The Library was formed almost entirely by donations, principally from
local residents, including bishops, deans, and other clergy, magistrates,
merchants and tradesmen. The donations from the inception of the Library
in 1608 to 1737 are enumerated in the Vellum Book provided for the
purpose in 1659, to which reference is made on page 46. The first
donation was a gift of fifteen volumes from Sir John Pettus who was Mayor
during the year of the foundation of the Library, viz., Severinus Binius'
"Concilia generalia et provincialia," 4 vols. in 5, (Cologne, 1606),
"Centuriones Magdeburgh," 7 vols., (Basel), and Bellarmine's
"Disputationes de controversiis Christianae Fidei," 3 vols., (Paris,
1608). His gift was followed by one in the same year from Susannah
Downing, wife of Alderman George Downing, who had been Mayor in the
previous year. She gave Hieronymus Zanchius' "Opera theologica," 8 vols.
in 3, 1605 (Excudebat Stephanus Gamonetus). In the following year Thomas
Corye, merchant, gave Luther's Works in 7 vols. and three volumes of
Ludwig Lavater's Commentaries, (Zurich); Sir Thomas Hirne, the Mayor,
gave ten volumes of Calvin's works, and a polyglot Bible--Biblia Sacra,
Hebraice, Graece, et Latine (1599), 2 vols.; Thomas Corbett gave St.
Augustine's Works (Basel, 1569); and Henry Doyly gave St. Bernard's Works
(Paris, 1586).
The three chief benefactors to the Library were Richard Ireland, who at
the time of his death was rector of Beeston, Norfolk; Thomas Nelson,
rector of Morston, Norfolk; and John Kirkpatrick, a linen merchant, of
Norwich, the eminent antiquary.
Ireland's bequest was made in 1692, and the entry in the Vellum Book is
as follows:
"Mr Richard Ireland, Formerly Rector of Beeston and sometime also of
St Edmonds in the Citty of Norwich where he was born, gave by his
last Will all his Bookes to the publick Library of the Citty: where
they are set up on Shelves, and accordingly specifyed in the
Catalogue of the Library, viz, the Folios on Classis. 16 and the
smaller bookes on Classis 20 and 21. with some others of the Old
Citty Library distinguished in the said Catalogue.
"Memorandum. Some of Mr Irelands bookes which the Library was
furnished with before, are set up in the outward Library to be Sold
and exchanged for others, as he gave leave." The total number of
volumes shown in the Library Catalogue of 1732 to have been given by
Ireland is 142.
The entry in the Vellum Book regarding Nelson's bequest in 1714 reads:
"Mr Thomas Nelson Late Rector of Morston in the County of Norfolk gave by
his Last Will and Testament All his Books unto the Publick Library of
this City where they are placed upon Six Shelves by Themselves in the
Inner Room belonging to the said Library with his Name Over them in Gold
Letters." Numerically his gift was the largest to the Library, 570
volumes being assigned to him in the Catalogue of 1732.
The bequest of Kirkpatrick is recorded as follows under date 1728: "Mr
John Kirkpatrick Mercht and Treasurer to the Great Hospital in this City
did by his last Will and Testament Give (Note the following are the very
Words of his Will) To the Maior Sheriffs, Citizens & Commonalty aforesaid
All my Ancient Manuscripts and all my Medals and Ancient Coins of Silver
& Brass to be reposited in their Library at the New-Hall. Also my
Printed Books in the Anglo-Saxon Language, & all such of my Books which
were Printed before the Year of our Lord 1600 as are not already in the
said Library, together with Mountfaucon's Antiquities, & Maddox's Firma
Burgi lately printed; and I will & desire that all these things be kept
there For Publick Use as the other Books in the said Library are. (Thus
Far his Will.--
"Sometime after the Decease of the said Mr John Kirkpatrick there was
more than Two Hundred Books sent to this Library According to his Will
and Desire which are inserted in the Catalogue with his Name before Each
Book.
"N.B. The Medals and Coins are not yet delivered But are still in the
Hands of John Custance, Esq." Although the memorandum following the
extract from the will states that more than 200 books were sent to the
Library, the total number of books assigned to him in the 1732 catalogue
is 168. Possibly the remainder were duplicates, and were sold or
exchanged for other books.
