This page presents brief descriptions and spell lists for the libraries that the party has had the opportunity to explore. In general, note that libraries in the Forgotten Realms are usually not the government run lending organizations invented by Ben Franklin. They are frequently for-profit information brokerages where books may be viewed (for a fee) but never borrowed.

Copying Spells
The libraries listed here allow spellcasters to copy spells from the spellbooks they have on hand for a fee. A spellcaster working flat out can copy a spell level every 90 minutes. So a first level spell takes 1.5 hours to copy and a second level spell takes 3. The task may be split across multiple days.

Hall of Letters

Parchment House

The Nesme Society of Wizards

Membership in The Nesme Society of Wizards is open to any spellcaster who has established his sigil, but must be paid for at the cost of 500gp per year. In addition, a prospective wizard must furnish The Society with a copy of an uncommon spell not available elsewhere in Nesme' (see Parchment House). Finally, there is a 24-hour waiting period during which any existing member may veto an application.

The Society's greatest asset is it's library, which includes perhaps the best collection of unusual and esoteric spells in The North. Access to the library is free to members and closed to all others, in fact even a list of the contents is unavailable except to members. Scribes cannot be brought in to copy texts, but members may employ normal or magical means to copy most texts without cost. The one exception is spells, for which a copying fee is charged based on the spell level:

The Vault of the Sages

The New Olamn Bard's College Library

Castle Waterdeep Library

A pass is needed to access the library, and these passes are not for sale. Usually, only government employees get passes, but the Lords have been known to grant year-long or life-long passes for outstanding service to Waterdeep. Magistrates likewise have been known to grant 1 month passes in return for service. The library has an excellent, if dry, collection of books. It is the best resource for information about Waterdeep & its history. It has many excellent specialty books on combat & warcraft, most donated by Piergieron.

Serpentil's Books & Folios

Jannaxil charges as much as he can for copying a spell, which is to say almost as much as the cost of buying the book. His prices for spellbooks are based on the levels of the spells within (plus a base cost), and the same is true for copying. Jannaxil will of course point out that you can save money by only coppying the spells you want.

Lord Melfew's Tower

Copying requires an appointment with a member of the Scrivener's, Scribes and Clerks Guild, as there are none working at the library. In fact, there are no people at all working at the library. It is managed, maintained and guarded by a staff of homonculi, golems, and other constructed creatures. It has been whispered that the books themselves provide most of the security.

The Tower Library

The Tower Library is the name used by members of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors to refer to the small library in their guild hall - The Tower of the Order, on the Street of Bells in Castle Ward (30). Like most of the Hall, it is only accessible to members of the guild. The contents of this library are officially a guild secret, but it is generally believed to hold a small, low-level, mundane collection of spells in addition to a good assortment of general reference works on the magickal arts. The real significance of the library's small spell collection is that any member of the guild can order single-spell scrolls of any of the spells on the list from the guild.

Mother's Little Reading Room

The Reading Room is a private room in the guild hall of the Elegant Order of Hostesses, Hosts and Escorts, immediately adjacent to the second floor corridor which connects the Hall with Mother Tathlorn's House of Pleasure and Healing (CW, 34). It houses a fascinating collection of illustrated manuals and "scholarly works", most of them very specialized. Sadly, many of the rarer works in the library are still awaiting translation from their original languages, some of them long dead or quite obscure.

There is a collection of Houri and Wizard spell books in the Reading Room, the contents of which are a guild secret. It is rumored to contain every well-known Houri and enchantment spell and a large collection of lesser-known or guild-invented Houri spells as well. Names that are frequently mentioned include Venereal Disease Ward, Disease Ward, Purge Venereal Disease, Conception Ward, Purge Conception, Burst of Ecstacy, Night of Ecstacy, and Clean Bed