placed within a room of quite ordinary size,
all visible, all within easy reach, and without
destroying the character of the apartment as
a room. But, on the strength of a case with
which I am acquainted, I will even be a little
more particular. I take as before a room of
forty feet in length and twenty in breadth,
thoroughly lighted by four windows on each
side; as high as you please, but with only
about nine feet of height taken for the
bookcases: inasmuch as all heavy ladders, all
adminicula requiring more than one hand to
carry with care, are forsworn. And there is
no gallery. In the manner I have described,
there may be placed on the floor of such a
room, without converting it from a room into
a warehouse, bookcases capable of receiving,
in round numbers, 20,000 volumes.

The state of the case, however, considered
as a whole, and especially with reference to
libraries exceeding say 20,000 or 30,000
volumes, and gathering rapid accretions, has
been found to require in extreme cases, such
as those of the British Museum and the
Bodleian (on its limited site), a change more
revolutionary in its departure from, almost
reversal of, the ancient methods, than what
has been here described.