Posted: January 14, 1998 at 04:42:12: by Michael Martinez
: You never read about libraries in Middle-earth. The hobbits had a few. If these people were all so lettered why didn't they have libraries?At the end of the Third Age most of the ancient libraries must have vanished. Elrond probably had one, and perhaps Galadriel and Celeborn. But Elrond, being a noted master of Lore, must have had extensive resources. Merry travelled to Rivendell in the Fourth Age to consult with the Elves who still lived there. Dale had been destroyed, so if it had a library it was gone. Moria's library, too, would have been destroyed. The Dwarves of Erebor might have started a new one (probably they did), but it would not likely be made available to others for casual visits, if at all. Laketown might have had a library, but if so it would have been destroyed when Smaug ravaged the town. The Rohirrim, on the other hand, were not a particularly literate society. They still used song and poetry to remember their past. They must have had professional story-tellers, skalds or minstrels similar to those who travelled northern Europe in the first millenium AD (and probably earlier than that). Minas Tirith was probably the only city of significance left with any need for a library.
------------------
Parma Endorion: Essays On Middle-earth
| 
