Francis Douce, the donor of this magnificent library (who died on March
30, in this year), is said to have been induced to make this disposition
of his treasures through the courteous reception afforded to him by Dr.
Bandinel, upon the occasion of a visit to Oxford, in 1830. The
gatherings of a lifetime with which the Bodleian was thus enriched,
consist of 393 manuscripts, ninety-eight charters, about 16,480 printed
volumes, a very large collection of early and valuable prints and
drawings, and some coins[323]. For the most part, the books which thus
came were of classes in which the Library was then deficient. Nearly all
the finest specimens of Missal-painting which it now possesses are found
among the Douce MSS., several of which are exhibited in a glass case at
the further end of the Library. Chief among these are three volumes of
_Horæ_, one executed, perhaps by G. da Libri, at the beginning of the
sixteenth century for Leonora Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino, a second
belonged to Mary de Medici, and the other was completed in 1527 for B.
Sforza, second wife of Sigism. I of Poland. These are priceless gems,
rivalled only by such as the Bedford Missal. In the same case is a
Psalter on purple vellum, probably of the ninth century, which came from
the old Royal Library of France, and which, from this circumstance and
its age, has sometimes been called Charlemagne's Psalter. The printed
books are rich in history, biography, antiquities, manners and customs,
and the fine arts[324]. In Bibles (English and French), Horæ, Primers,
Books of Common Prayer and Psalters, the collection is very strong.
Among the Psalters is a copy of Archbishop Parker's rare metrical
version. Early French literature is also a conspicuous feature, in which
the Library had previously been very deficient. Of fifteenth-century
typography there are no fewer than 311 specimens. The finest of these is
a magnificent copy of Christoforo Landino's Italian translation of
Pliny's Natural History, printed on vellum by Nic. Janson, at Venice, in
1476. It is enriched with exquisite illuminated borders at the
commencement of each book, a specimen of which, together with a
description of the volume, is given in Shaw's _Illuminated Ornaments_,
pl. xxxviii[325]. There are also a large number of fragments of works by
early English printers, including two by Caxton, which are unique. One
of these is a portion (two quarters of an octavo or duodecimo sheet) of
an edition of the _Horæ_, conjecturally assigned by Mr. Blades to 1478,
and the other is of an edition of the _Booke of Curtesye_, probably
printed in 1491, consisting of two quarto pages. There is also one of
the two known copies of a curious placard, issued by Caxton, inviting
those who were disposed to buy 'ony pyes of two and thre comemoracions
of Salisburi vse' to come to him at Westminster, and they should have
them 'good chepe[326].' The other copy is in the possession of Earl
Spencer. A very different, but still very curious, item is a large
collection of chap-books and children's penny books of the last century
and commencement of the present; and two folio volumes are filled with
black-letter ballads. A catalogue of the library was published in one
volume, in folio, in 1840; the part containing the printed books was the
work of Mr. H. Symonds, of Magdalen Hall (B.A. 1840, M.A. 1842, now
Precentor of Norwich), and that which describes the Fragments, the
Charters and the Manuscripts was drawn up by Rev. H. O. Coxe. From the
year 1839 until the commencement of 1842, Mr. Thomas Dodd, formerly a
well-known London dealer in prints, and author of the _Connoisseur's
Repertory_, was employed in making a catalogue of the Douce prints and
drawings. This catalogue still remains in MS. Four very grand studies of
heads, drawn either by Raffaelle or Giulio Romano, have recently been
framed and hung at the western end of the Library.
On June 25, Convocation sanctioned the transfer to the Library of the
room immediately over the entrance in the gateway-tower of the Schools,
(now called the _Mason Room_) which had been hitherto assigned as the
'Savile Study,' on condition that a small room in the adjoining
south-east angle of the quadrangle should be prepared at the expense of
the Bodleian for the reception of the MSS. and printed books,
instruments, &c., which were given to the University by Sir Henry Savile
for the use of his Professors. This is the room in which the Savile
library (which includes also some books given by Dr. Wallis and Sir
Christopher Wren) is still preserved, under the charge of the Savilian
Professors of Geometry and Astronomy.
On July 5, Convocation confirmed the nomination of Rev. William Cureton,
M.A., of Ch. Ch. (afterwards so well known for his Syriac studies,
which gained him the patronage of the Prince Consort and a Canonry at
Westminster), to the Sub-librarianship vacated by Rev. E. Hawkins.
Mr. Edmund Grove, of Magdalen College (who never graduated), was
appointed Assistant in April, _vice_ Mr. Stephen Exup. Wentworth, of
Balliol (B.A. 1833, M.A. 1835). Mr. Wentworth appears to have succeeded
Mr. Forster in 1832.
[319] Another collection of sale catalogues in forty-five vols. was
purchased in 1836.
[320] Another collection, in twenty-eight vols., of plays chiefly dating
from 1630 to 1707, was bought, in 1842, for £6 17_s._
[321] In 1837 _Romeo and Juliet_, printed by Smethwicke, n. d., was
bought for £9 10_s._; in 1840, _Richard III_, 1605, for £21, and
_Hamlet_, 1611, for £10 10_s._; and in 1841 the first edit. 1595, of
part iii. of _Henry VI._ was bought at Chalmers' sale for £131!
[322] Mr. Paine died in France in 1789, aged 73 years. The picture was
painted by Reynolds in June, 1764. Among the buildings erected by Paine
were Brocket Hall, Herts; Wardour Castle, Wilts; and Richmond Bridge.
[323] To the British Museum Mr. Douce bequeathed his own Diaries and
Notebooks, to remain sealed up until Jan. 1, 1900, in order that all of
his own and the succeeding generation may have passed away before the
personal histories which they undoubtedly contain are brought to light.
[324] In the majority of instances the books bear MS. notes by Douce,
which often are valuable for the references they afford to other works
and sources of further information. A few specimens of some of the
fuller notes of this kind were contributed by the present writer to the
early volumes of the second series of _Notes and Queries_. One book,
viz. John Weever's _Epigrammes_, 1599, containing notes by Douce, which
had somehow escaped from his library before it came to Oxford, was
purchased in 1838, for £24 10_s._ A letter written by Douce in 1804,
dated from the British Museum, where he was for a short time Keeper of
the MSS., was bought in 1864, and a few other papers in 1866.
[325] In the same beautiful volume are facsimiles from three of Douce's
MS. _Horæ_.
[326] A facsimile of this advertisement is given in the catalogue of the
Douce library.