Joannis Sarisburiensis Polycraticus seu de Nugis Curialium.
Lugd. Bat. 1495.
In English Literature, I have much pleasure in mentioning the Works of
Bacon, Locke, and Temple, in 4to., uniformly bound in old calf; Tonson’s
Shakespeare, London, 1725, in 6 vols. 4to. in old calf, gilt; Barclay’s
Argenis, London, 1622; Bryant’s Mythology, 1775; Spence’s Polymetis;
Cowley’s Works, 1684; Digges’ Compleat Ambassadour; Chamber’s Dictionary;
Blair’s Lectures; Buchanan’s Poems; Chaucer’s Works, in black letter, by
Robert Toye, London; Hayley’s Poems; Hutchinson’s Works, 1749, 12 vols.;
the Works of James I. and Samuel Johnson; Milton’s Works, by Baskerville
and by Newton; Prior’s Works; Selden’s Works, by Wilkins, London, 1726,
in 3 vols. folio; Shaftesbury’s Characteristics, in 3 vols. 8vo.;
Spenser’s Faery Queen; and I may add, Smith’s Catal. MSS. Cotton. et MSS.
Oxon. Oxonii, 1696-7, with 3 vols. of Osborne’s Catalogues.
In conclusion, I may notice the Works of Petrarch; Voltaire’s Henriade,
and Chamber’s Architecture, in 2 vols. folio; Bayle’s Dictionary, London,
1735; Macpherson’s Fingal, 1762; Thomæ Mori Opera Latina; Watson’s
History of Halifax; and Nott’s Odes of Hafiz.
The only two Manuscripts which occurred to me on inspecting this Library,
were the Statutes of Peterhouse College in Cambridge, and an Account of
the Foundation of Christ Church at Oxford.
It is right to notice, what all chartered or collegiate bodies who
possess Libraries, would do well to imitate, that all the volumes in this
Collection are distinguished by a book plate, representing the sacred
figure, above whose head is written “Decan. et Cap. Cicestr.” and below
whose feet is inscribed “Liber Monumenti coram eo.”
[Illustration]
Library of Durham.
The Library of this Chapter is preserved in a spacious and luminous
apartment more than one hundred feet in length, and of proportional
width, occupying one side of the space above the Cloisters. It was, in
former times, the Refectory of the Monastery, and the walls which once
resounded with the crash of monastic mastication, now echo the footsteps
of the casual visiter or cloistered student. A Portrait of Dean Sudbury,
the founder of the Library after the Restoration, is at the end of the
room; and on the floor are several Roman Altars, discovered in the
vicinity of Durham.
The Books are well arranged upon shelves of easy access, and appear
remarkably free from damp; the cases projecting from the wall on either
side into the room; with due intervals for study.
In the south alley of the Cloisters is a large hall, called the
Frater-house, finely wainscotted on the north and south side, by Thomas
Castell, Prior, A.D. 1518. Within the door on the left hand, at entering
is a strong Almery in the wall, wherein the Grace Cup, the Grace Major,
called the Judas’s Cup, and St. Bede’s Bowl, did stand. In that Almery
lay all the best plate that served the Convent in the Frater-house on
Festival Days; and there was a fine work of carved wainscot before, and a
strong lock on the door, so as none could perceive there was any Almery
at all, the key-hole being made under the carved work of the wainscot.
In this Frater-house the Prior, and the whole Convent of the Monks held
their great feast of St. Cuthbert, in Lent, having their meat served out
of the dresser-window of the great kitchen, into the Frater-house; and
their drink out of the great cellar.
At the east end of the Frater-house stood a fair table with a skreen of
wainscot over it, being kept all the rest of the year for the Master of
the Novices, the Elects, and the Novices, to dine and sup at, having
their meat served to them in the same manner.
At these times one of the Novices, appointed by the Master, read some
part of the Old and New Testament in Latin, during dinner, having a
convenient place at the south end of the high table, within a fair glass
window, encompassed with iron, and certain stone steps with iron rails to
go up to an iron desk, whereon lay the Holy Bible, which reading being
ended, the Master tolled a silver bell, hanging over his head, thereby
giving notice to one of the Novices to come to the high table and say
grace, and that ended, they departed to their books.
This fabric retained the name of the Petty Canons’ Hall, till Dr.
Sudbury, Dean of this Cathedral, generously erected a beautiful Library
in its place, which he, not living to finish completely, by the following
clause of his last will, binds his heir, Sir John Sudbury, to the due
execution thereof.