Many other donations are worthy of special mention, but it is impossible
to enumerate all of them. Gabriel Barbar, in the name of the Society of
Virginia, gave 11 vols. in 1614, in which year, says Blomefield, "the
Lords of the _privy council_, by letters dated the 22nd of _March_,
desired the city to given [sic] encouragement to a _lottery_, set on foot
for the benefit of the _English Virginia_ plantation, . . . and by
another letter dated 21 Dec. 1617, they desired them to assist Gabriel
Barbor, &c in the management of a running _lottery_, to be by them kept
in Norwich." {20a} In 1618 Thomas Atkins, Merchant of Norwich, gave
seven volumes and 5 pounds for books.
During the mayoralty of Thomas Cory, 1628-29, the City of Norwich gave a
copy of the second edition of John Minsheu's "The Guide into Tongues"
(London: John Haviland, 1627) for which twenty shillings were paid. {20b}
This work is still of value as a dictionary of Elizabethan English. In
1659 the City also gave a set of the famous English Polyglot Bible,
edited by Bryan Walton, in 6 vols., (London, 1657)--a work which was a
fine scholarly achievement of the Church of England at a time of great
depression.
In 1658 Joseph Paine, Alderman of Norwich, who was Mayor in 1660, gave
one book and 20 pounds for the purchase of books. In the Minute Book the
donation is described thus under date Dec. 13, 1658: "Mr. Whitefoot, Mr.
Harmar, and Dr. Collings made report to ye rest of the Brethren mett this
day That Mr. Joseph Paine Alderman of the City of Norwich uppon Munday
preceding this meeting, sent for ye 3 minrs. aforesaid to his house, and
there did give into the hands of Mr. John Whitefoot one of the aforesaid
minrs. twenty pounds declaring it his mind that it should be laid out at
the discretion of ye 3 minrs. aforesaid together with Mr. George Cock to
bee added to them to buy such bookes with it as they shall judge most fit
for ye City Library."
The ministers evidently desired to mark especially their appreciation of
Paine's gift. On February 9th, 1662/3 "The brethren taking notice that
no bookes were yet markd as the guift of Sr Jos. Paine, and Mr. Whitefoot
acquainting the brethren that he had procured printed paps to this
purpose--Ex Dono Dni _Josephi Paine_ militis hujus Civitatis praetoris,
they ordered that some of those papers should bee affixed to the 9 vol.
of ye Criticks: wch cost 15l & to the 4 vol. of Gerard's Comon places wch
cost 3l 13s & to the 2 vol. of Theophilact. wch cost 1l 02s: in all 19l
17s: the other 3s: beeing accounted for ye Carriage: they also ordered
that a like paper be affixed to Ravanella before giuen to the library by
ye said Sr Jos. Paine."
In the Vellum Book under date Dec. 12th, 1659, are entered 29 volumes as
a gift from Thomasine Brooke, "Widow & Relict of Wm Brooke, Gent." These
were evidently purchased with a donation of 20 pounds, as under the same
date in the Minute Book is the following: "Mr. Whitefoot acknowledged
himself to have received of Mrs Brooke wid. to the use of the library to
bee laid out uppon bookes by ye Consent of ye minrs. the summe of twenty
pounds."
Sir Thomas Browne, who made Norwich his home from 1637, gave in 1666
eight volumes of Justus Lipsius' Works, (Antwerp, 1606-17), and under the
entry recording this gift, which describes the donor as "Thomas Browne,
Med: Professor", has been written in a different hand, "Opera sua, viz.
Religio Medicj, Vulgar Errors, &c." (A reproduction of the page in the
Vellum Book recording Browne's gift faces page 46.) The latter volume
was evidently a copy of his "Pseudodoxia Epidemica . . . together with
the Religio Medici," sixth edition, (London, 1672), which is still in the
Library.
