And a library forty feet long and twenty
feet broad, amply lighted, having some
portion of the centre fitted with very low
bookcases suited to serve for some of the uses of
tables, will receive on the floor from 18,000
to 20,000 volumes of all sizes, without losing
the appearance of a room or assuming that
of a warehouse, and while leaving portions
of space available near the windows for
purposes of study. If a gallery be added, there
will be accommodation for a further number
of five thousand, and the room need be no
more than sixteen feet high. But a gallery
is not suitable for works above the octavo
size, on account of inconvenience in carriage
to and fro.

It has been admitted that in order to
secure the vital purpose of compression with
fixed shelving, the rule of arrangement
according to subjects must be traversed
partially by division into sizes. This division,
however, need not, as to the bulk of the
library, be more than threefold. The main
part would be for octavos. This is becoming
more and more the classical or normal size;
so that nowadays the octavo edition is
professionally called the library edition. Then
there should be deeper cases for quarto and
folio, and shallower for books below octavo,