The magnificent series of historical prints and drawings which is
called, from the name of its collectors and its donor, the Sutherland
collection, was presented to the University on May 4 in this year,
although it was not actually deposited in the Library until March,
1839[330]. The six volumes of the folio editions of Clarendon's _History
of the Rebellion_ and _Life_, and of Burnet's _Own Times_, are inlaid
and bound in sixty-one elephant folio volumes, and illustrated with the
enormous number of 19,224 portraits of every person and views of every
place in any way mentioned in the text, or connected with its
subject-matter[331]. The gathering was commenced in 1795 by Alexander
Hendras Sutherland, Esq., F.S.A.; on his death (May 21, 1820) it was
taken up by his widow[332], who spared neither labour nor money to
render it as complete as possible, and by whom its contents were,
consequently, nearly doubled. At length, desiring, in accordance with
her husband's will, that the results of her own and his labour should be
always preserved intact, Mrs. Sutherland presented the whole collection
to the Bodleian. Its extent may be in some degree appreciated when it is
mentioned that there are (according to Mrs. Sutherland's statement in
the preface to the Supplementary Catalogue) 184 portraits of James I, of
which 135 are distinct plates; 743 of Charles I, of which 573 are
distinct plates, besides sixteen drawings; 373 of Cromwell (253 plates);
552 of Charles II (428 plates); 276 of James II; 175 of Mary II (143
plates); and 431 of William III, of which 363 are separate plates[333].
There are also 309 views of London and 166 of Westminster. Amongst those
of London is a drawing on many sheets, by a Dutch artist, Antonio van
den Wyngaerde, executed between 1558-1563. It affords a view which
extends from the Palace at Westminster to that at Greenwich, both
included; and comprehends also Lambeth Palace and part of Southwark,
with the palace there of the Protector Somerset, in which the Mint was
situated. The whole amount expended on the formation of the series is
estimated at £20,000.
The collection is accompanied by a handsomely printed Catalogue,
compiled by Mrs. Sutherland, and published in 1837 in three volumes
quarto, two containing the portraits, and one the topography[334]. A
Supplement to this was printed in the following year, in the preface to
which Mrs. Sutherland records her transfer of the collection. She adds
that 'the University of Oxford, by the manner in which it has received
the collection, has afforded her the high gratification of witnessing
the fulfilment, in their utmost extent, of the wishes of its founder;
and in the liberal step which its future conservators have taken, to
insure a direct and easy means of reference to the prints, she finds
proof of their intention to comply with her own earnest desire, that the
books should be as freely open to those really interested in them as may
be consistent with their safe preservation. Under the superintendence of
the compiler, but at the expense of the University, a copy of the
Catalogue has been prepared, in which every print is marked with the
page which it respectively fills in the volumes; by means of this, every
difficulty of reference, and every doubt as to the print intended to be
described, is obviated, and the manuscript indices will be preserved
from the injury of constant use. In order to prevent the possibility of
disappointment in referring from this marked catalogue, every print
(with four exceptions only) of which the page has not been ascertained,
has been struck out, although probably several of the portraits not at
present found are still in the volumes.' The following letter of thanks
was addressed by Convocation to the donor[335]:--
'To Mrs. Sutherland, of Merrow, in the County of Surrey.
'MADAM,--We, the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University
of Oxford, feel ourselves called upon to acknowledge, in a public
and formal manner, the splendid donation recently made by you to our
Bodleian Library.
'It is doubtless a source of much gratification to us that our
University should have been selected by you as the fittest
depository of so valuable a collection; but we are not, on that
account, less disposed to appreciate and admire the feeling which
has led you to make so considerable a sacrifice, and to relinquish
the possession of what has been to you, for many years, an object of
constant interest and occupation.
'We shall prize the matchless volumes about to be committed to our
care, not merely as being embellished with the richest specimens of
the graphic art, but as possessing a real historical character; as
enhancing, in no slight degree, the value of works which we have
long been accustomed to regard as most important contributions to
the annals and literature of our Country.
'Given at our House of Convocation, under our Common Seal, this
first day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and thirty-seven[336].'
