty Pharaoh Isesi (Izezi). The
National Library of France now houses the 4000 year old papyrus. The Book of the Dead, another ancient Egyptian
papyrus scroll, dates from 1800 BC. Discovered in Egypt in 1799 by a French archaeologist, the Rosetta Stone,
dating from 195 BC, was later to be used as a dictionary to translate the first Egyptian hieroglyphics. It is belived that
the Ptolemies, the ruling dynasty of Egpt at that time, had ordered the creationm of the Rosetta Stone. In 1823 a set
of Egyptian hieroglyphics were first completely deciphered for the first time by Champollion
Notes. Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets revreals that today the ancient Egyptian language has evolved into
the Coptic language, which is still used by minority Christians in Egypt who belong to the Coptic Egyptian
Church, founded when St. Mark introduced Christianity to Egypt during the reign of Emperor Nero in the 1
st

century A.D. (circa A.D. 37-68). The Coptic Church (also practiced in ancient Ethiopia and Sudan) is thus much
older than the Roman Catholic Church, as Christianity (Roman Catholicism) became the state religion of the
Roman Empire only in the 4th century A.D.. The Coptic language is written in the Coptic script, an adaptation of
the Greek alphabet. In ancient Egypt, hieroglyphics took a long time to read and were thus used mostly on
buildings and tombs. For other uses, a hieratic script was developed around 2000 BC for writing on papyrus,
and was later replaced around 800 BC by the more simplified demotic script. Hieroglyphics were however in use
in ancient Egypt until about A.D. 40, by which time it was already part of the Roman Empire. The Coptic script is
believed to have evolved from the demotic script, before being improved with the Greek alphabet. The Coptic
script also gave rise to the Meroitic script used for the Sudanese language called Old Nubian. See also entry
137)


George L Campbell Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. 1997. New York.

The Blackwell Encyclpdeia of Writing Systems
The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet
Amalia E. Gnanadesika

3. China. The earlies date for proto-writing in China, which is also older than the 7000 year old proto-writing in
Mesopotamia (archaic pre-cuneiform inscriptions found in Uruk, Sumer, as described earlier on in this book), is a
writing system on tortoise shells found in Henan Province (and announced in 2003) called the Jiahu script which
dates back at least 6000 BC and is this more than 8000 years old. It is among the oldest proof of human proto-
writing today, alongside with the archaic pre-cuneiform inscriptions found in Sumer. Another ancient example of
Chinese proto-writing is that used for the Yangshao culture which was dated from 5000, to 4000 BC ands based al o
in Henan Province. About four thousand years later, the first major Chinese poetic inscriptions, written in an ancient
Chinese ideograph that is a precursor to the Chinese shang script used today and dating from 2000 BC, were
discovered on ox bones such as the scapulae and on tortoise shells near the city of Anyang in Henan Province.
They are known today as the J iaguwen or oracle bones. Some of the largest surviving samples can be seen at the
Taiwan National Palace Museum near Taipei. The oldest complete surviving example of ancient Chinese literature is
the I Ching, also known in the West as the Book of Change, written on bones probably around 1800 BC (just after
the start of the first Chinese dynasty know as Xia or Hsia circa 2000 BC). The original work was first written by Fu Xi
(also spelled as Fu Hsi), inventor of the calendar and credited with inventing the 4000 year old current Chinese
script). But the I Ching has been enlarged by other writers such as King Wen and his son Tan in 1150 BC during the
Shang dynasty. Centuries later, commentaries from Confucius were added around 510 BC. Scholars believe that
the Book of Change is the basis for three Asian religions: Confucianism, Taoism, and Zen Buddhism. Today you can

buy several versions of the I Ching in bookstores around the world. Apart from the Chinese script, another ancient
but difficult ideographic script was invented circa 1000 BC in ancient China by the Naxi Dongba people (Yao Xie) of
the Yunnan, Sichuan and Xizang provinces, in southwestern China. It is much harder to learn than standard
Chinese ideographs, so the Naxi people today use the standard one it instead for reading and writing. Today
scholars from both China and more than ten countries are still trying to systematically translate and transliterate the
3000 year old Naxi Dongba ideographic script.

Notes. Yonaguni is an island in the southernmost part of J apan is believed to have a 10,000 year old history. In
ancient times its inhabitants spoke a languge distinct from J apanese. In 2012, Discovery Magazine reported that
J apanese diver Kihachiro Aratake discovered ruins of lost Stone-Age civilization beneath the sea, with several stone
monuments. Several of the stone relics had strange inscriptions radio carbon dated to 8000 BC. This discovery was
so remarkable it threatens to rewrite the history of the world. If scientists do confirm the lost civilization was existed,
it will feature several firsts such as and the oldest stone monuments ion the world, and the first evidence of human
inscriptions in Asia, predating oldest Chinese incriptins (i.e. Jiahu script) by 2000 years.
The characters in the Chinese script are called hanzi. The Chinese script is the oldest existing script in the
world today, and after more than 4000 years it has not changed much in structure, apart from a reduction in the
number of characters. Apart from forming part of the existing J apanese script, it has been once been used in
Vietnam and Korea as the official scripts. There are two main forms of the current Chinese script: Simplified and
Traditional. The former is used on mainland China, Singapore and the Chinese ethnic groups in Malaysia and
Thailand. While the latter used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and many regions overseas were Cantonese
Chinese is spoken in large numbers such as the China Towns in the U.S. Two Chinese words that have made
its way into English are tea and tycoon.

Sources and further Reading
George L Campbell Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. 1997. New York.

The Blackwell Encyclpdeia of Writing Systems
The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet / Amalia E. Gnanadesika
A history of writing / Steven Roger Fischer
A history of writing / Anne-Marie Christin
The story of writing / Andrew Robinson
4. India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The ancient Indus Valley civilization, occupied parts of the Indian subcontinent
such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro in present-day Pakistan, and several areas in the modern Indian states of
Rajasthan and Gujarat. The civilization produced ideographic inscriptions (in a partially deciphered Indus Valley
script adopted from Sumerian pictograms) on faience and ivory which have been dated to around 2500 BC. In 1999,
it was announced by the Harappa Archaeological Research Project at Harvard University in the U.S., that
inscriptions on pottery fragments radio carbon dated to 5500 years old, were uncovered in Harappa. They appear to
be proto-writing. This sensational find appears to predate the oldest proto-writing writing systems found in Sumer
(circa 5000 years old), but not those found in China (circa 8000 years old) as discussed previously in this chapter.
The most significant ancient language used on the subcontinent was Sanskrit, from which such languages as Hindi,
Urdu and Bengali were derived. Sanskrit is one of the two main classical Indo-European languages used on the
subcontinent, (the other being Pali). Some of the oldest Sanskrit texts (written originally on palm leaves in the
Sanskrit script) from the region are the Vedas, epic religious poems that form the basis of Hinduism, the oldest
religion in the world. The Rig Veda or Rg Veda, the oldest of the Vedas, dates from 1710 BC. Those that are extant
are but not in their original form, having been expanded later by generations of several authors.
Today the only place to view the Rig Veda is the Bhandarkar Institute Library in Pune (Poona) southeast of
Mumbai (Bombay). The Vedas are so valuable to worldwide historical scholars, that they are part of the UNESCO
Memory of the World Register. After the Indus Valley script and the Sanskrit script declined in use, the next
important script to evolve on the Indian subcontinent was the Brahmi script. Written works in Brahmi script (from
which all scripts used on the Indian subcontinent developed), were in existence from 650 BC. The Brahmi script

itself developed from the Aramaic script, and before the Brahmi script came into existence, the Aramaic script was
used to write several inscriptions, that have been discovered by archaeologists on the Indian subcontinent. The
Aramaic script originated in ancient Syria and Lebanon (as a modified form of the Phonecian script) and
spread eastwards to first to Persia then onto the Indian subcontinent just after 680 BC. From there it also
spread further east (spread via Buddhism) to develop centuries later via the Bhahmi script into the precursor scripts
for the Tibetan, J avanese (used in Indonesia, and introduced in the 8th century A.D. by Buddhist monks from India);
Burmese; Khmer; Laotian and Thai scripts.
Fragments of Tamil (in Sri Lanka) texts are the oldest of the Brahmi-derived texts in the southern parts of the
Indian subcontinent, as the earliest Tamil texts date from 600 BC making Tamil the India's oldest living language
and script. The best known ancient Tamil texts is Tolkppiyam which dates from 200 BC The oldest existing
complete Sanskrit manuscripts written in the Brahmi script are the work of the Indian grammarian Panini in circa 400
BC. The laws of King Asoka (Ashoka) who once ruled a large portion of modern day India and is now immortalized
on the Indian national flag and official passport, written in Brahmi and inscribed on monumental columns and pillars,
notably at Buddhist Sarnath Shrine, east of Varanasi, mostly date from 290 BC. The oldest extant Buddhist texts
from the Indian subcontinent not inscribed on stone are the 2000 year old Gandharan Buddhist Scrolls (preserved at
the British Library). The scrolls which date from about A.D. 1 and were written in Kharosthi script, were discovered in
Peshawar, Pakistan, once the capital of the ancient kingdom of Gandhara, famous for the ancient Takshashila
University (see entry 60). This Kharosthi script, which is based on the Aramaic script like the Brahmi script, was in
use from about 300 BC when the northwestern India subcontinent was ruled by the Persian Achaemenid Empire.
Today Hindi, the most widely used language on the Indian subcontinent, is written in the Brahmi script known as
Devanagari, modifications of Devanagari are also used in other separate northern and central Indian scripts such as
those used for Bengali, Telegu and Guajarati. But Urdu (spoken in Pakistan) which is related to Hindi (as speakers
in both languages and understand each other most of the time), but strongly influenced by Arabic and Persian, is
written in the Arabic script. Hindi and Urdu were better known as Hindustani. Meanwhile several southern Indian
Dravidian languages such as Kannada (whose written records all date from the 5th to 9th century A.D.), and Tamil
(600 BC), are all written in a unique Brahmi script, the Dravidian script (also known as the Grantha???). Sinhalese
(used in Sri Lanka) is written in the script used was for writing Pali texts such as Theravada Buddhism texts, (see
below), and the oldest texts date from the 4th century A.D., which are thus not as old as Tamil texts from Sri Lanka.
The official organization that regulates the Hindi language and its alphabet is the New Delhi-based Central Hindi
Directorate.

Notes. The very first monotheistic religion in the world began on ancient Egypt when pharaoh Akhenaten and his
wife Nefertiti introduced the worship of just one god or Monotheism, the sun god Aten in 3000 BC (however Judaism
is the oldest extant religion today that practices Monotheism. Buddhism (the third oldest extant religion in the world,
after Hinduism and Judaism) originally began in India from the 6th century BC, and several of the oldest Buddhists
texts came from India. For instance King Asoka, Indias most famous ancient ruler was a Buddhist. However over
the centuries starting from about the 4th century A.D., during the Gupta dynasty, Hinduism was revived and began
to overshadow Buddhism, of which there are today only about 6 million followers on the Indian subcontinent, mostly
in Sri Lanka. Hinduism is the major religion in India, with over 800 million adherents. Worldwide there are over 500
million followers of Buddhism in Southeast Asia e.g. Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand (Theravada Buddhism); East
Asia e.g. China and Korea (Mahayana Buddhism); Lamaism (Tibet and Mongolia) and Zen Buddhism (Japan and
Korea). Many important ancient Buddhist documents were not written in Sanskrit because the Buddha, teaching in
India, was opposed to the use Sanskrit for reading and writing his sermons. Hence as a substitute, Pali, a classical
ancient Indo-European language related to Sanskrit, was used in Sri Lanka, was used as the classical language of
Buddhism, and its script used for writing the earliest Buddhist scriptures. The Tripitaka Canon (the holy book of
Theravada Buddhism) is written entirely in Pali. In Sri Lanka, where Pali was first used to record the earliest
teachings of the Buddha in the main language Sinhalese, the majority religion is Theravada Buddhism, although the
Tamils in Sri Lanka practice Hinduism.

72.tif
The Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, forbade the use of Sanskrit for his religion and encouraged the use of Pali,
hence Asian all texts in Theravada Buddhism today are written in Pali.


73.tif
The 2000 year old Buddhist Gandharan Buddhist Scrolls from the ancient Kingdom of Gandhara based near
Peshawar, Pakistan. It is the oldest example of Buddhist texts from the Indian not inscribed on stone.
George L Campbell Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. 1997. New York.

The Blackwell Encyclpdeia of Writing Systems
The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet
Amalia E. Gnanadesika

5. Crete. Clay tablets discovered in Knossos in Crete in 1936 (Europes earliest civilization) by British archaeologist
Arthur Evans date from the Minoan civilization circa 1800 BC. In 1939, similar clay tablets were found in Pylos in
southwestern Greece. The clay tablets in Crete and Pylos were written in what is called the Linear A script and
some in the Linear B script (dated 1500 BC), and both are the earliest texts found in Europe (alongside the Hittite
cuneiforms from Turkey). Unlike the more robust Linear B, used in the later Mycenaean civilization, which is more
widely understood by scholars and was proved by Michael Ventris in 1952 to be an early form of the ancient Greek
language, Linear A is currently not completely deciphered and appears represent a non-Indo European language. In
the field of palaeography (study of ancient writing) understanding Linear A remains a big challenge, however both
Linear A and Linear B are pictographic scripts and not alphabetic scripts. There are two instances of discoveries of
ancient tablets older than the Minoan tablets. In 1994 at the Greek University of Thessaloniki, it was announced that
7000 year old inscriptions on wooded tablets (The Dispolio Tablet) had been discovered a year earlier in Greece.
The age of this tablet ties with the 7000 year old archaic pre-cuneiform inscriptions found at the royal tombs in the
city of Ur in Sumer (see previous pages), and makes it older than the Minoan tablets in Knossos. Inscriptions from
the East European Vinca culture, such as the Tataria Tablet of Romania, have been controversially dated at 5500
BC, making them older than the Linear A tablets. But while Linear B is a full human writing system, scholars
conclude that Vinca inscriptions are merely symbolic and numerical inscriptions and not a full human writing system
add sources here. for both tablets Mycenaean civilization ceased to exist around ????BC and its cultural heritage
continued in the form of ancient Greek city states (see section on Greece).
On the Island of Cyprus, not far from mainland Greece, Bronze Age scripts (Cypro-Minoan) dating from 1500 BC
have been uncovered. Its is beloeved to be the ancestor of the classical Cyprian script widely used from 600 BC.
Sources and further Reading
Chadwick J, 1967. The Decipherment of Linear B, 2
nd
ed. Cambridge University Press, London.
Asher R.E and Simpson J.M.Y, 1994. The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Pergamon Press, New
York.
Hooker J. T, 1979. The Origin of the Linear B Script. Minos, Salamanca.
6. Syria and Palestine. The Semites who lived in parts of ancient Syria (Aram) and Palestine (Canaan) created the
first two important alphabetic systems. Since the start of the 20
th
century, three separate major alphabetic Semitic
inscriptions (Prto-Sinaitic) have been uncovered and identifdied. The first was discovered in 1904 by British
Egyptologist Flinders Petrie at Serabit el-Kadem, near the Sinai Peninsula between Egypt and Palestine dated from
1800 BC. The second was discovered in 1929 by French Egyptologist CFA Schaeffer at Ras Shamra (near the
ancient city of Ugarit) in ancient Syria and dated to 1600 BC. The third alphabetic Semitic inscriptions was
discovered in 1993, by Yale University Egyptologists, Dr J ohn Darnell and his wife, in the valley of Wadi el-Hol
(Valley of Horrors), west of Luxor in Egypt and known as the Wadi el-Hol inscriptions. These were radio carbon-
dated to 1900 BC or almost 4000 years old.
All three ancient inscriptions (known today as Proto-Sinaitic or Proto-Canaanite scripts) had originally been adapted
from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics by the Semites and were major improvements over hieroglyphics and cuneiform

writing, and significantly were not solely picture-based writing. Pictures were used in some cases for the letters, but
all the letters had a phonetic value. When the Phoenicians adopted their own alphabet from the Semitic alphabet
hundreds of years later, it shows a complete break from using any pictures at all, and instead simple signs are used
throughout, as we do now for all our modern alphabets like the Roman alphabet.
Scholars and academics around the world mostly agree that the Semitic alphabet is the origin of all other alphabets
in the world, as the three main branches North Semitic (composed of the Aramaic and Canaanite sub branches),
South Semitic and Greek, are the ancestors (via the Phoenician script) of todays modern alphabets.
The letter O is said by some to be the oldest letter of the alphabet today, as it has remained virtually unchanged
since the Semites first used it over 3500 years ago. It had begun as a symbol for the human eye (called ayin): a
small circle with a dot in the centre. The dot was removed by the Phoenicians, leaving a just a small circle which
was then adopted by the Greeks, Etruscans and later the Romans unchanged. The Semitic language spoken in
ancient Syria by the Aramaeans, known as Aramaic, became the The franca of the ancient Middle East for many
centuries, complementing and then replacing the earlier lingua franca, Akkadian (see notes on Sumer, Assyria and
Babylonia). Apart from inventing the Ras Shamra inscriptions (1600 BC), as desribed earlier on, whose use was
confined within ancient Syria, the region is best known today for the Aramaic script. This script had descended from
the North Semitic branch of the Semitic alphabet and was modified with the Phoenician script (see next section).
The Aramaic script was invented around 940 BC was in widespread use beyond Syria by circa 600 BC. It later gave
rise to a number of Middle Eastern and Asian scripts such as Arabic (via the Nabatean script), Modern Hebrew, and
the Brahmi scripts used in Asian scripts. Aramaic as a minority language is still spoken today particularly in Syria, at
village of Maaloula, the only place where this ancient language is spoken widely today. On the Eutelsal 13A Satelite
TV system, viewers in Europe can watch an Aramaic TV channel (Suryoto Sat). Aramaic has contributed to a
handful of words in the English language, the best known is chutzpah (extreme self-confidance or audacity). Modern
Hebrew first borrowed it from Aramaic, this was ineivtsble because the moden Herbrew script descended from
Aramaic script, and borrowed many loan words from the Aramaic language. In the 19
th
century the word was
adopted by several Europan languages (via Yiddish), since they did not have a prior exact equivalent word for
chutzpah.
Of the three major ancient Semitic inscriptions, described above, viz: the Serabit el-Kadem, the Ras Shamra and the
Wadi el-Hol inscriptions, according Professor Orly Goldwasser of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, writing the
respected journal Biblical Archaeological Review (Spring 2010) it was the Serabit el-Kadem inscriptions that was
modified by the Phoenicians for their own use in the Phoenician script (see below). The article by Professor
Goldwasser also provides a fascinating narrative of how the Semites (Canaanites), working in turquoise mines for
the Egyptians at Serabit el-Kadem in the Sinai, out of curiosity, were looking for a way to translate Egyptian
hieroglyphics into their own Canaanite (Amorite) language, and unbeknown to them invented an alphabetic writing
system whose basic concept would still be used today the world over. The Encyclopedia of Language and
Linguistics, at the section dealing with the development of the alphabet goes on to empahasie that the Egyptian
inspiration behind the invention of the Semitic script is noticeable because there are some revealing similarities
between the Serabit el-Kadem symbols and the Egyptian hieroglyphics symbols. The evidence that the Serabit el-
Kadem was indeed of Semitic origin was from the fact that text of the Serabit el-Kadem are in a Canaanite, West
Semitic language, and not in ancient Egyptian language. The Ras Shamra inscriptions, because of its location in
ancient Syria (so far away from the Sinai, appear to have been either an independent effort or an offshoot of the
Serabit el-Kadem inscriptions. This is supported by the fact that Ras Shamra inscriptions are dated after the Serabit
el-Kadem inscriptions, and that the Semitic alphabet spread east wards from the Sinai to Canaan before arriving in
ancient Syria. Meanwhile as the Wadi el-Hol inscriptions were located deep in Egypt (west of the Sinai) and dated
before the Serabit el-Kadme inscriptions, it is not clear whether they are related to the Serabit el-Kadem alphabet or
an isolated independent effort to create an alphabet

Sources and further Reading

The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine and Arabia
George L Campbell Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. 1997. New York.

Professor Orly Goldwasser Biblical Archaeological Review (Spring 2010) In the spring 2010 issue of Biblical
Archaeology Review, professor of Near Eastern languages and culture Orly Goldwasser (Hebrew University of
J erusalem) makes a stronge case in her article "How the Alphabet Was Born from Hieroglyphs"
George L Campbell Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. 1997. New York.

The Blackwell Encyclpdeia of Writing Systems
The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet
Amalia E. Gnanadesika
7. Phoenicia. The Semites (Phoenicians) living along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea corresponding to modern
day Lebanon and Syria, especially at Byblos (near present day Beirut) as well as in parts of modern day Tunisia,
developed an much better alphabetic system, adapted from the Semitic alphabet circa 1500 BC for their Phoenician
language, called Punic, however the Phoenician script symbolized only consonants and no vowels. The Phoenicians
were not the only people in the Middle East to adopt (and sometimes modify) the original Canaanite Semitic
alphabet to suit their own language. Having invented the Semitic alphabet (from 1900 BC) while working in the Sinai,
the Canaanites had passed on their invention back to their kith and kin in Canaan (Palestine) itself, where it was
soon widely adopted by the Canaanites and other tribes living in Canaan most notably the Amorites (best known as
the founders of Mari). Afterwards the Canaanite Semitic alphabet began to spread and was taken up by several
Semitic kingdoms just adjacent to Canaan from 1100 to 600 BC (some had previously used the cuneiform script).
The most prominent among those who had adopted the Canaanite Semitic alphabet where as follows; the
Ammonites (kingdom of Ammon, in modern day J ordan, the capital Amman was founded by the Ammonites,
evidence of their script can be seen in the 900 BC Amman Citadel Inscription); the Moabites (kingdom of Moab, in
modern day J ordan, e.g. the El Kerak Inscriptions, the Balua stele and the 880 BC Moabite stone). The Edomites
(kingdom of Edom, south of modern day Israel and J ordan and centred on the fabulous ancient city of Petra), left
few inscriptions but centuries later their conquerors, the Nabataens invented the Arabic script. The Philistine city
states (whose inhabitants were known as the Sea People), south west of Canaan on the coast of the Mediterranean
sea, such as at ancient Gaza left no reliable inscriptions.. When the Hebrews under J oshua moved into Canaan
circa 1100 BC and later set up the kingdoms of Judea and Israel, they too eventually adopted the Canaanite
Semitic alphabet for writing Old Hebrew texts (evidence of their script is seen in the Dead Sea Scrolls, see next
section). Because the Phoenicians were the foremost international sea traders in the Middle East, it was their own
specific adaptation of the Semitic alphabet that became the dominant script in the Middle East and was exposed to
other civilisations outside the Middle East, most notably the ancient Greeks. Thus centuries later all of these
ancient alphabetic scripts of the Canaanite languages i.e, Amorite, Moabite, Edomite and Old Hebrew etc
would become extinct, except the Phoenician script, because these other Semitic kingdoms adopted the
Phoenician script over theirs. This explains why the Moabite stone of the Kingdom of Edom was written primarily in
the Phoenician and Aramaic script and not just in the Moabite script. Only the Samaritan script, a descendant of the
Old Hebrew script, survives today, and is still used by Samaritan J ews in Israel. The Phoenician script later gave
rise to the Aramaic script circa 940 BC. The Aramaic script is thus a descendant of the both the original Semitic
alphabet (invented in ancient Palestine and Syria) and the Phoenician alphabet (invented in ancient Lebanon). From
The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine ad Arabia were learn that the other main reason for the disappearance of
the other ancient Middle Eastern scripts was due to the eventual widespread use of the Aramaic script and various
dialects of the Aramaic language as lingua franca in the Middle East. For instance it replaced Akkadian used in the
Babylonian and Assysyrian Empires and was widely used in the Persian Empire as well. Phoenician clay
inscriptions such as the one discovered by a French archaeological team in 1922 led by Pierre Montet on the
sarcophagus of a Phoenician King of Byblos (Gebal) called Ahiram, known as the Ahiram Inscriptions, have been
dated to about 1260 BC. It can be seen at the National Museum of Beirut. According to Dr Richard Miles, in his 2010
book Ancient Worlds: the Search for the Origins of Western Civilization, the Ahiram Inscriptions, are believed to be
the oldest extant Phoenician inscriptions uncoverd to date. One of the oldest complete Aramaic inscriptions are
the Sfire basalt steles discovered at Al-Safirah near Aleppo, Syria dated circa 790 BC. While the Greek script,
(ancestor to all European scripts) directly developed from the Phoenician script, in Asia the Brahmi script (ancestor
to most Asian scripts) as well as the Arabic and Hebrew alphabets developed from the Aramaic script. The most
famous of all Phoenician inscriptions is King Meshas Moabite stone, parts of it also written in Aramaic, and dating
from 880 BC and containing biblical stories found in the Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible. Discovered at Dibon,
J ordan, it is preserved at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Get photo.
Comment [GO8]: Get moresourcesand info


Ahiram Inscriptions was mentioned in your DVD, find out where it is to photograph it for your 3
rd
edition.
George L Campbell Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. 1997. New York.

The Blackwell Encyclpdeia of Writing Systems
The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet
Amalia E. Gnanadesika

8. Israel. The Hebrews under J oshua first arrived in Canaan (Palestine) from Egypt, circa 1100 BC. According to the
Bible, prior to arrival in Canaan, the Hebrews were originally based in ancient Sumer, (Ur, a city state in Sumer, is
the biblical birthplace of Abraham, who traditionally laid the foundation of J udaism circa 1700 BC while in
Mesopotamia). Between 1700 and 1500 BC, the Hebrews then migrated from Sumer to Egypt, until Moses led them
out circa 1300 BC. Once settled in Canaan, they soon developed a script (Old or Early Hebrew) based on the
Canaanite Semitic alphabet (described previuolsy in this book in section on Syria and Palestine) for writing Old
Hebrew texts from about 1000 BC. This script was in use in the two kingdoms of the Hebrews i.e. J udea and Israel
until about 600 BC (just before the start of the Babylonian Captivity). Between 600 and 300 BC, the Hebrew
language was under the heavy influence of Aramaic, then the Middle East lingua franca. Becaue of this
influence, the Aramaic script (in widespeard use outside Isreal by 600 BC), was now used for writing
Hebrew texts, alongside the Old Hebrew script, which was graduall y abandoned until it became extinct. This
illustrates an important fact:: while Old Hebrew script developed from the original Semitic alphabet, before being
influenced by the Phoenician alphabet, Modern Hebrew script also called the square (Classical) script or Ketab
Merubba, developed directly from the Aramaic script. By 180 BC the Modern Hebrew script had developed as a
very distinct script from the Aramaic script. The oldest surviving example of Old Hebrew writing is the Geezer
calendar, 10
th
century BC (but some scholars insists it was written in the Canaanite Semitic script and not in the Old
Hebrew script). In 20??? at an ancient copper smelting complec situated between the ancient kingdoms of
Isreal/Judea and Edom cslled ???? and dating from between the 10
th
and 11
th
century BC an Oc (texts
painted on pottery) was discovered. This is an importany evidence that Canaanite Semitic alphabet was benig
used in Israel and Edmotie from about ??? BC. Inscriptions discovered in the 1930s at the Lachish Palace, south-
east of J erusalem, dating from 700 BC. The Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947 are among the oldest existing
extensive papyrus manuscripts in Old Hebrew script (some of the Dead Sea Scrolls are also in the Aramaic script).
The oldest of the scrolls, know as the Isaiah scroll, contains parts of the J ewish Old Testamen (Book of Isaiah) and
date from 300 BC. The entire Dea Sea scrolls contain parts of every book in the Old Testament except
Esther. Fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls are now housed in a building called The Shrine of the Book, in
J erusalem. A remarkable fact about the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was that, along with The Septuagint
(Greek translation of the ancient texts on J udaism carried out circa 300 BC), provided soe proof of the Old
Testament prophecies of Mesoritic Texts (official J ewish biblical canon compiled circa 700 A.D. by the Masoretes)
about the coming of the Messiah. The passages in Isaiah chapters 7, 11 12, Micah chapter 5 and Psalm 22 from the
Dead Sea scrolls and cross-checked with The Septuagint, (both written at least 200 years before the birth of J esus
Christ), back up the prediction of the birth of Christ mentioned in original Mesoritic Texts (written several centuries
after the death of Christ).

Notes. By the time Roman Emperor Titus and the Roman army put down the first Jewish Revolt in Roman
Palestine and destroyed the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70 with the capture and destruction of Jerusalem,
the Dead Sea Scrolls had been safely hidden in secret caves, waiting to be rediscovered in 1947. Had Titus
known about the scrolls, he would have ordered their destruction, meaning the scrolls and its important historical
contents revered by scholars today, would have been lost forever.
The first five books of Moses, and oldest books of the J ewish Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers and Deuteronomy) are known as the Torah or Pentateuch. The following are a selection of the oldest
Comment [GO9]: Most likely amuseum

books of the Hebrew Old Testament and the approximate first year of events mentioned in the books: Book of
Exodus, 1300 BC; Samuel, 1020 BC; David, 980 BC; Solomon, 960 BC; Elijah, 850 BC; Psalms, 700 BC; Ezekiel,
597 BC. Some scholars say that the oldest book in the Bible is Job because the script, in which some sections of the
book was written on clay tablets, is an archaic form of early Aramaic script dating before 1000 BC and Job also
makes references to the great flood. But parts of Genesis, the first book of the J ewish Old Testament, which
includes the stories taken from the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, about Noah and the great flood, are believed to
have been originally recorded on clay tablets around 2900 BC. The epic was based on oral tradition dating back
much further in time. The discovery of the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh was one of the first major translation and
then exposure of biblical cuneiform tablets to the general public outside the academic community. It was first
discovered in the 1850s by French and British archaeological teams. Christopher De Hamel in The Book: a History
of the Bible reveals that in 1872 when the British Museums George Smith announced the translation of the
Sumerian tablet to the world at meeting of the Biblical Archaeological Society, William Gladstone, the then British
Prime Minister adjourned Parliament so that he and British politicians could attend the meeting. Despite these few
ancient clay texts, biblical stories were not recorded in detail in the early days of J udaism but passed from
generation to generation orally. Some early biblical stories managed to be inscribed in detail on stone or clay tablets
such as the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh clay tablet described above; the Moabite stone (880 BC) which describes
events mentioned in II Kings; clay and stone inscriptions at the Assyrian Palace of Sargon II (circa 700 BC) which
mentions biblical stories found in Isaiah. Earlier on the Assyrians had conquered the Nothern Kingdom (722 BC) and
it is possible J ewish scribes in Assyria wrote the inscriptions. The clay Cyrus Cylinder whose Persian cuneiform
inscriptions mentions biblical stories found in Chronicles and Ezra dates back to 545 BC. The search for further new
documentary confirmation of the Old Testament in the form of clay and stone inscriptions is still ongoing today with
research work conducted at places such as the Biblical Archaeological Society in ?? and the U.S. J ohn Hopkins
University Oriental Seminary in Baltimore. get more biblical extant inscriptions and texts before 1 A.D..
The date at which the ancient biblical stories of the J ewish Old Testament (Tanakh) were probably first
extensively written on papyrus (and then later on parchment), by J ewish scribes, in Babylon, was circa 586 BC.
Around this time armies of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed J erusalem and took the people of J udah
(the Israelites) into captivity. For instance Daniel J acobs in the book Rough Guide to Jerusalem notes that while in
Babylon, much of the J ewish Bible (Old Testament) was rewritten, codified, annoted and finally completed.
According to Simon Schama, in The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words (1000 BCE 1492, by the time the
Persians had ended the Babylonian Captivity in 538 BC, J ewish scribes had alredy completed what was the first
edition of the J ewish Old Testament. Essentially the various Hebrew documentsnow referred to as J , E, P and D
(i.e covering Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy or the Torah or Pentateuch) where the first
books of the Old Testament completed. Today, the consensus among many biblical scholars is that there are four
main sources (known as J , E, P, and D) and these contributed to the first five books of the Hebrew BibleGenesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
As R.E. Friedman points out in his book, Who Wrote the Bible? Scholars today still do not entitely know the
identity of the J ewish scribes who completed first books of the Old Testament by the time the J ews returned to
J erusalem after the Persians defeated the Babylonians and released the jews from captivity, and today the on-going
debate about the authorship of the Pentateuch, forms the basis of the documentary (or Wellhausen) hypothesis.
Eventually over the centuries, before the birth of J esus, other stories of the J ewish Old Testament were written
and added to existing Old Hebrew texts. The various books of the Bible existed separately for a while, before they
were each put together to become the complete Bible as we know it today. The most important and oldest extant of
these Old Hebrew papyrus texts is the 300 BC Isaiah scroll (part of the Dead Sea Scrolls). Up next comes the Nash
Papyrus preserved at the Cambridge University Library in the U.K. dates from 100 BC. It contains the biblical text of
the 10 Commandments. Aside from the J ewish Bible, the other two most important works of post-biblical J ewish
literature, is the Talmud. One version of the Talmud was composed by Rabbunic communities in Babylon (in both
Aramaic and Modern Hebrew) from A.D. 200 to A.D. 500 (the other Talmud was composed around the same time in
Palestine). From the ancient Hebrew texts it is clear that most of the older texts of the Bible (J ewish Old Testament)
were written in originally in Old Hebrew script, then later on in the Aramaic script before being translated into Modern
Hebrew then later into Greek (such as the Codex Vaticanus). Most books in the Christian New Testament from the
gospels to the Book of Revelation were originally mostly written in Greek such as the Codex Sinaiticus, even though
Comment [GO10]: Confirmthedates

J esus spoke only Aramaic; they were completed between A.D. 45 and 110. To some extent, a great deal of the
books in the New Testament was believed to have been written by the Apostle Paul.
The entire Bible (Old Testament in Old and Modern Hebrew and Aramaic and and New Testament in Greek)
was first translated into Latin accurately circa A.D. 384 by St J erome as the vulgate Bible. St J erome is believed to
have consulted a manuscript called the Hexapla (no longer existing today) compiled in the 3rd century A.D. by
Greek scholar Origen, for his translation work. Other original Latin versions of the Bible dating from the 4th century
A.D., exists today such as the Harley Latin Gospels and the Codex Vercelli, (see below at section on the Roman
Empire). The Bible (written over a period of 2500 years), is thus one of the oldest existing compiled works in the
world. Today the Bible contains 24 books (J ewish Bible) or 66 to 73 books (Christian Bible). The Bible was also the
very first major book to be printed in the Europe, (by Gutenberg, see list 144).
Notes.. The Bible is not only an interesting book to read it has also been used for other purposes. For instance
the founder of modern Ethiopia, Emperor Menelik II, a deeply religious leader, is said to have eaten some pages
of the Bible each time he felt ill, because somehow he felt better the next day. He once ate all of the pages of
the Book of Kings, as part of a massive cure for flu. The Bible was also subjected to severe translation
restrictions during the time of the Vatican Inquisition. In 1536 in Belgium, William Tyndale, who had earlier
painstakingly translated the Latin Bible into English, was strangled and burnt at the stake for his efforts. All
copies of his translation had been burnt in 1530 in London.
Sources and further Reading
Botterweck, G. J, et al (ed) Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. William B Eerdmans Publishing,
Grans Rapids, Michigan. 2004

Simon Schama in The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words (1000 BCE - 1492
George L Campbell Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. 1997. New York.

The Blackwell Encyclpdeia of Writing Systems

The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet / Amalia E. Gnanadesika

Daniel J acobs in the book Rough Guide to Jerusalem
R.E. Friedman, Who Wrote the Bible? Harper Collins, San Francisco, CA, (1997

9. Greece. The Greeks created the first true alphabetic system, by using symbols not just for consonants but also for
vowels. The first two letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha and beta, was adopted to form the word alphabet.
Virtually very single script used in Europe today descended from the Greek alphabet. specifically descending from
the West Greek or Doric (Euboean) alphabet (this script was in a location close to ancient Italy, where the Estrucans
soon adopted it). This compares to the modern Greek script, itself descended from the East Greek or Ionic (Attic)
alphabet, made official in Athens in 403 BC. Homers famous literary works (mentioned below) were all written in the
Ionic alphabet. The Greek language dates from about 2000 BC, and together with Irish and Basque are among the
oldest surviving languages in Europe. Until 1976, there were basically two main dialects: demotic Greek and
classical (Katharevusa) Greek. In 1975, demotic Greek was made the official language of Greece (Greek: A History
of the Language and its Speakers).
The earliest Greek text, in the form of Mycenaean Linear B tablets, dates from 1500 BC. This makes Greek the
European language with the longest written history. However between the periods 1100 to 850 BC, the art of writing
seems to have disappeared from Greek civilization, and oral tradition prevailed. This period of time in ancient Greek
history is known as the Dark Ages of Greece, with use of the Mycenaean Linear B script all but abandoned. A
possible factor could be the sudden and abrupt disappearance of the Mycenaean civilization, which coincided with
the famous collapse of the Bronze Age civilizations. Historians calculated that the Greek Dark ages lasted about 400

years. The Dark Ages ended when traders arriving on mainland Greece, from Phoenicia, brought along the
Phoenician alphabet which was subsequently modified by the Greeks and soon used for the resumption of writing all
over Greece. This event led to the creation of renowned classical texts (the Greek Renaissance), by such authors as
Herodotus (Father of History), Homer (Father of Literature), Plato, Hippocrates (Father of Medicine) and Ptolemy
(Father of Geography), all still revered today by scholars. The main reason why several Greek scholars like
Herodotus were called Father of History, was because compared to other contemporaries, they wrote the earliest
and most comprehensive texts in their specific subjects in the Western world. This being possible because the
Greeks were the first literate society in Europe. The Cup of Nestor found in 1954 in Pithikoussai on the Italian Island
of Ischia not far from Greece, is inscribed with poetry written in the alphabet devised from the Phoenician script by
the ancient Greeks. It dates from about 800 BC. In 1871 in Athens, a jug was discovered dating from 780 BC, with
inscriptions in an early form of the Greek alphabet. It is known today as The Dipylon Inscriptions, and together with
The Cup of Nestor are the oldest extant samples of the ancient Greek alphabet so far discovered. The earliest forms
of comprehensive Greek texts were on literature in the form of epics most notably on Greek myths (stories about
Greek gods and heroes, such as Apollo and Adonis). The oldest works of classical Greek literature are those of
Homer, who completed his epic poems The Odyssey and The Iliad around 750 BC; Hesiod, in 700 BC; Callinus
circa 675 BC and Archilochus 650 BC, (The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature). Homers work (about the
Mycenaean civilization of Troy) was based on oral tradition as the ancient Greeks did not write a lot before the time
of Homer (i.e. due to the Dark Ages of Greece). Travelling Heroes: Greeks and their myths in the epic age of Homer
provides enthralling insight to the Greek myths.Laws written by the statesman Dracon in Athens (the very first in
Greece) date from 620 BC. The oldest extant papyrus fragments written in Greek make up the Persae of Timotheus,
written in about 320 BC. The Septuagint (or LXX) is the name given to the Greek translation of the ancient texts on
J udaism. The The translation work began in Alexandria, Egypt circa 300 BC during the reign of Ptolemy
Philadelphus. Septuagint means seventy in Latin, because about 70 scholars worked on the translation work.
Once the Greeks began using their alphabets, apart from the Etruscans and Latin scripts, a number of scripts based
on the Greek alphabet also began to appear in neighboring areas such as Western Turkey, circa 600 to 200 BC.
These include the Carian, Lycian, Lydian and Phrygian scripts. According to.Ancient Languages of Europe all these
scripts are now extinct
Papyrus 52, or P52, is the oldest existing biblical text written in Greek on papyrus (as fragments), as it dates from
the middle 2nd century A.D.. It contains parts of the Gospel of St John in the New Testament of the Bible and is part
of the collection of ancient biblical papyri fragments at the J ohn Rylands University Library in Manchester, U.K.
Several other extant fragmented Greek paparyri exist today in libraries and universities around the world (dating
from A.D. 160 to A.D. 400). Notable among them are: Papyrus P64 or the Magdalen Papyrus (preserved at Oxford
University in the U.K.) dates back to late 200 A.D.. It contains parts of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament.
At the National Library of France in Paris is Papyrus 4 containing parts of the Gospel of Luke in Greek. It dates from
late 100 A.D.. Finally at the Vatican Library Rome is Papyrus 75 dating back to A.D. 175. The P-numbers used in
naming ancient biblical manuscripts is based on a 1908 classification system devised by German historian???
Caspar Ren Gregory (Die griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments). The 2nd edition of The Text of the
Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts edited by Philip W. Comfort et al provides extensive information on
these ancient P-numbered Greek papyri.
The oldest extant and complete parchment manuscript from Europe is the Codex Vaticanus, a Greek bible dating
from A.D. 300 which is now housed in the Vatican Library; it is also the oldest complete Bible in existence in the
world, (as it is older than St J eromes original Latin vulgate Bible of A.D. 384). The second oldest parchment Bible in
existence is the copy of the Yonan Codex in the U.S. Library of Congress which dates from A.D. 355. It belonged to
the Malek-Yonan Family (near Lake Urmia in Azerbaijan) for centuries, before being loaned to the Library of
Congress. President Eisenhower was photographed with it in the White House. The Codex Sinaiticus (preserved in
the British Library), dating from A.D. 350, is the oldest known complete vellum manuscript of the New Testament in
Greek. It was originally discovered by German scholar named Count Konstantin von Tischendorf at the Greek
Orthodox St. Catherine's monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai. The Codex Alexandrinus (housed in the British Library)
is a 5th century Greek Bible on vellum containing parts of the New and Old Testemants. Together with the Codex
Sinaiticus and the Codex Vaticanus, the three texts are the most valuable Greek manuscripts today. The reason
why the oldest Christian books in Europe are written in Greek, was because that the first Christians in Rome spoke
Greek, before Latin became the dominant language for Christianity from the middle 4
th
century A.D. following the
Comment [GO11]: Confirm

adoption of Christianity as a state religion in the Roman Empire (The Book: A History of the Bible)..



Notes. The Codex Vaticanus was so tightly guarded by the Vatican Library that it was not available to scholars
until 1889, after more than 400 years of secrecy. It had been found by librarians by accident in 1481 in a section
of the Vatican Library. Get photo


Sources and further Reading

George L Campbell Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. 1997. New York.

Christopher De Hamel /The Book: A History of the Bible)..

The Blackwell Encyclpdeia of Writing Systems

The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts edited by Philip W. Comfort et al

The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet / Amalia E. Gnanadesika

Travelling Heroes: Greeks and their myths in the epic age of Homer provides enthralling insight to the Greek myths /
Robin Lane Fox.

Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers / Geoffrey Horrocks

The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature / M. C. Hwatson. Second Edition.


10. Roman Empire. Written texts in Latin (Roman script) first began to appear around 600 BC when Rome
existed as a republic, the earliest known surviving example being a golden fibula, or cloak pin, with Latin inscriptions
discovered in the ancient Roman city of Praeneste (today the city of Palestrina, not far from Rome, in the Italian
region of Latium or Lazio). The cloak pin is now preserved in a museum in Rome. However the first major authors in
Latin were Livius Andronicus around 300 BC and Ennius circa 210 BC. The Latin alphabet was developed from
the alphabet of early settlers in what is now Tuscany, in Northern Italy, called the Etruscans, who in turn had copied
their own Etruscan alphabet from the Greek alphabet (around 750 BC). The best known inscription in the Etruscan
alphabet is the Marsiliana Tablet, discovered in the valley of the Albegna River (south of Tuscany) and dating from
700 BC and preserved today at a museum in Florence. Not many ancient comprehensive Etruscan texts on papyrus
or parchment exist today, as the oldest Etruscan inscriptions before 300 BC are found on objects such as stone (e.g.
tablets) and tombs. This is the reason why the longest extant inscription in Etruscan on linen (the Liber Linteus) only
dates back to 250BC. It is preserved in a museum in Zagreb, Croatia. The word Latin is the equivalent of the word
south because it was the people living south of the Etruscans who began writing in a modified form of the Etruscan
alphabet (a precursor to the Latin script). The Latin alphabet is the most widely used alphabet in the world. Ancient
Italy also produed one other major distinct script. The Celts in ancient Alpine regions of northern Italy spoke various
distinct Italic languages, now extinct (before Latin became the dominant language). Some of these languages such
as the Venetic and Lepontic languages (Leponti) were Indo European in origin, other such as Raetic and Lemnian
(related to the Estrucan language) were not Indo European. Despite these diverse languages, all shared a common
script called the North Italic alphabet, (adapted from the Etruscan alphabet). The oldest appear to be inscriptions in

the Lepontic language dating from 600 BC (The Ancient Languages of Europe). Other ancient languages used in the
region now known as Italy that left inscriptions, for scholars to study the extinct language, include Sicel and Ligurian
languages. North Italic writing systems eventually declined in use, and became extinct with the popular Latin script
adopted.

Mansucripts written in Latin before A.D. 100 (i.e. before the advent of Christiaity in the Roman Empire) were
abundant partucualty in philosophy, history, geography, literature and the sciences. Aside from Livius Andronicus
and Ennius mentioned above. The earliest of the prominent writers included, geography: Pomponius Mela (De
situ orbis libri III) circa A.D. 45 and Claudius Ptolemy (Geographia) circa ??? ; literature: Titus Maccius Plautus (??)
circa ; medicine: Aulus Cornelius Celsus (De Medicina) circa ???; natural history: Pliny the Elder (Naturalis Historia)
circa A.D. 79. Around the time these books were written, most of Europe, save for the Greeks, Cretans and people
living in what is today Turkey, did not yet have any written forms of their own indigenous languages. So much of the
early history of Europeans, before the medieval period, that we know today from written records (circa 100 BC to
around 300 A.D.) came from Roman and Greek writers. For instance, the stories of the famous English tribal queeen
Boudicca were documented by Roman writers in England, because the Celts at that time had not written form of
their language.
Most of the earleist major texts in Latin between A.D. 100 to A.D. 600 (from the height of the Roman Empire and a
few hundered years after its downfall, were on Chrisrtianity. The first Christians in Rome spoke Greek, before Latin
became the dominant language for Christianity from the 4
th
century A.D. following the adoption of Christianity as a
state religion in the Roman Empire (The Book: A History of the Bible). This is the reason why the oldest Chrisian
mansucrotps are in the Greek language, e.g. the early 4
th
century A.D. Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus.
Christian manuscripts in Latin began appearing in huge numbers only after the middle 5
th
century.Christian
manuscripts are also the oldest existing types of major documents in Latin, on parchment, surviving today. The four
of the oldest extant manuscripts of the New Testament gospels in Latin up to the middle 5
th
cedntury A.D. are as
follows: the Harley Latin Gospels, which dates from the 5th century A.D.. It can be seen in the British Library. The
Codex Vercelli also dates from the 5th century A.D., it is preserved at a cathedral library in Vercelli, Italy and was
written by St Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea (modern Qisarya in Israel) and author of a history of the Christian
church to A.D. 324. The third example of old Latin gospels, surviving today, is safeguarded in the national library in
Turin, Italy. Some are charred pieces of a manuscript cataloged as Codex G.VII.1.5 and dating from the late 4th
century A.D.. Curiously, biblical scholars have discovered that no original copies of St. J eromes 4th century A.D.
Latin manuscripts such the A.D. 384 vulgate Bible, exists today, as all have been lost in time. He was the most
prolific early translator of the Bible from Greek and Old Hebrew to Latin. However at the St Gallen monastic library in
Switzerland (Stiftsbibliothek) (see entry 102) is Codex 1395 written in the early 5th century A.D. and believed to be
annotated by St J erome. Get photo of the library. The oldest surviving complete Latin Bible, based on the St.
J eromes Vulgate Bible, is the Codex Amiatinus. It had been written by English monks in the 8
th
centry A.D. at the
English J arrow monastery as a gift for Pope Gregory II?? and is preserved at the Lauentian Library in Florence.
Several other early Latin versions of parts of the Bible dating from the 5th century to the 9
th
Century A.D. exists
today in places such as the Ambrosian Library in Milan, the Vatican Library in Rome, the Ashmolean Museum
Library in Oxford, the British Library, the National Library of France and at J ohn Rylands University Library in
Manchester, the U.K. The earliest and most popular non-religious guide to the Latin language throughout the Middle
Ages was written by Aelius Donatus in the 4th century A.D.
What about early Christian texts written before the 4
th
century A.D.?
Vetus Latina was a collective name given to the Christian manuscripts that were translated into Latin, prior to St
J eromes A.D. 384 Vulgate Bible. Very few such documents survive today.
Between the time of the first pope (the Apostle St Peter) circa 60 A.D.??? up to the First Council of Nicaea in A.D.
325 (the date seen as when the first doctrines of Christianity where first formulated at state level by Emperor
Constantine the Great), most of these early several early texts or Hagiography were composed inside Rome and
Comment [GO12]: confirm

overseas in Alexandria in Egypt, Antioch in Syria, J erusalem in Palestine and Constantinople in Byzantium, (all five
places later becoming the five patriarchates of Christianity).
Between A.D. 60 to A.D. 325 however, early Christians had suffered horrible violent persecutions under the Roman
emperors (who that time controlled the five patriarchates of Christianity) the earliest of these initiated by Emperor
Nero (A.D. 54 to A.D. 68). During these persecutions, the properties of early Christians were destroyed e.g. with fire
and it is remarkable that so many early texts (originals and copies) on early Christianity, before the 4
th
century A.D.
have survived to this day for scholars to research.
As noted earlier on in this book, most books in the Christian New Testament from the gospels to the Book of
Revelation were originally mostly written in Greek and were completed between A.D. 45 and 110. These were later
translated into Latin (i.e. Vetus Latina and ultimately the A.D. 384 Vulgate Bible). To some extent, a great deal of
major books in the New Testament was believed to have been written by the Apostle St Paul (Paul of Tarsus), in
particular his 13 letters or epistles (lengthy Christian letters). Examples include several letters of St Paul to the
Christians in Thessalonica (in Greece), written circa A.D. 50-54 which represents the 1
st
and 2
nd
book of
Thessaloniansin the Bible, and letters of St Paul to the Christian community at Corinth (in Greece), written in A.D.
57 which represents the 1
st
and 2
nd
book of Corinthians in the Bible.
Aside from St Paul who died in ?????, other early Christians authors writing inbetween A.D. 100 to A.D. 384 (before
the time of St J eromes Vulgate Bible and the First Council of Nicaea) include the following:
Tertullian (A.D. 160 to 220 A.D.) was considered to be the earliest major Christian author writing in Latin. According
to New Catholic Encyclopedia several of his works in Latin or Greek are extant today. The most prominent was the
book Apologeticus (Apologeticum) written in Carthage in A.D. 197 about Roman persecutions of Christians. It is
preserved at ???
Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 150 to A.D. 215), was probably the earlierst Christian author writing in Greek. He was
head of the noted Christian school in Alexandria and the teacher of Origen. His major work was a trilogy:
Protrepticus ("Exhortation to the Greeks"); the Paedagogus ("Instructor") and the Stromata ("Miscellanies") all dating
back to ???
Origen of Alexandria (A.D. 185-254). He is most famous for the early important Christian texts in Greek known as
the Hexapla written ???, which was consulted 100 years later by St J erome as he wrote the Vulgate Bible. Hexapla
is lost in time, and no copies exist. Origen also wrote several commentaries on other books by Christian authors.

Aquila, Symmachus, Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, and Pol ycarp of Smyrna are other notable earl y
Christian wrtiters. The last three authors are known today as The Apostolic Fathers. All of their texts, most of
which are epistles, were apocryphal, meaning they were not included in the New Testament of the Bible. It was
common practice for early Christian and J ewish composers of the Bible (including St J erome himself) to exclude
several prominent religious texts from the Old or New Testament of the Bible and downgrade as apocryphal, i.e. as
non-canonical.

Bart Ehrmans Lost Scriptures: Books That Did Not Make it to the New Testament provides comprehensive details
over 70 notable apocryphal books (gospels, epistles, treatises and canonical lists) such as the treatise Didache; The
First Epistle of Clement; The Epistle to the Hebrews; The Letter of Jeremiah; the books of Tobit, J udith and Baruch;
and The Shepherd of Hermas.

Paradoxically the Shepherd of Hermas does appear in the Greek Bible Codex Sinaiticus (A.D. 350), so it is unclear
as to why it was considered apocryphal, by St J erome, who excluded it from Vulgate Bible. Other Christian churches
outside Roman Catholism e.g. the Ethiopian Orthodox Church recognize The Shepherd of Hermas as part of the
Bible. Meanwhile the Egyptian Coptic Church recognizes The First Epistle of Clement as part of the Bible.

St J erome did not have the final say though. The decision on which early Christian texts to include or omit from the
final approved version of the Bible was made through several ecumenical councils. The first one to tackle the
contents of the Bible (i.e. Bible Canon) took place in Rome in A.D. 382, around the time St J erome was completing

the vulgate Bible. The Council of Trent had been instigated by the efforts of Bishop Athansius of Alexandria who in
A.D. 376 had written to churches with a list of 27 texts he believed constituted Holy Scripture. Pope Damascus in
consultation with others approved the list made by Bishop Athansius. At the A.D. 397 Council of Carthage, the list
was upheld. The last major agreement that fixed the exact number of books in the Old and New testaments and
exact the number of sacraments (seven) was 1546 Council of Trent in Italy. Today the Bible officially contains 24
books (J ewish Bible) or 66 to 73 books (Christian Bible). Further details on the ecumenical councils, from the first
one in A.D. 325 (Council of Nicaea) are described in detail in the Concise Dictionary of Religion and Encyclopaedia
Britannica.

Although Latin is now used officially only in the Vatican City, the Roman script (with modifications) is used in most
European languages, as well as widely outside Europe for writing texts. The Latin alphabet had 23 letters and
countries using the Latin alphabet had added a few more letters, modified existing ones or done both). Alongside
using modifications of the Roman alphabet, the use of diacritical marks is also common, (e.g. using accent,
circumflex, macron, dieresis, cedilla, tilde, tittle, and breve marks). In the early days of the adoption of the Roman
alphabet by various countries inside and outside Europe, diacritical marks were tools for adapting the Roman
alphabet so that it was capable of expressing all the sounds that occur in a given language without requiring the
addition of some entirely new letters. However English is one of the few major languages that use very few
diacritical marks, in particularly for borrowed words such as dj vu (borrowed from French). Thus in the absence of
diacritical marks, a beginner in English may not realize that the word read can be pronounced in two different ways
as in sentences please read this book and he read the book (here a is silent so the word is pronounced like
red). In contract several languages such as Spanish have a diacritical mark to indicate a silent syllable.
Interestingly in the 19
th
century, many publications in English did use the occasional diacritical mark: the word hotel
can be found in some 19th-century publications, but over the years the diacritical marks fell out of fashion and today
it is written as hotel. The adoption and use of written English in the U.S. saw some dramatic changes in particular
silent syllables and digraphs (two-letter combinations). In the U.K. we write the words catalogue, cheque and
vague but pronounce the word with the last two letters silent, (in the written form there no diacritical mark to
indicate u and e are silent). In American written English silent syllables are kept at a minimum, so catalogue is
spelt as catalog and cheque becomes check. Similarly digraphs (two-letter combinations), in British English was
criticized as unnecessary: the words encyclopaedia or encyclopedia roughly do sound the same. So digraphs were
all but eliminated in American English, and today words, such as anesthesia, archaeology, encyclopaedia,
oesophagus, and orthopaedic were all written without the ae or oe diagraphs. These and several other changes
in American English spellings occurred in 1906, when the American Simplified Spelling Board modified the way
American English was written, partly because in the absence of diacritical marks, English was sometimes an
awkward language when it came to spelling the written word of the equivalent certain spoken form. These changes
became standard when the then president, Theodore Roosevelt signed an executive order officially mandating the
use of these modifications. Many changes in American English spelling did occur before 1906, in particularly the
many changes advocated by the multilingual Noah Webster who edited and published the first major English
dictionaries used in the U.S. in early 19
th
century. Two major changes he advocated that are still used today were
replacing "colour" with "color" and "centre" with "center" and similar spelled words. The other main scripts used
today in Europe are the Cyrillic and Greek alphabets.
.

Sources and further Reading

George L Campbell Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. 1997. New York.

The Blackwell Encyclpdeia of Writing Systems
The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet Amalia E. Gnanadesika
The Ancient Languages of Europe / Roger D Howard
Vulgar Latin /Jozsef Herman (Author), Roger Wright (Translator)
Comment [GO13]: add diacritical mark

Romance Languages: A Historical Introduction / Ti Alkire (Author), Carol Rosen
Latin: Story of a World Language / J rgen Leonhardt (Author), Kenneth Kronenberg (Author)


Notes. One living organism has existed for thousands of years around the time most of these 10 categories of
ancient texts was written. It is however a plant called Bristlecone pine tree (Pinus langueva), which first
appeared around 6200 BC. One specimen still alive today, and identified in 1957, is called Methuselah (named
in the Bible as the oldest man who ever lived). Methuselah seeded around 2766 BC and is thus more than 4700
years old. Methuselah, which botanists believe will live for another 400 years, exists among the White
Mountains of California in the U.S (Methuselah's exact location is kept a close secret in order to protect it from
the public). From A.D. 3, parchment and later vellum was preferred over papyrus by Roman scholars for writing
manuscripts. By A.D. 400 parchment had displayed papyrus as the chief material for manuscript production in
Europe, until the introduction of paper in the 12th century. The basic structure of a modern book today with
pages bound on the left side (right side for books published in Hebrew and Arabic), to allow pages to be opened
easily, was developed from the 2
nd
century A.D. Roman parchment codex. This was a major deviation from the
papyrus or parchment scroll, which had to be wound and rewound after use. Lists 139 and 140 show that the
oldest types of major parchement and vellum codices date from the 4
th
century A.D.. However both forms of
manuscripts, i.e. roll or codex form, were used simultaneously until the introduction of printing with moveable
type in the 15th century, which saw the ascendance of the codex form over the roll form. Christian libraries in
Medieval Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5
th
century A.D. were the first to employ the
codex form extensively for manuscripts. Some of these early 5
th
century A.D. codices survive today in libraries
such as Dublins Chester Beatty Library in the Irish Republic, the Bodleian and British Library in the U.K and the
Vatican Library. The Latin script in many codices tended to be mostly in capital letters or majuscule (and had
various forms such as uncials, square and rustic capitals). But from the 9th century A.D., during the time of Holy
Roman Emperor Charlemagne, Latin manuscripts with a combination of both capitals and small letters (or
minuscule) were used and soon became standard way of writing the Latin script. This type of Latin writing
(Carolingian minuscule) is particularly seen in works of Celtic monks in Ireland, (who are among the most prolific
of Christian scribes at this time in Europe during the Dark Ages), such as 8
th
century A.D. manuscript called the
Cathach of St Columba, preserved at the Royal Irish Academy.

The review of the history of human writing and production of texts from the civilizations of the Sumerians to the
Romans from has been a fascinating look of human accomplished in the dissemination of knowledge in written form.
The book A History of Reading and Writing in the Western World however reminds us that that in all these
civilizations that invented written forms of their language, the knowledge of writing was confined to a small minority
such as political, religions and clerical elites. This has been described as restricted literacy. For example, it has
been estimated that in ancient Egypt, only roughly 1% of the population could write. In ancient Greece as late as
500 BC only a small population could read. The medieval times fared no better. From the period of fall of the Roman
Empire to the centuries before the Renaissance, books were rare and only available to the few, with academic
learning locked away mostly in the hands of monks and priests. However the establishment of the very first modern
universities around the world from the 10
th
century A.D. changed all this: one could now pursue a career in learning
without being a monk or a priest.
A summary of this section of Library World Records is given as a timeline below of the oldest human inscriptions
from first caveman paintings of 30,000 BC, primitive human proto-writing, and to the last major script invented before
A.D. 1.

125,000 years ago: date given by scientists as the starting date of the evolution of modern humans (Homo sapiens
sapiens) from Homo Hedelbegisis (spelling).

100,000 to 13,000 BC, dates given by scientists as the period during which modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens)
left Africa and populated the other continents from North America to Australia. Tip of South America was last
reached circa, 13,000 BC.
Comment [GO14]: Visit??


Circa 50,000 BC: date given by scientists as the starting date for the origin of modern human languages (south-
western Africa click-languages).

30,000 BC: well preserved Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) Chauvet cave paintings in France.

20,000 BC to 8000 BC: earliest dates for human proto-writing. Aside from cave paintings, primitive symbolic and/or
numerical signs that do not qualify as full-length human writing have been discovered. Some scholars limit proto-
writing to the earliest forms of human writing. The oldest candidate for primitive proto-writing appears to be signs
found in a cave at Peche Merle in France radiocarbon dated to 20,000 BC.

9200 BC: proposed date given by scientists as the starting time for the origin of proto Indo-European language,
proposed ancestor to Greek, Latin, Germanic and Slavic derived languages in Europe, as well as Sanskrit language
in India and Old Persian in Iran among others.

8000 BC Yonaguni is an island in the southernmost part of J apan is believed to have a 10,000 year old history. In
ancient times its inhabitants spoke a languge distinct from J apanese. In 2012, Discovery Magazine reported that
J apanese diver Kihachiro Aratake discovered ruins of lost Stone-Age civilization beneath the sea, with several stone
monuments. Several of the stone relics had strange inscriptions radio carbon dated to 8000 BC. This discovery was
so remarkable it threatens to rewrite the history of the world. If scientists do confirm the lost civilization was existed,
it will feature several firsts such as and the oldest stone monuments ion the world, and the first evidence of human
inscriptions in Asia, predating oldest Chinese incriptins by by 2000 years.

6,000 BC: The earliest date for proto-writing in Asia (a precursor Chinese ideographic script) is found in Henan
Province (the Jiahu script). Not considered as examples of full-length human writing, as most are short inscriptions
and so rightly to fall under the category of proto-writing. Another ancient example of Chinese proto-writing is that
used for the Yangshao culture which was dated from 5000, to 4000 BC and based also in Henan Province. Other
examples of ancient Neolithic Chinese proto-writing have also been found in other parts of China.

5100 to 4800 BC: first appearance of pre-cuneiform syllabic inscriptions found at the royal tombs of the city-state of
Ur, as well as the earliest simple hieroglyphics in use in pre-dynastic Egypt, or before King Menes. All these are not
considered as examples of full-length human writing, but merely short inscriptions, symbols and often numerical so
termed as proto-writing.

4000 BC: oldest known simple hieroglyphic inscriptions of the Naqada I culture (a predynastic ancient Egyptian
society). Unclear if these inscriptions fall under proto-writing or full-length human writing.

3500 BC (or about late fourth millennium BC): Full-length human writing appears in the form of syllabic Sumerian
clay cuneiform inscriptions found in southern Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq). They are called syllabic writing as unlike
alphabetic writing that typically used no more than 20 to 30 symbols, syllabic scripts required hundreds of separate
symbols. First of several Bronze Age scripts to appear around the world.

3200 BC: ancient Egyptians begin full-length human writing using syllabic hieroglyphics on papyrus reeds (Naqada
III culture). Hieroglyphics are used for a long time in ancient Egypt until about A.D. 40, by which time it was already
part of the Roman Empire. Hieroglyphics like cuneiform inscriptions, employed hundreds of separate symbols. In
1988 a discovery by German archaeologist, Gnter Dreyer at Abydos, on the Nile in central Egypt which
pushed back the date of the first hierogl yphic inscriptions to between 3300 and 3200 BC.

3100 BC: first appearance of syllabic Proto-Elamite cuneiform inscriptions from ancient Iran. It is the 3
rd
oldest
writing system invented in the world after that of the Sumerians and the Egyptians.

2600 BC: first appearance of syllabic cuneiform inscriptions in Babylonia and Assyria.


2500 BC: Full-length human writing appear in the form makes first appearance in Asia in ancient India and Pakistan
in the form of ideographic inscriptions of the ancient Indus Valley civilization, (city-states of Harappa and Mohenjo-
daro located in parts of ancient India and Pakistan), the script remains partially deciphered today. A 1999 discovery
pushed back the date of the first ancient Indus Valley script to 3000 BC.

2000 BC: first appearance of the J iaguwen (oracle bones) Chinese ideograph script discovered on ox bones and
tortoise shells near the city of Anyang in Henan Province. These are full-length human writing and like hieroglyphics
and cuneiform inscriptions, the Chinese ideograph script employed hundreds of separate symbols. The Chinese
script is exported to ancient Korea, Vietnam and J apan via trade routes.


1945 to 550 BC: first appearance of syllabic clay cuneiform inscriptions (full-length human writing) outside Persia,
Babylonia and Assyria, mostly in the eastern and southern part ancient Middle East region and eastern ancient
Turkey (Hittite cuneiforms).

1900 BC: Wadi el-Hol alphabetic inscriptions discovered in 1993 west of Luxor in Egypt. Oldest example of the
consonantal alphabetic Semitic script, (earliest example of an alphabetic script anywhere in the world). Prior to the
discovery, the oldest alphabetic Semitic scripts were discovered in 1904 by Flinders Petrie at Serabit el-Kadem (also
spelled Khadim), near the Sinai Peninsula (circa 1800 BC), and in 1929 by CFA Schaeffer at Ras Shamra (near the
ancient city of Ugarit) in ancient Syria (1600 BC). The reason why the Semitic script was considered as an alphabet
after the first discovery in 1904 was because unlike hieroglyphics, the cuneiform inscriptions and the Chinese
ideograph script which all employed hundreds of separate symbols, the Serabit el-Kadem inscriptions used a
smaller number of symbols (less than 30). From about 1300 BC the Semitic script is taken up by other cultures in
the ancient Middle East, e.g. the Moabites, Edomites, Canaanites and Hebrews (especially in the area known as the
Levant encompassing modern day Israel, Lebanon, J ordan, and West Bank/Gaza) in addition to ancient Syria and
Lebanon. All except two of the Semitic scripts used in these ancient areas are now extinct. The exceptions are
Semitic script used in ancient Syria and Lebanon (Phoenician script, see below) which survives today as the
Aramaic script still used in parts of rural Syria??? and is the ancestor of the Arabic script. The other surviving
Semitic script is the Hebrew script used today in Israel, it also descended from the Aramaic script.

N.B. research data on the Semitic script discovered in Palestine, (Shechem Gezer, Lachish). Add new data here
and also section on Semitic alpabet at Palestine and Syria.

1800 BC: first appearance of writing in Europe, syllabic Linear A clay tablets of the Minoan civilization in Crete, and
are full-length human writing. However Cretan Hieroglyphics have been discovered (most in the form of seal stones)
that predate the Cretan Linear A script, because these hieroglyphics date from 2000 BC.

1500 BC: first appearance of the pictographic Linear B clay tablets of the Mycenaean civilization in Crete and
Greece.

1500 BC: first appearance of alphabetic Phoenician script (ancient Lebanon and Syria). It descended from the
Semitic alphabet (described above). The oldest major extant Phoenician inscriptions discovered so far are the
Ahiram Inscriptions, (discovered in Beirut in 1922), dating from 1260 BC. Phoenician traders would centuries later
pass on their alphabet to the ancient Greeks (who had mysteriously abandoned the Linear B script several centuries
before). However a very big change was made by the Greeks. Whereas the Phoenician alphabet was consonantal,
the forthcoming Greek alphabet would use both vowels as well consonants.

1000 BC: the mysterious Chinese ideographic script of the Naxi Dongba people (Yao Xie) of the Yunnan, Sichuan
and Xizang provinces, in south-western China. Today scholars from both China and more than ten countries are still
trying to systematically decipher the 3000 year script.

800 BC: centuries after abandoning the Linear B script, the ancient Greeks are introduced to the Phoenician
alphabet and soon the very first alphabetic inscriptions in new Greek alphabet begin to appear. The Cup of Nestor
and the Dipylon Inscriptions are among the oldest extant examples of the Greek alphabet. Homers The Iliad (written
750 BC) is the most famous text in the Greek alphabet.


750 BC: the Greek alphabet is copied and modified to form the Etruscan alphabetic used in Tuscany, Italy. Around
600 BC it is soon copied and modified to form the basis of the Latin (Roman) alphabet, which is widely used
throughout out the Roman Empire from 1 A.D.. A number of scripts (offshoots) based on the Greek alphabet began
to appear in Western Anatolia (modern day Turkey), circa 600 to 200 BC. These included the Carian, Lycian, Lydian
and Phrygian scripts. These become extinct centuries later.

700 BC: the Aramaic script (from the Semitic branch of the Semitic alphabet) and modified with the Phoenician
alphabet is in widespread use in much of the Middle East and western India.


650 BC: first appearance of the alphabetic Brahmi script in ancient India. It descended from the Aramaic script. The
Brahmi script is the ancestor of all scripts used today in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and in south
East Asia such as Thailand, Tibet, Laos, Burma and Cambodia. The Tamil language script used in Sri Lanka are the
oldest Brahmi-derived scripts. The oldest extant Tamil text, Tolkppiyam dates from 200 BC.

600 BC. Aside from the Etruscan and Latin alphabets, ancient Italy also produced one other major distinct script.
The Celts in ancient Alpine regions of northern Italy developed the North Italic script for writing various distinct Italic
languages (e.g. Venetic, Lepontic and Raetic). The oldest inscriptions are in the Lepontic language dating from 600
BC. Most scholars put the starting date of Celtic languages at around 2000 BC, on this evidence, Celtic writhing
appears to have started very much late in time compared to Greek and Cretan language in Crete.

