Before examining the books themselves, it will be interesting to observe the conditions under which the work was accomplished.  Sometimes the scriptorium was a large hall or studio, with various desks about; sometimes the North walk of the cloister was divided into little cells, called “carrels,” in each of which was room for the writer, his desk, and a little shelf for his inks and colours.  These carrels may be seen in unusual perfection in Gloucester.  In very cold weather a small brazier of charcoal was also introduced.

Cassiodorus writes thus of the privilege of being a copyist of holy books.  “He may fill his mind with the Scriptures while copying the sayings of the Lord; with his fingers he gives life to men and arms against the wiles of the Devil; as the antiquarius copies the word of Christ, so many wounds does he inflict upon Satan.  What he writes in his cell will be carried far and wide over distant provinces.  Man multiplies the word of Heaven:  if I may dare so to speak, the three fingers of his right hand are made to represent the utterances of the Holy Trinity.  The fast travelling reed writes down the holy words, thus avenging the malice of the wicked one, who caused a reed to be used to smite the head of the Saviour.”

When the scriptorium was consecrated, these words were used (and they would be most fitting words to-day, in the consecration of libraries or class rooms which are to be devoted to religious study):  “Vouchsafe, O, Lord, to bless this workroom of thy servants, that all which they write therein may be comprehended by their intelligence, and realized by their work.”  Scriptorium work was considered equal to labour in the fields.  In the Rule of St. Fereol, in the sixth century, there is this clause:  “He who doth not turn up the earth with his plough, ought to write the parchment with his fingers.”  The Capitulary of Charlemagne contains this phrase:  “Do not permit your scribes or pupils, either in reading or writing, to garble the text; when you are preparing copies of the Gospels, the Psalter, or the Missal, see that the work is confided to men of mature age, who will write with due care.”  Some of the scribes were prolific book transcribers.  Jacob of Breslau, who died in 1480, copied so many books that it is said that “six horses could with difficulty bear the burden of them!”

The work of each scriptorium was devoted first to the completion of the library of the individual monastery, and after that, to other houses, or to such patrons as were rich enough to order books to be transcribed for their own use.  The library of a monastery was as much a feature as the scriptorium.  The monks were not like the rising literary man, who, when asked if he had read “Pendennis” replied, “No—­I never read books—­I write them.”  Every scribe was also a reader.  There was a regular system of lending books from the central store.  A librarian was in charge, and every monk was supposed to have some book which he