Tree-catalogue of Saint-Lambrecht

A Pictorial Author Catalogue

The Tree-catalogue of Saint-Lambrecht was used as the poster by the Bibliotheque Nationale for the “Year of the Book” in 1972. This mural is on pillars of the library of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Lambrecht in Styria.¹ On every branch and bough is an open book with the names of authors in view.²

The panels on pillars in the Abbey reflect the library’s books.

In his 1972-1973 Lyell Lectures at Oxford University, André Camille Lucien Masson, inspecteur général des bibliothèques (inspector of French libraries),³ lectured on “Le Catalogue Figuratif: A Pictorial Guide to the Contents of European Libraries from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century”⁴ and highlighted the Tree Catalogue of Saint-Lambrecht in his subsequent 1981 book, The Pictorial Catalogue: Mural Decoration in Libraries.⁵

Die Bibliotheksembleme Der Benediktinerabtei St. Lambrecht in Steiermark.

The ingenious type of iconography from Austria was documented by Grete Lesky in her volume, Die Bibliotheksembleme Der Benediktinerabtei St. Lambrecht in Steiermark, and used in Masson’s Lyell Lectures and his book, The Pictorial Catalogue: Mural Decoration in Libraries. I ordered Lesky’s book from Germany and have taken pictures of its title page and the original photograph of the tree catalogue below. There seem to be no copies of Lesky’s book in U.S. libraries.

Die Bibliotheksembleme Der Benediktinerabtei St. Lambrecht in Steiermark.

1. Lesky, Grete. 1970. Die Bibliotheksembleme Der Benediktinerabtei St. Lambrecht in Steiermark. Graz: Imago-Verl.

2. Masson, André. 1981. The Pictorial Catalogue : Mural Decoration in Libraries. Oxford, New York: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press.

3. MASSON André Camille Lucien. In 1923, André Masson obtained a position as assistant librarian at the municipal library of Rouen. In 1926, he moved to Hanoi (Indochina) as director of the Libraries and Archives of Indochina, where he organized and consolidated a network of libraries. It was he who, in this capacity, led the historical section of Indochina at the Colonial Exhibition of 1931. In 1934, he returned to France, as chief librarian of the municipal library of Bordeaux. In 1944, he was appointed inspector general of libraries, a position he held until his retirement in 1970. He was particularly concerned with the creation of the first central lending libraries and the question of the recovery of books looted during the war. In 1950, Julien Cain put him in charge of the resumption of the publication of the General Catalogue of Manuscripts of the Public Libraries of France. He is also director of the Maison de l'Indochine at the Cité universitaire in Paris. Finally, in 1963, he was appointed a member of the Provincial Museums Commission.

4. The Lyell Lectures. Oxford University.

5. Reviews: McKitterick, David. 1982. ''Masson, André: The Pictorial Catalogue: Mural Decoration in Libraries''. - Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1981.” The Book Collector 31 (no 3) Autumn 1982: 382-283; Thomas, Diane M. The Journal of Library History (1974-1987) 22, no. 3 (1987): 348–49.