“Item, whereas I have lately contracted with several workmen for the
building of a Library in the place commonly called the Petty Canons Hall
in the College of Durham, for the use of the Dean and Prebendaries of the
said Cathedral Church. And if it should please God that I do not live
to finish the same, my will and pleasure is that my executor, hereafter
named, shall pay out of my personal estate all such sum or sums of money
as shall be necessary for the finishing thereof, according to such form
or modell, or in such manner as I shall leave directions for under my
hand, attested by two or more good and sufficient witnesses. This will is
dated Jan. 11, 1683.”[11]
The books were removed to their present situation by Dean Sudbury, in
the seventeenth century, up to whose time they had been kept in the room
adjoining the Chapter-house, and also over the Cloisters.
This Library contains from seven to eight thousand volumes, of which five
hundred and twenty are in Manuscript. The printed books amounting to
seven thousand two hundred and fifty-nine volumes, at the time of this
present writing.
Three Catalogues of the printed books remain in this collection; the
first compiled about the time of Charles II. in one folio volume, bears
the following title:
“Catalogus Librorum Ecclesiæ Cathedralis Dunelmensis dispositus exaratus,
adornatus à doctissimo ornatissimoque viro Joanne Milner, A. M. ejusdem
Ecclesiæ Precentore et Bibliothecario dignissimo.”
The second is a folio on vellum, compiled in the time of Bishop Cosin,
the title whereof runneth thus:
“Bibliotheca Ecclesiæ Cathedralis Dunelmensis à Decano et Capitulo
ejusdem Ecclesiæ instaurata anno dni MDCXXVIII. et ab eisdem exinde per
annuales eorum expensas aliaque benefactorum donaria ornata adaucta et
bonis libris instructa.”
The third is the Catalogue now in use, accurately arranged in
alphabetical order, by the Rev. James Raine, the present Librarian. It is
to be hoped that this gentleman may be enabled to steal a few hours from
his antiquarian researches, to prepare this Catalogue, with appropriate
notices of the rarer articles, for the press, to which I trust it will
ere long be committed by the liberality of the Dean and Chapter.
There is also a Catalogue of Glosses and Commentators in this collection,
compiled by Elias Smith, during the period of the Great Rebellion.
Thomas Rud has also left behind him a very curious Catalogue of the
Books bought in his time, with their prices, a work which has been very
properly continued by the succeeding Curator of this Library.
A book is also kept upon the table for the entry of all volumes borrowed
or taken away from the Library, with the name of the person so taking
them and the date when taken.
This precaution has happily been adopted in this as in other Cathedral
Libraries, but not until after much inconvenience, and in some instances
serious losses had been sustained from the want of this or a similar
regulation.
The latitude which so long prevailed in this respect, has of late years
been exchanged for rigorous custody, and none but prebendal keys can now
unlock the chamber wherein the literary treasures of the Dean and Chapter
are deposited.
Of the printed books in this collection I will proceed to give such an
account as the opportunities afforded me, enabled me to collect, during a
cursory survey of this ancient Library.
A great part of this, as of most ancient Libraries, consists of Glosses,
Decretals, and Pandects, with other early and almost forgotten Works of
Divinity, and the obscurer authors of the middle ages.
Passing by these, I first directed my attention to the earliest
impression of the Holy Scriptures in the English language, being that
printed by Christian Egenolff, at Franckfort, in 1535, folio, and known
as Coverdale’s Bible. The present copy wants the title, and two leaves
of the Prefatory matter, beginning with the last leaf of the Prologue.
It is also defective in all the leaves of the Revelations, which follow
signature T.T. iii. The three last leaves are much torn, but the book
is sound in the middle, and in very ordinary calf binding. By some
unaccountable error it has been lettered on the back “Grafton’s Bible.
1541.”
I also noticed an imperfect copy of Matthew’s Bible of 1549, reprinted
from the edition of 1537, in folio; the second edition of the Bishop’s
Bible, printed at London, by Richard Jugge, in 1572, folio, with a double
version of the Psalms; a copy of the Bible of 1641, in folio, and the
Bible printed at Cambridge in 1663, 4to.; the Bible printed at Oxford,
by J. Baskett, in 1717, in 2 volumes, folio, in forrel binding, with
clasps; Baskerville’s elegant folio edition of the Scriptures; the Bible,
with Notes by Bishop Wilson, printed by Cruttwell at Bath, in 1785, in 3
volumes, 4to.; the Manse Bible, printed at Whitehaven in 1775, 4to., in
calf binding; and the Bible, with Notes by D’Oyley and Mant, printed at
Oxford in 1817, in 3 vols. 4to.; and Reeves’ Bible, in nine 4to. volumes.