200 BC: Linguistic and phonetic analysis points to runic alphabet (Runes), as having being invented by this time. But
others scholars disagree and point out that the earliest authentic runic inscription written by Germanic-speaking
peoples in modern day Scandinavia and Germany date from the 1st century A.D.. This is the famous Meldorf Brooch,
found in Denmark which dates back to A.D. 50. The vast majority of runic inscriptions date from the A.D. 150 to 11th
century A.D. (such as the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc found in England). Most runic inscriptions were found on wood,
jewellery, weapons, stones etc and very few on writing materials like parchement and velum, as such few runic
manusripts exists today. Runes are discussed in detail in the next chapter under the sections on Germany, Britian
and Scandinavia.

100 BC. The Celts in Spain (before the Roman invasion) invented an alphabet called Celtiberian, (essentially a
modification of the ancient Greek alphabet,) to write texts such as the Botoritta tablet which dates from 100 BC. The
last Celtic alphabet invented in Europe, was the Ogham alphabet used in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, with the
earliest major inscriptions dating from at least A.D. 200.

The Latin (Roman) alphabet in use since 600 BC in Italy, will go on to become to most used international alphabet.
Section 126 to 137 deals mostly with alphabets and scripts invented after A.D. 1.

A History of Reading and Writing in the Western World by Martyn Lyons.

125. Earliest written works from other parts of the world
The previous section provides details of ten regions of the world which had written works before 1 A.D.. This has
been somewhat distributed around most of the parts of world, save for the islands in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic
Oceans and North America. It appears the native American tribes such as the Apache, Sioux and Cherokee did not
have any writing systems for thier various langues until the early 19
th
century beginning with one for Cherokee in
1819. This compares with South America which boasts Mayan hieroglyphics dating from ????. Regions and
countries with written forms of languages before 1 A.D. were: the Middle East (Sumer, Babylon, Assyria and Persia);
Europe (Crete, Hittite, Greece and the Romans); Africa (ancient Egypt and Sudan); Asia (ancient China, India,

Pakistan and Sri Lanka); and the central and south America (e.g. the Aztec and Maya empires). The development of
writing for other languages of the world soon followed gradually. Between 1 A.D. up to to the middle 1200s, writing
had now spread to most parts of the world. A unique feature is that the other parts of the world that soon developed
writing systems for their languages from 1 A.D. onwards often got a helping hand from the previous ten regions of
the world described earlier on in section 125. For instance most of the Middle East got their idea of writing from the
Phoenicians and Semites in ancient Syria, Lebanon and Palestine (i.e. Arabic and Hebrew scripts via the Aramaic
script). Korea, J apan and Vietnam got the idea of writing from the Chinese. All of Europe learned to read and write
from the Greeks and Romans. Most of south eastern Asia got their script from India, via the Brami script (modified
and adopted in places such as Bangladesh, Thailand, Burma, Laos and Cambodia). The one exception to this rule is
Africa. Despite having its own home-grown example of an earlier development of writing as seen in ancient Egypt,
section 138 explains why only ancient Sudan took up the art of writing from the ancient Egyptians, and the rest of
Africa (except Ethiopia, Tigre, Eritrea and Tunisia) had no writing systems until arrival of the Arabs in the medieval
times and the era of European colonialism from the late 1600s.
126. Earliest written works in Mayan
The Olmec civilization, the first developed civilization in the Americas (and located in the Mexican states of
Veracruz and Tabasco) invented a simple hieroglyphic writing system around 1200 to 900 BC, and influenced the
later development of the Mayan hieroglyphic systems dating from the 3
rd
century A.D.. Although other major
civilizations developed in Central and South America, such as the Inca and Aztec empires, the Mayan script remains
the only full pre-Columbian writing system discovered in the Americas. The next closet civilization that used symbols
(pictographs) was the Aztec empire, centered near modern day Mexico City. Eduard Teller is in the 19
th
century
credited with deciphering the Aztec symbols carved on stones. The symbols are not as old as the Mayan symbols,
as the earliest Aztech pictographs date from A.D. 1100s. Popol Vuh, is a Mayan hieroglyphic inscription on stone
stelae, describing the creation of the world. It dates from A.D. 200. Today the ancient Mayan language is still spoken
in parts of southern Mexico, such as Yucatan State, and Central America, such as Guatemala. As with other picture-
based writing systems such as Egyptian hieroglyphics and Sumerian cuneiforms, Scholars have been very eager to
accurately decipher Mayan inscriptions from ancient Mexico, One of two of the early aids to do this was the so called
Madrid Codex. The age of this manuscript is still in dispute. There is no consensus as to weather the Madrid Codex
was written before or after Spanish explorer Hernn Cortes reached Mexico in the 1520s. The Madrid Codex is
most important of four surviving Mayan codices, the others being the Dresden Codex (in Germanys Dresden State
Library), Grolier Codex (in a Mexican Government vault), and the Paris Codex (at the National Library of France).
These codices are the only materials for reading original Mayan writing, as most surviving Mayan writing today are
on stones. Most other non-stone examples of Mayan hieroglyphics were destroyed in the middle 1550s by Spanish
Conquistadors. An earlier notorious example occurred when in 1549 Spanish missionary Diego de Landa burned the
ancient library of the Mayas in Mani. The Mayas had been making a sort of bark paper as early as the ninth century
A.D.. Delicate infrared, ultraviolet, and X-ray photography of the Madrid Codex is ongoing at the manuscripts
location in the Museo de Amrica de Madrid in Spain, to discover its real age. The other important deciphering aid
is Yuri Knorosov research papers (see entry 110).

Sources and futher reading:
Michael E. Coles books, such as Breaking the Maya Code, (1999) and Reading the Maya Glyphs (2
nd
edition,
2005) are among the popular texts that explain the Mayan civilization and its script in breathtaking details.


127. Earliest written works in German


Aside from ancient Greek and Latin, the next oldest major language in Europe is Old German. According to
Exploring the German the Language, Old German (which descended from an older language known as Germanic)
dates back to 4000 BC, almost 5000 years before the first texts appeared. From The Worlds Major Languages, we
are informed that Greek, Latin and German were all descended from a common ancestor termed Indo-European.
But a major event around 500 BC known as the First Consonant Shift caused the fundamental differences we see
today in Germanic-derived texts like English and German texts and Latin-derived texts such as Spanish and French.
The Roman Empire was never quite able to conquer most of the Germanic tribes living in what is today modern
Germany (known in Roman times as Magna Germania) and Scandinavia, but they did try to collect as much
information as they could on the Germanic tribes. Since the Romans had an alphabet long before the Germanic
tribes had theirs, in A.D. 98 Cornelius Tacitus wrote a book titled Germania, the earliest comprehensive account of
the culture and customs of the Germanic people. Around 150 to 200 A.D., Germanic tribes were already writing,
using the runic alphabet or Runes (as depicted by Kufner, in Toward a Grammar of Proto-Germanic, and by
Loojenga in Runes Around the North Sea and the Continent A.D. 150-700). After the Minoans/Greeks and
Etruscans/Romans, the Germanic people created the 3
rd
oldest major script in Europe. The origin of Runes is still
being investigated. Pre-runic symbols, or hllristningar, have been found in Bronze Age rock carvings, in Sweden.
Professor Elliots Runes: an Introduction, reveals that because many early Runes resemble ancient Roman letters,
as such there are strong grounds to link the development of the runic alphabet to either the Etruscan alphabet (from
which the Roman alphabet evolved) or the North Italic alphabet (which also descended from the Etruscan alphabet).
On this basis, the origin of the runes is put as around the second century BC. But this date is in contradiction to the
discovery that the oldest extant runic inscription, the Meldorf Brooch, discovered on the Danish Island of Funen,
dates from A.D. 50. The concensus is that the Runes were invented sometime between second century BC and the
first century A.D., and possibly runic writing was probably first used in southern Europe (Italy) and was carried north
by Germanic tribes all the way to Scandinavia. Both Texts & Contexts of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions and Runes
Around The North Sea And On The Continent A.D. 150-700, provide a comprehensive list of all the earliest and
oldest extant runic inscriptions found in Germany, England, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. One peculiarity about
the distribution of Runes discussed in the above two books, is that compared to say Ancient Egyptian, Greek or
Latin texts, Runic inscriptions were not found as comprehensive as texts written on materials such as papyrus,
parchment and velum. Instead Runes often short inscriptions discovered exclusively on wood, jewellery, weapons,
stones etc. For instance in Denmark and Germany, Runes occur in brooches and weapons. In England, most Runes
appreaed on coins, brooches, pots and urns. While in the Netherlands, Runes were mainly discovred on coins,
wood and bones. The first comprensive texts in Gemanic languages appeared from the 4
th
century A.D., wrttien by
Ulfilia.

As a German monk Ulfila or Wulfila (a bishop of the West Goths and the religious leader of the Visigoths)
produced several works including translations of the Bible from Latin and Greek to Old German (east Germanic
group) in A.D. 320. He did not entirely use the runic alphabet, but invented a 27-letter alphabet based on the Greek,
Runic and Latin scripts. However modern German is today written in a modified Latin script and not in Ulfilas
alphabet. Parchment fragments from the works of Ulfila appear in religious manuscripts, which date from the 5th to
6th century A.D., such as the Codex Argenteus preserved at Swedens Uppsala University Library. It is not known
exactly when the Latin script superseded runes as the main script for writing in Germany. The oldest surviving Old
German texts in the Roman alphabet are to be found at the Merseburg Cathedral which date from the late 8
th

century A.D.. The religious manuscript was brought to the attention of scholars by 1842 by J acob Grimm. This
scholar is famous for his theories (Grimm's law) about origins of the Indo European languages and how, just after
1000 BC, Proto-Indo-European language (following what is called First Consonant Sound Shift) changed into Proto-
Germanic language, the common ancestor of the Germanic languages like German, Dutch and English. Two of the
oldest extant non-religious texts in German (Old High German to be precise) are Hildebrandslied, a ballad written
circa 9th century A.D. (surviving today at the Kassel University Library) and the 8th century A.D. Abrogans Latin-
German dictionary (preserved at the famous Swiss St Gallen Monastic Library). German spoken from the earliest
times until A.D. 1050 is termed Old High German. The earliest significant Middle High German from the 12th century
is Nibelungenlied, written in A.D. 1210 (the book is about a famous Burgundian king). Modern German spoken today
in Germany, Austria and Switzerland developed from Middle High German (spoken between A.D. 1050 and 1350.
Old Low German was a very distinct form of German called Nedderdtsch and spoken mostly in ancient northern
Germany and the Netherlands as Old Saxon. Although both Old High and Low German decenced from the same
ancestor language 2000 years ago, Old Low German became very distinct from Old High German in about the 4
th

Comment [GO15]: Vist on Trip to Germnay

century A.D., due to what is now called the Second Consonant Shift. Today Low German is still spoken by a small
minority of people in Germany. The oldest extant Old Low German text is the Heliand dating from the 9th century
A.D.. The most famous document produced in Old Low German was the Sachsenspiegel which was the first legal
text to be written in German instead of Latin. It dates from the early 13
th
century A.D.. The University of Heidelberg
library has one of the few extant copies remaining today. Apart from ancient runic inscriptions discovered in
Germany dating from A.D. 200 and carved on wood and stone, Ulfilas work is the oldest surviving German literary
text, although it was written in Old German or Gothic using the Gothic alphabet devised by Ulfilas. N.B. the Gothic
alphabet (now extinct) is very different from the Gothic script, a form of writing the Latin alphabet.

Sources and futher reading.
Elliot, Runes: an Introduction, 2nd edition 1989.
George L Campbell. Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. 1997. New York.
Texts & Contexts of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions

Runes Around The North Sea And On The Continent: AD150-700 J antina Helena Looijenga
Kufner, in Toward a Grammer of Proto-Germanic


George L Campbell Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. 1997. New York.

The Blackwell Encyclpdeia of Writing Systems
The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet
Amalia E. Gnanadesika


Both Texts & Contexts of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions and Runes Around The North Sea And On The Continent:
AD150-700 provide a comprehensive list of all the earliest and oldest extant runic inscriptsin found in England,
Germany and Scandinavia
128. Earliest written works in Arabic and Farsi (Persian)
The earliest important texts in Old Arabic which developed from the Aramaic-based Nabatean script of southern
ancient J ordan, (centered on the city of Petra), date from about A.D. 400. According to Geroge L Campbell
(Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets) the Aramaic-based Nabatean script was in use in Petra from the second
century BC to about the end of A.D. 100. Petra itself was centuries before, once part of the kingdom of Edom, one of
the several kingdoms in ancient Middle East (e.g. the Hebrews in Canaan and the Moaabites in Moab) that had
adopted, first the Phoenician script and afterwards the Aramaic script (see previous section on Phoenicia).
According to The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine ad Arabia there were several ancient languages were in use
in the Middle East before the Islam arrived, but all but Hebrew, Samaritan, Coptic and the Nabatean-derived Old
Arabic languages survived today, once Islam took hold. Islam dates from the time Mohammed fled to Medina from
Mecca, circa A.D. 622. The standard text of the original Koran, or Quran (which has 114 chapters or Suras), was
completed between A.D. 650 and 651. It was written for Othman, the 3rd Caliph, who was the first to order that the
various separate sermons and writings of Mohammed be combined together into a single book. This Koran, called
the Mushaf of Othman, is preserved and on display today in a library in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It is on the UNESCO

Memory of the World Register, (see entry 122). The second oldest existing version of the Koran (attributed to Imam
Al-Hasan al-Basri), dates back to A.D. 697. Both books are however not complete, with several pages lost in time.
See entry 207 for details on the oldest surviving complete copy of the Koran. The oldest existing nonIslamic Arabic
manuscript is the Mount Sinai Arabic Codex 151 (an Arabic translation of the Bible), written in A.D. 867. The oldest
surviving Koran in Europe is an 11th century Koran preserved at Irelands Chester Beatty Library in Dublin. Arabic is
spoken in different dialects, e.g. the Arabic generally spoken in Morocco is different from the one spoken in Iraq, the
same goes with the Arabic script used in these two countries (i.e. North African Arab countires use the Maghribi
style). The universal solution is the use of classical Arabic and its (Kufic) script, which are both widely understood in
the Arab world. Classical Arabic is based on the original the way the Koran was first written and spoken in the 7th
century A.D.. Maltese text are a form of Arabic written in the Roman script. The Maltese language itself is a unique
dialect of the Arabic language.
Before Old Persian became the dominant language in Persia, the oldest written documents from what is today
modern Iran were Elamite language inscriptions written in Proto-Elamite cuneiforms from ancient kingdom of Elam,
based at Suse (Susa), near Dezful, south-west of Iran. The cuneiforms clay tablets are dated circa 3100 BC. The
earliest Old Persian cuneiform texts date from the time of the Achaemenid Persian Empire founded by Cyrus circa
550 BC. The most significant surviving texts are those discovered in the ruined city of Persepolis from the time of
King Darius I, which date from the late 5
th
century BC. On Mount Behistun (Bisitun or Bisotun), King Daruius I also
had a description of his reign between 512 and 486 BC inscribed on the mountain in three languages: Old Persian,
Babylonian and Elamite cuneiform. It was this famous trilingual rock inscriptions that British diplomat in Persia,
Henry Rawlinson in the 1840s and other scholars in the 1850s and onwards used to decipher and translate more
accurately all major cuneiform inscriptions notably Sumerian and Assyrian cuneiform, (see also the Rosetta Stone in
entry 124). A notable word passed from Old Persian to English is the word paradise. From about 100 BC Old
Persian was written in a new script called the Pahlavi, based on the Semitic alphabet invented in ancient Syria (i.e.
the Aramaic script), (see entry 124). Before Persia adopted Islam and the Arabic script, the major religion in Persia
was Zoroastrianism, founded in the 6th century BC by Persian prophet Zoroaster. Sacred texts (the Avesta) in
Zoroastrianism were written in an alphabetic script called Zend-Avestan, derived from Old Persian Pahlavi script.
Both Zend-Avestan and the Pahlavi scripts were in use in Persia for writing documents up to A.D. 637 when the
Persian Sassanian Empire was overthrown by Muslim Arabs at Battle of Qadisiya and Islam replaced
Zoroastrianism. The earliest medieval Persian (Farsi) documents based on the Arabic script (used today for writing
Farsi or Modern Persian) thus date from the 7
th
century A.D.. The greatest writer in Persian is the poet Ferdowsi,
who wrote the classic Persian epic, Bayasanghori Shhnmeh in the 10th century.

Notes
Deciphering the Old Persian cuneiform script in the 1840s, made it possible to accurately re-decipher earlier
cuneiform texts such as those used by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Hittites. Proto-Elamite
cuneiforms are the worlds oldest undeciphered writing system (and the largest collection are housed in the Lourve
Museum in Paris). In October 2012, a breakthrough was announced. The Ancient World Research Cluster in based
Oxford, to a device term Reflective Transformation Imaging System to the museum and deciphering preliminary
results were positive. Deciphering work is ongoing.


The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet
Amalia E. Gnanadesika



129. Earliest written works in Japanese and Korean
Although J apan is situated close to China (which has written works over 4000 years old), ancient J apan
(J oomon and Yayoi cultures) had no written language until Korean scholars in A.D. 405 introduced Chinese (Kanji)
script for writing documents in J apanese. Later on in the 9th century A.D., the phonetic syllabary Kana (invented by
Kukai, a J apanese Shingon Buddhist priest and saint) helped to simplify writing in J apanese. Two of the oldest

existing manuscripts written in J apanese are Kojiki (A.D. 681) and Nihon Shoki (A.D. 720). Both of them detail the
ancient history of J apan, and are preserved at the National Library of J apan in Tokyo. Today J apan is probably the
only country that uses three different scripts concurrently. While Chinese ideographic scripts or Kanji represents
ideas, and objects, the phonetic Kana scripts Hiragana and Katakana represent sounds only. Yonaguni is an island
in the southernmost part of J apan is believed to have a 10,000 year old history. In ancient times its inhabitants
spoke a languge distinct from J apanese. In 2012, Discovery Magazine reported that J apanese diver Kihachiro
Aratake discovered ruins of lost Stone-Age civilization beneath the sea, with several stone monuments. Several of
the stone relics had strange inscriptions radio carbon dated to 8000 BC. This discovery was so remarkable it
threatens to rewrite the history of the world. If scientists do confirm the lost civilization was existed, it will feature
several firsts such as and the oldest stone monuments ion the world, and the first evidence of human inscriptions in
Asia, predating oldest Chinese incriptins (i.e. Jiahu script) by 2000 years.
On the Korean peninsula (comprising today of North and South Korea), the Chinese script (called Hanja in
Korean) was also used for writing books and other documents in the Korean language for many centuries from the
2nd century A.D., until King Sejong of the Chosun (Choson) dynasty invented the current Korean alphabet called
Hangul (Hankul) in A.D. 1446. Despite this invention, and the fact that Hanja was once banned in both North and
South Korea, just over 1000 Hanja symbols have reintroduced alongside Hangul in both countries to a small extent
by the 1970s. The Korean alphabet is mainly different from the Chinese script in that the 40 characters (letters) in
Hangul also represent sound (a requirement for a script to be classified as alphabetic), whereas the Chinese script
does not represent sounds, because the Chinese script is non-phonetic. The sounds produced when reading a
Chinese script depends on which Chinese language or dialect is being used to read the script (there are more than
20 different main Chinese languages). This explains why the Chinese script is easily suitable and adaptable for use
in all the different Chinese languages. See entry 203 for more details. Unlike China, there is only one major
J apanese language (as in Korea), and although Kana was added to J apanese script to cater for sounds (just like in
the Korean script), the main portion of the J apanese script is Kanji hence like the Chinese script, the J apanese
script is not classified as an alphabet. Encyclopedia Britannica has described the Korean alphabet as one of the
most scientific alphabets in use in any country.
Notes. Before A.D. 400, text did exist covering Japan, its people, its culture and customs, but all these
manuscripts were written either by Chinese scholars in Japan and China, or travelers returning to China from
visits to Japan. The diary belonging to Kino Tsurayuki, a prominent Japanese poet and governor of Tosa
Province, known as Tosa Nikki or The Tosa Diary, is the oldest existing one in the world. It records his travels in
Kyoto, Japan and was written in Kana in A.D. 935.
82.tif
The J apanese script is made up of thee further different scripts: Kanji, Katakana and Hiragana. Only Kanji script is
Chinese in origin.

Sources and further reading:
George L Campbell Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. 1997. New York.magella

The Blackwell Encyclpdeia of Writing Systems

The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet
Amalia E. Gnanadesika


130. Earliest written works in Italian
Pre-Roman Ital y / Etruscan and Celtic texts
Before establishment of the Roman Kingdom in 700 BC and the invention of the Roman alphabet circa 600 BC,
the Etruscans in central Italy began writing around 800 BC, in a non-Indo-European language, using an alphabet
adapted from the Euboean version of the Greek alphabet. This was the second earliest evidence of full-length
writing in Western Europe after the ancient texts of the Greeks (including Crete). Meanwhile the Celts in northern

Italy spoke various languages, one of which was the Indo-European Lepontic language. Inscriptions in the Lepontic
language (adapted from the Etruscan alphabet) are dated to 600 BC. This is investigated in detail in Raimund Karl
and David Stifters 4-volume book, The Celtic World. In The Ancient Languages of Europe, the oldest Celtic
inscriptions found in continental Europe is listed as Lepontic inscriptions (based on the Etruscan script) found in
ancient Italy and dating from 600 BC.

Roman Ital y texts
During the period of the Roman Empire, two main forms of Latin were spoken in much of Europe; Classical
Latin, the more literary language and Vulgar Latin, the spoken language of ordinary people, (the later gave rise to
the Romance languages). The early Italian texts were very closely related to Latin texts in grammar and
pronunciation, as such texts in vernacular Italian only became clearly distinguishable linguistically from texts in Latin,
from the 13
th
century A.D.. By this time texts in other Romance languages (which had descended from Latin like
Italian) such as Spanish, French and Portuguese had already been around for at least 200 years. The earliest Italian
texts from the 13
th
century had many French words and grammar and were known as Franco-Venetian texts. One of
the earliest notable such texts was Tesoretto (Li Livres dou Tresor) by Brunetto Latini in 1266. The most famous
early Italian writer is undoubtedly Dante. His book il Convivio finished in 1308 is said to be the first major work of its
kind to be written in Italian rather than in Latin. The official organization that regulates the Italian language and its
variation of the Latin alphabet is the Florence-based Acadmie Accademia della Crusca, More information on the
earliest evidence of writing in Italy, is at list 124 under Roman Empire.

Sources
The Ancient Languages of Europe / Roger D Howard
Vulgar Latin /Jozsef Herman (Author), Roger Wright (Translator)
Romance Languages: A Historical Introduction / Ti Alkire (Author), Carol Rosen
Latin: Story of a World Language / J rgen Leonhardt (Author), Kenneth Kronenberg (Author)

131. Earliest written works in French
Pre-Roman France / Celtic texts
Before the Roman invasion of area now known as France, the language of the Celts (the Gauls) in France was
hardly in written form, (as was the case with the Celts in England (or the Brythons) before the Romans arrived, see
list 133. But the Greek and Etruscan alphabets were used to write some texts in Gaullish language, few of which
survive today such as the Larzac Tablet discovered in 1983 and written in Gaulish (using the Massiliote Greek
script) and dating circa A.D. 90 to 110, (Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics). Only a small number of
Gaulish words survive in modern French itself. The English translation of Xavier Delamarres 2003 book,
Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental, lists just under 200
original Gaul words in modern French vocabulary such as brbis (sheep); crme (cream) and mouton (ram). This
compares with the fact that 40% of French is borrowed from Latin, as French developed from the Gallo-Romance
language (based on Vulgar Latin dialects spoken by the Gauls in France under Roman occupation). The other best
preserved examples of Celtic writing in mainland Europe are to be found in Spain. The Celts in Spain (before the
Roman invasion) are believed to have used an alphabet called Celtiberian, (a modification of the ancient Greek
alphabet, which traders brought from ancient Greece) to write texts such as the Botoritta tablet which dates from 100
BC.

Roman texts
When the Romans first arrived in France circa 121 BC, they brought along the Roman alphabet. The Ancient
Languages of Europe reveals that many Gaulish texts were produced in France, using the Roman alphabet during
this period. J ulius Caesars Commentarii de Bello Gallico better known as the Gallic Wars is a fine example of a
Latin manuscripts written during the period of Roman Gaul. It was published circa 51 BC.
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Gallo-Romance Texts
The end of the Roman occupation of France in A.D. 480, saw beginning of the post-Roman period and the
emergence of Germanic Babarbarian successor states (also occurring in Spain, Italy and Britain with the end of
Roman rule). At the end of the Roman period, sometime in the 5
th
century A.D., the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken by
the Gauls developed into Gallo-Romance language, which was distinct from Latin. The 6
th
century French bishop
and historian, Gregory of Tours was a notable writer of Gallo-Romance. texts Then in the 9
th
century A.D. Old
French (Langue d'oil) evolved from Gallo-Romance. The Germanic tribes who invaded France from the 5
th
century
A.D. (at the end of the Roman occupation) and began the Merovingian, Carolingian and Capetian dynasties of
France (from the 6
th
century to the early 1200s) are known as the Franks. The Roman alphabet was used to write
most of the Old Frankish inscriptions during the period of the starting with Frankish king Chilperic I (a descendant of
Clovis I, the first Frankish King) who worked to adapt the Latin alphabet to suit the Frankish language. Gregory of
Tours (the French equivalent of the prolific meadieval English historian and writer, Venerable Bede) wrote the
earliest and most authentic history of the Franks in France. His Latin work titled Decem Libri Historiarum or Historia
Francorum ("A History of the Franks") is revered by French language academics today. The coronation of the
Frankish ruler Charlemagne as emperor in A.D. 800 marked a period of conscious revival of the concepts, arts,
known as the Carolingian Renaissance. This led to an abundance of several compelling illuminated manuscripts,
mostly in Latin using a script called the Carolingian minuscule. This script was based on using both small and capital
letters. Before the time of Charlemagne Latin script in many codices tended to be mostly in capital letters or
majuscule (and had various forms such as uncials, square and rustic capitals. Today texts in the Roman alphabet
around the world are wrtitien in a combination of small and capital letters. Although the Franks, like the Anglo
Saxons in England (see list 133), originally came from Germanic tribes, and used runes to write some Frankish
inscriptions, very few survive today. The best example being the 1996 discovery of the Frankish Bergakker
inscription (written in the runic alphabet) was discovered in the Netherlands (were in ancient times Old Frankish was
spoken). The inscription dates from the 5
th
century A.D.. Another Frankish relic, the Borgharen inscription dates also
dates from the 5
th
century A.D.. There are about just over 1,000 Frankish words (or 2%) in the French language
today, such as jardin (garden); garantir (to guarantee) and guerre (war). The 9
th
century Vikings invasion of Northern
France left about 90 words in French language. French remains a Romance language, as the impact on Frankish (a
Germanic language) on the development of Old French from Gaulish was less significant, compared to the impact
Germanic languages on the development of Old English from Brythonic, which makes English to be classified as a
Germanic language. In a nutshell, while modern French is 40% Latin and 2% Frankish, modern English is 33%
Anglo Saxon and 18% Latin. The lasting legacy of the Frankish language is the country name itself, France, literally
meaning land of the Franks.

Old French Texts
Old French evolved from Gallo-Romance in the 9
th
century. Among the earliest written major texts in Old French
(French used until A.D. 1350). in the Roman alphabet is the Strasbourg Oath (Les Serments de Strasbourg) written
on parchment in A.D. 842. It is an Old French version (Western Franks) of an oath sworn by two of Charlemagnes
grandsons, Frankish kings Charles the Bald and Louis the German. Several books on the origin of the French
language credit the Strasbourg Oath as the oldest evidence of Old French. However in the book Romance
Languages: a Historical Introduction, published in 2010, Alkire and Rosen note that Reichenau and Kassel glosses
(8
th
century A.D.) are prominent examples of Old French texts which evidently on several independent carbon dating
predate the Strasbourg Oath. Independent experts agree that the Reichenau Glosses is much older than the Les
Serments de Strasbourg however this is explained by the fact that the Reichenau Glosses is on closer inspection
actually a fine example of the Gallo-Romance language than the Old French language, because Old French itself
dates from the 9
th
century A.D., but Gallo-Romance dates from the 5
th
to 8
th
centuries A.D..
Another notable Old French text is the short cantilena on St Eulalia which dates from A.D. 880 (The Encyclopedia of
Language and Linguistics). The oldest extant epic is La Chanson de Roland, an Anglo-Norman poem which dates
from the early 11th century. The main public library in the northern French town of Valenciennes is famous for
housing some of the very first texts written in the French language, most dating from the 9th to 10th century A.D.. A
distinct dialect of Old French widely spoken in the southern parts of France, known as Occitan in medieval times
was gradually replaced by the dialect of Old French spoken in northern France, particularly in Paris, which by A.D.

1200 came to be know as Francien. The Edict of Villers-Cotterets in 1539 established Francien as the official
language of France. Although French uses the Latin alphabet as does English, not all Roman letters found their way
equally into the French alphabet. The letter W, for instance is hardly used, and most of the less than 100 French
words starting with the letter W, are all foreign words. In English language itself, the letter W was only used from the
7
th
century A.D.. The official organization that regulates the French language and its variation of the Latin alphabet is
the Paris-based Acadmie franaise. Aside from French, there are a number of minority languges spoken in France,
such as Occitan, Breton, Picard and Lorrain. In some of the towns and cities in France, where these languages are
spoken, bilingual signs (one in French), e.g. outside buildings or train stations, are a common sight. The website of
the UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the Worlds Languages in Danger, lists 26 regional languages in France.

Sources:
Alkire T and Rosen C. Romance Languages: a Historical Introduction, Cambridge University Press. 2010.
Asher R.E and Simpson J .M.Y. The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Pergamon Press, New
York. 1994.
Battye, A., Rowlett, R and Hintze M. A. The French Language Today: A Linguistic Introduction. Routledge,
2000.
Bussmann H et al Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. Routledge, London, 1996.
Price, G. The French Language: present and past. London. 1971.
Rickard, P. A History of the French Language. 2
nd
edition. London.1993.
Wright, R. Late Latin and Early Romance in Spain and Carolingian France, Francis Cairns Publications,
1982.

132. Earliest written works in Spanish and Portuguese
Roman texts
Previously in the this book, it was noted that the Franks in France, like the Anglo Saxons in England came from
Germanic tribes, that invaded Western Europe, once the Roman Empire was overwhelmed in the 5
th
century A.D..
These Germanic tribes brought along the art of writing with Runes, or the runic alphabet (in use since 200 A.D.). It
was the runic alphabet that was used to write the earliest texts in English and French before the Roman alphabet
replaced it. The Germanic tribes that came to ancient Spain were known as the Visigoths, but they did not use
Runes, but produced mostly Roman alphabet texts. E.g. the Visigothic Code or Liber Judiciorum (Fuero Juzgo ) was
written in the early 7th century A.D. using the Roman script. However the use of writing in Spain goes back much
further in time, long before the Visigoths arrived. According to Hadumod Bussmann (Routledge Dictionary of
Language and Linguistics) the Celts in Spain, before the Roman invasion, (known as Celtiebrians or Hispano-Celts)
are believed to have used a modification of the ancient Greek alphabet to write texts in the so-called Celtiberian
script such as the Botoritta tablet which dates from the 100 BC. The use of modified Greek alphabets to write
Celtiberian texts has also been used by other cultures in Western Europe. For instance, the Etruscans in Tuscany,
Italy produced texts, dating from 800 BC, based an alphabet adopted from the Greek script, (see list 124 under
Roman Empire). The Celtic Ogham alphabet used mostly in ancient Ireland, Wales and Scotland and the runic
alphabet used in ancient England, Germany and Scandinavia, also shows that long before the Roman alphabet was
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in widespread use in ancient Western Europe, other types alphabets were in use for writing texts.
When the Roman army led Caesar Augustus finally conquered all of Spain in 17 BC (Cantabrian Wars), the
Roman script was introduced, eventually replacing all other scripts.

Ibero-Romance language texts
After the Romans left Spain in the 5
th
A.D., the Visigoths administered Spain from the 5
th
to 8
th
century A.D.,
before the Muslim Umayyad dynasty (the Moors) conquered much of Spain. Vulgar Latin dialects used in Spain
during the Roman occupation had transformed into the Ibero-Romance language during the Muslim occupation.

Old Spanish texts
Around the 10
th
century A.D. Ibero-Romance language had evolved into Old Spanish. Both Old Spanish and
Mozarabic (Arabic dialect widely spoken in Muslim Spain) were both used until after the Reconquesta in the lates
1490s, when Christian Spain regained all of Spain from the Moors and Mozarabic was abandoned. Modern Spanish
still has about 4000 Mozarabic loan words, while about 3% of Visigothic words such as Guerra (war) and person
names such as Fernando, Rodrigo, Gonzalo, and Alfonso entred the Spanish vocabulary.
Two versions of Spanish exist today in Spain, Catalan and Castilian Spanish. The former is spoken in areas of
Spain known as Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and in Andorra, while the latter is the official language of Spain.
While both descended from Vulgar Latin dialects in Roman Spain, Catalan Spanish further evolved from Old Occitan
(then spoken in mediaval south east France). In 2006, the Institute of Castilla and Leon confirmed that the
manuscript known as Los Cartularios de Valpuesta (the Valpuesta Cartularies) dates from A.D. 804 and is the oldest
evidence of written Old Spanish (Castilian Spanish) in the Roman alphabet. Prior to that, both the Trilingual Glosas
Emilianenses (Emilian Glosses) and the Silos Glosses were previoulsly the oldest documentary evidence of Old
Spanish in the Roman alphabet, both dating from 10
th
century A.D.. The Silos Glosses was discovered in the
ancient Spanish town of Burgos, (one of the oldest towns in Spain). Burgos is also the location of the oldest extant
manuscript made in paper in Europe (the Silos Missal Prayer Book), see list 142. The best known earliest extant
Castilian Spanish epic is probably the 11th century Poema del Cid (Poem of the Cid), about a military commander
Rodrigo Diz de Vivar (called El Cid by the Moors) who fought against the Arab occupation of Valencia. The first
Spanish major writer was the 14th-century satirist J uan Ruiz. Antonio de Lebrija is credited as writing the first major
Spanish grammer book in 1492. Poems written by King Sancho I of Portugal (second King of Portugal) in the 12th
century are among the oldest existing Portuguese texts today in the Roman alphabet. The official organization that
regulates the Spanish language and its variation of the Latin alphabet is the Madrid-based Real Academia
Espaola. or La RAE.
Notes. The Basque language (known locally as Euskara), spoken in the Basque Provinces of Spain, is more
than 2000 years old (much older than Spanish), as it is one of the few surviving languages in Europe that
existed before Latin became the dominant language. The oldest existing documents in Basque date from the 8th
century A.D.. Basque has contributed just a handful of words to European languages; one such is bizarre. The
oldest extant text in Catalan Spanish (found in Barcelona) date from the 12th century. On April 23 of each year,
which is St. Georges Day in Spain (known as Festa de Sant J ordi in Catalan Spanish, after the patron saint of
Catalonia who famously killed a dragon), people present each other with books and red roses, in a massive
celebration of reading. While the celebrations, dubbed as a gigantic literary orgy by the Spanish press, are
going on, Gambetta Square in Barcelona is the big meeting place for authors and publishers. Armies of
booksellers also take possession of roads such as the famous La Rambla, for the whole day. On April 23, 1996,
UNESCO launched the United Nations World International Book Day based on St. Georges Day in Spain.
Hence April 23 is a big day for books in Spain and the international community.

References:
Hadumod Bussmann (Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics)
R. Wright, Late Latin and Early Romance in Spain and Carolingian France (1982)
Early Ibero romance: 21 studies on language and texts from the Iberian Peninsula between the Roman Empire and
the 13th century, by Roger Wright, 1994.

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133. Earliest written works in English, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish
Pre-Roman Britain / Celtic texts
In the book, A History of Ancient Britian, Neil Oliver reveals that the Pre-Celtic Beaker people of Bronze Age Britain
(England, Wales and Scotland) circa 2000 BC did not have a written language and so left us no inscriptions. The
book does however reveal that going back further in time to around 20,000 BC, when modern humans were arriving
in Ice-Age Britian, several engravings on fragments of horse bone have been found. Nonetheless these are not full-
lenth human writing but similar to the cave paintings in France dating back to 30,000 BC, mentioned earlier in this
book.

Before the Roman invasion, the Celts (Brythons) who arrived Iron Age Britainfrom about 500 BC, had already given
several parts of Britain place names which have survived today, such as Kentand Dover and the rivers Thames
and Wye. But apart from the very few Celtic words remaining in the modern English today (such as the words car
and curse) the language of the Celts in England (called Brythonic or Brittonic) was not extensively in written form,
save for small numbers of Celtic inscriptions in the Ogham alphabet found in and around Wales and England,
curiously dating from the Roman times and not before Roman times. These inscriptions are described in detail in the
book The Celtic Inscriptions of Britain: Phonology and Chronology which extensively documents Celtic Ogham
inscriptions in England and Wales dating from A.D. 400. A good example are relics created in and around England
in the 5
th
and 6th centutries, such as the Caldey Stone stone which contains inscriptions both in Latin and the
Ogham script.

Apart from Wales and Scotland, in England the ancient Celtic language of the Brythons survives today as the
Cornish language, spoken mostly in counties of Devon and Cornwall, south west of England and also as Breton, a
language spoken in north-west of France (Brittany). Both regions were once part of the Celtic kingdoms of
Dumnonia and Domnonia. Both Brian Sykes Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland
and Stephen Oppenheimers Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective provide comprehensive scholarship on the
Celtic (Brythonic) heritage in England.

Greek texts
Due to the absence of Celtic texts predating predating Roman Britain, Charles Isaac Elton in the book Origins of
English History, notes that the authentic history of Britain (i.e. recorded history) began during the Hellenistic Period
dating from the time of the death of Alxander the Great circa 323 BC. Research shows several texts were written
about Britain by ancient Greeks and Carthigians explorers who visited Britain long before the Romans came to
Britain. By that time, Britain was unknown territory to the Hellinistic (Classical) World. From The Britannica Guide to
Explorers and Exploration we learn that around 400 BC the Carthaginian known as Himlico (a compatriot of the
famous Carthagian exploere, Hanno) visited the ancient British coastline and recorded observatons he made of her
people. His texts have been lost in time and the oldest source on Himilco's voyage is now Naturalis Historia by the
profilic Roman writer Pliny the Elder (written A.D. 79). The other Greek document covers Greek explorer Pytheas of
Massilia, (Gordon Kerr, Timeline of Britain) who had visited the coastline of Western Europe, then sailed around
Britain circa 325 BC and recodered his voyages and observations in the book Peri tou Okeanou (One the Ocean).
Unfortunately this book is also lost in time, so secondary sources for information on his voyages are from books by
Greek historians Polybius and Pliny the Elder. The Greek names given for Britain, after its discovery were Ierne
and Albion, both Celtic (Brythonic) words.

Roman texts/ inscriptions
The arrival of the Romans and subsequent occupation of Britain (from 55 BC to A.D. 410) saw the appearance
of the very first comprehensive texts and inscriptions written in Britain or about Britain (in ancient Latin). Among
the earliest books written about Britain by the Romans were The Gallic War and Annals of Tacitus was written
before the complete Roman occupation of Britain, Its author was Roman proconsul Gaius J ulius Ceasar, who
led expeditions to Britain between 55BC and 54BC. And his observations of the ancient people of Britain were
first hand (Book V, Chapters 12 and 14). Gaius J ulius Ceasar is credited as being the first to to provide details
about the Druids in England. Annals of Tacitus writen by the famous Roman historian, Cornelius Tacitus in the
early A.D. 100s. It contains very interesting facts about Britain in the early days of the Roman occupation.
Tacitus was in fact the primary source historical information on Britain during the Roman occupation, e.g. he
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was the first (along side another Roman historian Dio Cassius) to write about the Iceni tribe and the exploits of
Queen Boudica. However it was coins minted by the Brythons under Roman rule that have left some of the
earliest Latin inscriptins found in Britain. For instance both Celtic Coinage in Britain and The Tribes and Coins of
Celtic Britain, note that the Regni, Dubunni, Catuvellauni, Atrebates, and the Iceni people all left gold, silver and
bronze coins dating from circa 8
0 B.C (most with Roman inscriptions), the first such coins to be issued in Britain. But it was the Iceni, Regni and
the Atrebates, who left the first inscribed coins, in the Roman alphabet, from circa 50 to 20 BC (inscribed with
the name of the Celtic or Roman ruler of the area where the coins were minted). The early 5
th
century A.D. Latin
inscriptions known as the Caratacus stone is a good example of early Latin inscriptions, showing that all over
Britain, ancient Latin was being used to wrtite inscriptions long before Old English was established as the
majority language in England. Neil Oliver (A History of Ancient Britain) furthermore reveals that early Latin text
produced in Britain on religion (pagan religion and eventually Christianity) were particularly abundant and many
of them preserved today in museums. For instance in the city of Bath, famous for its preserved Roman baths,
are several mysterious lead tablets written in Latin with the Roman script, which Roger Tomlin et al (The
Roman Inscriptions of Britain) describe as a series of separate texts used by the local public for communicating
with Roman gods such as Sulis-Minerva. The British Library website on language and literature calculates that
about 200 Latin loanwords were inherited by the Celts in England (i.e. Brythonic Celts) during Roman times up
to A.D. 450. And more Latin words arrive in the 6
th
century A.D. by way of early church activities in England (e.g.
the Gregorian mission). The Anglo Norman administration of Britain from A.D. 1066 brought in the most words
from Latin (via French) into the English vocabulary.
Most of the earliest surviving religious manuscripts written before the 10th century in the U.K. are not in Old
English but in Latin, because most of the earliest religious documents in Europe were written either in Greek or
Latin. The most ancient religious documents were written in Old Hebrew and Aramaic. Christianity itself officially
reached England in A.D. 596 with the arrival of St. Augustine of Canterbury, who was sent by the Pope. There
are four important Latin texts written in the U.K. The Lindisfarne Gospels were written and illustrated in A.D. 698
by the monk Eadfrith on the English Island of Lindisfarne. The Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum
(Ecclesiastical History of the English People), finished in A.D. 731 by the Venerable Bede, a monk in the J arrow
monastry in Sunderland, is the earliest text on the early days of Christianity in the U.K. and is preserved at the
British Library. The library in J arrow itself is once a treasure trove of medieval books, some written by Bede, the
most prolific medieval writer in England. The library is long gone, but the monastry hopes to one day to acquire
World Heritage Site status, as the latess nomination bid was made in 2011????. Incidentally King Alfred and his
staff did manage to translate Bedes work from Latin into Old English about 150 years later. Know one knows
who worte The Lichfield Gospels (or St Chad Gospels) It dates from A.D. 730. The Domesday Book is not a
religious book but a sort of official record of landholdings in Britain. Its compilation began in 1085 during the
reign of Anglo Norman King William the Conqueror


Anglo-Saxon texts
Shortly after the Romans left Britain, Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) arrives on the scene. Both the Venerable Bede
and Gildas in their texts, provide the approximate date of A.D. 449 for the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons. About one
third of Anglo-Saxon vocabulary (33%) survives in modern English. The historian Professor Frank Stenton in the
Oxford History of England (first published in 1943) mentions that between the end of the Roman era in Britiain (A.D.
410) and the arrival of Gregorian mission in England (A.D. 596) a period exists were history cannot be wriiten. This
historical gap of unwritten records (known as Sub-Roman Britain or Dark Age Britain) provides a fascinating way to
study how and when language (and later in written form) in Britain moved from Celtic to Old English. There is just
one major text that was written between A.D. 410 and A.D. 597, that historians can refer to when dealing with the
period between the 5
th
and 6th centutries A.D.. This text (written in Latin) is De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, by
Gildas circa A.D. 547 and has since translated into several different English editions for schloarship.

Professor Richard Rudgley (Barbarians: Secrets of the Dark Ages) summarises that the earliest date to which Old
English inscriptions in Britain can identified with strong evidence is from the amazing 1982 discovery of a late 5
th

century A.D. gold medallion near a small Suffolk village in England. Known today as the Undley Bracteate, it was
written not in ancient Latin or Celtic, but archaic Old English using an early non-Roman alphabetic system called
runes. The fact that the inscriptions on Undley Bracteate were written in the runic alphabet (specifically called Anglo-
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Comment [GO25]: Takephoto at Britidh
museum

Saxon Futhorc) is not surprising, because the original Anglo-Saxons living in England, had migrated from northern
Europe, mostly southern Germany (Saxons) and southeast Denmark (Angles), were the use of runes was in already
widespread use since A.D. 150, (as noted by Kufner, in Towards a Grammer of Proto-Germanic). The medallions
inscription is currently the oldest extant example of the Old English language yet discovered and the oldest example
of Anglo-Saxon runes in England. Prior to this 1982 discovery, Kufner puts the earliest date for Runic texts (Anglo-
Saxon Futhorc) written in Old English as sometime between A.D. 600 and A.D. 700. Both the books Texts &
Contexts of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions and Runes Around The North Sea And On The Continent: AD150 -700
provide comprehensive lists of all the earliest and oldest extant runic inscriptions found in England. Another notable
early major runic inscription is the British Museums Auzon (Franks) Runic Casket , which dates from the 7
th
century
A.D.. Runic inscriptions on Ruthwell Cross date from the 8
th
century A.D.. No major Old English runic manuscripts
on papyrus, parchement or vellum exist today, as almost all preserved samples of Old English runes are inscriptions
on materials such as coins, brooches and wood.

Aside from Gildas 6
th
century A.D. texts, between the 7
th
and 8
th
centuries A.D., alongside writing Old English with
runes, early writers in England, such as Eadfrith (A.D. 698) and the Venerable Bede (A.D. 731) continued to write
mostly Latin texts.

Old English texts in the Roman alphabet began appearing from the late 7
th
century, which was the period when the
use of the Roman alphabet had replaced the use of runes for writing Old English. Linda Mugglestone writing in The
Oxford History of English, mentions two major contributors of this change in writing systems. There first were the
strong influences of numerous Irish missionaries in England, starting from the late 5
th
century A.D.. The Origins and
Development of the English Language adds that during the earliest period of the use of the Roman script in England,
text were mostly written in the Insular form of the Roman alphabet. This was a unique variation of the Roman script
invented by these Irish missionaries in England. The second reason for the replacement of runes with the Roman
script was the arrival of the monk St. Augustine of Canterbury (the Gregorian mission), in the A.D. 597 sent to
England by Pope Gregory I. After converting pagan Anglo Saxons kings (starting with King thelberht of Kent) and
agreeable populace to Christianity, the need to ditch the use of runes and master the Roman alphabet, e.g. to read
the (Latin) Bible, was an indubitable fact. thelberhts code of laws for Kent drafted in the early 7
th
century is rightly
the earliest example of Old English text in the Roman alphabet, but it has not survived time, and only exist in a 12
th

century manuscript. The earliest known major Old English writer to use the Roman alphabet in the 7th century was
the poet Cdmon, but very little is known about him today. Much of what is known about him comes from another
English writer (but who wrote in Latin not Old English), the Venerable Bede in the 8
th
century. Cdmons only
surviving work is the text known as Caedmons Hymn. The only 7
th
century English writer who is beloved to have
written in both Old English and Latin was Bishop Aldhelm, but none of his Old English texts survive today. Among
surviving 8
th
century Old English manuscripts are the British Librarys Vespasian Psalter (written in both Old English
and Latin). It is the oldest surviving translation of part of the Bible into Old English using the Roman script.

Beowulf, a fascinating poem of a Danish warrior, was written the 9
th
century circa A.D. 885, at a time when armed
Danish (Viking) raids into what is now the Britain were common. It is the oldest surviving comprensive Old English
manuscript written in the Roman alphabet and is now housed in the British Library.

According to the 2010 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica, the four oldest prominent 9
th
and 10
th
century Old English
literary works are: Beowulf (in the Nowell Codex) The Wanderer (dated 10
th
century A.D., in the Codex Exoniensis);
The Seafarer (in the Codex Exoniensis); The Battle of Maldon (9
th
century A.D.), and The Dream of the Rood (10
th

century A.D., the Vercelli Codex). A comprehensive list of 9
th
to middle 11
th
century A.D. Anglo Saxon manuscripts is
detailed in A Manual of Old English Prose. In total just over 400 such Anglo Saxon texts survive today. Old Norse
words also feature in Anglo Saxon texts because of the fact that 9
th
century Danish and other Scandinavian (Viking)
incursions into England left a legacy of over 2000 Old Norse words in the written English language (e.g. via the
Danelaw) such as words egg, cake, sky and skin, as well as several place names in England such as Whitby and
Grimsby. The 9th century Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, written around the time of King Alfred, is the oldest extant
historical document in Old English. King Alfred was also resonsible in A.D. 851 for producing the oldest extant
religious document in Old English. 150 years after Bede wrote his famous The Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People), Alfred ordered its translation from Latin into Old English.


Comment [GO26]: Photo. Is now in your
cllection

Middle English texts
Middle" English refers to the transition period between Old English, which was grammatically very different from the
language that followed, and early Modern English. The oldest comprehensive document in Middle English is the
Magna Carta, (a legal document) which dates from 1215, during the time of King J ohn I, and describes terms of
agreement between the king and the barons on issues such as taxes. Another significant early manuscript written in
Middle English is the Provisions of Oxford of King Henry III, written in 1258. This was a governmental reform
document (written on parchment) forced upon the king by the leader of the barons, Simon de Montfort, limiting the
power of the king. Although papermills were not set up in the U.K. until 1494, paper made outside the U.K. was
imported. The oldest extant major document written in Middle English on paper was a letter written to King Henry III
by the son of the duke of Navarre, Spain in 1275. For a while, most new manuscripts produced in England from the
11
th
to early 13
th
century were written in Anglo Norman French rather than in Middle English, until the 1362 Statute
of Pleading, which saw the prominence of Middle English over Anglo Norman French emerge from then on.

Most surviving Old English texts were written in the Old English West Saxon dialect based in southern England,
(other Old prominent English dialects were Northumbrian, Mercian, and Kentish). The West Saxon Old English
dialect (which developed into the Southernwestern Middle English dialect) was spoken primaril y in the
Kingdom of Wessex. This kingdom had Englands most famous Old English ruler, King Alfred, who united all seven
main Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in A.D. 878. According to A Manual of Old English Prose the unification date was
before most the surviving Old English texts like Beowulf were produced. Given the prominence of the Wessex
Kingdom after the unifucation, its dialect in written form was given prominence over other Anglo-Saxon dialects
when the bulk of over 400 surviving Old English manuscerpts were produced between A.D. 878 and A.D. 1066. For
instance the oldest extant historical document in Old English, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, was written in the West
Saxon Old English dialect. And the Old English translation of Bedes Latin book, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis
Anglorum, ordered by King Alfred, was also written in the West Saxon Old English dialect. The kingdom of Wessex
went on to produce the first official King of England (Rex Anglorum), with the crowning of King Athestan, the
grandson of King Alfred.

When one reads preserved Old English texts today like Beowulf, they look so different from modern English texts.
The first of the two main two reasons for this is obviously the Norman Invasion of 1066, which brought in thousands
of new words (in Anglo Norman French), as well as grammar and pronunciation changes to Old English. Parliament;
art; and romance are examples of Anglo-Norman words that had entered Old English vocabulary from the 11
th

century AD. The other crucial fact, according to J ohn Algeo and Thomas Pyles (in The Origins and Development of
the English Language), is that modern English is derived from the East Midland dialect of Middle English,
rather than from the Southwestern dialect. As noted above, most surviving Old English texts were written in West
Saxon Old English dialect, which evolved into the Southern Middle English dialect. Hence given that Modern
English descended from the East Midland Middle English dialect (spoken in central England) instead of the Southern
Middle English dialect (spoken in southern England), it is easy to see why Old English is so different from Modern
English.


So why did modern English develop from the East Midland dialect of Middle English?

The answer lies in part to the invention of the printing press. Until the late 1500s, Middle English writers wrote their
books in the dialect of their native regions or where they mostly lived. For instance Geoffrey Chaucer wrote his
famous The Canterbury Tales (from the 1380s) in the East Midland dialect, since he was based mostly in central
England. Meanwhile the book Ayenbite of Inwyt (literraly again-bite of inner wit) was written circa 1340s in the
Kentish Middle English dialect, as its author lived in southern England. Both books were clearly very different in both
grammer and spelling. William Caxton Chaucer was the first to print books in England, and when it came to printing
the very first prominent fiction work in English, he rightly choose books by Geoffrey Chaucer. The mass production
of books (which inevitibily promoted literacy) in the written East Midland dialect of Middle English soon gained
prominence over all other printed books in other Middle English dialects all over England. As such Geoffrey
Chaucers books became so popular and groundbreaking in style that thoundands of people who normally spoke
other dialects of Middle English began to master the East Midland dialect in order to enjoy books by Geoffrey
Chaucer and others. From the late 1500s with most authors and printers now writing and producing books only in

the written form East Midland dialect, books produced in the other Middle English dialects began to cease and by
default, the East Midland dialect became the standrard form of written and spoken modern English.

Had modern English developed from the Southwestern Middle English dialect, native English speakers
today would have little difficulty reading Beowulf and other Old English texts, in much the same way as
native Icelandic speakers can read Old Norse texts with some ease. Today written English has a rich heritage
of a mixture of mostly Old English, Anglo Norman, Old French, Latin, Old Norse and Greek, plus about 80 other
languages to a small extent such Celtic and Arabic from which words like alcohol and algebra originated. The
Concise Oxford Dictionary notes that the habit of using words from other languages rather than creating an
indigenous own has continued until this day. J ust what incident decided which form of a word is to be the de facto
word in English is intriguing. For example, the book An A-Z of Food & Drink, J ohn Ayto provides a interesting insight.
In Old English the word for egg was written as g or oeg. In Middle English period it became ey (eyfren as the
plural). But in the 14
th
century the Old Norse word egg was adopted (same spelling seen in Danish and Norwegian
today which also descended from Old Norse). However, for a while both the words eggs and eyfren was used
concurrently in speech and written form, prompting William Caxton, the famous printer of Middle English books to
complain bitterly: What should a man in these day now write, eggs or eyren, certainly it is hard to please every man.
For some reason not fully explained today, the Old Norse word egg was accepted as the de facto word and
ey/eyfren disappeared from the English vocabulary. Finally there are a handful of English words whose origin is a
still a big mystery. The word dog was for centuries known and spelled as Old English hound or hund. But out of
the blue, the word dog appeared in medieval times and replaced both hound and hund. The Online Etymology
Dictionary (link given at end of this section) which gives the origins of most English language words, claims that the
origin of the word dog", remains one of the great mysteries of English etymology.
Unlike Spanish and French, there is no official organization that regulates the English language in Britain and its
variation of the Latin alphabet, however the organization known as the The Queen's English Society comes close in
some capacity. Nevertheless all new official words entering the English language in Britain and the official spellings
appear first in the Oxford English Dictionary and later in the Cambridge English Dictionary. By 2013 there were
estimated to be between 400,000 and 800,000 main words in Modern English listed in the dictionaries. In the U.S.
the Webster's Third International Dictionary of English lists over 450,000 words.
PHOTO OF BEAKER POT

Scottish, Welsh and Irish texts
Compared to English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish are closely linked to the original Celtic language as they had not
been heavily influenced by foreign languages, save for Latin at a later stage (compared to English which is has far
fewer original Celtics words and is more a Germanic language). The name given to the Celts in ancient Ireland was
Gaels. Most scholars put the starting date of Celtic languages at around 2000 BC. And the Celts' first known territory
was in central Europe about 1200 BC. According to Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics Irish, Welsh
and Scottish fall under the one of the two main branches of Celtic languages termed Insular Celtic. The other
branch, Continental Celtic (covering languages e.g. of the Gauls in ancient France) is now extinct, with a few
surviving texts such as the Botorrita Tablet and the Larzac Tablet (described in this book previously under the
sections for French and Spanish). The oldest texts in Irish (Gaelic) existing today in Roman script date from A.D.
650. But Irish as a spoken language dates much further back, having been introduced into Ireland by the Continental
Celts around 500 BC. This makes Irish Gaelic, alongside Latin, Basque and Greek, one of the four oldest vernacular
languages today in Europe. The Irish alphabet was first written in the ancient Celtic Ogham alphabet and the oldest
extant texts today are inscriptions that date back to the 4th century A.D.. The Ancient Languages of Europe adds
that the date of the first Ogham inscription can actually be pushed back to second century A.D.. After St. Patrick
arrived in Ireland (to help in the spread of Christianity) in A.D. 432, the Roman script (mostly the Insular script) was
used to write Irish texts, and the Ogham alphabet was abandoned eventually from the 6
th
century A.D.. Both the
Ogham and runic alphabet (used in England), shows that long before the Roman alphabet was in widespread use
for writing both Irish and English, other alphabets were in use in Britain and Ireland. A form of Celtic Gaelic was
introduced in Scotland (Scottish Gaelic) in the 5th century A.D.. Another group of ancient people living in Scotland
before the Romans arrived, called the Picts, appeared to have left no written evidence of their now extinct Pictish
language. Brian Sykes in Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland, identifies the Picts
as having inhabited what is now Scotland from 6000 to 10,000 years ago (i.e. pre Bronze Age or the Neolithic

period). The Ancient Languages of Europe theorizes that the Ogham alphabet was used to write some inscriptions
in Pictish and that the Picts themselves were not Celtic. This was in contradiction to earlier belief, as most historical
books on Scotland up to the end of the 1990s had said the Picts did not have a written language. In 2010, Discovery
TV channel and its website confirmed that Picts, during the Iron Age had written forms of their language from about
A.D. 300. However most of the Pictish inscriptions discovered in 2010 have not been completely deciphered, and is
still ongoing.
The oldest examples of Welsh texts are the four ancient books viz: the Black Book of Carmarthen, the Book of
Taliesin, the Book of Aneirin, and the Red Book of Hergest all dating from the 6th century A.D.. The earliest major
examples of Scottish Gaelic in the Latin script date back to the 12th century A.D.. The two most notable texts are the
history of the MacDonalds in the Red and Black Books of Clanranald and the Fernaig manuscript, both written in the
1600s. The Royal Irish Academy Library holds the largest collection of old Irish Gaelic manuscripts in the world. The
most famous Scottish Gaelic word passed to English is the word trousers, although Scotland is more well-known for
the Scottish kilt!
Notes. The Celts also inhabited the British Isles from around 200 BC, before the Romans led by Julius Caesar
invaded in 55 BC. But the lands ruled by the Romans did not include Ireland and much of Scotland (divided from
England by Hadrians Wall). This meant the influence of Latin on the development of Gaelic happened much
later, compared to English, the reason why Irish and Scottish Gaelic have fewer words originating from Latin.

Royal Irish Academy Library get photo

One of the main reasons for the major difference between English and Scottish texts was the dividing wall ordered
by Roman Emperor, Hadrian in 2nd century A.D..
Sources and further Reading.
The Origins and Development of the English Language (in your ebooks)
Ball, M (ed). The Celtic Languages. 1993
Neil Oliver A History of Ancient Britian,
The Celtic Inscriptions of Britain: Phonology and Chronology
Linda Muggleston (ed) The Oxford History of English, Oxford University Press 2006
Roger Tomlin and R.G. Collingwood (eds) et al, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain 1995. Part of a series of volumes
covering inscriptions made in the province of Britain during the Roman period.
Richard Rudgley. Barbarians: Secrets of the Dark Ages
Kufner . Toward a Grammer of Proto-Germanic 1972
The Tribes and Coins of Celtic Britain / Rainer Pudill (Author), Clive Eyre (Author)
J ohn Algeo and Thomas Pyles The Origins and Development of the English Language
Karen J ane Quinn (Author), Kenneth Quinn (Author) A Manual of Old English Prose. Garland Publishing Inc 1990.

Celtic Coinage in Britain / Philip de J ersey
The British Library website on language and literature
(http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/changlang/across/languagetimeline.html)
Tineke J .H. Looijenga (Author) Texts & Contexts of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions
Runes Around The North Sea And On The Continent: AD150-700 J antina Helena Looijenga
New Written Language of Ancient Scotland Discovered. Discovery TV website.
http://news.discovery.com/history/ancient-scotland-written-language.html
J ohn Ayto An A-Z of Food & Drink,
The Online Etymology Dictionary (http://www.etymonline.com)
133. Earliest written works in Dutch
The manuscript called Wachtendonk Psalm fragments which survive today, were written around A.D. 910, and
are the oldest of several religious manuscript fragments from 10th century Netherlands. The earliest major writer in
Dutch was Heinrich (Heindrik) van Veldeke in the 12th century A.D.. Because Dutch and German both originated
from the West Germanic language group, Veldeke also wrote of the several earliest texts in Middle High German
(German language used in the 12
th
century). The official organization that regulates the Dutch language and its
variation of the Latin alphabet is the Nederlandse taalunie.


134. Earliest written works from Scandinavia
The Runic alphabet, already covered earlier on in this book in detail, was invented by Germanic tribes in living in
what is todays modern Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Germany. It is belived to have descended from the
ancient Greek alphabet and the oldest Rune date from A.D. 50. The oldest extant Old Norse texts in the runic
alphabet (Younger Futhark) date from about 650 A.D. (as described by Kufner, in Toward a Grammer of Proto-
Germanic). However the oldest Runic inscription, the famous Meldorf Brooch (A.D. 50) was actually found in
Denmark on the island of Funen. Germanic tribes who migrated to medieval England (Anglo Saxons); France
(Franks) Spain (Visigoths) as well as Russia/Ukraine (Varangians), all brought along the Runic alphabet. Both Texts
& Contexts of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions and Runes Around The North Sea And On The Continent: AD150 - 700
provide comprehensive lists of all the earliest and oldest extant runic inscriptions found in Scandinavia. Although
Iceland was the one of the very last places to be inhabited by modern humans (it was only first inhabited by early
settlers from Norway in the 9
th
century A.D.), it has the distinction of being the location for many early original Old
Norse texts preserved today such as the Poetic Edda. This is because the Old Norse language was taken to Iceland
at a much later period, it evolved much slower than the Old Norse spoken in other Scandinavian countries, so today
Icelandic is more similar to Old Norse compared for instance Danish and Swedish. This makes Icelandic scholars
better at reading Old Norse texts. Iceland is also famous for the numerous 10
th
century prose sagas (written of
course in the Old Norse). Early texts in the Roman alphabet of Scandinavian languages including Icelandic (with the
exception of Finnish), all descended from Old Norse, and date from the 10th century A.D., but the oldest extant
Scandinavian manuscript in the Roman alphabet is the Necrologium Lunense, written in A.D. 1123. Due to historical
and political reasons, Swedish was the language of education and literature in Finland for many centuries up to the
19th century. Thus the earliest major Finnish texts is the Kalevala, a national epic poem in 1835. But the first
recorded Finnish texts were the translation of the New Testament by Michael Agricola in 1548. Today Finland uses
two official languages, Finnish and Swedish.





135. Earliest written works from Turkey and Eastern Europe
In the western or European part of modern Turkey, centered around Constantinople (Istanbul), which was
formerly part of the Byzantine Empire, the key script, used up to A.D. 1453 for writing, was the Greek script. In the
Asian part of modern Turkey (known as Asia Minor or today Anatolia), which was also formerly part of the Byzantine
Empire, the Greek script was used until A.D. 1071 when Seljuk Turks, led by sultan Alp-Arslan, (of the Turkoman
from Moslem Turkistan), captured much of Asia Minor from the Byzantines, and introduced the Arabic script.
Anatolia became known as the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum in A.D. 1077, with its capital at Nicaea (modern Iznik or
Kocaeli). This sultanate was the earliest forerunner of modern Turkey and from which the Turkish language evolved
on Anatolia. Hence the earliest documents in Turkish from Anatolia in the Arabic script date from the 11th century.
However the earliest prolific Turkish writer was Yunus Emre in the 1200s. Before Turkey adopted the Arabic script,
from the 3
rd
to 10
th
century A.D. Turkish language was written in Sogdian script (adapted from a widespread
Aramaic-derived Pahlavi script used in neighboring Persia). Literature written in Turkish (during the reign of the
Seljuk dynasty) was based on Persian models for many centuries until Suleiman the Great became Turkish sultan in
1494, and Turkish texts became more homegrown. Consequently many Turkish texts of the 11th to late 14th century
was based on Persian culture and language. When the Ottoman Turks (who had displaced the Seljuk Turks in
Anatolia in 1243 as rulers) captured Constantinople in 1453, the Arabic script replaced the Greek script in the
western part of modern Turkey. Soon after the Turkish Ottoman Empire disintegrated, after the end of the First
World War, Turkey continued to use the Arabic script until 1928 when it adopted the Roman script. Two common
words in English from Turkish are coffee and yogurt. The official organization that regulates the Turkish language
and its Roman alphabet is the Trk Dil Kurumu, based in ??????.
Most east European languages belong to the Slavic language family, but two different scripts have been used to
write texts: the Cyrillic and Roman scripts. The Cyrillic alphabet which is somewhat related to the earlier Glagolitic
alphabet (which is now extinct) dates back 9th century A.D.. It was developed from the Greek alphabet by Greek
monks Saint Cyril and his brother Saint Methodius for use in writing Greek Orthodox Church manuscripts in the
Slavic languages. Early major Slavic Cyrillic texts in Russian and Ukrainian such as the Tale of the Armament of
Igor date from the 10th century A.D.. But scholars agree that the oldest example of early Slavic writing is the 10th
century Codex of Suprasl written in a monastery near the ancient Bulgarian town of Preslaw. The national libraries
of Poland and Slovenia, share possession of this ancient relic. Previously in this book, it was noted that medieval
Germanic tribes who migrated to England (Anglo Saxons); France (Franks) and Spain (Visigoths), after the end of
the Roman Empire all brought along the Runic alphabet. The Vikings in Scandinavia also wrote with Runes. In parts
of Scandinavia today, are remnants of stone inscriptions knowns as Varangian runestones. These were inscriptions
made by the Varangians or Variagians (Vikings from Scandinavia, mostly Sweden) providing details of thier 9th
century A.D. voyages to Gardariki (Gardarike) which is an Old Norse term used in medieval times to refer to
Novgorod, today city in modern day Russia. One of the Varangians called Rurik, founded Kievan Rus (with its
capital at Novogorod and later at Kiev). The importance of Kievan Rus with the hstory of Russia, lies wt the fact that
it was the first East Slavic state. The manuscript Tale of Bygone Years better known as the Russian Primary
Chronicle traces the history of Kievan Rus from the 9
th
to 12
th
century A.D.. It was written by the monk Nestor circa
A.D. 1131 (the manuscript is now lost in time), but copied portons of the texts are to be found in the later compiled
Laurentian Codex preserved at the National Library of Russia. Other earliest dates for Slavic languages using the
Cyrillic script are: Bulgarian (10
th
century) and Belarusian(11th century). Serbo-Croat used in Serbia and Croatia are
very similar languages, except that while Serbian uses the Cyrillic alphabet and most people practice Greek
Orthodox Christianity, Croatian uses the Roman alphabet and the people are primarily Roman Catholic. The earliest
Serbo-Croat text date from the 12th century A.D.. The most famous early Serbian text is the Miroslav Gospel
manuscript dating from 1180. The earliest dates for texts in Slavic East European languages written in the Roman
script are: Czech (13th century); Polish (12th century); Slovenian (14th century): Macedonian (11th century).
Macedonian text actually go back further in time, because ancient Macedonian was once written using the Attic
Greek script, at a time Greek was widely spoken (during the time of Alexander the Great). Ancient European
Languages reveals a 4
th
century BC inscription found recently among the ruibs of the Macedonian city of Pella.
Some East European languages are not Slavic in origin. The earliest dates for texts in non-Slavic East European

languages written in the Roman alphabet are: Hungarian (13
th
century); the Baltic states (Estonian, 14th century);
Lithuanian ,16th century) and Latvian 14th century); and Albanian (5th century, the most famous Albanian text is the
6th century Christian Codex Purpureus Beratinus). Moldovan spoken in nearby Moldova is related to Romanian but
uses the Cyrillic script, while Romania also used the Cyrillic script from the 16th century until the 19th century, when
it adapted the Roman script).

