Concise Compendium of Codices

Full Item Description

Though several copies are known to exist, ultimately this is the title of a singular book. It sits in the office of The Librarian—the Demon that oversees the Library of Citadel. The CCC contains a listing of every known book ever printed.

It includes a brief synopsis and the last known location of each copy. For books that have many such copies, the range of distribution and estimated number of copies are noted instead. For books that are housed within the Library of Citadel, the location within the Library is listed.

Physically, the Concise Compendium of Codices currently consists of 240 medium folios. These are made of thick paper of archival quality, and written recto-verso as a ledger. The folios are oversewn together, with new signatures added as needed. The cover is an unknown and slightly stiff dark leather, with charcoal-grey buckram covering the outside faces. The leather is embossed with the title in Anglan using a simple block font, over an embossment representing the skyline of the city of Citadel (as the cover pre-dates the commissioning of the city's new official seal). The embossment is clearly visible through the buckram, but is not painted or otherwise adorned. The CCC has no spine, to allow easier rebinding for new additions.

Copies of the Concise Compendium of Codices may, of course, vary in appearance.

The CCC is organised into three sections. The first consists of those books that were found in the LIbrary of Citadel when this work was first penned. The second section covers those books known to exist elsewhere. The third and final—and growing—section fills in gaps in the two previous sections, and includes books that have either been added to the Citadelian main library or were written after the CCC was first created.

The tiny, fine, silvery handwriting style of the Demonic Librarian proves difficult to replicate when copying a book of this size. Scribes making copies typically only include the latest known location—sans history—and omit the specific location of books within the Library of Citadel, noting only that it is found in that building. As it is a virtual surety that a newly printed book or updated location will come to the attention of the Librarian in the time it takes a scribe to copy this vast volume, owners of these copies will have to be content with a 'close enough' edition.

It has been suggested that the CCC be used as a numeric system of cataloguing Midianite books, or at least those printed in the Kingdom of Formour. Though the Librarian seems to have memorised the page number where a given reference may be found, and can tell at an instant the total number of works catalogued, it seems reluctant to sponsor such a numeric cataloguing system.