I also remarked fine copies of the Hebrew Bible, by Van der Hooght,
Houbigant, Buxtorf, and Kennicott, in calf binding; the Biblia Græca, of
Grabe; the Vetus Testamentum juxta LXX, edited by Holmes and Parsons,
at Oxford, in 5 volumes, folio; the Biblia Polyglotta complectentia
textus originales Hebraicum, cum pentateucho, Samaritanum, Chaldaicum,
Græcum, &c. cum apparatu appendicibus tabulis, &c. ex editione Briani
Waltoni, Londini, Thomas Roycroft, 1655-57, in 6 folio volumes, with the
indispensable and customary adjunct of Castelli Lexicon Heptaglotton,
Hebraicum, Chaldaicum, Syriacum, Samaritanum, &c. cui accessit brevis
grammaticæ delineatio, Londini, Th. Roycroft, 1669, in 2 folio volumes,
all uniformly bound in calf; the Biblia Polyglotta curâ Bened. Ariæ
Montani, Antverpiæ, Plantinus, 1569-72, wanting one volume, in folio.
I may here mention the Heptateuchus:—Liber Job, et Evangelium Nicodemi,
Anglo-Saxonicè; Historia Judith, Dana-Saxonicè, edited by Edward
Thwaites, at Oxford, in 8vo.; Codex Theodori Bezæ, Cantabrigiensis,
Evangelia et Acta Apostolorum complectens, quadratis literis,
Græco-Latinis, adumbravit, expressit, edidit, &c. Thomas Kipling, S.T.P.
Cantabrigiæ, 1793, in 2 volumes, folio; Wetstein’s Edition of the Greek
Testament; the Evangelia Gothica, edited by Junius; and Psalterium
Davidis Latino-Saxonicum Vetus, à Johanne Spelmanno editum è vetustissimo
Exemplari manuscripto, et tribus aliis collatum, Londini, 1640, 4to.
There are also Bibles in the Spanish and French languages; and many Latin
Bibles, the earliest of which appeared to be that printed at Venice in
1484, by Herbert de Selgenstat, a German, in double columns of small
Gothic letter, in a quarto form, bound in red morocco, with a cover,
originally appertaining unto John Cade, whose illustrative propensities
are displayed by a coloured representation of the Virgin, pasted on
the back of the first leaf of this book. The passion of this defunct
collector for illustrating books is said to have been so strong as to
have led to the expansion of his copy of Dugdale’s Works to no less than
one hundred volumes.
On viewing the literary remains of polemical controversy, and the
dust-covered rows of obsolete divinity, one is tempted involuntarily to
exclaim—
“Hi motus animorum atque hæc certamina tanta
Pulveris exigui jactu compressa quiescant.”
Of these writers, over whose voluminous works the modern eye so coldly
glances, some occupied no small share of the public attention in their
time, and of a few might be said,
“He knew what’s what, and that’s as high
As metaphysic wit can fly;
In school Divinity as able
As he that hight Irrefragable,
A second Thomas, or at once
To name them all, another Dunse;
Profound in all the Nominal
And Real ways above them all;
For he a rope of sand could twist
As tough as learned Sorbonist.”
_Butler’s Hudibras_, Part I. Canto I. v. 149.
It is remarkable that two-thirds of the eminent schoolmen were of
British birth, a circumstance which renders the preservation of
their labours in the Cathedral Libraries of England a matter of some
consequence to those who love to trace the scintillations of the English
mind through the Cimmerian gloom of the schools.
In these repositories we also find the marvellous legends of those great
and good men whom the Church delighted to honour.
The present collection offers several editions of the once popular
Legenda Aurea, the first bearing the date 1475, in 4to.; the second
having been printed at Cologne in 1483, in folio; and the third by Wynkyn
de Worde at London, in 1516, in folio, in double columns of Gothic
character. Both the last are in excellent preservation.
Among the multitude of schoolmen and divines of the earlier ages, it
is difficult to select those which may convey an adequate impression
of the extent of this collection. Here the eye reposes on the Works of
Sermundus, in brilliant condition, on large paper. There it meets with
the Works of Pope Benedict the XIVth, and a long array of the Fathers and
other pillars of the Church.
Coleridge conceived Origen, Jerome, and Augustine to be the three fathers
in respect of theology, and Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and Chrysostom in
respect of rhetoric.[12] Of the truth of this assertion the student may
here convince himself, for this Library contains these authors, forming
part of a good collection of the Fathers of the Church.
In this Library are deposited the Works of the Fathers of the Church,
including those of SS. Ambrose, Athanasius, Augustine, Basil, Bernard,
Chrysostom, Clemens Alexandrinus, Cyprian, Cyril, Episcopius, Epiphanius,
Eusebius, Gregory, Jerome, Hilary, Ignatius, Irenæus, Isidore, Justin
Martyr, Lactantius, Peter Martyr, Origen, Polycarp, Tertullian, and
Theophylact; with the Bibliotheca Maxima Patrum, &c.
