50. Cassiodorus had the books
of his monastery stored in presses, or armaria. The
manuscripts of Abbot Simon of St. Albans were preserved
in "the painted aumbry in the church." An aumbry was
a recess in the wall well lined inside with wood so that the
damp of the masonry should not spoil the books. It was
divided vertically and horizontally by shelves in such a
way that it was possible to arrange the books separately
one from al other, and so to avoid injury from close
packing, and delay in consulting them.[1] The same term
was applied to a detached closet or cupboard. At Durham
the monks distributed their books--keeping some in the
spendimentum or cancellary, some near the refectory, and
the bulk in the cloister. Two classes of books were in
the cancellary: one stored in a large closet with folding
doors, called an armariolum, and used by all the monks;
the other kept in an inner room, and apparently reserved
for special uses. The books assigned to the reader in
the refectory were stored by the doorway leading to the
infirmary, and not in the refectory itself, as we should
expect: maybe this arrangement was exceptional, and was
adopted for special reasons of convenience.
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