Private library

A private library is a library that is privately owned. Private libraries are usually intended for the use of a small number of people, or even a single person. As with public libraries, some people use bookplates – stamps, stickers or embossing – to show ownership of the items. Some people sell their private libraries to established institutions such as the Library of Congress, or, as is often the case, bequeath them after death. Much less often, a private library is maintained intact long after the death of the owner. One such example is the personal library of Rudolf Steiner, which has been maintained intact in Switzerland for close to a century.

History

The earliest libraries belonged to temples or administration bodies, resembled modern archives, and were usually restricted to nobility, aristocracy, scholars, or theologians. Examples of the earliest known private libraries include one found in Ugarit (dated to around 1200 BC) and the Library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh (near modern Mosul, Iraq), dating back to the 7th century BC.

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia was home to a great number of private libraries, many with extensive collections of over 400 tablets. The nucleus of these private libraries were primarily texts which had been transcribed by the proprietors themselves from the time they acquired their education in the art of the scribe. As insignificant as these libraries may seem, they established the basis for the Library of Ashurbanipal collection.

Egypt

While private libraries in ancient Egypt were not common, they did exist to some extent. One of the problems in identifying potential individual libraries is that it is often difficult to distinguish between a personal library and one associated with a temple. However, many personal libraries survived over time, and are perhaps more numerous than traditionally assumed. Several private tombs have exposed copious texts whose content is scholarly in nature. In addition, extensive clusters of papyrus scrolls have been unearthed in association with domiciliary arrangements, confirming that some type of library endured there. The Middle Kingdom Period (2055–1650 BC) offers the best clues to the presence of private libraries in ancient Egypt.

For example, one sepulcher contained a chest with books on bureaucratic relations, hymns, and incantations. In total, the cache revealed a 20-volume library. A rather large collection from the Thirteenth Dynasty suggests a library belonging to a doctor or necromancer. In addition to general texts on assorted literature, there is a profusion of discourses on medicine and magic. A private library of considerable quantity is attributed to Kenherkhepshef, a scribe. This library embodies nearly 50 manuscripts, accommodating a collection of disparate subjects from correspondence missives to astrological recipes such as incantations and dream interpretations. This particular library spanned many generations, being passed to one family member to the next, which gives the impression of the significance the library had.

A manuscript known as the Westcar Papyrus from this same period alludes to an individual whose residence occupies spaces for a private library. The text of the manuscript is a fanciful narrative; however, it proves that ordinary citizens were literate and accumulated books for their own use. One Middle Kingdom tomb, associated with a healer and lector priest, contained over 20 books, one of which was the now-famous ''Tale of the Eloquent Peasant''. Finally, a private library in a New Kingdom tomb at the site of Deir el Medina housed books on medicine as well as on love poetry and wisdom literature.

Ancient Greece

In 600 BC, library and archival collections in ancient Greece flourished. Within the next three centuries the culture of the written word rose to a pinnacle there. Although public libraries available to all citizens were established in some cities, such as Athens, most citizens could not read. However, private book collections owned by the elite and leading citizens were growing, along with the glorious homes and structures used to store them. Private libraries were not only built by the wealthy, but also by professionals who needed information nearby, including doctors and scholars. Notable scholarly figures like Euripides, Herodotus, Thucydides, and even Plato had their own private libraries with large collections. One of the most notable figures in ancient Greece with his own private library was Aristotle. Establishing his personal collection into a library at the Lyceum, Aristotle allowed his students and fellow scholars to use it. After his death, his collection grew to include the work of Theophrastus and student research. The collection was thought to have been scattered after Theophrastus' own death by Neleus. While most of the collection was supposedly brought to Rome and Constantinople, other pieces within the collection were sold to the Library of Alexandria, only to be destroyed later with the library.

Ancient China

There were numerous private libraries in Ancient China. These institutions were called "book collection house" in Chinese, which was widely accepted from Song Dynasty. Under the influence of petty-farmer consciousness, the patriarchal system, lack of books, and other factors, "hiding book" thinking was dominant then. Not all private libraries in ancient China were unavailable to the public. Some owners made their collection open to the public. Mostly to young men who were studying for civil service examinations, these became known as "academy" libraries.

Ancient Rome

The earliest libraries to appear in Rome were of the private type and were most often procured as spoils of war. For example, when the Roman general Aemilius defeated the Macedonian king Perseus in 168 BC, the only plunder he wished to possess was the king's private library. Likewise, in 86 BC, the Roman general Sulla appropriated the library of the infamous Greek bibliophile and kleptobibliophile Apellicon of Teos. Finally, around 73 BC, Lucullus removed and brought back to Rome the private library of King Mithridates VI of the Pontus region. Nearly every house of nobility had a library, and virtually every one was split into two rooms: one for Latin texts and one for Greek texts. Rome may very well have been the birthplace of specialized libraries, with evidence of early medical and legal libraries. In Rome, one can see the beginnings of book preservation. One author proposed that a library is better suited if it meets the rising sun in the east in order to ensure that it does not succumb to bookworms and decomposition. Some examples of Roman-period private libraries include the Villa of the Papyri, the House of Menander, the House of Augustus, and the Domus Aurea.

In the 5th century BC, on the island of Cos outside the city of Pergamum, a medical school complex with a library was built in the sanctuary of Asclepius. This is the first medical school known to have existed, and consequently can be credited as the first specialized library.

Small private libraries called ''bibliothecae'' were responsible for advancing the larger public libraries of the Roman world. The design of these libraries was rather a novelty, and became the archetype of later institutions, in particular libraries of imperial estates. The form of private libraries during the late Republic Period and early Empire Period imitated Greek architectural characteristics. The library itself was a repository of diminutive proportions whose purpose was to accommodate books. The books were supported on wooden shelving units or were kept in cupboards situated against walls. Rooms annexed to the library were used primarily as reading rooms. The configuration of these libraries was rectangular and is considered more of niche than a separate room because they were always extensions of other structures.

Acquiring books for personal use in order to cultivate oneself was all the rage in the Roman world, partially galvanized by the monarchs who were often prolific writers. Satirist Martial notes that it was quite accepted for the houses of the Roman elite to harbor a library. One reason for the abundance of private libraries is the reinforcement of enlightenment and perpetuating the literary traditions. It was also not uncommon for an individual to assemble a library in order to inveigle an emperor. The writer Lucian of Samosata

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