Among the earlier Divines I noticed the Works of Anselm, Bellarmine,
Calvin, Erasmus, Grotius, Thomas à Kempis, Lanfranc, Socinus, and
Zanchius.
The Divines of the English Church, whose labours are found within these
walls, are Abbot, Allix, Andrews, Barrow, Beveridge, Chillingworth,
Samuel Clarke, Comber, Doddridge, Hall, Hammond, Hoadley, Hopkins,
Jackson, Jewel, Jortin, Kennicott, Lardner, Leighton, Lightfoot, Mede,
Ogden, Paley, Patrick, Pearce, Porteus, Reynolds, Sherlock, South,
Stillingfleet, Jeremy Taylor, Tenison, Tillotson, Usher, Warburton,
Waterland, and Whiston; with numerous publications of other theologians
of the olden time, the greater portion of which has been either presented
or bequeathed to the Library by the Prebendaries of Durham.
In the Divinity class are also found the Discourses of Bossuet and
Saurin; the Bampton Lectures; Elsley’s Annotations; Faber on Idolatry,
Prophecy, and other Works; Hey’s Lectures; Macknight’s Harmony of the
Gospels; Pearsoni Opera Posthuma; Prideaux and Shuckford’s Connection;
Routh’s Reliquiæ Sacræ; Slade on the Epistles; Stackhouse’s Body of
Divinity; Wake’s Genuine Epistles of the Apostolical Fathers; Wall on
Infant Baptism; and Whitby’s Paraphrase.
In this place I may enumerate the large assemblage of Canons,
Concordances, Councils, Synods, Glosses, and Commentators, collected
within these walls. Bingham’s Antiquities of the Christian Church;
Calmet’s Dictionary of the Bible; Hooker’s Ecclesiastical Polity; Hyde’s
Religio Veterum Persarum; Howell’s Synopsis Canonum; Limborch Theologia
Christiana; Nicolai de Lyra Commentaria in S. Biblia; the Bibliotheca
Maxima Patrum; Spencer de legibus Hebræorum; Suiceri Thesaurus
Ecclesiasticus; Suarez de Legibus; and many other Works of Divinity too
numerous for particular mention in this cursory survey of this valuable
and extensive collection.
In Ecclesiastical History, this Library contains many valuable Works,
including Alfordi Annales Ecclesiæ Britannicæ, in 4 vols. folio; Baronii
Annales Ecclesiastici; Bedæ Venerabilis Historia Anglicana Ecclesiastica,
cura Smithii, Cantabrigiæ, folio; a beautiful copy upon large paper in
blue morocco, a most appropriate ornament to this Collection.
Brandt’s History of the Reformation in the Low Countries.
Burnet’s History of the Reformation in England.
Davies’ Ancient Rites of the Cathedral of Durham.
Dod’s Church History.
Dugdale’s Monasticon Anglicanum.
Ecton’s Thesaurus.
Gibson’s Codex Juris Ecclesiastici et Civilis.
Harpsfeld’s Historia Anglicana Ecclesiastica.
Inett’s Origines Anglicanæ.
Parker de Antiquitate Ecclesiæ Britannicæ. Hanoviæ, 1605, folio.
Reyner de Apostolatu Ordinis Benedictinorum in Anglia, Duaci.
1626, folio.
Soame’s History of the Reformation.
Spotiswood’s History of the Church of Scotland.
Strype’s Ecclesiastical Memorials, and Annals of the
Reformation, both in folio.
Wharton’s Anglia Sacra.
Wordsworth’s Ecclesiastical Biography.
The latter Work leads me to mention Fiddes’s Life of Wolsey; McCrie’s
Life of Knox; Laud’s Troubles; Southey’s Life of Wesley; Strype’s Lives
of Cranmer, Grindall, Parker, and Whitgift.
I may here add the Histories of the Jews by Basnage and Josephus; and
the entire series of the valuable Acta Sanctorum, compiled by the
Bollandists, in 52 folio volumes.
Connected with the above, I may here notice Foxe’s Acts and Monuments of
the Church, in 3 volumes, folio; the Concilia of Spelman, in folio; and
Collier’s Ecclesiastical History.
The Historical department of this Library embraces the long series of the
Byzantine Historians; the valuable Collections of Grævius and Gronovius,
relating to the History and Antiquities of Greece and Italy, with the
supplementary Lexicon of Pitiscus, and the Inscriptions of Gruter; the
Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, edited by the indefatigable Muratori;
the antiquarian labours of Montfaucon relating to France; and Freheri
Theatrum Virorum Clarorum.
