SOMETHING ABOUT MSS.
Very little need be said here about the cataloguing of manuscripts,
because it is a distinct art from the cataloguing of printed books; but
most libraries contain a few manuscripts, and therefore it is needful to
say something.
What a large collection of MSS. really is, is partly answered by Mr.
Maunde Thompson, late Keeper of the MSS., and now Principal Librarian,
British Museum, in an interesting paper, "On the Arrangement and
Preservation of Manuscripts," read before the Library Association in
1886. Mr. Thompson writes:--
"While in foreign countries it is the custom to subdivide and
deposit in different custodies the several classes of MSS. after
their kind, in England the Museum is the only national institution
where MSS. of all descriptions are purchased for the public use. In
the Department of MSS., accordingly, may be found every kind of MS.,
from papyri dating back to the second century before Christ down to
the correspondence of our own day on which the ink is scarcely dry.
Papyri, ancient and mediæval MSS. of all periods and in all
languages from the fifth to the fifteenth century and later,
illuminated MSS., literary works of all periods, state papers and
literary and private correspondence, charters and rolls, seals,
casts of seals, and bullæ--all these are brought together under the
custody of the keepers."[34]
Now very few of these rare objects will be found in ordinary libraries.
The manuscripts to be found there will probably be literary works,
historical and literary correspondence, and perhaps some deeds or family
documents. If the manuscripts consist only of a few unprinted literary
works or original manuscripts afterwards printed, these may well be
included in the general catalogue of printed books. When there are
autograph letters and miscellaneous MSS., these must be kept separate.
The cataloguer must then consult the best catalogues of collections of
manuscripts, and choose the plan best suited to his particular purpose.
A collection of autograph letters will best be catalogued under the
names of the writers, arranged in alphabetical order; while a series of
historical documents will often be more conveniently arranged in
chronological order.
The usual mode of cataloguing adopted is to register the contents of the
particular collection of manuscripts in the order which it stands, and
then to make a full index. The result of this plan is the production of
a series of volumes of great interest to the reader. Many a pleasant and
instructive hour may be spent in the turning over of the pages of such
catalogues as that of the Harleian Collection, or of the various volumes
which contain the descriptions of the additional manuscripts in the
British Museum.
There is, however, a great want of a general catalogue or general index
to the vast collections of the British Museum. The production of such a
work would cause so large an expenditure of labour that perhaps we can
scarcely expect it to be produced; but I venture to think that something
might be done to bring the very miscellaneous collection of catalogues
into some more uniform system than it is at present. The subject index
which can be referred to in the MS. room is a work of the greatest
value, and he who turns over a few pages of a few of the volumes of
which this subject catalogue consists will obtain a more vivid idea of
the exceeding richness of the MS. Department of the British Museum than
by any other means. This classified catalogue we owe to Mr. Bond,
formerly Keeper of the MSS., and late Principal Librarian, and every
scholar must feel deep gratitude to him for this great gift of
knowledge. If this were printed, it would form a work of immense value;
but probably before this could be done it would be necessary to
re-catalogue on one system a large number of the entries.
With the present catalogues at the Reading Room table, when a certain
known manuscript is required, the searcher goes at once to the special
catalogue, and he has little or no difficulty. If he wants to find a
manuscript upon a particular subject, he can look at the subject
catalogue; but if he wants to find all the manuscripts of a given book,
he will have to look up the separate indexes of the different
collections. This will be a long and tedious undertaking, and the
searcher will usually need the assistance of the gentlemen of the
Department--assistance which is always freely and courteously rendered.
Catalogues of certain classes of manuscripts have been produced which
are of monumental value; but I think a great desideratum is a catalogue
of all the distinct works in the Manuscript Department, with information
respecting the printing of such as have been printed. Possibly such a
work, by which can be found the MS. copies of the works of our great
authors,--and, for the matter of that, of our small ones too,--is being
prepared. It will be a work of great labour, and if the Department
prepare it, the learning of the country will be placed under a lasting
obligation.
We may look forward to a time when a national bibliography of our
literature shall be produced, in which manuscripts will be registered as
well as printed books. One great characteristic of manuscripts is the
permanence of their reference numbers. Printed books are moved and
change their shelf-marks, but the number of a manuscript is always the
same. Sometimes the manuscript is known by the name of the collection
with its number, and sometimes the reference is to a former shelf-mark;
but if originally a shelf-mark, it is continued as a part of the
manuscript, however much the original position in the library may have
been changed.
Catalogues of manuscripts are more distinctly literary works than are
catalogues of printed books. Thus Mr. G. F. Warner's _Catalogue of the
Manuscripts and Muniments of Alleyn's College of God's Gift at Dulwich_
(1881) forms an indispensable portion of any Shakespearian or dramatic
library. The various catalogues of manuscripts in the Bodleian Library,
and the Catalogue of the Cambridge University Manuscripts,[35] are
additions to general literature of a very high character.
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FOOTNOTES:
[34] _Library Chronicle_, vol. iv., pp. 33-9.
[35] _Catalogue of the Manuscripts Preserved in the Library of the
University of Cambridge._ Edited for the Syndics of the University
Press, vol. i., 1856; vol. ii., 1857; vol. iii., 1858; vol. iv., 1861;
vol. v., 1867. _Index_ by H. R. Luard, 1867. 8vo.
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