Another eminent benefactor was Thomas Tenison, who became Archbishop of
Canterbury in 1694, and is noteworthy to librarians as having established
a public library in his parish of St. Martins-in-the-Fields, London, in
1695. Tenison was educated at the Norwich Free School, and in 1674 he
was chosen "upper minister" of St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, having been
previously preacher at that Church. He was admitted to the use of the
City Library on February 9th, 1673, and on March 2nd, 1674 and April 6th,
1675, he gave the following five volumes: Georgius Codinus' "De Officijs
et Officialibus Magnae Ecclesiae et Aulae Constantinopolitanae" (Paris,
1625); Edward Herbert's "De religione gentilium" (Amsterdam, 1663); Peter
Heylyn's "Historia Quinqu-Articularis" (London, 1660); Archbishop James
Ussher's "Chronologia sacra" (Oxford, 1660); and the "Racovian
Catechism," which is entered in the 1732 catalogue as "Moscorrow's
Catechism."
Nathaniel Cock, described as a Merchant of London, but who was doubtless
connected with the county, is credited with a donation of 33 volumes in
1674. These volumes were evidently purchased with the legacy of 20
pounds which Edmund Cock, his executor, paid to the Library-Keeper. This
legacy is mentioned in the Minute Book, and also by Blomefield, {22} who
states that he was the brother of Edmund Cocke, and that he also "gave
the _city chamberlain_ 100l, to be freely lent to five honest poor
_weavers_, housekeepers and freemen, without interest, they giving
security for the repayment at three years end."
In 1676, the year of the death of Edward Reynolds, Bishop of Norwich, the
Vellum Book records a donation from him of 24 volumes. These books,
however, were probably purchased with a legacy, as in the Assembly Book,
21st Sept., 1676, it is stated that the Clavors [Keepers of City Chest]
to pay Robt Bendish Esq. 20 pounds to be pd to Mr John Whitefoot senr. to
buy bookes for City Library according to will of Edward [Reynolds] late
Bp. of Norwich.
Dean Humphrey Prideaux, the orientalist, was another distinguished
benefactor. In August, 1681, he was installed as a Prebendary of
Norwich, and in the following March he gave a copy of his edition of two
tracts by Maimonides which he published with the title "De jure pauperis
et peregrini apud Judaeos" (1679), "and other money [1 pound] from many
others received" with which were purchased Joannes Caspar Suicerus'
"Thesaurus Ecclesiasticus," 2 vols. (Amsterdam, 1682), and J. J.
Hoffman's "Lexicon Universale
Historico-Geographico-Chronologico-Poetico-Philologicum," 2 vols. (Basel,
1677). When Dean of Norwich he gave a copy of the two works upon which
his literary fame rests, "Life of Mahomet" and "The Old and New Testament
Connected," 2 vols. (1716-18), and also his "Validity of the Orders of
the Church of England," and "The Original and Right of Tithes," (Norwich,
1710).
Three citizens and Aldermen of Norwich gave donations of money in 1678
amounting to 11 pounds, with which ten volumes were purchased: Augustine
Briggs 5 pounds, Thomas Wisse 3 pounds, and Bernard Church 3 pounds.
In 1700 William Adamson, Rector of St. John's Maddermarket, Norwich, who
was buried therein in 1707, "gave to this Library three shelves full of
books, viz. Classis 17, 18, and 19, the first in Folio, the Second in
quarto, the third in Octavo, and are Specifyed in the Catalogue of the
Library." The total number of the books assigned to him in the 1732
catalogue is 118 vols.
In 1706 John Moore, Bishop of Norwich "gave to this Library Eusebij,
Socratis, Sozomeni, Theodoriti, & Evagrij Hist. Ecclesiast. in 3 vol.,
Paris, 1678," and Thomas Tanner, who had been made Chancellor of the
Norwich Diocese in 1701, gave a copy of La Bigne's "Sacrae Bibliothecae
Sanctorum Patrum," 5 vols. (Paris, 1589). Tanner also gave a large
donation in 1726 which was thus recorded: "Thomas Tanner, S.T.P. and
Chancellor of the Diocess of Norwich This year added more than an Hundred
Books to those which he had formerly Given to this Publick Library; Which
are particularly inserted in the Catalogue, with his Name before each
Book." Possibly some of the books he gave were duplicates and were
exchanged for others, as the 1732 Catalogue credits him with only 92
vols.