A few other books were sent by Mrs. Sutherland at the same time,
including Boydell's _Shakespeare_, Heath's _Chronicle_, Scott's edition
of Dalrymple's _Preservation of Charles II_, Faber's _Kit-Cat Club_,
Wilson's _Catalogue of an Amateur_, &c. And in 1843 she increased her
former gift by the presentation of copies of a large number of
illustrated, biographical, and historical works, many of which are in a
like manner enriched with additional engravings. Chief amongst these is
a copy of Park's edition of Walpole's _Royal and Noble Authors_,
enlarged from five vols. 8^o. to 20 vols. 4^o. by the insertion of
prints, portraits, and some of the original drawings. Similarly enlarged
copies of Dr. Dibdin's works are also included; together with framed
oil-portraits of Frederic, King of Bohemia, and of Mr. Sutherland.
A curious collection of rare Dutch tracts, in two vols., printed at
Amsterdam between 1637 and 1664, and relating to English, Irish, and
Scottish affairs, chiefly during the Civil Wars, was bought for £2
13_s._ And an enormous gathering of English pamphlets, on every kind of
subject, in prose and verse, between about 1600 and 1820, said to number
19,380 articles, and which had accumulated in the stores of the
well-known bookseller, Mr. Thomas Rodd, was bought of him for £101
14_s._ 6_d._ These exceeding, from their number, the powers of the then
very slender staff of the Library for arrangement and cataloguing,
remained piled up in cupboards for about twenty-five years. But a
general clearance out of all neglected corners taking place on the
appointment of the present Librarian to the Headship, they were then
sorted (to a certain extent), bound, numbered, and incorporated in the
general Catalogue; when they proved to be a valuable addition to the
pamphlet-literature, comparatively few of them being found to be
duplicates.
_Shakespeare_; _Romeo and Juliet._ See 1834.
_Sanscrit MSS._ See 1842.
A grant was made by Convocation of £400 annually, for five years,
towards the expense of the new Catalogue, the printing of which was
commenced in the summer. A statute also was passed providing that there
should be two 'ministri,' or assistants, with salaries regulated by the
Curators.
The Rev. Herbert Hill, M.A., Fellow of New College, was approved by
Convocation, on Oct. 26, as Sub-librarian, in the room of Mr. Cureton,
who removed in this year to the British Museum. Mr. Hill, however, only
held the office for one year. And Mr. Richard Firth, New College (B.A.
1839, M.A. 1849, now, and from 1850, a Chaplain in the diocese of
Madras), became _minister_ in the room of Mr. F. J. Marshall, New
College (B.A. 1834, M.A. 1837, Chaplain of New College, deceased 1843),
who had probably entered the Library in 1834 in the place of Mr. Etty.
[330] MS. note by Mrs. Sutherland in the Library copy of her catalogue.
[331] As early as 1819 the collection numbered 10,000 prints, bound in
57 volumes. Clarke's _Repert. Bibliogr._ pp. 574-577.
[332] Mrs. Sutherland died March 18, 1852.
[333] In Mrs. Sutherland's own copy of the catalogue (now in the
possession of E. L. Hussey, Esq., Oxford), some of these numbers are
enlarged in MS. as follows: Charles II, 557, being 432 plates; Cromwell,
379, 255 plates; William III, 436, 367 plates. Amongst the portraits,
there are frequently numerous copies of the same plate, being
impressions in all its different states. In a few instances
(particularly with regard to Charles I) some of the prints entered in
the catalogue have not been found in the volumes.
[334] Ten copies were printed of a larger and finer edition, for
presentation to various Libraries, but as only four of these (Bodleian,
Cambridge University, British Museum, and Bibl. Royale, Paris)
acknowledged the gift (the letters from which are preserved in one copy
of the catalogue), no more than five copies were printed of the
Supplement. Consequently those Libraries which did not return thanks for
the gift have now an imperfect book.
[335] It is here printed from the original (written in the beautifully
neat hand of the late Registrar, Dr. Bliss,) which is now in the
possession of a nephew of Mrs. Sutherland, Edw. Law Hussey, Esq., of
Oxford, M.R.C.S. It is sealed with the old University seal, described on
p. 1 of these _Annals_, enclosed in a gold box. The late Rev. R. Hussey,
Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History, was one of the brothers of
Mrs. Sutherland.
[336] A very erroneous notice of the collection, written in a singularly
depreciatory tone, was inserted in an article in the _Quarterly Review_,
in 1852, vol. xci. p. 217. The writer appears to have confounded the
facts connected with Gough's preference of the Bodleian to the British
Museum (as told in Nichols' _Lit. Hist._), or possibly Douce's, with the
totally different circumstances of Mrs. Sutherland's gift, whose husband
had left the collection entirely at her disposal, provided only that it
were not dispersed.