Notes. Before the Greek script was used in Anatolia, the Hittites who inhabited Anatolia from the 2nd
millennium BC (circa 1900 BC) used hieroglyphics and later cuneiform for writing documents. The capital of the
Hittite Empire was based at the ancient city of Hattusas (modern Boghazky, east of Ankara). The Greeks began to
establish colonies all along the western (Aegean) and southern (Mediterranean) coasts of Anatolia from around 900
BC, such as Lydia. Once the Greeks began using their alphabets, a number of scripts (offshoots) based on the
Greek alphabet began to appear in neighboring areas such as Western Anatolia, circa 600 to 200 BC. These
included the Carian, Lycian, Lydian and Phrygian scripts. All are now extinct (Ancient Languages of Europe.)
Although Anatolia was part of the Roman Empire between 2nd century BC and the 2nd century A.D., the Greek
script prevailed over the Latin script. In the 4th century A.D., Anatolia developed into the Byzantine Empire before
falling to the Turkish Seljuk dynasty in the 11
th
century A.D.. Turkistan is a region in central Asia (east of the Caspian
Sea) encompassing modern day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Siberia, Mongolia
and western China. Before Islam arrived in Turkistan, a Turkic language in use in this region was written in the so
called Turkic runic script, whoses origin is still uncertain (The Atlas of Labguages) The Orkhon Inscriptions (see
below) which describe the ancient history of the Turks and the Tartar khans of Mongolia, provide evidence that
Turkish, before it was written in the Arabic script, was written in a unusual Aramaic-derived script (the Sogdian
script) between the 3
rd
to 10th century A.D. widespread in western Turkistan, also called Transoxiana. The Tartar
tribe of the Turkoman (Turkmen), whose later generations (Ghuzz Turks) adopted Islam and the Arabic script in the
8th century A.D. and went onto Anatolia to establish what evolved into todays modern Turkey, originally came from
western Turkistan.
Sources and further Reading

George L Campbell Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. 1997. New York.

The Blackwell Encyclpdeia of Writing Systems

The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet / Amalia E. Gnanadesika

Ancient Languages of Europe /
136. Earliest written works from Asia-Pacific region
This section excludes texts used from China, the Indian subcontinent, Korea and J apan. Almost all East Asian
scripts, except for the ones used for central Asian Muslim countries, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Filipino and
Indonesian, developed from the Brahmi script (see list 124). From Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets The earliest
dates of the first Asian texts, are: Tibetan script (7th century A.D.); J avanese script (used in Indonesia, and
introduced in the 8th century A.D. by Buddhist monks from India); Burmese (9th to 12
th
century A.D. with later
influences from Pali Buddhist texts); Khmer script (used in Cambodia, 7th to 12th century A.D. directly from Indian
Devana gari script); Laotian script (14th century) and Thai script (13th century, the first major writer was the King of
Sukhothai (ruler of the forerunner of Thailand) in AD1292, who invented it).
The earliest of several scripts used for early Mongolian texts date back to the 8th century A.D.. The oldest extant
texts are the Orkhon Inscriptions, discovered near a valley in the Orhon River in northern Mongolia in 1889. Danish
philologist Vilhelm Thomsen who deciphered the inscriptions noted that they were an early form of a script once
used in large areas of ancient Turkistan, before Islam and the Arabic script was introduced.
The Orkhon Inscriptions are also related to the Old Turkish alphabet (based on the the Sogdian script) used
between the 3
rd
to 10th century A.D. before the arrival of Islam, and the Uyghur (Uighur) alphabet (which descended

from Aramaic) used in both Uzbekistan and in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang, whose descendants, the
Uyghurs (Uighurs) are related to the Turkish. In 1866, Russian Monk Pyotr Ivanovich Kafarov, (Archimandrite
Palladius or Palladij) of the Russian Orthodox Mission in China translated a 14
th
century A.D. Chinese copy of a
book titled The Secret History of the Mongols. In subsequent years, scholars have a consensus that the 14
th
century
book is the only surviving invaluable copy of a book written in the 1240s originally in the Mongolian script, about
medieval Mongolian life. According to The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the
Thirteenth Century, much of what we know about the early days of the Mongolian Empire today was originally
sourced from this book, and is seen a good indirect example of medieval Mongolian text. Meanwhile the method
used by Kafarov to transliterate the Chinese script into the Cyrillic script is still utilized today for official translation of
Chinese texts into Russian.
The Mongolian language began using the Cyrillic script from 1937 when it was part of the Soviet Union. Today
in Inner Mongolia (part of China), but not in Mongolia, both the Mongolian and Chinese scripts (and languages) are
used officially, making it a bilingual country as seen in Canada, Belgium, Switzerland and Cameroun.
Filipino (Tagalog), Vietnamese, Malaysian, and Indonesian texts are all written today in the Roman script,
although the last two (technically the same Malay language) were once written in the Arabic script, before European
colonialism. The oldest Malay texts date from the 7th century. Some ancient 7th century Malay texts were written in
a south Indian Brahmi script called Pallava, based on the script used in the southeastern Indian Pallava dynasty.
Sea traders from the region had been venturing from the Bay of Bengal to the west cost of the Malay peninsula and
brought along the script. Today the most famous Malay word in English is the word ketchup. Vietnamese texts were
previously written in the Chinese script (when Vietnam was under Chinese rule between 110 BC and A.D. 939, until
the 17th century, with the arrival of French missionaries and European traders. Filipino (Tagalog) texts first
appeared in 12th century A.D. and were written in the ??? script.
In central Asia, the majority of the earliest texts are as follows: Armenia (5th century A.D., using a unique
indigenous Armenian script developed by Bishop Mesrop Mashots, based on the Old Persian alphabet); Azerbaijan,
10th century A.D., using the Arabic script. Azeri was also written in the Cyrillic script and most recently in 1992, in
the Roman script; Georgian, 5th century A.D., using two Georgian scripts adapted from the Greek script called
Khutsuri and Mkhedruli. Georgia and Armenia are the only two central Asian countries still using their own
indigenous scripts today (as can be seen in their official government websites). Armenia, which was once part of the
Assyrian Empire, can trace its langauge roots back to the bronze age Hurrian cuneiform inscirtopns. In Kazakhstan
and Uzbekistan, the earliest texts in the Arabic script all date from the late 8
th
century A.D.. and Kyrgyzstan adopted
Islam in the 17
th
century and texts in and Kyrgyz date from that time. In Tajikistan, where Tajik is similar to Farsi, the
earliest written documents date back to late 7th century A.D.. Written texts in Turkoman (or Turkmen) spoken in
Turkmenistan, and closely related to the Turkish, in the Arabic script date from the early 8th century A.D.. In
Afghanistan the earliest Pashto or Pushtu (related to Farsi) texts written??????????? The Kurdish language (also
related to Farsi) used in parts of Turkey, Iran and Iraq uses three alphabets; Arabic, Roman and Cyrillic. The oldest
texts date from the 9th century A.D..
The Pacific Ocean Islands can be divided into Melanesia, covering islands east of Indonesia (e.g. the Solomon
Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea); Micronesia (covering islands north of Melanesia and west of
Polynesia (e.g. Caroline and Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Guam) and Polynesia covering islands east of Melanesia
and Micronesia (e.g. Samoa, Tonga and Tahiti). During human evolution, the first human settlement in the Pacific
Ocean occurred in Melanesia, circa 50,000 years ago before migrating eastwards. Hence the first evidence of
human languages occurred in the Melanesian parts of the Pacific Ocean, notably in Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
More than 900 Melanesian languages exists, with the largest being those spoken in Papua New Guinea. The
earliest evidence of writing in the Pacific Ocean is associated the ancient Lapita culture between 1600 and 500 BC.
Crude examples of petroglyphs or inscriptions on a rock are among relics of the Lapita culture discovered in Papua
New Guinea and New Caledonia. The next scientifically authenticated script to originate from the Pacific Islands is
the fascinating but mysterious Rongorongo script of the Polynesian Easter island. Fragments of wooded tablets with
the script was discovered in 1868 by Bishop J aussen of Tahiti, and are now preserved in Rome, Italy. It has been
dated from the late 1400s. Since the Ferdinand Magellan and ?? were the first to cross the Pacific Ocean in 1521
and the Easter Island was not discovered until visited by Dutch explorer Roggeveen in 1722, the Rongorongo script
was definitely not influenced by the Roman script. The Lapita culture and the Rongorongo script remains the only
major evidence of early major human inscriptions found in the Pacific Ocean islands until the arrival of the first major
European explorers after Magellan to major Islands of the Pacific Ocean, mostly from Spain such as lvaro

Mendaa de Neira, traveling from Peru, in 1567, who brought along European languages, the Roman script, and
thus literacy to the islands.

Sources and further Reading

George L Campbell Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets. Routledge. 1997. New York.

The Blackwell Encyclpdeia of Writing Systems
The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century [Paperback]
Igor De Rachewiltz (Author)

The Secret History of the Mongols: The Life and Times of Chinggis Khan (Institute of East Asian studies)
[Hardcover]
Professor Urgunge Onon (Author), Urgunge Onon (Author)


The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet Amalia E. Gnanadesika

Bernard Comrie et al, The Atlas of Languages, revised edition.



137. Earliest written works from Africa
Outside Egypt, the African languages (totaling more than 2000 at the last count) with the oldest indigenous
alphabets are Geez, Amharic, Old Nubian and Berber (not surprisingly the areas where three of the languages, with
Africas first indigenous alphabets, are spoken are all within close proximity to ancient Egypt). Africa is the only
continent with a vast array of different languges, despite having developed less than 5 indigenous scripts for the
whole continent, all concentrated in North and East Africa. David Dalby, a British academic and one of the foremost
experts on African languages and scripts, made an interesting discovery back in the 1970s, in an attempt to explain
why Africa had so many languages (Language Map of Africa and the Adjacent Islands). Dalby discovered that
roughly 70-80% of Africas 2000 plus languages are concentrated within an area he termed the African
Fragmentation Belt. He theorized that the fragmentation was due to massive climatic pressure in that area, creating
what he noted, was the largest display of linguistic complexity any else in the world The belt lies between the
equator and southern extremes of the Sahara Desert. The earliest inscriptions on granite steles in ancient Geez
script used in ancient Ethiopia (the kingdom of Aksum) date from A.D. 190. Geez as a language dates back to the
1st century BC when the language and its script were first used in the Sebaean Kingdom in southern parts of the
Arabian Peninsula (modern-day Yemen and southern Saudi Arabia). The Sebaean kingdom itself had been using
the Sebaean script since 1500 BC and moved into ancient Ethiopia circa 1000 BC. Today Geez is still written in the
original Sebaean script, however it is not an official language in Ethiopia anymore, having been superseded by a
later version of the language called Amharic, but Geez is still used today as a liturgical language in the Ethiopian
Coptic Church. The oldest extant Geez text in parchment are 4th century A.D. religious texts (such as Bile
translations), most notably the Coptic Christian works of St. Frumentius (Abba Salama), the first bishop of Ethiopia.
Coptic Christianity itself first reached Ethiopia (the second country to adopt the religion in Africa after Egypt) in A.D.
350; the nation managed to hang onto this religious faith while most of its neighbors adopted Islam. The most
famous ancient Geez text is the 14th century Kebra Nagast, which is a holy Ethiopian Coptic Christian book,
equivalent to the Bible and the Koran. Even though the Ethiopians had written versions of their Amharic language
since the 3rd century A.D., neighboring Somalia had no written version of the Somali language until 1972. However
in nearby Tigre and Eritrea, there were some early 12th century texts. The earliest written example of Tigrinya
(spoken in Tigre) is a text of local laws found in the district of Logosarda, southern Eritrea, which date from the 13th

century. Texts from Tigre and Eritrea like Amharic, descended from the Sebaean script. Today Ethiopia has the
oldest existing script in sub-Saharan Africa. Old Nubian was spoken in parts of northern Sudan (known also as Kush
or Nubia in ancient times, with its capital at Meroe near modern-day Khartoum) before Arabic was introduced. It has
written text, based on both Egyptian hieroglyphics and the Coptic script. In its earliest form, Old Nubian was first
written in what was called the Meroitic script, (based on Egyptian hieroglyphics, due to its proximity with ancient
Egypt), which dates from about 400 BC. Later, around the 8th century A.D., Old Nubian adopted the Coptic script
(which is based on a preIslamic script used in Christian parts of Egypt before it was Arabized). One of the oldest
written works in Coptic Old Nubian script is The Old Nubian Miracle of Saint Menas, written on parchment circa A.D.
900, and now housed in the British Museum. A Coptic Psalter found in 1984 in Beni Suef, south of Cairo, Egypt, and
dating from A.D. 300, is the oldest existing complete handwritten book (in an alphabetical script) in Africa. This
Coptic book of Psalms is on display at the Coptic Museum in Cairo, Egypt. But today modern Nubian (Nile Nubian)
is hardly in written form, although some modern texts have been written in Arabic script. The Berbers were the
original inhabitants of northwestern Africa mostly above the Sahara Desert, (Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco,
Algeria, Tunisia and western Libya), before the Arabs invaded North Africa from the 7th century A.D.. They mostly
lived on either side of the Atlas mountains of North West Africa and were famous for creating dynasties in North
Africa such as the Almoravids and the Almohads. The dynasty of the Almoravids in particular became a vast empire
when in 1090 A.D. it invaded the Moorish empire of southern Spain (the Al-Andalus) conquering Cordoba and
Seville and reaching as far as Zaragoza. The Berbers are also remembered for founding the most important
medieval city in West Africa; Timbuktu. One group of Berbers, called the Tuaregs, speak a dialect called Tamashek
which had been in a written form long before the introduction of Arabic. The indigenous alphabet of Tamashek,
which is related to the Phoenician script, is called Tifnagh. Tamashek is also written in the Arabic script. In South
Africa, Afrikaans, which originated from Dutch in the 17th century, only became a written language in the late 19th
century. The oldest stone inscriptions in Sub-Saharan Africa in a European language are the Portuguese
inscriptions chiseled on rocks left on the bank of the Congo River in Africa. They are known today as the 'Yelala
inscriptions, and date back to the 1480s. According to (??? Add your old green book title here) it is believed that
Portuguese explorer Diogo Co made them, during his voyage up the Congo River in 1485. On his return in 1486
(or at least before August 1487) he appears to have re-entered the Congo River ascending it as far as the Yelala
Falls where an inscription records the names of Diogo Co, Pedro Annes and Pedro da Costa. The stone
inscriptions on pillars (and gold crosses) left at by Diogo Co and another Portuguese early explorer of Africa,
Bartolomeu Dias, are better known as padres and are not confined to Africa alone. Several books on explorers of
the New World such as Christopher Columbus and Pedro Cabral (who discovered Brazil), describe the well-known
practice of the Conquistadors og leaving behind stone pillars, columns and/or crosses wherever they discovered
new land and claimed it for either the Spanish or Portuguese royalty.

Not counting Arabic, used officially in many parts of Africa where Islam is the official or majority religion, most of
subSaharan Africa today did not have any indigenous texts until the arrival of the Arabs for the first time in the 8th
century A.D., mostly in the areas south of the Sahara (e.g. Timbuktu in Mali) and the northeastern coast of Africa,
(e.g. Mombasa in Kenya). There are two main reasons for this. First is the presence of a strong oral tradition going
back for centuries. Tales (oral literature), tips, discoveries, ideas, observations, information new foods or drinks etc
were passed orally from generation to generation, without the need to write things down. The other reason is
provided by Professor J ared Diamond in his renowed book Guns, Germs and Steel. He theorizes that because the
Middle East was the first region in the world to move from hunter-gathers to farmers, populations soon grew in the
same place, towns and small cities sprang up, and trade and commerce soon commenced, leading to the need to
invent a way to keep record of or calculate trading transactions. From using symbols, signs and other marks etc for
simple booking, full-length human writing soon developed to cover not just numerations but crucially human thought.
As Europe and Western Asia are closer to the Middle East within the same latitude, compared to Sub-Saharan
Africa (closer to the equator) , the invention of writing easily spread from Middle East to eastwards to Europe and
westwards to Asia. A map of Africa clearly shows that only northern and northeastern portion of Africa was directly
exposed to the three important past civilizations of ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire (Europe) and the Fertile
Crescent (the Middle East), the cradle of early civilizations. The huge Sahara Desert and the tropical rainforests
formed some natural barriers preventing direct exposure of the early civilizations to other parts of Africa. A third
and interesting reason for the absence of writing / alphabets in sub-Saharan Africa, was uncovered while
researching for the 3
rd
edition of this book. It has been previously emphasized that the necessity to invent writing first
occurred when commerce in a growing city-state, kingdom etc required a way to record trade transactions, since the
Comment [GO27]: Get aphoto fromLisbon
Geographic Society

human memory was limited in its capacity to remember so many transactions. The author made an noteworthy
observation with respect to ancient city-states or kingdoms in Africa between 3000 BC (period of the Bronze Age
empires/kingdoms such as Babylonia and ancient Egypt, with writing already in common use) and A.D. 700 (before
the arrival of the Arabs, Arabic and Islam into Africa which all brought along literacy to Africa, already covered
previously in this book). The norm emphasized here is that all the empires, city-states and kingdoms that existed
any where in the world (between 3000 BC to A.D. 700) from the Olmec Empire in North America to the Chinese
empire all developed and needed writing systems in order to administer the vasy empires. Both Ancient Kingdoms of
West Africa and Encyclopedia of African History and Culture (volume 1), provides a comprehensive list of kingdoms,
city-states and empires in Africa for the period 3000 BC to A.D. 700. Six such major territories are given, and all but
five have already been covered at the begining of list 137 in this book. These are: Carthage (location of the Berber
Tuaregs in todays Tunisia); Kush and Meroe (Sudan); ancient Egypt and Aksum (Ethiopia). The last four were all
close together in north eastern Africa close to the Red Sea, while Carthage was close to the Mediterranean Sea and
the Roman Empire. The one territory listed in Encyclopedia of African History and Culture (and not covered in this
book) was for the ancient empire of Ghana. Extensive research shows that ancient Ghana never developed or used
any form of writing system between 3000 BC and A.D. 700 compared to the other five African kingdoms/empires.
Unlike Carthage, ancient Ghana was faraway from the Roman Empire to benefit from the Roman script. And unlike
Aksum which gained its Geez script from the Middle East (i.e. via the Sebaean kingdom) and Kush which gained its
Meroitic script from ancient Egypt, ancient Ghana was isolated and with no literarte neighbours to gain or learn a
script from. As such in ancient Ghana empire oral tradition prevailed. It had emerged, first as a city-state in A.D. 300
and ceased to function as an empire just after the invasion by Berber Almoravids from todays Mauritania and
Morocco in the 11
th
century A.D.. There two other significant places mentioning here in the context of the first
ancient communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. The first is J enne-J enno (located near the modern day town of Djenne
in Mali), according to The African City: A History, through oral tradition and archeological evidence, it is the earliest
city to be founded in Sub-Saharan Africa outside the ancient Ghana empire. It dates back to A.D. 400. Despite
having sophisticated iron works and a pottery industry and a large population, it never grew into a city-state,
kingdom or empire. The other is the Nok Culture (based in central Nigeria) which flourished between 900 to 600 BC.
It had one of the earliest advanced iron works in Africa outside ancient Egypt. It too never grew into a city-state,
kingdom or empire. The reason why Sub-Saharan Africa had very few major kingdoms and empires for the period
3000 BC to A.D. 700, compared to much of Europe, the Middle East and Asia for the same period of time is beyond
the scope of this book, however a reason for this is evident from the fact that the transition from hunter-gatherers to
farmers occurred later in much of Sub-Saharan Africa (during the Iron Age). This compares to say the Middle East
and Asia, where the transition began very much earlier in the Neolithihc and Bronze Ages respectively. Cities and
towns (which form the backbone of kingdoms and empires) first developed in the Middle East when hunter-gatherers
became farmers and settled down in one location engaging in agriculture and rearing families, giving rise to villages,
which then grew into towns and cities. In the absence of several kingdoms and empires in that period, the need for a
writing system was not required in much of sub-Saharan Africa, save for the five territories mentioned earlier on.
Hence for the whole of Africa, between 3000 BC to A.D. 700, just five regions on the continent were using writing in
everyday life. The African City: A History mentions a sixth possible place in sub-Saharan Africa with evidence of
writing. According to this book, the city Gao (situated east of Timbuktu in modern day Mali), eventually the centre of
the Songhai empire is site of the oldest dated epigraphic evidence in West Africa. However these inscriptions date
after A.D. 800 and are related to the arrival of Islam and the Arabic script in Africa.
In the Middle Ages, when Islam managed to penetrate the Sahara Desert, reliable early texts about African arts,
customs and culture were written mainly by Arabic writers, such as Ibn Battutah in A.D. 1352, who lived and traveled
extensively in parts of central and eastern Africa, visiting places such as Timbuktu and Mombasa (both cites were
founded by Moslems and soon became Islamic cultural centres). Not surprisingly many of the these places visited
frequently by Battutah and others developed into renowned centres for reading and writing, such as the
establishment of the first sub-Saharan university, Sankore University in Timbuktu The manuscripts, produced in
these places, although not indigenous, and written in Arabic, were the only comprehensive texts about Africa until
the arrival of the European explorers, in the 15th century. One of the earliest such Europeans was Alvise da
Cadamosto, an Italian explorer from Venice, in the service of Portugal, who wrote one of the most authentic
firsthand written accounts about the West African way of life, in Portuguese, during his voyages there in 1450s.
Cadamostos book published in 1507 in Vicenza, Italy by Montalboddo and Rumusio was also frequently reprinted
and translated from Italian into Latin, French and German, as it was one of the first of its kind to appear in Europe. In

the 1500s, several attempts were made to document some of the several languages spoken in Europes first major
African colony, Angola, most notably the works of Italian scientist Fillppo Pigafetta in 1591. The first African
language to be translated into an European language, to enable written texts (in Roman script) of the African
language to be produced, was the translation of Kongo, the Bantu language spoken in the ancient kingdom of
Kongo (in modern day Angola), into Portuguese in 1624 by J esuit priests in the kingdom, with help from natives who
had learnt to speak Portuguese. This book (published in Lisbon) is thus the first extant non-Arabic book written in an
African language south of the Sahara (excluding Ethiopia and Sudan). Later on an Italian Franciscan friar Giacinto
Brusciotto produced a Kongo dictionary with Portuguese, Latin and Italian translations in 1650. Brusciotto also
produced several further books on the Kongo language, published in Rome in the middle 1650s. Kongo thus
became the first sub-Saharan African language to be widely documented by European scholars. The first major
subSaharan African language to adopt the Arabic script was Hausa (spoken in the northern parts of Nigeria and in
southern Niger), in the 16th century. But the Roman script was taken up for writing Hausa in the 19th century, when
British explorers arrived. From the book Writing and Script: a Very Short History, the author notes that modern
indigenous alphabets from the 19
th
century not based on either the Roman or Arabic script have been invented in
Africa most notably the 1820s Vai alphabet of Liberia.
Finally the majority of history books today agree that the Portuguese were the first to explore the African coast from
the early 1430s via Prince Henry the Navigator. However the Laurentian Library in Florence, Italy, contains the
oldest accurate map of Africa (Portolano Laurenziano Gaddiano) made circa 1351 by Genoese cartographers based
on information from 13th century Genoese and Venetian sailors (notably the Vivaldo brothers and Tedisio Doria from
Genoa who all reached the Senegalese coast in 1291). This has undoubtedly left historians baffled about who were
the actually first explorers of the African coast. Further proof of early Italian exploration of West Africa can be seen
at the Marciana National Library in Venice were among medieval maps made from the early 1420s, is one called the
Fra Mauro Map, showing areas along the West African coast that were only first explored by the Portuguese after
1430. Gavin Menzies in his book, 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the
Renaissance, explains with evidence to show that the Venetians were the first Europeans to obtain accurate maps
of other continents from the early 1400s based on voyages of Venetian and Chinese explorers.


Specific further Reading. Apart from the bibliography which list general books consulted, further important
sources for research on the history of writing are listed as follows:
Language Map of Africa and the Adjacent Islands / David Dalby 1977. International African Institue, London.
Ancient Kingdoms of West Africa by Dierk Lange

138. Oldest existing papyrus manuscript
The oldest surviving papyrus document is the Prisse Papyrus, preserved at the National Library of France. It
dates back to 2300 BC and was written in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, (see entry 124 for more details) The
national library of Austria (Department of Papyri) has the biggest papyrus collection in the world and the second
largest collection after the one at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The oldest surviving biblical papyrus manuscript is
the Isaiah scroll which dates back to 300 BC (it is part of the Dead Sea scrolls)
Notes. the ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, south of Cairo has been the source of numerous Latin, Greek
and Arabic papyrus manuscripts, discovered by British archeologists Grenfell and Hunt in the late 1890s. Most have
been preserved at British and U.S. locations notably the Ashmolean Museum in the U.K, (see entry 100) and
Princeton Theological Seminary in New J ersey, the U.S. Collectively the collection is called the Oxyrhynchus Papyri


139. Oldest existing parchment manuscript
Comment [GO28]: Does this book exists.?
Whereisit. DO research to find it

The Vatican Library is home to the oldest surviving fine parchment manuscript, the Codex Vaticanus. The
Greek Bible dates back to A.D. 300. (See entry 124 for more details)

140. Oldest existing vellum manuscript
The British Library is home to the oldest surviving vellum manuscript, the Codex Sinaiticus. The Greek Bible
(New Testament only) dates back to A.D. 350. (See entry 124 for more background details).


141. Oldest written works by subject
It is now obvious that some of the earliest and oldest extant texts around the world in the regions so far
discussed in this chapter are either religious and political documents, or on literature such as poetry and prose. But
early documents on subjects such as law, medicine and science did eventually appear. The following are the
selection of the earliest and oldest most comprehensive extant texts in small variety subjects excluding religion,
politics and literature.
Medicine
1. Ancient Egyptian papyri. About 9 important ancient Egyptian medical papyri exist today, preserved in Europe and
the U.S. They all date from 1900 to 1600 BC, and include the Ebers Papyrus, Ramesseum Papyrus, Berlin Papyrus,
Leiden Papyrus and Kahoun Papyrus. The oldest of these papyri is the Ebers Papyrus. It was discovered by
German Egyptologist George Maurice Ebers at Thebes in 1873. Dated to 1900 BC it is the oldest medical work
known, containing hundreds of folk remedies for various diseases.
2. Atreya Sumhita. India. Originally written on leaves around 800 BC, it is part of the ancient Sanskrit Veda texts
called Atharva or Atharvaveda. In A.D. 501, the Indian medical manual Susruta was compiled and became a
standard text for medieval Indian physicians.
3. Neijing or Yellow Emperors Classic of Internal Medicine. Written on bones in China, circa 770 BC, afterwards
copied onto paper, when it was invented 400 years later. The Yellow Emperor is considered by Chinese Mythology
to be the ancestor of all Han Chinese today.
Texts written by Greek physician and anatomist, Galen (circa 2nd century A.D.) are the oldest extant major
European medical texts today. His ideas dominated Western medicine for over 1000 years, until Renaissance
medical scholars (freed from the Vatican restrictions on human dissections) such as the anatomist Andreas Vesalius,
proved many of Galens theories were wrong. After the fall of the Roman Empire Galens texts as with other works
by scholars were lost but reemerged in Western Europe, via the translation work of Arabic texts at Toledo in Spain in
the 12
th
century A.D. and elsewhere such as Italy. This was possible as in A.D. 800 Arabic scholar Al-Batriq had
translated Galens original work into Arabic where it played an important role in medieval Arabic medicine.

Mathematics.
1. Before the mathematical concepts of the ancient Greeks, Indians and Chinese led the way in revolutionizing
mathematics thousands of years before the European Renaissance and Enlightenment eras further advanced
mathematics, the oldest reliable manuscripts outlining the basics of mathematical principles were written by the
ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. According to Marcus du Sautoy (The Story of Maths), the oldest surviving
ancient Egyptian manuscript is the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus written by Ahmes circa 1650 BC. This is in fact, the
oldest major mathematics text today. How the ancient Egyptians managed to device mathematical principles, such
as those found in the above papyrus was remarkable, because although they were the first to develop a decimal
number system, it was flawed from the fact that it did not employ concept of a place value. So it was cumbersome to
represent simple number calculations, such as 1000 1, (just 5 symbols) which required more than 30 symbols.

Only Hindu-Arabic numerals (zero and 9 digits) we use today make it possible to simplify number calculations with
the decimal number system, due to the presence of zero and place value.

2. After the ancient Egyptians, the next civilization to develop so many important mathematical principles, as
seen in surviving cuneiform tables from Mesopotamia, were the Babylonians circa??????. They were the first to
introduce the fundamental concept of a place value, but left out inventing the concept of zero. The Babylonians have
left us a lasting legacy as seen in the way we measure time. Our 60 seconds make a minute and not 100 seconds
make a minute is based on the fact that the Babylonian used numerical system with 60 as its base and not 10 as we
do today. And back then, the Babylonians measured time of the day based on a circular representation (i.e. like the
clock). It was easy to use a number system based on 60 make all sorts of important calculations outlining the
properties of a circle, such as the area of full circle being 360 degrees (60 x 4). This Babylonian concept was taken
up by the ancient Greeks and their writings with no changes and passed on to us via the Romans. The Story of
Maths names the most famous Babylonian cuneiform tablet as the Plimpton 322, made circa ???? which
controversially is believed to reveal the important principles of the right-angled triangle, long before the principle was
made famous by the Greeks, notably Pythagoras and his theorem. The only ancient civilization that developed basic
mathematics principles in the New World were the Mayans in Mexico. They used a number system based on 20,
and like the Babylonians also used a place value. Very few Maya inscriptions on mathematics exist today.


3. Ancient China produced several notable mathematical texts, but most were destroyed in the infamous Qin
dynasty book-burning from 213 BC (see list 213). So most of what we know about ancient Chinese mathematics
comes either from oral tradition or the very few texts that survived the massive book burning ritual. The best know
surviving ancient Chinese mathematics manuscripts lost was Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art (Jiu Zhang
Suan Shu or Chiu Chang Suan Shu). It was written by Chang Tsang circa 200 BC. There is unsupported evidence
that the Indian mathematicians actually got the idea of using decimal numbers in mathematics from surviving copies
of Chang Tsangs manuscript that made its way to India during the Gupta dynasty via trade routes, but the concept
of the number zero was not invented in China but in India.
4. The ancient Greeks no doubt revolutionised mathematics and made the greatest contribution, in particular in
geometry. Euclids Stoicheia (a book composed of 13 separate volumes) was the first major work on mathematics.
The Greek mathematician completed the text, circa 300 BC (at the ancient Alexandria Library). His work formed the
basis for teaching mathematics in academies and universities for the next 2000 years. It was translated first into
Arabic when the Arabs overran ancient Egypt in the 8th century A.D. and came across several classical Greek texts
of famous scientists at Alexandria (where Euclid had earlier set up his school of mathematics), and then taken to
Baghdad, the capital of the ruling Abbasid caliphate. Next it was translated from Arabic into Latin at the Toledo
Translation School in Spain in the 11th century A.D. (see entry 123); before being translated later on into other
European languages. It was not until the 19th century that several scientists, such as German mathematician Georg
Riemann began to reject some parts of Euclid main theories especially on geometry and developed what is called
non-Euclidean mathematics. Einsteins famous Theory of Relativity is based on non-Euclidean mathematics.
Nevertheless for 2000 years Euclids texts remained one of the excellent examples of classical Greek knowledge to
the development of mathematics. Aside from Euclid, is an earlier famous Greek mathematician who is attributed to
advancing mathematics from an accounting tool to analytic tool for engineers, astronomers and scientists circa 6
th

century BC. Pythagoras not only laid the foundations for advanced mathematics, he founded a mathematics school
at the Greek city of Samos. However there was an anomaly with Pythagoras. Not one original mathematics
manuscript of his famous work on mathematics exists today. Pythagoras left us no written texts or records of his
work, notably the famed Pythagoras Theorem. What written records we have on Pythagoras were written by other
mathematicians from oral tradition or texts from other mathematicians. This has led to controversy as to whether or
not; Pythagoras did any of his famous work on mathematics at all.

5. The first major non-Greek text on mathematics in the medieval period were those written Indian mathematicians
notably Aryabhata, Brahmagupta and Yativrsabha from the 5
th
and 7th century A.D., and by Arab mathematician
Muhammad Bin Musa Al-Khwarizmi in the 9th century A.D., who invented Al-Jabr (Algebra). Al-Khwarizmi also
worked in Baghdad as Abbasid Caliph Al-Mamuns librarian. His texts, based on the earlier Euclids theories and

Indian mathematics, were also later translated into Latin at the Toledo Translation School. One of the translations of
Al-Khwarizmis work at Toledo by English monk Adelard of Bath written in the 12th century, was a major
mathematics textbook in the Middle Ages, see the notes at entry 123). The book The History of Mathematics: An
Introduction explains that a unique feature distinguishing Greek mathematics from Indian and Arabic mathematics
was the fact that while the Greeks were primarily interested in geometry, the Arabs and Indians were primarily
interested in numbers and arithmetic. Hence the majority of manuscripts written by Greek mathematicians were
mostly on geometry, while Indian and Arabic mathematicians produced several manuscripts on calculating with
numbers and equations (algebra). An obvious reason for this was that Indian and Arabic mathematicians were using
decimal or base 10 numerals (the Hindi-Arabic numerals), while the Greeks did not use decimal 10 numerals. The
greatest contribution of medieval Indian mathematics to the world was the invention of not just the numbers 1 to 9,
but crucially the concept of zero. The oldest inscription anywhere the world showing the number zero can be found
at the small temple in Gwalior in central India. It dates from the 9
th
century A.D., but this concept of zero had been
used for centuries much earlier (during the Gupta dynasty from the 5
th
century A.D. by mathematicians such as
Brahmagupta). Shunya was the name given to the symbol for zero, which is an Arabic word, see list 60 for more
details on how the Arabs passed on the Hindu-Arabic numerals (zero and 9 digits) to the rest of the world.


Law.
Babylonian King Hammurabi published the Code of Laws, circa 1700 BC. The oldest comprehensive legal texts or
statutes are the ancient Greek Draco Laws compiled in Athens circa 620 BC. Before ancient Rome became an
empire, it existed as a republic from 510 BC to 30BC. The famous 12 bronze tablets of Roman Republic codified
laws (Lex XII Tabularum) were completed in 450 BC. It was then publicly displayed in the Forums in and around
Roman cities. Forums were public meeting places in ancient Roman towns and was the ideal place where the very
first Roman statues in the Roman Republic, the Lex XII Tabularum were on display for Roman citizens to read and
abide the laws.

Military Science.
The first war in recorded history took place in Mesopotamia in 2700 BC between Sumer (in modern day Iraq) and
Elam (in modern day Iran) . Sumerian king Enmebaragesi led his army against the Elamites. The root cause:
concerns about borders and resources. Detailed account of the famous war was later recorded in Cuneiform writing
on a stone monument (stele) erected by King Eannatum, ruler of Lagash in Sumer, commemorating his own victory
over the ruler of Umma, a local Sumer rival in 2525 BC.
The first war in recorded history took place in Mesopotamia in 2700 BC between Sumer (in modern day Iraq) and
Elam (in modern day Iran) . Sumerian king Enmebaragesi led his army against the Elamites. Detailed account of the
famous war was later recorded in cuneiform inscriptions on a stone monument (stele) erected by King Eannatum,
ruler of Lagash in Sumer, commemorating his own victory over the ruler of Umma, a local Sumer rival in 2525 BC.
Most archaeologists and military historians agree that the major oldest peace treaty by two major powers of the day,
was the one between first big powers in the ancient world: the treaty between ancient Egypt and the Hittite empire,
signed (incsrcineb in heroglphics at .see DVD for location of inscriptions) after the famous Battle of Kadesh in ???
BCThe Art of War by Sun-Tzu is oldest existing military treatise, written in 475 BC during the Chinese Warring State
Period.

Philosophy
Before the era of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the earliest ancient Greek philosophy to have written extensively was
Anaximander, who wrote theories covering biology, the origins of humans and astronomy circa 6
th
century BC.




Astronomy.
The ancient Greeks, and followed later in India and the Islamic Empire led the way in writing important astronomical
texts, picking up from where ancient Egyptian and Babylonian astronomers had left. The first major Classical Greek
Astronomy text was written by????????

At the top of the list is the manuscript Al-Majisti, written by Arabic scholar Al-Hajjaj in A.D. 827. It was an Arabic
version of the 2
nd
century A.D. astronomical text, the Almagest written by Greek astronomer and geographer
Claudius Ptolemy. Al-Majisti was later translated by Italian scholar Gerard of Cremona in A.D. 1175 to become a
major astronomy textbook in the Middle Ages. The oldest Asian astronomical manuscript is the 7th century A.D. Dun
Huang scroll. It is a Chinese astronomical chart and was contained the most accurate measurements showing the
locations of starts and other outer space bodies (better than ancient Greek, Indian and Arabic texts) until
appearance of Renaissance astronomers like Galileo, and Copernicus.

Geography.
The Geographia or Cosmographia, by Claudius Ptolemy was the first major Greco-Roman geography text written
during the height of the Roman Empire circa 2
nd
century A.D.. The earliest major geographical dictionary or
Gazetteer was written by the geographer Stephanus of Byzantium in the 6th century A.D..

History.
Because in ancient times around the world, very few people were literate enough to write in great detail historical
accounts of what was happening in their city, country or other countries. Much of what we know about ancient
history comes from specific writers, historians, scribes, chroniclers etc who lived at various periods in ancient times,
and wrote comprehensive texts about current events of their time, or past events using earlier sources for research.
These ancient historical accounts passed from generation to generation, along the way more data (from facts, oral
tradition, myths or fiction) were added, and later translated into other languages other the language of the original
source, and forms the basis today of most history books of the ancient world used for education and research.

For instance, most of what we know about ancient Britain during the time of the Romans such as the story of Queen
Boudicca from comes from earliest known sources: e.g. Roman historians, Dio Cassius and Cornelius Tacitus
(Annals of Tacitus). Historical accounts covering the post Roman era of the Anglo-Saxons circa 6
th
century A.D. until
the Norman Invasion of A.D. 1066, came from monks, e.g. The Venerable Bede (??????) and Gildas (De Excidio et
Conquestu Britanniae) and King Alfred.
Likewise in France, the earliest and most authentic source of the Franks in France (Germanic tribes who invaded
France from the 5
th
century A.D. at the end of the Roman occupation, and began the Merovingian, Carolingian and
Capetian dynasties that ruled France from the 6
th
century to the early 1200s) ccame from sources such as the 6
th

century French historian Gregory of Tours (Decem Libri Historiarum or Historia Francorum)

The following sources are either the earliest, oldest extant or most authentic, covering various branches of the
ancient history before foundation of the Roman Empire.

Herodotus

Hecataeus of Miletus (Genealogies) and Herodotus (The Histories). The writings of these 5
th
century BC Greek
historians cover much of ancient Greece and Persia before the empire of Alexander the Great. The British Library
( Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 18) is one of a few major libraries with extant fragments the works of Herodotus.

Xanthus of Lydia wrote the earliest historical account (Lydiaca) of the kingdom of Lydia circa 5
th
century BC. Lydia is
considered by historians as the next most important ancient political entity in the Mediterranean environs after the
Greek city states of Athens and Sparta and the Persian Empire.
Arrian of Nicomedia, 2
nd
century A.D. Greek historian (Expeditio Alexandri or Anabasis of Alexander), earliest source
for the campaigns and empire of Alexander the Great of Macedon, in particular his defeat of the worlds first major
empire, that of the Persians. An extant copy of his work survives at the National Library of France.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus major source for information on the Roman Republic circa 5
th
to 3
rd
century BC. The
Ambrosian Library in Milan has an extant fragment copy of his work

Sociology
The Persians under Cyrus initiated the very first firm law on human rights. According to the British Museums
website, the cuneiform inscriptions on the Cyrus Cylinder, (550 BC) on display at the museum, are described as the
worlds first recorded charter of human rights.

Reference
Naturalis Historia by the profilic Roman writer Pliny the Elder (written A.D. 79) is regarded as the fist major refence
work of the ancient world.
Foreign Language Education.
Today educational services such as Berlitz and foreign language dictionaries help one to learn how to speak and
read in foreign languages. The aspiration to create a dictionary for learning foreign languages goes back to ancient
times. Two most famous earliest aids for learning foreign languages were the Rosetta Stone and the Mount
Behistun Inscriptions. The Rosetta Stone, discovered in A.D. 1799 and dating from 195 BC, was used as dictionary
to translate the first Egyptian hieroglyphics. The Ptolemies, the ruling Greek-speaking dynasty of ancient Egypt (305
to 30 BC) ordered the creation of the Rosetta Stone which had a section of hieroglyphics (about Ptolemy V
Epiphames) translated word for word into Greek. The Mount Behistun Inscriptions were created much earlier circa
5
th
century BC. Persian King King Darius I created a trilingual rock inscription in Old Persian, Babylonian and
Elamite cuneiform. It was discoveerred in the 1840s. Both of these early aids in learning foreign languages have
allowed scholars to read either Egyptian hieroglyphics or cuneiform inscriptions of the Sumerians, Assyrians and
Banyloanins today.

Sports.
The first football book was made in Florence in 1580, titled Discorso sopra 'l giuco del Calcio Fiorentino by Giovanni
de Bardi'. It explains the rules of 16th century Italian Football.


142.
Oldest existing books made from paper
Two documents are the oldest existing paper manuscripts in the world. The first is the Dharani Sutra, made in
South Korea in A.D. 704. It is about 21 feet long and is stored at the Seoul National Museum. The second is the
Diamond Sutra (Chin-kang Ching or Jin gang Jing) which was made in China circa A.D. 868 by Wang Chieh (J ie). A
seven-page scroll printed with wood blocks on paper and measuring 1 foot wide by 17 feet long, first of a series of
books on Buddhist incantations ordered by J apanese Empress Shotoku. Discovered in the early 20th century by
Aurel Stein, a British archaeologist, the document is now housed in the British Library. Sutras are teachings and
discourses of the Buddha. Because Buddhism was a major religion in China in the 8th century A.D., and books on
religious topics were the most important kinds of early books produced in many parts of the world at that time, it is

not surprising that the two manuscripts described above are both Buddhist manuscripts. As a matter of fact, the first
major book printed in Europe was another religious book, the Bible (the Gutenberg Bible).

Notes. The earliest use of paper in Europe dates back to A.D. 950 in southern Spain, notably Islamic Murcia,
Granada and Crdoba, where the large Arab communities (Moors) used it for administrative purposes. The art
itself of making paper from wood fiber first reached Spain around A.D. 1098 when Arab traders from Fez, in
Morocco (Paper mill established in Fez in early 1000s), took paper making techniques with them to the Spanish
towns of Jtiva (formerly called Xativa) and Capellades, both of which had the earliest papermills in Europe. Not
surprisingly, the oldest paper manuscript in Europe preserved at the El-Escorial Monastic Library in Spain, it
dates back to A.D. 1090. While the third oldest extant manuscript made from paper in Europe is the Spanish
Silos Missal, a prayer book used by Spanish Catholic priests in Burgos, which dates back to A.D. 1110. After
Spain, paper was later introduced into central Europe through the Italian ports at Genoa, Venice and Palermo
from 1258 (the second oldest document on paper in Europe is a deed of King Roger I of Palermo, Sicily, written
in Greek and Arabic in A.D. 1102). In these Italian ports commerce had long existed between the Italians and
Arabs from faraway Baghdad, Damascus, and Cairo. In these Arabic cities, paper was already in use and
manufactured in papermills in the 8th and 9th century A.D.. But paper had remained unknown outside China for
over 600 years, having been invented by Tsai Lun (Tsai Louen) in Lei-yang earlier in A.D. 105, when he used
vegetable fibres to make the very first paper from pulp and told Emperor Ho Ti, who decided to keep it
intentionally secret from the outside world . From China, the first countries to learn about paper production were
Korea in A.D. 602 and Japan in A.D. 610. The Arabs were said to have discovered how to manufacture paper
soon after the A.D. 751 Battle of Talas River, near the city of Samarkand (the famous center of the Chinese silk
trade route now in modern-day Uzbekistan). This battle between Arab Muslim forces led by Ziyad bin Salih and
a Chinese army led by Kao-Hsien-Chih, during the Chinese Tang dynasty (618907), was the only major conflict
between Arabs and the army of the Chinese Empire. After Samarkand was captured by the Arabs, the few
papermakers among the Chinese prisoners taken in the battle passed on the secret of making paper to the
victorious Arabs. The technique of making paper then reached Mecca, then Baghdad in A.D. 793 and other
Arabic cities such as Damascus, which both became the largest supplier of paper and market in the world in 9th
and 12th centuries. Chinese religious libraries were the first libraries in the world to stock manuscripts made
from paper, and the earliest such libraries included those of the Han dynasty, which ruled China when paper
was invented. Islamic libraries were the next libraries to have book collections made from paper. After the
introduction of books made with paper at the Spanish university libraries of Palencia and Salamanca, the first
European academic libraries to stock books made with paper were Italian university libraries such as those at
Bologna and Padua. The Italian papermills at Fabriano and Amalfi (near Naples) were set up around 1268 and
1276 A.D. respectively. From Italy and Spain, the art of paper making and the setting up of papermills spread to
other European countries such as France (1348, in the Saint-Julien region near Troyes); Germany (1390, in
Nuremberg); Poland (1491 in Krakw); the U.K. (1494, in Stevenage, Hertfordshire); and Sweden (in 1690 in
Uppsala). It is worth mentioning that paper imported from Arab papermills was used in significant quantities in
some parts of Europe well before papermills were set up. Outside Europe, and the Middle East, in places such
as the Americas, papermills were set up, first in Mexico by Spanish colonists in 1575, and then in 1690 in the
American English colonies and a few years later in the French colony of Quebec. Elsewhere in central Asia,
friendship between Arab merchants from Samarkand and Asian leaders such as King Zanulabin Budshah of
Kashmir bought paper production knowledge to the Indian subcontinent from 1420. Until the onset of the
industrial revolution in the 19th century, most paper production was a manual process done by hand. The use of
machines in paper production was not widespread in India during the colonial times and today India has the
largest population of hand papermakers in the world. Paper production itself around the world has been so
similar that a problem of paper decay was not treated seriously until the middle of the 20th century. In research
carried out in 1980, the New York Public Library in the U.S. estimated that over 98% of books published
between 1900 and 1937 would disintegrate completely in 30 to 50 years time because of the amount of acid in
the paper on which the book is printed. In 2003, French news paper Le Monde reported that nearly 65% of
books and manuscript published between 1975 and 1960 stored at the National Library of France in Paris would
disintegrate. The only way to ensure that the books contents survive is to microfilm them or digitize them. Some
libraries decided on mass deacidification projects in which they deacidify old books with a chemical treatment
such as magnesium oxide (MgO) to neutralize acid in the paper At the National Library of France about 20,000
books are deacidified yearly at a cost of $7 to $8 per book. Today alkaline-based paper is used in book
production, as the paper lasts longer. International Paper, based in Stamford, Connecticut, in the U.S., is the

largest manufacturer of paper in the world, with sales of over $22 billion in 2006.


The Dharani Sutra is the oldest block printed manuscript and the oldest manuscript printed on paper


143.
First block printed books
Before the advent of printing in the 15th century, production and copying of text around the world was done
manually. The Chinese and Koreans were the first to break this tradition by experimenting with block-printing in 6th
century A.D. (long after paper was invented in 105 A.D.). Both the 8th century A.D. Dharani Sutra and the 9th
century A.D. Diamond Sutra (both earlier discussed above) are the two oldest surviving block-printed manuscripts
today. The largest voluminous block printed book with most pages is a 13th century book preserved at the Haeinsa
Temple on Mount Kaya, in South Korea. Block printing was used for many centuries in China, Korea and later J apan
until the 9th and 10th centuries A.D. when crude forms of movable type (typographic printing) was invented and
experimented with, using clay, wood, bronze and iron. However the complexity of the Chinese ideographic scripts
(used also in Korea) discouraged further development of printing with movable type, and block printing remained the
de facto way of printing books in China, Korea and J apan until the late 1500s. But a Chinese book was successfully
printed with movable type in A.D. 1050 by Pi Sheng (Bi Sheng) The world would have to wait a little over 400 years
before a better form of movable type printing was invented by Gutenberg. Meanwhile UNESCO actually recognizes
a Korean book as the oldest evidence of movable metal type. The book titled Jikji Simgyeong, printed in 1377 in
Chongju, is a collection of texts on Zen Buddhism compiled by a Korean Buddhist priest named Baegun, and is
today preserved at the National Library of France. Jikji Simgyeong has been included in the UNESCOs Memory of
the World Register (see entry 122), Although block-printing was invented in China in the 6th century A.D., it was
unknown in Europe until after paper was introduced into Europe in the 12
th
century A.D.. Marco Polo also wrote
about block-printing activities when he returned to Italy from his extensive travels to China in the 13th century. The
three oldest extant block printed books in Europe are: Biblia Pauperum a14th century German block-printed Bible
and today the most expensive block-printed book in the world, (see entry 207 on most expensive manuscripts). St
Christopher, printed circa 1423 was discovered in library of the Carthusian monastery in Buxheim, Germany. Finally
the Apocalypse of St. John was printed in 1450.


144. First book printed with movable type
Whether J ohann Gutenberg, who invented an improved method of movable type printing, knew about similar
early crude movable type devices used in China (described by Marco Polo) and Korea, is open to debate.
Gutenberg, in Mainz, Germany, printed the 42-line Gutenberg Bible in 1455. This was the first successful attempt to
make multiple copies of any manuscript very quickly, without the need to reproduce them by handwriting, which was
slow and frequently inaccurate or with the slower painstaking method of block-printing. In many parts of Europe
there were some form of block-printing activity before Gutenbergs invention finally gathered pace. Two original
editions of Gutenberg Bible exist today, one is housed in a museum of printing in Mainz, while the other made its
way to the Mazarin Library in Paris, France. The Gutenberg Bible was printed in Latin, not German. About 46 paper
and vellum 1st edition copies are still in existence in places such as the British Library, the U.S. Library of Congress,
the National Library of France, the New York Public Library, and the libraries at Harvard and Yale universities in the
United States. The first book printed in German were later printed editions of the Bible by Gutenberg and others in
the late 15th century such as Biblia, printed in 1466 by J ohann Mentelin. With the overall popularity of Gutenbergs
printing device widespread, no further any European block-printing books were printed after the early 16th century.
Once a book has been printed, it has to be bound, usually at a printer or a separate bindery. The world's oldest
existing book bindery is based at the Sorbonne University of Paris, in France, which has been printing, binding
books since about 1470 A.D..


89.tif
An early Victorian printing press, based on the Gutenberg model of the1450s. Even though Gutenbergs invention
allowed books to reproduced quickly (doing away with hand copying), the printing press was still manually operated,
till it was speeded up with Mergenthalers linotype machine of 1884.


Notes. Apart from UNESCOs recognition of Jikji Simgyeong printed in 1377 (see list 143 above), the other
authenticated claim to have printing the earliest book with movable type before Gutenberg, was Dutch printer
Laurens Janszoon Coster from Haarlem in the Netherlands. Coster demonstrated movable type printing in 1423.
And in the 1430s several types of what has been called metallographic printing was widespread in the
Netherlands, in fact Gutenberg had actually practiced metallographic printing in Strasbourg, France in 1439
before he set up his printing press in Mainz. The Arabs (who themselves had passed on the secrets of making
paper to the Europeans), were interested only in the hand-copying of books, as they felt nothing else could
replace the fine handwritings of Arabic calligraphers. This dislike of movable type printing explains why
throughout the Arab world the Koran was only hand-copied until 1825, when the first official copies of the Koran
were printed with movable type. While paper found its way from China to Europe, it was Gutenbergs method of
movable type that was finally adopted in China as the de facto method of printing books, when Jesuit priests
introduced it there in 1589. From Mainz, printing presses were established in Basel, Switzerland (1466);
Subiaco, Italy (1465); Utrecht, the Netherlands (1470); London, U.K. (1475); Valencia, Spain (1473); Paris,
France (1480); Lisbon, Portugal (1487); St. Petersburg, Russia (1562); Mexico City, Mexico (1533); and
Cambridge, Massachusetts (U.S.) (1638). The use of paper in medieval Europe did run into early problems.
Around the time paper was introduced in medieval Europe, there was a very lucrative market for parchment and
vellum in the 13th century. And the fact that paper was introduced into Europe by Arabs was enough for the
Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (who led the 6th Crusade), to issue an edict in A.D. 1221 that any official or
legal document written on paper was invalid. However when Gutenberg printed the first book and printing
presses began to appear all over Europe in the 15th century, the dislike for paper in Europe was soon forgotten.
Following the invention of printing with movable type, the first attempt to speed up printing, i.e. mechanically with
a machine, was the invention of the linotype machine by Otto Mergenthaler in Germany in 1884, which worked
on the principles of the modern typewriter. Full integration of computers with printing began with the invention of
Desk Top Publishing or DTP in 1985 with the introduction of Aldus PageMaker version 1 for the Apple
Macintosh, by Paul Brainerd, founder of Aldus (now part of Adobe). Later on, Quark Xpress version 1 was
introduction in 1987. The next revolutions in printing and publishing books was the introduction of CD-ROM
based-books in the middle 1980s, and the advent of the Internet and publishing on the web, which became
feasible when Netscape Navigator version 1 (based on the 1993 Mosaic web browser) was released in October
1994. The latest innovation in the production of books is the electronic book or eBook, which can either be
available on a CD-ROM or can be downloaded from the Internet onto laptops tablets or smartphones. eBooks
began to make a major impact from early 1999 with publishers such as Oxford University Press releasing e-
book simultaneously with printed books. In 2000 horror fiction writer Stephen King invited his readers to pay
$2.50 to download from the Internet an eBook version of his novella Riding the Bullet. In this way his readers
bypassed his publishers, who were shocked at the development. Since then more than 600,000 downloads
have been made. Aside from books, journals and newspapers are also now widespread in electronic form
alongside print form, and are mostly in ePUB, HTML or PDF format for access and downloading via the
Internet. A comparative list of services that offer access to thousands of eBooks and electronic journals and
newspapers can be seen at entry 283.

145. First book printed in English and Scottish
Recuyell of the Histories of Troye was printed by William Caxton on 1474 in Belgium. It was written by Raoul
Lefevre. The first printed book in Scottish Gaelic was a translation of Knox's Prayer Book in 1567.


146. First book printed in English in the U.K.
William Caxton printed Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophres in 1475 at his printing press in Westminster,
London, when he returned there from Belgium. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffey Chaucer was printed by Caxton in
1477 in London. These printed Caxton works and others are preserved at the British Library.

147. First books printed in English in the U.S. and Canada
Massachusetts Bay Colony: Oath of a Free Man, was printed in 1638 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Stephen
Daye printed the Bay Psalm Book in 1640 in Cambridge Massachusetts. In J anuary 1947, Yale University Library
bought the last copy up for sale.
Notes. Before New Mexico became a state in the U.S. following the 1846 Mexican-American War, it was part of
independent Mexico from 1821. Going back further in time, New Mexico was part of the Spanish colony of
Neuva Espaa or New Spain. During this time the Spanish Governor Gasparde Villagra had a book he wrote on
the history of Mexico, printed in 1610 in Santa Fe, thus this book (although written in Spanish) was the first to be
printed in the U.S. In 1765, Joseph Briands book Catechism, printed Quebec, was the first in Canada

148. First book printed in French
Recueil des histories de Troyes by Raoul Lefevre was printed in 1466. ditions de Luxe, was printed by French
publisher and businessman J ean Du Pr in Paris in 1481.

149. First book printed in Italian
German monks, Arnold Pannartz and Konrad Sweinheim printed De Oratore, in Subiaco (east of Rome) in
1465. The production of the book, written by Marcus Cicero, took place at the Benedictine monastery of Subiaco,
which was the cradle of Italian printing.

150. First book printed in Spanish, Portuguese and Basque
Fernando de Crdoba and Lamberto Palmart printed Les obres o trobes dauall scrites les quals tracten dela
sacratissima verge Maria, in Valencia in 1475. The first book in the Basque language (used officially alongside
Spanish in the Basque Provinces of northern Spain), was printed in 1545. Samuel Gacon printed the first book in
Portuguese Pentateuco in 1487 in Faro, Portugal. Sacramental by Clemente Snchez de Vercial was printed in
1488.


151. First book printed in Russian and Eastern Europe
Ivan Fedorov printed the first book, a Russian translation of a Latin Bible, Apostol, in 1564 in Lvov (Lviv) in
Ukraine, where he was in exile. But copies of his book found their way to Russia. He also produced the first book in
Ukrainian. Early in 1520 Fedorov published the first handwritten book in Russia, on the Bibles New Testament. It is
known as the Russian Gutenberg.
In Eastern Europe, the years in which the first books were printed are as follow: Czech, 1468; Croatian, 1483;
Serbian, 1494; Ukrainian, 1494; Polish, 1513; Lithuanian, 1521; Hungarian, 1533; Latvian 1585; Romanian, (Deacon
Coresi printed Romanian translations of the Acts of the Apostles in 1563. Earlier in 1508, a book had been printed in

Romania, but not in Romanian).


152. First books printed in Scandinavia
J ohan Snell printed Dialogus Creatururum Moralizatus in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1483. Gotfried van Os
(Gotfred of Ghemen) printed several books in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1489 such as Den danske rimkrnike.
Bartholemeus Ghotas Missale Aboense was printed in Turku, Finland, in 1488.

153. First book printed in Irish
In 1571, J ohn Usshers An Irish Alphabet and Catechism was the first book printed in Irish, while Humphrey
Powells Book of Common Prayer, printed in 1551 in English, was the first book printed in Ireland.
Notes. Although made before printing was invented, the 7th century Book of Kells, has been described as the
most beautiful book in the world. It is an ancient manuscript from medieval Celtic Ireland and is preserved at
Trinity College, Dublin University Library. The book, produced in St. Columbas monastery of Iona, contains the
four gospels of the Bible in Latin. Some parts of the book at the beginning and at the end have been lost in time.

154. First book printed Arabic
Samuel Nedivots Abudarham was printed in Arabic in Fez, Morocco, in 1516. In Beirut, two Maronite monks, who
were educated in Rome, brought a printing press back to Lebanon in 1610 and began publishing books. Lebanon
has the longest history of printing and publishing of books in the Middle East. Throughout the Arab world, the Koran
was only hand-copied from the 8th century A.D. until 1825, when the first official copies of the Koran were printed.
The reason for this was that the style of the calligraphers fine handwritings made the Koran look better.





155. First book printed in Turkish and Greek
David and Samuel Ibn Nahmias printed Arbaah Turim (Four Orders of the Code of Law) in 1493 in Istanbul.
Constantine Lascaris, printed the first Greek book in Milan, Italy in 1476.
Notes. The book was printed in Arabic script because Turkish was not written in Roman script until 1928. During
the time the Turkish Ottoman Empire ruled Greece following the capture of Athens in 1456, there was a total
ban on the printing of books. As such, Greece had no printing press until 1921, when by that time it was already
independent. Books in Greek before then had to be imported from Milan, Venice, Italy, and from other European
countries,

156. First book printed in Farsi
Iran (formerly called Persia), like most other Moslem countries, did not adopt printing with movable type till the
early 19th century, hence the first book printed in Iran was an Armenian translation of the Bible, printed in 1638 in

New J ulfa by Armenian Primate Khachatur. Located near the border with Azerbaijan, New J ulfa, at that time, was
part of the Persian Safavid dynasty of Shah Abas I.
Notes. The Armenians, who were Christians, had adopted movable type printing way back in 1512 when the
first Armenian book was printed in Italy.

157. First book printed in Hebrew
Arbaah Turim (The Four Rows) by J acob Ben Asher was printed in Sefed in 1475. Sefed, also known as Safed,
was part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. It is now the J ewish holy city Tzfat. However the first book printed
anywhere in Hebrew was a work by Rashi on the Torah that was printed in Rome in 1470.

158. First book printed in Hindi
The first major book printed in India was Portuguese book Coloquios dos Simples e drogas he da India, by
Garcia DOrta in 1563 in Goa, then a Portuguese colony. The first book written in Hindi was printed in 1670 by
Bhimjee Parikh in Bombay (Mumbai), who had a book printing business. The first book to be printed in an Indian
language was Thambiran va Nakkam, which was printed in Tamil in 1578 by Portuguese J esuit missionary Henrique
Henriques in Goa.

159. First book printed in Australia
The first book printed in Australia was Raffaello Carbinis New South Wales General Standing Orders, in 1802
160. First book printed in Chinese
The Chinese produced their first printed book (based on Gutenbergs model) in 1589. But a Chinese book was
successfully printed with movable type in A.D. 1050 by Pi Sheng (Bi Sheng), see entry 143.

161. First book printed in Japanese and Korea
The first book printed with movable type in J apan was in 1596, (based on Gutenbergs model).
Jikji Simgyeong was printed in 1377 in Seoul, South Korea by a Korean Buddhist priest named Baegun , see entry
143.

162. First book printed in Southeast Asia
Spanish colonialist in Manila in the Philippines printed Doctrina Christiana in 1593.

163. First book printed in Latin America
Bishop J uan de Zumarraga printed, in Mexico City in 1536, the first book that is still extant. But J uan Pablos in
Mexico City had printed a much earlier book in 1534, but no copies exist today.

164. First book printed in Africa
Samuel Nedivots Abudarham was printed in Arabic in Fez, Morocco, in 1516.


Notes. In 1513, a book of Psalms was printed in the ancient Ethiopian language of Geez, by a German printer
with the help of Ethiopian monk Abba Tesfatsion, but it was printed in Rome. However, after Dutch settlers set
up a printing press in South Africa in the late 18th century, Ethiopia set up the second oldest printing press in
nonMuslim Africa in the 1863 in Massawa. Ethiopia adopted Christianity in the 4th century A.D., making it the
earliest African country after ancient Egypt (3
rd
century A.D.) to do so. It also has the second oldest civilization in
Africa after that of Egypt; it is more than 2000 years old. These two facts give some credence to the mysterious
link between the Ark of the Covenant, as described in the Bible, and Ethiopia. According to ancient Ethiopian
tradition and backed up by stone inscriptions in Geez, going back to the time Ethiopia was part of the kingdom
of Aksum, Menelik I, the first emperor of Ethiopia, was a son of the biblical King Solomon and the Queen of
Sheba. The young Menelik I grew up in Ethiopia and at some point in his adult life was able to travel to
Jerusalem around the 6th century BC during the reign of reign of King Manasseh. When he was about to return
home, Menelik I and his entourage removed the original Ark of the Covenant from King Solomons First Temple
(just before it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylonia in 586 BC.) and took it back with him to
Ethiopia. It was then stored in the Church of St. Mary Zion. Inside this religious artifact is believed to be Tablets
of the Law that were given to Moses on Mount Sinai circa 1400 BC. This stone tablet, written in ancient Hebrew,
contained inscriptions found today in the five oldest books of the Jewish Old Testament or the Torah, most
notably the 10 Commandments. The location of the Ark of the Covenant today is unknown, it has been lost for
2500 years. It may still be in Ethiopia, but the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark depicts the Ark of the Covenant
as being in Egypt. Some say it rests beneath the Temple Mount in Israel. Western journalists have spent years
researching in libraries trying to find the location of the original Ark of the Covenant. If it is ever found again, the
Tablets of the Law will probably be the most important religious text ever discovered since the Dead Sea Scrolls
in 1947. After a 20 year search, Professor Tudor Parfitt claimed in 2007 that he has now discovered the final
location of the Ark of the Covenant, but not the original Ark itself as it is now believed to have been lost in time.
Parfitt is a professor at London Universitys School of African and Asian Studies (SOAS) had been who had
been researching the history and culture of the Jews of Africa. He has also published a book based on his
research, The Lost Ark of the Covenant: Solving the 2,500 Year Mystery of the Fabled Biblical Ark. He theorized
that the original Ark was taken from Jerusalem by Lemba People, one of the lost tribes of Israel, who left Judea
(Israel) more than 2000 years ago (circa 6th century BC) and settled in what is today Ethiopia, Malawi and
Zimbabwe. It is unclear if the group that settled in Ethiopia included Menelik (as described above) but note the
closeness in the dates of departure from Israel (Menelik left Israel in the 6
th
century BC and Parfitt concluded
that the Lemba people left Israel in 6
th
century BC). It is also unclear in which of these 3 African countries the
original Ark of the Covenant was lost. However replicas of the now lost Ark was made from by the Lemba
People over 1000 years and a surviving copy (dated over 800 years old to the 13th century A.D.) was found in
2007 a museum in Harare Zimbabwe by Professor Parfitt. Interestingly Parfitt further theorizes that the Ark of
the Covenant was in the shape of a drum, in contrary to the Bible and other Jewish texts.


165. Largest collection of books printed before 1501
The Bavarian State Library located in the German city of Munich, has the most extensive collection of
incunabula, or books printed before 1501, in the world. The library, founded in 1558, has been actively collecting
15th and 16th century books dating from the time of Gutenberg. It now has over 10,000 incunabula.
Notes. The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the British and French national libraries, the Vatican
Library in Rome, the El-Escorial Library in Spain, the Mazarin Library in Paris, France and the Ambrosian
Library in Milan, and the Laurentian Library in Florence (both in Italy) all own next largest and rarest collections
of books and manuscripts dating before the 16th century. Another notable rich collection can be found in
Biblioteca Comunale dellArchiginnasio in Bologna , Italy. Its incunabula are so rare that the library attracts an
endless stream of scholars and prominent figures from all over the world. The library was established in 1801 to
gather the book material of the religious orders dispersed by Napoleon Bonaparte and it now has over 750,000
books among which are 3,500 incunabula and 15,000 rare 16th century books..

91.tif

Incunabula section at the Vatican Library in Rome
92.tif
Incunabula section at the British Library in London.

166. Oldest Book Museum
For almost 100 years, the German Book and Writing Museum (Deutsches Buch- und Schriftmuseum) in Leipzig
has been collecting, preserving and indexing documents about the history and development of books from 5000
year old ancient clay tablets to the electronic book (e-book) of the third millennium. The museum also holds the
worlds largest collection of watermarks. The largest museum library in Europe is the German Museum of Science
and Technology Library (Deutsches Museum Bibliothek), based in Munich and Bonn. Founded in 1903, Its library
has over 860,500 books and 20,000 journals relating to the history of science and technology. The largest museum
library in the U.S. is the one at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C.
93.tif
Apart from displaying cultural heritage relics, museums also have libraries. The German Museum of Science and
Technology in Munich, is the largest museum library in Europe.


167.

6 earliest dates in copyright

Once paper production was common in Europe and moveable type printing invented, it began to occur to many
that there was a need to protect books from piracy, since mass production of them was now possible. Following are
five significant dates that played a major role in the development of copyright as we know it today.
1. 15th century. Venetian government in Venice, Italy, introduces the Privilegii, a series of privileges pertaining to the
protection of printed works in the republic. These were the forerunners to modern copyright.
2. The first copyrights under the Privilegii rules are granted to J ohn de Speyer (1469), Marc Antonio Sabellico
(1486), Bernadinus de Choris (1491), and the famous Aldus Manutius (1496), who gave us italic type.
Notes. In comparison, the first recorded patent for an industrial invention was granted to Italian Filippo
Brunelleschi in 1421.
3. Thomas Godfry is granted the first British copyright in 1510 for his book The History of King Boccus. This is the
first English book to be given a copyright. The second was granted to Henry VIIIs printer Richard Pynson in 1518.
Notes. The copyrights were issued before the 1710 Statue of Anne, which is the basis for modern copyright in
the U.K.
4. In 1514, Thomas Murner, the famous German satirist,who wrote Die Geuchmatt, was the first author to be paid
royalties for a published work.
5. The worlds first copyright law was legalized in the Venetian Republic in 1533, replacing the Privilegii. The first
comprehensive statutory copyright law was the British Copyright Act of 1710 also known as the Statute of Anne.
After this, several other nations introduced similar statutory copyright laws, such as the U.S. in 1790, France in 1793
and Germany in 1839.
6. In 1537, the National Library of France ordered that all French printing presses to deliver a copy of every
copyrighted book they had printed to the royal library (which later became the present National Library of France).
Thus the French national library was the first make this a legal requirement, which is now a standard practice for

nearly all national libraries today. But not all such libraries follow this rule, for instance in mainland China there is no
legal deposit law (although such laws do exist in Hong Kong and Macau).

94.tif
The government of the Venetian Republic (todays in Venice, Italy) was the first to introduce some sort of legislation
to protect books from unauthorized copying.


Notes. Denmark was the first to introduce international copyright in 1828. This was a reciprocal agreement in
which foreign authors in Denmark would receive the same protection of their work as Danish authors. The Bern
Convention of 1886 legalized the standard for international copyright. With the explosion of electronic versions of
books, such as encyclopedias on the web or on CD-ROM, copyright laws have been drafted to protect such new
digital formats. An international digital copyright treaty put forward in December 1996 by the Geneva-based
World Intellectual Property Organization (the Internet Treaties) covers international protection of copyright on the
Internet and other digital media such as CD-ROM books and DVDs. A number of countries around the world
have already ratified the treaty. The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, passed by the U.S. Congress, is
concerned with, among other things, the application of copyright law to digital formats such as e-books,
computer games and websites.




168.
First autobiography

The earliest major autobiography was written 397 A.D. by Roman Bishop and prolific writer St Aurelius Augustine of
Hippo, one of the earliest Christian leaders in Rome, just after Christianity was adopted as the state religion in the
Roman Empire in the 4th century A.D.. The title of the autobiography was Confessions,



169.
First book to use page numbers

In 1470 in Cologne, Germany, printers of the book Sermo Populam by Werner Rolewinck, added page
numbers for the first time in a printed book.



170.

First book with illustrations (not photographs)

The first printer to add illustrations to his books was Albrecht Pfister of Bamberg, Germany. Pfister began
printing around 1460 when he bought the press from Gutenberg. By adding pictures he helped explain the text. A
concept soon copied by other printers. In 1476 a book titled De Casibus Illustrium Virorum written by Boccaccio was
printed in Belgium, with illustrations drawn by artists.

