Aldrovandi Opera, Romæ. 1638, 12 vols. folio.
Burnet’s Theory of the Earth.
Ruellius de Naturâ Stirpium.
With the following miscellaneous articles I will close my account of the
Gloucester Cathedral Library.
Bartholomæus de Proprietatibus Rerum. Parisiis, 1480, folio.
Bayle’s Dictionary.
Chambers’ Dictionary.
Campbell on Rhetoric.
Corneilles’ Works.
Libavii Alchymia. Francof. 1611, 2 vols. folio.
Maseres Scriptores Logarithmici. Lond. 1791, 5 vols. 4to.
Puffendorf’s Law of Nations. London, 1729, folio.
Studio di Architectura, folio.
Tonstall de Arte Supputandi; and some portions of the Works of
Rousseau;
only remarking that the greater portion of the Divinity is arranged in
old calf, whose sombre appearance has been relieved by the addition of
new lettering pieces; and that all the books appear remarkably free from
damp, being all in open cases, except a few which are in the locked cases
at the upper end of the Chapter-house, where stand the Busts of Edward
the First, and of Handel.
[Illustration]
Library of Hereford.
The Library of this ancient Cathedral has been happily preserved in its
original state, affording a most excellent specimen of a genuine Monastic
Library.
The Chapel of our Lady too, in which this interesting Collection is
deposited, deserves in itself the tribute of a passing remark for its
fretted roof and tesselated floor, its beautiful windows, and its sacred
character. The adjacent oratory of Bishop Audley, translated from this
See to Salisbury, whose gilt and painted roof faintly indicates its
pristine splendour, as well as the tomb of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of
Hereford, 1330, must also attract the notice even of the most incurious
stranger.
Such a one will not pass unheeded the shrine of Saint Ethelbert, and
the effigy of the Juvenile Martyr; or the Head of the Crosier, the
Papal Seal, or the Episcopal Rings, the relics of John Trillich, the
forty-eighth Bishop of Hereford, A.D. 1360, found in the Choir in 1813.
The books are placed in projecting cases upon open shelves, to which they
are attached by chains, more monachorum, which chains are fastened to a
bar coextensive with each shelf, and confined by a lock at the end of
each case. Of these the Canons in residence possess the keys; even the
Catalogue of the Library is rivetted to the desk on which it stands,
and all additions made to the Collection are chained beside their elder
brethren.
These fetters are very injurious to the binding of the books, when that
is of any consequence; and by causing all the volumes to have their fore
edges turned outwards, are by no means calculated to invite the beholder;
indeed it would appear that these manacles were in use long before
lettering pieces came into fashion, and of these helps to the enquirer
few indeed are to be found in this ancient Library.
The books are chiefly attired in the original calf, though some retain
their wooden bindings, and are arranged in classes in the several cases,
which are numbered in the following manner: