Chapter 76 disaster of fire and books

disaster of fire and books There are many forces of nature which can injure books: but none of them can destroy them with equal force. It's half the fire.Just the countless libraries that Vulcan has protected as his own in different ways Make a list with the treasures of literature, and there are too many books.Accidental fires, mad acts of pyromaniac, The burnings announced by the court, and even the stoves in the family, from time to time reduce the treasures left by the past, At the same time, it also reduced the waste accumulated in the past, so that until today, there are probably thousands of existing books from the past.

Not even a fraction is enough.Such damage, however, cannot be universally regarded as a loss; for if It is not this "cleaning fire" that removes mountains of waste from among us, but simply that it cannot contain such If there are too many accounts, we will also be forced to take strong measures of destruction. Before the invention of printing, books were quite rare!Based on our own experience, the dynamic After printing has been used for half a century, it is still difficult to collect more than 500,000 books work, we cannot help but maintain the utmost care for the rich collection of ancient libraries described by ancient writers.

degree of doubt. The historian Gibbon, who would not be credulous about many other things, accepted without question the Departmental legends.Needless to say, the manuscript library of the ancient Egyptian royal family Ptolemy has been handed down for generations. Accumulated over a long period of time, of course it became the richest collection that was unprecedented at that time; at the same time, because of their extravagant binding The importance of luxury and unknown content is famous all over the world.Two of these libraries are in Alexandria cities, the larger of which is in the district of Brückum.These books, like all written books in ancient times

They are all written on sheets of sheepskin, with a wooden scroll at each end, so that readers only need to scroll each time. Just open it a little bit.In the Alexander War of Julius Caesar in 48 BC, this larger harvest Tibet was destroyed by fire, and again in AD 640 by the Saracens.Therefore, human beings suffer from a colossal loss; but when we read that the volumes destroyed amounted to seven or half a million volumes At that time, we couldn't help but feel that such a figure must be a big exaggeration.Similarly, about several generations The half a million volumes burned in the Carthaginian Wars, and other such accounts after the century, we likewise

unbelievable. One of the earliest records of the mass burning of books is that of the apostle Luke.That Yes, after the preaching of the apostle Paul, many Ephesians, "there were also many who practiced magic Take it, pile it up and burn it in front of everyone.They calculated the price of the book, and they knew that the total was fifty thousand dollars” (translator Note: See Chapter 19, Verse 19 of the New Testament Acts of the Apostles.Quoted here is the Chinese Bible Society Mandarin translation) Of course, these idol-worshiping books on divination and alchemy, books on ghosts and witchcraft, were written by those who once

It is well to be burned by those who have suffered its damage morally; and at the same time, even if they escape At that time, none of them can be handed down to this day, because the existing manuscripts of that era Not even this volume. However, when we consider books worth 50,000 silver coins in ancient Rome-roughly estimated, equivalent to It was supposed to be worth eighteen thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds--suddenly reduced to ashes, and, I must say, I couldn't help but Feeling quite sorry and disturbed.Just imagine how many jokes about ancient heresies and cults should be contained in these books.

Strange imagery, such as devil worship, sun worship, snake worship, and other ancient religious forms; and traditional Ancient astronomical doctrines from ancient Egypt, Persia, and Greece; and what a rich inspection of superstition and what we today call folklore; for the student of language, the material contained in these books would again How rich it is, and today, if there is a library that can have two or three volumes of it, what will it be like? How can gain fame. The ruins of Ephesus are conclusive evidence that the city was once very vast and Gorgeous architecture.It was one of the free cities at the time, self-governing.their shrines and idols

The trade was very prosperous, once as far as the two places.Magic is very prevalent in this place, although after the early Christian The repeated conversions of the Christians, their little scrolls with magic spells, remained until the fourth century is an important business.These documents are used as talismans to defend against "evil eyes and poisonous vision". It is generally used as a talisman against all evils.They all carried this thing with them, so when the apostles protected Law's listeners, when their superstition was persuaded by his fiery words, must have had a thousand of these

