[PW] Origin of the term "stacks" (in the library)

[Adrian Smith]

The question rather was, did libraries store books flat ...

See OED on press-marks:
"1802 PLANTA Catal. MSS. Cott. Libr. p. xii. (note) The books were deposited in fourteen presses, over which were placed the busts of the twelve Cæsars and of Cleopatra and Faustina, whence the press-marks given to the volumes in its several catalogues. 1841 J. A. D. HALLIWELL in Cov. Myst. Introd. 6 A quarto volume,..now preserved in the Cottonian collection of manuscripts..under the press-mark Vespas. D. viii. "

Adrian,
Leeds UK

-----Original Message-----
From: project-wombat-fm-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org [mailto:project-wombat-fm-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On Behalf Of swguardian-wombat at yahoo.com
Sent: 08 August 2007 08:02
To: list at project-wombat.org
Subject: Re: [PW] Origin of the term "stacks" (in the library)


This might be a clue. An 1896 newspaper article about the Government Printing 
Office gives a description of what the term "stacks" referred to back then. 

Waterloo Daily Courier, Waterloo, Iowa 
23 January 1896

For storage of the vast number of accumulated books and documents 78 
library "stacks" have been built, containing 3,340 bins, each of which will 
hold from 75 to 300 books, according to the size of tho volumes, 
giving room for more than 300,000 documents.

ALAN GREEN <green.200 at osu.edu> wrote: One of our professors would like to know, why do we call them "stacks" (i.e., the book stacks)?  Did libraries formerly stack books flat in piles on the shelves (or the floor, or on tables), before moving to the current vertical shelving system?

The "Stack" entry in OED provided no help for this question.  Please copy replies to my address, as I am not a list subscriber.

Thanks!

Alan Green
Music Librarian, Ohio State University
green.200 at osu.edu 

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