It also contains Banduri Antiquitates Constantinopolitanæ; Burgess’
Antiquities of Rome; Collier’s Historical Dictionary; Coxe’s Memoirs
of the Kings of Spain, of the House of Bourbon, London, 1813, in 3
volumes 4to.; Kæmpfer’s History of Japan; Knolles’s General History of
the Turks; Marsden’s History of Sumatra; Maurice’s Indian Antiquities,
or Dissertations relative to the Geography, Theology, Laws, &c. of
Hindostan, London, 1793-1800, in 7 octavo volumes; Mitford’s History of
Greece; Niebuhr’s History of Rome; Ockley’s Conquest of Syria, Persia,
and Egypt, by the Saracens; Orme’s History of the Military Transactions
of the British Nation in Indostan; Pococke’s Description of the East;
Pontoppidan’s Natural History of Norway; Russell’s Modern Europe; Sandy’s
Europæ Speculum; De Thou’s History of his own Time; Southey’s History
of Brazil; Watson’s History of Philip II. of Spain; and Robertson’s
Historical Works; and some old Latin Chronicles.
This Library is also adorned by the Antichita d’Ercolano; the Museum
Florentinum; Hamilton’s Vases; Gell’s Pompeiana; Stuart’s Antiquities of
Athens; and Young on the Hieroglyphics of Egypt.
The Travels of Clarke, Chandler, Shaw, and others; Coxe’s Account of the
Russian Discoveries between Asia and America; the Conquest of Siberia,
and Russian Commerce with China; Maundrell’s Journey from Aleppo to
Jerusalem; the Voyages of Cook, Parry, Perouse, Taverner, and other
Navigators, with the Petits Voyages of De Bry, are found on these
well-stored shelves, accompanied by the requisite addition of Janson’s
Atlas.
The History of the Peninsular War, by Southey and the Marquis of
Londonderry, are also found in this Collection.
The books relating to the History of Great Britain in this Library,
include the collection of fifteen Historians, by Gale and Fell, and of
ten by Twysden, Camdeni Anglica Normannica à veteribus scripta; Asser
Menevensis, edited by Wise; Simeon of Worcester, edited by Nasmyth, 1778,
8vo.; Matthew Paris’ Historia Anglicana, edited by Wats, London, 1684,
folio, upon large paper, in calf binding; Matthew of Westminster’s Flores
Historiarum, folio; and William of Malmesbury, 1596, folio.
The Histories of England, by Brady, Carte, Daniel, Echard, Hallam,
Lingard, Mac Pherson, Rapin, Tindal, and Sharon Turner.
The Chronicles of Grafton, Holinshed, and Froissart; the latter
translated and printed by Mr. Johnes at Hafod; Duchesne’s Histoire
d’Angleterre; Polydori Vergilii Historia Anglicana, Basileæ, 1526, folio;
Forduni Scoti-Chronicon; Chaloner de Republicâ Anglorum restauranda;
Sheringham de Anglorum Gentis origine; Robert de Avesbury’s Historia
Edvardi III. edente Tho. Hearnio, Oxon. 1729, 8vo.; Gildas de excidio et
conquestu Britanniæ; Gibson’s Chronicon Saxonicum; & Eadmeri Historia
Novorum.
The Historical Collections of Rushworth and Nalson; the State Papers
of Clarendon and Thurloe; the Sidney Papers; the State Trials, edited
by Hargrave and others; Somers’ Collection of Tracts; the Harleian
Miscellany; Lodge’s Illustrations of British History; the Journals of the
House of Commons; and all the publications issued under the authority of
the Record Commission.
Burton’s Diary of the Cromwellian Parliaments; Clarendon’s Diary
and History of the Great Rebellion; Coxe’s Memoirs of John Duke of
Marlborough; Ellis’ Letters, illustrative of English History; Evelyn’s
Memoirs; Fenn’s Letters of the Paston Family; Lyttelton’s History of
Henry the Second; North’s Examen of Kennet’s History; Pepys’ Memoirs;
Ridpath’s Border History, and Nicolson’s Border Laws; with Temple’s
History of the Rebellion in Ireland, and Thoresby’s Diary.
Illustrative of Scottish History, I remarked Abercrombie’s Martial
Achievements of the Scots’ Nation; the Histories of Scotland, by Keith,
Robertson, and Stuart; Sanderson’s Life of Queen Mary; Johnstone’s
Antiquitates Celto-Scandicæ.
This Library is peculiarly rich in Works relating to the Topography and
Antiquities of Great Britain, embracing the entire Works of Pennant,
all the Antiquities of Grose; Gough’s Sepulchral Monuments; Britton’s
Architectural Antiquities, and Picturesque Illustrations of the English
Cathedrals; Horsley’s Britannia Romana; Lysons’ Magna Britannia;
Buck’s Views of Cities, Castles, &c. in Great Britain; Camden’s
Britannia, edited by Gough, in 3 vols. folio; Speed’s Theatre of Great
Britain; Strutt’s Horda, and his Regal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities;
and Leland’s Itinerary, edited by Hearne, Oxford, 1768; and Lewis’
Topographical Dictionary of England.