171.


First books to use photographs

Three books appeared in the 1840s with black and white photographs for the first time. In 1842 photographs
were included in a printed book titled Excursions Daguerriennes by Lerebours. Photographs of British Algae,
Cyanotype Impressions, 1843-53 by Anna Atkin and was the first book to use photographic illustrations. The book
was auctioned in 2004 at Christies. In 1844, William Talbot, an early pioneer in the development of cameras,
provided several photographs he took for use in a book he wrote titled Pencil of Nature. A significant note about
these three pioneering books is that they were taken around the time, the oldest extant photograph showing a
person was taken. In 1838 French man Louis Daguerre, took a photograph of the street, Boulevard du Temple in
Paris, included in the photographs was images of two people. Children's author Lewis Carroll took up photographer
as a hobby in the middle 1850s, before he wrote the famous 1865 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.


172.

First book printed in color

Color printing arrived in 1456 with the production of the Mainz Psalter by German printers Peter Schoffer and
J ohann Fust. This book was also the first to give the date and place of printing and the printers names. Schoffer
also assisted J ohannes Gutenberg.

173.

First book to be published on tape (talking book)

In 1957 an entire book on cassette tape was produced for sale in bookstores. The book published by the Tape
Recording magazine was appropriately titled All About Tape on Tape.

174.

First regular newspapers

Nieuwe Tijdingen, produced in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1605, was the first printed modern newspaper in the world.
A 1621 edition of the newspaper still exists today at the Belgian national library. The first English newspaper was the
Corante, a translation of a Dutch newspaper which was published in London in 1621. The first daily newspaper was
the German Einkommende Zeitung in 1650. Austrias Wiener Zeitung is the oldest continuously published
newspaper, having begun in 1703 in Vienna. Here are the years in which the first modern newspapers were printed
in other continents: North America (the U.S. in 1689, the first official newspaper was the Boston News in 1704);
South America (Peru in 1744); Africa (South Africa in 1800); Caribbean Islands (Dominican Republic in 1804); Asia-
Pacific region (the Philippines in 1811. In J apan, during the Tokugawa period, there were earlier regular news
reports called yomiuri); the Middle East (Turkey in 1831).
Notes. The largest daily circulation of newspapers in the world by continent are: Europe (Bild-Zeitung,
Germany); North America (Wall Street J ournal, U.S.), South America (O Estado de So Paulo, Brazil); Asia-
Pacific region (Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan); and Africa (The Star, South Africa). For information on the largest
edition of a newspaper see entry 192.

175. First printed magazines
Erbauliche Monaths-Unterredungen (Edifying Monthly Discussions) was published in Berlin, Germany, in 1664.
Mercure Galant was published in Paris, France, in 1672. The first English language magazine was The Gentlemans
Magazine, published in London in 1708.

Comment [GO29]: Takephoto for 3
rd
edition
Located near themetro station Rpublique.

176. First scholarl y or academic journal.
Philosophical Transactions was first published in 1665 by the Royal Society in London. It is also the oldest
continuously published periodical in any subject in the world today. The journal in its early days was renowed as a
publication for announfing discoveries and inventions. A notable discovery announced in the journal was the article
on the discovery of bacteria by Antony van Leeuwenhoek, first printed in late 1680s

177. First law journals
Journal du Palais was published in Paris, France in 1673.

178. First medical journals
Miscellanea Curiosa Medico-Physico Academiae Naturae Curiosorum Sive Ephemerides Germanicae was
published in Leipzig, Germany in 1670. The oldest continuously published medical journal is the New England
Journal of Medicine, first published in Massachusetts, U.S., in 1812.

179. First weekl y business journals

The Denver Business Journal, is the oldest weekly business journal in the U.S., first published in 1949.

180. First library journals
Library Journal, published in the U.S., by Reed Business Information is the oldest independent national library
publication. Begun in 1876, it is the Bible of the library world and each issue is read by probably over 100,000
people. Benjamin Franklin and friends began the first library serial in the U.S. in the middle 1700s.

181. First paperbacks
Crude versions of what we call paperbacks (pocketbooks), first appeared in Florence, Italy, in the 16th century.
In 1932 Albatross Books appeared in Paris and Milan bookstores. The first mass-produced paperbacks were
Penguin Books founded in 1935 by Allen Lane in Bristol, U.K. His revolutionary paperback allowing the mass
production of copies of cheaper smaller book versions of original expensive hardback titles. The first three Penguin
titles were Ariel by Andr Maurois, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway and Poets Pub by Eric Linklater. The
first mass-produced paperbacks in the Americas were issued by Pocket Books, founded in 1939.

182. Earliest professional handbooks for librarians
1. Gabriel Nauds Advis pour dresser une bibliothque published in 1627.
2. J ohn Duries The Reformed Librarie-Keeper published in 1650.
Notes. Frenchman Gabriel Naud was the first librarian for the famous Mazarin Library, in Paris, France (which
owns the first copy of the original Gutenberg Bible). John Durie was a Scottish cleric and librarian who later
became a librarian for the British royal family. George Eberharts Whole Library Handbook, published by the

American Library Association, is read by more librarians than any other handbook today.

183. Largest general reference book in the English
The first printed edition of Encyclopdia Britannica (originally a 3-volume book, and today in 32 volumes
comprising 65,000 articles), was first published in 1768 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Today the CD-ROM version first
released in early 1994 sells more than the printed version. In 1997 an Internet version was released, and in 1999 the
DVD version was made available. In 2012, the publishers of Encyclopdia Britannica announced that it would
cease to produce the print version. The 2010 editon of Encyclopdia Britannica would be the final one in print. Only
the DVD and online versions would contiunue. Although Encyclopdia Britannica is now published in the U.S., the
main general reference books in the U.S. are Encyclopedia Americana, first published in 1829. It is published today
by Grolier. The other is Colliers Encyclopedia, first published in 1950.

Notes. The largest online reference work is Wikipedia. Set up in 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, it has
over 2.5 million articles and is available in over 189 languages. The English language version reached 100,000
articles in 2003, growing at a rate of 3000 articles per day. In 2006 it reached 2 million articles. This can
compared with the 2007 edition of Encyclopdia Britannica Ultimate DVD (the largest of the several commercial
categories of the encyclopedia on electronic media) which has just over 100,000 articles, but it is better in
quality than Wikipedia, since all the articles are peer-reviewed and written solely by experts in their fields. Greek
scholar Speusippus wrote the first known encyclopedia around 350 BC. The first modern encyclopedia was
Kitab Uyun al-Akhbar written in Arabic by Ibn Qutaybah, an Arabic writer in A.D. 800, it style in organizing the
contents was adopted by all later encyclopedias around the world. The first publications to use the title
encyclopaedia were Paul Scalichs book published in Basel, Switzerland in 1559 and Johann Alsteds book
published in Switzerland in 1631. The oldest extant encyclopaedia is the one written by Pilny the Elder (a
Roman scientific encyclopedist and historian) called Historia Naturulis in A.D. 77. The largest encyclopedia is
undoubtedly the one commissioned by Chinese Emperor Yung Lo in the 15th century, it was made up of over
11,000 volumes comprising 22,800 chapters. It was titled Yongluo Dadien.


184. Largest general reference book in the French
The largest main French encyclopedia is Encyclopdie Franais published in Paris. It was initiated by French
historian, Lucien Febvre in 1935. Pierre Larousse, a French grammarian and lexicographer, is the creator of the
famous French encyclopedic dictionary, Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXme sicle (Great Universal 19th-
Century Dictionary) between 186576. The large voluminous book is still published today as the Larousse
Encyclopdie and is a popular reference book among scholars in France.. The other popular general reference in
France is the Encyclopdie Universalis

185. Largest general reference book in the German
In Germany, the largest main German encyclopedia is Brockhaus Enzyklopadie. It was first published in 1796
in Wiesbaden. The 33 volume German dictionary Deutsches Wrterbuch (compiled by Wilhelm Grimm between
1854 and 1971) is the worlds largest dictionary. The Duden is a the main German dictionary, first published by
Konrad Duden in 1880. All new words and the spellings entering the Germany language normally appear first in the
Duden dictionary.
186. Largest general reference book in the Chinese
Zhongguo Dabaikequanshu is a 74-volume Chinese encyclopedia, with 78,000 main entries. It is the largest

general reference book in China. Other notable Chinese encyclopedias are Hanyu fangyan dacidian 41 volumes and
320,000 main entries. The main Chinese dictionary is 4-volume Zhonghua zihai (the equivalent of the English
Oxford Dictionary).

187. Largest general reference book in the Japanese
Buritanika Kokusai Daihyakka jiten was first published in 1972 in Tokyo, based on Encyclopdia Britannica. A
larger reference book is the Encyclopedia Nipponica (Nihon Daihyakka zensho), a 30-volume book, available online.
First published in 1984. The largest English language general reference in J apan is The Kodansha Encyclopedia of
Japan, first published in 1983. Many of the articles in the encyclopedia are actually English translations from several
multidisciplinary J apanese encyclopedias. Kodansha Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia Nipponica can also be
accessed electronically in libraries in J apan and overseas, via a database called J apanKnowledge. The largest
J apanese dictionaries are Nihonkokugo daijiten and Daikanwa jiten.

188. Largest general reference book in the Arabic
Dairat Al-maarif was first published in 1876 in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
189. Largest general reference book other languages
In the Netherlands, the largest standard Dutch encyclopedia is the 25-volume Grote Winkler Prins
Encyclopedie published by the major publisher Elsevier in Amsterdam. It was first published in 1870. The major
Italian encyclopedia is the Enciclopedia italiana di scienze, lettere ed arti first published in 1925 in Milan. During the
time the Soviet Union existed, the main Russian encyclopedia was Bolshaya Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya first
published in 1926. An English translation appeared in 1970s. The largest Spanish and Latin American encyclopedia
is Enciclopedia universal ilustrada europeoamericana, published since 1905 in Madrid, Spain. Another major
Spanish encyclopedia is the Enciclopedia hispnica. The major Portuguese encyclopedia is Enciclopdia Barsa it is
also popular in Brazil, alongside Brazils major encyclopedia Enciclopdia Mirador Internacional. In Turkey, the
major reference book is Trk ansiklopedisi. The first major southeast Asian encyclopedia was Indonesia
Ensiklopedia Indonesia, published in 1953 in J akarta, Indonesia.
Notes. The first dictionary in the world is believed to be a Chinese work written in 1150 BC. The first edition of
the famous Oxford English Dictionary was completed in 1860. The five earliest writers of English dictionaries are
Robert Cawdrey (published in 1604), Henry Cockeram (1626) John Kersey (1700), Nathaniel Bailey (1721) and
Samuel Johnson (1755). Samuel Johnsons dictionary was the first comprehensive and authoritative English
dictionary. The earliest U.S. English dictionaries were those written by Samuel Johnson junior, published in
1798, and Noah Webster, published in 1828, both in New York. The largest dictionary is the 33 volume German
dictionary Deutsches Wrterbuch that was started by Wilhelm Grimm in 1854 and finished in 1971.

190. Biggest, heaviest and smallest books
For those used to metric units, 12 inches (i.e. 1 foot) are equal to 304 millimetres or 30.4 centimetres. 3 feet is
approximately 1 metre. 1 kilogram is about 2.2 pounds.

Biggest Books. In 2004 in Tokyo, J apanese car maker Mazda Motor Corporation, unveiled a large book
measuring 10 feet (wide) by 11 feet (high). The book contained numerous large photographs of Mazdas new
compact car, the Verisa. It took 4 people, 2 on opposite sides of the book, to open the pages of the book for visitors
at the Mazda gallery. The Super Book, a huge visitors book, produced in Denver, Colorado U.S., in the 1970s is the
largest existing book in the Americas. It measures 9 feet by 10 feet, and contains 300 pages and weighs just over
252 kg. Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Kingdom is the same size as the dimensions of a table-tennis table,
i.e. measures 5 feet by 7 feet. See entry number 207 for more details. The biggest. A selection of books over 2 feet

are: J ohn J . Audubon's 19th century Birds of America , 3.5 feet high and 2.5 feet wide; Modern Art: Revolution and
Painting, 3 feet by 1.6 feet; Sumo by Helmut Newton, 2.6 by 2.4 feet.


Heaviest Books. The heaviest book published in existence today is The Arabic Legislation Encyclopedia,
printed in Libya and written by Mohammed Ben Younis. It weighs in at over 400 kg, but is made up of 200 separate
volumes, totaling over 164,000 pages. The Super Book above is 252 Kg. Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Last
Himalayan Kingdom, by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, Michael Holey, weighs 60.3 Kg. It is has
112 pages. Modern Art: Revolution and Painting weighs 35kg, has 544 pages. Published in 2003 by ArtMedia. The
book covers the past 200 years of painting, with 265 works by Cezanne, Matisse, Monet, Picasso, Rivera, van Gogh
and others. Boxer Muhammed Alis biography published in 2004 is 33kg and has 800 pages and 3000 photographs.
The heaviest photographers book published is Helmut Newtons Sumo, which weighs in at 30 kg. See entry number
207 on most expensive books for more details on Sumo. The list of heaviest periodicals is at entry 192

Smallest Books. Because it is not very easy to rate and accurately measure contenders for the title of the
worlds smallest book, a shortlist of four contenders are given below and the claimed dimensions. All of them
however need both a needle to turn the pages and a powerful magnifying glass to read it properly.
1. Chekhov's Chameleon, a Russian book, owned by head librarian for the College-Conservatory of Music Library in
the U.S., measures just 0.03 inches by 0.03 inches, and has 30 pages.
2. Old King Cole measures approximately 0.04 inches by 0.04 inches. It is part of the U.S. Library of Congress book
collections.
3. Kobzar of Taras Shevchenko is about 0.11 inches by 0.11 inches. It was published in Ukraine in 1840.
4. A book appropriately titled The Worlds Smallest Book measures 0.12 inches by 0.13 inches. It was produced in
Germany in 2001.
5. Published in Germany in 1958, The Lords Prayers or Het Onze Vader is 0.22 inches by 0.22 inches.
To understand what these measurements mean, half an inch or 0.5 inches is 12.7 millimetres, 0.25 inches is
equal to 6.3 millimetres, and 0.12 inches is approximately 3.1 millimetres. A comparative object is the size of a
match head, which is roughly 0.23 inches in diameter. Any one of these four books would comfortably sit on a match
headwhile opened!
Notes. The miniaturization of books did occur around the time of Gutenberg. The oldest authenticated smallest
book is Diurnale Maguritinum printed in 1468. It measures 2.5 by 3.7 inches (this small size is obviously not
match for the four pint-sized books above). John Hopkins University Library Baltimore, Maryland in the U.S.
owns a copy of the smallest book ever printed with movable type. the book written by Galileo was printed in
1897. Miniature books are painstakingly difficult to make via moveable type, so the 1897 book is a remarkable
feat illustrating the art of bookmaking on a minuscule scale. The biggest book in the U.S. Library of Congress in
Washington, D.C., is John James Audubons Birds of America, measuring over 3 feet high because it contains
life-size pictures of birds. In 1660, Dutch merchants from Amsterdam presented the English King Charles II with
a 6 feet by 3 feet high world atlas (Klencke Atlas). The atlas, which is now housed in the British Library, is the
biggest book in existence in Europe. The second largest is Berline Kurfursten Atlas, it measures 5 feet by 1
feet. The third largest book published in Europe is probably Carte Topographique de lEgypte. It was printed in
France in 1809 for Napoleon Bonaparte and is was almost 4 feet high and 2.5 feet wide. Before the invention of
printing several gigantic manuscripts over 2 feet in height were produced, notably Gigas Librorum, a huge bible
made from parchment and preserved in a Swedish library in Stockholm. In the port of Mandalay, Burma, the
Kuthodaw Pagodas, built in 1868 by King Mindon, contains over 700 marble slabs joined together and inscribed
with the Tripitaka Canon (the holy book of Theravada Buddhism). It is written in Pali, an ancient Indo-European
language of northern India, related to Sanskrit, and a classical language of Buddhism, in which Buddhist
scriptures were written. Building the huge marble inscription was a massive feat that took more than 2,500
Buddhist monks years to build and is often symbolically called the biggest book in the world. The ancient

Egyptian Harris Papyrus (dating from 1200 BC and now in the British Library in London) is the longest existing
papyrus. It is over 140 feet long and has to be kept in dozens of separate frames..

191. Books with the most pages
The Tripitaka Canon in Chinese script was completed on paper in China in A.D. 972, and is composed of over
120,000 printed pages. This makes it the book with the largest number of pages in the world. The English
language book with the largest number of pages was the 1988 edition of Victor Hugos Les Misrables, which
has over 1,400 pages. Between 1980 and 1992, French author George-J ean Arnaud completed his 62-volume
novel La Campagne des Glaces. It is the longest novel in the world with over 11,000 pages. Other books with
large number of pages are the 33-volume German dictionary Deutsches Wrterbuch by Wilhelm Grimm and??.
The 200-volume Arabic Legislation Encyclopedia, by Libyan writer Mohammed Ben Younis with164,000 pages.
These last two books are previously describe in entry 189 and 190 respectively. There is a limit to the number of
volumes of a major work that can be available in print format. Going beyond 250 volumes is enormous and for
practical reasons is best made as an online database. The 300-volume academic reference collection from
Blackwell Publishing is the largest modern voluminous book and is available only as a database. See entry 329.
However there is one record holder for the most voluminous book. Yongluo Dadien (Yung Lo Ta Tien) a
Chinese encyclopedia had over 11,000 volumes when it was published in the 15th century for Emperor Yung
Lo. It also has about 22,800 chapters. An abridged 100-volume edition was published in 1962 on the orders of
Chairman Mao Zedong, the Chinese leader, as the 15
th
century book does not exist in tact today.


192. Biggest and heaviest periodical
The heaviest and biggest edition of a newspaper was the September 14 1987 Sunday issue of the New York
Times. It had 1,612 pages and weighed 5.4 kg. The heaviest magazine published to date was the September
1989 edition of Vogue, the fashion magazine. This particular edition had 808 pages and was almost 1.6 Kg in
weight. The biggest and smallest books can be see at entry 190. . In 1980, mathematicians worldwide
completed the classification of all finite and simple groups. The enormous and difficult undertaking took over
100 mathematicians more than 35 years to complete. The results of the task took up more than 14,000 pages in
many mathematical journals of the day.


193. Most popular author among library users
In 2007, that J .K. Rowlings latest and final book about a boy wizard, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
created the longest waiting list for a reserved book in public libraries in the several English speaking countries
including the U.K. and the U.S. The Public Lending Right in the U.K. noted that the waiting list was several weeks
long, making the book the most borrowed book to date in the U.K. See 216 for Harry Potter facts.
Notes. Before Harry Potter mania was well established, according to figures published by the U.K. Public
Lending Right in 2001, for the 15th year, books by Catherine Cookson were the most popular. Between July
1999 and June 2000 she came in at the top of a list of 12 authors who saw their books borrowed on more than
a million occasions, beating the likes of William Shakespeare and Jane Austen. Danielle Steels novels are the
next most borrowed books in public library. But the two most published authors in the U.K. are William
Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. Some British authors earn an extra income from the U.K. Public Lending
Right, on top of their royalties, whenever their books are lent out in libraries, hence the more books borrowed,
the more they earn.

194. Most widel y read magazine

The Reader's Digest is the most widely read magazine in the world. It has a devoted following of 100 million
readers across the globe today.

195. First book blessed by the Pope
Lew Wallaces book, Ben Hur, was the first piece of fiction ever to be blessed by a pope. Pope Leo XII blessed
the book in 1880s.


196. Best selling books of all time
Bible is the best-selling book of all time. In the whole of the 20th century, over 4 billion copies were printed
around the world in over 1000 languages. The bestselling non-religious book is Mao Zedongs Little Red Book
(containing quotations and summaries of his work with the Chinese Communist Party). Over 900 million copies were
published to meet the demands of Chinas huge population. Today just 3 further books have broken the 100 million
barrier, The Guinness Book of World Records and the Koran.
Notes. The Chinese dictionary, Xinhu Zidan (Zonghua Zihai), first published in 1953, has sold more than 400
million copies by 2006, making the best selling dictionary.

197. Most translated books
Bible is the and the most translated non-fiction book in the world, available in more than 1000 languages . Don
Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes in 1605, has been translated into more languages than any book outside of the
Bible. He wrote the parts of the bestseller while a prisoner of the Barbary pirates in Algiers, Algeria.

198. First and most prolific novelist
Between 1986 and 1996, Brazilian author J ose Carlos Ryoki de Alpoim Inoue had a massive 1,058 novels
published. He writes westerns, science fiction and thrillers. The first novel has been credited to the one written by
J apanese author Murasaki Shikibus in A.D. 1005, titled The Tale of Genji. The oldest fiction is however the
Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh written circa 2900 BC and based on oral tradition dating back much further in time. La
Campagne des Glaces is the longest novel in world with over 10,000 pages (62 volumes). French author George-
J ean Arnaud completed the ten year book project novel in 1992.

199. First author to use a typewriter
Mark Twain was the first writer ever to submit a typewritten manuscript to a publisher. The name of the his book
was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Mark Twain used a Remington typewriter in 1875. The typewriter has been
patented a year earlier by Christopher Sholes and first marketed in 1874. Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy was
unfortunate not to invest in a typewriter. Between 1865 and 1869, he worked on a voluminous novel called Voyna i
mir or War and Peace before computers and copying machines were invented, so his wife had to copy his long
manuscript by hand seven times.
Notes. Authors and journalists began to substitute typing their manuscripts on an electric typewriter (e.g. IBM
Selectric typewriter of the 1960s) with computerized typewriters in the 1970s. The Wang 2200 Word Processor
was the first in 1972, followed by the Wang WPS Word Processor in 1976 (complete with display monitor,
keyboard, printer and storage device on cassette). Similar products came elsewhere such as the IBM
Displaywriter (1980). Desktop computer software for word processing arrived with the introduction of MultiMate
and Word Star word processors for CP/M computers in 1979. When MS-DOS computers arrived in 1981 (IBM
5150), the popular word processor was IBMs DisplayWrite software. The first version of Microsoft Word for MS-
DOS computers was in 1983.


200. First major computer software for book publishing
The release of Aldus PageMaker in 1985 and Quark Xpress in 1987 revolutionized the way final manuscripts
from writers reached the printing stage. These two packages know as DTP or Desk Top Publishing software allowed
publishers and editors to create the layout and arrangement of texts and illustrations in the manuscript before
sending the finished proofs to the printers, which tended to be not part of the publishing company. Before DTP
arrived, the printers also handled preparing the proofs which were had to be sent back to the publishers for approval
before being printed. In other words DTP speeded up the time taken for a book to be published.
Notes. The first books to be published with DTP were in fact the manuals and user guides that accompanied
PageMaker version 1 and Quark Xpress version 1, when both were released.

201. Famous and infamous people who wrote bestselling books in prison
Marco Polo (Italian), Miguel de Cervantes (Spanish), Wole Soyinka (Nigerian), Walter Raleigh (British),
Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Russian), Daniel Defoe (British), J awaharlal Nehru (Indian), Oscar Wilde, (British) Werner
Untergender Unterweger (Austrian) and Adolf Hitler (German), and are among famous and infamous people who
made good use of prison libraries in their countries to write bestsellers while incarcerated. Here is a brief look at
Marco Polos fantastic book: Marco Polo was the famous Italian traveler who took 24 years visiting Asia and meeting
rulers such as the Mongol leader Kabulai Khan. He was probably the first European to witness block-printing of
documents on paper during his travels to China in the 13th century. Having invented paper, the Chinese took the
first step in inventing printing by developing what is called block-printing in the 6th century, (the precursor to the
printing technique invented by Gutenberg in the 15th century). At this time block-printing was unknown in Europe,
even when the secrets of making paper finally reached Europe late in the 12th century. Among other firsts
attributable to Marco Polo are that he was the first European to see paper money (the first European paper money
was issued in Sweden in 1661, much later than standardized coins as currency which first appeared in Europe at
Sardis part of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, west of Turkey circa 600 BC), paper playing cards, and libraries with
books made from paper. After his travels in Asia, he returned to Venice and dictated the story of his travels while a
prisoner in Genoa to a fellow inmate who was a writer. His book, The Travels of Marco Polo, became a best-seller in
medieval Europe, but there were some people who were skeptical and called him Marco Milione, and his book Il
Milione or The Million Lies, because the story of his travels was too fantastic to be true. To his skeptics, Marco Polo
said the memorable words, I have only told half of what I saw


202. Most severe punishments suffered by a writer
In 1643 a book by English writer William Prynne caused so much contention as he was accused of libel. As
punishment, he was set in the pillory, had his ears cut off, was fined the equivalent of $9,000 today and imprisoned.
He continued writing while in the Tower of London prison and in 1647 was brought to back to court and punished
again. This time he was branded on his cheeks with the words Seditious Libeller (sic) and fined another $9,000.
Today there are good libel laws to ensure a person does not feel slandered, and the punishment is usually nothing
more than fines. English translator William Tyndale did not fare better than Prynne. Due restrictions imposed on the
production of religious books, notably the Bible, during the Vatican Inquisition, it was deadly to publish a book
judged later as heretical by the Vatican or a senior bishop. In 1536 in Belgium, William Tyndale paid the ultimate
price for ignoring this. His translated English versions of the Latin Bible into English caused a big remonstration, and
he was strangled and burnt at the stake as a heretic for his books. Some of the words in Tyndales Bible (that were
not in the Latin version he used for translations) that caused so much resentment was the words 'filthy lucre', and
'God forbid.' See also entry 213, first major book-burning rituals and entry 214, famous government-sanctioned book
bans

203. Countries with the largest number of books published in more than 10 major languages
Among the 20 major languages in the world with the largest number of native speakers, India is home to 11

major languages with more than 30 million speakers each. These are Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Telugu, Bihari,
Maharati, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi and Oriya. Annual production of books, magazines and newspapers
and other publications in all 11 of these languages in India for the masses is thus staggering. China has 8 major
languages with more than 30 million speakers each. These are Mandarin (Han), by far the largest, Cantonese (Yue),
Min, Jinya, Min Nan, Xiang, Hakka and Wu. Because of the size of its population, China produces the largest
number of books in the world, while UNESCO has calculated that Iceland publishes the most books per capita in the
world.
Notes. Chinese languages, with millions of speakers each, vary greatly in their spoken versions. But the
Chinese script (which thankfully is not alphabetic) makes it possible for a speaker of Mandarin Chinese living in
Beijing to visit a bookstore in Hong Kong or Macao and read books written by an author fluent in Cantonese
Chinese. The same situation does not exist in India, where several separate scripts existe.g., for Hindi,
Bengali, Gujarati and Tamil, even though they all descend from the same ancient Brahmi script. However it
should be noted that the different Chinese languages are in fact different dialects, which adopted a single
Chinese script. For instance Mandarin is a dialect that originated in Beijing, Cantonese originated from Canton
(Guangzou), Min and Xiang originated from Fujian and Wu originated from Shanghai.

204. Largest national book expenditure
According to the 2006 OCLC report Libraries: How they stack up in the U.S. the annual expenditure of books
for all libraries in the United States is about $14 billion.

205. Most expensive book project
The new 60-volume Oxford Dictionary of National Biography published in 2004 cost over $45 million (25
million) to produce. The book project took over 12 years to conclude, and profiles about 55,000 people who have
made a major impact on the British society. The complete set cost $13,000 (7,500) to purchase and takes up to 12
feet of bookshelf space. The budget for the book project for first edition of the book published in 1882 cost less than
$100.

206. Biggest book launches
According to Scholastic, the biggest one day sale of a fiction book was Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix by J .K. Rolling which sold 5 million copies in the first 24 hours in 2003. Publishers weekly noted that the
biggest one day sale of a non-fiction book was My Life, the autobiography of former U.S. President Bill Clinton. It
sold 400,000 copies on the first day it was published in 2004.
According to the publishers Bloomsbury in the U.K. and Scholastic in the U.S., advanced sales for was Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix were higher than for any other book in history. In the U.K. orders exceeded 1
million, and over 7.5 million copies in the U.S. were printed before publication. Amazon was also handled orders for
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix online said it was its fastest-selling novel in 2003 and broke Internet sales
records when received more than 2 million advance orders, to become the biggest distribution of any single item in
e-commerce history. For her work in writing the book J .K. Rowling received about $55 million and was reported to
have filed a 100 million lawsuit against the New York Times for publishing details about the plot of her latest book
before it was officially released. To date over 200 million copies of Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide in
55 languages including Latin and ancient Greek. The 7 books in the series are: 1. 1997 Harry Potter and the
Philosopher's Stone (500 copies printed); 2. 1998 Harry Potter and the Chambers of Secrets; 3. 1999 Harry Potter
and the Prisoner of Azkaban (best seller); 4. 2000 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (best seller); 5. 2003 Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; 6. 2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The last book in the series
created the longest waiting list for a reserved book in a library, See entry 193.

Notes. In March 2004, Jacqueline Wilson, set a British record of the longest book signing in the U.K. the

childrens author began signing at 3pm and finished just after 12 midnight at a Bournemouth bookstore.

207.
100 most expensive books and manuscripts
There are two kinds of expensive books, those bought from auction houses such as Sothebys and those
bought from bookstores or from the publisher. Naturally books sold by the former are several times more expensive
than the latter, because they are often rare, very old and collectors items. The following are the most expensive
books and manuscripts auctioned by winter 2012.
1. The Estelle Doheny Collection (rare book collections of U.S. millionaire Estelle Doheny). Six-part book sale
bonanza, sold in total for $38 million at Christies, New York, in 1987. The collection included 12th century
manuscripts to 19th and 20th century American literature.
2. Leonardo da Vincis notebook The Codex Hammer (16th century Latin manuscript). Sold for $29 million at
Christies, New York, in 1994. Microsofts Bill Gates was the proud buyer of the manuscript. In a 1980 auction, it had
fetched $6 million.
3. The Rothschild Prayer Book (16th century illuminated manuscript). Sold for 8.5 million (about $12.5 million) at
Christies, London, in 1999. The book was sold by the famous German Rothschild banking dynasty.
4. The Duke of Saxonys manuscript The Gospels of Henry the Lion (12th century German illuminated manuscript).
Sold for 8 million (about $11.8 million) at Sothebys, London, in 1983.
5. J ohn J ames Audubons book The Birds of America (1827). Sold for 7 million ($12 milion??) in December 2010 at
Sothebys, London,. Back in 2000, it was sold for $8 million at Christies New York.
6. Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales (15th century English manuscript). It was printed by the famous
London-based William Caxton and sold for 4.5 million (about $7 million) at Christies, London, in 1998 to Paul Getty.
7. A manuscript by William Shakespeare dated 1623, was sold for 4.1 million ($6.2 million) in 2001 at Christies,
London.
8. The Gutenberg Bible (1455). Sold for $5.3 million at Christies, New York, in 1987.
9. Ptolemys Geographia or Cosmogaphia (??century Greek manuscript). Sold for $3.9 million at Lord Wadington???
in 2006.
10. The Burdett Psalter and Hours (13th century French illuminated manuscript). Sold for 2.3 million ($4.6 million)
at Sothebys, London in 1998. The manuscript remained a secret to scholars and art historians until a descendant of
J ane Burdett (who first bought it in 1634) took it to the British Library in 1978, in an effort to have it evaluated.
11. The Northumberland Bestiary (13th century English illuminated manuscript). Sold for 2.8 million (about $4.1
million) at Sothebys, London, in 1990.
12. The Cornaro Missal (16th century Italian illuminated manuscript). Sold for 2.5 million (about $3.7 million) at
Christies, London, in 1999. The famous German Rothschild banking dynasty sold the book.
13. Hebrew Bible (6th century A.D.). Sold for 1.7 million (about $2.5 million) at Sothebys, London, in 1989.
14. Biblia Pauperum (14th century German block-printed Bible). Sold for $2.2 million at Christies, New York, in 1987.
It is older than The Gutenberg Bible by almost 100 years.
15. The Psalter and Hours of Elizabeth de Bohun (14th century English illuminated manuscript). Sold for 1.4 million
(about $2.1 million) at Sothebys, London, in 1988.

16. The Koran (1203). Sold for 1.2 million ($2 million) at Christies, London, in 2007. It is the earliest-known
complete Koran and is transcribed in gold. At the same auction an incomplete 10th century Koran sold for 916,500
($1.7 million).
17. Ptolemys The MoneyPenny?? Breviary (15
th
century French manuscript). Sold for 1.7 million ($2 million???)
at ????? in 1989.
18? . Jami' al-tawarikh (1307). Persian historical document, written by famous 13
th
century Persian Chronicler
Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, contains much of his compiled written works notably on the Mongol Empire conquest and
settlement in the Middle East in the 1300s. Sold in 1980 for 850,000 ($1.5 million??) at ?????to the British-Persian
billionaire, Nasser David Khalili.
19. Geradus Mercators Atlas (1595). Sold $781,000 at Sothebys in ???.


20

21

22

23

24

25

26

The only online database on auction records in existence providing information to auction sales catalogs from
all major North American and European auction houses as well as many private sales is the SCIPIO database
produced by OCLC in Dublin, Ohio. At the time this book was going into print, Sothebys in New York had began
preparing the sale of a rare copy of the Magna Carta (13th century English manuscript). It had been bought by Ross
Perot in 1984, and is expected to fetch at least $20 million or more, propelling it third on the rich list. During the U.S.
bicentennial celebrations in 1976 when the U.S. celebrated 200 years of independence, the U.K. did give the U.S. a
copy of the Magna Carta as a birthday gift. Many books and manuscripts in this list are record holders in their own
right; e.g., J ohn J ames Audubons book The Birds of America is the most valuable, or at least the most expensive
modern book ever sold. Leonardo Da Vincis notebook The Codex Hammer is the most valuable manuscript in the
world. The Rothschild Prayer Book is the most expensive illuminated manuscript. The 13th century Koran (15th on
the list) is the most expensive Islamic holy book sold. Meanwhile Geoffrey Chaucers Canterbury Tales, the Biblia
Pauperum and the Gutenberg Bible (one of J ohannes Gutenbergs original copies) are the three most valuable
incunabula in the world. The Duke of Saxonys manuscript, the 12th century Gospels of Henry the Lion, is the oldest
expensive item in the list. Around the second quarter of the 13th century there began to appear, both in France and
in Britain, specialized religious manuscripts covering prayers and the biblical Psalms known as psalter-hours. The
Comment [GO30]: Now add thedetails since
salehas seen been made

Rothschild Prayer Book is the most expensive, of the three psalter-hours, listed above. A rare first edition of Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll raised $1.5m at auction in New York in 1995, making this the most
valuable children's book ever sold. The book was Carroll's own working copy that he used to prepare the text for a
simplified version for younger children. Only 22 copies of the 1865 first edition are known to exist today, 17 of which
are in libraries and just five, including the copy just sold, are in private hands.

Notes. Sothebys was founded in 1774 and is the largest auction house in the world. It auctioned only books
from the start, until 1780 when it began to auction other items such as paintings and sculptures. The second of
the famous two auction houses, Christies, is slightly older, having been founded in 1766. Apart from Sothebys
and Chrities, which are both based in Britain with international branches such as in Paris, France and New
In many countries, the export of valuable rare books and manuscripts, out of a countrys borders can be
prohibited by law, even if bought legitimately from an auction house like Sothebys or private sale, if government
appointed experts deem it to be of national or cultural importance to stay in the country. In the Britain, the
decisive factors which determine whether valuable rare books and manuscripts can be taken out of the country
or not, is listed in a set of strict guidelines called the Waverley criteria. The first recorded major public auction of
rare books and manuscripts occurred in 1599 (about 145 years after Gutenberg printed the first book), with the
sale of the contents of Philip Van Marnixs library in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Sherborne Missal, a 15th
century English illuminated manuscript bought by the British Library and valued at $21 million, is better seen as
a fine example of medieval art than an illuminated manuscript and so does not make the most expensive list.
The Estelle Doheny Collection is still a lot cheaper than the one worlds most expensive painting, Vincent Van
Goghs Portrait of Doctor Gachet, which was sold at Christies, New York, in 1990 for approximately $81 million.
When Microsofts Bill Gates purchased the Codex Hammer in 1994 he displayed a rare modesty. Bill Gates
chose not to name the manuscript after himself, i.e. call it Codex Gates, as previous owners of the Leonardo da
Vincis notebook had done in the past, when they named the manuscript after themselves. The Codex Hammer,
also known as Codex Leicester, is named after its previous owners.


208.
6 most expensive books that can be bought from bookstores
Six of the most expensive books that could be purchased from a bookstore or the publisher by winter 2007 are:
Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Kingdom by Michael Holey. It costs $110,000 per copy when it was first
published in 2003. It was not published in the conventional way, as Professor Holey made the book himself with an
advanced digital printer. Holey says the book costs $2,000 to produce, and Amazon is charging $10,000 for the
book. Because the book is only produced on demand, it does not topple the world record for the most expensive
published book on sale in the conventional; sense, but Holeys book is currently the most expensive book advertised
by Amazon and also now the heaviest book on sale in the world.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. This 60-volume reference book published in 2004 cost $13,000 for the
complete set. See entry 205 for more details.
Modern Art: Revolution and Painting published in 2003 retails for $6,000.
Muhammad Ali biography published in 2004 is, cost $3,500. Only 10,000 produced, and to sold exclusively by
Amazon.
Construction Law Reports 1985-1997 edited by M.P. Furmston and V. Powell-Smith (Editor) $2,500. Published
in 1993. It was the first book to be sold for more than $2,000 by Amazon.
Sumo by Helmut Newton. Published in J anuary 2000 by Taschen, it had a price tag of $2,400. The book was
about the controversial career of German erotic photographer Helmut Newton and has over 450 photographs in over
500 pages. The mammoth book project that produced Sumo took more than three years with more than 50 people
working with the author. The final cost of the book production was estimated at $5 million. Sumo is available in
English, German and French. It also comes complete with it own coffee table. Anyone wanting to buy a copy of the
book may be out of luck, as only a limited edition of 10,000 hand-bound copies was printed. In 2001 a film about the
book was made in Germany. Some of these books are very large and heavy so are further record holders in other
categories. See entry 190 more details.



209. Most overdue library book and the biggest fines
In 1667 Robert Walpole borrowed a book from the library of Sidney Sussex College (one of the 31 colleges of
Cambridge University). The book, titled Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum Septentrionalium, was published in
Germany in 1609. A direct descendant of Robert Walpole returned the book 289 years later in 1956. (However no
fine was charged )

210. Biggest book fines
In 2002, a student from the University of Iowa in the U.S. was jailed for not returning books he had borrowed
from the Iowa City Public Library. His charge was fourth-degree theft. His overdue fines for the books from the
library were almost $450, which he had not yet paid before he was jailed. In 2003, book worm teacher Emily
Cannellos-Simms faced $345 in overdue book fines. In 1999, library user at Prairie Creek Library, in Dwight, Illinois
paid $292 in fines for returning a book 40 years overdue. Mildred Pugmire, a library user at Salt Lake City public
library returned a book 76 years overdue, and faced possible fines of $5000 , which was waived.

211. Famous 10 stolen books and manuscripts
1.The Geographia (Cosmographia). During the Middle Ages while Europe was fighting with the Arabs in the
crusades, they began looking for the Geographia when it suddenly disappeared and seemed lost forever. But all
along the Arabs had been quietly looking after the Geographia after it had apparently been stolen during the
crusades by persons unknown. Europe was able to recover a copy of the original Geographia when a member of the
Italian nobility, the Strozzi family, of Florence, obtained a perfect copy in Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1407. Taken
back to Italy it caused a sensation, and to ensure it was not lost again, several further copies of the recovered copy
of the Geographia were made and promptly translated from Greek into Latin and several other languages for
scholars and university libraries all over Europe. The first copy was made in Genoa by J acobis Angelus in 1409.
Some of the earliest copies after 1409, were obtained by the Vatican Library in Rome in 1478 and are on display
today, but the copy at the Nancy City Library in France dates from 1427 (hence hand-copied and not produced with
Gutenbergs printer) and is the oldest surviving copy today. Not surprisingly, as Constantinople was the location
where the Geographia was rediscovered, the oldest copy of the Geographia appears in the 13
th
century Codex
Seragliensis GI 57 which was stored at the Ottoman Empires Tokapi Palace Library. In 2007, a former employee of
the National Library of Spain who stole the cream of the librarys collection of rare cartographic manuscripts
negotiated their return to the library staff while on the run in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Among items eventually
retuned to the astonishment of the Spanish library staff was a very rare 1482 edition of the Geographia belonging
the library and worth over $100,000.
2. The Rothschild Prayer Book. This manuscript , originally printed in the 16th century, was among the
numerous items looted from the palace of Baron Louis de Rothschild in Vienna in 1938, after the Hitlers Nazis
annexed Austria with Germany. After the end of the Second World War, the manuscript remained the property of
the Austrian government, who placed restrictions on the manuscripts movements, until 1999, when it was finally
returned to the Rothschild family following lengthily negotiations between them and the Austrian government.
3. Harvard University Library was the victim of the theft of $3 million worth of cartographic manuscripts by a
map dealer E. Forbes Smiley III who was arrested in 2005.
4. In 2003, rare books worth over $50 million were recovered after Danish police arrested four suspects who
had stolen over 4000 rare books belonging to the National Library of Denmark in the 1960s and 1970s. Items stolen
included manuscripts by Martin Luther and first editions by Immanuel Kant, Thomas More and J ohn Milton. The
thieves were caught out when they foolishly tried to sell a rare 500 year old book at the London auction house
Christies, not realizing it was the only copy existing in the world and hence had only one legitimate owner: it was
registered as belonging to the National Library of Denmark. When police raided the suspects home, they found a
haven of stolen rare books. Danish police rules out a member of public going into the library o steal and concluded
the theft had to be an inside job, and they soon identified the inside man: an employee of the library's oriental

department. Before being caught, the thieves did mange to sell books between 1998 and 2002, worth some $2
million at various auctions.
5. In 1990, the FBI charged a man from Minnesota with the theft of over 30,000 books from 140 university
libraries in the U.S. When the FBI raided his home, they were shocked to find that the haul of stolen books had filled
14 rooms, resembling a large legitimate private library.
6. In 2012, authroites in Spain recovered the famous 12
th
century Codex Calistinus, stolen the previus year by
an electrician who worked at the ??? cathedral were it had been removed..,



212. Most famous persons barred from borrowing books from a famous library
When the Bodleian Library at Oxford University was re-founded in 1602 after being destroyed by troops of King
Edward VI, the library took drastic measures to protect its growing collection. Notes. In 1645, the library refused to
allow English King Charles I to borrow books from the library, despite the fact Charles I was the reigning English
monarch. When the King Charles I was executed and England became a republic, the library also refused to allow
Oliver Cromwell to borrow any books in 1654. At that time Cromwell was the military ruler of England. The reason
for the refusal was the fact that by the 17th century, one of the statutes of the new Bodleian Library specifically
banned the loan of books from the library as it was only a reference library. And there was no exception to the rule
whatsoever, even the if the borrower was the king of England!



213. First major book-burning ritual
Right up to the 20th century, major book-burning ceremonies have been carried out in various countries by their
governments or rulers. These rituals were mostly for religious, political, or ideological reasons. Medieval Europe
witnessed several huge religious book-burning ceremonies, such as the famous Bonfire of the Vanities of the
Vatican priest Savonarola in Florence, Italy, in the 15th century, when books by authors such as Dante, Plato,
Boccaccio and Ovid were destroyed in public for being AntiChristian. (Anti-Catholic). The first major book-burning
event on a very large scale probably occurred with the complete destruction, which took 7 months to complete, of
the huge collections of the Alexandria library in Egypt in the 7th century A.D., by Arab invaders. The reason given for
the book-burning was to destroy the books of the infidels. With Egypt about to be completely Islamized, the Arabs
felt the contents of the papyrus and parchment books in the library went against the principles and teachings of
Islam.
Notes. The largest recorded mass burning of books in the 20th century occurred in Germany and parts of
occupied Europe during the Nazi regime in the 1930s and 1940s, such as the May 1933 burning of over 30,000
books at Berlins Humboldt University. This was part of the policy of Gleichschaltung (synchronization) to control
library collections. Joseph Goebbels, Hitlers propaganda minister, conducted many of the public book-burning
ceremonies. The owner of the famous Foyles bookstore in London ???? (see list ???) was said to have begged
Hitler to send to her a large amount of books Hitler had approved for destruction, so she could sell them in her
then growing bookstore in central London. The second largest recorded mass burning of books in the 20th
century occurred during the Cold War, when communist in the Soviet Union destroyed books that were
considered counter to the communist doctrines. During the Qing dynasty (16441911) in China, for almost 10
years there were big book-burning ceremonies, due to the Qing rulers concerns about the activities of
intellectual Chinese scholars, which it felt could destabilize the government. Going back earlier in time, the first
Chinese Emperor Qin Shih Huang (Chin Shih Huang) of the Qin dynasty was known to have carried out a
massive book-burning exercise around 213 BC. To suppress the spread of classical Chinese literature, he
issued an edict for the destruction of books, especially those of Lao-Tzu, Confucius and Mencius. The emperor
also went a step further by carrying out executions of several scholars alongside the book-burning rituals. In the
early 20
th
century, young Chinese zealots replicated the emperors ritual by burning thousands of classical

Chinese literature. Scholars believe that in ancient Greece and the Roman Empires, in an effort to prevent
unexpected destruction by fire, several important books were written deliberately on vellum and not on
parchment or papyrus. This was because vellum does not burn as easily as the other two. An alternative to
book-burning is banning books from reaching the public. This is the more civilized method used today by
governments. However there are still major instances of library books being destroyed by governments in post-
war modern times for ideological or religious reasons. For instance in 2004, the United Nations reported that the
Chinese government had publicly destroyed over a hundred thousand books in Beijing that had links with the
Falung gong movement. And in 2009, Venezuelan newspapers had reported that over 45,000 books owned by
the Autonomous Library Institute (a public library system) was pulped for ideological reasons by the regional
government of the State of Miranda. Books deemed to relate to what it called American Imperialism were the
main targets. In Israel, it was a custom not to throw away or burn religious texts but to store or bury them in a
synagogues Genizah.
Sources and Further Reading.
Burning Books and Leveling Libraries: Extremist Violence and Cultural Destruction / Rebecca Knuth. Praeger.
Westport Connecticut, 2006.


214. Famous government-sanctioned book bans
The earliest instance of banning books from the general public, occurred when Roman Emperor Caligula simply
banned Homers Odyssey from libraries in the entire Roman Empire, rather than destroy them with fire. Some
famous government sanctioned book bans include that of Russian dictator J osef Stalin who banned both the Bible
and the Koran in the former USSR. Irans Ayatollah Khomeini banned Salman Rushdies The Satanic Verses and
issued a fatwa (or death sentence) against him, and Augusto Pinochet disallowed the sale of Don Quixote in Chile in
the 1970s. The longest list of major government sanctioned banned books started around the time of the infamous
16th century era of the Inquisition. In 1559 the Vatican and Pope Paul IV published the first edition of a book listing
over 4,000 published works that were censored and banned in Roman Catholic countries, because they contained
opinions that were considered to be heretical or antiChristian. During the time this ban was in force, there were of
course several book-burning events. Over the years, among the famous books on the Vaticans banned list, known
as the Index Libroram Prohibitorum (Index of Prohibited Books), have been those written by such novelists,
scientists, philosophers and astronomers as Victor Hugo, Francis Bacon, Ren Descartes, Emmanuel Swedenborg,
Blaise Pascal, Nicolaus Copernicus, Giovanni Casanova, Galileo Galilei and J ean-Paul Sartre. During periods of
book banning, there have been efforts on the other side to protect books, especially those in university libraries. In
the mid1700s, Pope Benedict XIV issued a papal bull which in effect punished anyone caught stealing or
destroying books in universities or public libraries. The banned list was discontinued in 1966, after more than 400
years, although the Inquisition (instituted in 1542) officially ended much earlier, in 1820. Turkey once banned the
sale of the complete set of Encyclopdia Britannica in the 1980s because they felt it was too politically incorrect
and thus a bad influence on its younger generation. Not only was the book forbidden in Turkey, all existing copies
were destroyed and recycled to make more acceptable Turkish publications. In middle 1980s, the British
government banned the publication of a book by former MI6 secret agent Peter Wright. The book titled Spy Catcher,
had theorized who the 5th man was. The book was related to a KGB spy ring in the U.K. of 5 British MI6 double
agents working for the KGB, some recruited as students from Cambridge University in the 1930s such as Kim Philby
and Anthony Blunt. The spy ring was gradually unmasked in the 1960s and 1980s, but only 4 of the 5 MI6 agents
were positively identified up to the time Spy Catcher, was eventually published in Australia in 1987. In the 1990s the
5th man was positively identified as J ohn Carincross, which was not the name revealed in the book

215. Oldest bookstores
Today the oldest existing bookstore in the world is Libreria Editrice It was founded in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V. It
also publishes and prints books for the Vatican. Livraria Bertrand in Lisbon, Portugal, has been selling books since

1732. It will be 276 years old in 2008. The oldest English bookstore was J ohn Smith & Sons Bookshop in Glasgow,
Scotland, which had been booksellers since 1751. Sadly in November 2000 it closed for the last time, a victim of the
phenomenal growth of the online bookstore revolution. Popular poet Robert Burns was a regular customer of the
bookstore. WHSmith, a large bookseller in the U.K. was formed in 1792, but it originally sold only newspapers for a
number of years before branching into selling books as well. The oldest university bookstore, including those which
are part of a university press is Cambridge University Press in the U.K. (the oldest publisher of books in the world,
see entry 229), which has been selling its own books since 1590. The oldest bookstore in the world specializing in
only antiquarian books is the one owned by Henry Sotheran, founded in York, Britain in 1761.

Notes. The renowned U.S. collector of Shakespeare, Henry Clay Folger, (who founded the Folger Library)
acquired much of his collection, including the Halliwell-Phillips library, through the Sotheran bookstore.
95.tif
Bertrand bookstore in Portugal, opened in 1732, is the second oldest bookstore in the world. This is the Lisbon
branch.

216. Oldest existing bookstore in the Americas
The Moravian Bookstore has been in existence in the quiet town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S., since 1745.
Notes. The origin of the Moravian bookstore dates back to 17th of November 1745 when Bishop Augustus
Spangenberg, the leader of the Bethlehem Moravian Congregation in the U.S., suggested to Samuel Powell,
keeper of the Bethlehem Inn, the possibility of importing and distributing books in Bethlehem. Aware of the
importance of a well-organized commerce in books for Bethlehem (then a new settlement), with its missionary
and educational activities, Powell began to buy and sell books, initially religious books, but later books on other
subjects as well.

96.tif
The Moravian bookstore, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which opened in 1745 is the oldest in the U.S.

217. Oldest existing bookstores in the Asia
Higginbothams, Madras (Chennai), was founded in 1844. Maruzen bookstore in, Tokyo, J apan was founded in
1869.

218. Oldest existing bookstore in the Africa and the Middle East
J uta Bookshop, Cape Town, South Africa, was founded in 1923. Steimatzkys Bookstore, Tel Aviv, Israel, was
established in 1925.

219. First and largest book clubs
Swiss Co-operative Movement of Switzerland was founded in 1900. The two largest book clubs in Europe are
probably the Book Club Associates or BCA. It is jointly owned by Germanys Bertelsmann and the Anglo-Dutch
Group Reed Elsevier and is based in London, U.K. The other big European book club is France Loisirs, it is also the
world's largest book club, with over 6 million members in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada (Quebec)
combined . The two largest book clubs in the United States, Book-of-the-Month Club and Doubleday Direct. Ophra

Winfreys Book Club is the worlds most popular book club, and one of the best places to promote a new book.


220. Largest online bookstore
Amazon was founded in 1995 by J eff Bezos and based in Seattle in the U.S. In the financial year 2006 it had
over 10 million titles and annual sales average $9.2 billion. Online advertising is very important to online bookstores.
According to Thomson Intermedia, a leading advertising monitor, Amazon is also the largest online advertising
spender in the U.K., with more than 90% of its total advertising budget over $22 million going towards web and WAP
advertising. Although Amazon started the online bookstore revolution a decade ago, today all major bookstores and
book publishers also have websites to enable readers to browse and purchase books. Bookfinder.com is the largest
book search engine, searching over 30,000 bookstores and online bookstores including Amazon. It currently has
over 40 million new, used, rare, and out of print titles.
Notes. The largest online bookseller of used, rare, second hand, out-of-print and antiquarian books is 21 North
Main. The company has more than 11 million books available from more than 2,800 rare book dealers.

221. Largest online bookstore in Europe
The Internet Bookshop, which is a division of the book and magazine retailer WHSmith (Swindon, U.K.),
currently has a stock of over 4 million titles. It was set up in 1994, and is probably the oldest online bookstore, as it
was set up before Amazon.

222. Largest online bookstore in Asia
Xinhua, with offices located in Beijing, China, has a collection of over 6 million titles on the web.

223. Largest online bookstore in Latin America
Brazils Livraria Cultura has over 2 million titles. The online bookstore is based in So Paulo.

224. Largest online bookstore in Africa
Exclusive Books, located in J ohannesburg, South Africa, has over 100, 000 titles.

225. Largest online bookstore in the Middle East
Based in Beirut (Lebanon), Nile & Euphrates offers more than 50,000 Arabic books on the Internet. The second
largest online bookstore in the Middle East, Almaktabah, is also located in Beirut.

226. Largest and tallest bookstores
Barnes & Noble Bookstore, with its headquarters in New York City, is the largest in the world in both volume
and total floor space. Currently the bookstore has a stock of over 4.5 million titles. The largest bookstores in the U.S.
are in Manhattan and Queens. Barnes & Noble operates over 800 bookstores in the U.S. The tallest bookstore is the
27 floor Shanghai Book City, in China at 427 feet. Donner Boekhandel, Rotterdam in the Netherlands is the tallest

bookstore building in Europe, with 11 floors measuring 126 feet

227. Largest bookstores around the world
I found it hard to compile an accurate list of the largest bookstores in the world, because bookstores acquire
new books faster than libraries. So I have decided instead to provide a list of the largest bookstores from a selection
of countries. Most of these bookstores now have online versions similar to Amazon, but as always Amazon is
unique in that it has no physical branch you can visit, you can only browse or buy books online. Some bookstores
aided me by sending in current total number of books, but this may not represent the actual total by the time this
book went into print. Unless otherwise noted, each bookstore listed here represents all the branches of that
particular bookstore in the same city.
ARGENTINA
1. Librera ABC, Buenos Aires

2. Yenny El Ateneo. Buenos Aires. Largest bookstore chain in South America. Also add to index

3. Grupo ILHSA, Buenos Aires.
Notes. The Spanish word for bookstore is Librera.
AUSTRALIA
1. Angus & Robertson Bookshop, Sydney.
2. Australian National University, Co-op, Canberra.
3. Dymocks, Sydney.
4. Birchalls Bookshop, Launceston, Tasmania. Founded in 1844, it is the oldest bookstore in Australia.
More data on Australian bookshops from the critical review of book
AUSTRIA
1. Buchhandlung Lektre, Vienna
2. Buchhandlung Hollrigl, Salzburg. Also oldest in Austria.
BELGIUM
1. Standard Boekhandel, Brussels.
2. Belgique Loisirs, Brussels.
3. Club, Brussels.
Notes. Belgium is bilingual, so names of bookstores are in French (Librairie) and Flemish (Boekhandel),
depending on location. The largest online bookstore in Belgium is Brussels-based Proxis.
BRAZIL
1. Livraria Siciliano, So Paulo.
2. Livraria Nobel, So Paulo.

3. Livraria La Selva, So Paulo.
4. Livraria Lojas Saraiva, Rio de J aneiro. Largest bookstore chain.
5. Livraria Vozes, Belo Horizonte.
Note. The Portuguese Brazilian word for bookstore is Livraria.
CANADA
1. Chapters Bookstore, Toronto. Largest Canadian bookstore.
2. WBB or Worlds Biggest Bookstore, Toronto. Stocking over 1 million titles.
3. McNally Robinson Bookstore, Toronto.
4. Librairie Gallimard, Montreal.
6. Indigo, Toronto.
Notes. The French word for bookstore is Librairie.
CHINA AND HONG KONG
1. Xinhua, Beijing.
2. Shanghai Book City, Shanghai. The building is massive: 27 floors. Possibly the largest bookstore in China, and
tallest book store in the world. with over 500,000 books.
3. Wang Fu J ing, Beijing.
5. Beijing Tushu Daxia (aka Beijing Book Building), the biggest bookstore in Beijing.
6. Xi Shu, Shanghai (largest bookstore chain in China).
Notes. The Chinese word for bookstore is Shu-Dian.
7. Popular Bookshop, Hong Kong.
8. Page One, Hong Kong also put in index

DENMARK
1. Arnold Busck, Copenhagen
2. Politikens Boghallen, Copenhagen.
3. GEC GAD, Copenhagen. The bookstore was founded in 1855 and is the oldest in Denmark.
Notes. The Danish word for bookstore is Boghandel.

97.tif
The Politikens bookstore in Copenhagen is the largest in Denmark.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Cuesta, Santo Domingo

EGYPT
Madboulis Bookstore, Cairo
Notes. The Arabic word for bookstore is Maktaba.
FINLAND
1. Akateeminen Kirjakauppa, Helsinki. Founded in 1893, oldest in Finland.
2. Suomalainen Kirjakauppa, Helsinki. Largest bookstore chain.
Notes. The Finnish word for bookstore is Kirjakauppa.
FRANCE
1. Librairie FNAC, Paris.
2. Librairie Le Furet du Nord, Lillie. Its 10 floors of books make it a leading contender for the largest bookstore in
Europe.
3. Librairie Mollat, Bordeaux. Oldest bookstore in France, as it was founded in 1896.
4. Librairie Decitre, Paris.
5. Librairie La Procure, Paris.
Notes. The French word for bookstore is Librairie, which is also used in the French speaking parts of Belgium,
Switzerland and Canada.
98.tif
The Fnac are the largest chain of bookstores in France. This store is in Lyon.

GERMANY
1. Thalia, Hamburg.
2. Buchhandlung Kiepert, Berlin.
3. Kulturkaufhaus Dussmann Buchhandlung, Berlin.
4. J .F. Lehmanns Fachbuchhandlung, Berlin.
5. Hugendubel Buchhandlung, Munich.
6. Phnix-Montanus Buchhandlung, Berlin.
Notes. The German word for bookstore is Buchhandlung, used also in Austria and Switzerland.

99.tif
Hugendubel is the largest chain of bookstores in Germany. This store in Munich is one the busiest.

100.tif
Its past 9pm at Berlins Hugendubel, but a lot of customers are still busy in the bookstore


GREECE
1. Eleftheroudakis, Athens.
2. Mihalopoulos, Thessaloniki.
IRELAND
1. Eason and Sons Bookshop, Dublin.
2. Hodges Figgis Bookshop, Dublin.
3.O'Mahony's, Limerick.
INDIA
1. Metropolitan Bookshop, New Delhi.
2. Higginbothams, Madras (Chennai). It claims to be the largest bookstore in India. It is India's oldest booksellers,
founded in 1844.
3. Flora Fountain Bookshop, Mumbai (Bombay) and College Street Bookshop, Calcutta (Kolkata). Both have over
two kilometers of books in open space, meaning that you can window shop for hours on what are the worlds
largest outdoor book markets. Over 500,000 books available to buy on a single day.
4. Gangaram, Bangalore.
Notes. New Delhibased Firstandsecond.com, with over 1 million titles, is the largest online bookstore in India.
INDONESIA
Gramedia, J akarta.
ISRAEL
1. Steimatzkys Bookstore. Tel Aviv. It is also the oldest in Israel, having been established in 1925.
ITALY
1. Libreria Marzocco, Florence.
2. Libreria Feltrinelli, Milan.
3. Libreria Rizzoli, Rome.
4. Libreria Flaccovio, Palermo.
Notes. The Italian word for bookstore is Libreria.
J APAN
1. Kinokuniya, Tokyo. 3 million titles.
2. Maruzen, Tokyo. 2.5 million tiles. It is the oldest existing bookstore in J apan, originally founded in 1869.
3. Kanda Book Town, Tokyo. 2 million titles.
4. J unkudo, Tokyo. 1.5 million titles.

5. Sanseido, Tokyo.
6. Yaesu Book Center, Tokyo. J apan's 2nd biggest bookstore after Kinokuniya.
Notes. The Japanese word for bookstore is Hon-ya. The largest bookstore district in Japan is Tokyos Kanda-
Jimbocho in the Chiyoda-Ku section of the city.
KOREA
1. , Seoul. 1.4 million titles.
2. Yeongpung (Youngpoong), Seoul.
3. Bandi & Luni`s. Seoul. With an area of 60,385 square feet, Bandi & Luni`s is the biggest bookstore in Asia and
stocks 2 million volumes
4. Chongno, Pusan,
5. J ongro, Seoul (till 2002).
Notes. The Korean word for bookstore is Seo-Jeom.
KUWAIT
Al Muthanna, Kuwait City.
LATVIA
J ina Rozes, Riga. It is the largest bookstore in the Baltic States.
Notes. The Latvian word for bookstore is Libro.
MALAYSIA
1. Kinokuniya, Kuala Lumpur.
2. MPH (Malaya Publishing House) Kuala Lumpur.
3. Readers World (Plaza Kotaraya), Kuala Lumpur.
MEXICO
1. Librera de Cristal. Mexico City.
2. Librera Gandhi, Mexico City.
3. Librera Porra, Mexico City.
Notes. The Spanish word for bookstore is Librera. The largest online bookstore in Mexico is Librera
Jovellanos.
THE NETHERLANDS
1. Scheltema Holkema Vermeulen Boekhandel, Amsterdam.
2. Donner Boekhandel, Rotterdam. The tallest bookstore building in Europe, with 11 floors. May have more books
than Waterstones Bookshop in London.

3. Athenaeum Boekhandel, Amsterdam.
4. De Slegte Boekhandel, Amsterdam.
5. Bruna Boekhandel, Rotterdam.
Notes. The Dutch word for bookstore is Boekhandel, which is also used in the Flemish speaking parts of
Belgium.
NEW ZEALAND
Whitcoullis and Bennetts, Auckland
NIGERIA
1. CMS Bookshop, Lagos.
2. Abiola Bookshops, Lagos
NORWAY
1. Tanum Bokhandel, Oslo.
2. Bokkilden Boazandel, Oslo
3. Olaf Norlis Bokhandel, Oslo.
Notes. The Norwegian word for bookstore is Bokhandel.
THE PHILIPPINES
1.Goodwill Bookstore, Manila.

2. National Bookstore, Manila.
POLAND
Empik, Warsaw.
PORTUGAL
1. Livraria Bertrand, Lisbon.
2. Livraria Barata, Lisbon.
3. Livraria Portugal
Notes. The Portuguese word for bookstore is Livraria. The second oldest bookstore in the world is Livraria
Bertrand, set up in 1732.
RUSSIA
1. Biblio-Globus, Moscow.
2. Book House (Moskovsky Dom Knigi), St Petersburg.
3. Molodaya Gvardia, Moscow.
4. Moskva, Moscow.

5. Presstorg, Moscow.
Notes. The Russian word for book store is Knizhniy Magazine.
SAUDI ARABIA
1. J areer. Riyadh.
2. Obeikan. Riyadh.
Notes. The Arabic word for bookstore is Maktaba which is also used as the word for library..
SLOVENIA
Mladinska Knjiga. Ljubljana
SINGAPORE
1. Kinokuniya. Claims to be the largest bookstore in southeast Asia.
2. Popular Bookshop.
SOUTH AFRICA
1. J uta Bookshop, Cape Town. It is the oldest bookstore in South Africa, founded in 1923.
2. J uta Bookhop, J ohannesburg.
3. Exclusive Books, J ohannesburg
SPAIN
1. Diaz de Santos, Madrid.
2. Casa de Libro, Barcelona.
Notes. The Spanish word for bookstore is Librera.
SWEDEN
1. Akademibokhandeln, Stockholm.
2. Bokhandeln Nystrms, Stockholm.
3. Bokhandeln Bokia, Stockholm.
Notes. The Swedish word for bookstore is Bokhandeln. Bokus.com is the largest online bookstore in
Scandinavia, and the third largest in Europe; over 1.5 million titles are available.
SWITZERLAND
1. Buchhandlung Orelli Fuessli, Zrich.
2. Buchhandlung Stauffacher, Zrich.
3. Buchhandlung Luthy, Zrich.
4. Buchhandlung J aeggi, Basel.

TAIWAN
1. Eslite Books (Xin Yi), Taipei.
2. Hess Bookstore, Taipei.


Notes. Eslite Books, is a 24 hour bookstore, one of the few bookstores with round-the-clock opening hours in
the world. Timeasia magazine voted the 8- stories high building, the best bookstore in Asia in 2004. With large
readers lounges in the aisles, a restaurant, over 3000 magazines, a million books, and a steady stream of
classical music played in the background, it is hard to fall asleep, let alone get bored, in this fascinating
bookstore in the early hours of the morning.
THAILAND
1. Asia Books, Bangkok.
2. DK Books, Bangkok.
3. SE Education, Bangkok. Largest bookstore chain.
4. Dokya, Bangkok.
Notes. The Thai word for bookstore is Rarn-Khai-Nang-Seur.
TURKEY
1. Enderun Kitabevi, Istanbul.
2. Dnya Aktel Kitabevi, Istanbul. Turkey's largest bookstore chain.
3. Bilgi, Istanbul.
Notes. The Turkish word for bookstore is Kitabevi.
U.K.
1. Waterstones Bookshop. London. Many branches were formerly known under the name Dillons. The Piccadilly
Circus branch of Waterstones is the largest single bookstore in Europe, with a stock of 3 million titles, covering 7
floors. The Glasgow branch of Waterstones is the third largest bookstore in the U.K.
2. Foyles Bookshop, London. Most probably the second largest single bookstore in Europe, with a stock of about 2
million titles.
3. Blackwells Bookshop. London.
4. Books etc, London.
5. Borders Bookshop, London.
6. WHSmith, London. It is also the largest seller of magazines and newspapers in the U.K.
7. Grant & Cutter, London. Largest foreign bookseller in the U.K.

101.tif
Waterstones Bookshop near Londons Piccadilly Circus, is still the largest single bookshop in Europe.
The town of Hay-on-Wye is particlat renowed for its boooshops. Get location and more data


UNITED STATES
1. Barnes & Noble Bookstore New York City. Largest bookstore in the world. Over 4.5 million titles to choose from.
There are over 800 bookstores.
2. Borders Bookstore, New York City. 2 million titles.
3. Powells Bookstore, Portland, Oregon. More than 1.5 million books.
4. Waldenbooks Bookstore, headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It runs the largest mall-based bookseller in the
U.S. with over 900 bookstores.
5. Lectorum Bookstore (Librera Lectorum), New York City. It is the largest bookstore in the U.S. stocking books in
Spanish for the Hispanic community.

102.tif
Powells bookstore, in Portland, Oregon.

Notes. The U.S. Government Printing Office, better known as the GPO, is the largest publisher of government
documents, reports and books in the world, with over 30,000 publications issued each day. The GPO, which
began printing in 1861, also operates about 25 bookstores around the U.S. that sell its publications. The largest
private distributor of U.S. government publications as well as Intergovernmental agency publications such as
those from the World Bank and the OECD is Bernan, based in Lanham, Maryland.
VATICAN CITY
Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Rome.
Notes. It is also the oldest bookstore in the world having been founded in 1587. See also entry 215. The Latin
word for bookstore is Libreria.
VENEZUELA
Librera Lectura, Caracas.
VIETNAM
1. Fahasa. Ho Chi Minh City.
2. Xuan Thu. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City
Notes. The Vietnamese word for bookstore is Dan Thu (the world for library is Thu vien).

YUGOSLAVIA (SERBIA).
1. Nolit, Belgrade.
2. Prosveta. Belgrade.
3. Narodna Knjiga. Belgrade.

228. Largest publishers of books

Here are lists of some of the largest publishers around the world, publishing in the official language. Some are
government owned, others are private or partially privatized. N.B. many of these publishers such as HarperCollins,
have numerous imprints or brand names, depending on the subject or category of the books being published.
Australia: Collins (imprint of HarperCollins).
Bangladesh: UPL.
Canada: Harlequin; University of Toronto Press.
China: China Publishing Group.
Denmark: Gyldendal.
Egypt: Dar Al Maaref.
Finland: Werner Soderstrom Oyi (WSOY); Otava
France: Havas; Lagardre; Hachette, (the largest French publishing house, also largest magazine publisher in
Europe); Groupe De la Cite, France's second-largest book publisher; La Martinire; Vivendi.
Germany: Bertelsmann (largest book publisher); Axel Springer (Ullstein Heynelist); Holtzbrinck; Weltbild.
Indonesia: Gramedia
Israel: Stemzky.
Ital y: Arnoldo Mondadori; Feltrineli De Agostini; Garzanti.
Japan: Kodansha.
Mexico: Oceano de Mexico, Although part of the Oceano group based in Spain, an imprint is the largest publisher
in Mexico.
Malaysia: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP).
Norway: Cappelen.
The Netherlands: Elsevier (largest scientific, technical and medical publisher).
Poland: Wsip (Wydawnictwa Szkolne Pedagogiczne).
Russia: Adolf Marx.
South Africa: Nasional Pers.
Spain: Planeta Actimedia; Santillana, (the largest book publisher in the Spanish-speaking world, with smaller
advertising agencies and printing companies into the group).
Sweden: Bonnier Group (Arnold Bonnier, AB).
Switzerland: Edipresse.
Sri Lanka: M.D. Gunasena.
Taiwan: Cite.
U.K.: Oxford University Press; Hodder Headline; Pearson (worlds largest education publisher; Cambridge University
Press;
U.S.: Random House (largest English language book publisher in the world, part of Germanys Bertelsmann); Wiley-
Blackwell (2nd largest scientific, technical and medical publisher). Time Warner Books (2nd largest English
language book publisher);. Penguin Putnam; IDG Scholastic (largest publisher of childrens books in the U.S.);
Macmillan Computer Publishing, (largest computer book publisher); HarperCollins.
Yugoslavia (Serbia): Narodna Knjiga, Belgrade.
Notes. The largest publisher of magazines is IDG, based Boston, Massachusetts, in with branches worldwide.



