The books having some time since begun to crowd the room provided for
them, so that James, in his Preface to the Catalogue of 1605, said there
already seemed to be more need of a Library for the books than books for
the Library, the Founder commenced in this year an extension of his
building. On July 16 the first stone was laid of the eastern wing, and
of the Proscholium, or vestibule of the Divinity School, beneath; which
were completed by 1612, as in that year several donations were placed in
the new room[45]. An inscription in gold letters, in the front of this
building, commemorates Bodley's work; having become barely legible, it
has recently been restored to its pristine lustre by the care of the
present Librarian. The noble east window contains some very curious and
interesting relics in stained glass which were presented to the Library
(with numerous other fragments, which adorn some of the other windows in
the Library and partly fill two of those in the Picture Gallery[46]), in
1797, by Alderman William Fletcher of Oxford, a zealous local antiquary
and Churchman of the good old school. The three principal fragments
represent: 1. Henry II, stripped naked, and suffering flagellation with
birch rods, at the hands of two monks, before the shrine of Thomas à
Becket. 2. The marriage (as supposed) of Henry VI with Margaret of
Anjou, representing, says Dr. Rock[47], that portion of the ceremony
which took place at the Church door; formerly in a window of Rollright
Church, Oxfordshire. There is no evidence, however, to connect this
representation with Henry VI, and it has been conjectured to describe
his marriage chiefly from its corresponding in some very small degree to
a representation of that event, formerly at Strawberry Hill, and
described and engraved in Walpole's _Anecdotes of Painting_, i. 36. It
is probably of an earlier date. 3. The doing homage by William, King of
Scotland, with his abbots and barons, to Henry II in York Minster in
1171. Of the first of these, two coloured engravings, and of the second,
one, are found in a copy of Gutch's Wood, which came to the Library from
the same donor, Alderman Fletcher, in 1818, illustrated with very
numerous and curious engravings and drawings, as well as enriched with
some MS. notes, and bound in seven large quarto volumes[48].
The large coats of arms appear to have been inserted in 1716, as in the
accounts for that year we find, 'For paynted armes in the Library
window, £5.' But one coat of arms was put up in the year 1771, (_q. v._)
It was in this year that the Library began to be enlarged with the gift
of copies of all works published by the members of the Stationers'
Company, in pursuance of an agreement made with them by Bodley, which
became the precursor of the obligations of the Copyright Acts. On Dec.
12 the Company made a grant of one perfect copy of every book printed by
them, on condition that they should have liberty to borrow the books
thus given, if needed for reprinting, and also to examine, collate, and
copy the books which were given by others. An order of the Star-Chamber
was made July 11, 1637, in confirmation of this grant[49]. The proposal
of such an agreement emanated from the Librarian James; but in the
effecting it Bodley says that he met with 'many rubs and delays[50].'
Ayliffe say[51] that the agreement was very well observed until about
1640. He should rather have said 'about 1630,' for in that year, in a
paper of notes made by the Librarian for the use of Archbishop Laud, as
Chancellor of the University (in which the mention of a gift of books by
Fetherston, a London bookseller, fixes the date), complaint is made that
the Company were very negligent in sending their books, and it is
suggested that a message from the Chancellor might quickly remedy that
neglect[52]. In 1642, Verneuil, the Sub-Libraria[53], complained in the
Preface to his _Nomenclator, &c_, of the neglect which had then begun;
mentioning the names of several benefactors, he adds: 'These have beene
more courteous than the Stationers of London, who by indenture are bound
to give the Library a copy of every booke they print.' In the Visitation
Order-Book, under the year 1695, is the following 'memorandum' by Hyde,
then Head Librarian: 'That in November, 1695, a copy of the indenture
between Sir Thomas Bodley and the Company of Stationers, as also a copy
of their By-Law to inforce their particular members to complyance, was
sent up to the Master of the Company to be communicated and publicly
read to the Company once every year, as is in the indenture expressed.
The originall was also some years agon carryed up and shewed to the
Master and Wardens, because some of them used to raile at the unjustness
of the Act of Parliament in forcing them to give a copy of each book to
the Bodleian Library; and therefore we shewed them that we had also
another antecedent right to a copy of each book printed by any member in
their Company. The Indenture mentions only the giving of books new
printed, but the By-law mentions books both new-printed and also
reprinted with additions[54]. We have been told that Sir Thomas Bodley
gave to the Company 50 pounds worth of plate when they entred into this
Indenture. But its not mentioned in our counter-part. Every book is to
be delivered to the junior Warden within 10 dayes after its off from the
press, and we are to appoint somebody to demand them of him. The
obligation is upon every printer to give books; it were to be wished it
had been upon every proprietor; for the proprietor must give them to
us.'
[45] It is probably to aid given for the erection of this structure that
the following passage refers: 'To the building Bodley's Library at
Oxford a considerable sum was contributed by the Bishop of London, being
his share of the moneys paid into court for commutation of penance.'
Archd. Hale's Notes to the _Register of Worcester_ (Camden Soc. 1855),
p. cxxviii. Aid was also given by the Crown, for on May 3, 1611, an
order was issued by the Lord Treasurer to the officers of the woods at
Stow, Shotover, &c., near Oxford, to deliver to Sir T. Bodley, for
enlarging the Library, the timber which was to have been employed for
making the Thames navigable to Oxford, a work which did not proceed.
(_Calendar of State Papers_, Dom. Series, 1611-18, p. 28.)
[46] See also under 1818.
[47] _Church of our Fathers_, i. 421.
[48] Mr. Fletcher died in 1826, at the age of eighty-seven, and was
buried (in a stone coffin traditionally said to be that of Fair
Rosamond) in the church of the village where he was born, Yarnton, near
Oxford. His tomb is remarkable as exhibiting, before Architectural and
Ecclesiological societies had been thought of, an anticipation of better
days in monumental design than had yet appeared; a brass, upon a high
altar-tomb, represents him clad in his aldermanic gown, with his hands
clasped in prayer. A bust of him is in the Picture Gallery.
[49] Rushworth, iii. 315.
[50] _Reliquiæ Bodl._ p. 350.
[51] _Univ. of Oxford_, i. 460.
[52] _Calendar of State Papers_, 1635-6, p. 65.
[53] See _sub anno_ 1647.
[54] See _sub anno_ 1612.