Chapter 39 Our debt to the monks (1)

Collecting prayer books and hard-illustrated books must be a fascinating hobby if one is willing to invest the time and money in it.I have never looked at a prayer book or a little old illustration with some poetic romance, nor have I ever bought any of these things.I can picture myself a long list of monks who were dedicated to their work, devout and fanatical.We need not boast that the pleasures of the storyteller can be preserved for a period or even a generation.As early as hundreds of years ago, a man who was greater than any of us embarked on his road of bookworm, gathered wealth from all directions, and spread respect and love for books to every place.

Richard de Burley [Richard de Burley (1287-1345), British minister, treasurer and chancellor.His most famous work "Book Love" is regarded as a treasure book for book lovers. 】Even if he is not the father of bookworms, he can be regarded as the king of bookworms.His monumental work, written long before the invention of printing, shows us people tormented and ecstatic by thirst, envy, jealousy, greed, fanaticism and passion for books, an emotion that is not unlike the present moment that dominates and Controlling nerds is exactly the same.Vanity, too, was sometimes a tempered passion of the early nerds, as attested by a passage in Buckley's satire "Ship of Fools."There are a few passages that, applied to some people I know, are so apt that I sometimes suspect that these nineteenth-century charlatans must have been recognized by Buckley's prophetic gaze. Clearly.

But I still hold them with reverence and awe, Often wipe carefully, and never get tired of it, Protect them from profanity and contamination. Completely beautifully bound with cheerful covers, Silk brocade or other material is soft and sheer, I keep them safe lest I throw them away, They're so pretty they make me brag. But if these learned men in my house, Who by chance suddenly finds himself in a dispute, I'll open the cabinet and show them my books, My beautiful book will address this topic. I don't like getting into arguments with other people, But they come, and I have books at my disposal,

Everything is in the book not in my head. Richard de Burley had a great opportunity to satisfy his bibliophilia.He was minister and treasurer to Edward III, and his official position gave him access to public and private collections, as well as friendship with the literary world.Besides, when his like-mindedness became known, old books were sent to him, or brought to him, from all over the world.Most likely, they hoped to flatter him and please him in this way; or, they just wanted to make this bookworm happy, and they didn't have too many selfish motives. "The reputation of our hobby," said Debery, "has spread almost everywhere. It is not only that we love books, and especially old ones, but that anyone can acquire us in quarto." Much easier than money. So, with the generous support of the aforementioned memorable Prince, we can suppress or promote someone, appoint or fire someone. That's it, crazy Quartos and tottering folios (always as precious to our eyes as they are to our emotions) flooded the world with the fastest speed, from large to small, instead of New Year's gifts and rewards, and Instead of presents and gems. Next, the chambers of the most noble monasteries were opened, the locks of the bookcases were unlocked, and the chests were opened, and the volumes that had been sleeping for many years in their respective tombs were awakened, and those who lay hidden in the Books in dark places are flooded with fresh and bright light. In the abundance of time, we sit among these books more comfortably than the keen physician in his pharmacy. Here we not only find love, but I also found comfort."

"If we would collect gold and silver cups, horses, or as much money as possible, we could have amassed a considerable fortune at that time. But we valued books, not pounds. Codices are better than florins.[ The florin, gold or silver, used at various times in many countries of Europe.] More precious, shabby pamphlets please us more than pampered foals. In dreary embassies, in hard and dangerous times, No amount of water can quench our love for books that follows us everywhere." What books they were in those old days!What a tall folio!What a solid quarto!How gorgeous is the binding!Often decorated with silver, sometimes with gold, and not uncommonly both, with fine jewels and costly diamonds set to increase the value of those precious volumes.The works of Justin, Seneca, Martial, Terrence, and Claudian were popular with early bookworms, as were the handwriting of: Ovid, Cisse Law, Horace, Cato, Aristotle, Sallust, Hippocrates, Macrobius, Augustine, Bede, Gregory, Origen, and so on and on.However, if it were not for the respect and love of books by the monks in the Middle Ages, how could the classics of Greece and Rome be preserved and passed on to us?

The same luck that encouraged bookish monks to hide their treasured manuscripts in monastery cellars inspired Poggio Bracciolini (1380- 1459), Italian writer, pioneer of archeology. ] found and harassed those sacred hiding places centuries later, and the reward of these quests was discoveries of inestimable value.All of Livy's histories that we have have come to us through Poggio's diligent efforts as a manuscript hunter.Also worthy of veneration are a copy of Quintilian intact, a copy of Cicero's speech for Cassina, a complete copy of Tertullian, a copy of Paterno, recovered and taken from various monasteries. Ronius Abbeth, and fifteen or twenty other classics, are as valuable as the few mentioned above.From the monastery in Germany, Poggio's friend, Nicholas of Trevors, took with him the twelve comedies of Plautus and some fragments of Aulus Glius.