229 Oldest publishers of books
Cambridge University Press is the oldest publisher in the world, having been continuously-publishing books
since 1584. The Vaticans publishing house Libreria Editrice was founded in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V, when he set up
the Holy Sees printing press. Libreria Editrice is also a major bookstore in the Vatican. Oxford University Press
dates back to the late 1590s. The earliest book publisher in Europe was the one set up in Milan, Italy in 1472, but it
no longer exists today. In the Americas earliest publisher was the one established by Mathew Carey in 1785 in
Philadelphia. The oldest continuously operated university press in the U.S. is the J ohn Hopkins University Press
founded in 1878. The oldest continuous publisher of commercial journals is Taylor & Francis, founded in London in
1798. It journals are also available via Informaworld (see entry 283)
230. Largest annual book fair

The biggest book fairs are measured in the number of exhibitors and not number of visitors. Reed Exhibitions
(part of Reed Elsevier) organizes several of the largest book fairs in the world, including the London Book Fair, The
Tokyo Book Fair in J apan and the Book Expo America in several U.S. cities. The Frankfurt International Book Fair,
in Germany is the largest in the world. In 2007 there were 7272 exhibitors from over 113 countries and 57,000
visitors each day. It is also the oldest-continuously hosted book fair, as it was first held in 1534 (the modern event
however began in 1950). The event is held annually at magnificent Messe Trade Center in Frankfurt. Since 2002 in
October along with the event an annual fair for online databases and services for libraries called InfoBase (see entry
342). The other main book fair event in Germany is the Leipzig Book Fair, which first began in 1991. The London
Book Fair which began in 1972 had 1510 exhibitors in 2007 from 45 countries. The third largest book fair in Europe
is the Moscow International Book Fair, which was set up in 1977 and features 719 exhibitors for the 5 day event.
The largest childrens book fair is the Bologna Childrens Book Fair in Italy (founded in 1962). In 2006 11,000 daily
visitors came to the fair, with over 1200 children books exhibitors from 63 countries. The largest book fair in France
is Salon du Liver held every year in Paris. The 2
nd
largest book fair in Eastern Europe, is Polands Warsaw
International Book Fair.

103.tif
Each year the Frankfurt International Book Fair, worlds largest book fair, is held at the Messe Trade Center in
Frankfurt, Germany.

231. Largest annual book fairs in the U.S. and Canada
First held in 1983, about 2565 exhibitors came to the week-long Miami Book Fair International in Florida in
2006.
The same year, the Book Expo America (first expo in 1985), held in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco,
all had more than 2100 exhibitors from 48 countries and over 95,000 daily visitors each. In Canada, the 2007 Salon
du Liver Montreal book fair (founded in 1978) had 875 exhibitors and 20,500 daily visitors. The 2007 American
Library Association annual conference was attended by over 28,000 visitors with over 950 exhibiting companies.

232. Largest annual book fairs in Asia
Seven countries vie for the largest annual fairs in Asia. The 2007 Tokyo International Book Fair J apan had
55,943 daily visitors and 712 exhibitors in 51 countries. The Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) in Taiwan
(first held in 1991) for 2012 had over 600,000 daily visitors with 749 exhibitors from 61 countries. The Beijing Book
Fair, which started in 1993 had 1501 exhibitors in 48 countries and 51,00 daily visitors. The 2007 Hong Kong Book
Fair, established in 1990 attracted 98,084 daily visitors, with more than more than 480 exhibitors from over 45
countries. The Seoul International Book Fair in South Korea had over 462 exhibitors from 52 countries and 46,000
visitors. The World Book Fair in New Delhi, India, (founded in 1989) in 2007 had 125,000 daily visitors and 400
exhibitors. Finally Mumbai (Bombay) International Book Fair and the Calcutta (Kolkata) Book Fair both in India, are
averaged about 250 exhibitors and 15,000 visitors over the last few years. The Bangkok International Book Fair,
does not have more exhibitors than any of the 6 countries listed above, but it has the largest attendance of a book
fair in the world, with over 130,000 daily visitors in 2007 for the 12 day event.

233. Largest annual book fairs in Latin America
The largest book fair in South America is the Buenos Aires Book Fair (first held in 1975). In 2007 the 19 day
event attracted 1325 exhibitors and 52,000 daily visitors. It is it's the oldest book event in the Spanish-speaking

world. Guadalajara International Book Fair, in Mexico, had more than 2001 exhibitors in 2005. it is the biggest book
fair in Latin America. The 11 day Rio de J aneiro Book 2007 Fair in Brazil (founded in 1983), had 57,272 daily visitors
and 525 exhibitors.

234. Largest annual book fairs in the Middle East
The 20th annual Tehran International Book Fair in Iran in 2007 and the 2007 Istanbul Book Fair in Turkey were
both the largest in the Middle East. Both averaged just over 382 exhibitors and 31,000 daily visitors.

235. Largest annual book fairs in Africa
The annual Cape Town Book Fair in 2007 had 16,000 visitors and 170 exhibitors. It is not a big event as it only
began in 2004, but is growing steadily. The Zimbabwe International Book Fair, held each year in the capital, Harare,
was once the largest in African, and attracted over 200 exhibitors before 2002, but has since been scaled back over
the last few years. The oldest book fair in Africa is the Cairo International Book Fair in Egypt, which began in 1969.
For 2007 had 136 exhibitors and 49,000 daily visitors. It is a 60 day event, the longest in any book fair.

WORLD RECORDS FOR LIBRARY BUILDINGS

236. Oldest existing library buildings
The famous Indian librarian Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan once remarked in his equally famous five laws of
library science that A library is a growing organism. Very true, as todays libraries see their book collections grow in
size at a faster rate than decades before. The U.S. Library of Congress in 1979 had about 16 million books, but
today that figure is over 25 million. While Harvard University had 901,000 books in 1900, today that figure is over 13
million. As libraries acquire more books, naturally more space is needed, meaning expanding an existing library
building or constructing a new library building with bigger space from scratch. Listing the oldest library building
proved a bit difficult to research. Should the list include library buildings renovated but with several parts of the
original buildings intact?
The earliest library buildings were those built by the Sumerians (part clay and part stone) to store collections of
their written documents in the form of clay tablets, around 2700 BC. These libraries do not exist intact anymore. The
ancient Egyptians were the first to build library buildings made entirely of stone. But the oldest existing stone
building in ancient Egypt and indeed the world is not a library building but the Imhoteps Step Pyramid of Djoser, in
what is now Saqqara (Sakkara). It was completed in Third Egyptian dynasty (circa 2800 BC) for King Zoser .
Library buildings built with concrete (pozzolana) first appeared in the Roman Empire about 180 BC. Many of the
libraries in the oldest universities in the world, (see lists 61 and 63), were actually part of the university buildings
themselves and so cannot count as separate buildings. But it is worth mentioning that universities in existence
before the first half of the 13th centuryi.e., before A.D. 1250 (see entry 382)and still existing today have some
surviving buildings with some parts devoted to a library, some of which have now been replaced with modern
buildings. These libraries include the universities of Bologna, Padua, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Vicenza, Perugia
and Sienna in Italy; Salamanca University in Spain; Paris and Montpellier universities in France; Oxford and
Cambridge universities in the U.K.; Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey; Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, and
Al-Qarawiyin University in Fez, Morocco. Padua University in Italy possibly has the oldest existing university library
building in Europe.
The following are some of the oldest library buildings in the world, (with the exception of national and university
library buildings).

104.tif
The entrance to Parma University Library, in Italy, reveals curved walls, arched ceilings. A standard architectural
style still present on some old university buildings

Asia-Pacific region (excluding the Middle East): The Tianyi Ge Library building in the Chinese coastal city of
Ningbo (Ningpo or Ninghsien) on the Yong River was built in 1516, during the Ming dynasty. It also houses some of
the oldest and rarest Chinese manuscripts to be found outside the national library in Beijing. It is the oldest library
building in Asia, outside the Middle East.
Notes. The four major religions of Asia, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity, all had some of the earliest
buildings for storing sacred manuscripts and books. The oldest religion, Hinduism, had temple buildings housing
libraries that date back to the first millennium BC, but few exist today. Some of the few surviving library buildings
of Buddhist monasteries (or Vihar) date from the 7th century BC in India. The Huaisheng Mosque in Canton
(Guangzhou), China, built in the 7th century A.D., also included an Islamic library.

Europe: The monastic Malatesta Library building (Biblioteca Comunale Malatestiana) was constructed between
1447 and 1452 in Cesena, northern Italy, and is probably the oldest surviving original library building in the world
today. Prince Novello Malatesta founded the library and the architect was Matteo Nutti. Today most of the rare

books of the library are in the Laurentian Library in Florence, but it still has over 400,000 books, which are on the
UNESCO Memory of the World Register. The building of the Laurentian Library itself is old as well. Construction of
the Laurentian Library began in 1524, and was opened to the public in 1571. The present Vatican Library building
dates back to 1588, when Pope Sixtus V asked Domenico Fontana to design a new library building. The other early
monasteries that still exist today (but with renovated buildings) had some form of libraries inside, and they included
the 4th century A.D. St. Maurice Monastery of Switzerland, the 5th century A.D. St. Honorat island monastery of
France, and the 12th century Poblet Monastery in Spain. There are many existing cathedral buildings with libraries
in Europe, some dating back to the Middle Ages such as the Canterbury Cathedral in U.K., Notre Dame Cathedral in
France, and the Toledo Cathedral in Spain.

Notes. The St Gallen Monastery building in Switzerland dates back to the 7th century A.D., but has since been
renovated externally while retaining the gothic architectural style. It was one of Europes greatest centres of
learning. Its famous library Stiftsbibliothek is the largest of the oldest existing monastic libraries today, with over
100,000 books.

Latin America: The oldest existing non-academic library building in Latin America is the Palafox Library
(Biblioteca Palafoxiana), in the Palafox Cathedral, Puebla, Mexico (rich in the oldest Spanish colonial buildings in
Mexico). The building dates back to 1645 and also the first public library in the Americas. The oldest book in its
collection, brought from Spain, was printed in 1493, a year after Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas.
The library was founded by bishop J uan de Palafox y Mendoza, and is housed in the Archdiocese Palace, south of
the early baroque style cathedral, which has the highest towers in Mexico. The original building of the Mexico
National Autonomous University and the library dates back to 1584, but it was demolished in 1910, to make way for
a new building.

Notes. The Palafox Library is not older than the oldest university library in the Americas, Santo Domingo
University Library, in the Dominican Republic, which dates back to 1538.

Middle East: The mosque libraries are undoubtedly the oldest kinds of libraries in the Middle East. It was
common in the early days of Islam, for libraries to be built in the same compound as mosques. Some mosque
libraries were later part of a university library, such as Moroccos 9th century Al-Qarawiyin University library in Fez.
Most mosque libraries were used for storing and consulting sacred Islamic manuscripts and books such as the
Koran. Among the oldest existing mosque buildings dating from the 7th century A.D. (when the first mosques in the
world were built), are the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria; the Amr Mosque in Cairo, Egypt (containing the
oldest building housing a library in Africa) and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in J erusalem, Israel (then under Arab rule). The
mosque and the Dome of the Rock shrine (built in the 7th century A.D.), are both located on the Temple Mount. The
most famous manuscript at the Al-Aqsa Mosque Library, apart from the several copies of the Koran dating to
medieval times, is the 800 year biography of Saladin written by an aide called Baha al-Din. It contains original
accounts of the 3
rd
Crusade battles between Richard the Lionheart and Saladin.

United States: In the U.S., the oldest existing library building is the Sturgis Library in Barnstable,
Massachusetts, built in 1644. It is listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The building is also one of
the oldest houses remaining on Cape Cod. And the oldest structure still standing in America where religious
services were regularly held.
Notes. The oldest continuously-operated university library building in the U.S. is the South Carolina University
Library in Columbia. It dates back to 1840 and is also called the South Carolinian Library. This library building
made the University of South Carolina, was the first university in the U.S. to have a separate building for the
library.

105.tif
Sturgis Library in Barnstable, Massachusetts is the oldest library building in the U.S. today. It has existed since
1644. And is protected by the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Africa: In sub-Saharan Africa, as in the Middle East, mosque libraries were the oldest types of libraries. Three
of the oldest mosques in the region are Djinguereber (J ingarayber), Sankore, and Sidi Yahia mosques, built in the
14th and early 15th centuries and all based in Timbuktu, Mali. Sankore mosque is also famous for the Sankore
University, the oldest in sub-Saharan Africa.
237. First library building to use extensive electrical lighting
The most important invention used in library buildings in the 19th century, with the industrial revolution in full
swing, was that of harnessing electric power to illuminate the library. One can imagine how hazardous it was in
those days to have oil lamps in big libraries, with the possibility of books catching fire or arson being encouraged.
The British Library in 1879 (then part of the British Museum Library), was the first major library in the world to have
permanent electric light bulbs in its reading rooms. At first electric J ablochtoff arc lamps were used, then later on
carbon filament lights were innvented. In the 1890s electricity was fully installed in the Reading Room. The electric
power was achieved with two pairs of dynamos driven by two steam engines. Light bulbs used today are technically
called incandescent light bulb based on using filaments made from carbon and later metal (tungsten). The filament
is heated till they glowed, and bulb is filled with an inert gas such as argon to prevent hot filament from buring out.
Libraries existing before the start of the 1870s could not have benefited from electricity as before the 1720s,
electricity was not fully understood and was passed of as some kind of magic. The route to the invention of the arc
lamps began with Stephen Gray machine of the 1720s (which showed how electricity could be produced by a
machine), the Leiden J ar of 1740s and the experiments of Volta of the 1790s (which both showed how electricity
could be stored), to finally to the Humphrey David arc lamp experiments of the early 1800s (which showed how
sufficient electricity could be produced to illuminate a dark room just like an oil lamp).
Notes. British public libraries were the first public libraries to use electricity. Thomas Edisons Electric Light
Company opened the first public power station in London on January 12, 1882, based on direct current
technology. It was later replaced with technology based on George Westinghouses use of alternating current.
The provision of general public electricity was a first in the U.K., due to the fact that it was the most
industrialized country in the world, and reliable sources of electricity were essential to power the industrial
machines.

106.tif
The British Museum Library in London was the first library in the world to use permanent electric lights from 1879.


238. 10 tallest library buildings
1. Shanghai Library, China. Architect(s): Zhang J ie Zheng et al. The new public library building has two towers: the
tallest is 348 feet tall with 24 floors, while the other tower has 190 feet tall with 11 floors. It employs an elaborate
retrieval system of little trains to transport books throughout the tall building. It is still quite shorter than Malaysias
Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, which is over 1,400 feet tall, (the Eiffel Tower is 986 feet tall). The city of
Shanghai also features the tallest bookstore in the world (and the second tallest building housing books, after
Shanghai Library), see notes section below.
2. University of Massachusetts, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, Amherst, U.S., opened in 1973 and has 28 floors, scaling
over 295 feet from the base. Architect: C.E. Macguire.
3.The new National Library of France building in Paris has of 4 glass towers each shaped like an opened book.
Architect was Dominique Perrault. Each of the 4 glass towers housing the books is 293 feet tall, making it is tallest
library buildings in Europe and the tallest national library in the world. Its foundation was originally supposed handle

the building being 328 feet (100 meters) tall, but the designers settled for 293 feet (90 meters) after taking account
several factors such as the fact that as the national library, the book collection would grow substantially fast, making
the towers heavy.
4. Notre Dame University, Hesburgh Library. Notre Dame, Indiana, U.S., is 215 feet tall with 13 floors. Completed in
1963. Architect(s): Doug Marsh et al.
5. Toronto University, Robarts Library, Canada. It is the largest university library in Canada, and is 182 feet tall with
13 floors. Built in 1964 and opened in 1973. Architect(s): Mathers and Haldenby et al.
6. Calgary University, MacKimmie Library Tower, Canada. It has 12 floors, and is 167 feet tall. Constructed in 1975.
It is also the home of the Canadian Architectural Archives. The library is the sixth largest university library in Canada.
7. Los Angeles (California) Central Public Library, U.S., measures about 160 feet. It is made up of 12 floors.
Architect(s): Bertram Goodhue.
8. New York University, Bobst Library, in New York City, scales 151 feet and has 12 floors. Architect(s): J ohnson
and Foster.
9. University of Memphis Library, J ohn Wilder Tower, U.S, is about 120 feet in height, with 12 floors.

10. Seattle Public Library Central Library, measures 11 stories from the ground and is 113 feet in height.
107.tif
The University of Massachusetts, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, in the city of Amherst, U.S., is the second tallest library
building in the world.

Notes. The tallest bookstore in the world is the 27 floor Shanghai Book City, in China, which scales 327 feet,
made up of 27 floors. The tallest bookstore in Europe is Donner Boekhandel, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The 11
floor building scales 110 feet and is 27,000 square feet in area. Lomonosov Moscow State University, located on
Moscow Lenin Hills, Russia, is the tallest and largest university building in world. The building, opened in 1953, has
32 floors, and over 40,000 rooms and is 787 feet tall and 6 million square feet in area. The University of Pittsburghs
Cathedral of Learning building, completed in 1956, in the U.S., is a 42-story building. At 535 feet, it is the second
tallest university building in the world. Germanys Leipzig University has a famous tall tower building built in 1971
scaling 502 feet in height, making it the second tallest and largest university building in Europe. The tall tower has
34 floors and called the wisdom tooth in German. In Asia the three tallest university buildings are: Kogakuin
University Shinjuku campus in Tokyo, Japan with 29 floors and 436 feet tall; Hosei University Boissonade Tower in
Tokyo, Japan is 400 feet tall and 27 floors while Kogakuin University STEC building in Tokyo, Japan is 405 feet tall.
In South America, the tallest university is Bolivias University of San Anders which stands 326 feet tall. Library
Tower, opened in 1990 and located in Los Angeles, California, has 75 floors and is 1018 feet tall. But its name is
misleading; it is actually an office building not a library building. So Paulo Municipal Library (Mario de Andrade
Library), Brazil, is the tallest library building in Latin America. The library, which was opened in 1938, has 7 floors
and is 106 feet tall.

239. 6 largest library buildings
For those used to metric units, one square meter is about 10.76 square feet and 43,560 square feet roughly
equals about 1 acre.
1. The U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., has three buildings. The main building, or J efferson Building,
was completed in 1897; the adjacent Adams Building was completed in 1939; and the Madison Building was
completed in 1981. All three of the library buildings are close together and are the worlds largest group of library

buildings occupying an overall space of 2.5 million square feet. The largest of the three buildings is the Madison
Building. The Architect were J ohn L. Smithmeyer, Paul J . Pelz.
2. While the British and French national libraries relocated to a new site in the city to build a brand new library
building from scratch, the Russian State Library in Moscow, like the U.S. Library of Congress, decided to remain on
the original site, and expand the building. The total area of the library building is now 2.2 million square feet. The
original building, built in the 1930s, was immense, with 18 floors.
3. The National Library of J apan, Tokyo. The two buildings that make up the National Diet Library measure 1.8
million square feet in total area.
4. The National Library of China, Beijing. The main building, which opened in 1987 is the largest single library
building in the world, giving about 1.5 million square feet of floor space. It occupies 22 floors, allowing for 33-odd
reading rooms with more than 3,000 seats.
5. The British Library, London. The new building, which opened to the public in 1998, is about 1.2 million square feet
in area. In addition there are four levels of storage basements for books, which go down as deep as the London
Underground tunnels. It costs $843 million to build. The project for the new library building began way back in 1975,
and only opened its doors to the public in December 1997. There is one nostalgic part of the British Library that is
absent to anyone who has used the British Museum Library before it became separate from the British Museum in
1973: the famous Round Reading Room. This spectacular domed reading room has been used by the likes of
Vladimir Lenin, Charles Dickens and Karl Marx. But the new British library does have its own spectacular features,
most notably the Kings Library tower inside.

6. The new National Library of France building in Paris which cost between $750 million and $970 million take up
980,000 square feet. The new building, opened officially to the public in December 1996, is composed of 4 glass
towers each shaped like an opened book and arranged in a square formation, with a big garden in the centre.
Architect(s): Dominique Perrault. The height of the glass towers make it the tallest library building in Europe.

Notes. The largest national library building in the Middle East is the National Library of Turkey building in
Ankara, which occupies 419,640 square feet. The largest national library building in the Baltic states is the
National Library of Estonia.

108.tif
The new British Library building in London is the 5th largest library building in the world.


240. 6 largest university library buildings
1. Toronto University, Robarts Library, Canada, roughly measures about 1 million square feet. Architects were
Mathers and Haldenby et al. It costs a reported $50 million to build and is Canadas most expensive library building.
2. Brigham Young University, Harold B. Lee Library, Provo, Utah, U.S. The massive building occupies 665,000
square feet. The five-story building has comfortable seating capacity for 4,600 people. Completed in 2000, it is the
largest university library building in the U.S.
3. University of Chicago, Regenstein Library, U.S., has 577, 085 square feet. Architect(s): Skidmore, Owings and
Merrill. Completed in 1970.
4. Indiana University, Central Library, Bloomington, U.S., has just over 378,420 square feet, and was opened in
1969. Architect(s): David Meeker (J ames Associates).

5. University of Tennessee Hodges Library, 350,000 square feet. Has 6 floors and 3,000 seats.
6. Nova Southern University Library, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 325,000 square feet
Notes. The National University of Singapore Library central Library, occupies about 316,000 square of space
and is the largest single university library building in Asia. See photograph at entry 57.

109.tif
The University of Toronto Robarts Library in Canada is the worlds largest university library building.

241. 6 largest public library buildings
1. Shanghai Library, China. Architect(s): Zhang J ie Zheng et al. The two present buildings that make up the library
occupy 902,300 square feet. Its massive size and height (it is the largest and tallest public library in the world) alone
makes it stand out along the busiest shopping street in downtown Shanghai, the fifth largest city in the world. Known
locally as Shanghai Tushugan, its merging with the Shanghai Institute of Scientific and Technical Information has
meant it has international connections and foreign librarians and information professionals visiting China almost
certainly pencil-in a visit to the library in their diary if possible. Construction of the new building of Shanghai Library
started in early 1993 and it was officially opened in 1997. Among decorations inside the library building is the statue
of Chinese philosopher Confucius, and multilingual versions of the slogan Knowledge Is Power.

2. Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago, U.S., has 756,640 square feet. It is Chicagos central public library
and opened in 1991. It has 9 floors and is neo-classical in design with stunning red brick walls forming columns and
arches.
Notes. Architects Hammond Beeby & Babka won an international competition to design the building, and spent
$195 million to carry out the massive project.

3. Cincinnati & Hamilton County (Ohio) Public Library, U.S. The new building, completed in 1997 occupies 542,527
square feet. Architect(s): Abott Design and Shepley Richarson.
4. San Antonio (Texas) Central Public Library, U.S., measures 240,000 square feet, which includes a 1,300-seat
auditorium. It opened in 1995 at a cost of $28 million.
5.Vancouver Public Library, Canada. This library measure 378, 360 square feet. It is easily recognized for
fascinating shape as seen below.
6. Malm Public Library, Sweden. It measures 164,000. square feet and is 60 feet tall. It is the largest single public
library in Europe. The new building which opened in 1997 was designed by the Danish architect Henning Larsen.
Branches of the Malm City Library include a hospital library and a mobile library. Photographs of the library are at
entry 15.


110.tif
Shanghai Library in China, is the worlds largest and tallest public library building.



111.tif
Vancouver Public Library is the Canadas largest public library building.


242. Largest scientific and technical library building
Grainger Engineering Library Information Center, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, U.S. The library
building which opened in 1994 is about 130,000 square feet. Architect(s): Evans Woollen.

243. Most fascinating library buildings
As we may appreciate, library buildings are nowadays as fascinating as their book collections. Often the
appearance of a building outside gives us some insight of what to expect inside. What really makes a library building
fascinating? The size of the building, the shape of the building, the age of the building? Perhaps the architecture of
the building is groundbreaking, or perhaps it is simply a very expensive building!
During the months of summer and autumn in 2005, during research work for the second edition, the author sent
out e-mails to several Internet based bulletin boards for librarians around the world, asking for a vote on the most
fascinating library buildings in the world they had visited or seen. The categories voted for were:
1. 10 most fascinating national library buildings.
2. 10 most fascinating university library buildings.
3. 10 most fascinating public library buildings.

Notes. Back in 2001, the author carried out a similar survey on the above mentioned categories. The results of
that survey, with photographs of some winners of the votes, can be seen in the first edition of the book
published in 2004. Voters were made aware of this, and if a library voted in 2005,was also voted in 2001, it will
not be included, but a very brief list of winners of the vote for 2001 is included in this edition.

Each respondent voted for one or more of the three categories. Here are the results of all the votes.

244. 10 most fascinating national library buildings
1. Marciana National Library. Based in Venice, Italy, it is the oldest of Italys ten national libraries, and the third
largest. The building of the library founded by in 1468 by Cardinal Bessarione is inside the San Marco Museum, at
the famous Piazzetta San Marco (St Marks Square). A voter commented that the library building has undergone
several refurbishments over the centuries. The library is home to the most important book collections, manuscripts
and miniatures in Venice. There are also many works of art by renowned Venetian artists including sculptures which
have been inspired by classic mythology. The exhibits are arranged on two floors and these are linked by a
magnificent staircase similar to the Golden Staircase in the Ducal Palace in Venice.

2.National Library of Scotland. It is the U.K.s third largest library, located in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was formerly
part of the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, which is still in existence, but now as a law library. The photograph of
the building shown below is the new building of the national library, the older library building at George IV bridge
can be seen at entry 1. The new building was built in the 1980s is called the Causewayside building and has a very

pleasant outside appearance.

112.tif National Library of Scotland, Causewayside building.

3. National Library of Australia. The library building in Canberra with its own special fountain, is built not far from
Lake Burley Griffin, giving the building a picturesque view when seen from across the lake. The building was actually
designed to resemble the Parthenon in Rome. In the 2004 edition, Vancouver Public Library which resembles the
Coliseum in Rome, was a winner in the public library building category.

113.tif National Library of Australia building at night with fountain on.
114.tif National Library of Australia building at night with fountain off.

4. National Library of the Netherlands, Known locally as Koninklijke Bibliotheek, or KB, the library building in the
Hague an easily recognized big shiny white building close to The Hague Central Station. The inside of the building
as the photographs shows, also has a shiny white appearance. The European Library Office is based in the building
of the library.
115.tif National Library of the Netherlands building outside.
116.tif National Library of Netherlands building inside.

5. National Library of Poland. Warsaw. A voter remarked that the library is built within the confines of a large park
that looks like Stonehenge in England.

117.tif National Library of Poland in Warsaw

6. National Library of Portugal. Lisbon. Many public buildings in Portugal are multi-colored or have unusually
coloring. The most prominent color used on the buildings being blue, green or red. The national library has several
pink stripes.

118.tif National Library of Portugal in Lisbon.

7. National Library of South Africa. The library has branches in Cape Town and Pretoria. The photograph below is
the Cape Town branch with the statue of George Grey, a former governor of South Africa, in front of the building.

119.tif National Library of South Africa in Cape Town.

8. National Library of Canada. The new building in Ottawa was opened in 1967 J une 20, 1967 at a cost of $13
million. The building is an imposing structure of granite, marble, glass and steel. The library building's interior
includes four rectangular pillars and gold mosaic tiles. The Secret Bench of Knowledge sculpture by the famous Lea
Vivot is easily recognized in the front of the building.

120.tif National Library of Canada in Ottawa



9. The National Library of Spain began as the Palace Public Library in Madrid. It opened in 1712. One of the
statues in the front of the building is San Isidoro, from Seville. It has the largest collection of books in Spanish for
the Hispanic community.

10. Bavarian State Library, Germany. This massive reddish brown library building (photograph at entry 1) is
located at Munichs at the famous Ludwigstrasse, which contains the palaces of the former kings of Bavaria. The
library was actually founded by a member of the Bavarian Royal Family. The Bavarian State Library is famous for
containing the world largest collection of incunabula.



The winners for the vote in 2001 were: the U.S. Library of Congress, Washington D.C; the British Library
(London); the Berlin State Library (Germany); and the national libraries of Austria (Vienna); J apan (Tokyo); France
(Paris); Czech Republic (Prague); Taiwan (Taipei); Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) and Denmark (Copenhagen).

245. 10 most fascinating university library buildings
1. National Taiwan University Library. Voters noted that approaching the library building in Taipei in the
background look surreal. As the photograph shows, the giant palm tress lining both sides of the path leading to the
library is give a scenic view.

121.tif National University of Taiwan Library in Taipei

2. Kings Norton Library, Cranfield University. U.K. Based in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, the library building was
designed by the famous architect Norman Foster, who also designed famous British and European buildings such
as Wembley Stadium in London, the Hearst Tower in New York, and the new Reichstag building (ruined during the
war) in Berlin, Germany. Kings Norton Library completed in 1992, cost just $33 million to build and won too many
awards


122.tif Cranfield University King Norton Library.
3. University of California, San Diego Geisel Library. U.S. The 100 feet tall reinforced concrete and glass
geometrical building, was designed by William Pereira. The pyramid-shaped building looks like a gigantic lantern.
The library is named after the famous U.S. writer of childrens books, Theodor Seuss Geisel, (a favorite book of the
author of Library World Records, as child).

4. University of Edinburgh Library. U.K. The new modern Edinburgh university building which is currently further
undergoing a $95 million refurbishment work is a great deviation from the style of the former library building. Like
many modern office buildings, the new library utilizes its numerous windows to ensure sufficient sunlight gets into
the building during the daytime. The old Gothic library building still has some book collections of the university,
notably the rare books collections of the university.

123.tif Edinburgh University Library, old building
124.tif Edinburgh University Library, new building




5. University of Macao Library. China. The University of Macao is one of the few universities in Asia were lectures
are in both Portuguese and Chinese. Hence the library also has the largest collection of books in Portuguese in an
Asian university library.

125.tif
University of Macao University Library, new building.




6. Jagiellonian University Library. Poland. The old library building called Collegium Maius can be seen at entry
68. The stunning new library building was opened October 2000. The entire area of the library building is now
161,469 square feet, making it the largest university library building outside Russia.

126.tif
J agiellonian University Library, new building.

7. University of Waterloo Library. Ontario, Canada. The university has 4 main libraries. The lovely looking library
in photograph below is the Dana Porter Library. The 10-storey building located in a park, houses library
administration as well as materials in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

127.tif
Waterloo University Dana Porter Library, Canada.

8. Leuven Catholic University Library. Belgium. The architects of library building made it look the same as it was
in the 15th century, despite being completely destroyed in the First and Second World war.

128.tif
Leuven Catholic University Library, Belgium.

9. John Rylands Library, University of Manchester. The new J ohn Rylands Library in Manchester officially
reopened September 2007 after a $34 million restoration project. During that time, the library was closed for 3 years.
As well as being a world-renowned research library, the famous neo-gothic building is now a major visitor attraction.
During the three year closure, many of the library's massive book and manuscript collection were stored in a
Cheshire salt mine to protect them. The dry and stable atmosphere provided ideal conservation conditions.

10. Kyoto University Library, J apan. Kyoto University Library consists of a Central Library as well as over 60
branch libraries.

The winners for the vote in 2001 were: University of Massachusetts W.E.B Du Bois Library, U.S.; Toronto University,

Robarts Library, Canada; Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New Haven, U.S; Mexico
National Autonomous University Library, Mexico City; Lancaster University Library, U.K.; Waseda University Library,
Tokyo, J apan; Trinity College Dublin, Ireland; Bodleian Library, Oxford University, U.K.; Tamkang University Library,
Taipei; Michigan University Library, An Arbor, U.S.


246. 10 most fascinating public library buildings
1. Seattle Public Library, Washington, U.S. The architect was Rem Koolhaas. The $200 million public library
opened to the public in 2004. The stunning steel lattice glass walls are a marvelous showpiece of 21st century U.S.
craftsmanship. It has 11 floors, with floors 6 to 9 arranged in a spectacular spiral arrangement. In 2005 the library
was awarded American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Architecture.

129.tif Seattle Public Library.

2. Lyon Public Library. France. It probably has the tallest public library building in France, as one voter noted.

130.tif Lyon Municipal Public Library.

3. Los Angels County Pubic Library. California, U.S. As Los Angles is a big metropolitan city, it is divided into
several sections. The photograph below shows the spacious interior of the East LA library branch or Biblioteca El
Este in Spanish. The library is very different from the other main public library system in city, the Los Angeles City
Public Library.

131.tif Los Angeles County Public Library.


4. Cape Town City Library, South Africa. This library is located inside the large Cape Town City Hall (the last major
Victorian building to be erected in Cape Town), which also houses the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra.
5. Kuala Lumpur Library, Malaysia. J alan Rajas famous public library is an interesting building of Moorish faade
capped with rustic bronze domes, reminiscent of the British colonial era in Malaysia. It recently underwent a $6
million makeover that expanded the building to include among other an auditorium, conference and seminar
facilities.

6. Dallas Pubic library. Texas, U.S. The library has 20 branches around the city of Dallas. One of the most
intriguing branches is the J . Erik J onsson Central Library, which a voter noted looks much better than a 5-star hotel
inside and outside. First Lady Laura Bush is a famous former member of staff.

132.tif Dallas Public Library (J . Erik J onsson Central Library), outside.

133.tif Dallas Public Library (J . Erik J onsson Central Library), inside.

7. Bournemouth Public Library. U.K. Located on the seaside suburb of south England, the $27 million public
library building either resembles a big glass ship or a big transparent whale. The fully glazed north facing elevation
opens the library interior to the street, inviting people in as well as enabling people to look out. Glass roof panels and
south westerly facing windows allow light to flood into the library spaces, reducing the need for artificial lighting and
cooling and thereby ensuring that energy costs are minimized. Built on a former derelict site, the library has seen a
threefold increase in visitor numbers since it opened. At night with the lights one, the building makes a mesmerizing
sight. It received the Prime Minsters Best Building Award.
8. Cincinnati and Hamilton Public Library. Ohio. U.S. Was voted because it is the largest public library building in
the state of Ohio, and the 2nd largest in U.S.
9. Lee Kong Chian Public Reference Library, Singapore. It is the largest reference library in Singapore and also
has one of the largest public library buildings in Asia, as it is a 7 storey building. It is named after Singapores most
famous philanthropist and is a premier resource for works on Singapore.
10 Folger Shakespeare Library. This public research library in Washington D.C. founded in 1929, has the world's
largest collection of the William Shakespeares works. A voter noted that the library building architecture earned it a
listing in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

The winners for the vote in 2001 were: Handley Public Library. Winchester, Virginia. U.S. The Hague Public
Library the Netherlands. Peckham Public Library and Media Center. London. U.K. San Francisco Public Library.
Derby Central Library. U.K. Helsingborgs City Library. Sweden. Architect Vancouver Public Library. British Columbia,
Canada Pasadena (California) Public Library. Newark Public Library. Nottinghamshire. U.K. Rotterdam Municipal
Library. the Netherlands. Phoenix (Arizona) Central Public Library. U.S. Malm City Library, Sweden. Shanghai
Library, China. Harold Washington Library Center. Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

247. 10 other fascinating library buildings
Here are 10 other libraries taken from the library votes submitted by the respondents. They did not make the
top 10 list, but there is something about them that makes them tick!
1. Joo Library (Biblioteca Joanina). This famous library building in the University of Coimbra in Portugal, was
constructed in between 1717 and 1728 for the Portuguese King Dom J oo V. It is a mesmerizing showcase of 18th
century baroque architectural design. The interior of the library has so many designs and decorations in every nook
and corner rivaling those found in the Vatican Library, such as on the exotic jacaranda wood tables, the beautiful
painted frescoed ceilings, and the stunning bookshelves. Some students complain that these excess designs make
it a big distraction to study seriously in the library. Others claimed that the library was more better suited for visiting
and than reading, despite the fact that it has over 200,000 books on a variety of subjects such as science, medicine,
the humanities and law.

2. Tsar Nicholas II Library at the Hermitage Museum. St Petersburg, Russia. The famous collections of the State
Hermitage Museum such as the Faberg Eggs, are housed in over 5 buildings, and one of them is a neo-gothic
styled library founded in 1762. It has over 610,000 books covering such topics as sculpture, pottery, visual arts and
paintings stored several in locations of library whose interior very much resembles the painted ceiling interior of the
likes of the Vatican Library. The other famous library nearby is the Winter Palace Library. The Winter Palace was
the main residence of the Russian Tsars from 1760, so many of its books collections passed through many owners.

J ust after Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown by Lenin and the Bolsheviks, many important rare book and manuscript
collections in both libraries were smuggled out to the West.

3. National Library of Economics. Kiel, Germany. It has gone through many names , since it was established in
1919. It was formerly called the Kiel Institute for the World Economy Library, and before then called the Royal
Institute for Maritime Traffic and World Economy Library. It is also know as Leibniz Information Centre for
Economics. The architects gave it a more business-like design seen in corporate buildings, to take into account its
sole role as an economics library. The expensive library budget of 20 million Euros ($18 million) is financed jointly by
the federal and state governments, not surprising as the large building houses the worlds largest economic library.

134.tif National Library of Economics, Kiel , Germany.

4 National Library of Wales. U.K. This Victorian Gothic (neo-gothic) building in the city of Aberystwyth created by
Sidney Greenslade, is one of the 3 national libraries in the U.K. It is know locally as Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru.

135.tif National Library of Wales, U.K.

5. Victoria State Library, Melbourne , Australia. It has some of Australias rarest and most precious manuscripts
relating to the early European settlement of the state of Victoria. The most amazing view of the library building
opened in 1856 is at night, when the whole place is lit up with bright shiny lights inside and outside, showing the
magnificence of architect J oseph Reeds design.

136.tif Victoria State Library, Melbourne, Australia

6. National Institute for Policy & Strategic Studies Library, Kuru Nigeria. The NIPSS National was conceived as
a high level centre for reflection, research and learning with the primary objectives of serving as Africas foremost
policy Think-Tank. The peculiar shaped library is located close to a lake in Kuru, near the city of J os. The two
circular shaped concrete parts of the building house the main book collections.


137.tif IPSS Library Kuru, Nigeria

7. San Lorenzo de El Escorial Monastic Library. Spain. Based north of Madrid, it was planned by J uan de
Herrera, who also designed the librarys eye-catching shelves inside. The style of the building is Gothic, one of the
most favorite styles of building famous libraries in the West before the 1700s.

138.tif El Escorial Library in Spain


8. University of Coimbra. Portugal. Although Portuguese is famous for having so many still existing old historic
buildings in the cities, several of the ancient buildings housing the University of Coimbra library has been replaced
with modern buildings, as the photo below show, to take into account its large expanding book collections.

139.tif Coimbra University Library, Portugal.

9. Ambrosian Library. Milan, Italy.

10. Palmerston North City Library. New Zealand. The building which opened in 1996, won an architectural award
for its design by architect Ian Athfield. There are 5 branches of the library, the one shown below is the Ashhurst
Library.

140.tif Palmerston North City Library, New Zealand

The libraries listed in this category for the votes in 2001 were: the Alexandria Library in Egypt; Silesian University
Library Katowice, Poland; The Hague Public Library, the Netherlands; Dong-Eui University Library. Pusan, South
Korea; the Vatican Library, Rome; Temasek Polytechnic Library, Singapore; National Library of Egypt, Cairo; Kings
College London, Central Library, U.K. and the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Ireland.


WORLD RECORDS FOR LIBRARY CATALOGS, DATABASES AND TECHNOLOGY

248. Oldest library classification scheme
A good classification scheme makes it easy for library users to quickly locate a book in a library; this is
particularly useful when locating books in large libraries with thousands or millions of books. Each book has a
unique classification mark or class number for identification, which is typically a combination of numbers and letters.
In 1876 U.S. librarian Melvil Dewey put forward the Dewey Decimal Classification or DDC, the first successful
attempt by a librarian to classify books by subject. A few years later Dewey went on to set up the first university
course in the world for training librarians. DDC has been revised several times the last major one being the 22nd
edition in 2003, while the DDC 22 abridged edition 14, was released in 2004. The DDC is also the most widely used
classification scheme in the world, at least in the English speaking world, but it has been published in over 35
languages. An international version of the DDC known as the Universal Decimal Classification also exists. Today
other classification schemes are available alongside DDC, such as BLISS Classification and Colon Classification. In
the U.S., a different system, called the Library of Congress Classification, has been in use since 1898, however
DDC is maintained at the DDC Division of the Library of Congress. The DDC version for classifying documents on
the Internet is called WebDewey.
Notes. Before DDC or the Library of Congress Classification was translated into major languages, it presented a
dilemma to libraries wanting to adopt the system but whose official language was not English. For example, the
National Library of France abandoned the use of the Library of Congress Classification because no French
version was available. And with only an abridged version of the DDC translated into French, the national library,
when it was based at the old building, continued to use an indigenous Clement Classification originally
developed by Nicolas Clment in 1670.

249. Most popular library cataloging principles
While a classification scheme identifies a single item in a library such as a book, a cataloging rule standardizes
the way entire collections in a library such as books, maps and periodicals are indexed. Hence a catalog is the list of
the entire collection in a library. If the catalog includes the combined collections of several libraries, then it is called a
union catalog. For centuries, catalogs were typically filed on paper index cards, but from the 1970s they have
increasingly been filed on computers as Online Public Access Catalogs or OPACs. Given the international use of
English, the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules 2 or AACR2, first set up in 1966, is the most popular in the world.
Well more than half of the libraries in the world use the AACR2 as it has been translated into 25 languages and in
use in 45 countries.
Notes. Although AACR2 unifies cataloging principles throughout the English-speaking world, it is based on the
1961 Paris Principles introduced at the International Conference on Cataloging Principles where discussions
focused on creating a single standard for cataloging. It is the Paris Principles that several nonEnglish speaking
countries used to set up their own indigenous cataloging rules. Such as the RAK (Regeln fr die Alphabetische
Katalogisierung) cataloging rules in Germany, the AFNOR (Normes de Catalogage Publies par lAssociation
Franaise de Normalisation) cataloging rules in France, and the Nippon Cataloging Rules or NCRT in Japan.
The very first catalog of a major library is attributed to the one called Pinakes, and compiled by a librarian of the
ancient Alexandria Library in Egypt in the 4th century BC. From 2009, the three major English-speaking libraries
in the world, the Library of Congress, the British Library, and the Library and Archives Canada will be replacing
the AACR2 with a new cataloging rule that takes into account the now numerous digital items or new-media
information in a libraries today such as digital images, digital recordings and digital publications. The new rule is
to be called Resource Description and Access or RDA. At one point RDA was to be called AACR3.


250. Largest national union library catalogs
The computerized National Union Catalog of the U.S., which includes the collections of the Library of Congress,
currently has over 25 million books, 2.5 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.5 million maps, and 60 million
manuscripts. The British Librarys computerized catalog is by far the largest in Europe, a factor in this being the
international use of English. Every new book received by the British Library is published regularly in the British
National Bibliography or BNB. In 1997 an Internet version called OPAC 97 was introduced.
Notes. A search of the British Librarys computerized catalog will come up with the oldest known Valentines
Day message in the English Language. It was written in 1477 by Margery Brews to her fianc.

The computerized French Union Catalog or CCFR (Catalogue Collectif de France), has a combined total of over
13.3 million books, encompassing collections from the National Library of France as well as those held by the major
university and public municipal libraries. Included in the catalogue are 15 million engravings and photographs,
800,000 maps and 350,000 periodicals
Similar large catalogs exists in Italy (Catalogo Unico Indice / Sistema Bibliotecario Nazionale SBN); Germany
(Verbundkatalog Deutschland); Belgium (CCB or Catalogue Collectif de Belgique / Collectieve Catalogus van
Belgi); Norway (BIBSYS); Portugal (Catlogo Colectivo Portugus / PORBASE); Sweden (LIBRIS); and Russia
(Ruslan). There exists a single large union catalog of Scandinavia and Baltic States libraries called NOSP. In
Canada the national union catalog is called AMICUS. Other national union catalogs around the world are; Brazil,
(Rede Cooperativa de Bibliotecas Brasileiras); Singapore (NLB) and Israel (MALMAD). In Africa, the Sabicat union
catalog, maintained in Cape Town, covers major South African and 6 other southern African libraries.

251. Largest union library catalogs in Europe
Union catalogs of university, public, state, provincial or research libraries have been extremely popular and
hundreds of such catalogs exists. It will be impossible to list half of them in this book, so a selection of the major
ones in each continent is given here.
University / Research Libraries. Since 1987 the Consortium of University Research Libraries, or CURL,
provides a unified access to the catalogs of more than 20 of the largest university research libraries in the U.K. and
Ireland. Over 13.3 million books are included in the catalog along with thousands of periodicals. The computerized
catalog of CURL is better known as COPAC, and the main computer system hosting the catalog is based at the
J ohn Rylands University Library in Manchester. The French university library catalogs are listed in the Systme
universitaire de documentation or SUDOC union catalog. Other European university union catalogs are; Germany
(SWB, GBV HEBIS , KOBV, BVB, all these are interstate union catalogs, for instance SWB or Suedwestdeutschen
Bibliotheksverbund covers south west states of Germany such as Baden-Wurttemberg); Ireland (IRIS); Italy
(Catalogo collettivi regione / SBN); Spain (Catlogo Colectivo de la Red de Bibliotecas Universitarias Espaolas /
REBUIN); the Netherlands (Nederlandse Collectieve Catalogus) and Switzerland (RERO and NEBIS, representinig
French and German language university libraries respectively).
Public Libraries U.K. (Project WiLL, covering all public libraries in London); Spain (Catlogo de las Bibliotecas
Publicas del Estado / BPE); Belgium (Vlaamse Centrale Catalogus); and Finland (MANDA);

252. Largest union library catalog in the Americas.
University / Research Libraries. The MELVYL union catalog (the name given to the combined catalog of the
University of California libraries and the California State University libraries) currently includes over 26 million books,
making it is larger than the Harvard University Library catalog (the largest individual university library catalog in the
world). Other union catalogs are; RLG (Research Libraries Group union catalog covering major research and
academic libraries in the U.S, Canada and Latin America, and a great deal of libraries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific
region, such as China, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, J apan. It available in over 400 languages. It is
the second largest union catalog in the world, after WorldCat); Center for Research Libraries union catalog (Union
catalog of the consortium of North American academic and independent research libraries, mostly serials and

dissertations); Washington D.C. (ALADIN); California (PHAROS and Link+); Illinois (ILLINET); Michigan (MiLE);
Brazil (Catlogo de Libros / Librunam); Canada (Virtual Canadian Union Catalogue / vCuc ).
Public Libraries U.S (Link +, MOBAC, Bibliomation, SunLink, WVLC etc). Several of the national and university
union catalogs listed above also cover public libraries.

253. Largest union library catalogs in Africa.

University / Research Libraries. In Africa, there are very few union catalogs the moment, as limited library
resources make setting up and maintaining union catalogs unattractive. The Sabicat union catalog listed above also
covers public libraries in southern Africa.

254. Largest union library catalogs in Asia.

University, Research and public Libraries. J apan (WebCatPlus; NACSIS catalog, it covers all university
libraries in J apan and is produced by the National Centre for Scientific Information System and covers over 400
J apanese universities); Australia (KINECTICA, COOLKAT); China (CALIS; Chinese Sciences Digital Library (CSDL)
Union Catalog; Taiwan (NBINET); India (INFLIBNET; DELNET. The DELNET union catalog has 2,855,821
bibliographic records of member libraries (817 in India and 12 outside India from Nepal, Oman, the Philippines, Sri
Lanka, United Arab Emirates, and the U.S.). It is run by the Delhi Library Network in New Delhi).

255. Largest union library catalogs in the Middle East.
University, Research and public Libraries. Israel (MALMAD and ULI) and Egypt (Egypt Library Network).

256. Largest unified international library catalog
WorldCat, a union catalog maintained and updated daily by OCLC (Dublin, Ohio, U.S) since 1971, covers
library items held by 60,000 libraries in 94 countries and territories on the OCLC network. Over 95 million records of
books, periodicals, newspapers, maps, music, audio-visual materials, manuscripts, are included in the catalog, and
in 470 languages and dialects. The database continues to grow at a rate of more than 2 million records per year or a
new record added every 10 seconds, making it the worlds largest bibliographic database. The Research Libraries
Group union catalog (see entry 252) is the worlds 2nd largest union catalog.

257. First computerized catalog or OPAC
Today to find a book in a library we consult a computer or technically a computerized catalog or an OPAC. The
first libraries to set up OPACs were Canadas Guelph University Library and Waterloo University Library in 1976 and
1977 respectively. They both used OPACs designed by Geac (the model name was GEAC 8000). Significantly this
system was used before the IBM PC launched in 1981, meaning librarians (catalogers) were among the first office
workers to use computerized systems at work.
Notes. Prior to the introduction of computerized catalog in libraries, paper cards were used to index library
items. For large libraries this meant thousands if not millions of cards. For instance, the New York Public Library
once employed the use of some 10 million cards in over 10,000 drawers for its catalog. The first step towards
computerizing catalogs was the introduction of MARC. First developed in the U.S. in 1965, MARC or Machine
Readable Cataloging, is a standard for cataloging library materials in computerized format, for easy access with
a computer. In short MARC is a sort of standard for creating database records on library items. A MARC record
is typically arranged according to the cataloging principles of such as AACR2, and each field in a MARC record

lists variables such as title or author and a class mark such as a DDC number. Such computerized catalogs or
OPACs are now very widespread in libraries around the world. But in many developing countries OPACs are still
gradually replacing the older tradition of card-based cataloging, while in industrialized counties, very few
libraries are without an OPAC. Today different versions of MARC are used around the world, such as
CANMARC in Canada, IBERMARC in Spain, JPNMARC in Japan and RUSMARC in Russia. Harmonization
between the different MARC versions are ongoing projects in major libraries. With the introduction of the
Internet, many OPACs can now be accessed with a web browser, and this means one does not necessarily
have to be in a library to access its OPAC.

258. First library OPACs in the U.S.
The Ohio State University Library in Columbus and Princeton University Library, in New J ersey installed a Geac
OPAC in 1979. In 1980, the University of Arizona Library in Tucson was the 3rd library to install a Geac OPAC in the
U.S..

259. First library OPAC in Europe
Hull University Library in the U.K. began using the Geac OPAC in 1980.

260. First library OPAC in Australia
Deakin University Library, Victoria, began using the Dataphase OPAC, and the Tasmania University Library,
Hobart, began using URICA OPAC, both in 1982.

261. First public library OPAC in the U.K.
Librarians at Somerset County Public Library were the first in a British public library to use the Geac OPAC in
1982.

262. First library OPAC Asia
The National Library of J apan in Tokyo, was the first J apanese library to install an OPAC in 1985.

263. First library OPAC in Africa and the Middle East.
In 1991, the SABINET database service in Cape Town, helped set up the first OAPC in Africa at the National Library
of South Africa branches in Cape Town and J ohannesburg.

264. First companies to develop library OPACs
Geac Library Automation Systems was established in 1976. A Canadian company based in Markham, it
originally developed the Geac OPAC for libraries from computer systems sold to financial institutions, such as
banks. In 2002, Geac became the first library automation company to introduce an OPAC operated by voice
commands, to aid the visually impaired library users.
Three other strong candidates that began similar library automation products in the late 1970s were CLSI
(Computer Library Systems Inc.) in 1977, Dataphase in 1976 and Gaylord in 1978.

Notes. In 1966 the National Library of Germany in Frankfurt was the first library to compile a national
bibliography with the aid of computers. Going back in 1941, an experimental electromechanical library
automation system was installed at the Newark (New Jersey) Public library, in the U.S. And in the 1930s, the
University of Texas Library and the Boston Public Library both introduced library circulation and acquisition
systems using punched cards. For many years Libertas was the favorite OPAC for university libraries in the
U.K., but today both Geac and Talis are the leading OPACs.

265. First library to make use of microfilm
The National Library of France began providing microfilm copies of some of its collections in 1884. Ren
Dagron in France had improved the technique of creating microfilms following its invention by British optician J ohn
Dancer in 1852. Libraries eventually began using microfilms (to preserve items such as newspapers), made with the
technology developed by Eastman-Kodak, in 1935, with the New York Times the first ever newspaper on microfilm.
Since 1938 Harvard University Library in the U.S. has had the oldest and largest microfilm collections in the world.
Today, thanks to computer technology and the Internet, libraries can now digitize their collections, relying much less
on microfilm except where absolutely necessary.
Notes. The microfiche was invented in 1939 by C.H. Kleukens, and for a while it was used principally in
European libraries, as the technology did not gain much acceptance in the U.S. and elsewhere.

266.
First major library to digitize a large selection of its collections
In 1997 the French national library was the first library to provide full-text access to a great deal of its collections via
the Internet. The special catalog called Gallica also provides photographs and illustrations from the publication
(cover page digital image and/or digital images from inside the publication). In total over 80,000 digitalized books
were available to access, including access to important publications in print that had once had restricted access
such as the French Academy of Sciences printed publication (Procs Verbaux de l'Acadmie des Sciences). A
Google project to be released as Google Book Library, involves several large U.S. and overseas university libraries
collaborating to provide up to 10 million books from their collections available for digitization and access through
Googles search engine.

141.tif
The British Library is actively digitizing several of its rare books and manuscripts for general access. The digital
manuscript system in the photograph below, one of several in the national library, is the Magna Carta, a 13th
century manuscript on parchment.

267. First major computer database
The very first crude databases were developed during the 1950s. The first and most important database
developed was the U.S. Census Bureaus office database, released in 1951. The custom designed database
software was run on a UNIVAC mainframe computer supplied by Remington-Rand (now part of Unisys Corporation).
This database was thus used 5 years after ENIAC, the worlds first general-purpose electronic digital computer
(essentially the first mainframe) was developed at the University of Pennsylvania in 1947).

Notes. The relational database theory was developed by E. Codd in 1972 at IBM laboratories. The first
commercial relational database package for a desktop computer was Aston Tates (now Borland) dBASE

version 2 for CP/M computers (1980) and for MS-DOS computers (1982). dBASE was developed from an early
popular database package invented in the late 1970s for UNIVAC mainframes. Microsoft Access, the major
database package today was released in 1992. The first commercial SQL database package was developed by
Oracle in 1980. Databases with Graphical User Interface or GUI, such as buttons to press and input boxes for
entering data, became feasible when the Palo Alto Research Center, PARC, in the U.S., released the first
computers to use GUI as a means of input. The first two from PARC were the Dyna Book computer in 1973 and
the Xerox Star computer in 1979. Both these computers influenced the later development of the first successful
commercial computer to use GUI, the Apple Macintosh, launched in January 1984, and the development of the
first successful GUI operating system for PCs, Windows 3 in 1990. CD-ROM databases (available from the
middle 1980s) where among the first GUI databases.

268. Largest computer database
Patent database then to be the largest kind of databases produced. Several patent databases covered have
more than 60 million records, with each record having very detailed information, increasing the computer size of the
database to over several thousand gigabytes. Currently the two largest patent databases with the largest number of
records are: the Delphion Patent Database with over 80 million records and the European Patent Offices
International Patent Documentation Database or INPADOCDB with over 63 million patent records. The computer
size of the Delphion Patent Database in gigabytes is 150,000 gigabytes or the hard disk capacity size of just over
1000 personal computers. This makes the Delphion Patent Database full-text database the largest in the world.
Patent databases are covered in this book in more details at entries 346 to 351. The WorldCat, a union catalog (see
entry 252) is worlds largest bibliographic database as over 2 million records are added each year. WorldCat covers
about 95 million records.

269. First and largest database host
Apart from books and periodicals, libraries, especially university and special libraries are increasingly offering
access to several CD-ROM, Internet or online databases covering a wide variety of subjects. Most public libraries
tend to offer the cheaper CD-ROM databases, while academic and special libraries, such as business and law
libraries, in addition to CD-ROM / DVD ROM, also offer more expensive online access to databases via the Internet
and commercial Wide Area Networks or WANs such as X.25 networks. Some databases are used for finding articles
in periodicals such as in journals (i.e. electronic journals), newspapers and magazines, or searching directories,
indexes or registries. Other databases contain specific data and information, such business data (e.g. share price
information), biological data (e.g. DNA structures), chemical data (e.g. chemical composition) or legal data (e.g. law
cases). Big libraries such as university and national libraries often subscribe to one or more database hosts.
Database hosts are online services proving access to dozens or hundreds of databases, allowing a single access
point and thus a single subscription to several databases, the bulk of these databases being produced by different
companies and not the database host itself. The first commercial online database host was DIALOG database host,
introduced in 1972. Lockheed Missile and Space Corporation originally developed it for a NASA database project in
1965. In 1988 DIALOG (based in Cary, North Carolina, U.S.) was sold to Knight-Ridder Information and in 2000 it
became a subsidiary of Thomson Corporation (Toronto, Canada). DIALOG, used in over 120 countries, offers over
600 huge international databases to access from. DIALOGs detailed list of its databases is interestingly called
Bluesheets.

Notes. SDCs Orbit database host (now part of Questel-Orbit) is also a strong candidate for the first commercial
online database host, as it began developing online information retrieval systems as far back as late 1960 and
began a commercial service in the early 1970s.

270. Oldest and largest database hosts in Europe

In 1969 the European Space Agencys Information Retrieval Service or ESA-IRS database host, located in
Frascati, near Rome in Italy, became Europes first online database host. In 1988 ESA-IRS became part of the
British Library initiative called European Information Network Services or EINS. It offers access to over 200
scientific, technical and medical databases, some provided by other European database hosts.
Telesystemes-Questel database host was introduced in 1979. It merged with Orbit in 1994 to become Questel-
Orbit and is based in Paris, France. Over 160 databases can be accessed with Questel Orbit. It coverage is mostly
on intellectual property information such as scientific and technical patents and trademarks.
Notes. The largest French language scientific and technical database is PASCAL, produced by the National
Center for Scientific Research in Paris.

BLAISE database host was introduced by the British Library bibliographic services in London back in 1978. It
provides access to several bibliographic databases such as the British National Bibliography (which is also available
in print form) the U.S. National Library of Medicine MEDLARS databases, such as MEDLINE and U.S. Library of
Congress MARC records.
The German Institute for Medical Documentation and Information in Cologne established the DIMDI database
host in 1975. It currently offers access to over 100 databases mostly in the biomedical field.
Radio Suisse, Bern, Switzerland, introduced the DataStar database host in 1980 in Switzerland. It offers access
to over 350 databases. In 2000 it became a subsidiary of Thomson Corporation (Toronto, Canada). It is the second
largest database host in the West after DIALOG.
Russias Integrum-Techno database host in Moscow offers over 400 databases covering legislation of Russia
and the Commonwealth of Independent States as well as political, business, commercial, investment, legal,
scientific databases, most of which are available in Russian and English. It is the largest bibliographic database host
after DIALOG.
With over 70 databases, Swedens InfoTorg (operated by Sema InfoData, Stockholm) is the largest database
host in Scandinavia.

142.tif
The German Institute for Medical Documentation and Information or DIMDI, in Cologne, is the largest provider of
biomedical databases in Germany.
271. Oldest and largest database hosts in Europe Asia
Based in Tokyo, PC VAN (operated by NEC); NIFTYServe (operated by Fujitsu) and G Search are J apans
three largest and most popular online services with subject coverage in multidisciplinary fields. Between them they
have over 5 million subscribers in J apan. Although the information services display data in J apanese ideograms,
NIFTY Serve and G-Search offer their services in both J apanese and English. By linking to the J apan Information
Center for Science and Technology (see entry 283), the two services further provide access to PATOLIS and J OIS,
the largest science and technology information databases in J apan.
Founded in April 2000, and based in Tokyo, the National Institute of Informatics (Nii) provides the information
services and portals for the academic community in J apan in various multidisciplinary fields such as the humanities
and science in the J apanese language. The biggest online database portal is GeNii (also called GiNii) covering
humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences). From GeNii other huge databases can accessed such as: CiNii
(full text and citation of J apanese scholarly and academic journals and magazines); Kaken (scientific research
projects in J apan); Nii-DBR (academic research database repository for specialized academic information such as
on J apanese doctorial dissertations) Nii-REO (repository of electronic journals and online publications, offering both
full-text and bibliographic access) and WebCatPlus (database for books, magazines, in J apanese and English).
The major well known Korean general database hosts include Chollian (LG Dacom) and Hitel. Based in Seoul,
the Korean Database Promotion Centre or KDPC, offers over access to over 900 Korean language database
covering multidisciplinary fields.
The Korea Institute of Industry & Technology in Seoul produces the KINITI IR academic database host which
offers over 40 databases in Korean covering scientific and medical abstracts, Korean patent abstracts in English,

directory of Korean databases, union catalog of Korean periodicals, research and development reports, and
commodities and manufacturers. Developed in 1983 it was the first Korean database host. It also provides access
to overseas database host such as DIALOG and STN for university libraries in Korea.
CrimsonLogic, formerly SNS (Singapore Network Services) is the largest provider of databases in Singapore
covering law (Singapore Academy of Law LawNet database), medicine and finance.
Based in New Delhi, India, the DELNET database host produces over 20 databases. These include the full text
J AIN database; the database of Hindi and Urdu manuscripts; the DEVINSA sociology database; and Indian theses
and dissertations database.
The Indian National Information System on Science and Technology, NISSAT produces the largest Indian
scientific and technical databases covering the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, manufacturing, food
technology, metal working, oceanography, sugar industry, textiles industry and microbiology.
The Malaysian Science and Technology Information Centre or MASTIC, in city of Putrajaya, is the main provider
of science and technology information in Malaysia. It collects and disseminates information related to science and
technology research activities. Its database host provides access to several database such as MASTIClink, a
database on current science and technology research projects in Malaysia. These information in the database
comes from several sources including institutes of higher learning and government research institutes in Malaysia.
The Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC) and Wanfang Data (based in Beijing and an
affiliate of the Chinese Ministry of Science & Technology) produces several large comprehensive databases such as
China Online J ournals database (the only product of this kind in China), Dissertations of China database, Academic
Conferences in China database, Chinese Companies & Products database, Policies and Laws of China database,
Chinese Science Citation Index database and the National Scientific Awards and Scientific Achievements database.
They are all available in Mandarin, Cantonese and English. The availability of English versions means several
overseas libraries subscribe to the databases, such as The U.S. Library of Congress, the British Library and libraries
of Oxford and Yale Universities.


272 Oldest and largest database hosts in the Middle East and Africa
The oldest and largest African database host is South Africas SABINET service. Started in 1986, the database
service covers subjects such as business, law, medicine, religion, science and the humanities. It also offers access
to over 150 electronic journals published in southern Africa.

273. First database host to introduce networked CD-ROM access
Bibliographic Retrieval Services (BRS online), a database host, introduced networked CD-ROM access to its
databases in 1986. Established in 1976 at the State University of New York in the U.S., it became part of Ovid
Technologies (a pioneer in CD-ROM information retrieval) in 1994. Ovid Technologies (now part of Wolters Kluwer,
Amsterdam, the Netherlands), offers over 100 databases.

274. First indexing service
With the proliferation in the publication of periodicals in the Victorian age, William Poole, a U.S. librarian,
indexed by subject over 100 Victorian periodicals from 1802 to 1881, and published the results as An Index to
Periodical Literature. This was the first attempt to provide an indexing service for scholars. Pooles brilliant work is
the forerunner of Readers Guide to Periodical Literature, a popular index, first published in 1901, to the periodicals
found in the English language. Today automated or manual indexing services are an essential part of the production
of bibliographic databases.

275. First citation indexes

Shepards Citations, covering cited works in legal information and first published in 1873, was the first major
citation index. It is now part of the huge legal databases of Lexis-Nexis. Twelfth century Hebrew citations called
Analysis of Judaica are the earliest authentic citation index.

276. Largest citation index database service
Citations Indexes for science, arts, humanities and social science literature developed from 1958 by Professor
Eugene Garfield of the Institute for Scientific Information or ISI (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.), are the largest in
the world. Citations from over 8,000 journals published in 35 languages are indexed. The ISI citation indexes have
now evolved into the ISI Web of Science database. The combination of this database and several other ISI and non-
ISI databases make up the ISI Web of Knowledge database. See also entry 310. ISI is now part of Thomson
Corporation (Toronto, Canada).

277. First major KWIC indexing service
KWIC, or Key Word in Context, indexing was an efficient method of indexing words developed by Hans Peter
Luhn, a German inventor. In 1960 the American Chemical Society adopted Luhns method to index the journal
Chemical Titles. Today, there are KWIC indexes in almost every branch of knowledge.

278. First table-of-contents database
The Institute for Scientific Information (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.) Current Contents database was
released in 1984. It is also the largest table-of-contents database.

279. First and largest full-text databases
Lexis-Nexis, based in Daytna Ohio, began full-text databases in the 1970s with Lexis in 1973 to provide legal
databases, and Nexis in 1979 for news and business databases. It was originally introduced in 1966 by Data
Corporation, becoming Mead Data Central in 1968. The Anglo-Dutch giant Reed Elsevier bought the company in
1994.

280. Largest commerciall y available microform collection
UMI, or University Microfilms Inc., one of the ProQuest Information and Learning services (Ann Arbor, Michigan,
U.S, and a division of Cambridge Information Group.), contains over 5.5 billion page images (microfilm and
microfiche) drawn from thousands of literary, journalistic, and scholarly works such as dissertations. About 37 million
images are added each year. Eugene Power founded UMI in 1938, after successfully microfilming rare and foreign
books in the British Museum. Bell & Howell acquired UMI in 1985.

281. Largest electronic information services
Thomson Reuters (Toronto, Canada), founded in 1989, owns some of the leading electronic database
producers, database hosts and information providers and online publishers such as Westlaw, DIALOG, DataStar,
Information Access Company, Micromedex, Sweet & Maxwell, Gale Group, Derwent and the Institute for Scientific
Information or ISI. It had global sales of over $8 billion in 2006, and its business is very diverse, covering a wide

variety of subjects such as scientific, financial and legal information. There are five main divisions. E.g. the science
division of the business is called Thomson Scientific, while the business information division is called Thomson
Financial. Thomson itself is a pioneer in the old print economy, and helped create the electronic age with early
proprietary online systems and CD-ROM products.
The other multinational conglomerate and second big player and competitor with multiple information services
(following acquisitions and mergers, as with Thomson) is the Anglo Dutch giant Reed Elsevier, which owns among
others, Lexis-Nexis, Kompass, ScienceDirect, EMBASE, R.R. Bowker (up to 2001), Elsevier Science and a large
book and journal publisher arm. It was founded in 1993 by the merger of Dutch and British information and
publishing businesses and has a company structure similar to other Anglo-Dutch businesses (like the oil company
Royal-Dutch Shell) by having its headquarters in London and Amsterdam and two CEOs from each country. Sales in
2006 were $5.7 billion. Like Thomson, its businesses is very diverse.

When Cambridge Information Group (CIG) pruchased with Proquest Information and Learning in 2007 for $222
million, the inked deal created yet another big player in the information services industry, competing alongside
Thomson Reuters and Reed Elsevier. In 2008, ProQuest acquired RefWorks (a web-based research services for
academic and research communities) and purchased both DIALOG and DataStar from Thomson Reuters. Earlier in
2001 Reed Elsevier had sold R.R. Bowker, to Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA Illumina), which later merged
with ProQuest / Cambridge Information Group in 2007. The divisions of Cambridge Information Group, based in
Bethesda, Maryland, thus include ProQuest, R.R. Bowker, RefWorks and CSA Illumina (Cambridge Scientific
Abstracts). Sales of Cambridge Information Group in 2010 where just over $3 billion. In 2010, ProQuest acquired
University Publications of American and Congressional Information Service (from Reed Elsevier s Lexis Nexis).
Comparable in size with Cambridge Information Group (CIG), is a fourth big player, EBSCO Publishing
(Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.). Sales in 2010 were around 2 billion.



282. Largest periodicals directory database
Ulrichs International Periodicals Directory (R.R. Bowker, New Providence, New J ersey, U.S), indexes
information and contact details for over 250,000 periodicals and serials from 80,000 publishers in 200 countries on a
range of different subjects. It also lists over 14, 000 newspapers.

