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As always, more information welcomed. This seems to be a
Jack Vance coinage, but it's possible that he took the word
from somewhere else.
Other likely suspects for use include Michael Shea (one of
whose books is set in Vance's Dying Earth, but I have yet to
see a copy), and Gary Gygax, who used the term in Dungeons
and Dragons (but not, so far as I know, in his own fiction).
libram, n. [?< L liber, book; the derivation seems obvious,
but the form is inexplicable. Apparently coined by Jack
Vance.] A book; in particular, one pertaining to magick.
[Not in OED.]
The tomes which held Turjan's sorcery lay on the long table
of black steel or were thrust helter-skelter into shelves.
These were volumes compiled by many wizards of the past,
untidy folios collected by the Sage, leather-bound librams
setting forth the syllables of a hundred powerful spells, so
cogent that Turjan's brain could know but four at a time.
Jack Vance, "Turjan of Miir" in The Dying Earth (1950)
"There stands Iucounu the Laughing Magician," said
Fianosther. "In a short time he will come into my booth and
attempt to buy a particular red libram, the casebook of
Dibarcas Maior, who studied under Great Phandaal. My price
is higher than he will pay, but he is a patient man, and
will remonstrate for at least three hours. During this time
his manse stands untenanted. It contains a vast collection
of thaumaturgical artifacts, instruments, and activants, as
well as curiosa, talismans, amulets and librams. I'm anxious
to purchase such items. Need I say more?"
Jack Vance, The Eyes of the Overworld (1966)
Now he came to shelves stacked with volumes, folios and
librams, where he selected with care, taking for preference
those bound in purple velvet, Phandaal's characteristic color.
Jack Vance, The Eyes of the Overworld (1966)
Cugel leaned back into the cushion, and spoke as one who
muses idly: "Everywhere at this time of Earth's dying
exceptional circumstances are to be noted. Recently, at the
manse of Iucounu the Laughing Magician, I saw a great libram
which indexed all the writings of magic, and all styles of
thaumaturgical rune. Perhaps you have similar volumes in
your library?"
Jack Vance, The Eyes of the Overworld (1966)
"You fail to understand the calamity you have visited upon
me. I will explain, so that you may not be astounded by the
rigors which await you. As I have adumbrated, the arrival of
the creature was the culmination of my great effort. I
determined its nature through a perusal of forty-two
thousands librams, all written in cryptic language: a task
requiring a hundred years. During a second hundred years I
evolved a pattern to draw it in upon itself and prepared
exact specification. Next I assembled stone-cutters, and
across a period of three hundred years gave solid form to my
pattern. Since like subsumes like, the variates and
intercongeles create a superpullulation of all areas,
qualities and intervals into a a crystorrhoid, whorl,
eventually exciting the ponentiation of a pro-ubietal chute."
Jack Vance, The Eyes of the Overworld (1966)
Zaraides gestured to a board where lay strips of parchment.
"I tie persuasive messages to winged seeds, which are then
liberated into the forest. The method is of questionable
utility, luring passersby to the mouth of the cave, but
enticing them no further. I fear that I have only five days
to live. If only I had my librams, my folios, my work-books!
What spells, what spells! I would rive this warren end to
end; I would convert each of these man-rodents into a blaze
of green fire. I would punish Fabeln for cheating me . . .
Hmmm. The Gyrator? Lugwiler's Dismal Itch?"
Jack Vance, The Eyes of the Overworld (1966; ellipsis in
original)
Cugel, with half an eye always for Faucelme, took occasion
to inspect the room. In addition to the side-board, the
furnishings included a rug woven in tones of dark red, blue
and black, an open cabinet of books and librams, and a tabouret.
Jack Vance, Cugel's Saga (1983)
"Cugel!" she called to a dwarf. The little creature sat
amongst a pile of thaumaturgical instrument, activans [sic],
and artifacts. Beside him lay a pile of books. He was
psionically juggling a number of librams, curiosa, talismen
[sic] and amulets to amuse the Queen, using the powers of
mind-magic alone.
David Bischoff, Ship of Ghosts (2001)
Rhialto, drawing on his cloth-of-gold gauntlets, glanced
sidewise at his servant. Stupidity? Zeal? Churlish sarcasm?
Puiras' visage offered no clue. Rhialto spoke in an even
voice. "Upon completion of these tasks, your time is your
own. Do not tamper with the magical engines; do not, for
your life, consult the portfolios, the librams or the
compendiary. In due course, I may instruct you in a few
minor dints; until then, be cautious!"
Jack Vance, "Morreion" in Rhialto the Marvellous (1984)
The time of the Goblins Fair was close at hand. Shimrod
packed all his magical apparatus, books, librams, philtres,
and operators into a case, upon which he worked a spell of
obfuscation, so that the case was first shrunk, then turned
in from out seven times to the terms of a secret sequence,
so as finally to resemble a heavy black brick which Shimrod
hid under the hearth.
Jack Vance, Lyonesse: Suldrun's Garden (1983)
In a leather-bound libram Tamurello located the name "Shimrod."
Jack Vance, Lyonesse: Suldrun's Garden (1983)
There was little furniture and an odd lack of personal
belongings: neither articles of skill and craftsmanship nor
curios, nor yet scrolls, books, librams or portfolios.
Jack Vance, The Green Pearl (1985)
Madouc came slowly into the room. The air carried an
aromatic reek, of old wood, wax, lavender oil, the soft
sweet fust of well-tanned leather. Tables to left and right
supported librams two or three feet on a side and three
inches thick, bound in limp leather or sometimes heavy black
felt. Shelves were crammed with scrolls, parchments in cedar
boxes, papers tied in bundles, books clamped between
carefully tooled boards of beechwood.
Jack Vance, Madouc (1990)
Alas, had I but paused . . . but lingered, to consult more
deeply the librams and folios of my sorcerous archives, ere
my rash and impulsive nature drove me thence into the
shadowy and repellent Vale of Pnath!
Lin Carter, "In the Vale of Pnath" (1975; ellipsis in original)
"He had studied all Mylakhrion's work in that vein—those
which were available to him—and the runebooks and librams
and tablets of many another mage gone that same way before."
Brian Lumley, Tarra Khash: Tales of the Primal Land (2006)
--
Dan Clore
My collected fiction, _The Unspeakable and Others_:
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1587154838/ref=nosim/thedanclorenecro
Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
http://www.geocities.com/clorebeast/
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
Strange pleasures are known to him who flaunts the
immarcescible purple of poetry before the color-blind.
-- Clark Ashton Smith, "Epigrams and Apothegms"
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