The original MS. of Burnet's _History of his Own Times_, with a copy
prepared for the press, a portion of his _History of the Reformation_,
and some other papers by him, was purchased, from a family descended
from the Bishop, for £210. An account of these MSS. may be found at p.
474 of the Appendix to Burnet's _History of James II_, being an extract
from the _Own Times_ which Dr. Routh edited, with additional notes, when
ninety-six years old, in 1852. The copy prepared for the press is
expressly mentioned in the catalogue for 1835 as forming part of the
purchase; and yet that copy appears from a passage in a letter from
Rawlinson, dated Aug. 18, 1743, to have been then in the hands of that
collector, whence it would have been supposed that it must have passed
at once into the possession of the Library. After mentioning the book,
Rawlinson says, 'I purchased the MSS. of a gentleman who corrected the
press where that book was printed, and amongst his papers I have all the
castrations[327].'
The MS. of Lewis' _Life of Wyclif_, with some additions by the author,
was bought for £4 14_s._ 6_d._ Various other MSS. by Lewis were already
in the Library among Dr. Rawlinson's collections. The purchases of
printed books were chiefly amongst early editions of Classics (Juvenal,
Ovid, Virgil, &c), Fathers (Augustine, Jerome), Schoolmen, and a very
large series of fifteenth-century editions of the Decretals, Digest,
Institutes, and other works in Canon and Civil Law. These were obtained
at the sale of the famous library of Dr. Kloss, of Frankfort, whose
collection was so remarkably rich in books bearing MS. notes by
Melanchthon.
A curious collection of papers and pamphlets, printed and MS., relating
to Spanish affairs, and of much interest to students of Spanish history,
contained in thirty-two volumes in folio and eighty in quarto, was
purchased for £40. It was lot 4583 in Heber's sale, by whom it had been
bought at the Yriarte sale for more than £100.
[327] Ballard MS. ii. 88.