283. Largest databases with electronic journals and eBooks
With globalization of businesses widespread, some of the databases listed below can also be seen as database
hosts as the publishers of the electronic journals or eBooks featured in the electronic journal database host may
come from several different companies worldwide, on a broad range of multidisciplinary subjects. There are also
very specific databases that only contain electronic journals on specific subjects such as on law, engineering,
business, science or medicine. These are detailed from entries 290 to 337.
The CISTI catalog of the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (or CISTI), based in Ottawa,
gives access to over 50,000 periodicals and more than 800,000 scientific and medical (STM) reports and conference
proceedings.
Swets Information Service (Lisse, the Netherlands) allows its subscribers access to some 17,000 periodicals.
Full text articles are available from over 2,500 of these journals. Subject coverage spans the majority of academic
disciplines including: arts, business, geography, history, language, management, marketing, medicine, philosophy,
religion, sciences, social sciences and technology.
EBSCOhost (Ipswich, Massachusetts, U.S.), provides access to over 10,700 electronic journals and over 136
databases.
OCLCs FirstSearch database service (Dublin, Ohio, U.S.) has a collection of over 7,500 electronic journals
from a wide variety of subjects. OCLCs ArticleFirst database indexes articles from 12,000 journals.

Ingenta (Bath, U.K.) offers more than 5,400 academic and professional electronic journals. This service is
primary involved in providing access to databases for the academic community. Ingenta also provides full-text
access to over 2000 periodicals for which there is a print subscription. The Uncover Plus section of Ingenta is an
indexing service only and does not incorporate full-text.
ScienceDirect (part of the Amsterdam-based Elsevier Science in the Netherlands), gives its users access to
more than more than 11,000 books, 6000 scientific, technical and medical electronic journals, including 2,500 peer-
reviewed journals. It is a full-text scientific database. In addition it also links up to external databases giving a grand
total of over 10,000 electronic journals.

Wiley InterScience (Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, New J ersey, U.S.) offers 2,500 electronic journals.
The J ournals@Ovid service of Ovid Technologies (part of Wolters Kluwer based in the, Amsterdam, the
Netherlands) is the largest scientific and medical full-text electronic journal service. Over 920 journals from over 68
different publishers are currently available for searching in the journal database.
The databases of Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA Illumina), based in Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. , and a
division of Proqest) provides 70 databases linking to more than 5,000 full-text journals.
The Tokyo-based J apan Information Center for Science and Technology (J apan Science and Technology
Corporation) J ICST database has over 9 million records, sourced from J apanese, Asian and selected overseas
journals and other materials, covering, scientific, biomedical and technical research in Asia. Its two largest
databases are PATOLIS and J OIS.
Sage (Thousand Oaks, California, U.S.) provides access to over 80,000 full-text articles from over 510 peer-
reviewed journals covering the social sciences.
J STOR (or J ournal Storage) is essentially a digital archive collection of core scholarly journals. providing full-
text searches of digitized back issues of thousands of journals, dating back to 1665, hence it includes the contents
of Philosophical Transactions (see entry 176). Founded 1995 by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, J STOR offers
researchers the ability to retrieve high-resolution, scanned images of journal issues and pages as they were
originally designed, printed, and illustrated. The journals archived in J STOR span many disciplines in the arts and
sciences.
Zetoc provides access to the British Library's Electronic Table of Contents of around 20,000 current journals
and around 16,000 conference proceedings published per year. The database covers 1993 to date, and is updated
on a daily basis.
Informaworld (Taylor & Francis, London, U.K.) offers over 1,100 electronic journals and 10,000 eBooks.
SpringerLink (Berlin, Germany) offers 1,250 STM electronic journals and adds 3,000 new eBooks every year.
The Digital Book Index or DBI (Westport, Connecticut, U.S.) provides access to more than 110,000 eBooks
from commercial bestsellers to specialized research documents in variety of formats such as Adobe PDF format,
HTML, ASCII text and Microsoft Reader.
Books@Ovid offers access to over 5000 eBooks.
NetLibrary (a division of OCLC) offers the largest eBook subscription service, with more than 140,000 titles are
available.
Factiva, Profound, ProQuest, Intelligence Data, HighBeam, Lexis-Nexis, Thomson Gale, H.W. Wilson, Northern
Light, DIALOG and Datastar are other leading subscription-based information services that also provide abstracts or
full-text of thousands of electronic journals in multidisciplinary fields. Many journals and some scholarly magazines
(on the second page) now provide the name of the database which provides the electronic version, or provide the
internet address of the web version.
Since the eBook revolution began back in 1999 (see entry 144) most eBooks sales were those bought from
popular online services, e.g. Amazon (e.g. via the Kindle), Google (via Android tablets) and iTunes (via the iPad).
These services and the publishers of the books make deals on sharing the profits of the eBook sales. There is now
another growing trend for publishers to do deals with libraries (public, school, college, university, etc) for loaning
eBooks. In this case libraries use eBook services to allow its users borrow eBooks from the library. One such
popular service used by U.K. and U.S. libraries is OverDrive Media Console. Since 2002 the service has provided
on-the-go access to eBooks and audiobooks for a rental period, typically 2 to 3 weeks. Once this loan period
expires, the DRM protection built into the eBook causes it to automatically permanently disappear from the eBook
reader, laptop, tablet etc. OverDrive Media Console service is currently implemented in over 20,000 libraries in 50
countries around the world. Other similar popular eBook services used by libraries include NetLibrary (acquired by

EBSCO from OCLC in March 2010, it has 200,000 eBooks from 500 publishers available in 17,000 libraries
worldwide); ..????
Notes. Google Scholar (from Google) and Windows Live Academic (from Microsoft) are examples of two major
free databases providing bibliographic access to electronic journals. But these types of services are limited in
content scope and coverage quality and quantity, compared to the subscription-based databases, for instance
because it is free, Windows Live Academic is either slow or difficult to access at peak times . Wiley InterScience
Backfile Collections currently has one of the oldest electronic journal coverage. While most electronic journals
go back to issues published from the early 20th century, Wiley InterScience Backfile Collections covers journals
published from 1799. Project Gutenberg started by Michael Hart at the University of Illinois, in the U.S., in 1991
is the worlds largest free electronic library. It contains over 10,000 public domain texts and eBooks of non-
copyrighted books (e.g. pre1923), such as novels and reference texts, among which are books written by
William Shakespeare and Lewis Carol. Dictionaries, maps and encyclopedias are also available in the electronic
library. In March 2002, the 5,000th eBook was added: The Notes of Leonardo Da Vinci. An average of about
200 books is added per month to Project Gutenberg.

284. First major reference book on CD-ROM
First encyclopedias were all in print format and spread over several heavy individual volumes. Then Sony and
Phillips introduced the compact disk, then later the CD-ROM. Suddenly massive amounts of information could fit in a
disk, such as the entire encyclopedia volumes which you could easily grasp in your hand without sweating. Grolier
Electronic Encyclopedia on CD-ROM was the first major electronic encyclopedia published in 1986. An earlier minor
encyclopedia by Grolier had been published on CD-ROM in 1985 titled Academic American Encyclopedia.
Notes. The next 5 digitized encyclopedias available on CD-ROM were Comptons Interactive Encyclopedia
(1989), Hutchinson Electronic Encyclopaedia (1991), World Book Encyclopedia (1992), Microsoft Encarta
Encyclopedia (1993), and Encyclopdia Britannica in 1994. Most now have Internet versions as well, and some
such as Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia have a DVD-ROM version to cater for huge audio and video multimedia
files.

285. Oldest electronic newspaper coverage
Gale Group (a subsidiary of Thomson, Toronto, Canada and now known as Thomson Gale), which provides
access to a number of U.K. electronic newspapers, reached an agreement with The Times newspaper of London
(the oldest U.K. broadsheet) to provide access to digitized back issues of the newspaper from 1785. The database
will be ready by 2004. Prior to this you had to use a microfilm reader to look at 18th century copies of the
newspaper. In 2006, Google (famous for its search engine) expanded its internet news service to include stories up
to 250 years old. Hence it is possible to use the service (called Google News Archive) to read newspaper reports on
such items as the British response to the U.S. declaration of independence in 1776. When its news service was
introduced in 2002 it was limited to stories up to 30 days old.

Notes. In October 2007, the British Library and Gale / Cengage introduced a database covering the full text
contents of leading UK newspapers from the 1800s. It is one of the largest databases of its kind in Europe.

286. Largest producers of newspapers online and CD-ROM
Lexis-Nexis, (based in Daytona Ohio and part of Reed Elsevier) provides over 12,000 worldwide newspapers
online, making it the largest electronic newspaper source. The service began in 1979. CD-ROM databases

produced by NewsBank (Naples, Florida, U.S.), offer access to over 200 U.S. newspapers. Its databases can also
be accessed via the Internet. EBSCO, Factiva, HighBeam, InfoTrac (Gale Group), DIALOG and Datastar are some
other leading information services that also provide abstracts or full text of numerous major world newspapers either
online (via the Internet) or on CD-ROM / DVD-ROM. The electronic journal services listed in entry 283 also provides
access to online newspapers as well.

287. Largest database on the latest books published in English
BookBank (Whitaker Information Services, Farnham, U.K.) provides monthly updates and prices on CD-ROM of
over 2 million forthcoming English language publications as well as current titles from several of the largest English
speaking countries including the U.K., the U.S., South Africa, Nigeria, India, Australia and New Zealand. It also
holds out-of-print titles since 1970. In 2002 BookBank merged with Nielsen BookData (part of Dutch group VNU in
the Haarlem, the Netherlands). The new entity provides over 3 million titles. Nielsen BookData also collects data on
English language books from over 70 countries, including non-English speaking countries. A sister company Nielsen
BookScan operates the worlds largest continuous retail sales monitoring service for books.
The other main source of new books published in English is R.R. Bowkers (New Providence, New J ersey and a
division of Reed Elsevier) Global Books in Print. It lists over 5.9 million English titles. The database contains in-print
and forthcoming books, audios and videos, as well as books, audios and videos declared out-of-print or out-of-stock-
indefinitely since 1979. There are many country versions. The U.K. version is called Books in Print or BIP database
(from Bowker-Saur, East Grinstead, U.K.) and has over 1.8 million titles. The databases of both RR Bowker and
Nielsen BookData are available on DVD-ROM, the Internet and other formats such as microfiche, hardback print
and tape. But the Internet version is the most current, as it is updated weekly. Through the U.S. ISBN Agency (also
based at New Providence, New J ersey), Bowker issues and manages ISBN numbers in the United States for all
boks and ebooks published. In 2001 Reed Elsevier sold R.R. Bowker, to Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA
Illumina).

Notes. Google Book Search is the largest free database service offering full downloads of copyright-free books
(in Adobe PDF format).
288. Largest database covering reviews of new books in English
Gale Groups Book Review Index is the most used source for searching for reviews on newly published books.
So popular is the database, that if a new book is not mentioned in BRI, it is likely to be over looked by the majority of
acquisition librarians in the English-speaking world ordering new books for the library. Book Review Digest database
from H. W. Wilson (New York, U.S.) provides 733,000 records on reviews for English-language fiction and non-
fiction books excluding reviews of textbooks, government publications, and technical books in law and the sciences.
289. Largest live financial information services
In the financial world the three largest providers of live financial data such as on equities i.e. share prices,
commodity futures, stock market index points etc to investors and stockbrokers, commodity brokers are Reuters,
based in London, U.K.; Bloomberg (New York, U.S.) and Thomson Financial Services (Toronto, Canada). All major
stock exchanges around the world employ the services of at least one of these big three, which supply thousands of
specialized computer terminals giving real-time financial data. 3
rd
edition: in 2008, Reuters merged with Thomson
Financial Services to form Thomson Reuters. Dow J ones

290. Largest business and financial information databases
The Kompass database (part of Thomson Corporation, Toronto, Canada) lists over 85 million public and private
businesses in over 70 countries around the world. The D&B database (Dun & Bradstreet, Parsippany, New J ersey,
U.S) list over 100 million businesses worldwide. Printed versions of both databases are also available. They provide

detailed company information such as company addresses, company products and services, number of employees,
key staff members, financial figures such as company sales (turnover or revenue), and profit/loss for the financial
year.
Hoovers (Austin, Texas, U.S.) is the second largest provider of company information in the U.S., giving access
company records of over 14 million businesses. It is part of D&B services.
Bureau Van Dijk (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) produces the Orbis and MintGlobal databases, which both
provide data on 33 million private companies and 46,000 listed companies. The Global Insight database provides
access to market analysis reports on 30 million companies in worldwide. The largest merges and acquisitions
database is the Zephyr database (from Bureau Van Dijk).
The Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC EDGAR database provides the most comprehensive
company filings data in the U.S.
The largest provider of daily business news and newswires are Dow J ones Interactive (which is now merged
with Reuters business news to form Factiva) and Nexis business news databases (part of Lexis-Nexis, and a Reed
Elsevier service). The online versions of major daily financial newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal (published
in New York, U.S.) and the Financial Times (London, U.K.) are other chief sources of daily business news.

Notes. The four largest databases on company credit ratings are those compiled by Moodys (New York, U.S.);
Standard & Poors (New York, U.S); Experian (Costa Mesa, California, U.S.) and Equifax (Atlanta, Georgia,
U.S.).

291. Largest businesses directory database in the U.S. and Canada
ReferenceUSA database (Omaha, Nebraska) contains contact information such as addresses and telephone
numbers on more than 14 million U.S. businesses and 180 million U.S. residents. In addition it has coverage for 1.3
million Canadian businesses and 12 million Canadian residents.

292. Largest database on businesses in the Europe
ICC British Company Directory database produced by ICC (Hampton, U.K.) indexes over 3.6 million U.K and
Irish registered companies. Thomson Directories Database lists over 5 million U.K. and Irish businesses. The Fame
database produced by Bureau Van Dijk has data on over 2 million U.K. and Irish companies.
Genios (a division of Handelsblatt Publishing Group, Dsseldorf, Germany) has the largest source of business
databases in Germany.
Bureau Van Dijks Amadeus database supplies information on about 8 million major public and private
companies in 38 countries in Europe. EuroInfoPool database, produced in Goteborg, Sweden, provides data on
periodic European company filings from 18 million companies on the continent (it is the equivalent of the SEC
EDGAR database in the U.S).
Datamonitor provides over 3000 industrial profiles and market analysis reports on 15 million companies in
Europe. Similar large European market analysis and reports are also produced by Euromontor (based in London,
Shanghai and Chicago)

293. Largest database on businesses in the Asia
Teikoku Databank provides the latest information for over 300,000 J apanese companies. The database is in the
English language and produced by Teikoku Databank America in New York City, U.S. Nikkei Economic Electronic
Database, or NEEDS, has over 5 million records in J apanese on financial and economics data. The largest provider
of financial information services in J apan is Nikkei Telekom in Tokyo. The various databases covered in entries 290,
292 and 296 also cover over 10 million companies in Asia (including Australia). CrimsonLogic, formerly SNS
(Singapore Network Services) is the largest provider of databases in Singapore covering finance.


294. Largest database on businesses in the Africa and the Middle East
The various databases covered in entries 290, 292 and 296 also cover over 30,000 African companies. South
Africas SABINET database host service in Cape Town, has a number of online database covering business and
finance.
295. Largest database on businesses in the Latin America
The various databases covered in entries 290, 292 and 296 cover over 2 million Latin American companies.
296. Largest databases on economics and business management
Based in London, the Economist Intelligence Unit, or EIU, produces the largest and most comprehensive
international databases on economics covering areas such as country economic forecasts, economic indicators and
market analysis. The largest economics database in the U.S. is EconLit, from the American Economic Association in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It contains 800,000 plus records sourced from 750 economics journals from 1969. ABI /
Inform database produced by ProQuest Information and Learning (Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S , and a division of
Cambridge Information Group) indexes over 2,002 journals in over 2.8 million records, in the fields of business
management and economics. EBSCOhost, (Ipswich, Massachusetts, U.S.), provides access over 2300 business
and management journals.

297. Largest collection of U.S. and Canadian legal databases
Westlaw databases (now part of Thomson Reuters) totaling over 9000 are the largest databases on law in the
U.S. and they include legal electronic journals. West Publishing Company developed the database host back in
1976 with help from the Ohio Bar Association. Lexis databases, based in Daytona Ohio (part of Lexis-Nexis, and a
Reed Elsevier service), released in 1973, are the second largest source of legal databases in the U.S. QuickLaw
database host, developed in 1975 by QuickLaw (Kingston, Ontario), provides over 2500 databases covering recent
civil and criminal Canadian law cases from all jurisdictions in Canada, as well as some Australian and British legal
materials. QuickLaw is now part of Lexis Nexis.

298. Largest collection of European legal databases
Lexis databases are by far the largest of its kind used Europe. Butterworths, Lawtel, and Sweet & Maxwell
databases are the largest U.K. produced databases for professional lawyers (known as solicitors and barristers), as
well as law school students in the U.K. J uris, the German legal information service offers several large online and
CD-ROM legal databases, covering German and European legal information.

299. Largest collection of African legal databases
The databases listed in entries 297 and 298 are the primary sources online legal material. Other important
African legal texts and journals remain in print format. South Africas SABINET database host service in Cape
Town, has a number of online database covering law and legislation.

300. Largest collection of Asian legal databases
The Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC) and Wanfang Data (based in Beijing and an
affiliate of the Chinese Ministry of Science & Technology) produces the largest legal databases for China, Hong
Kong and Macau. CrimsonLogic, formerly SNS (Singapore Network Services) is the largest provider of databases in
Singapore covering law. The database is called Singapore Academy of Law LawNet database.


301. Largest collection of Middle Eastern legal databases
The databases listed in entries 297 and 298 are the primary sources online legal material. Other important
Middle Eastern legal texts and journals remain in print format. Israel has a number of locally produced legal
database covering Israeli laws. The PDOR database is produced by the Israeli Bar Association. Takdin database
provides access to over 360,000 case laws and legislations mainly in Hebrew. It is Israel's premier legal database
and is produced by C.D.I. Systems, which produces several other Israeli legal databases such as Dinime Ve-Od. In
Amman, J ordan, Arab L@w Net is the largest Arab legal services. Databases are available in both Arabic and
English. The United Nations Development Programme UNDP-POGAR: Programme on Governance in the Arab
Region in New York, has sponsored the development of several Arabic legal and legislative databases.

302. Largest medical and nursing database
MEDLINE database was released in October 1971 by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, following an
experimental project, which began in 1966 with help from New York Universitys SDC database host. It has over
15.8 million records and abstracts from over 10,621 biomedical journals from 75 countries. It also employs the
largest database thesaurus in use, called MeSH from the words: Medical Subject Headings. Today over 500 million
searchers are done on the database each year. Coverage period goes back to 1965 and it is updated daily, meaning
the most updated version is the online version and not the disk versions. The CINAHL database from Ovid (Wolters
Kluwer, Amsterdam, the Netherlands) indexes journals from the fields of nursing and allied health, from 1937. It
offers complete coverage of English-language nursing journals covering nursing, biomedicine, health sciences
librarianship, alternative/complementary medicine, consumer health and 17 allied health disciplines. In addition, this
database offers access to health care books, nursing dissertations, selected conference proceedings, standards of
practice, educational software, audiovisuals and book chapters. EBSCO Publishing database Health Source:
Nursing/Academic Edition provides nearly 550 scholarly full text journals, including nearly 450 peer-reviewed
journals focusing on many medical disciplines. Also featured are abstracts and indexing for nearly 850 journals.
Notes. MEDLINE is just one of several large medical databases hosted by the U.S. National Library of Medicine
MEDLARS database host. Other major medical databases that can be accessed include CancerLit, PopLine,
SDLine, SpaceLine, ToxLine, HistLine and ChemID.

303. First and largest printed medical indexing service
U.S. surgeon J ohn Billings, who served in the field and in hospitals during the American Civil War, developed
Index Medicus in 1879. It is the printed version of the MEDLINE database. Since the 2000s, Index Medicus has
been gradually phased out in preference to MEDLINE, due to the sheer number of medical data now available that
make it uneconomic to produce in print. Before the start of the 1990s, more researches around the world used the
printed version i.e. Index Medicus than the computer version i.e. MEDLINE, and in many university libraries, the
numerous volumes of the printed version occupied large precious spaces in the library. Although Index Medicus was
the first major medical bibliography compiled, the first professional medical bibliography was written by J ames
Douglas, a Scottish anatomist, in 1715.

304. Largest biomedical and pharmaceutical databases
EMBASE database produced by Elsevier Science in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, contains over 12 million
records, with 400,000 records added annually. It is the electronic version of the printed version known as Excerpta
Medica. As with Index Medicus above, the printed version has been phased out in preference to EMBASE.

The largest pharmaceutical database covering drug research and development is the Ensemble database,
produced by Prous Science (Barcelona, Spain). It covers over 100,000 bioactive chemical compounds being

developed into potential drugs.

Updated daily the IDdb
3
or Investigational Drug Database, developed by Current Drugs (Philadelphia, U.S. and
now pat of Thomson Scientific), is the largest pharmaceutical database covering the development of drugs from
discovery and clinical trials, right up to eventual launch and marketing.

U.S. National Library of Medicine Drug Information Portal covers a selection of over 20,000 drugs. It covers
drugs from the time they are entered into clinical trials (Clinicaltrials.gov) through their entry in the U.S. market
place (Drugs@FDA). Many drugs in other countries are also covered. The database provides links to the
librarys TOXLINE database (toxicology data).

U.S. National Library of Medicine ChemIDplus dictionary database contains over 500,000 records of biomedical
and regulatory interest. Records include CAS Registry Numbers, molecular formulae, generic names, trivial
names and MeSH headings.

Thomson Pharma database, part of Thomson Corporation, contains detailed data on over 20,000
pharmaceutical drugs.

Pharmacopeia are huge databases, issued by an officially recognized authority in a country, describing every
single drugs, chemicals, and medicinal preparations, on the market, and serving as a quality, strength and purity
standard for current and new drugs etc. The largest such database is the U.S. Pharmacopeia. The international
Pharmacopeia an initiative of the Geneva-based World Health Organization aimed at minimizing or eliminating
variations among national pharmacopoeial standards. A less popular detailed international pharmacopeia is the
database called Martindale: The complete Drug Reference, covering under 6000 drugs and medicines (35
th

2007 edition, first published in 1883 by William Martindale). The database in both print and electronic form is
offered by several medical university libraries worldwide. Other popular large international drug and medicines
database include the Merck Index (since 1889) and the Dorlands medical databases (since 1890).

305. Largest DNA and molecular biology databases
GenBank DNA database maintained by the U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information (a division of the
U.S. National Library of Medicine and the U.S. National Institutes of Health) currently contains over 32,549,400
sequence records with more than 37 billion nucleotide base pairs (individual units in a strand of DNA) from over
100,000 species including humans. Because of the rate at which scientists from around the world submit new DNA
sequences to be added to the database, GenBank grows at an exponential rate, with the number of nucleotide
bases doubling approximately every 14 months. There are other major DNA sequences databases around the
world, though smaller in size, notably the DNA DataBank of J apan or DDBJ and the database of the European
Molecular Biology Laboratory or EMBL in Heidelberg, Germany. The largest protein sequence databases are the
SWISS PROT, produced and maintained by the European Bioinformatics Institute and Geneva University in
Switzerland, and the Protein Information Resource (PIR) database produced by Georgetown University Medical
Center, in the U.S. PIR was established in 1984 by the U.S. National Biomedical Research Foundation as a
resource to assist researchers in the identification and interpretation of protein sequence information. The Geneseq
database is the largest DNA database containing patented sequences. It is produced by Thomson Derwent
Information.

Notes. In early 2001 GenBank DNA database received the eagerly anticipated data from the multi-million dollar
global Human Genome Project, which had released a draft DNA sequence of the human genome. The draft
covered all 3 billion nucleotide base pairs of the human genome, representing 50,000 to 100,000 genes. The
international collaboration was carried out in labs primarily in the U.S., the U.K., Italy, Russia, Japan, France,
and the Netherlands. The project was finally completed in 2003.



306. Largest DNA database for forensic investigations.

DNA and protein are not the only materials of human origin that have been extensively recorded; in the field of
forensic science several countries have huge national fingerprint databases with millions of records. The British
national DNA database, also known as the UK National Criminal Intelligence DNA Database contains the DNA
profiles of about 5 million individuals, covering 8% of the population. It was established in 1995. See also entry 338
for details on the largest fingerprint database.

307. Largest agriculture, animal science and botany databases
The U.S. National Agricultural Librarys Agricola database, available since 1970, has over 3.9 million records,
sourced from 850 journals and other materials. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO, based
in Rome) Agris database, introduced in 1975, contains roughly 2.3 million records. The CAB Abstracts database
provides a large collection of over 1 million full-text records on agriculture, veterinary science, botany and
entomology (some going back to 1910) and a collection of specific data on plants. It is produced by scientists at the
CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International) a not-for-profit publisher of bibliographic databases,
journals and books in the applied life sciences, based in Oxon, Britain. The BIOSIS Previews database (see below)
also covers a large selection of botanical and animal science data. Biological and Agricultural Index database from
H. W. Wilson covers botany, animal husbandry, entomology, forestry, genetics, horticulture and soil science. The
database coverage starts from 1983 and has 1.6 million records.

Notes. The largest databases on food science and nutrition are those produced by Leatherhead Information
Services (Foodline database), and the International Food Information Service (Food Science and Technology
Abstracts database).

308. Largest biology databases
Biosciences Information Service or BIOSIS (Thomson Scientific) produces the BIOSIS Previews database
which indexes and abstracts over 6,000 biological (mainly botany, zoology and microbiology) journals and has over
18 million records going back to 1969.

Notes. The largest biotechnology database is Biotechnobase, from Elsevier Science (Amsterdam, the
Netherlands). There are over 1.5 million records, dating back to the early days of commercial biotechnology in
1980. Frankfurt-based German Society for Chemical Apparatus, Chemical Engineering and, Biotechnology,
DECHEMA also produces major databases on biotechnology, biochemical engineering and industrial
biochemistry, in Europe.

309. Largest zoology and microbiology databases
Zoological Record database (produced by Thomson Scientific.) contains over 2.2 million records dating from
1864, making it also the oldest-continuing database in animal sciences. The sources are over 600 zoological
journals. The U.K. Zoological Society of London Library helps to produce the database.
The largest international microbiological databases are those produced by the World Data Center for
Microorganisms in J apan, the American Type Culture Collection, in the U.S. and the United Nations Microbial Strain
Data Network. The BIOSIS Previews database (see above) also covers a large selection of microbiological data.

310. Largest STM abstracting, indexing and citation databases

Both the ISI Web of Science database, launched by Thomson Corporation and the Scopus database, launched
in 2004 (by Reed Elsevier) are aiming to create the worlds largest abstracting, indexing and citation database in the
fields of science, technology and medicine or STM combined. Both enable researches and students to search titles
in thousands of peer-reviewed journals, not only in the STM field, but also in social sciences and physical sciences.

311. Largest chemistry databases
Chemical Abstracts Service or CAS, of Columbus, Ohio, U.S., was founded in 1907 and is a division of the
American Chemical Society. . Its CAS databases (available via a database tool called SciFinder) now number over
19 million records, extracted from over 2000 periodicals in chemistry. CAS also introduced (with Germanys FIZ
Karlsruhe and J apans Science and Technology Agency), the well-known STN database host in 1984, which
provides access to over 220 databases including CAS databases among others. A unique feature of STN is the
ability to search for matching chemical structures. The CAS Registry System, better know as the CAS number,
currently holds information on over 31 million chemical substances, making it the largest chemical register in the
world. Every 9 seconds, a new record is added to the CAS Registry database. Apart from CAS, other similar
chemical registries allocating unique alpha-numerical identitifers for each chemical in the database includes: The
Substance Registration System (SRS) run by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; the ChemSpider Database
(20 million records); U.S. National Library of Medicine ChemIDplus database (500,000 records); and the European
Bioinformatics Institute ChEMBL database. In the field of organic chemistry, the CAS databases is one of the
largest. But the largest specific organic chemistry database is the Beilstein database. It currently has extensive
details of over 8 million organic compounds. The database is produced by the Beilstein Institute in Frankfurt,
Germany. The main source of the database was originally published as a printed handbook by Russian chemist
Friedrich Beilstein in 1881 in Germany.
Notes. The Russian Institute of Scientific and Technical Information or VINITI (Vserossiisky Institut Nauchnoi i
Tekhnicheskoi Informatsii), also has a very similar large chemical abstracting and indexing database service,
like CAS, and produces the huge chemical database known as RZK or Referativnii Zhurnal Khimiya. But a great
proportion of the literature is in Russian, hence it does not have wide international usage outside Eastern
Europe.

312. Largest engineering databases
Engineering Information (Hoboken, New J ersey, U.S.) produces the major database Ei Compendex (the
electronic version of the publication Engineering Index), which provides abstracted information from the worlds
significant engineering and technological literature. About 8.5 million records are available for searching; the sources
are more than 2,600 engineering journals. Each year, over 220,000 new abstracts are added from 175 disciplines
and major specialties. Besides applied engineering, coverage also extends to manufacturing, quality control, and
engineering management issues.

313. Largest civil engineering databases
International Construction Database, or ICONDA, covers worldwide technical literature on civil engineering,
urban and regional planning, architecture, and construction. Fraunhofer Informationszentrum in Stuttgart, Germany,
produces the database. The ArchiText Construction Index, is a comprehensive annotated index of articles covering
over 50 journals relating to architecture, building design, and the construction industry.

314. Largest electrical and electronic engineering database

The Information Services for the Physics and Engineering Communities, or INSPEC, database has over 9
million records, indexed from almost 4000 journals. The database is produced by INSPEC Inc. (Edison, New J ersey,
U.S.) and the Institution of Electrical Engineers (now renamed The Institution of Engineering and Technology or IET
from 2006) in London, U.K. A subset of the database called INSPEC Archive provides access to over 870,000
records covering the period 1898 to 1968. The database is available via the electronic journal database host,
EBSCOhost.
Notes. The largest central resource for government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business
related information is the National Technical Information Service of NTIS. Based in Springfield, Virginia, it was
established in 1952. But the origins of the NTIS go back further to the days of the OSS, the predecessor of the
CIA. Before the CIA was founded in 1947, the NTIS was part of the library acquisition service of the OSS, until it
was taken over by the Office of Technical Services. The NTIS has well over 2 million publications covering over
350 subject areas.

315. Largest technical standards database
IHS Engineering databases (Englewood, Colorado, U.S.) are the largest source of technical standards,
specifications, and regulations for the industry and the military, with data obtained from 450 of the worlds largest
standards-developing organizations. Techstreet, from Thomson Scientific is the largest database covering
engineering codes and standards.

316. Largest geology databases
The GeoRefS from the American Geological Institute contains over 2.8 million records indexed from 3,500
journals and other sources on geology and earth sciences, as well as geophysics, palaeontology, marine ecology
and hydrology. The database coverage is from 1785. The U.S. NASA Earth Science Data Search and Order System
(EOSDIS) database is the largest of its kind, providing earth science and geological data from various geological
information centers around the globe. Much data is also from weather and climate satellites. Established in 1949
and based in Calgary, Canadian Stratigraphic Services produces the large Canstart geology database. The U.S.
Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia, apart from producing geological maps, imagery, and publications, also
maintains a selection of geology databases.

317. Largest geography databases
Geobase, produced by (Elsevier Science, the Netherlands), is the largest bibliographic geographical database
covering human, social and physical geography, geology, geomechanics and ecology. Its 2 million records from
1,800 geography journals cover 1980 to present. The largest provider of GPS maps and road and street atlas
databases, allowing search by post or ZIP codes of addresses for most cities in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, are
Navteq (based in San Francisco, California) and Tele Atlas (based in the Netherlands). The largest online database
of satellite and aerial images is DigitalGlobe (Longmont, Colorado, U.S.) The popular software Google Earth
uses data from both Tele Atlas and DigitalGlobe.
318
Largest petroleum database
The American Petroleum Institute (Washington D.C., U.S,), the national trade association of the U.S. oil and
natural gas industry, produces the APILOT database which provides the most comprehensive information on crude
oil production
319. Largest astronomy databases

The NASA and University of Maryland Astronomical Data Center which works with collections of astronomical
data and provide data services the scientific community. The center receives guidance from a scientific steering
committee made up of representatives of the astronomical research community. The Encyclopedia of Astronomy &
Astrophysics Online database is produced by Taylor and Francis Group. It is the online version of the 4 volume print
version produced by the Institute of Physics and Grove's Dictionaries and edited by Paul Murdin, the famous British
astronomer. Finally there is The Astrophysics Data System (ADS), a NASA-funded project with Harvard University,
which maintains three bibliographic databases containing more than 5.9 million records: Astronomy and
Astrophysics; Physics; and arXiv e-prints databases. J ohns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, Sky Query
Service gives access to the three large ADS astronomy databases.

320. Largest Nulcear research databases
While Ei Compendex and INSPEC databases described earlier cover data on nuclear physics, there are some
specific nuclear physics databases. The National Institute for Standards and Technology, a non-regulatory federal
agency, founded in 1901 within the U.S. Department of Commerce, produces the Atomic Spectra Database. And the
Bibliographic Database on Atomic Energy Levels and Spectra Online, as well as several related databases.

321. Largest military and weapons databases
Specific military information are state secrets, hence commercial military databases cover military information
that is already in the public domain. The largest military information database used in military academic institutions
such as West Point Military Academy is Military Periscope database. Available since 1986, Military Periscope has
been the defense industry's premier online database for accurate open-source global defense information.
Coverage includes orders of battle, equipment inventories, plans and programs for more than 165 nations, as well
as descriptions, specifications, and technical characteristics of virtually every major weapon, platform and system
worldwide. It is produced by United Communications Group in Rockville, Maryland.
J ane's Information Group, based in Coulsdon, U.K. was founded in 1865 by a former MI5 agent. At first it
provided on information in print format in the form of books, newsletters and periodicals. CD-ROM and online
databases of its products began in 1989. Content matters includes defense procurements, global defense budgets,
and naval construction markets, arms, weapons systems and components used in armies, navies and air forces.
There is no main databases, but a group of several related databases.
The Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Scientific and Technical Information Network (STINET)
database, produce by the DTIC at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, contains unclassified and classified military documents that
have been entered into DTIC's Technical Reports Collection. Sources include Air University Library Index to Military
Periodicals, Staff College Automated Military Periodical Index, Department of Defense Index to Specifications and
Standards. Only the unclassified version is available to the public.

322. Largest movie database.
The Internet Movie Database or IMD is the largest database on movies (films) around the world. It was set up in
1996. Practically information about every single movie, dating from the first silent motion pictures in the early 20th
century and the first movies with sound in the middle 1920s to present, can be accessed from the database There is
a free version of the database and a more detailed premium version (available via a subscription). The Modern
Language Association (founded in 1883, in New York, U.S.A) MLA International Bibliography database includes a
coverage of books, dissertations, and articles on dramatic arts (film, radio, television and theatre). There are over
7,000 indexed electronic periodicals from 1000 publishers in the database from 1926 to present, giving a total of 1.9
million records. In 2006 EBSCO unveiled a major database for TV and movie information called Film & Television
Literature Index, a bibliographic database indexing over 600 related journals, newspapers and reports.


323. Largest literature, music and songs database
Humanities Abstracts from H. W. Wilson contains abstracts covering diverse subject areas of the humanities
including classics, folk lure, linguistics, music, performing arts, philosophy and literature iTunes, run by Apple
Computers, has the largest downloadable music database. The MLA International Bibliography database described
in entry 322 above also covers electronic journals and other publications in literature, music and songs. RILM
Abstracts of Music Literature is an international bibliographical database of scholarly writings on music and related
disciplines, it is produced by RILM, which was founded in 1966 by with help from the International Musicological
Society and the International Association of Music Libraries. RILM is based in the U.S. at City University of New
York. The International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance database provides full text of journal articles on all aspects
of theater and performance, plus indexing for books, book articles and dissertation abstracts. IBTD with Full Text is
a multicultural and inter-disciplinary research tool for theater students, educators and professionals. IBTD was
initiated by the American Society for Theatre Research and is produced by EBSCO.
324. Largest history databases
The database, Historical Abstracts, covers literature on the history of the world except the United States and
Canada from 1450 to the present. All branches of world history are included: political, diplomatic, military, economic,
social, cultural, religious, and intellectual history, and the history of science, technology, and medicine. The
database contains citations to journal articles, books, dissertations, and collections indexed from 1982 to the
present. Articles in the database are abstracted from 2,100 journals in 50 languages worldwide.
Notes. The largest source of biographical data is Marquis Whos Who, with over 1 million biographies hosted
on a web database based in New Providence , New Jersey. The company has been producing a printed version
since 1899. The H.W.Wilson biographical database, titled Biography Index, has over 3
rd
edition. 400,000 records
and covers writers, artists, world leaders, sport figures, politicians, and others

325. Largest social sciences and sociology databases
Sociological Abstracts produced by Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (based in Bethesda, Maryland, and now a
division of Proqest) has over 815,730 records from 1,800 sociology, social and behavioral sciences journals. The
database covers the period 1952 to present. CSA also produces another sociology database PAIS International
which is stronger in international relations and policy making.
Launched in 2005 by EBSCO (Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.), SocINDEX with Full Text indexes approximately
620 journals in the subject area of sociology with selective coverage of a further 1570 journals. Date of coverage
begins at 1895 for some journals. It is very comprehensive, with subject area covering all aspects of criminology,
demography, anthropology, religion, ethnic & racial studies, religion, social psychology and social work.
Arts and Humanities Search (AHSearch) produced by Thomson Scientific has 2.9 million records from over
1,136 journals in the fields of arts, social science and humanities. Its coverage is from 1980.
The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences database is the largest and most comprehensive social
science databases in the world with access to over 2 million records. Current data is taken from over 2800
international social science journals and around 7000 books per year.
The DEVINSA database produced by the Indian DELNET service in New Delhi, contains nearly 20,000 records
on journal articles, books and unpublished materials on socio-economic issues in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan,
Maldives, and Sri Lanka.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation produces the SAARC social sciences and humanities
database covering books, periodicals, electronic sources (CD-ROMs, web sites, audio/video cassettes, etc.,
published from SAARC countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in
the fields of social sciences and humanities. It is compiled by the National Information Services Corporation in
Hyderabad, India. In Russia, the worlds largest social sciences library, the Institute for Scientific Information on
Social Sciences Library, INION, produces a bibliographical database with more than 1.5 million records covering all
branches of social sciences and humanities.


326. Largest databases on art and architecture
Bibliography of the History of Art is the most comprehensive database on art bibliography available worldwide,
covering European and American visual arts from late antiquity to the present. It encompasses the fine arts as well
as decorative and applied arts. Over 750,000 records are available, indexed from 4,300 art journals and other
materials. Coverage is from 1973 and it is produced by Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles.
Art Museum Image Gallery database (from H.W. Wilson, New York, U.S.) contains over 96,000 art images,
including selections from art museums.
Another large art database from H.W. Wilson is Art Abstracts which has over 700,000 records indexing 475
journals on art, art history, architecture, interior design, sculpture, folk art, graphic arts, painting, visual to performing
arts, archaeology, television and video. The database gives references to articles, reviews, exhibition listings and
many other types of material. Coverage period is from 1984. Information on the largest digital images databases is
at entry 345.
The Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals database from the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, has
over 600,000 records indexed from 3000 journals from 1741 covering architecture, urban planning, interior design
and urban design.

327. Largest database in psychology, religion and anthropology
The PsycINFO database (American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.) has more than 2.4 million
bibliographic records starting from 1806, providing access to the largest source of international literature related to
behavioral and social sciences, including psychiatry, sociology, anthropology, and linguistics. The sources are 2000
journals in 45 countries.
The American Psychological Association also maintains the largest full-text database in psychology. In the field
of anthropology, largest databases are Anthropology Plus (from OCLC) by far the largest indexing 3,678 journals
and AnthroSource (from the American Anthropological Association.
In the field of religion and theology, the ATLA Serials Database from the American Theological Library
Association or ATLA, (Chicago, Illinois) has over 175,000 records from 1949.


328. Largest genealogy database
Ancestry Plus databases, produced by Gale Group (a subsidiary of Thomson, Toronto, Canada), have over one
billion names in more than 3,000 databases. This is a commercial product, the local database of the Family History
Library has over 2 billion records (see entry 86)

329. Largest academic reference databases
Blackwell Reference Online database, produced by Blackwell Publishing (Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, New
J ersey, U.S.) is currently the largest academic reference collection, composed of almost 300 volumes in 6 major
disciplines including business, economics, history, psychology and sociology. EBSCO Publishing offers a database
called Science Reference Centre, which contains over 600 full0text titles including encyclopedias, reference books,
and biographies. Cambridge Scientific Abstracts or CSA (Bethesda, Maryland, U.S., a division of Proqest) is the
largest publisher of scientific research bibliographic databases. Its Internet Database Service contains over 50
technical and scientific databases used by more than 4,000 research institutions worldwide. As a multi-disciplinary
reference tool, its databases also covers other subjects such as the social sciences and humanities.



330. Largest doctoral theses database in Europe and North America
Dissertation Abstracts Online from ProQuest Information and Learning (Ann Arbor, Michigan) has over 2 million
records on masters and doctoral theses and dissertations including dissertations from Canada, the U.S, and Europe.
The coverage is from 1861 to present. The British Library in collaboration with more than 70 higher education
institutions in the U.K. has began the Ethosnet project to digitize all available U.K. PhD theses. The resulting full-text
database called Ethos (Electronic Theses Online Service) is the largest of its kind in Europe and is expected to roll-
out in 2009.
331. Largest database on government policies and politics
The U.S. government, through the GPO or Government Printing Office provide access to several databases
covering the daily mechanisms of the government such as databases on the yearly budgets, Congressional Bills,
GAO Reports, Comptroller General Decisions, GILS Records for over 25 federal agencies. It also provides access to
the Code of Federal Regulations, Congressional Record and the Federal Register all of which are also available in
print format. The databases produced by the European Union are the second largest of its kind. Databases
produced include: TED (for business opportunities in Europe via open competition tenders); CELEX (EU laws and
directives); RAPID (press releases and news briefings of the EU institutions) and SCAD (EU legislation, government
policies and related data). International Political Science Abstracts database includes current indexing and abstracts
of the world's leading journals in political science. It is produced by the International Political Science Association
and distributed by EBSCO Publishing. The U.K Hansards database (which covers House of Lords and House of
Lords parliamentary debates, bills and legislation etc) is equivalent to the U.S. Congressional Record database.

332.
Largest database on pulp and paper industries
Paperbase is worlds most comprehensive database for the pulp and paper industries. More than 300
international trade and technical journals as well as conference papers are scanned to provide weekly updates for
the database. Paperbase is a joint venture partnership of the Center for Paper Technology in France,
Keskuslaboratorio Centrallaboratorium in Finland, Pira International (UK) and the Swedish Pulp and Paper
Research Institute. International Paper, based in Stamford, Connecticut, in the U.S., is the largest manufacturer of
paper in the world with sales of over $21 billion in 2004.

333. Largest database on mathematics and computer science
The MathSciNet database provides access to over 60 years of Mathematical Reviews and Current
Mathematical Publications (from 1940 to the present). Both provide provides timely reviews or summaries of articles
and books that contain new contributions to mathematical research. It is produced by the American Mathematical
Society. The largest computer journal and books databases are Computers & Applied Sciences Complete, Safari
Tech Books Online, and Oxford Reference, Computing. See also entries 312 to 315. The Computer Abstracts
database from Cambridge Scientific Abstracts provides online access to over 100,000 abstracts from the foremost
journals in computer science.

334. Largest database on education
The Washington D.C.-based U.S. Department of Education funded ERIC database (Educational Resources
Information Center), contains over 1.2 million records on education-related documents and journal articles dating
from 1966. It is the world's largest index to journal articles and documents on education, policy and practice.
Sources include 630 journals and 350 organizations contributing non-journal literature. The largest and most
updated database for research and education funding opportunities is the FEDIX (ScienceWise) database, produced

by the ResearchResearch. It has offices in Washington, London, Brussels, Amsterdam and Sydney.

335. Largest bibliographic database on transportation information
With 500,000 records, the Transportation Research Information Services, or TRIS, database is produced by the
U.S. Transportation Research Board, in Washington, D.C. The TRIS database contains worldwide abstracts of
published articles and reports, or summaries of ongoing or recently completed research projects relevant to the
planning, development, operation, and performance of transportation systems and their components.

336. Largest air travel reservation databases
In the airline and travel industry the four largest airline reservation databases (known as GDS or global
distribution system) are SABRE, Amadeus, Galileo, and Worldspan. Every major travel agency around the world, as
well as airlines, uses at least one of these four databases to book airline seats. The first and largest GDS database
was SABRE, introduced in 1964. It materialized when an IBM employee and an employee of American Airlines
happened to be sitting next to each other on a flight to Los Angeles and began talking about improving the booking
and reservation system on American Airlines. The largest provider of airline and rail transport timetables and
schedules is OAG, (based in Downers Grove, Illinois, U.S). OAG data is also available in print format, and is the
most comprehensive information for the air traveler (except booking seats which has to be done with a GDS
database). So popular are OAG databases, for looking up data such as last minute checks on departure or arrival
times, airport and airline information etc, that in addition to access from a PC or laptop, OAG databases exists in
formats suitable for access from a cell phone, a PDA or other small handheld computers with internet access. For
instance well-known application Worldmate is an example of third-party software using OAG data.

337. Largest immigration database
The largest immigration database is the Schengen Information System II or SIS second generation database.
Based in Strasbourg, France and set up in 1995, the Schengen Information System data is a secure governmental
database pooled from 15 European countries immigration departments. In 2006 there was over 15 million records,
and it has a dual function use, first for processing immigration information such as issuance of normal visas, transit
visas, or granting of residence permits. Secondly it is used for the purpose of maintaining and distributing
information related to border security and law enforcement. It has been called Europe's largest database, because
of the length of data in each field of a database record in the SIS database. As a secure database, it is not
accessible by the public, but information from the database for the public domain is used for such things as
statistical figures on immigration movements in the Europe.

338. Largest fingerprint database
The FBI fingerprint database based in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and known as
Automated Fingerprint Identification System or AFIS, is the largest in the world, containing over 40 million records.

339. Largest library and information science abstracting and indexing service
The librarians firm favorite since 1969, the Library and Information Science Abstracts database, or LISA,
contains over 180,000 records covering library and information science research, information retrieval and
information management. Bowker-Saur (East Grinstead, U.K.) produces the LISA database.
Notes. The largest online purchasing directory for library and information professionals in the U.S. is the
Librarians Yellow Pages, which also exists in print with the same name. The database (accessed via the
Internet and produced in New York) currently covers over 1000 companies supplying library products and

services.

340. First commercial information brokerage
FIND/SVP, based in New York, U.S., was the first comprehensive information brokerage in the world. It was
created in 1937 as SVP and known from 1969 as FIND/SVP. Today over 1100 information consultants worldwide
provide specialized business consulting and advice.

341. Most popular stand-alone bibliographic database software
A study has shown that academic researchers, lecturers and university students writing up projects, theses and
dissertations are more likely to use either Reference Manager, Endnote or ProCite database software to organize
their journal references and bibliography.

342. Largest online information events in Europe
Every year since December 1977, a major exhibition and conference for information professionals and librarians
called Online Information has been held in London. The global event held at Londons Olympia Exhibition Hall is the
worlds largest and oldest event for the information industry, with an average 15,600 visitors from 46 countries and
over 300 exhibitors. The 37th Online Information meeting was held in early December 2011. The two other large
annual online events in Europe are Infobase - International Fair for Information, held annually at Messe Trade
Center in Frankfurt since 1986. From 2002 the event has been held during the Frankfurt International Book Fair
every October. IDT is held annually in Paris. The 24th IDT event with more than 160 exhibitors was held in May
2007.
Get Photo of an Online Information event

343. Largest online information event in North America
Online World and National Online Meeting, held annually in different cities in the U.S. have since been
discontinued. National Online Meeting was replaced with InfoToday Conference & Exhibition. The annual Computer
in Libraries meeting is the largest technology conference and exhibition for librarian and information manager in
North America. The 22nd meeting was in April 2007. It is organized by the publishers of the popular periodic
publications for librarians and information professionals such as Online and EContent magazines and Information
Today newspaper. A list of the largest North American book fairs is at entry 231.


344. Largest online information event in Asia and Africa
Separate online expos and conference as in Europe, for information professionals and librarians are not
normally held in Asia or Africa, instead they are held as part of the program of events at book fairs. A list of the
largest Asian and African book fairs is at entry 232 and 235.

345. Largest digital images database
The Corbis Collection has over 65 million digital images (photographs, art and illustrations). Part of this
collection is accessible via the Internet as the Corbis Picture Experience. Microsofts Bill Gates founded the Corbis

Collection in 1989, and its headquarters is in Seattle, Washington, U.S. Image Bank, Corel and Archive Photos are
examples of other huge commercial digital images databases, The Corel database in particular specializes in travel
photographs of countries, objects and people around the world. Information on the largest art image databases is at
entry 326.

346. Largest patent databases
The Delphion Patent Database (set up in 1997 by IBM and maintained by Thomson Scientific) is the largest
patent database in the world. The latest estimates suggest that the database has over 45 million patent records and
over 40 million records on technical reports and bulletins from over 70 worldwide patent offices, (giving a total of
over 80 million records). Questel-Orbit database host (Paris, France) offers over 160 databases on trademarks and
patents, making it the largest online patent database host in the world. MicroPatent (East Haven, Connecticut, U.S.)
has built up a collection of over 5,000 CD-ROMs since 1989, on patent and trademark information. Over 33 million
patents and 50 million trademarks are covered. Its databases are also accessible via the Internet.
Notes: WorldCat (see entry 256) is the worlds largest bibliographic database with over 95 million records.

347. Largest patent databases in Europe
Apart from Questel Orbit above, Derwent Information (London, U.K., part of Thomson Scientific) produces the
Derwent World Patents Index database, which indexes over 9 million patent records covering over 13 million
patents, sourced from over 40 international patent-issuing authorities, since 1963. It has the largest specialist
collection of European patents. The European Unions European Patent Office has consolidated data from all
member countries and the end result has been the huge International Patent Documentation Database or
INPADOCDB. This database has over 63 million patent records (mid 2007). Due to the large number of chemical
patents covered by the database, the German chemistry database service FIZ Karlsruhe (which runs the huge STN
database host jointly with Chemical Abstracts Service in the U.S. and J apans Science and Technology Agency),
became the first to offer access the INPADOCDB database outside the European Patent Office.

Notes. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Library is the largest patent library in the world. The British
Library in London has the worlds largest collection of patent specifications in a national library, while the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology Library in Zrich, founded in 1855 has the largest patent library in Europe in an
academic library. The All Russian Patent Technical Library founded in 1896 in Moscow is the largest in Eastern
Europe. The largest patent office library is at the Munich-based German Patent Library, with over 900,000
books.

348. Largest U.S. patents database
IFI/Plenum, based in Wilmington, North Carolina, U.S., has the largest specialist collection of U.S. patents,
called CLAIMS. IFI began indexing U.S. patents in 1955 and today its databases cover over 4.5 million United
States patents. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has offered large free databases on patents since 1976, but
searching is limited to text terms.

349. Largest database of patents in Asia
The Tokyo-based J apan Information Center for Science and Technology, J ICST database (J apan Science and
Technology Corporation) has the largest collection of Asia patents, apart from the Western produced database
above, which also covers J apanese, Taiwanese, Korean and Chinese patents, among others.

350. Largest database on trademarks

Trademark Scan, from Thomson & Thompson (North Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S.) is the largest trademarks
database in the world. The trademarks database of Questel-Orbit, is the largest in Europe with over 14 million
records.

351. Largest database on chemical and pharmaceutical patents
Available since 1998, the Merged Markush Services, or MMS (run by both Thomson Derwent Information in the
U.K., and the French Patent and Trademark Office in Paris), has over 300 million chemical substances listed, which
can be searched by chemical structure. Since chemical and pharmaceutical patent applications give diagrammatic
information on how the substance was synthesized, the MMS database is very popular among scientists especially
those working in the pharmaceutical industry. Chemical Abstracts Service (Columbus, Ohio, U.S.) databases
contain the second largest number of chemical patents in the world. Incidentally in todays competitive global
market, a huge amount of a major pharmaceutical companys annual budget is often allocated for fighting lawsuits
on patent infringements and cheap generic copies from rival companies. Thomson Pharma database contains
information on over 23 million records, as well as information on 20,000 drugs. As it is part of Thomson Corporation,
the database is actually an integration of other Thomson services that also exists separately such as Derwent,
Delphion, Micromedex, Newport and Gardiner Caldwell to name a few.

352. Most popular CD-ROM information retrieval software used in libraries to access networked CD-ROM
databases
SilverPlatters SPIRS and Ovid Technologies (both part of Amsterdam-based Wolters Kluwer), search and
retrieval software, are both widely used for accessing CD-ROM networked databases and are available in more
libraries worldwide than any other similar product.

353. First major CD-ROM database used in libraries
The InfoTrac CD-ROM database, released in 1984 by Information Access Company (now part of Gale Group,
and a subsidiary of Thomson, Toronto, Canada), was originally a general reference database helping libraries to
track down and retrieve periodical documents.

354. Largest search engines
By summer 2007, the three largest search engines were: Yahoo (founded in 1994), indexing 19.2 billion web
pages and 1.6 billion images; Google (founded in 1998?) indexing 8.2 billion web pages and 2.1 billion images and
AllTheWeb), (founded in 1997 in Sweden) indexing an estimated 6 billion web pages.

355. Largest archives of web pages and first library websites
The Internet Archive is a non-profit venture founded in 1996 and based in San Francisco, U.S. Its database,
called Way-BackMachine, archives an estimated 30 billion web pages, dating back to 1996. Over 80% are thus old
web pages, some first appearing on the web as far back as 1993 (when Mosaic was the only popular web browser
widely available). Standard search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Alta Vista no longer pick up these old web
pages, because the web pages have long been deleted or moved from the hosting web server.
Notes. Today the largest Internet cafe is easyInternetCaf in New York City, U.S. Founded in 1999 by Stelios
Haji-loannou, the Internet cafe currently offers about 800 Internet terminals. Each month over 2 million people

use easyInternetCafs 22 stores in the U.S. and Western Europe. It is hard to imagine that back in 1993 very
few people outside the scientific community had ever heard about the Internet. The very first Internet node
(more commonly called Internet host today) goes back much further, when the University of California Library in
Los Angeles set up the earliest node in 1969, one of four U.S. academic institutions setting up an Internet node
in 1969. Credit for designing the first website (i.e. installing the first web server) goes to Tim Berners-Lees
group at the Swiss-based research institute CERN in Geneva in December 1990. His group used a NeXT
computer as the web server, and their web browser, (called WorldWideWeb), was non-graphical, as navigation
was achieved by typing in text commands, very much like as in DOS before Windows was available.
info.cern.ch was the domain name address of the CERN web server, and one of the first websites was the
address book of CERN employees. In recognition of the pioneering work of Tim Berners-Lee, the name of his
web browser, i.e. WorldWideWeb, or just the Web, was adopted as the general name of the graphical Internet
system used today with browsers such as Netscape Navigator, Safari, FireFox and Internet Explorer. Several
text-based web browsers and crude graphical web browsers appeared between 1991 and 1993 such as libwww,
Pello, Erwise, ViolaWWW, Midas, Samba, Lynx, Cello, Arena and Mosaic. But it was the Mosaic browser,
developed at the computer department of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, that proved the most
popular, as it later gave rise to both Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers.

In early 1994, the University of Illinois library became the first library to set up a website. St. J oseph County
Public Library, in South Bend, Indiana, U.S., set up the very first public library website in late 1994. The first
European public library to set up a website was Helsinki Public Library in Finland, in 1995. Today over 90% of all
major public libraries and universities around the world now have a website. In October 1999 the British Library in
London was the first public-owned organization to offer free Internet access for member sof the public. library The
most important part of a library website is access to the library catalog. An alternative to the web is the Wireless
Application Protocol or WAP. This is a technology that makes it possible to view a customized website with a WAP-
compatible cell phone or a hand-held computer also known as a PDA. Vienna Public Library in Austria established
its WAP site back in May 2000, becoming the first library in the world to do so. Its WAP site ensures that one does
not need a computer to get information on the library. The central library of Hampshire County in the U.K. set up its
own WAP site in J une 2000. WAP is not the only new technology being harnessed by public libraries; increasingly a
number of public libraries in the West now offer e-books or electronic books for members of the public to borrow,
which are can be read with laptop computers or PDAs.

356. Largest library document suppl y and inter-lending service
The British Library Document Supply Center based at Boston Spa in West Yorkshire handles up to 4 million
requests, for inter-library loans or photocopies of periodical articles or book extracts, a year. In 2001 it delivered its
100 millionth document.

357. Largest scientific document suppl y services
ISI Document Solution (formerly The Genuine Article), which is the document delivery service of the Institute for
Scientific Information (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., now part of Thomson Corporation), and the document
delivery service of the Chemical Abstracts Service (Columbus, Ohio, U.S.) both handle over 2 million requests for
scientific literature a year, from around the world. Other large commercial document delivery services include CISTI,
Adonis, CatchWord, Doc Deliver, Faxon, Infotrieve, Swets, and UnCover. The largest French scientific document
delivery service is the one provided by the INST-CNRS based in Nancy. It has a library of 26,000 French and
international periodical titles.

Notes. Because there are more journals in the various fields of medicine, science and technology, compared to
other subjects such as law and business journals, several countries have a central or national medical, scientific
and technical document supply center, which is also part of a national institute or a library, such as the U.S.
National Library of Medicine, the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI); the French

National Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (INIST), the Japan Information Center for Science and
Technology (JICST), and the Indian National Scientific Documentation Center (INSDOC). In Turkey, the
Documentation Center of the Turkish Scientific and Technical Research Council in Ankara, known as TUBITAK-
TURDOK, has a collection of over 800 periodicals on science and technology, making it the largest periodicals
library and document supply service in the Middle East.

358. Largest library network or consortium
OCLC founded in 1967 as a non-profit computer library service and research organization and based in Dublin,
Ohio, in the U.S. has a membership of more than 9000 libraries. More than 40,000 libraries in 76 countries and
territories use OCLCs products and services.

Notes. The largest information consortium is the Electronic Information for Libraries Direct. Formed in 1999 by
EBSCO and the Open Society Institute (part of the Soros Foundation Network), it encompasses libraries in 39
countries in Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Members have access to all EBSCOs full-text electronic
journals.

359. Largest providers of subscription services for libraries
EBSCO Subscription Services, based Birmingham, Alabama, U.S., and founded in 1958 by Elton B. Stephens,
works with over 78,000 publishers in 21 countries. Its subscription services to help libraries buy bulk copies of books
and periodicals. Its database covers over 300,000 titles. Swets Information Services (Lisse, the Netherlands)
handles more than 2 million subscriptions each year, dealing with about 65,000 publishers from 20 countries. It
maintains a database of 250,000 titles. Ingenta (Bath, U.K.) works with works with over 30,000 publishers in
worldwide providing libraries and researchers with access, via subscription or pay-per-view, to a huge base of
books, reports and periodicals.

360. Oldest providers of subscription services for libraries
Everetts in London began offering book and subscription services to libraries in 1793. Baker & Taylor, based in
Charlotte, North Carolina, in the U.S., has been providing wholesale subscription services to libraries and
bookstores since 1828, and is the largest such service in the Americas. Its databases covers over 1 million titles.

361. Largest electronic trading services for libraries in the U.K.
Located in Tonbridge, First Edition has provided a large scale EDI trading network, (a standard for transmitting
information and commercial messages), for library acquisitions services. The network encompasses publishers,
booksellers, library suppliers and the libraries themselves.

362. 13 greatest inventions used in libraries today
1. Paper. A.D. 105. Inventor: Tsal Lun, China. Main use: manufacture of books and periodicals.
2. Book Printing. A.D. 1450. Inventor: J ohannes Gutenberg, Germany. Main use: manufacture of books and
periodicals.

3. The Internet. Late 1960s. Inventors: various people invented the many components that make up the Internet, as
we know it today. It began as ARPANET, and in 1969 the first Internet host was set up at the University of California,
Los Angeles in the U.S. Main use: searching for information, browsing library catalogs and online publishing.
4. Microfilm. 1852. Inventor: J ohn Duncan, U.K. Main use: preservation of periodicals, especially newspapers.
5. Electric bulb. 1879. Inventor: Thomas Edison. Main use: illuminating the library.
6. Television. 1926 and 1927. Inventors: J ohn Logie Baird, U.K., and Philo Farnsworh, U.S. Main use: watching
videos and DVDs in the library.
7. Photocopying. 1938. Inventor: Xerox, U.S. The Xerox 914 was the first office photocopier. Main use: duplication
of printed works.
8. Personal Computer. 1973. Inventors: like the Internet, various people invented the many components that led to
the personal computer. French company R2E marketed a PC called Micral in 1973. But Ed Roberts built the first
personal computer kit in 1975 and called it the Altair. Microsofts Bill Gates and Paul Allen wrote the first personal
computer software for the Altair. Main use: too much to list here.
9. CD-ROM disk. 1984. Inventors: Sony in J apan and Philips in the Netherlands. Main use: storage of reference
databases and huge books such as encyclopedias.
10. eBook. 1993. Inventors : Adobe Corporation. When the U.S. company, Adobe introduced the Acrobat PDF
format in 1993, it was only used on PCs and laptops for reading electronic documents. Very few PDA devices and
no smartphones were available back then, that could read PDF documents. The next year in 1994 eBooks appeared
in HTML format. Once again HTML was only used on PCs and laptops as no PDA devices or smartphones were
available back then, that could read HTML documents. In 1998, NuroMedia released the first custom-made
handheld eBook reader (today hundreds of company make similar products). Once popular Pocket PCs and Palm
PDA devices that could read PDF of HTML documents became a widespread, from the late 1999, someone very
smart at the publishers Simon & Schuster, brought out this bright idea of selling books in PDF and other formats for
the handheld devices. They called their new imprint ibooks. Also in 1999, the National Institute of Standards and
Technology in the U.S. held its first eBook conference, while Microsoft declared that eBooks were the future of
reading. Soon the eBook boom was born, with Microsoft and others releasing free eBook readers. eBook pilot trials
in libraries began in 2000. Many libraries now offer eBook access to users via services like NetLibrary and Questia.
The big advantage of an eBook is the ability to search it quickly. Main use: an alternative small size for borrowing a
book, allowing one to carry lots and lots of books in one go, to read on a small PDA or computer.
11. DVD-ROM disk. 1995. Inventors: Several J apanese companies including Sony and Toshiba. Main use: storage
of large databases or huge books such as the Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Reference Suite or Encyclopdia
Britannica Ultimate DVD , which are rich in huge multimedia files that cannot fit in a CD-ROM disk.
12. WiFi. 1997. The standards for WiFi emerge in 1997, following its invention back in 1991 and was ratified
between 1999 and 2000. Apple was the first to include WiFi hardware in its computers as standard under the name
Airport in its new iBooks in 1999. When Windows XP arrived in 2001, WiFi software was included as standard.
Starting from late 2002 (first in the U.S. then elsewhere a year later) libraries began to offer WiFi Hotspots. Initially
only university, college and special libraries around the world offered WiFi Hotspots in the library. But soon, public
and national libraries also began to offer WiFi Hotspots in the library. Main use in library: using ones laptop to
access to the Internet in a quite place in the library.



WORLD RECORDS FOR LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE ORGANIZATIONS
Prior to the late 16th century, librarians were generally scholars with special
interests in book and manuscript collecting. With the organization and opening of larger
libraries in late 16th and early 17th centuries, the work of a librarian came to be
recognized as requiring special expertise and skills, if not specialized education. Soon
librarians became more involved in the organization of library facilities and its services to
the user. While the first library school was not introduced until the 19th century, several
early important publications on the work of librarians included Gabriel Nauds Advis
pour dresser une bibliotheque published in 1627 in France, and J ohn Duriess The
Reformed Librarie-Keeper published in 1650 in Scotland.

363. First library school
The Columbia University School of Library Service in New York City was set up in
1887. Its founder, Melvil Dewey, had in 1876 constructed an expandable scheme for
classifying books, known today as the Dewey Decimal System. The library school was
closed in late 1992, but many of the original librarianship book collections used by
Dewey are still in existence and part of the Columbia University Library.

364. Oldest accredited library school in North America
The American Library Association provides a list of library schools that it finds to
meet a high standard. Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science in New
York was the first library school to be accredited, having been established in 1890.

365.
Five first university library schools in the U.S.
1. Columbia University School of Library Service, New York City. Founded 1887.
2. Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science in New York. 1890.
3. Emporia State University, School of Library and Information Management, Kansas.
1902.
4. University of Washington Information School, Seattle. 1911.
5. Emory University, Division of Librarianship, Atlanta. 1926.

The University of Toronto, Faculty of Information Studies, is the oldest in Canada.

366.
Five first university library schools in Europe

1. George August University library school, Gttingen, Germany. Founded 1888.
2. Munich University library school, Germany. 1905.
3. Leipzig University library school, Germany. 1914.
4. Copenhagen University library school, Denmark. 1918.
5. University College library school, London University. UK. 1919.

367. Oldest university l ibrary schools in Asia and Africa
Wuhan University library school in China was founded in 1910 by the American librarian,
giving English lectures in China, Mary Elizabeth Wood, who also signed on Chinas
behalf, the membership charter of the International Federation of Library Associations
when it was founded in 1927. The first J apanese library school was at Keio University in
Tokyo in 1951. The Ghana Library School was founded in 1961by Ronald Benge, the
famous British librarian, who one of the earliest major influences in library education in
Africa at the start of the 1960s the 1980s, when several African nations became
independent. Ghana was also the first African public library act to legalize the role of
public libraries in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the creation in 1948 of the Ghana Library
Board, built up from scratch by another British librarian, Evelyn J .A. Evans.

368. First university library school in the Middle East
The library school of Hebrew University, J erusalem, Israel, was founded in 1956.

369. First university i n the U.S. to offer an extensive program in information
science
Unlike the librarian whose job is very familiar to those who use libraries, information
scientists are rather a rare sight. They are more likely to be working in specialist libraries
such as biomedical, pharmaceutical or legal libraries and less likely in national, public
and university libraries, which are more open to more members of the public. Typically
information scientists are primarily involved in creating, retrieving, organizing or
disseminating information, and their work involves much use of computer technology.
Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta, began teaching information science in 1963.

370. First university in the Europe to offer an extensive program in information
science
In early 1961 City University School of Informatics in London, became the first
university in the world to train professional information scientists. Over the years more
than half of all qualified information scientists in the UK who reside in London studied at
City University, including the author of Library World Records.


143.tif
City University, London.

371. Top 15 U.S. library schools for the year 2008*
J ust as law, business and engineering schools have specialized courses within the core
main subject, to cater for the increasing complexity of the different aspects of the core
subject, some library schools offer specialized courses in core areas of library and
information studies. The top three library schools for five major specialized divisions,
including the general library and information studies are:

1. General Library and Information Studies.
University of Illinois library school, Urbana-Champaign.
University of North Carolina library school, Chapel Hill.
Syracuse University library school, New York.

2. Law Librarianship.
University of Washington information school, Seattle.
Catholic University of America library school, Washington D.C.
University of Texas library school., Austin.

3. Medical and Health Librarianship.
University of Pittsburgh library school., Pennsylvania.
University of North Carolina library school, Chapel Hill.
University of North Texas library school., Denton.

4, Archives and Preservation
University of Texas, Austin library school..
University of MarylandCollege Park library school..
University of Michigan library school., An Arbor.

5. Children and Youth Librarianship
Florida State University library school, Tallahassee.
University of Illinois library school, Urbana-Champaign.
Rutgers University library school, New Brunswick, New J ersey.
*Based on U.S. News and World Report magazine survey of U.S. LIS schools in 2007,
offering master's degree programs in the United States that are accredited by the
American Library Association.

372. Largest national library association
The American Library Association, or ALA, was founded in 1876 in Philadelphia. It is
also the worlds first library association. Melvil Dewey, who invented the Dewey Decimal
Classification, helped in the establishment of the ALA. It has over 55,000 members

today.
Notes. With over 11,000 members, the U.S. Special Libraries Association, or SLA,
formed in 1909, is the second largest library and information related association in
the world. The first Canadian library association was founded in 1900 for librarians in
Ontario. The Brazilian Library Association ( Federao Brasileira de Associaoes de
Bibliotecarios), founded in 1938 in So Paulo, was the first in Latin America. The
largest international library association is the International Federation of Library
Associations and Institutes, or IFLA. It was founded in 1927 and more than 1783
library organizations from 154 countries are members. Each year annual
conferences are held in various capitals of member countries. The IFLA Secretariat
headquarters is at The Hague, in the Netherlands.

373. Largest and oldest national library associ ation in Europe
The Library Association, London, was founded in 1877. It has over 5,000 members.
It is now called CILIP or the Chartered Institute for Library and Information Professionals.
Notes. Some of the other earlier library European associations were those founded
in Austria in 1896, France (1906), Belgium (1907), Germany (1918), and Italy
(1930).The British equivalent of the Special Library Association in the U.S. is the
Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux, better known today as
ASLIB.

