A return was made to the House of Commons of such books received since
1814, in pursuance of the Copyright Act, from Stationers' Hall, as it
had not been deemed necessary to place in the Library. The list is but a
trifling one, consisting chiefly of school-books and anonymous novels,
with music; but, nevertheless, it is sufficient to show the great need
of caution in rejecting any books excepting such as are of the simplest
elementary character, and the advantage of erring rather on the side of
inclusiveness than exclusiveness. Miss Edgeworth's _Parents' Assistant_,
Mrs. H. More's _Sacred Dramas_, Mrs. Opie's _Simple Tales_, and an
edition of _Ossian_, were all consigned to the limbo of 'rubbish.' But
the Cambridge Return (which is much more detailed than that from
Oxford[299]) shows a recklessness of rejection which speaks little for
the judgment of the Librarians for the time being. Besides school-books
and music, a large number of pamphlets figure in the list, including
some by Chalmers and Cobbett; the _Theology_ includes Owen's _History of
the Bible Society_; the _History_ includes _Memoirs of Oliver Cromwell
and his Children_; the _Poetry_, Byron's _Siege of Corinth_, L. Hunt's
_Story of Rimini_, and Wordsworth's _Thanksgiving Ode_; and the
_Novels_, [Peacock's] _Headlong Hall_, one by Mrs. Opie, and--_The
Antiquary_! The far wiser plan is now carried out in the Bodleian of
rejecting nothing; even the elementary works that do not need entering
in the Catalogue, are so kept that access can be had to them at all
times and examination made; and the music is from time to time sorted
and bound. And this plan was commenced in the year of which we are
writing; for, (in consequence, of course, of this return being called
for by the House of Commons,) the Curators ordered, on May 27, that
_all_ publications sent from Stationers' Hall should in future be
entered and preserved.
A very valuable and curious series of original editions of Latin and
German tracts, issued by the German Reformers between 1518 and 1550, in
eighty-four volumes, was bought for £95 15_s._ Additions have been made
to this collection at various times subsequently, so that now it
probably comprises as complete a gathering of these controversial
publications, so easily lost or destroyed from their small extent and
often ephemeral character, as can anywhere be found. A kindred
collection (although not of like value or interest) was obtained through
the gift by Mr. A. Müller, a well-known bookseller at Amsterdam, of a
series of tracts, in sixty-two volumes, and chiefly in the Dutch
language, on the controversy with the Remonstrants in 1618-19. A MS.
Catalogue, by Mr. Müller, dated March 3, is kept in the Librarian's
study. Besides the books, Mr. Müller gave a few coins, including one
struck on leather during the siege of Leyden in 1574, and some natural
curiosities, which latter are now preserved in the New Museum. A _black
negro baby_, preserved in spirits (!) has, however, unaccountably
disappeared; let us hope it was decently buried. Seventeen panes of
painted glass, probably by disciples of Crabeth, who painted the windows
in the Church of Gouda, also formed part of this very miscellaneous
donation; these, most probably, are included among the curious fragments
which decorate some of the Library windows.
Six Persian MSS. were given by the late venerable Principal of Magdalen
Hall, and Lord Almoner's Reader in Arabic, Dr. Macbride. The signature
of this gentleman, who has only been removed by death while these sheets
have been passing through the press, occurs in the Admission-book of the
last century, as having been admitted to read in the Library, while
still an undergraduate of Exeter College, on May 10, 1797.
_Alderman Fletcher's illustrated copy of Gulch's Wood._ See under 1610.
Mr. John Walker, Queen's College (B.A. 1820; Chaplain of New College,
M.A., 1823), succeeded Mr. Fenton as _minister_ in July.
[299] The minuteness of specification is such that '_Turner's Real Japan
Blacking, a Label_' is duly entered.