A volume containing two autograph letters of Luther was bought for £20,
together with a large collection of printed books (formed by --
Schneider, of Berlin,) relating to him and the German Reformation, with
various editions of his works, for £300. Another volume, with some small
additional papers in the Reformer's hand, was subsequently obtained.
The ever-increasing Bible collection received the addition of the very
rare _ed. princ._ of the Bohemian Bible, printed at Prague in 1488,
which was obtained for £17 10_s._, and a still more rare edition of the
Pentateuch, with New Test., &c. printed at Wittemberg in 1529, obtained
for eighteen guineas. A Roman Missal, printed 'ad longum, absque ulla
requisitione,' (_i.e._ in a kind of 'Prayer-book-as-read' form,) Lyons,
1550, was obtained for £20. It was arranged by Nicholas Roillet, Chanter
of the Church of S. Nicetius at Lyons, with the view of avoiding
difficulties and delays, 'sacerdotesque expectantibus molestos
reddentes, ipsosque erga dictos circumstantes scandalum generantes, qui
existimant illos non solum ignaros sed nescientes quid agendum vel
faciendam habeant;' and was issued with the papal _imprimatur_ of Paul
III. But as Pius V and Clem. VIII subsequently forbade any variation
whatsoever from the authorized Roman form, this Missal, like the
Breviary of Card. Quignones, was, with others, suppressed. And hence its
rarity.
Fifty guineas were given for a very large collection of Chinese works,
numbering altogether about 1100, which had been gathered by Rev. F.
Evans, for some time a missionary in China. Some of the Chinese books in
the Library have been subsequently examined and catalogued by Professor
Summers, of King's College, London.
On May 22, a new body of Library Statutes was confirmed by Convocation,
after a complete revision of the previous regulations. The principal
changes, besides the omission of various obsolete requirements, were the
adding five elected Curators, holding office for ten years, to the old
_ex officio_ body of eight; the providing for the removal of books to
the extra-mural 'Camera,' or reading-room, about to be added; the fixing
the stipend of the Librarian (including all the former fees and small
separate payments) at £700, and that of the Sub-librarians at £300, and
the assigning to the former a retiring pension after twenty years'
service of £200, and after thirty years', of £300, and to the latter,
after thirty years', of £150; and the making a few alterations with
regard to the times at which the Library should be closed, these times
being lessened by about one week in the course of the year.
A report from the eminent architect, Mr. G. G. Scott, on the means which
might be adopted for the enlargement of the Library, and for rendering
it fire-proof, dated in Dec. 1855, was printed in this year, together
with one from Mr. Braidwood on the warming apparatus (see under 1821).
Mr. Scott's report contained suggestions for the extension of the
Library throughout the whole of the quadrangle and adjoining buildings,
including the Ashmolean Museum, and proposed that the Divinity School
should be assigned as a reading room, for which the great degree of
light afforded by its large windows appeared peculiarly to fit it. The
subsequent assignment, however, of the Radcliffe Library as a
reading-room for the Library, removed the immediate necessity for any
other extension. In 1858 a paper on the subject, illustrated with a plan
of the Library, was printed by the late Dr. Wellesley, who, after
considering the various modes then suggested for the enlargement of the
Library, recommended the adoption (from the British Museum) of presses
running up direct from the ground through all the floors, by which the
dangers attendant upon the increase of weight of the wall-pressure would
be obviated.