374. Oldest national library association in Africa
The first and largest African library association was the South Africa Library Association
in 1930. It is now called the Library and Information Association of South Africa from
1997. The name change is common around the world. Many organizations have
merged the separate organizations for librarians and information professionals. For
instance in the U.K. the Library Association changed its name to the Chartered Institute
for Library and Information Professionals in 2002, when it merged with the then Institute
of Information Scientists.


375. Oldest national library association in Asia
The Bangkok Library Association in Thailand was founded in the 1890s by British
Librarian J ennie Neilson Hays, who also founded the largest English Library in Thailand,
the Neilson Hays Library. The J apan Library Association in Tokyo (Nihon Toshokan
Kyokai) was set up in 1892.


376. Oldest national library association in the Middle East

The Egyptian Library Association was founded in 1946 in Cairo.

377. Largest national information science association
The American Society for Information Science, formed in 1937 as the American
Documentation Institute, is the largest of its kind in the world, with over 6000 members.
The substitution of Information Science (for Documentation) happened in 1955. Paul
Otlet (Belgian lawyer) who co-founded the International Federation for Documentation,
FID (then known as the International Institute of Bibliography), in 1895, is generally
considered to be the first major pioneer of the general principles of information science
in the world.

378. Most prestigious award for information scientists
Each year the U.K. Chartered Institute for Library and Information Professionals or
CILIP awards the J ason Farradane Award to an individual or organization for an
outstanding contribution to the information field or in recognition of an advancement in
the field of information science. It is named after one of the founding fathers of
information science in Europe. who taught at City University in London and was the first
person in the U.K. to be recognized academically as an information scientist. The
American Society for Information Science and Technology offers the annual Award of
Merit, given to individuals who has made a noteworthy contribution to the field of library
and information science.

379. Famous first full-time librarians
National Library of Australia founded in 1836, Harold Leslie White, first librarian in
1947. U.S. Library of Congress, founded in 1800. George Watterson, first librarian in
1815. Chetham Library, founded in 1653. Richard J ohnson was appointed by Chetham
Library in Manchester in 1653 and given a salary of 15 per annum. Harvard University
Library, founded in 1636. Solomon Stoddard, first librarian in 1643. Bodleian Library
Oxford University, founded in 1320 and 1602. J ames Bodley, first librarian in 1602.


380.
6 libraries with over 800 staff members and their annual budgets
1. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. U.S. 4,360 staff / $462 million.
2. Russian State Library, Moscow. 2,500 staff / $24 million*
3. British Library, London. 2,410 staff / $201 million*
4. National Library of France, Paris. 2,800 staff / $196 million*

5. National Library of China, Beijing. 1,600 staff / $38 million*
6. National Library of J apan, Tokyo. 860 staff / $235 million*

Notes. The largest annual library budget is the U.S. National Security Agency
Library budget of over a billion dollars. The university library with the largest budget
is Harvard University Library at over $140 million, while the New York Public Library
has the largest public library budget, around $100 million a year. For centuries, the
rich, members of royal families, politicians, and others have made generous
donations of books or money to libraries. In terms of the largest financial donations
made to libraries by billionaires to date, two individuals have given grants of more
than $300 million combined up to 2006. George Soros (through his Soros
Foundation Network) and Bill Gates (through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).
No philanthropist has yet to match the generosity achieved by Andrew Carnegie,
who personally financed the construction of over 1500 libraries in the U.S. This has
been called the greatest gift to American Libraries.
*Based on local currency exchanges rates for the U.S. dollar.

381
345 largest and most important libraries
This list focuses only on the largest and most important libraries, in each country,
with 2 million or more books.
Omissions: both Russia and the U.S. have dozens of academic, research, special
and public libraries with more than 2 million books. This list of largest libraries has thus
excluded the following: U.S. university libraries with fewer than 6 million books, and
public libraries with fewer than 4 million books and research and special libraries with
less than 3 million books. For Russia, omitted are Russian university, research and
special libraries with fewer than 2.5 million books. Russia in particular has over 130
research and special libraries with more than 1 million books.
Five other omissions include Ukrainian special libraries and Chinese provincial and
special libraries, with less than 3 million books, and German, Chinese and J apanese
university libraries with less than 3 million books.

Volume of
books
Rank Name Location (millions)
1. Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 30
2. National Library of China Beijing 27
3. Russian State Library Moscow 24.2
4. National Library of Germany Frankfurt and Leipzig 17
5. National Library of France Paris 15.3
6. Harvard University Library Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
15
7. The British Library London 14.5
8. Russian Academy of Sciences Library St. Petersburg 14.2
9 Boston Public Library Massachusetts, U.S. 14
10. National Library of Ukraine Kiev 13

11. INION Library Moscow, Russia 12.8
12. National Library of Russia St. Petersburg 12
13. Metropolitan London Borough Libraries London, U.K.
12.1
14. Yale University Library New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
12
15. Lomonosov Moscow State University Library Russia 11
16. Berlin State Library Germany 11
17. National Library of Italy Rome and Florence 11
18. RASLNS Library Moscow 11
19. National Library of Canada Ottawa and Montreal 11
20. University of Illinois Library, Urbana-Champaign, U.S. 10.5
21. Los Angeles County Public Library California, U.S. 10.4
22. University of California Library Berkeley, U.S. 10
23. National Library of J apan Tokyo 10
24. Romanian Academy Library Bucharest 9.8
25. Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library Ohio, U.S.
9.6
26. University of Toronto Library Ontario, Canada
9.5
27. Shanghai Library China 9.3
28. Tokyo University Library J apan 9.2
29. Columbia University Library New York, U.S. 9.2
30. Bodleian Library, Oxford University U.K. 9
31. University of Texas Library Austin, U.S. 8.9
32. National Library of Romania Bucharest 8.3
33. Stanford University Library California, U.S. 8.2
34. University of Michigan Library Ann Arbor, U.S. 8.1
35. Bavarian State Library Munich, Germany 8
36. Beijing University Library China 8
37. University of California Library Los Angeles, U.S. 8
38. Vernadsky Central Scientific Library Kiev, Ukraine 8
39. UNWM Library U.S.
7.9
40. Cornell University Library Ithaca U.S.
7.7
41. University of Calgary Library Canada 7.6
42. Detroit Public Library Michigan, U.S. 7.5
43. Toronto Public Library Ontario, Canada 7.6
44. St. Petersburg State University Library Russia
7.5
45. Nanjing Library China 7.4
46. University of Chicago Library Illinois, U.S.
7.4
47. National Library of Australia Canberra 7.3
48. RSPLST Library Moscow 7.3
49. Indiana University Library Bloomington, U.S.
7.2
50. NSTL Library Kazakhstan, Almaty
7
51. Lithuanian Technical University Library Riga, 7
52. Kyoto University Library J apan 7
53. National Library of Armenia Yerevan 7
54. University of Paris, I-XIII Libraries France 7
55. Queens Borough Public Library New York, U.S. 7
56. Chinese Academy of Sciences LibraryBeijing, China 6.7
57. University of Washington Library, U.S. Seattle 6.9

58. Free Library of Philadelphia Pennsylvania, U.S. 6.5
59. University of Minnesota Library, U.S. Minneapolis
6.6
60. Princeton University Library, New J ersey U.S.
6.5
61. Los Angeles Public Library California, U.S. 6.4
62. Cambridge University Library U.K. 6.4
63. Ohio State University Library, Columbus U.S.
6
64. Azerbaijan Scientific and Technical Library Baku. 6
65. Kyrgyzstan Scientific and Technical Library Bishkek 6
66. Kazakh Academy of Sciences Library Almaty 6.3
67. National Library of Kazakhstan Almaty 6.5
68. Berlin Free University Library Germany 6.4
69. National Library of the Czech Republic Prague 6.3
70. Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, U.S. 6.3
71. Nanjing University Library China 6.3
72. National Library of Scotland Edinburgh, U.K. 6
73. National Library of Georgia Tbilisi 6
74. National Library of Austria Vienna 6
75. Chicago Public Library U.S. 6
76. New York Public Library U.S. 5.9
77. University of London Libraries U.K. 5.8
78. Vienna University Library Austria 5.8
79. SFIT Library Zrich, Switzerland 5.6
80. University of Dhaka Library, Bangladesh.
5.5
81. National Library of Lithuania Vilnius 5.5
82. National Library of Latvia Riga 5.4
83. National Library of Bulgaria Sofia 5.4
84. National Library of Spain Madrid 5.4
85. St Cyril & St Methodius National Library, Sofia Bulgaria. 5.4
86. Central House of the Russian
Army Library Moscow 5.3
87. Laval University Library Quebec City, Canada
5.3
88. Lund University Library Sweden
5.3
89. Uppsala University Library Sweden
5.2
90. Vilnius University Library Lithuania 5.2
91. National Library of Belgium Brussels 5.1
92. Waseda University Library Tokyo, J apan 5.1
93. Armenia Scientific and Technical Library, Yerevan. 5.1
94. Sydney University Library Australia 5.1
95. McGill University Library Montreal, Canada 5
96. Brooklyn Public Library New York, U.S. 5
97. Brno State Scientific Library, Czech Republic. 5
98. National Library of Turkmenistan Ashkhabad (Ashgabat) 5
99. National Library of Wales Cardiff, U.K. 5

100. National University Library Strasbourg, France 5
101. National Library of Belarus Minsk 5
102. National Library of Medicine Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. 5
103 National Library of Denmark /
Copenhagen University Library 5
104. Kazan State University Library Russia 4.9
105. Simferopol State University Library Ukraine.
4.9
106. J ohn Rylands University Library Manchester, U.K. 4.8
107. Leipzig University Library Germany 4.8
108. Hanover Technical University Library Germany 4.8
109. Hebrew University Library / Israel
National Library J erusalem 4.8
110. Kansai University Library Osaka, J apan 4.8
111. Sichuan University Library Chengdu., China
4.8
112. MRSLF Library Moscow Russia,
4.8
113. University of Alberta Library Edmonton, Canada 4.8
114. Central Research and Technical Library Sofia, Bulgaria
4.7
115. Zhejiang Provincial Library Hangzhou, China 4.7
116. National Library of Sweden Stockholm 4.6
117. Martin Luther University Library Halle-Wittenberg, Germany 4.6
118. Utrecht University Library The Netherlands 4.6
119. Dresden University Library Germany 4.6
120. University of British Columbia Library Vancouver, Canada 4.6
121. San Diego Public Library, California, U.S.
4.5
122. University of Frankfurt Library Germany 4.5
123. Akhundov M.F. Azerbaijan State Library Baku. 4.5
124. National Library of India Calcutta (Kolkata) 4.5
125. Mitchell Library Glasgow, U.K. 4.5
126. Oslo University Library Norway 4.5
127. National Library of New Zealand Wellington 4.4
128. National Library of Poland Warsaw 4.4
129. CISTI Library Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 4.3
130. Heidelberg University Library Germany 4.3
131. Dallas Public Library Texas, U.S. 4.3
132. Montpellier University Libraries France 4.3
133. Islamic Azad University Tehran, Iran. 4.3
134. Miami-Dade Public Library Florida, U.S.
4.2
135 Saxony State Library Dresden, Germany 4.2
136. Irkutsk State University Library Russia 4.2
137. National Library of Ireland Dublin 4.1
138. Beijing Society of Library Science
Capital Library China 4.1
139 State and University Library rhus, Denmark 4.1
Capital Library China 4.1
140 Fudan University Library Shanghai, China 4.1

141. Alisher Navoi State Public Library Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
4.1
142. Cleveland Public Library Ohio, U.S.
4.1
143. Moravian Library Brno Czech Republic
4.1
144. George August University Library Gttingen, Germany 4.1
145. National Library of Korea Seoul, South Korea 4
146. Lvov State Scientific Library Ukraine 4
147 Florence University Library Italy 4
148. Houston Public Library Texas, U.S. 4
149. National Library of Hungary Budapest 4
150. Amsterdam University Library The Netherlands 4
151. Hunan Provincial Library Changsha, China 4
152. Buenos Aires University Library Argentina 4
153. National Library of Chile Santiago.
4
154. National Centre for Documentation Sofia, Bulgaria.
4
155. Humboldt University Library Berlin, Germany
4
156. National Taiwan University Library Taipei, Taiwan
4
157. Lithuanian Academy of Sciences Library Riga 4
158. New South Wales State Library Sydney 4
159. Cologne University Library Germany 4
160. Frankfurt University Library Germany 4
161. Russian Central Epidemiology Institute Moscow 4
162. National Library of Mongolia Ulan Bator 4
163. Waterloo University Library Canada 4
164. Leuven Catholic University Library Belgium 4
165 Estonian Academic Library Tallinn 4
166. Russian State Medical Library Moscow 3.9
167. Shandong Provincial Library J inan, China 3.9
168. J agiellonian University Library Krakw, Poland 3.9
169. Chernyshevsky State Library Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
3.9
170. Sichuan Provincial Library Chengdu, China 3.9
171. Zhengzhou University Henan. China
3.9
172. Trinity College Library, Dublin University Ireland 3.8
173. Hampshire County Public Libraries Winchester, U.K. 3.8
174. Zhejiang Provincial Library Hangzhou, China 3.8
175. Munich University Library Germany 3.8
176. Russian State Public History Library Moscow
3.8
177. So Paulo Federal University Library Brazil 3.7
178. Kyushu University Library Fukuoku, J apan 3.6
179. Guangdong Provincial Library Guangzhou, China 3.6
180. Taras Shevchenko University of Library Kiev Ukraine
3.6

181. Tsinghua University Library Beijing China
3.6
182. Sichuan Union University Library China
3.6
183. Halle University Library Germany 3.6
184. National Library of Moldova Chisinau 3.6
185 Rostock University Library Germany 3.5
186. Babes-Bolyai University Library Cluj-Napoca, Romania 3.5
187. Berlin Technical University Germany 3.5
188. U.S. National Agricultural Library Washington D.C. 3.5
189. Kent County Public Libraries Maidstone U.K. 3.5
190. Mickiewicz University Library Poznan Poland 3.5
191. Tomsk University Library Russia 3.5
192. Hubei Provincial Library Wuhan, China 3.4
193. Georgian Academy of
Sciences Central Library Tbilisi 3.4
194. National Library of the Netherlands The Hague 3.4
195. National Library of Finland / Helsinki
University Library 3.4
196. National Library of Switzerland Bern 3.4
197. Heidelberg University Library Germany 3.3
198. Soochow University Library. Taipei, Taiwan 3.3
199. Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology Library Zrich 3.3
200 Tajikistan State Library, Dushanbe 3.3
201. Charles University Library Prague, Czech Republic 3.4
202. Humboldt University Library Berlin, Germany 3.3
203. Birmingham Public Library U.K. 3.3
204. National Parliamentary Library Kiev, Ukraine 3.3
205. Chongqing Library China 3.3
206. Odessa University Library Ukraine 3.3
207. Hokkaido University Library Sapporo, J apan 3.3
208. Wroclaw University Library Poland
3.3
209. Bremen State University Germany 3.3
210 St. Clement Ohridski & University Library Skopje / Bitola, FYR
Macedonia 3.3
211. National Library of Mexico/ NAU Library Mexico City 3.3
212. Innsbruck University Library Austria 3.2
213. Tbingen University Library Germany 3.2
214. Baden Wrttemberg State Library Stuttgart 3.2
215. Munich City Library Germany 3.2
216. Tbilisi State University Library Georgia 3.2
217. J ena University Library Germany 3.2
218. Hebei University Library China
3.1
219. State Central Polytechnic Library Moscow 3.1
220. Berlin Central Library Germany 3.1
221. Kobe University Library J apan 3.1
222. Lyons University Library France 3.1

223. Wrzburg University Library Germany 3.1
224. Nankia University Library Tianjin, China 3.1
225. Seoul National University Library South Korea 3.1
226. Tartu University Library Estonia 3.1
227 Khakiv State University Ukraine
3.1
228. Belarus National Academy of Science Minsk 3.1 .
229. Central Library, Armenian Academy of Science Yerevan
3.1
230 Zurich Central Library Switzerland 3.1
231. University of Basel Library Switzerland
3.1
232. Regensburg University Library Germany
3.1
234. Hiroshima University J apan
3.1
235. Montreal University Library Canada 3.1
236. University of Western Ontario London, Canada
3
237. Russian Academy of Agriculture Library Moscow
3
238. Saskatchewan University Library Saskatoon, Canada
3
239. Hamburg University Library Germany 3
240. Gent University Library Belgium
3
241. Munchner Library Munich Germany 3
242. National Library of Argentina Buenos Aires 3
243. Malm City Library Sweden 3
244. National Library of Estonia Tallinn 3
245. Saratov University Library Russia 3
246. Birmingham University Library U.K. 3
247. Wuhan University Library China 3
248. National Library of Greece Athens 3
249. Lancashire County Public Libraries Preston, U.K. 3
250. Melbourne University Library Australia 3
251. Graz University Library Austria 3
252. Liverpool Public Library U.K. 3
243. Nagoya University Library J apan 2.9
254. Rome La Sapienza University Library Italy 2.9
255. Complutense University Library Madrid, Spain 2.9
256. Kaya University Library, Kyungbuk South Korea 2.9
257. Groningen State University Library the Netherlands
2.9
258. New South Wales University Library Sydney, Australia 2.8
259. Rostov State University Library Russia 2.8
260. Concordia University Library Canada 2.8
261. Helsinki City Library Finland 2.8
262. Essex County Public Libraries Chelmsford, U.K. 2.8
263. Center for Research Library Chicago, U.S. 2.8

264. Lyons Municipal Library France 2.8
265. National Library of Venezuela Caracas 2.7
266. Voronezh State Library Russia 2.7
267. U.S. National Agricultural Library Washington, D.C. 2.7
268. Edinburgh University Library U.K. 2.7
269. Madrid Autonomous University Library Spain 2.7
270. National Library of Taiwan Taipei 2.7
271. National Library of Cuba Havana 2.7
272. Moscow Technical University Library Russia
2.7
273. Turin University Library Italy 2.6
274. Basel University Library Switzerland 2.6
275. Hamburg Public Library Germany 2.6
276. National Library of Portugal Lisbon 2.6
277. Air University Library, MAF Alabama, U.S. 2.6
278. Bucharest University Library Romania 2.5
279. Toulouse University Library France 2.5
280. Russian State Public Historical Library Moscow 2.5
281. Eotvos Lorand University Library Budapest, Hungary 2.5
282. Stockholm University Library Sweden 2.5
283. National University of Ireland Library Dublin 2.5
284. Leeds University Library U.K. 2.5
285. Ryukoku University Library Kyoto, J apan
2.5
286. Lviv Ivan Franko State University Ukraine 2.5
287. Ottawa Public Library Canada 2.5
288. Azerbaijan Academy of Science Library Baku.
2.5
289. National Library of Greece Athens 2.5
290. Leiden State University Library the Netherlands 2.4
291. University of Trondheim Library Norway 2.4
292. Warsaw University Library Poland 2.4
293. National Library of Thailand Bangkok 2.4
294. V.I. Lenin State University Tashkent 2.4
295. National Library of Norway Oslo 2.3
296. National Chengchi University Taipei Taiwan
2.3
297. Latvia University Library Riga 2.3
298 Northeast Normal University Library Changchun, China
2.3
299. National and University Library Ljubljana, Slovenia
2.3
300. Marie Curie-Sklodowska University Library Lublin, Poland
2.3
301. Turku University Library Finland 2.3
302. Vancouver Public Library Canada
2.3
303. Aix-Marseille University Library Marseille, France
2.3

304. Hitotsubashi University Library J apan
2.2
305. University of Adelaide University Library Australia
2.2
206. Stockholm City and County Library Sweden 2.2
307 Malaya University Library Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2.2
308. Pyongyang Academy of Sciences Library North Korea 2.1
309. Korolenko State Scientific Library Kharkov, Ukraine 2.1
310. Australian National University Library Canberra, Australia
2.1
311. Dublin City Library Ireland 2.1
312. Belarus State University Minsk 2.1
313. Yonsei University Library Seoul 2.1
314. Astan Quds Razavi Documentation Library Mashhad, Iran
2.1
315. Moldovan State University Library Chisinau
2.1
316. Nijmegen University Library the Netherlands
2.1
317. Baku State University Azerbaijan 2.1
318. Okayama University Library J apan
2.1


319. National Library of Egypt Cairo 2
320. Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki Library Greece 2
321. National Library of Vietnam Hanoi and
Ho Chi Minh City 2
322. Rio de J aneiro Federal University Library Brazil 2
323. Louvain Catholic University Belgium 2
324. Bern University Library Switzerland 2
325. Coimbra University Library Portugal 2
326. Rotterdam Municipal Library the Netherlands 2
327. University College Library Dublin, Galway and Cork,
Ireland, 2
328. National Library of Italy Naples 2
329. Marciana National Library Venice, Italy 2
330. Tenri University J apan
2
331. Victoria State Library Melbourne 2
332. Moscow City Public Library Russia 2
333. Keimyung University Library Taegu, South Korea
2
334. University of London Library at Senate House U.K.
2
335. Queensland University Library Brisbane, Australia
2
336. Belarusian National Technical University Minsk
2
337. Salzburg University Library Austria 2

338. National University Library Sarajevo, Bosnia &
Herzegovina 2
339. St. Clement Ohridski University Library Bulgaria, Sofia
2
340. University of Manitoba Canada
2
341. Montreal City Library Canada
2
342. University of Hong Kong Library China
2
342. Comenius University of Bratislava Library Slovakia
2
344. Monash University Library Clayton, Australia
2
345. Mikhail Eminescu University Central Library Iasi, Romania
2



These 345 libraries have a grand total of over 1 billion books.
Abbreviations
CISTI. Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information.
INION. Institute for Scientific Information on Social Sciences Library.
MAF. Maxwell Air Force Base.
MRSLFL. M. I. Rudomini State Library for Foreign Literature.
NAU. National Autonomous University.
NSTL. National Science and Technology Library of Kazakhstan, Almaty.
RASLNS. Russian Academy of Sciences Library for Natural Sciences.
RSPLST. Russian State Public Library for Science and Technology Moscow.
SFIT. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Library.
UNWM Library. University of Wisconsin Madison Library U.S.




N.B.: The figure for the National Library of Canada in Ottawa, includes that of the
National Library of Quebec in Montreal.

382
145 oldest libraries
This list focuses only on the oldest significant libraries (excluding private libraries)
that are still in existence today (all but 11, founded before 1600). For information on the
earliest libraries in the world (but which no longer exist intact), see list 123. World
records on the oldest library buildings are at list 236.

Rank Name and Location Year founded

(A.D.)
1. Al-Qarawiyin University Library, Fez, Morocco circa 859
2. Hunan University Library, Changsha, China 976
3. Al-Azhar University Library, Cairo, Egypt 985
4. Al-Nizamiyah University Library, Baghdad, Iraq 1070
5. Bologna University Library, Italy 1088
6. Padua University Library, Italy 1122
7. Modena University Library 1160
8. Hacettepe University Library, Ankara, Turkey 1206
9. Vicenza University Library, Italy 1204
10. Salamanca University Library, Spain 1218
11. San Domenico Library Bologna, Italy 1218
12. Sorbonne University of Paris Library, France 1230
13 Mustansiriya University Library, Bagdad, Iraq 1233
14. Montpellier University Library, France 1240
15. Perugia University Library, Italy 1243
16. Sienna University Library, Italy 1245
17. Piacenza University Library, Italy 1248
18. Arezzo University Library, Italy 1252
19. Parma University Library, Italy 1255
20. Salerno University Library, Italy 1265
21. Vercelli University Library, Italy 1270
22. Valladolid University Library, Spain 1290
23. Macerata University Library, Italy 1290
24. Coimbra University Library, Portugal 1290
25. Lisbon University Library, Portugal 1291
26. Toulouse University Library, France 1292
27. Complutense University Library, Madrid, Spain 1293
28. Seville University Library, Spain 1295
29. Naples University Library, Italy 1297
30 Lleida University, Spain 1297
31. Valencia University Library, Spain 1298
32. Rome University Library, Italy 1304
33. Orleans University Library, France 1306
34. Florence University Library, Italy 1321
35. Grenoble University Library, France 1339
36. Cahor University Library, France 1342
37. Pisa University Library, Italy 1343
38. Angers University Library, France 1345
39. Cambridge University Library, U.K. 1347
40. Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic 1348
41. Perpignan University Library, France 1350
42. Pavia University Library, Italy 1361
43. Avignon University Library, France 1363
44. J agiellonian University Library, Krakw, Poland 1364
45. Vienna University Library, Austria 1365
46. Orange University Library, France 1365
47. National Library of the Czech Republic, Prague 1366
48. Pcs University Library, Hungary 1367
49. National Library of Austria, Vienna 1368
50. Rupert-Charles University Library, Heidelberg, Germany 1386

51. Cologne University Library, Germany 1388
52. Ferrara University Library, Italy 1391
53. Erfurt University Library, Germany 1392
54. Sungkyunkwan University Library in Seoul, South Korea 1398
55. Wrzburg University Library, Germany 1402
56. Turin University Library, Italy 1404
57. Leipzig University Library, Germany 1409
58. St. Andrews University Library, U.K. 1410
59. Aix-Marseille University Library, France 1413
60. Rostock University Library, Germany 1419
61. Franche-Comt University Library, Besanon, France 1423
62. Louvain (Leuven) Catholic University Library, Belgium 1425
63. Barcelona University Library, Spain 1430
64. Caen University Library, France 1431
65. Poitiers University Library, France 1432
66. Bordeaux University Library, France 1441
67. Catania University Library. Italy 1444
68. Vatican Library, Rome, Vatican City 1451
69. Malatesta Monastic Library, Cesena, Italy 1452
70. Glasgow University Library, U.K. 1451
71. Istanbul University Library, Turkey 1455
72. Greifswald University Library, Germany 1456
73. Freiburg University Library, Germany 1457
74. Basel University Library, Switzerland 1460
75. Astan Quds Razavi Documentation Centre Library Mashhad, Iran 1460
76. Rennes University Library, France 1461
77. Comenius University of Bratislava Library, Slovakia 1465
78. Marciana National Library, Venice, Italy 1468
79. Munich University Library, Germany 1472
80. Eichstatt-Ingolstadt Catholic University Library, Germany 1472
81. Mainz University Library, Germany 1476
82. Uppsala University Library, Sweden 1477
83. Tbingen University Library, Germany 1477
84. National Library of France, Paris 1480
85. Saragossa University Library, Spain 1480
86. Copenhagen University Library, Denmark 1482
87. Aberdeen University Library. U.K. 1494
88. Granada University Library, Spain 1494
89. Santiago de Compostela University, Spain 1495
90. Martin Luther University Library,
Halle-Wittenberg, Germany 1502
91. University of vora, Portugal 1502
92. Royal College of Surgeons Library, Edinburgh , U.K. 1505
93. Madrid Autonomous University Library of Library, Spain 1510
94. Frankfurt University Library, Germany 1511
95. Tianyi Ge Library, Ningbo, China 1516
96. Royal College of Physicians Library, London, UK 1518
97 Zrich University Library, Switzerland 1523
98. Latvian Academic Library, Riga, 1524
99. Magdeburg Public Library, Germany 1525
100. Lyons Municipal Library, France 1527

101. Bern University Library, Switzerland 1528
102. Santiago de Compostela University Library, Spain 1532
103. Gazi Husrebegov Library in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina 1537
104. University of Lausanne Library, Switzerland 1537
105. Santo Domingo Autonomous University Library, Dominican Republic 1538
106. National University Library, Strasbourg, France 1540
107. St. Nicholas of Hidalgo Michoacn University Library, Morelia, Mexico 1549
108. Mexico National Autonomous University Library, Mexico City, Mexico 1551
109. San Marcos National University Library, Lima, Peru 1552
110. Pontifical Gregorian University Library. Rome, Vatican City 1553
111. National Library of Malta, Valetta 1555
112. National Library of Belgium, Brussels 1559
113. Bavarian State Library, Munich, Germany 1558
114. University of Geneva Library, Switzerland 1559
115. Lille University Library. France
1560
116. Deventer Municipal Library, the Netherlands 1560
117. Eotvos Lorand University Library Budapest, Hungary 1561
118. San Lorenzo de El Escorial Monastic Library, Madrid, Spain 1563
119. Palacky University Library. Olomouc Czech Republic 1566
120. Vilnius University Library Lithuania 1570
121. Laurentian Library, Florence, Italy 1571
122. Leiden State University Library, the Netherlands 1575
123. Amsterdam University Library, the Netherlands
1578
124. Santo Tomas) University Library, Bogot 1580
125. Edinburgh University Library, U.K. 1580
126. San J ose Seminary Library Bogot, Columbia 1581
127. University of Utrecht Library, the Netherlands 1584
128. Ecuador Central University Library, Quito 1586
129. Trinity College, Dublin University Library, Ireland 1592
130. Puebla Autonomous University Library, Mexico 1598
131. Edward Kardelja University Library, Ljubljana Slovenia 1595
132. Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw
1596
133. Cuzco University Library, Peru 1598
134. Francis Trigge Grantham Library, U.K. 1598
135. St Benedict Monastery Library Rio J aneiro, Brazil 1600
136. Bodleian Library, Oxford University, U.K. 1602
137. Rotterdam Municipal Library, the Netherlands 1604
138. National Library of Croatia, Zagreb 1606
139. Ambrosian Library, Milan, Italy 1609
140. Norwich City Library, U.K. 1608
141. University of Oviedo Library, Spain
1608
142. Crdoba National University Library, Argentina 1615
143. Groningen State University Library, the Netherlands
1615
144. Yucatan Autonomous University Library, Mrida, Mexico
1624

145. San Francisco Xavier Royal Pontifical University Library, Sucre, Bolivia
1625

Notes. The location of the Vatican (head of the Roman Catholic Church in Europe)
in Italy, was a factor for the establishment of so many Italian Universities before
1300, this in turn was a reason why the renaissance first began in Italy. With the
exception of Padua University in Italy, all the libraries in existence before 1452,
when the Malatesta Monastic Library, Cesena, Italy was founded, have had newer
buildings built for the libraries, replacing the older library buildings. Malatesta
Monastic Library remains the oldest library building in the world. The five oldest
libraries in the U.S, are Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts founded in
1636; and Sturgis Library in Barnstable Massachusetts (on the Cape Cod
peninsula), founded in 1644; William & Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia ,
founded 1693; a library founded in 1698 at Charleston, South Carolina and Yale
University Library, New Haven, Connecticut, founded in 1701. Cambridge University
(#39) was originally founded in the 13th century. The Bodleian Library at Oxford
University was re-founded in 1602, even though the library was originally founded in
1320. Palencia University Library in Spain was founded in 1210, but it was closed
near the end of the 13th century because of the prominence of Salamanca
University, so it has been excluded. Crdoba University was the first of its kind in
Europe, as the original university was founded in 10th century A.D. (so older than
Bologna University). But it was re-founded in 1972. Nanjing University in China
existed in A.D. 258 as the Imperial College of Emperor Sun Xiu. But modern Nanjing
University was re-founded in the early 20th century. The Corviniana Library in
Hungary was founded in 1460, but was wrecked when the Turkish Ottoman Empire
overran Hungary in the 1526 Battle of Mohcs. Also excluded from this list is
Kaliningrad University, which was founded as Knigsberg University in 1544, but
was destroyed in the Second World War. Avignon University (#43) was originally
founded in the 13th century. The Vatican Library (#68) original founding date goes
back to the 14th century. Istanbul University (#71) was founded as Constantinople
University in A.D. 430. Some book collections of the National Library of France (#84)
date back to 1368. The libraries of Copenhagen University (#86) and Mexico
National Autonomous University Library (#108) are also part of the national library in
those countries. Several other significant old library collections, such as religious
libraries (e.g. libraries in cathedrals, monasteries and mosques), still exist today,
some dating back to the 5th century A.D.. See entries 60, 62, 63, 123 and 236 for
more details.

SAINT J EROME, THE LIBRARIANS PATRON SAINT
St. J erome is the patron saint for librarians and libraries. Born in Italy, he was a
passionate lover of books. He taught by the famous Latin grammarian Aelius Donatus.
Apart from being ordained a priest, in the 4th century A.D., he also worked for some time
in Rome as a prolific translator of the Bible from Hebrew and Greek to Latin, and revised
existing Latin versions of the Bible, previously incorrectly translated from Greek by other
writers. The Bible by the beginning of 4th century A.D. was mainly composed of Old
Testament in Hebrew and New Testament in Greek, and very few accurate Latin
versions. His first translations of the Bible remained unchanged for more than a

thousand years.
In fact one of his major translations of the Bible finished circa 384 A.D. is the vulgate
edition of the Bible, which is the basis for the Bible used in Roman Catholic churches
today, as it was adopted by the Council of Trent as the official Roman Catholic Bible in
1546. It was later generations of this original vulgate edition of the Bible that Gutenberg
symbolically chose from other choices of handwritten parchment manuscripts, to print his
very first book in 1455. During St J eromes time working on his translations in Rome, he
kept a well stoked personal library, meticulously cataloged.
One of St. J eromes most remarkable feats was to seek solitary refuge in Syrias
Chalcis desert for five years, just reading, praying and fasting!

GET PHOTO

Bibliography
The list of books, journals, newspapers etc consulted, during the research work for
this book, including specific sources given at the end of each separate list in the
book, are all listed here in detail.


INDEX
References are to entry numbers.

Aachen palace library 120
AACR2 249
AACR3 249
Abbasid Caliphate, libraries 123, 141
Aberdeen University Library 64, 381, 382
ABI / Inform database 296
Abo Academy University Library 43
Abrogans 125
Abudarham 164
academic libraries, largest and oldest worldwide 34 58, 381
The Academy 61, 62
Achaemenid empire, the 124, 127
acid in books, treatment and remedy 89, 142
Adelaide University Library 55, 381
Adelard of Bath 123, 141
Adolf Marx 228
Adonis 357
Adventures of Tom Sawyer 199
advertisement, worst depicting libraries 119
Advis pour dresser une bibliothque 182
Afghanistan, oldest texts in Pashto 136
AFNOR cataloging rules 249
Africa: European libraries 198; first book printed 137 see also African languages; first
library board, 26; first library act legislation 26; largest and oldest public libraries 13, 26;
largest and oldest university libraries 56, 70; largest book fairs 235; largest book
publishers see book publishers; largest bookstores see bookstores; most expensive
library building 1; oldest national archives, 109; oldest handwritten book 137; oldest
libraries see oldest; oldest printing press 152
African languages, oldest texts 137, 164

Afrikaans, oldest texts 137
Agricola database 307
Agricola, Michael, 134
agriculture: largest databases 307; largest libraries 91, 92
Agris database 307
The Ahiram Inscriptions 124
Aichi Prefectural Library 14
air travel and schedules, largest databases 336
Air University Library 94
airline reservations, largest database 336
Aix-Marseille University Library 38 , 381, 382
Akademibokhandeln 227
Akateeminen Kirjakauppa 227
Akbar, J alal ud-Din 120
Akkadian texts, oldest 124
Al-Akhawayn University 61, 382
Al-Aqsa Mosque 236
Al-Azhar University Library 61, 73, 382
Al-Hakem II, caliph 67, 123
Al-Hasan al-Basri 127
Al-Khwarizmi 120, 123, 141
Al-Mamun, caliph 120, 123, 141
Al-Mutawakki Mosque 102
Al-Nizamiyah University Library 61, 73, 382
Al-Qarawiyin University Library 60, 61, 73, 382
Al-Zahiriyah Library 120
Albanian, oldest texts 135
Albatross Books 181
Albert I, king of Belgium 1
Alberta University Library 59, 381
Albrecht III, Hapsburg dynasty 1
Albrecht V, duke of Bavaria 1
Alcatraz Island Prison Library 119
Alexandria Library 1, 83, 110, 120, 122, 123, 213, 247, 249
Alexander the Great 123
Alexandria University 1, 60
Alfred, king of Britain 132
Algeria: public libraries, 23; largest and oldest university library 56, 70; oldest texts 137
Algiers University Library 56, 70
Ali, Muhammed, biography, most expensive 208
Alice in Wonderland 207
Allen, Paul 362
All the President s Men 119
AllTheWeb search engine 289
Almaktabah 227
Alp-Arslan, sultan 135
alphabets, largest, oldest, smallest 124
Alsted, J ohann 183
Alta Vista search engine 355
Altair 362
Amadeus business database 292
Amadeus flight reservation database 336
Amazon online bookstore 206, 208, 220, 227
Ambrosian Library 28, 110, 120, 165, 247
American Bible Association 102
American Chemical Society 277, 311
American Dental Association Library 78
American Economic Association 296
American Geographical Society Library 83
American Institute for Chemical Engineers 85
American Institute for Mechanical Engineers 85
American Library Association 23, 24, 120, 231, 364, 372
American Library Association Annual Conference 231
American Psychological Association 327
American Society for Civil Engineers 85
American Society for Information Science 377, 378
American Society for Mechanical Engineers 85
American Type Culture Collection 309
American University, Beirut 56, 73, 84
American University, Cairo 56
Americas: largest book publishers see book publishers; largest bookstores see
bookstores; largest libraries see largest; oldest libraries see oldest
Amharic, oldest texts 137,

Amr Mosque 236
Amsterdam University Library 44, 69, 382
Analysis of Judaica 275
Ancestry PLUS databases 328
Andronicus, Livius 124
Anglo-American Cataloging Rules 2 see AACR2
Anglo-Saxon Chronicles 132
Angola: oldest public library 26; oldest texts 137
Angus & Robertson Bookshop 227
Ankara University Library 47
anthropology, largest databases 327
Antonius, Marcus 123
antiquarian bookseller, largest 215, 220 see also incunabula
Antwerp Central Public Library 15
Apocalypse of St John manuscript 143
Apostol 151
Apple Macintosh computers 144, 267, 323, 362
Arabic numerals, origin 60, 123
Arabic: oldest encyclopedia 183; oldest printed books 154; oldest texts 127, see also the
Koran
Arabic Legislations Encyclopedia 190
Arbaah Turim omf 155, 157
archeology: largest libraries 100
architecture, largest databases 326
Archimedes 1
archives: largest, oldest 90, 105-109
Ariel 181
Argentina: largest and oldest university libraries 58, 71; largest bookstore 227; largest
and oldest public library 16, 29
Aristophanes 120
Aristotle 60
Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki 47, 59
Arizona University Library 258
Ark of the Covenant 164
Armenia Scientific and Technical Library 57
Armenian, oldest text 136; first printed book 156; largest academic library 57
Arnaud, George-J ean 191
art libraries, largest 97
art databases, largest 326
Arturo, Allesandi 120
Aryabhata 141
Ashmolean Museum 124, 138
Asia Books 227
Asia-Pacific region largest book publishers see book publishers; largest bookstores see
bookstores; largest libraries see largest; oldest libraries see oldest
Asian languages (including Middle East): oldest texts 124, 127, 128, 136, 154-158, 160-
162
Asher, J acob Ben 155
Ashurbanipal 123, 124
Ashoka, king of India 124
ASLIB 373
Asoka (Ashoka), king of India 124
Assiut University Library 56
Association of College and Research Libraries 35
Association of Research Libraries 35
Assyria, oldest texts 123, 124
astronomy, largest library 99; largest databases 319; oldest documents 141
Athenaeum Boekhandel 227
Atreya Sumhita 141
Attalus I 123
Atkin, Anna 171
Auckland City Library 14, 27
Auckland University Library 55
Audubon, J ames J ohn 190, 207
Austen, J ane 193
Australia: first printed book in 159; largest and oldest bookstores 227; largest and oldest
university library 55, 72; largest book publisher 228; largest and oldest public libraries
14, 27
Australian National University Co-op 227
Australian National University Library 55
Australian state libraries 1
Austria: largest and oldest university libraries 41, 69; largest bookstores 227; largest
public library 15; oldest newspaper 174

Austrian Library Association 373
autobiography, earliest 168
Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library 97
Avicenna 120
Avignon papal library 28, 65
Avignon University Library 65, 382
Axel Springer 228
Ayasofya Library 120
Ayyubid Caliphate, libraries 123
Azerbaijan: oldest texts 136
Azerbaijan Scientific and Technical University Library 57

Babylonian texts, oldest 123, 124
Bacon, Francis 214
Baccaccio 170
Baden Wrttemberg State Library 6
Baegun 143, 161
Baer, Karl Ernst von 120
Bailudong Academy 60
Baghdad University Library 56
the Bahamas, oldest public library 31
Bahia State Public Library 16
Bailey, Nathaniel 189
Baird, J ohn Logie 362
Baker & Taylor 360
Baku State University Library 57
Ballistic Sves Vs Eckers 119
Baltic States, oldest texts 135
ban on books, earliest, most famous, longest 214
Banaras Hindu University Library 57
Bandi & Luni`s 227
Bangkok International Book Fair 232
Bangkok Library Association 365
Bangladesh: largest book publisher 228; largest public library 14; oldest texts 124;
largest university libraries 57
Bangladesh Central Public Library 14
Bangladesh University Library 57
Baquerizo, Alfredo 120
Barbados, oldest public library 31
Barcelona Cathedral 63
Barcelona Public Library 15
Barcelona University Library 42, 382
Barnes & Noble Bookstores 226, 227
Barnet borough public libraries 8
Basel University Library 50, 74, 382
Basque, oldest texts 131, 132, 150
Bath University Library 46
Battle of Mohcs 121, 382
Battle of Qadisiya 127
Battle of Talas River 136
Bavarian Kingdom 1
Bavarian State Library 1, 6, 110, 165, 244, 382
Bay Psalm Book 147
Baybars I, sultan of Egypt and Syria 120
Bayt-al-Hikmah 123
BBC Library 89
BCA see Book Club Associates
Beaker culture, oldest texts 124
Beautiful Life 119
Bede, Venerable 132
Beijing Book Building 227
Beijing Book Fair 232
Beijing Tushu Daxia 227
Beijing University Library 53, 120, 381
Beijing Society of Library Science Capital Library 14
Beilstein, Friedrich 311
Beilstein database 311
Belarus State University Library 49
Belgian Library Association 373
Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs African Library 98
Belgique Loisirs 227

Belgium: largest and oldest university libraries 44, 69; largest bookstore 227; largest
public library 15; oldest newspaper 174
Belgrade Svetozar Markovic University Library 49
Belize libraries 110
Bell & Howell 280
Belorussia; oldest texts 135
Ben Gurion Negev University Library 56, 59
Ben Hur 195
Benedictine Rules 120
Beowulf 132
Berber culture: oldest universities 70; oldest texts 137
Berlin Central Library 15
Berlin Free University Library 36, 39, 381
Berlin Humboldt University Library 36, 39, 213, 381
Berlin Papyrus 142
Berlin public libraries 15
Berlin State Library 1, 6, 110, 119, 381
Berline Kurfursten Atlas 190
Berlioz, Hector 120
Berman National Library 56
Bern Convention 167
Bern Public Library 15
Bern University Library 41, 69, 381
Bernan 227
Bernardino Public Library 16
Berners-Lee, Tim 355
Bertelsmann 219, 228
Bertrand Bookstores 215, 227
Bessarione, cardinal 1, 120
best-selling books of all time 196
best universities and largest libraries 59
Beyazit State Library 26
Bezos, J eff 220
Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Kingdom 190, 208
The Bible 28, 69, 102, 124, 125, 139, 140, 142, 143, 144, 153, 190, 196, 197, 202, 207,
214,
Biblia Pauperum 143, 207
Biblioteca Comunale dellArchiginnasio 165
Biblio-Globus 227
Bibliographic Retrieval Services 273
Bibliography of the History of Art database 326
Bibliotheca Alexandrina 1, see also Alexandria Library
Bibliothque de lAlliance Isralite 102
biggest books see books
biggest libraries see largest libraries
biggest library buildings see library buildings
Bilbao University Library 42
Bild-Zeitung 174
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 380
Billings, J ohn 120, 302, 303
bindery, oldest existing 144
biological databases, largest 302-310
biomedical databases see medicine
biomedical libraries see medicine
Biosciences Information Service see BIOSIS
BIOSIS database 307, 308
Biotechnobase 308
biotechnology database, largest 308
Birchalls Bookshop 227
Birds of America 190, 207,
Birmingham Central Public Library 15, 20
Birmingham University Library 37, 381
Black Book of Carmarthen 132
Black Diamond, the 1
Blackwells Bookshop 227
Blackwell Reference Online database 329
BLAISE database host 270
BLISS Classification 248
block-printing of books, earliest and oldest examples 143
Bloomberg, 289
Bluesheets 269
Boccaccio 213
Bodleian Library see Oxford University

Bodley, J ames 64, 379
Bokia Bokhandel 227
Bokkilden Bokhandel 227
Bokus.com 227
Boleyn, Anne 28
Bolivia: largest and oldest university library 71, 238; oldest public library 29
Bolivar, Simon 120
Bologna Childrens Book Fair 230
Bologna University Library 40, 49, 61, 63, 67, 142, 382
Bolton Public Library 28
Bombay University Library see Mumbai University Library
Bonaparte, Napoleon 10, 28
Bonfire of the Vanities 213
Bonnier Group 228
book, definition of 11
Book-of-the-Month Club 219
book ban, earliest, most famous, longest 214
book-burning rituals, first, most famous and largest 213
book classification, oldest and most popular 248
Book Club Associates 219
book clubs, largest and oldest 219
books digitization and manuscript, first major project 266
Book Expo of America 231
book fairs, oldest, largest, longest 230-235
book fines, biggest 209, 210; see also book stealing
Book House 227
Book of Aneirin 132
Black Book of Carmarthen 132
Book of Change 124
Book of Clanranald 132
Book of Common Prayer 153
Red Book of Hergest 132
Book of Kells 45, 153
Book of Taliesin 132
Book of the Dead 124
book preservation 89, 142, 266
book publishers: largest and oldest 228, 229
book reading day, largest 131
book signing, longest 206
book stealing, biggest 211; see also book fines
BookBank 287
Bookfinder.com 220
Book Review Index 288
books and manuscripts: biggest, smallest, heaviest, tallest 190; largest number of
readers 25, 193; most expensive 207, 208; most overdue library book 209, 210; most
read in public libraries 193; oldest and earliest 124164, 166, 169-173, 181; rare and
out-of-print 215, 220; first book page numbers 169; first to use illustrations and
photographs 170, 171; first to be printed in color 172; first talking book 173; books with
most pages 191; most expensive launch 206, most expensive book project 205;
longest book signing 206
Books@Ovid 283
Books etc. 227
Books in Print 287
bookstores: largest, oldest, and tallest 215-218, 220-227
Boots Pharmaceutical Research Library 79
Bordeaux Municipal Library 15
Bordeaux University Library 38, 382
Borders Bookstore 227
Borges, J orge Luis 120
Borromeo, Federico cardinal 28, 120
Borsippa Library 123
Boston Athenaeum 113
Boston Public Library 11, 30, 120, 264
botany, largest library and databases 92, 309
Bournemouth Public Library 246
Bowker-Saur 287, 339
Brahmi script , oldest examples in Asia 124, 136
Brainerd, Paul 144
Branches see library branches
Brandon Hill List 74
Brazil: largest and oldest university libraries 58, 71; largest bookstores 223, 227; largest
and oldest public libraries 16, 29; tallest public library building 241
Brazilian encyclopedias, largest 189

Brazilian Library Association 372
Briand, J oseph 147
Bridgetown Public Library 31
Brigham Young University Library 240
Brisbane Public Library 27
Bristlecone pine tree 124
Britain see United Kingdom
British Broadcasting Corporation Library see BBC library
British Columbia University Library 50
British Copyright Act 167
British Council libraries 111
British Dental Association Library 78
British Film Institute Library 89
The British Library 1, 6, 9, 60, 119, 120, 140, 165, 190, 207, 237, 239, 244, 250, 266,
270, 271, 285, 330, 347, 356
British Library Document Supply Center 356
British Library of Political and Economic Science 82
British Medical Association Nuffield Library 74
British Ministry of Defense Library 94
British Museum 124, 137, 280
British Museum Library 6, 28, 237
British National Bibliography 250, 270
British National DNA database 306
Bristol University Library 37
Brockhaus Enzyklopadie 185
Brooklyn Public Library 11
BRS Online 273
Brusciotto, Giacinto 137
Bruna Boekhandel 227
Brussels Free University Library 44
Bucharest City Library 15
Bucharest University Library 49, 68, 110
Budapest Metropolitan Library 15
Budapest Synagogue Library 102
Budapest University Library 68
Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama 124
Buddhism, oldest texts 124, 142, 143
Buddhist libraries, largest 102
budgets see library budgets
Budshah, Zanulabin, 142
Buenos Aires Book Fair 233
Buenos Aires Public Library 29
Buenos Aires University Library 58
Buffalo & Eire County Public Library 30
building and construction, largest database 267
buildings see library buildings
Bulgaria, largest public library, 15; largest university library 49; oldest texts 135
Burgrave, Thomas 76
Burma, earliest and oldest texts 124, 136
Burdett Psalter and Hours, the 207
burning of books, biggest and oldest 110, 213
burning of libraries 110, 213
Burns, Robert 215
Busck, Arnold 227
Bush, Laura 120
busiest libraries 17- 20
business and finance, largest databases 289-296
business data, largest providers 289
business journals, oldest 179
Butterworths database 298
Byzantium Imperial Library 123
Cadamosto, Alvise de 137
Cadaverous 119
Cahor University Library 381
Caesar, J ulius 110, 132
Cairo International Book Fair 235
Cairo University Library 56
Calcutta (Kolkata) Book Fair 232
Calcutta (Kolkata) Public Library 9
Calcutta (Kolkata) University 36, 57, 72
Calgary University Library 34, 50
California State Library 6, 119

California state public libraries 22
California State University Library catalog 252
California University Library, Berkeley 34, 35, 59, 381
California University Library, Irvine, 381
California University Library, Los Angeles 34, 35, 59, 89, 381
California University Library, San Diego 245, 381
Caligula 214
Callimachus 1, 120
Calpurnius, Lucius 123
Cambodia, oldest texts in Khmer 136
Cambridge Public Library 28
Cambridge Scientific Abstracts 283, 325, 329, 333
Cambridge University Library 36, 45, 54, 69, 119, 124, 169, 203, 381, 382
Cambridge University Press 215, 229
camels and libraries 118
Canada: first book printed in 147; first papermill 142; largest and oldest public libraries
11, 12, 30; largest and oldest university libraries 50, 71; largest book publisher 228;
largest bookstores 227; largest university library building 240; most expensive library
building 240; tallest library building 238
Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information 79, 283, 292
Canadian Library Association 372
Canadian state libraries 1
Canterbury Cathedral 236
Canterbury Public Library 28
The Canterbury Tales 132, 146, 207
Canterbury University Library 55
Cao, Diogo (Diego) 137
Cape Town Book Fair 235
Cape Town City Library 13, 26, 246
Cape Town Provincial Library Service 13
Cape Town University Library 56, 70
Cappelen 228
Carboni, Raffaello 136
Carmina Nisibena 60
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh 11
Carnegie Public Library 31
Carr, Henry 70
Caribbean Islands: largest university libraries 51; oldest public libraries 31
Carrie 119
Carroll, Lewis 207, 283
Carte Topographique de lEgypt 190
Carter, J immy 120
Caryle, Thomas 15
CAS databases 311
CAS Registry System 311
Casa de Libro 227
Casanova, Giovanni 119, 120
cataloging of books, see AACR2
catalogs see library catalogs
Catchword 357
Catechism 153
cathedral libraries 62, 236
Catherine the Great, empress 6, 28
caveman paintings, oldest 124
Cawdrey, Robert 189
Caxton, William 145, 146, 207
CD-ROM disk, books on 284
Celtic texts and culture, 124, 132
Celts and Celtic languages, oldest texts 124, 132
Census Bureau database 267
CERN 356
Cervantes Institute 110
Cervantes, Miguel de 197, 201, 214
chained libraries, largest 114
La Chanson de Roland 130
Chapters Bookstore 227
Charlemagne 1, 120, 124, 130
Charles the Great (1st Holy Roman Emperor) see Charlemagne
Charles I, king of Spain 71
Charles I, king of England 212
Charles II, king of England 190
Charles II, the Bald, king of France (Frankish king) 130
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor (and Habsburg king of Bohemia) 1

Charles V, king of France 1
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1, 71
Charles University 1; Library 49, 68, 381
Charlies Angels 119
Chartered Institute for Library and Information Professionals 378
Chaucer, Geoffrey 132, 146, 207
Chekhovs Chameleon 190
Cheikh Anta Diop University Library 56
Chemical Abstracts Service 311, 346
chemical engineering, largest library 85; largest databases 311, 312, 318, 351
Chemical Titles 277
chemistry: largest databases 311, 312, 318, 351; largest libraries 85
Chennai (Madras) University Library 72
Chester Beatty Library 124, 127, 247
Chetham Library 28, 379
Chicago Public Library 11, 21, 30, 110, 241, 246
Chicago University Library 35
Chie, Wang 142
Chihuahua Public Library 29
Chile: largest university library 58
China: first books printed in 142, 143, 160; largest book publisher 228; largest
bookstores 222, 227; largest and tallest library building 238, 239, 241; largest and
oldest public libraries 11, 14, 236; largest university libraries 53; largest provincial
libraries 6 ; oldest libraries 123; oldest library building 236; oldest texts in Chinese 124;
largest and oldest reference books 186, 189, best-selling books 196
China Publishing Group 228
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science Library 91
Chinese Academy of Sciences Library 53
Chinese ancient academies 60
Chinese encyclopedias and dictionaries, largest and oldest 183, 186, 189, 196
Chinese texts, oldest 124, 141-143 see also China
Chinese Institute of Scientific and Technical Information 271, 300
Chinese provincial libraries, largest 1
Chinese University of Hong Kong Library 57
Chin-kang Ching 142
Chollian database host 271
Chongno Bookstore 227
Christian libraries, oldest and largest 102
Christianity, oldest texts 124
Christchurch City Library 27
Christies 207, 211
Church of St. Mary Zion 164
CIA, CIA library 112, 119, 314
El Cid 131
Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library 15, 21, 30, 241, 246, 381
cinema see film
CISTI 283
citation indexes, first and largest 275, 276
Cite 227
City of Angels 119
City University of New York CUNY 34
City University School of Informatics 370, 378
civil engineering, largest databases 313; largest libraries 85 see also engineering
CLAIMS database 348
classification of books, most popular and oldest 248
Clement Classification 248
Cleopatra, Queen 110, 123
Cleveland Public Library 12, 30, 381
Club 227
Cluj-Napoca Lucian Blaga University Central Library 49
Cockeram, Henry 189
Code of Laws 123, 124, 141
Code of Federal Regulations 331
Codex 1395 124
Codex G.VII.1.5 124
Codex Alexandrinus 124
Codex Argenteus 69, 125
Codex Atlanticus 28
Dresden Codex 126
Grolier Codex 126
Codex Hammer 207
Codex Leicester 207
Madrid Codex 126

Mount Sinai Arabic Codex 151 127
Paris Codex 126
Codex Purpureus Beratinus 135
Codex Sinaiticus 124, 140
Codex Suprasl 135
Codex Vaticanus 28, 124, 139
Codex Vercelli 124
Codex Yonan 124
Coimbra University Library 42, 69, 381
coins commemorating libraries, first 32
Cold War, the and libraries 23
College of Physicians of Philadelphia 78
Collins 227
Cologne University Library 66, 381, 382
Colombia, oldest public libraries 3, 29; largest university library 71
Colon Classification 248
Coloquios dos Simples e drogas he da India 158
Columbia University, library school 363, 365, 381
Columbia University Library 34, 35, 59, 96
Columbus, Christopher 67, 71, 83, 236
Comenius Library 100
Comenius University Library of Bratislava 49, 68
company information databases see Business
EI Compendex database, 312
Complutense University Library 42, 67, 381
Comptons Encyclopedia 284
Computer Library Systems 264
Concepcion University Library 58
Confessions 168
Confucius 124, 171, 204
Congo Kingdom; oldest texts 137
Congress of Vienna 1, 28
Consortium of University Research Libraries 251
Constantine, Eastern Roman (Byzantine) emperor 123
Constantinople University 60, 73, 382
The Constitution 6
construction and building, largest database 313
Construction Law Reports 208
Cook County Prison Library 95
Cookson, Catherine 193
COPAC 251
Copenhagen University, library school , 366
Copenhagen University Library 1, 43, 69, 110, 381, 382
Copernicus, Nicolaus 49, 141
Coptic church 123
Coptic Museum 124
Coptic script and texts, oldest 124, 137
copyright, earliest important dates 167
Corante 174
Corbis Collection 345
Corbis Picture Experience 345
Crdoba Medieval Islamic library 123
Crdoba National University 71
Crdoba University Library 63, 65, 67, 123, 382
Cornaro Missal 207
Cornell University Library 35
Cortes Hernn 126
Corpus of Simples 141
Cosmographia see Geographia
Coster, J anszoon Laurens 144
Current Drugs 304
Cranfield University Kings Norton Library 245
CrimsonLogic database 300
Croatia, oldest university library 68; oldest texts 135; first printed books 151
Crowther, Ajai Samuel 70
Crusades, the, 2nd,1; 3rd, 123; 4th, 123, 211; 6th, 144
Cuesta 227
Cujas Library 96
cuneiform inscriptions, oldest 123, 124
Current Contents database 278
cybercafs, largest 354
Cyrillic alphabet, earliest texts 135
the Cyrus Cylinder 124

Czech Republic: largest and oldest university libraries 49, 68; largest public library 11;
oldest texts 135; first printed books 151
Da Gama, Vasco 83
The Da Vinci Code 119
Dalai Lama 102
Dallas Public Library 12, 119, 120, 246
Dancer, J ohn 265
Dante, Alighieri 115, 129
Dar Al Maaref 228
Darby Library Company 30
Darius I, king of Persia 124
Dar es Salam University Library 56
Darwin, Charles 37
databases and database hosts, first 257; largest and oldest 269-354
Datamonitor 292
Dataphase 260, 264
DataStar database host 270, 271, 283
David Lubin Memorial Library 91
Day, Stephen 147
Day After Tomorrow 119
The Day of the Jackal 119
dBASE 268
DDC see Dewey Decimal Classification
De Oratore 149
Dead Sea Scrolls 6, 124, 164
deafness, largest library on 81
De Agostini 228
Deakin University, Library 260
The Declaration of Independence 6
Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) 321
Defoe, Daniel 201
Delhi Public Library 14
DELNET 271
Delphion 268, 346
Demetrius 1
demotic script 124
Denmark: largest and oldest bookstores 227; largest and oldest university libraries 43,
69; largest book publishers 228; oldest texts in Danish 134; first printed books 152
dental libraries, oldest and largest 78
Derby Central Library 246
Derwent Information 281, 305, 347, 351
Descartes, Ren 214,
Desk Top Publishing see DTP
De Slegte Boekhandel 227
destruction of books and libraries, with fire, largest 110, 213
Detroit Public Library 11
Deutsches Wrterbuch 191
Devanagari texts, oldest
Deventer Athenaeum Library 28
DEVINSA 271
The Devils Library 119
Deutches Wrterbuch 189
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka 228
Dewey, Melvil 35, 248, 363, 372
Dewey Decimal Classification 35, 119, 248
DGSE library 112
Dharani Sutra, the 142, 143
Dhaka University Library 57
DIALOG database host 269, 283
Dialogus Creatururum Moralizatus 152
Diamond Sutra, the 142, 143
diary, oldest existing 128
Diaz de Santos227
Dickens, Charles 193, 239
Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophres 146, 147
dictionaries, oldest and largest 186-189
Diet Library, see National Library of J apan
Digital Box Index 283
digital images, largest database 345
Digital Millennium Copyright Act 167
digitization of books and manuscript, first major project 266
DIMDI database host 270

Diocletian, Roman emperor 123
Diurnale Maguritinum 190
DK Books 227
DNA Databank of J apan 305
DNA databases, largest 305, 306
Doc Deliver 356
Doctrina Christiana 163
document delivery/supply services, largest 356
Dome of the Rock 236
Domesday Book 132
Dominican Republic: largest bookstore 227; oldest newspaper 174; oldest public library
31; oldest university library 71
Dominican Republic Public Library 31
Don Quixote 197, 214
donations, largest to libraries see library, donations
Donatus, Aelius 124
Dong-Eui University Library 247
Donner Boekhandel 226, 227, 238
DOrta, Garcia 158
Doria, Tedisio 127
Double Jeopardy 119
Doubleday Direct 219
Dow J ones Interactive 290
Dracon 124
Dragon, Ren 265
Dresden Codex 6, 126
Dresden Technical University Library 39
Drexel University library school 371
drug databases, largest 304, 351
DTP, invention of 144, 200
Dublin City Library 15
Dublin University see Trinity College
Duchess Anna Amalia Library 110
Duke University Library 35
Dun & Bradstreet database 290
Dun Huang scroll 141
Dunya Kitapevi 227
Du Pr, J ean 148
Durie, J ohn 182
Durham University Library 70
Dutch, oldest texts 133 see also Netherlands
Dutch encyclopedias, largest 189
DVD-ROM disk 362
Dymocks 227
Dyna Book computer 267
e-Books 144, 283, 362
Eadfrith 132
Edessa School 60 see also Nisibis School
earliest and oldest extant books see books
earliest libraries see oldest libraries
Eason and Sons Bookshop 227
Eastern Europe, largest and oldest university libraries 49, 68
East European languages, oldest texts 135
Eastman-Kodak 285
easyInternetCaf 290
Ebers Papyrus 141
Eberhart, George 182
EBSCO information Services 283, 286, 296, 302, 314, 322, 323, 325, 331, 358, 359
Ecclesiastical History of the English People 132
EconLit database 296
economics: largest databases 296; largest libraries 82; see also business
Ecuador, oldest university library 71
EDGAR database 292
Edinburgh Circulating Library 28
Edinburgh University Library 37, 64, 245, 381, 382
Edipresse 228
Edison, Thomas 89, 237, 362
ditions de Luxe 148
education: largest databases 334; largest libraries 100
Educational Resources Information Center 100, 334
Edward VI, king of Britain 64, 212
Edward Kardelja University Library 1, 68

Egmont 228
Egypt: earliest libraries 124; largest and oldest university libraries 56, 70; largest book
publisher 228; largest bookstore 227; oldest handwritten book 137; oldest texts 124
Egyptian Coptic Psalter 137
Egyptian Library Association 376
Egyptian Museum, see Museum of Egyptian Antiquities
Eindhoven Public Library 15
Einstein, Albert 41, 141
El Ateneo 227
El Escorial Library 120, 142
Elamite texts 124, 127
electrical engineering, largest database 312, 314; see also engineering
electricity, first library to use 237
electronic books see e-books
Electronic Information for Libraries Direct 358
electronic journals, largest collections 282, 283; see also full-text databases
electronic library, largest 283
electronics, largest database 312, 314; see also engineering
Eleftheroudakis 227
Elsevier Science (Reed Elsevier etc) 189, 219, 228, 279, 281, 283, 290, 297, 304, 308,
317,
EMBASE 304
EMBL DNA database 305
Eminescu, Mihail 49, 120
Emporia State University 365
Emory University 365
Emre Yunus 135
Encyclopedia Americana 183
Encyclopdia Britannica 183, 214, 284, 363
Encyclopdie Franais 184
Encyclopedia Nipponica 187
encyclopedias, largest and oldest worldwide 183-189
Enderun Kitabevi 227
Endnote 341
engineering: largest databases 312-315; largest libraries 84, 85, 242
Engineering Index 312
Engineering Information 312
Engineering Societies Library ESL 85
Engels, Fredrich 120
England see U.K.
English: earliest texts 132, 145-147; largest English books databases 287, 288; oldest
dictionaries 189; oldest encyclopedia 183, 189
ENIAC 267
Ensemble database 304
Eotvos Lorand University Library 68
The Epic of Gilgamesh 124
Equifax 290
Erasmus University Library 44
Eratosthenes 120
Erbauliche Monaths-Unterredungen 175
Erfurt University Library 66, 382
ERIC database 100, 334
Eritrea, oldest texts 137
Erwin Szabo Library 15
Espoon City Public Library 15
ESA-IRS database host 270
Escape from Alcatraz 119
Escorial Library 120, 142, 247
Eslite 227
Essex county public libraries 15
O Estado de So Paulo 174
Estelle Doheny Collection 207
Estonia, largest university library 49; oldest texts 135
Estonia Academy Library 49
Ethiopia: earliest texts 137; first printed book 164
Eton College Library 64
Etruscan alphabet 124
Euclid 1, 141
Eumenes II 124
Europe: largest book publishers see book publishers; largest bookstores see bookstores;
largest libraries see largest; oldest libraries see oldest
European Bioinformatics Institute 305
European Information Network Services 270

European languages, oldest texts 124, 125, 129-135, 144-153, 155
European Space Agencys Information Retrieval Service see ESA-IRS
EuroInfoPool 292
Euromontor 292
Evans, Arthur 124
Everetts 360
Ewha Womens University Library 54
Excerpta Medica 302, 303
Exclusive Books 227
expensive books and manuscripts, most see books
expensive library budgets, most 21, 22, 112, 380, ; see also library buildings
Experian 290
Factiva 293, 290
Fahasa 227
Family History Library 86
Famous people who worked as librarians 120
Farewell to Arms 181
Farnsworth, Philo 362
Farsi, oldest texts 124, 127, 136
FAST search engine 354
Fast Search and Transfer 354
Fatal Attraction 119
Fatih Library 122
Fatimid Caliphate, libraries 123
Faxon 292
FBI 23, 115, 119, 120, 211, 339
Fedorov, Ivan 151
Ferdowsi 127
Feltrinelli 228
Fernaig manuscript, the 132
Fillmore, Abigail Powers 120
film databases, largest 322
film libraries, largest 89
films featuring libraries 119
financial data, largest providers of live information 289; see also business
FIND/SVP 340
fines see book fines
fingerprint database, largest 338
Finland: first book printed in 152; largest and oldest bookstores 227; largest book
publisher 228; largest public libraries 15; largest university libraries 43; oldest printed
books 152; oldest texts in Finnish 134
Finnish, oldest texts 134
fire, destruction of libraries and books with 110, 213
First Edition 361
first J ewish revolt 6, 124
First World War, destruction of libraries in 110
Firstandsecond.com 227
FirstSearch database 311, 347
FIZ Karlsruhe 265
Flora Fountain bookshops 227
Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 102
Florence Medical School Library 78
Florence University Library 40, 381, 382
Florida state public libraries 22
Folger, Clay, Henry 104, 215
Folger Shakespeare Library 104, 215, 246
Fontana, Domenico 194
food science, largest database 261
Forsyth, Fredrick 119
Fort Knox 6, 110
Foul Play 119
Fourah Bay College Library 70
Foyles Bookshop 227
France: first book printed in 148; first papermill 142; first printing press 144; largest and
oldest bookstores 227; largest and oldest public libraries 15, 28; largest and oldest
university libraries 36, 38, 63, 65; largest book publisher 228; largest and tallest library
buildings 238, 239; military libraries, largest 94; oldest texts in French 130
Francis Countway Medical Library 74
France Loisirs Book club 219
Francis Trigge Library 114
Frankfurt International Book Fair 230, 342
Frankfurt University Library 39

Franklin, Benjamin 30, 120,
Franklin Public Library 30
Fraunhofer Informationszentrum 313
Frederick II, Holy Roman emperor 144
Frederick III, king of Denmark 1
Freedom of Information Act 112
French Academy of Sciences 6, 266
French Constitution of 1791, the 123
French Defense Ministry Library 94
French Library Association 373
French National Center for Scientific Research 270
French National Institute for Scientific and Technical information 357
French, oldest texts in 130, 148
French Patent and Trademark Office 351
French Union Catalog 250
Fribourg University Library 41
Fudan University Library 53
Fukagawa Library 121
Fulda Monastery 63
full-text library catalogs, first 6
full-text databases, first and largest 279 ; see also electronic journals
Gacon, Samuel 150
Gaelic, oldest texts 132
Gale Group 281, 281, 285, 286, 288, 328, 353
Galileo airline reservation database 336
Galileo Galilei 141, 190, 214
Gallica catalog 6, 266
Gandhara, kingdom of 124
Gandharan Buddhist Scrolls 60, 124
Garfield, Eugene 276
Garzanti 228
G-Search J apanese database host 271
Gates, Bill 207, 345, 362, 380
de Galle, Charles 38
Gaylord 264
Geac 257, 258, 259, 261, 264
GEC GAD 227
Geez, oldest texts 137, 164
GenBank database 305
genealogy, largest database 328; largest library 86
Genealogical Society of Utah 86
General Theological Seminary 124
Geneva University Library 69, 305
GeNii database host 271
Genios database host 292
Genizah 213
Gent University Library 44
The Gentlemans Magazine 175
George I, king of Britain 39
George II, king of Britain 39
George III, king of Britain 202
George Augustus University, library school 300
George Augustus University Library 39, 59
Georges Pompidou Center Library 15, 20
Georgia: largest university library 57; oldest texts 136
Georgia Institute of Technology 369
Georgian Academy of Sciences Library 57
Geographia, the 28, 83, 211
geography, largest databases 316, 317; largest libraries 83
geology, largest database 316
German, oldest texts 125 see also Germany
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) 59
German Book and Writing Museum 166
German Federal Defence Ministry Library 94
German Institute for Medical Documentation and Information 270
German Library Association 373
German Museum of Science and Technology Library 166
German National Library of Economics 82
German National Library of Medicine 74
German National Library of Science and Technology 93
German state libraries 1

