Not Even in 2021

The final stage of Hernando’s library in 1539 was: 

• List of physical booknumbers (indice numeral).
• List of authors and list of titles (catalog autores).
• List of summaries (catalog epitomes).
• List of keywords and topics (catalog materias).
• Library ordered by area of knowledge and slips-of-paper-with-30-data-items (catalog ciencias).

When Hernando died 3,500 of his 15,000 books were summarized and had a slip-of-paper-with-30-data-items, this is 23%. None of his pamphlets (obrezillas) or printed-pictures were summarized, this is 0%. He made a good start with his summistas, but most of it still had to be done. And then came the really big job of summarizing by area of knowledge (ciencias).

Observations

1. None of the indexes states that Hernando had in mind that after determining the areas of knowledge and summarizing each of them in 1 to 4 books, he also wanted to be able to browse freely with the slips-of-paper-with-30-data-items. His strungs of slips-of-paper-with-30-data-items were a necessary condition for ordering his areas of knowledge. He did not mention something beyond that.
2. Every year new books, pamphlets, and printed-pictures would arrive. All of them had to be summarized and had to be included in the catalogs. Theoretically this could, over time, lead to new areas of knowledge.
3. All books, pamphlets, printed-pictures, and catalogs in one physical place is very fragile. One big fire and everything turns to ashes. One deadly disease and the summistas will die and the update process will stop.
4. The target was to digest all the books, in all languages of the world. In reality his scope was limited to 6 of the 1,500 languages on planet Earth, this is 0,4%.
5. Everything depends on the bridging language (lingua franca). The language to which everything must be translated. In Hernando’s time this was Latin.
6. The key figures in this library are the summistas. Well-paid scholars who made the summaries and maintained the catalogues. The quality of a good summary and chosen keywords and topics depends on his/ her bias: #summista-bias. Take into account: belief, political preference, gender, intelligence, cultural education, education, level of consciousness, and … - there must be more.

Gone with the wind? 

Was everything lost after the library fell apart? No, not really. The knowledge (some call it opinions) hidden in the pamphlets ended up in what later became known as newspapers and other periodicals. The summistas of this area are called journalists. The knowledge (some call it wisdom) hidden in books ended up in a wide variety of sciences and disciplines. The summistas of this area are called scholars.

The only task that has never been done are the summaries of the areas of knowledge (ciencias). Imagine that there are books in which each area of knowledge is summarized. Books that will be updated once a year. The Encyclopdia Brittanica and Wikipedia are good for starters but they do not have the depth that Hernando had in mind.

What’s in it for me? 

I learned:

• Big libraries in Europe were born with the printing press. The same can be said of journals and periodicals. 
• Mapping the continents, coastlines, and countries on planet Earth with its flora and fauna on maps and mapping the information of books and other printed sources in area-of-knowledge-books were designed by the same people.
  
• Hernando’s ultimate goal – each area of knowledge summarized in 1 to 4 books and a yearly update - was never achieved. Not even in 2021.
• I wonder how much fun Hernando would have had with digital databases and Wikipedia. 
  

P.S. Source of picture of Hernando's house: here.

Blueprint (or Database Structure) of 500 Year Old Library

APPENDIX TO HERNANDO’S LIBRARY IN 1539

I made an elaborated example of Hernado’s catalogues and lists, based on three random present day books, to better understand and get a grip on what he had in mind with his library in 1539. Based on the information of Hernando to king, Hernando’s testament, and Juan Pérez’s ‘Memoria’. (I skipped the information in the rest of Pérez Fernández and Wilson-Lee’s book for now.)

Sources

Overview with who says what where:

Book with Numbers on physical books

List Numbers, from 1 to n, on the physical books in library. Answering Q: Which book has number 15,343?

Catalog Authors and Titles

List Authors from a to z. Answering Q: Which books did Herodotus write?

List Titles from a to z. Answering Q: Who wrote title ‘The Histories’?

List Incipts from a to z. Answering Q: Which author or title belongs to this first line?

Question. Did this separate list exist? If not, how can Hernando (or another sumista) check, in a ‘Book with Numbers’ with 15,000 books, if a bookseller is selling a book by Juan Andrés as if it was by someone else? Juan Pérez writes: “In these, as I have said, there are names of authors, names of works with no author, and all the incipits of these authors and the works. And all of it in proper alphabetical order.” The information from Juan Pérez does not rule out this list with incipits.

Catalog Epitomes

List Summaries (or Epitomes) with a number in order of being made.

Question. Was this epitome number added to the ‘Book with Numbers’? It must have been. If it was only added on the ‘book-strip-with-30-items’ the epitome number was forever lost in a bundle(s) of thousands of strips. 

Catalog Materias

List Subjects from a to z. Answering Q: Which authors wrote in which books on ‘Ancient Persia’ long?

Question: was it the task of the sumista to add main subject to ‘Catalog Ciencias’ and related topics to ‘Catalog Materias’ after the epitome was made?

Catalog Ciencias

A ‘book-strip-with-30-items’ will be made for each materias number of a book. These slips or annotations can be ordered and rearranged perputually. 15,000 books with each three slips will result in 45,000 different slips. With 30 data items, ?most? of them in biblioglyphs, it results in millions of possible combinations of paper strungs.

Summarize Areas of Knowledge

Juan Pérez writes that each Area of Knowledge must be summarized in 1 to 4 books.

Eternal Maintenance

Each year books, obrezillas and prints must be included and processed in the catalogues and lists. As a result, Spain has information of these sources in one place available. Searchable, consultable and a starting point for gaining knowledge. Hernando: “For nobody can read the multitude of books that have been written in each discipline.”

P.S. Next week (here) I shall give you my comments and findings on Hernando's library. Someone else's library as a mirror for me.