Untie it and throw it into the fire. Imagine the scene, a square, near the great temple of Diana, the moon god, surrounded by beautiful buildings. buildings.The preaching apostle, standing a little above the crowd, preached with great sincerity and persuasive power. Talk about abolishing superstition, and firmly grasp the gathered masses.On the outskirts of the multitude were countless fires, Both Jews and non-Jews throw bundles of scriptures into the fire as a Roman colonist stands by The local governor and his policemen are watching with the traditional blank attitude of policemen all over the world since ancient times.

all of these.It must have been a moving sight, but it is a pity that other, more nasty subject matter. Books of that ancient age, whether orthodox or pagan, seem to have a Bao Mu's crisis.Every time a new wave of accusations breaks out among the heretics, they turn everything they can see Christian texts were burned, and when the Christians gained the upper hand, they enthusiastically adopted the same As a means of dealing with pagan literature, the Mohammedans justified the destruction of books: "If their The content is what the Koran has, they are superfluous; if their content has anything to do with the Koran

If they are not compatible, they are immoral", it seems to be the common law of all ravagers. After the invention of printing, the vast and rapid dissemination of books makes it necessary to convert any writer's The destruction of all writings becomes a more difficult task.On the other hand, although books are increasing day by day, Destruction and production went hand in hand, and printed books were soon to be burned in the same way, which at that time Before the period, it was only used to deal with manuscripts. In Cremona in 1969, for literary reasons alone, twelve thousand volumes were written in Hebrew. Printed books were publicly burned as heresies; Cardinal Semenes, who occupied Gera After Nada, the same method was used to deal with 5,000 copies of the Koran. During the Reformation period in England, there was a mass destruction of books. The antiquarian Bell once said in 1587 about the embarrassing situation that happened to the library of the monastery at that time. destiny: "Most of the people who bought those monasteries used those books, some as toilets, some Used to polish candlesticks, some to polish boots.Some of them sell to grocers, some to overseas book-packs Orders, not a few, sometimes whole ships are shipped abroad.But neither can the big schools here Get rid of this odious fact.I know a businessman whose name I will not name here, use For forty shillings the collections of two valuable libraries were bought; it is a matter of shame. The stove he feeds with this thing has lasted for over ten years and he has left over to support many more days.Monks let them lie in the dust, stupid priests don't ask them, they Later owners abused them as much as possible, and profit-seeking merchants sold them abroad to make money." (Translator's Note: The original text is an ancient text from the 16th century, and only its general meaning is translated here) Astonishing to the imagination, Coxton's translation of Ovid, and Many other books from our first printing house was the earliest publisher in England in the fifteenth century), we have nothing preserved now, and we did not know at that time How many have been used for scones. In the Great Fire of London in 1666, a huge number of books were destroyed, not only private houses, The priceless treasures of public organizations and church libraries have been reduced to ashes, and a large number of books have been stored for safety. For the sake of it, those transferred from PATERNOT ERRoW to St. Peter's Basilica by the Publication Registry were also burned ash. Speaking of more recent events, how grateful should we be for the preservation of the Cotton Library? Excited.In 1731, the news of the fire at Westminster's Ash Bemham House once made the art There was great consternation in the world, as Cotton's manuscripts were then stored there.With great pains, The fire was finally contained, but many manuscripts had been destroyed and many more damaged.Will A great deal of ingenuity has been spent in ordering and restoring this almost unrecognizable anxieties; They first uncovered one by one, soaked in a chemical liquid, and then sandwiched in transparent paper and flattened. There is a pile of charred pages, so unorganized that it looks like a huge wasp Nest, now on display in the manuscript room of the British Museum, indicates that several other manuscripts have been encountered a similar situation. More than a hundred years ago, during the riots in Buckingham, the crowd burned Dr. Presley's precious Sir Mansfield's literary and other collections