During the years 1707 to 1709 several Fellows of Trinity and other
Cambridge Colleges gave donations of books (See List of Donors at the end
of Part I., pp. 52-56). The Minute Book records that on August 5th, 1707
"was brought into the Library by Mr. Reddington, Fellow of Trinity
College, in Cambridge, these following books being the gift of several
persons of the said college, as here follows." These donations,
numbering 28 volumes, were the gift of twelve Fellows, and may have been
the result of an organised effort by Reddington to increase the Library.
John Reddington was Rector of St. Edmund, Norwich, 1712, Rector of
Rackheath, 1711-39, and of Hethel, 1737-39, and master of Norwich Grammar
School from 1732 to 1737. He died in 1739, aged 57. In 1708 the Minute
Book states that on Sept. 6th Mr. Reddington brought in five books the
gift of five Fellows of Trinity College; and on Oct. 4, Mr. Brett brought
in 8 volumes the gift of John Lightwin, the President of Caius College,
and four other Cambridge men.
Benjamin Mackerell, described as "of the City of Norwich, Gent.", gave
two volumes in 1716, and 13 volumes in 1731, when he held the office of
Library Keeper.
John Jermy was stated in 1729 to "have sent & Given to this Library
several Law Books and others; which are particularly inserted in the
Catalogue, with his Name before Each Book." In 1733 he gave forty books,
and in 1737 fourteen books. In the 1732 Catalogue he is credited with 67
volumes.
Edmund Prideaux, the son of Dean Prideaux, in 1730 "gave to this Library
more than Threescore Books which are all of them inserted in the
Catalogue with his Name before each Book." In the 1732 Catalogue only 49
volumes are shown to have been given by him.
The last entry in the Vellum Book records a gift from Robert Nash,
Chancellor of the Diocese of Norwich, of a copy of "A Defence of Natural
and Revealed Religion: being an abridgment of the Sermons preached at the
Lecture founded by the Hon. R. Boyle," 4 vols. (London, 1737), by Gilbert
Burnet, vicar of Coggeshall, which was published in that year.
Possibly it was the misfortune of the Library to lose a donation of
manuscripts from Peter Le Neve relating to Norfolk that would have been
of inestimable value, as the collector's work, said Mr. Walter Rye, "was
characterised by strictest honesty," and the material "formed the
backbone of the well-known county history, begun by Blomefield, and
completed by Parkin." {24} Bishop Tanner, one of Le Neve's executors,
stated in a letter to Dr. Rawlinson in 1735 that "There was an ugly
Codicil made a few days before his death in favour of his wife, upon
which she set up a claim for several of his Norfolk Collections, and has
hindered the execution of that part of his will, which relates to the
putting those papers into some public library in Norwich. But I have
hopes given me that she is coming into better temper, and will let us
perform our trust without entering into a chancery suit." {25a} There is
no codicil to the will at Somerset House, and the actual words relating
to his collections are as follows: "I give and bequeath unto the Revd.
Doctor Tanner Chancellor of Norwich and Mr. Thomas Martin of Palgrave all
my abstracts out of Records old Deeds Books pedigrees seals papers and
other collections which shall only relate to the antiquities and history
of Norfolk and Suffolk or one of them upon condition that they or the
survivor of them or the Exors or Admors of such survivor do & shall
within 12 months next after my decease procure a good and safe repository
in the Cathedral Church of Norwich or in some other good and publick
building in the said city for the preservation of the same collections
for the use and benefit of such curious persons as shall be desirous to
inspect transcribe or consult the same." Le Neve's widow evidently
impeded his purpose, as his collections did not come to the city.
A donation, the loss of which, however, cannot be regretted, is referred
to in the Court Book for 1677: "The Chamberlain, with the advice of Rob'
Bendish & Jo: Manser, Esqrs are to consult a good workeman about ye
making of a Case of Deale for ye skeleton of a Man given to the City
Librarie & to report ye charge." {25b} Kirkpatrick quotes this and
remarks: "But it seems it was not made, for there is no skeleton in the
library now." {25c} Since the days of Rameses II., whose Egyptian
Library bore the inscription "Dispensary of the Soul," libraries have
often been properly so regarded, as their contents are undoubtedly
remedial agents of vigour and virtue, but it is not clear why a library
should be regarded as a repository for man's mortal frame.