HUMANISTIC LIBRARY IN THE TOWN OF SELESTAT

Abstract

The article focuses on the history and the fund of the Humanistic Library in the Alsatian town of Sélestat. The library was founded in 1452 as a result of the merger of two libraries – that of the Latin School in the town and the personal library (about 670 volumes) of the great humanist Beatus Rhenanus (1485–1547), graduate of this school and the University of Paris. The Humanistic Library’s collection allows us to reconstruct the evolution of the book from the 7th to the 15th century, to trace the development of the writing in the Middle Ages in Alsace, the transition from parchment to paper, the languages used at the time, as well the ornamentation of the manuscript book.