were later burned in the Gordon riots. Zang, the famous old judge, was the first to dare the bold decision to set foot on English soil. Slaves who are freed from now on.The loss of Sir Mansfield's library, which caused the poet Cobb wrote two short, not very brilliant poems.The poet first mourns the loss of these precious printed books destruction, and then mentions that the burning of Jazz's original manuscripts and other contemporary documents is an inescapable Recovered losses: "The volumes are messed up, burned and destroyed, Though the loss was his own; But in the years to come His own loss will also be mourned. " The second poem begins with the following not very clever sentence: "When wit and genius are in flames met their misfortune, They tell us the fate of Rome Tell us to beware of this too. " Dr. Presley's better and richer collection was not noticed by the orthodox poet, Nor did it arouse his mourning, perhaps because the owner of the library was a Unitarian priest, In the destruction of this batch of pagan books, the private mind may have felt a kind of relieved satisfaction. The magnificent library in Strasbourg was burned down by German artillery fire in 1870. Thus, along with several other hard-to-find documents, the records of the lawsuits of Gothenburg and his collaborators It has since been lost forever, and this document is the only one that can prove whether Gothenburg was the inventor of printing. a reliable basis.From between the high walls the flames roared louder than a red-hot furnace. On the altars of Mars and Death seldom was such an exquisite sacrifice offered; for in war Amidst the din, the roar of the man-eating cannon, the first printed Bible, and many others How many priceless ancient books were burned into the sky, and their ashes were blown by the wind in the scorching air, drifting For the first time, news of the destruction of their capital was brought to the astonished inhabitants, many miles away. The collection of books in Don Evel was auctioned by Shasby Wilkenson & Co., a well-known auctioneer in Wellington Street. At the time of the sale, after three days of auctioning, a neighboring house suddenly went careless, and the fire spread to the auction showroom, As a result, the only copies of Peng Yang's poetry anthology and other rare books on display were immediately wiped out.I am allowed to I went to visit the disaster site the next day. I borrowed a ladder to climb up and crawled into the remains of how many floors remained. showroom.The charred rows of books that still stood on the shelves were a horrible sight; What makes people feel strange is that after the flame burned away the spine of the book, it seemed to go around the back of the shelf, and then put it upright. Attacking the front of the books on the shelf, the result is that most of what's left is a full ellipse Shaped white paper and clear writing, while the surroundings are a mess of black charcoal.This residue was later used in very low It was sold for a penny, and the buyer, after a long labor of sorting, mending, and binding, About 1,000 volumes were acquired, which were handed over to Burdick Simpson & Company for auction the following year. In the same way, those ancient books hidden in the corridors of the Dutch church of the Augustinian dervishes, when When the fire destroyed the church in 1862, these ancient books were almost destroyed, although they survived, But it has been badly damaged.Not long ago, I spent hours there searching for English I will never forget the dusty scene when I left.no Who will take care of it, these books are there, and no one has touched it for decades-damp dust, heaps of dust It was more than half an inch thick on top, and then came the fire, and as the roof blazed up, the hot The water flows down from above like a flood.The strange thing is that after such a situation, they actually Haven't finished a bunch of quagmire yet.After everything is over, the entire collection of books cannot be dismantled due to legislation. Loaned to the City Council of London for a long time and forever.Burnt and wet, the ashes of this fire To the dauntless Mr. Avallar, the librarian.In a rented penthouse, he will The books hang to dry on ropes like clothes.So week after week, this spot The twisted and twisted books, sometimes without a cover, sometimes with only a single page, are carefully sorted drying.Washing, patching, crimping, and binding have produced miracles, so I came to the library of the municipal office today When you look at the attractive little hall, when you see the rows of beautifully written spines, you never think that in the near future At present, this most peculiar collection of books in the city is in such a state that you would feel that five pounds It's not worth buying in bulk.