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ENGLISH BOOK COLLECTORS
[Illustration: GEORGE JOHN, SECOND EARL SPENCER.]
EDITED BY ALFRED POLLARD
ENGLISH BOOK COLLECTORS
BY
WILLIAM YOUNGER FLETCHER F.S.A.
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUeBNER
AND COMPANY, LIMITED
1902
The English Bookman's Library
Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE, (late) Printers to Her Majesty
[Transcriber's note:
Letters that could not be properly displayed in the e-text are represented
as follows:
1. a letter with a macron is represented by an =, as in [=a]
2. the letter h with a line through the top is represented as [=h]
3. a letter with a tilde is represented by an ~, as in [~m]]
PREFACE
My principal object in compiling this work on English Book Collectors
has been to bring together in a compact and convenient form the
information respecting them which is to be found scattered in the works
of many writers, both old and new. While giving short histories of the
lives of the collectors, and some description of their libraries, I have
also endeavoured to show what manner of men the owners of these
collections were. In doing this I have sought, where practicable, to let
the accounts be told as much as possible in the words of their
biographers, as their narratives are often not only full of interest,
but are also couched in delightfully quaint language. As it would not be
possible in a volume of this size to furnish satisfactory notices of all
the Englishmen who have formed large libraries, I have selected some of
those who appear to possess special claims to notice, either on the
ground of their interesting personality, or the exceptional importance
of their collections. I have not given any account of the collectors who
lived prior to the reign of Henry VII., for until that time libraries
consisted almost entirely of manuscripts; and I have also excluded men
who, like Sir Thomas Bodley, collected books for the express purpose of
forming, or adding to, public libraries.
My friend, Mr. Walter Stanley Graves, has in an appendix to this volume
compiled a list of the principal sales of libraries in this country from
an early period to the present time, which will be found to supply
useful information about many of those collectors who are not otherwise
mentioned in the book.
Mr. Locker-Lampson in the introduction to the catalogue of his library
very pertinently remarks: 'It is a good thing to read books, and it need
not be a bad thing to write them; but it is a pious thing to preserve
those that have been some time written.' To collectors scholars owe a
deep debt of gratitude, for innumerable are the precious manuscripts and
rare printed books which they have rescued from destruction, and not a
few of them have enriched by their gifts and bequests the public
libraries of their country. Every lover of books must feel how greatly
indebted he is to Archbishops Cranmer and Parker, the Earl of Arundel,
Lord Lumley, Sir Robert Cotton, and other early collectors, for saving
so many of the priceless manuscripts from the libraries of the
suppressed monasteries and religious houses which, at the Reformation,
intolerance, ignorance, and greed consigned to the hands of the tailor,
the goldbeater, and the grocer. A large number of the treasures once to
be found in these collections have been irrecoverably lost, but many a
volume, now the pride of some great library, bears witness to the pious
and successful exertions of these eminent men.
A love of book-collecting has always prevailed in this country, and
since the end of the seventeenth century it has become very widely
diffused. In the early days of the eighteenth century the Duke of
Devonshire, the Earls of Oxford and Sunderland, and several other
collectors, employed themselves during the winter months in rambling
through various quarters of the town in search of additions to their
libraries, and with some of these collectors the acquisition of books
became a positive passion. In 1813 Dr. Dibdin thought that the
thermometer of bibliomania had reached its highest point, and it would
certainly appear to have been very high indeed, judging from the prices
obtained at the Roxburghe and other sales of the time. For some years
there was a period of depression, which perhaps was at the lowest
between 1830 and 1850, but the desire to acquire rare books appears
never to have been greater than at the present day, and for the choicest
examples collectors are willing to give sums which dwarf into
insignificance the prices which excited the astonishment of our fathers.
These high prices may possibly be somewhat due to the spirited bidding
of the great bookseller we have recently lost, and to the competition of
our American cousins; but they are also distinct evidences that the
beautiful and interesting volumes which issued from the presses of the
old printers have not lost their charm for the bibliophiles of our own
time. They have the advantage, too, of causing these treasures to be
more valued, and consequently better treated, for it has been well said
that nothing tends to the preservation of anything so much as making it
bear a high price.
A chronological arrangement of the collectors has been adopted for
several reasons as the preferable one, but an alphabetical list of their
names will be found at the beginning of the volume. It ought also to be
observed that accounts of the different libraries rarely mention the
number of books contained in them, but when they have been sold by
auction I have found by a careful examination of the sale catalogues
that on an average each lot may be reckoned as consisting of about a
volume and a half.
'For out of the olde feldes, as men saythe,
Cometh al this newe come fro yere to yere,
And out of olde bokes, in good faythe,
Cometh al this newe science that men lere.'
CHAUCER.--_Parlement of Foules._
W.Y.F.
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF COLLECTORS
PAGE
Arundel, Henry Fitzalan, Earl of, 30
Ashburnham, Bertram, Earl of, 382
Askew, Dr. Anthony, 219
Bagford, John, 129
Banks, Sir Joseph, Bart., 270
Beauclerk, Hon. Topham, 251
Beckford, William, 317
Bernard, Dr. Francis, 111
Bindley, James, 244
Brand, Rev. John, 274
Bridges, John, 156
Buckingham, Richard Grenville, Duke of, 342
Burghley, William Cecil, Lord, 38
Burney, Charles, 306
Burton, Robert, 72
Corser, Rev. Thomas, 372
Cotton, Sir Robert Bruce, