Mediæval Encyclopedias

EVEN when in a dim monastic cloister he presided over his twenty treasured volumes, the librarian had his vade mecum, his refuge and strength in time of trouble. When asked an unexpected question, he, like his successor of the twentieth century, rushed to the encyclopedia. Indeed, it would seem that during the middle ages, when books were few and parchment was dear, the encyclopedia, the work which attempts to include all human knowledge, reached its greatest popularity.