The County Histories which enrich this Collection are, a large paper copy
of Aubrey’s History of Surrey, in old calf binding; Ashmole’s Berkshire;
Atkyns’s Gloucestershire, London, 1712, folio; Bridge’s Northamptonshire;
Burton’s Leicestershire; Borlase’s Cornwall; Chauncey’s Hertfordshire;
Collinson’s Somersetshire; Dugdale’s Warwickshire, edited by Thomas;
Hasted’s Kent, in 4 volumes, folio; Hutchinson’s Northumberland and
Durham; Jones’ Brecknockshire; Leicester’s Cheshire; Leigh’s Natural
History of Lancashire; Morton’s Natural History of Northamptonshire;
Nash’s History of Worcestershire; Pole’s Collections for the History of
Devonshire; Plot’s Natural History of Oxfordshire and Staffordshire;
Raine’s North Durham; Surtees’ Durham; Thoroton’s Nottinghamshire; and
Wright’s Rutland.
The Local Histories which I also noticed, were Bentham’s Ely; Battely’s
Antiquitates Rutupinæ, apparently on large paper; Charlton’s Whitby;
Dart’s History of Canterbury Cathedral, and of Westminster Abbey,
both in folio; Drake’s York; Halfpenny’s Gothic Ornaments in York
Cathedral; Izaacke’s Exeter; the original edition of Kennett’s Parochial
Antiquities; Loggan’s Oxonia and Cantabrigia Illustrata; Lyson’s Environs
of London; Newcourt’s Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Londinense, upon large
paper; Maitland’s Edinburgh; Milner’s History of Winchester; Peck’s
Annals of Stamford; Shaw’s Account of Hartlepool; Stow’s London; Somner’s
Canterbury; Thoresby’s Leeds; Whitaker’s Loidis and Elmete; White’s
Natural History of Selborne; Widmore’s Westminster Abbey; Wood’s History
of the University of Oxford; and Willis’s Cathedrals.
Allan’s Collections relating to Sherburn Hospital, and other places in
the County of Durham; and Raine’s Account of the Remains of St. Cuthbert
are most appropriately placed upon these shelves.
In this Collection I also remarked Carter’s Specimens of Gothic
Architecture; Ducarel’s Anglo-Norman Antiquities; Madox’s Formulare
Anglicanum, and History of the Exchequer; and Archdall’s Monasticon
Hibernicanum; the Archælogia, or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to
Antiquity, published by the Antiquarian Society of London, at various
times, in 4to.; Dugdale’s Monasticon Anglicanum, Origines Judiciales;
Summons of the Nobility to Parliament; and his Baronage of England, in
folio, are also deposited within these walls.
The Heraldic Works which adorn these shelves are, Ashmole’s Order of the
Garter; Collins’s Peerage and Baronage; Gwillim’s Heraldry; Sandford’s
Genealogical History of the Kings of England, &c.; and others of less
note.
The Chronological Works which met my eye, were, Bedford’s Scripture
Chronology; Blair’s Chronology and History of the World; Petavii
Rationale Temporum; and Hale’s valuable Analysis of Chronology; “in
which an attempt is made to explain the history and antiquities of the
primitive nations of the world, and the prophecies relating to them,
on principles tending to remove the imperfection and discordance of
preceding systems.”
The Numismatic Works I noticed, were, Folkes’ Coins; Vaillant’s
Numismata; and Ruding’s valuable Annals of the Coinage.
There are several Mythological Treatises, of which Spence’s Polymetis is
the chief.
In Works of Natural History, this Collection is enriched by the Works of
Bacon and Evelyn, and the quarto series of Buffon’s Natural History, in
old French calf binding.
In Geology, Buckland’s Reliquiæ Diluvianæ; Conybeare’s Geology; and the
Transactions of the Geological Society are found on these shelves.
The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London; Watson’s
Chemical Essays; Albin’s Natural History of Birds and Insects; and Wood’s
Index Testacealogicus, also enrich this department of the Library.
In Botany, I observed Miller’s Gardener’s Dictionary and Figures of
Plants; Morison’s Historia Plantarum; Raii Historia Plantarum; and the
Transactions of the Linnæan Society.
In Medicine, the Works of Hippocrates and Dioscorides may be mentioned.
