Lord North, the Chancellor of the University, presented to the Library
the observations made by Dr. James Bradley, while Astronomer Royal, at
Greenwich, 1750-62. These had been given to him by Mr. John Peach,
son-in-law to Dr. Bradley, while a suit was pending between the Board of
Longitude on behalf of the Crown and Mr. Peach respecting his right to
their possession. The claim of the Crown had been first made in 1765, on
the ground that they were the papers drawn up by Bradley in discharge of
his public and official duties, but the executor, Mr. Sam. Peach,
refused to resign them except for some valuable consideration. But after
his death, his son, Mr. John Peach, who married Dr. Bradley's daughter,
presented them to Lord North, with the understanding that the latter
should give them to the University, on condition that they should be
forthwith printed. They were, consequently, immediately put into the
hands of Dr. Hornsby, the Savilian Professor of Astronomy, for
publication; but the work progressed very slowly, in consequence of his
ill-health, and a remonstrant correspondence ensued between the Board of
Longitude, the Royal Society, and the University, which was printed by
the Board, together with a statement of the whole case and of the steps
taken by them for the recovery of the papers, in 1795. Several letters
from Sir Joseph Banks, as President of the Royal Society, to Price the
Librarian, in 1785, on the slow progress of the work, are preserved in a
volume of MS. Letters to Librarians, recently bound up by Mr. Coxe. The
first volume at length appeared in 1798, in folio, and the second,
edited by Prof. A. Robertson, in 1805, with an appendix of observations
made by Bradley's successor, Rev. Nath. Bliss, and his assistant, Mr.
Charles Green, to March, 1765, which had been purchased by the Board of
Longitude, and were presented by them to the University, in March, 1804.
Some further remains of Dr. Bradley were, after Dr. Hornsby's death,
found among the papers of the latter, and these (having been restored to
the University by his family, on application, about 1829) were published
in 1831, under the editorship of Prof. S. P. Rigaud, in one vol.
quarto, entitled _Miscellaneous Works and Correspondence of Rev. J.
Bradley_. In 1861, a fresh application for the return of the
Observations was made to the University, by Mr. Airy, the Astronomer
Royal, on the ground that they were the only volumes wanting in the
series preserved at Greenwich, and that they were frequently needed
there for reference. By a vote of Convocation, on May 2, this
application was acceded to, and thirteen volumes of Observations were
returned to what was certainly their legitimate place of deposit. Some
miscellaneous papers, making about thirty parcels, still remain in the
Library.