Germany: first book printed in 144; first papermill 142; first printing press 144; largest
and oldest public libraries 15, 28; largest and oldest university libraries 36, 39, 66;
largest and oldest state libraries 6; largest book publishers 228; largest reference
books, 185; largest bookstores 227; oldest texts in German 125; tallest library building
238
Getty, Paul 207, 326
Geuchmatt 155
Ghent University Library 6
Ghana Library Board Act 27
Ghana University Balme Library 56
Ghota, Bartholemeus 152
Ghostbusters 119
GiNii database host 271
Ginsberg, Allen 120
Gigas Librorum 190
Gladstone, William 28
Glasgow University Library 37, 64, 382
Glasgow Womens Library 103
GlaxoSmithKline Libraries 79
Global Books In Print 287
Glydenhal 228
Goa University 78
Godfry, Thomas 167
Goebbels, J oseph 213
Goethe, J ohann Wolfgang von 39, 110, 120
Goethe-Institut 110
Golda Meir Library 83
GoldenEye 119
Gondi Shapur University 60, 123,
Google Book Library 6, 266
Google Book Search 287
Google News Archives 285
Google Scholar 283
Google search engine 6, 115, 354, 355
Gordon Memorial University Library 56, 70, 119
Gothenburg University Library 43
The Gospel Book of Henry the Lion 207
Gottfried van Os 152
Government Printing Office 332
GPO 332
GPS, largest databases 317
The Graduate 119
Grainger Engineering Library and Information Center, 85, 243
Gramedia 227, 228
Grant & Cutter 227
Graz, Bruno 119
Graz University Library 41
Great Chicago Fire 110
Great Fire of Turku 1, 110
Greece: earliest libraries 123; first book printed in 155; largest and oldest university
libraries 47, 62; largest book publisher 228; largest bookstores 227; oldest
encyclopedia 183; oldest public libraries 28, 62, 123; oldest texts in Greek 124
Greek, oldest texts 124, 155
Grenoble University Library 38
Grimm, Wilhelm 190
Grolier Codex 126
Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia 284
Groningen University Library 44, 381, 382
Groupe De la Cite 228
Grupo 227
Guadalajara International Book Fair 233
Guadalajara University Library 58
Guatemala, oldest texts 126
Guyana University Library 51
Guelph University Library 257
Guillotine, the 123
Guinea Bissau National Institute of Studies and Research 115
The Guinness Book of World Records 196
Gustavus I, king of Sweden 1
Gutenberg, J ohannes 144, 151, 160, 161, 165, 170, 172, 190, 201, 207, 211, 362
Gutenberg Bible, the 15, 122, 124, 142-144, 182, 207
Habsburg Dynasty 1

Hacettepe University Library 47, 62, 73, 382
Hachette 227
Hadrian, Roman Emperor 132
Hadrians Wall 132
The Hague Public Library 246
Haifa University Library 56, 73
Haji-loannou, Stelios 354
Hak Hap 119
Haldimand, Frederick 30
Hamburg City Library 15
Hamburg University Speersort Library 110
Hammurabi, king of Babylonia 120, 123, 124, 141
Hampshire county public libraries 15
Handelsblatt Publishing Group 292
Handley Public Library 204
Hangul 128
Hanover Technical University Library 39
hard of hearing libraries see hearing loss
Hardayal Municipal Public Library 14, 27
Harlequin 228
The Harley Latin Gospels 207
Harold Washington Library Center 11, 241, 246
HarperCollins 228
The Harris Papyrus 190
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone 119
Harry Porter book records and facts 193, 216
Hart, Michael 283
Hartford Seminary Library 102
Harvard, J ohn 34
Harvard University Law Library 96
Harvard University Library 34, 35, 59, 71, 110, 112, 144, 211, 236, 252, 265, 320, 379-
382
Harvard University Medical School Library 74
Hausa, oldest texts 137
Havana University Ruben Martinez Villena Library 51
Havas 227
Hawaii state public libraries 24
Hawass, Zahi 1
Hayes, Rutherford B 120
hearing loss, largest library on 81
heaviest books see books
Hebei University Library 53
Hebrew: first book printed in 157; oldest texts 1, 124, 157, 164, 275, largest databases in
Hebrew 301, most expensive 207
Hebrew Bible 124, 207
Hebrew University, library school 368
Hebrew University Library 7, 56, 73, 102, 124, 132, 381
Heidelberg University Rupert Charles Library 39, 66, 110, 382
Helsingborgs City Library 246
Helsinki City Public Library 15, 355
Helsinki University Library 1, 43, 110,
Helwan University Library 56
Hemingway, Ernest 120, 181
Henan Provincial Library 123
Henriques, Henrique 158
Henry III, king of Britain 132
Henry VI, king of Britain 64
Henry VII, king of Britain 6
Henry VIII, king of Britain 15, 167
Henry the Navigator, Prince 83, 137
Hereford Cathedral Library 114
Hermitage State Museum 247
Hesiod 124
Hexapla 124
hieratic script 124
Higginbothams Bookshop 217, 227
HighBeam 283
Hildebrandslied 125
Hildesheim Cathedral 63
Hindi, first printed book 158; earliest and oldest text 124
Hinduism, oldest texts 124
Hinduism, largest libraries 102
Hindustani 124

Hiragana 124, 128
Hiroshima University Library 52
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum 183
Historia Naturulis 183
History of King Boccus 167
history: largest databases 324; largest libraries 100
Hitler, Adolf 211, 213
Hitotsubashi University Library 52
Hittite texts, oldest 124, 135
Ho Ti, emperor of China 142
Hodder Headline 228
Hodges Figgis Bookshop 227
Hoffman Tablet 124
Hokkaido University Library 52, 59, 72, 381
Hollywood 119
The Hollywood Librarian: A Look at Librarians Through Film 119
Holtzbrinck 228
Homer 1, 124, 214
Homo sapiens sapiens 124
Hong Kong: largest university library 57, 381; largest book fair 232
Hong Kong University 59
Hong Kong Book Fair 232
Hoover, J . Edgar 120
Hoovers 290
horticulture library, largest 92
Hours and Psalter of Elizabeth de Bohun 207
House of Wisdom 60, 120, 123,
Houston Public Library 12, 30, 120, 381
Huaisheng Mosque 236
Huang, Qin Shih 213
Hubei Provincial Library 6
Hugendubel Buchhandlung 227
Hugo, Victor 214, 191
Hulagu Khan 61
Hull University Library 120, 259
Human Genome Project, the 305
Humanities Abstracts 323
Humboldt University 36, 39, 59, 213, 381
Hume, David 120
Hungary: first book printed in 151; largest public library 15; oldest university library 68;
oldest public libraries 28; oldest texts 135
Hunan Provincial Library 27, 60, 61,
Hunan University Library 60, 61, 72
Huntington Library 97m 119
hurricane, destruction of libraries 110
Hutchinson Electronic Encyclopedia 284
H W Wilson 288
Hypatia of Alexandria 120
I Ching 124
Iasi University Library 120
Ibadan University Library 56, 59, 70
IBM patent database see Delphion database
Ibn-al-As, Amr 110
Ibn Battutah 137
Ibn Ishaq, Hunayn 123
Ibn Nahmias, David 155
Ibn Nahmias, Samuel 155
Ibn Qutayba 183
Ibn Sina 120
ICC Information 292
Iceland 25
Ice Mummy Oetzi 40
ICONDA database 313
IDdb
3
304
IDG 228
IDT 280
IFI/Plenum Data Corporation 348
IFLA 19, 367, 372
IHS Engineering databases 217
The Iliad 124
Il Convivio 129
Illinois University Library 34, 35, 60, 85, 242, 283, 355

Illinois University library school 371
Illinois state public libraries 22, 24
Imam Al-Hasan al-Basri 127
Imhotep Step Pyramid 236
incunabula, largest collections, rarest, most valuable 6, 28, 68, 120, 165, 207, 244 see
also antiquarian bookseller
Index Libroram Prohibitorum 214
Index Medicus 122, 258
Index of Prohibited Books 214
An Index to Periodical Literature 274
India: first book printed in 158; first papermill 142; largest and oldest public libraries 14,
27; largest and oldest university libraries 57, 60, 72; largest bookstores 227; first and
oldest texts in Sanskrit and Hindi 124
Indian National Scientific Documentation Center 356
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 119
Indiana University, library school 305
Indiana University Library 35, 240
Indonesia: largest book publisher 228; largest bookstore 227; oldest texts 136; largest
and oldest university library 57, 72
Indonesian encyclopedias, largest 189
Indus Valley texts, oldest 124
Infobase 342
information brokers, oldest service 340
information science, first university courses 369, 370; largest professional association
377; top awards 378
information science, largest database 339
information services, largest providers 281
Information Services for the Physics and Engineering Communities see INSPEC
InformaWorld 283
InfoTorg database host 270
InfoTrac 353
Ingenta 283
Inoue, J ose Carlos de Alpoim 198
INION Library see Russian Academy of Sciences Institute for Scientific Information on
Social Sciences library
Innerpeffray Library 28
Innsbruck University Library 40, 381
Inquisition, The 28, 105, 124, 202, 214
INSPEC database 314
Institut Franais 111
Institute for Scientific Information ISI 276
Institute of Education Library 100
Institution of Civil Engineers Library 85
Institution of Electrical Engineers Library IEE 314
Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineering Library IEEE 85
Institution of Engineering and Technology IET 314
Institution of Royal Engineering Library 94
Integrum-Techno database host 270
intelligence agency libraries, most secure 112
inter-library loans, largest service 356
International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance database 323
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences 82
International Construction Database 313
international digital copyright treaty 167
International Federation for Documentation 377
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutes see IFLA
International Food Information Service 307
International Paper 332
The Internet; its use for library and database services 6, 96, 137, 144, 167, 220-225, 248,
250, 266, 283, 322, 336, 339, 345, 354, 355, 361
The Internet Archive 355
Internet cafes, largest 354
Internet Database Service 329
Investigational Drug Database 304
Iran: largest and oldest university library 56, 60, 73; largest book fair 234; oldest texts
124, 127, 156.
Iraq: largest and oldest university library 56, 61, 73; oldest texts 124
Ireland: first book printed in 153; largest and oldest university library 45, 382; largest
bookstores 227; largest public library 15; oldest texts in Irish 132
Irish Gaelic, oldest texts 132
An Irish Alphabet and Catechism 153
Irkutsk State University Library 48
ISI Document Solution 357

ISI Web of Knowledge 276
ISI Web of Science 276, 310
Islam, oldest texts 127
Islamic Azad University Library 56
Islamic libraries, largest, oldest and earliest 56, 60, 61, 73, 102, 236
Islamic University of Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Library 56
Ismael, Abdul Kassam 123
Israel: first book printed in 157; largest and oldest bookstores 227; largest and oldest
university libraries 56, 73; largest book publisher 228; largest and oldest public
libraries 13, 26; oldest texts in Hebrew 124
Israel Institute of Technology Library 56
Israel Museum 124
Istanbul Book Fair 234
Istanbul Technical University Library 73
Istanbul University Library 47, 59, 60, 73
Instituto Cervantes 110
Italian encyclopedias, largest 189
Italian, oldest texts 129, 149
Italian Library Association 373
Italy: first book printed in 149; first papermills 142; first printing press 144; largest and
oldest public libraries 15, 28; largest and oldest university libraries 40, 62, 382; largest
book publisher 228; largest bookstores 227; oldest paper document in existence 142;
oldest library building 236
Ivan Franko State University Library 49, 68
Ivy League universities and large libraries 35, 59
J agiellonian University Library 49, 68, 245, 381, 382
J ames Bond, gadgets in libraries 112
J anes Information Group 321
J Ina Rozes Bookstore 227
J apan: first book printed in 161; largest and oldest bookstores 227; largest and oldest
university libraries 34, 52, 72; largest book publisher 228; largest library building 239;
largest and oldest public libraries 14, 27; oldest texts in J apanese 128
J apanKnowledge database 189
J apan Information Center for Science and Technology 283, 349, 357.
J apan Library Association 375
J apan Science and Technology Corporation 283
J apanese encyclopedias and dictionaries, largest 187
J apanese texts, oldest 128, 161
J apanese Public Library Day 25
J areer 227
J arrow Monastery 63
J ason Farradane Award 378
J avanese, oldest texts 136
J awaharlal Nehru University Library 57, 59
J ena University Library 120
J erusalem City Public Library 13
J esuit College Library 76
J esuit University of St. J oseph Library 66
J esuits, association with libraries and books 1, 6, 72, 137, 144, 158
J ewish libraries, largest 102
J ewish National and University Library see Hebrew University Library
J ewish Theological Seminary of America Library 102
Jikji Simgyeong 122, 143, 144, 161
J oo Library 247
J ohannes Walberg-Wolfegg-Waldsee Library 6
J ohannesburg Public Library 13, 26
J ohn Hopkins University Library 190
J ohn I, king of Britain 132
J ohn Rylands University Library 37, 124, 211, 245, 251, 381
J ohn Smith & Sons Bookstore 215
J ohnson, Richard 379
J ohnson, Samuel 189
J ohnson, Samuel, J r. 189
J oint Services Command and Staff College Library 94
J OIS database 271
J omo Kenyatta University Library 56
Journal du Palais 177
J ournals, oldest 176-180; see also electronic journals
J ournals@Ovid 283
J STOR 283
J udaism, oldest texts 124
J undi Shapur University, see Gondi Shapur University

J unkudo 227
J uta Bookshop 227
Kahoun Papyrus 141
Kalevala 134
Kaliningrad University 68, 381
Kanagawa Prefectural Library 14
Kanazawa Public Library 14
Kanda Book Town 227
Kanji 124, 129
Kansai University Library 52
Kant, Immanuel 10
Das Kapital 120
Karl Franzens University 41
Karl Marx University, 39,
Karolinska Institute Library 74
Katakana 124, 129
Kati, Mahmoud 70
Kazakh Academy of Sciences Library 57
Kazakhstan: largest university library 57; oldest texts 135, 136
Kaya University Library 54
Kazan State University Library 48
Kedah Public Library 14
Keimyung University Library 54
Keio University Library 6, 72, 367
Kent county public libraries 15
Kersey, J ohn 189
Key Word in Context indexing 277
KGB 214
KGB library 112, 119
Khachatur 156
Khakiv State University Library 49
Khatami, Mohamed 120
Khartoum University Library 56
Khedival Palace Library 7
Khedive Ismael, governor of Egypt and Sudan, 7
Khmer, oldest texts136
Khomeini, Ayatollah 214
Khon Konchog Gylapo 102
Kidderminster Public Library 28
Kiel Institute of World Economics 82
Kiel University 82
Kiepert Buchhandlung 227
King, Stephen 119, 120, 144
King Abdul Aziz Public Library 13
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals Library 84
King Saud University Library 56
Kings College Library (London University) 36, 119, 205, 247
Kings Library (the British Library) 239
Kingdom of Heaven 123
Kinokuniya 227
Kirkwell Library 28
Klementium Complex (Czech Republic National Library) 1
Klencke Atlas 190
Kleukens, C.H. 265
Knight-Ridder Information 269
Knights of the Order of St J ohn 1
Knights Templar, the 1, 119
Kobe University Library 52, 59
Kobzar of Tara Shevchen Ko 190
Kodansha 228
Kogakuin Shinjuku University Library 238
Kojiki 128
Kolkata Book Fair 232
Kolkata Public Library 9
Kolkata University 36, 57, 72
Kompass database 281, 290
Kongo Kingdom; oldest texts 137
Knigsberg University see Kaliningrad University
Koprulu, Pasha 26, 61
Koprulu Library 26
Koran, the 110, 122, 127, 144, 154, 196, 207, 214, 236

Korea (North and South): first book printed 142, 143, 161 ; largest bookstore 227; largest
library, 8; largest public library 14, 23; largest and oldest university library 54, 57, 59,
72, 381, 382; largest book, 143, largest university library building 245; oldest texts in
Korean 128, 142, 143; largest book fair 232; largest Korean databases 271
Korean Database Promotion Center 271
Knorosov, Yuri 110, 126
Knox Prayer Book 145
Krupskaya, Nadezhda, 120
Kukai 128
Kuala Lumpur Public Library 246
Kulturkaufhaus Dussmann Buchhandlung 227
Kuthodaw Pagodas 190
KWIC indexing 277
Kyobo 227
Kyoto Public Library 27
Kyoto University Library 52, 59, 245
Kyrgyzstan; oldest texts 135, 136
Kyushu University Library 52
La Campagne des Glace 191
Lachish Palace 124
Lagardre 228
La Martiniere 227
Lancashire county public libraries 15
Lancaster University Ruskin Library 245
Lane, Allen 181
languages, largest number published books per language 203
Laos, oldest texts 136
La Paz Municipal Library 29
La Plata National University Library 58
Lapita culture and texts 136
largest and oldest book clubs 219
largest and oldest book fairs 230-235
largest and oldest book publishers 228
largest books and manuscripts see books
largest and oldest bookstores 220-227
largest and oldest databases see databases
largest and oldest libraries: in Africa 1, 2, 7, 13, 26, 56, 70, 123, 381, 382; in the
Americas 3, 6, 10, 11, 12, 16, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, 58, 71, 74, 76, 77,-102, 113, 123,
236-242, 381, 382; in the Asia-Pacific region 4, 6, 8, 11, 14, 27, 34, 52, 53, 54, 57, 60,
61, 72, 75, 123, 236-242, 381, 382; in Europe 1, 6, 9, 11, 15, 28, 34, 36-49, 60, 62-69,
74, 77-103, 113, 123, 236-242, 381, 382; in the Middle East 1, 6, 7, 13, 26, 56, 60, 61,
73, 84, 102, 123, 236-242, 381, 382; worldwide 381, 382
largest, oldest and tallest library buildings 236-242
Larkin, Philip 120
Larousse Encyclopdie 184
Larousse, Pierre 184
Lascaris, Constantine 155
Last Life in the Universe 119
Latin: largest university library collection in 55; oldest texts 124
Latin America: largest book publishers see book publishers; largest bookstores see
bookstores; largest and oldest libraries see largest
Latini, Bruetton129
Latvia: first book printed 151; largest bookstore 227, largest libraries, 381; oldest texts
135
Laurentian Library 28, 137, 165, 236
Lausanne University Library 41, 69
Laval University Library 50
law journals, oldest 177
law libraries, oldest and largest 96; see also legal
Lawtel databases 298
Leardo, Giovanni 83
League of European Research Universities 59
The League of Extraordinary Gentleman 119
Leatherhead Information Services 307
Lebanon: largest and oldest university library 56, 73; largest bookstore 255; oldest texts
124
Lectorum Bookstore 227
Lee Chian Public Reference Library 246
Leeds University Library 37
Lefevre, Raoul 145
legal databases, earliest and largest 297-301; see also law libraries
legal libraries see law libraries

legal texts, oldest extant documents 141
Lehmanns Fachbuchhandlung 227
Leibniz, Gottfried von 120
Leiden Papyrus 141
Leiden University Library 44, 59, 69, 114,
Leignton Library 28
Leipzig Book Fair 230
Leipzig University Library 39, 67, 238
Leipzig University, library school 365
Lektre Buchhandlung 227
Ielala inscriptions 137
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich, 6,48, 120, 239, 247
Lenin State Library of the USSR 6 see also Russian State Library
Leo III, emperor of Byzantium 123
Leonardo da Vinci, 28, 119, 207, 283
Leopold II, king of Belgium 98
Leopold Franzens University 41
Lerida University Library 67
Leuven Catholic University Library 44, 59, 69, 110, 245
Lewis, Sinclair 120
Lex XII Tabularum 124, 141
Lexis-Nexis databases 279, 281, 297, 298
Librairie Decitre 227
Librairie FNAC 227
Librairie Gallimard 227
Librairie La Procure 227
Librairie Le Furet du Nord 227
Librairie Mollat 227
The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice 119
The Librarian: Quest for the Spear 119
The Librarian: Return to King Solomons Mines 119
librarians, famous 120; largest staff in libraries 380
Librarians Yellow Pages 339
The Librarie-Keeper 182, 362
libraries see busiest, expensive, largest, oldest
library, translated in 50 languages 121
Library and Information Science Abstracts 339
library and information science exhibitions, largest 342 -344
library and information science, largest database 339
library and information science associations, largest and oldest 372-377
Library and Archives Canada 6
Library Awareness Program 23
library associations, largest and oldest 372-377
library branches, most worldwide 111
library budgets, largest and smallest 11, 21, 22, 112, 380
library buildings: largest and tallest 238-242; most expensive 112, ; most fascinating
244-247; oldest 123, 236, 382;
library catalogs: first full-text 6; largest 250-256; oldest computerized see OPAC
library classification 248
Library Company of Philadelphia 30, 120
library donations, largest 380
library handbook, oldest and most popular 182
Library Journal 180
library journal, oldest 180
library network, largest 256
Library of Congress 1, 3, 6, 42, 119, 120, 121, 122, 137, 154, 168, 194, 197, 202, 208,
224, 313, 381
Library of Congress Classification 248
Library of Congress Music Division 87
Library of the Faculty of Advocates 1, 120
Library of Michigan 6
library schools: best in the U.S. 371; oldest 363-370
library staff, largest 380
library subscription services, largest and oldest 359, 360
Library Tower 238
Librera ABC 227
Librera de Cristal 227
Libreria Editrice Vaticana 215, 227, 229
Libreria Feltrinelli 227
Libreria Flaccovio 227
Librera Gandhi 227
Librera J ovellanos 227
Librera Lectura 227

Libreria Marzocco 227
Librera Porra 227
Libreria Rizzoli 227
Libya, earliest texts 164
Lige University Library 44, 381
Lille University Library 38, 381, 382
Lincolns Inn Law Library 96, 114
Linda Hall Library 85
Lindisfarne Gospels 132
Linear A script 124
Linear B script 124
Linen Hall Library 27
Linklater, Eric 181
linotype machine 144
LISA database 339
Lisbon University Library 42, 69, 247, 382
literacy rate, best in relation with library readers 24
Lithuania: first book printed in 151; largest and oldest university library 49, 68; oldest
texts 135
Lithuanian Technical University Library 49
Little Red Book 196
Liverpool Public Library 15
Liverpool University Library 37
Livraria Barata 227
Livraria Bertrand 227
Livraria Cultura 227
Livraria La Selva 227
Livraria Lojas Saraiva 227
Livraria Nobel 227
Livraria Siciliano 227
Ljubljana National and University Library 1, 68, 381
Lleida University Library 67, 381
Lockheed Missile and Space Corporation 269
Lomonosov Moscow State University Library 34, 36, 48, 59, 110, 238, 381
London Book Fair 230
London borough public libraries 15
London Guildhall University 103
London Hospital Medical Library 78
London Library 15, 28
London Library, Zoological Association 92, 309
London public libraries 8
London School of Economics and Political Science 82, 101
London Underground (Metro), location of British Library book storages 197
London University libraries 36, 37, 381
London University School of African and Oriental Studies 98
London University Senate House Library 37
Lord of Aratta 124
Lords Prayer 190
Loreto College Library 115
Los Angeles County Prison Library 95
Los Angeles County Public Library 11, 21, 246
Los Angeles Public Library 11, 30, 119, 246
Louen Tsal 142, 361
Louis XI, king of France 1
Louvain Catholic University Library 44, 59, 69, 110, 245, 381, 382
Louvre Museum, Paris 123, 124
Luanda Municipal Library 26
Ludwig Maximilians Munich University Library 36, 39
LuEsther T. Mertz Library 92
Luhn, Hans Peter 277
Lun Tsal 142, 361
Lund University Library 43, 59, 381
Lushan Academy 60
Luther, Martin 39, 66, 211
Luthy Buchhandlung 227
Luxeuil Monastery 68
Lvov (Lviv) University Library 68
Lyceum, the 60, 62
Lyons Municipal Library 15, 28, 246
Lyons University Library 38, 381
M.D. Gunasena 228
Macao University Library 245

Macedonia (FYR), largest university libraries 49; oldest text 135
Machine Readable Cataloging see MARC
MacLeish, Archibald 120
Macmillan Computer Publishing 228
Madbouli Bookshop 227
Madras (Chennai) University Library 72
Madrasahs 61, 73
Madrid Autonomous University Library 42, 381
Madrid Codex 126
magazines and newspapers, first to use photographs 171; oldest 174, 175; largest daily
circulation 174; biggest and heaviest 192, most widely read 194
Magdeburg Public Library 28
Magellan, Ferdinand 83, 136
Magna Carta 132, 207, 266
Mahakal Temple 115
Mahmud I, Ottoman sultan 122
Mainz Psalter 172
Makere University Library 56
Malatesta Library 236
Malaya University Library 57, 59
Malaysia: largest book publisher 228; largest bookstores 227; largest university library
57; largest and oldest public library 14, 27; oldest texts in Malay 136
Malaysian Science and Technology information Centre 271
Malian Empire 72
Malm City Library 15, 241
Maltese text 127
Mamluk dynasty 123
Manchester Public Library 28
The Manchurian Candidate 119
Mandela, Nelson 56
manuscripts, largest, most expensive, oldest see books
manuscript digitization, first major project 266
Mao Zedong (Tse-tung) 53, 72, 120, 191, 196,
MARC record, earliest 249
Marciana National Library 1, 9, 120, 244
Maria, Verge 150
Marie Curie-Sklodowska University Library 49
Mario de Andrade Municipal Library 16, 238
Marnix, Philip von 208
Marsh Public Library 27
Marsiliana Tablet 124
Martin Luther University Library 39, 382
Maruzen 227
Marx, Karl 39, 120, 239,
Maryland University Dental School Library 78
Masjids 61 see also Madrasahs
Massachusetts Bay Colony Oath of a Free Man 147
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 84
Massachusetts University W.E.B. Du Bois Library 238, 245
Massachusetts state public libraries 24
mathematics: oldest texts 141; longest journal article 192; largest database 333
Maurois, Andr 161
Maya, oldest texts 126
Maximilian, duke of Bavaria 66
Mazarin, J ules 28, 120
Mazarin Library 28, 120, 144, 165, 182
Mazarin Bible, the 28, 144
McDonalds restaurants 23
McGill University Library 50, 381
McNally Robinson Bookstore 227
mechanical engineering, largest library 85
medical databases, largest and oldest 302-310
medical journals, oldest 178
medical libraries, largest, oldest 74-81
medical texts, oldest 141
MEDLARS database host 302
MEDLINE 120, 302, 303
Meiji period 6
Meinhof, Ulrike 120
Meir, Golda 120
Melbourne Public Library 27
Melbourne University Library 55, 381
MELVYL catalog 34, 252

Memory of the World Register (UNESCO) 1, 122, 124, 127, 142, 236
Memphis University Library 238
Mencius 213
Mendoza, J uan de Palafox 236
Menelik I, emperor of Ethiopia 164
Menelik II, emperor of Ethiopia 124
Mercure Galant 175
Mercury Rising 119
Merged Markush Services 351
Mergenthaler, Otto 144
Meroitic script 137
Mesopotamia, ancient libraries 124
Methuselah 124
Metropolitan Bookshop 227
Mexican International Book Fair 233
Mexico: first book printed in 163; first papermill 142; first printing press 144; largest and
oldest public libraries 16; largest and oldest university libraries 58, 71; largest
bookstores 227; oldest texts in Mayan 126
Mexico National Autonomous University Library 4, 10, 58, 71, 236
Mexico Public Library 16
Mezzofanti, Giuseppe Caspar, Cardinal 28
MI6 book ban 214
MI6 library 112
Miami Book Fair International 231
Miami Dade Public Library 12, 21
Michigan University Library 34, 35
Michigan University library school 371
Mickiewicz University Library 49
Microbial Strain Data Network 309
microbiological databases, largest 309
microfiche 265
microfilm 265, 280, 362
MicroPatent 346
Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 284
Middle East: largest book publishers see book publishers; largest bookstores see
bookstores; largest libraries see largest; oldest libraries see oldest
Mihalopoulos 227
Mikhail Eminescu University Library 49
Milan University Library 40, 381
military: largest libraries 94; oldest treatise; largest databases 321; most expensive
library 112
Minas Gerais Federal University Library 58
Minnesota University Library 35
Minoan texts, oldest 124
Miroslav Gospel manuscript 135
Miscellanea Curisosa Ephermeridium Medico Physicorum Germanorum 178
Les Misrables 191
Missale Aboense 152
Mr. Magoo 119
Mitchell Library 15
MLA International Bibliography database 323
Mladinska Knjiga 227
MMS see Merged Markush Services
Moabite stone 124
Modena University Library 63, 382
Modern Art: Revolution and Painting 190, 207
Molodaya Gvardia 227
Monash University Library 55
monastic libraries oldest, famous 29, 63, 102, 120, 122-124, 143, 147, 153, 236, 247
Mondadori, Arnoldo 227
Mongolia: largest library 381; oldest texts 136
Monrovia University Library 70
Montalboddo, Antonio Fracanzano 137
Montana state public libraries 22
Monte Cassino Monastery 62, 120
Montpellier University Library 38, 59, 63, 65, 78, 236
Montral Public Library 12
Montral University Library 50
Monuments Blau 124
Moodys 290
Moravian Bookstore 227
Mormon Church Family History Library 86
Morocco: oldest texts 137; oldest university library 60, 61, 70

Mosaic web browser 144, 354
Moscow International Book Fair 230
Moscow City Public Library 15
Moscow State Lomonosov University Library 34, 36, 48, 59, 110, 238, 381
Moscow Technical University Library 48
Moses 124, 164
mosque libraries 61, 70, 102, 123, 236
Mossad library 112
Most Wanted 119
Mount Sinai Arabic Codex 127
Mount Behistun (Bisotun) inscriptions 127
movies see films
MPH 227
Mumbai International Book Fair 232
Mumbai University Library 72
The Mummy 119
Munich City Library 15
Munich University library school 366
Munich University Ludwig Maximilians Library 36, 39
Murder of the Crows 119
Murcia University Library 42
Musa, Mansa, king of Mali 70
museum libraries, oldest and largest 100, 165, 166
Mushaf of Othman 122, 128
Music: largest libraries and databases 87, 323
Museum of Egyptian Antiquities 1
Muslim libraries see Islamic libraries
Mustansiriya University Library 73, 382

Nagoya University Library 52
Nalanda University 60
Nancy City Library 28
Nankai University Library 53, 31
Nanjing Library 14
Nanjing University Library 53, 59, 60, 381
Naqada culture 124
Naples University Library 40
NARA 1, 120
Narodna Knjiga 227
NASA 116, 269, 316, 319
Nash Papyrus 124
Nasional Pers 228
Nassau Public Library 31
Natal University Library 56, 70
National Agricultural Library 91, 307
National and Kapodistrian University Library 47, 59
National Archaeological Museum 123, 124
National Archives and Records Administration see NARA
National Archives of Angola 108
National Archives of Argentina 106
National Archives of Canada 105
National Archives of Egypt 109
National Archives of France 105
National Archives of India 108
National Archives of Mexico 106
National Archives of the U.S. see NARA
National Art Library 97
National Center for Biotechnology Information 305
National Defense University Library, Fort McNair 94
National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies Library 247
National Institute of Medical Research Library 74
National Institutes of Health 260
national libraries, largest and oldest 110
National and University Library Slovenia 49
National Library of Algeria 110
National Library of Argentina 3, 10, 120
National Library of Armenia 8
National Library of Australia 1, 8, 244
National Library of Austria 1, 9, 138
National Library of Azerbaijan 8
National Library of Belgium 1
National Library of Brazil 3, 10
National Library of Bulgaria 1

National Library of Cambodia 110
National Library of Canada 6, 244
National Library of Chile 2, 10, 120
National Library of China 6, 8, 110, 239
National Library of Colombia 3
National Library of Croatia 1
National Library of Cuba 3, 10
National Library of the Czech Republic 1, 9
National Library of Denmark 1, 52
National Library of Economics 247
National Library of Education 100
National Library of Egypt 5, 7
National Library of Finland 1, 52, 110
National Library of France 1, 6, 9, 167, 238, 239, 266
National Library of Georgia, 4, 8
National Library of Germany 6, 9,
National Library of India 1, 4, 8
National Library of Iraq 110
National Library of Israel 1, 5, 7
National Library of Italy 1, 9, 244
National Library of Kazakhstan 8
National Library of Korea 8
National Library of J apan 1, 6, 8, 239, 262
National Library of Macedonia 1, 49, 68
National Library of Malta 1
National Library of Medicine 74
National Library of Mexico 3, 10, 58, 71
National Library of New Zealand 8
National Library of the Netherlands 244
National Library of Papua New Guinea 8
National Library of the Philippines 1
National Library of Poland 244
National Library of Portugal 244
National Library of Quebec 6
National Library of Romania 9
National Library of Russia 1, 6, 9, 239 see also Russian State Library
National Library of Sarajevo 110
National Library of Scotland 1, 244
National Library of Singapore 1, 27
National Library of Slovenia, 1
National Library of South Africa 1, 2, 7, 244
National Library of Spain 244
National Library of Sweden 1
National Library of Tunisia 2, 7
National Library of Turkey 7, 239
National Library of the U.K. see British Library
National Library of Ukraine 6, 9
National Library of the U.S. see Library of Congress
National Library of Venezuela 3, 10
National Library of Wales 1, 6,247
National Marine Biological Library 92
National Online Meeting 343
National Postal Museum Library and Research Center 33
National Register of Historic Places and libraries 236, 246
National Security Agency Library 112, 119
National Science and Technology University Library 57
National Sound Archives 90
National Treasure 119
National Treasure: Book of Secrets 119
National Technical Information Service 314
National Union Catalog 250
National University of Ireland Library 45
natural disasters, libraries destroyed in 110
Naud, Gabriel 120, 182
Navarre University Library 42
Naxi Dongba culture 124
Nazi regime, treatment of books 213
Neanderthals 124
Necrologium Lundense 133
Nedivot, Sameul 154
Nehru, J awaharlal 57, 201
Neira, Alvaro Mendaa 136
Nero, Roman emperor 124

The Netherlands: first printing press 144; largest and oldest public libraries 15, 28;
largest and oldest university libraries 44, 69; largest bookstores 227; oldest texts in
Dutch 133; first newspaper 174
NetLibrary 283
Netscape Navigator 144, 355
Nevada state public libraries 24
New Delhi Public Library 14
New Delhi University Library 57
New Delhi World Book Fair 232
New England Journal of Medicine 178
New Orleans Public Library 30
New South Wales Standing Order 159
New South Wales University Library 55
New York Academy of Medicine Library 74
New York Botanical Gardens Library 92
New York Public Library 11, 12, 17, 21, 119
New York State Library 6
New York state public libraries 22, 24
New York Times 192, 206, 265
New York State University (SUNY) 34
New York University Bobst Library 96, 115, 238,
New Zealand: largest bookstore 227; largest and oldest public libraries 14, 27; largest
university library 55
NewsBank 286
newspapers, first to use photographs 171; oldest 174, 175; largest daily circulation 174;
biggest and heaviest 192, most widely read 194; oldest and largest database coverage
285, 286
Newton, Helmut 190. 208
Nibelungenlied 125
Nicholas II, Tsar Library 247
Nielsen BookData 287
Niepce, Nicphore 6
Nieuwe Tijdinghen 174
NIFTY-Serve database host 271
Nigeria: largest university libraries 56; oldest texts 137
Nigeria University Library 56
Nijimen University Library 44
Nihon Shoki 128
Nihon University 34
Nikkei Economic Electronic Database 293
Nile & Euphrates 227
Nineveh Library 122, 124
The Ninth Gate 119
Nippon Cataloging Rules 249
Nisibis School 60
Nolit 227
Norli Bokhandel 227
Non-Euclid mathematics 141
North Carolina University, Chapel Hill library school 365, 37
North Carolina University, Chapel Hill Library 35
North Dakota state public libraries 22
North Korea see Korea
The Northumberland Bestiary 207
Norway: largest book publisher 228; largest and oldest bookstores 226; largest public
library 15; largest and university libraries 43, 69; oldest texts in Norwegian 134
Norwich City Library 28
Norwich Public Library 28
Notre Dame Cathedral 63, 236
Notre Dame University Library 238
Nova Southern University Library 240
novels, most prolific writer 198
NSA see National Security Agency
Nubian, oldest texts 137
nuclear physics, largest database 320
nutrition and food, largest database 307
Nystrms Bokhandel 227
OConnor, Frank 120
OAG 336
Oaxaca Public Library 29
Obafemi Awolowo University Library 56
Obeikan 227
OCLC 256, 283, 327, 358

Odessa University Library 49
The Odyssey 124
Oera Linda Boek 124
Oetzi, the Ice Mummy 41
Ogham alphabet 132
Ohio Bar Association 297
Ohio state public libraries 22
Ohio State University Library 35, 258
Okigbo, Christopher 120
oil exploration, largest library 84
Old King Cole 190
Old Nubian Miracle of Saint Menas 137
oldest book club 219
oldest book publisher 228
oldest books and manuscripts see books
oldest and largest bookstores 215-218, 220-217
oldest databases see databases
oldest libraries: see largest and oldest libraries
oldest library buildings see library buildings
OMahonys 227
Omayyad Caliphate, libraries 123
Olmec civilization 126
Omar I, caliph 110
Online Information 342, 343
Online Public Access Catalogs see OPAC
Het Onze Vader 190
OPACs: oldest 250, 257-264
OPAC 97
Open University, U.K. 37
Operation Condor 119
Oporto Public Library 15
Oppenheimer, Stephen 124
Ophra Winfreys Book Club 217
oracle bones 124
Oracle database 267
Orange Free State University Library 70
Orell Fussli Buchhandlung 227
Orkhon inscriptions, the 135
Orleans University Library 38 65
Origen, Adamantius 124
Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective 124
Osaka Prefectural Library 14
Osgoode Hall Law School Library 96
Oslo Deichman Public Library 15
Oslo University Library 43
Ottawa Public Library 12
Otava 228
Othman, caliph 122
Otlet, Paul 377
Ottoman Empire libraries 123; oldest texts 135
out-of-print bookseller, largest 220 see also antiquarian bookseller, and incunabula
outer space libraries, largest 116
overdue books, longest 209, 210
Ovid, the poet 213
Ovid Technologies 273, 283, 302, 352
Oviedo University Library 42
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 205 208
Oxford English Dictionary, earliest edition189
Oxford Public Library 28
Oxford University Bodleian Law Library 96
Oxford University Bodleian Library 1, 34, 36, 37, 64, 96, 119, 212, 245, 379, 381
Oxford University Press 144, 228, 229
Oxyrhynchus Papyri 137
Pablos, J uan 163
Pacific Ocean; oldest texts in Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia 136
Padjadjaran University Library 72
Padua University Library 40, 63, 142, 236, 382
PageMaker 144, 200
Pakistan, oldest texts 124; largest university library 57
Palacky University Library 68
Palafox Cathedral Library 122, 236
Palafox Library 29

Palencia University Library 63, 67, 382
Palestine, oldest texts 124
Pali texts, 124, 190
Pallava dynasty and texts, 136
Palmart, Lambert 151
Palmerston North City Library 247
Pan American Health Organization 76
Panjab University Library 57
Panaji Medical School Library 78
Panchatantra 124
Panini 124
Panizzi, Antonio 120
Panizzi Municipal Library 15
Pannartz, Arnold 150
Papua New Guinea, oldest texts 136
paper: invention, oldest document 142; largest database 332; largest manufacturer 332;
oldest handwritten books 28, 114, 120, 137, 144, 151, 154, 211 oldest printed books
142-165
paperbacks, first and oldest 181
Paperbase 332
papermills, earliest and oldest 142
papyrus: first use of 124; largest collection in a library 1; longest document 190; oldest
document 124, 138
Papyrus 53 124
parchment, first use of 124, oldest extant document 139
Parikh, Bhimjee 158
Paris City Library 15
Paris Codex 126
Paris Conservatoire library 120
Paris public libraries 15
Paris University 40, 144
Paris University Library 36, 38, 59, 63, 65, 96, 381, 382
Party Girl 119
Pasadena Public Library 30, 119, 246
Pascal, Blaise 214
PASCAL database 270
Pasquier, Pierre 120
Pashupatinath Temple 102
passenger ship library largest 117
patent databases, largest 258, 346-351
PATRIOT Act 23
Paul, Apostle 124
Pavia University Library 40, 382
Pavlov, Ivan 48
PC-Van database host 271
Pearson 228
Peckham Public Library and Media Center 246
Pcs University Library 68
The Pelican Brief 119
Pelotas Public Library 29
Pelotas University Library 71
Penang Public Library 14, 27
Penang Science University Library 57
Penguin Books 181
Penguin Putnam 228
Pennsylvania public libraries 24
Pennsylvania University Library 35, 267
Penny Black 33
Pentagon (Defense Department) Library 94
Pergamum Library 124
Peripatetic School Library 62
Pernambuco Federal University Central Library 58
Persae of Timotheus 124
Persian, oldest texts 124, 127
Persian Achaemenid empire 124
Personal computer, invention of 362
Peru: oldest newspaper 174; oldest and largest university library 58, 71
Perugia University Library 63, 382
Peter I, Tsar of Russia 34
Peterboro Public Library 30
Peterhouse College Library 64
Petrie, Flinders 124
petroleum and gas, largest databases 318

petroleum exploration, largest library in the Middle East 84
Pfizer 79
Pfister, Albrecht 170
pharmaceutical databases, largest 302, 304, 351
pharmaceutical libraries, largest 79
Pennsylvania University library 36, 267
Pennsylvania University Medical School Library 78
Pennsylvania University Museum Archaeology and Anthropology 124
Philadelphia Public Library 11, 32
Philip II, king of Spain 120
Philippines: first printed book 162; largest and oldest university libraries 57, 72; largest
bookstore 227; oldest newspaper 174; oldest texts 136
Philippines University Library 57, 59
Philosophical Transactions 176, 283
Phoenician texts, oldest 124
Phnix-Montanus Buchhandlung 227
photocopying, invention of 362
photography, largest database 345
Pigafetta, Filippo 137
Pinakes 1, 120, 249
Pinelli, Gian Vincenzo 28
Pinochet, Augusto 214
PIR database 305
Pisa University Library 40, 382
Pisistratus Public Library 28
Piso Library 124
Pittsburgh University 238
Pittsburgh University library school 371
Planeta Actimedia 228
Plato 62, 119, 213
Pliny the Elder 183
Poblet Monastery 236
Pocket Book 181
pocketbooks see paperbacks
Poema del Cid 131
poetry, largest library 88
Poets Pub 181
Pol Pot 110
Poland: first book printed 151; first papermill 142; largest and oldest university libraries
49, 68; largest book publisher 227; largest public library 11; oldest texts 135
political science, largest libraries and databases 82, 101, 331
Politikens Boghallen 227
Pollio, Gaius Asinius 28
Polo, Marco 83, 143, 144, 201
Poole, William 274
Pontifical Gregorian University Library 46
Pontifical Lateran University Library 46
Pontifical Santo Toms University Library 72
Pope, first book given a blessing 195
Pope Agapetus 123
Pope Benedict XIV 214
Pope Clement V 28, 65
Pope Damascus I 123
Pope Gregory XI 28
Pope Gregory XV 66
Pope Leo XIII 195
Pope Martin V 44
Pope Nicholas V 28, 120
Pope Paul III 71
Pope Paul IV 214
Pope Pius XI 120
Pope Sixtus V 236
Popol Vuh 126
Popular Bookshop 227
popular libraries 20
Port of Spain Public Library 31
Portrait of Dr. Gachet 207
Portolano Laurenziano Gaddiano 137
Portugal: first book printed 150; first printing press 144; largest and oldest university
libraries 42, 69; ; largest and oldest bookstores 215, 227; largest public library 15;
oldest texts in Portuguese 131
Portuguese encyclopedias, largest 189
postage stamps commemorating libraries, first 33

Powell, Humphrey 153
Powell, Samuel 217
Powells Bookstore 227
Power, Eugene 280
Prague City Library 15
Pratt Institute School of Information & Library Science 364
presidential libraries, U.S. 120
Presstorg 227
Pretoria University Library 56
Priestley, J oseph 120
Princeton Theological Seminary 138
Princeton University 35, 84, 258
printing presses, earliest 144
prison libraries, largest and oldest 95, 201
Prison Service College Library 95
Prisse Papyrus 124, 137
private libraries, oldest 113
Privilegii 167
Procs Verbaux de l'Acadmie des Sciences 6, 266
Proceedings of the French Academy of Sciences 6, 266
ProCite 341
Project Gutenberg 283
ProQuest Information and Learning 280, 296, 330,
Prosveta 226
Protein Information Resource database 305
protein sequence database, largest 305
Prous Science 304
Provincial libraries, 1
Provisions of Oxford 132
Proxis 227
Prussian State Library 1
Prynne, William 202
psalter-hours manuscripts, most expensive 207
psychology, largest databases 327
PsycINFO 327
Ptolemy, Claudius 28, 83
Ptolemy, Philadelphus 124
Ptolemy I Soter, king of Egypt 1, 120, 123
Ptolemy XIII , king of Egypt 110
Pu Yi, Henry 120
public libraries, biggest budgets 21, 22
public libraries, busiest 17-20
public libraries, largest and oldest 11-31, 381
Public Library Day 25; see also book reading day
publishers, largest and oldest see book publishers
Puebla Autonomous University Library 58, 71
Puerto Rico, oldest public library 31
Puerto Rico University Library 51
Punjab University Library 57
Pusan Civil Library 14
Pusan National University Library 54
Pyongyang Academy of Sciences Library 57

Quacquarelli Symonds 59
QuarkXpress 144, 200
Quebec City Library 35
Queen Marys School of Medicine and Dentistry Library 78
Queens Borough Public Library 11, 16
Queensland University Library 55
Questel-Orbit database host 269. 270, 346, 347, 350
QuickLaw database 297
Quito Central University Library 71
Quixote, Don 197
Quran see Koran
R.R. Bowker 282, 288
RDA 249
Raffles, Stamford 27
Raffles Subscription Library 27
Raiders of the Lost Ark 164
railway travel, largest schedules 336
RAK cataloging rules 249
Raleigh, Walter 201

Read or Die 119
Revelation 119
Rama IV, king of Thailand 120
Rama V, king of Thailand 120
Rama Khamheng 120
Ramesseum Papyrus 142
Ramkhamhaeng 120
Ramon Llull University Library 42
Ramses II library 124
Random House 228
Ranganathan, Shiyali Ramamrita 236
rare bookseller, largest 220 see also antiquarian bookseller, and incunabula
Rawlinson, Henry 127
Readers Digest 194
Readers Guide to Periodical Literature 274
Readers World Bookstore 227
Reading Prison Library 120
Reagan, Ronald 23
Recueill des histories de Troye 148
Recuyell of the Histories of Troye 146
Red Book of Hergest 132
Red Brick Universities 64
Red Dragon 119
Reed Elsevier 180, 219, 230, 279, 281, 287, 290, 297, 310,
Reference Manager 342
ReferenceUSA 291
relational database 267
religious libraries, largest and oldest 102
residential library, oldest 28
Resource Description and Access 249
Reuters 289, 290
Rhode Island state public libraries 24
Riding the Bullet 144
Riemann, Georg 141
Rig Veda 124
Rio de J aneiro Book Fair 233
Rio de J aneiro Federal University Library 58
Rio de J aneiro Pontifical Catholic University Library 58
Rio Grande Public Library 16
Ripamonti, Giuseppe 120
Roberts, Ed 362
Robo Cop 119
Rochester University Eastman School of Music 87
Roger I, king of Sicily 142
Roman codified laws 124, 141
Roman Empire libraries 124
Romania: first book printed 151; largest and oldest university libraries 34, 36, 49, 68;
largest public library 15; oldest text 135
Romanian Academy Library 34, 36,
Rome University Library 40
Rongorongo texts 136
Rosetta Stone 124
Rostov State University Library 48, 381
Rothschild Prayer Book 207, 211
Rotokas texts 124, 136
Rotterdam Municipal Library 15, 28
Rouen Cathedral 63
Round Reading Room 239
Rowling, J .K. 119, 193, 206
Royal Botanical Gardens Library 92
Royal College of Physicians Libraries 74
Royal College of Surgeons Libraries 74
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Library 94
Royal Military College Library 94
Royal National Institute for the Deaf Library 81
Royal Society of Medicine Library 74
royalties, first 167
RR Browker 287
Rumusio, 137
Rumyantsev, Nicolai 2, 120
Runic inscriptions 125
Rupert-Charles University Library see Heidelberg University Library

Russia: first book printed 151; first printing press 144; largest and oldest public libraries
11, 15; largest and oldest university libraries 34, 36, 48, 68; largest book publisher 229;
largest bookstores 227; largest library building 239, 240; military library, largest 94;
oldest texts in Russian 135; tallest university library building 238
Russian Academy of Sciences Institute for Scientific Information on Social Sciences
library 34, 101
Russian Academy of Sciences Library 34, 36,
Russian Army Central House Library 194
Russian Central Epidemiology Institute 74
Russian encyclopedias, largest 189
Russian Institute of Scientific and Technical Information 311
Russian State Library 6, 10, 239, 380 see also National Library of Russia
Russian State Library for Foreign Literature 111
Russian State Medical Library 74
Russian State Public Library for Science and Technology 11, 15
Rutgers University library school 371
Rylands Papyrus 124
Ryukoku University Library 52, 72
RZK database 311
SABINET 263, 272, 294, 299
SABRE 336
St. Andrews University Library 64
St. Augustine 132
St Aurelius Augustine of Hippo 168
St. Benedict 63, 120
St. Clement Ohridski National and University Library 49, 58
St. Clement Ohridski University Library 49
St. Columba Monastery 153
St Christopher manuscript 143
St Cyril and St Methodius, invention of Cyrillic alphabet 135
St Cyril and St Methodius National Library 49
St. Deiniols Library 28
St. Dominic 28
St. Frumentius 134
St. Gallen Monastery 63, 102
St. Georges Day 131
St. Honorat Island Monastery 236
St J erome 124
St. J ohn of J erusalem 1
St. J oseph County Public Library 290
St. Mark 124
St. Marys University 76
St. Maurice Monastery 194
St. Nicholas of Hidalgo Michoacn University Library 71
St. Patrick 132
St. Petersburg University Library 36, 48
St. Thomas Aquinas Pontifical University Library 46
Sage 283
Saka no Sono 119
Sakya Buddhist Monastery 102
Saladin 123
Salamanca University Library 63, 67, 382
Salon du Liver 230
Salon du Liver Montral 231
Salerno Medical School Library 74
Salford Public Library 28
Saltykov-Shchedrin State Public Library 2, 29
Salzburg University Library 41
San Anders University Library 238
San Antonio Central Public Library 241
San Carlos University Library 72
San Diego Public Library 12
San Domenico Library 28
Sancho I, king of Portugal 131
Sanseido 227
San Francisco Public Library 119, 246
San Francisco Xavier Royal Pontifical University Library 71
Sankore University 70, 122, 137, 236
San Lorenzo de El Escorial Monastic Library 120, 141, 247
San Marco Museum 244
San Marcos National University Library 71
Sanskrit texts, oldest and earliest 124

Santa Fe Public Library 33
Santiago de Compostela University Library 42
Santo Domingo Autonomous University Library 71, 382
So Paulo Federal University Library 58
So Paulo Municipal Library 16, 18
Saragossa University Library 42
Saratov State University Library 48
Sartre, J ean Paul 214
Saskatchewan University Library 50
The Satanic Verses 214
Saudi Arabia: largest bookstores 227; largest petroleum library 64; largest public library
13; largest university library 56; oldest text in Arabic 127
Saxony State Library 6
Scandinavia: first book 145; oldest texts 134; largest database host 270
Scheltema Holkema Vermeulen Boekhandel 227
Schengen Information System II 337
Schiller-Anstalt Library 120
Scholastic 228
schools see library schools
ScienceDirect 281
Science Library, largest 93
SCONUL Research Extra 38
Scopus database 310
Scottish, oldest texts 132
scripts, largest, oldest, smallest 124
search engines, largest 354-255
Seattle Public Library 238, 246
second-hand booksellers, largest and oldest, see out-of-print bookseller, antiquarian
bookseller, and incunabula
Second World War, destruction of libraries in 110
Securities and Exchange Commission 290
Selangor Public Library 14
Sejong, king of Korea 128
Seljuk dynasty 135
Sema InfoData 270
Semitic alphabet 124
Send Inscription, the 124
Sennacherib 123
Seoul International Book Fair 232
Seoul National Museum 142
Seoul National University Library 57, 59
septentrionalium 209
Serapeum Library 123, 124
Serbo-Croat, oldest texts 135; first printed books 151
Shah Faisal Mosque 102
Shandong University Library 53
Shakespeare, largest book collection on 104; most expensive copy sold 207
Shakespeare, William 104, 123, 193, 207. 215. 246
Shanghai Book City 226, 227, 238
Shanghai Library 14, 238, 241, 246
Shawshank Redemption, the 119
Sheng, Pi 143, 160
Sherborne Missal, the 207
Sheppards Citations 275
Shikibus, Murasaki 198
Shotoku, empress of J apan 142
Shrine of the Book 124
Sichuan Provincial Library 6
Sichuan University Library 53
Siddhanta 123
Sidi Yahia University Library 70
Siena University Library 40, 63
Sierra Leone, first library legislation 26; oldest university library 56
Silesian University Library 247
Silos Missal 142
Simferopol University Library 49
SilverPlatter SPIRS 352
Sinhalese, oldest texts 124 see also Sri Lanka
Singapore: largest bookstores 227; largest library building 240, 246; largest and oldest
public libraries 14, 27; largest university library 57; oldest library 27
Singapore National University Library 57, 59, 240
Slavic languages, oldest texts 135
Slovenia: largest bookstore 227; largest university library 1, 49, 68

smallest book see books
Smithsonian Institution 33, 97
social sciences, largest libraries and databases 82, 101, 325
Sociological Abstracts 325
Sofia Central Public Library 15
Solomon, king of Israel 164
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander 120
Somali, oldest texts 137
Sobon, de Robert 120
Sorbonne University Library 38, 63, 65, 85, 96, 120, 144
Soros, George 358, 380
Soros Foundation Network 380
Sothebys 207
sound recordings, largest collection in a library 87, 89, 90
South Africa: first printing press 164; largest and oldest university libraries 56, 70; largest
book publisher 228; largest bookstores 227; largest and oldest public libraries 13, 26;
oldest newspaper 174
South Africa Library Association 374
South Africa University Library 56, 70
South African provincial libraries 1
South Carolinian Library 236
South Carolina University Library 236
Southern California University Doheny Library 119
South Dakota state public libraries 22
South Korea see Korea
Soyinka, Wole 201
space crafts and station libraries, largest 116
Spain: first book printed in 150; first papermill 142; first printing press 144; largest and
oldest university libraries 42, 63, 67; largest book publisher 228; largest bookstores
227; largest public library 15; oldest paper document 142; oldest texts in Spanish 131,
150
Spanish encyclopedias, largest 189
Spanish Royal Library 119
Spangenberg, Augustus 216
special libraries, largest and oldest 74-104
Special Libraries Association 373
specialty libraries see special libraries
Speusippus 183
Spofford, Ainsworth 120
Sports: oldest documents 141
SpringerLink 283
spy agencies and their libraries, most secure 112
Spy Catcher 214
SQL database 267
Sri Lanka: first book printed in 162; largest book publisher 227; oldest texts in Tamil and
Sinhala 124
Stalin, J osef 120, 214
stamps commemorating libraries, first 33
Standard & Poors 246
Standard Boekhandel 227
Stanford University Library 34, 35, 59
The Star 174
State Central Polytechnic Library 48
State University of New York (SUNY) 34, 273
Statue of Anne 167
Stauffacher Buchhandlung 227
Steele, Danielle 193
Steimatzkys Bookstore 227
Stein, Aurel 142
Stellenbosch University Library 56
Stemzky 228
Step Pyramid 236
STN database host 271, 311, 347
Stockholm City Library 15
Stockholm School of Economics Library 83
Stockholm University Library 43, 69
Stoddard, Solomon 34, 379
Stoicheia 141
Strasbourg National University Library 38, 59, 381
Strasbourg Oath 130
Strindberg, J ohn 120
Sturgis Library 236
Subiaco Benedictine Monastery 149

Sudan: oldest texts 137; largest and oldest university library 56, 70
Sleymaniye Mosque 102, 120149
Sumerian, ancient libraries and texts 123, 124
Sumo 190, 208
Sung Document 83
Sungkyunkwan University Library 54, 72
Suomalainen Kirjakauppa 227
The Super Book 190
SVP 340
Sweden: first book printed in 152; first papermill 142; largest and oldest university library
43, 69; largest bookstores 227; largest book publishers 228; largest public libraries 15;
oldest texts in Swedish 134, 152
Swedenborg, Emanuel 214
Swedish Chancery Archives 105
Sweet & Maxwell legal database 298
Sweetest Thing 119
Sweinheim, Konrad 149
Swets Information Services 283, 359
Swiss Co-operative Movement 219
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Library 41, 59, 348
SWISS PROT database 305
Switzerland: largest and oldest university library 41, 69; largest book publishers 228;
largest bookstores 228; largest and oldest public library 15, 28
Sydney Public Library 14, 27
Sydney Subscription Library 27
Sydney University Fischer Library 55, 72, 381
Syllabic writing systems 124
Syracuse University library school 371
Syria, oldest texts 124
Tablets of the Law 164
Ta-chao, Li 120
Taipei City Library 14
Taipei International Book Exhibition 232
Taiwan: largest book publisher 228; largest bookstores 227; largest public library 14;
largest university libraries 57
Taiwan National Palace Museum 124
Taiwan National University Library 57, 245
Tajikistan; oldest texts 135, 136
Takdin database 301
Takshila University 60, 124
Takshashila University 60, 124
Talbot, William 171
Tale of the Armament of Igor 135
Tale of the Genji 198
Talis 264
tallest books see books
tallest library buildings see library buildings
Tamashek, oldest texts 137
Tamaulipas Autonomous University Library 58
Tampere City Public Library 15
Tamerlane 61
Tamil: first book printed in 162; oldest texts 124
Tamkang University Library 57, 245
Thammasat State University Library 57
Tanum Bokhandel 227
Taras Shevchenko University Library 49
Tartu University Library 49
Tasmania University Library 260
Tawang Buddhist Monastery Library 102
Taxila University see Takshila University
Taylor & Francis 283
Tbilisi State University Library 57
Tehran International Book Fair 232
Tehran University Library 56
Teikoku Databank 293
Tel Aviv Central Public Library 13, 26
Tel Aviv University Library 56
Telesytemes-Questel database host 346, 347
Television, invention of 362
Television libraries, largest 89
Temasek Polytechnic Library 243
Temple Mount 164, 236

Temple of Literature 62
Tennessee University Library 240
Tenri University Library 52
Tesfatsion, Abba 164
Texas state public libraries 24
Texas State Library 6
Texas University, library school 371
Texas University Library 34, 35, 59, 264
Thailand: largest bookstores 227; oldest texts in Thai 136; largest university libraries 58
Thalia 227
Thambiran va Nakkam 158
theft of books, largest 211; see also book fines
The Man in Ice 40
Theodosius I, Roman emperor 123
Theodosius II, Roman emperor 73
Thomas Nelson 109
Thomson Intermedia 220
Thomson Corporation 269, 270, 276, 281, 283, 285, 289, 290, 292, 297, 304, 305, 308,
309, 310, 315, 325, 328, 346, 347, 350, 351, 353, 357
Thomson Directories Database 292
Thomson Financial 281
Thomson Scientific 281
Thomson & Thomson 350
Tianyi Ge Library 27, 236, 381
Tibet: oldest texts in Tibetan 136, oldest Buddhist library 102
Tigre, oldest texts 137
Time Warner Books 227
Titus, Roman emperor, 6
The Times 285
Times Higher Educational Supplement 59
Tirupati-Tirumala Temple Library 102
Titus, Roman emperor 2
Tokyo International Book Fair 232
Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library 14
Tokyo University Library 34, 52, 59, 110, 381
Toledo Cathedral 236
Toledo Translation School 60, 123, 141
Tomsk State University Library 48
Tolstoy, Leo 199
Topkapi Museum Library 120
Torah 124, 157, 164
Toronto Public Library 11, 17, 30
Toronto University Robarts Library , 34, 50, 59, 238, 240, 245, 365, 381
Tosa Nikki 128
Toulouse Municipal Library 14
Toulouse University Library 38, 59, 65
Trademark Scan 350
trademarks, largest and oldest databases 270, 346-351
Trajan, Marcus, Roman emperor 120, 124
Transportation information, largest database 335, 336
Transportation Research Information Services 335
Transvaal Provincial Library Service 13
The Travels of Marco Polo 201
Trinidad and Tobago, oldest public library 34
Trinity College, Dublin University Library 45, 59, 120, 153, 245
Tripitaka Canon 124, 190, 191
TRIS database 335
Trondheim University Library 43
Tsai, Lun 142, 362
Tse-tung, Mao see under Mao
Tsinghua University Library 53, 59, 381
Tsinghua University Law School Library 96
Tsurayuki, Ki 128
Tuaregs, alphabet and oldest writing 137
Tunisia, oldest texts 137
Turin University Library 40
Turkey: oldest texts in Turkish 135, 155; largest bookstores 227; largest library building
239; oldest newspaper 174; oldest public library 26; oldest university libraries 73
Turkish Book Fair 232
Turkish encyclopedias, largest 189
Turkish Scientific and Technical Research Council Documentation Center 357
Turkistan, origins of Turkish texts 136
Turku, Great Fire of 1, 110

Turkmenistan: largest university library 57; oldest texts 135, 136
Twain, Mark 199
Twelve Monkeys 119
24-hour university bookstore, largest in Asia, 37
24-hour university library, first in Europe 46
21 North Main 220
Tyndale, William 124, 202
Tzu, Lao 123, 120
Tzu Sun 141
Uganda: largest university library 56
Ukraine: oldest texts 135, 151; largest and oldest university libraries 49, 57, 68; first
printed books 151
Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences Library 49
Ulfilas 69,
Ullstein Heyne List 227
Ulpian Library 123
Ulrichs International Periodical Directory 240
Umayyad Mosque 236
Umayyad Caliphate, libraries 123
UMI 280
UnCover 283, 357
UNESCO 1, 2, 6, 14, 23, 25, 110, 120, 203
UNESCO Memory of the World Register and books 1, 122, 124, 127, 143
UNESCO World Heritage List and libraries 70, 102, 110, 122, 236
Union of Kalmar 1
United Kingdom: first book printed 145, 146; first library building to use electricity 237;
first newspaper 174; first papermill 142; first printing press 144; largest and oldest
book publishers 228, 229; largest and oldest bookstores 215, 227; largest and oldest
public libraries 15; largest and oldest university libraries 34, 35, 36; largest library
building 239; military libraries, largest 94; oldest texts in English 132; see also British
United Kingdom county public libraries 15
United Kingdom Library Association (CLIP) 373
United Kingdom Copyright Act 167
United Kingdom Museums Act 28
United Kingdom Public Lending Right 193
United Kingdom Public Library Act 28
United Kingdom Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 23
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization see UNESCO
United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation 91, 307
United Nations World International Book Day 1, 131
United States: first book printed 147; first newspaper 174; first papermill 142; first
printing press 144; largest and oldest bookstores 216, 227; largest and oldest public
libraries 11, 12, 32; largest and oldest university libraries 37, 64; largest and oldest
state libraries 6; largest book publishers 228; largest and tallest library buildings 238-
242; military libraries, largest 94; oldest library building 236
United States Naval Observatory 99
United States Patent and Trademark Office 347, 348
United States PATRIOT Act 23, 119
United States Senate Library, 6
Universal Decimal Classification 248
university and academic libraries, largest and oldest 34-73, 381, 382
University College Library, Dublin 45
University College, library school, London 366
University College Library, London 36, 37, 45, 64, 81
University Microfilms, Inc. 280
UPL 228
Uppsala University Library 43, 59, 69, 125, 381, 382
Ussher, J ohn 154
Utrecht University Library 44, 59, 69
Uzbekistan: largest university library 57; oldest texts 135, 136
vakif libraries 61, 120
Valencia University Library 382
Valenciennes 130
Valladolid University Library 67
Vancouver Public Library 12, 51, 119, 241, 244, 246
Van Gogh, Vincent 190, 207
Vattemare, Alexandre 120
Vasa, Gustavus 1
Vatican Archives, 28
Vatican City: largest and oldest university library 46, 69; largest and oldest bookstores
215, 227; oldest publisher 229; oldest public library 28

Vatican Library 28, 124, 139, 211, 236, 247, 382
Veda, thes 124
Veldeke, Van Henrik 133
vellum, first use 123; oldest existing manuscript 140
Venetian Republic 1, 167
Venetian Republic National Library 1
Venezuela, largest bookstore 227
Vermont state public libraries 22
Vernadsky Central Scientific Library 49
Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine 6, 9
Vespucci, Amerigo 6
Vicenza University Library 63
Victoria State Library 247
Victoria University Library 55
Vivaldo brothers 137
Vienna Public Library 15
Vienna University Library 41, 69
Vietnam: largest bookstore 227; oldest texts in Vietnamese 136; largest and oldest
university library 57, 60
Vietnam National University Library 60
Vikramshila University 60
Vilnius University Library 49, 68
VINITI see Russian Institute for Scientific and Technical Information
Vivendi 228
Volksbibliotheken 28
Voronezh State university Library 48
Vulgate Bible 124

W.E.B. Du Bois Library 238, 245
Wachtendonk Psalm 133
Waldenbooks Bookstore 227
Waldsemller, Martin 6
Wall Street Journal 174, 290
Walpole, Robert 209
Wang Fu J ing 227
WAP sites, first public library 355
War and Peace 199
War Games 119
War of 1812, the 110
Warrington Public Library 28
Warsaw Public Library 15
Warsaw Book Fair 230
Warsaw University Library 49
Washington University Library 35
Washington University 365
Waseda University Library 52, 59, 72, 245
Waterloo University Library 51, 59, 245, 257,
Waterstones Bookshop 227
Watterson, George 2
Waverley Criteria, the 207
Way-Back-Machine search engine 355, 356
Webb, Sydney 82
websites, first use in a library 355, 356
Webster, Noah 189
Welsh, oldest texts 132
Wellington Public Library 14, 27
Weltbild 228
Wenyuange Imperial Library
Werner Soderstrom Oyi 228
West Publishing 297
Western Ontario University Library 50
West Indies University Library 51
Westinghouse, George 237
Westminster borough public libraries 8, 10
Westlaw databases 119, 281, 297
Whitaker Information Services 287
White Deer Cave Academy 60
Whitcaullis and Bennetts 227
Whole Library Handbook 182
WHSmith 215, 221, 227
Wiener Zeitung 174
Wilde, Oscar 120, 201

Wikipedia 183
Wiley InterScience 283
William, Frederick 1
William & Mary College 71, 382
William the Conqueror 132
Winchester Public Library 28
Windows Live Academic 283
Wings of Desire 119
Winter Palace Library 247
Wisconsin-Madison University Library 35, 83, 119
Wittelsbach dynasty 1
Witwatersrand University Library 56, 59, 70
Womens Library 103
Woodlands Regional Library 14
World Bank 110, 227
World Book Fair 232
World Book Encyclopedia 285
World Data Center for Microorganisms 309
World Health Organization Library 80, 304
World Intellectual Property Organization 167
World International Book Day 1, 131
World War II, destruction of libraries 110
WorldCat 252, 256, 268, 346
Worlds Biggest Bookstore 227
Worlds Smallest Book 190
Worldspan 336
Wolters Kluwer 273, 283, 302
writing, invention of 123, 124
Wroclaw University Library 49
Wsip 228
Wuhan University library school 367
Wrzburg University Library 66
Wyoming state public libraries 22, 24
X.25 database access 222
Xerox 267, 362
Xerox Star 267
Xi, Fu 124
Xinhua 222, 227
Xi Shu 227
Xinhu Zidan 196
Xuan Thu 227

Yaesu Book Center 227
Yale University Library 34, 35, 60, 71, 74, 144, 147, 245, 381, 382
Yale University Medical School Library 34
Yamani, Ahmed 84
Yativrsabha 141
Yahoo search engine 354, 355
Yellow Emperors Classic of Internal Medicine 141
Yeongpung 227
Yerevan State University Library 57
Yomiuri Shimbun 174
Yonan Codex 124
Yonsei University Library 54, 58, 72
York Cathedral 63
York University Osgoode Hall Law School 96
Younis, Mohammed 190, 191
Youre a Big Boy Now 119
Yucatan Autonomous University Library 71
Yuelu Academy 60, 61
Yugoslavia: largest book publisher 226; largest bookstores 227; oldest texts in Serbo-
Croat 135
Zagreb National and University Library 1, 68
Zambia University Library 56
Zaydan, Shafif 120
Zedong, Mao see under Mao
Zenodotus 1, 120
Zetoc 283
Zhdanov State University Library 48
Zhejiang Provincial Library 6
Zhengzhou University Library 53

Zimbabwe International Book Fair 235
Zimbabwe University Library 56
Zoser 236
Zoroastrianism 127
Zoological Record database 309
Zoological Society of London Library 92, 309
zoology, largest databases and libraries 92, 309
Zonghua Zihai 196
Zumarraga, J uan de 163
Zrich Central Library 15
Zrich University Library 41, 69