Of Works relating to the Arts and Sciences, I noticed Horsley’s valuable
edition of Newton’s Works; Wallis’s Mathematical Works; Burney’s History
of Music; Chamber’s Dictionary; the Marmora Oxoniensia; Vitruvius de
Architectura, Venetiis, 1497, folio; Walpole on Painting; and others of
less note.
The Bibliographical department of this Library includes Astle on Writing;
Catalogues of the Bodleian Library, of the Harleian Collections of the
Manuscripts bequeathed by Archbishop Parker to Corpus Christi College at
Cambridge; and the general Catalogue of Manuscripts in England, Scotland,
and Ireland; Chevillier’s Origine de l’Imprimerie à Paris; Dibdin’s
Bibliographical Decameron, and Introduction to the Classics; Dupin’s
Ecclesiastical Authors; Fabricii Bibliotheca, &c.; Herbert’s edition of
Ames’ Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain; Todd’s Catalogue of
the Manuscripts at Lambeth Palace; Maittaire’s Annales Typographici,
Stephanorum Historia, and Historia Typographiæ Parisiensis; Memoirs of
Literature; Maderus de Bibliothecis, &c.; Nicolson’s English Historical
Library; Stanley’s History of Philosophy; Thuani Bibliotheca, and the
Bibliotheca MS. Stowensis, edited by Dr. O’Conor; Watt’s Bibliotheca
Britannica; and Wood’s Athenæ Oxonienses.
The Etymological Works which enrich this Library are, Cotgrave’s French
and English Dictionary; Davies Dictionary of the Welsh Language; the
Etymologicum Magnum, Calliergi, Venetiis, 1499, folio; Facciolati
Lexicon; Gebelin’s Monde Primitif, in 4to.; Hesychii Lexicon; Hickes’s
Thesaurus Septentrionalis; Jamieson’s Scottish Dictionary; Johnson’s
English Dictionary, edited and enlarged by Todd; Lhuyd’s Archæologia
Britannica; Morel’s Dictionarium Prosodiacum; Moreri Dictionarium;
Nares’s Glossary; Scapulæ Lexicon; Skinner’s Etymologicum; Somner’s
Glossary and Saxon Dictionary; Spelman’s Glossary; Stephani Thesaurus
Linguæ Græcæ; Suidæ Lexicon apud Frobenium, 1544, folio; Wolfii Curæ
Philologicæ et Criticæ; and the Glossary of Du Fresne.
In English Literature this Collection contains so much that is valuable
as to preclude minute enumeration of each separate Work.
In it the labours of Addison, Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, Selden and Swift are
blended with the lays of Pope, and Dryden, the latter edited by Scott;
the Philosophical Works of Harris, the Historical Works of Raleigh, the
Plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, and of William Shakespeare, form one
instructive and harmonious whole.
The Memoirs of the ancient Earls of Surrey, Boswell’s ever-amusing
Life of Johnson, Evelyn’s Memoirs, Pepys’s Memoirs, Thoresby’s Diary,
Spelman’s Alfred, Kippis’s Biographia Britannica, Birch’s Heads of
Illustrious Personages, and Chalmers’s Biographical Dictionary, form one
of the most popular branches of this ancient Library.
Scott’s Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and his delightful Lay of the
Last Minstrel, and Walpole’s Works, are also found on these shelves.
This Library contains the Koran or Mahommedan rule of Faith, several
forms of Prayer and Liturgies of the Romish and Reformed Churches,
including the Pontificale Romanum of 1664, Durandi Rationale Divinorum
Officiorum, and Picart’s valuable Account of the Religious Ceremonies of
all Nations.
The Statutes at large, and Viner’s Abridgment, Wilkins’s Leges
Anglo-Saxonicæ, Gibson’s Codex Juris Ecclesiastici et Civilis, Nicolson’s
Border Laws, and Coke’s Institutes of the Laws of England, were the only
legal works that arrested my attention.
In General Literature I can only particularise Bayle’s Dictionary, and
Lowth de Sacrâ Poesi Hebræorum.
The literary remains of Casaubon, Cave, Le Clerc, Dodwell, Fabricius,
Gataker, Gesner, Jahn, Meursius, Orosius, Parkhurst, Petrarch, Rollin,
Scaliger, and Vossius.
Of learned Bodies, the Transactions contained in this Library, in
addition to the Philosophical, Linnæan, and Geological Transactions,
include the Memoirs of the Manchester Society and of the Irish Academy,
the Memoires de l’Academie Française, and the Academie des Inscriptions,
both in 4to. the latter retaining its original binding of red morocco,
mellowed by the hand of time.
The Classical department of this Library is both valuable and extensive,
containing editions of the Works of Ælian, Æschylus, Anacreon,
Apollodorus, Appian, Apuleius, Aristotle, Arrian, Aristides, Athenæus,
Ausonius, Cæsar, Catullus, Demosthenes, Dioscorides, Diodorus Siculus,
Dion Cassius, Dion Chrysostomos, Ennius, Epictetus, Euripides, Eutropius,
Aulus Gellius, Herodian, and Herodotus.
Of Horace, Iamblichus, Isocrates, Justin, Juvenal, Lucan, Lucian,
Lucretius, Lycophron, Manilius, Martial, Pomponius Mela, Orpheus, Ovid,
Vellius Paterculus, Petronius Arbiter, Phædrus, and Plato.
Of the elder and the younger Pliny, Plutarch, Polybius, Procopius,
Propertius, Prudentius, Pythagoras, Quintilian, Sedulius, Seneca,
Sidonius Apollinaris, Solinus, Statius, Suetonius, Symmachus, Terence,
Theocritus, Tibullus, Virgil, and Xenophon.
This brief enumeration may suffice to shew the extent of this class;
while in proof of its value I may adduce many of the best editions of the
Classics, including Alciphron, Bergleri, Ammianus Marcellinus, Gronovii,
1693, folio; Aristophanes Kusteri, Ciceronis Opera, Minutiani, Mediolani,
1498, folio, and Oliveti, Parisiis, 1748, 4to.; Claudianus, Barthii,
Butler’s Æschylus, Beck’s Euripides, Homer by Clarke and Heyne, Plato by
Serranus and Bekker, Dionysius Halicarnassensis by Hudson, Pausanias,
Kühnii, Silius Italicus, Drakenborchii, Sophocles, by Brunck, and many
others too numerous for particular notice.
I may here, however, notice Flaxman’s elegant Illustrations of Homer and
of Æschylus, the sumptuous folio containing Maii Fragmenta Homeri, and
Middleton’s Life of Cicero.
Of the earlier Impressions of the Classics it is now high time to speak,
lest the impatient reader should imagine so important a branch of every
collection had escaped attention in this instance. I hasten then to
present to his notice three valuable specimens of the Spira Press.
First, then, in rarity as in worth, we have a perfect Copy of the First
Edition of Tacitus, with the well-known Colophon of Vindelin de Spira,
but without date. It is supposed, however, to have been printed in the
year 1470. The present copy is sound and fair, measuring eleven and
a half inches by seven and a half, and is bound in old Russia. Then
follows the First Edition of Livy, with a date, it having been printed by
Vindelin de Spira in 1470. This noble folio is apparently in its original
binding, and having several rough leaves, we may conclude it never to
have been shorn of its fair dimensions. It measures, in fact, sixteen
inches by ten and a quarter, but it has been mournfully stained in the
beginning, where is written “D. D. Joannes Tempest. Arm:” The interior
is, however, remarkably sound and fine.
Next we have, from the same printer, a Latin version of Strabo, a very
sound copy with some illuminated capitals. It bears the date of 1472,
with an intimation at its close, in Latin verse, that its characters
were “Impressos digitis Vindelianis.” It measures fifteen inches by ten
and a half, and is bound in old calf. By the side of the foregoing is
appropriately placed a Latin Version of Herodotus, having the Preface at
the end: according to the Colophon it was printed Venetiis, per Jacobum
Rubeum, 1474, folio. It measures eleven inches and three fifths by eight,
and is bound in calf. We may next notice a very fine and sound copy of
the Etymologicum Magnum, from the Press of Calliergus at Venice, of the
date of 1499. This noble folio measures fifteen inches and a quarter
by ten and seven eighths, and is bound in dark calf. A beautiful copy
of the Aldine Plutarch of 1509, in two volumes folio, measuring eleven
inches and three fifths by seven and a half, bound in light calf; and a
copy of Boethius de Consolatione Philosophiæ, printed by John Koelhof of
Lubeck at Cologne in 1482, folio, as fresh as if it had just issued from
the press, next demand our attention. The latter Work is bound with an
old Manuscript of some portion of Thomas Aquinas, but there is another
edition of 1481, in 4to. from the same press, also in this Collection,
though not in such “crackling” condition as that I have just mentioned. I
proceed to notice a Latin translation of Aristotle’s Ethics, printed by
Conrad Braen in the University of Louvain, in 1476, folio. This volume is
in very fine condition, but is unfortunately imperfect at the end. Also a
thick folio volume, containing the following pieces:—
1. Diodori Siculi Historiarum Libri VII. Latinè Poggio Florentino
Interprete, per Bartholomæum Merula Venetiis, per Joannem de Tridino,
1496.
2. Ovidius de arte amandi, et de remedio amoris. Venetiis, per Barthol.
Merula, 1516.
3. Horatius cum Commentariis Acronis, &c. Venetiis, 1494. Imperfect at
the end.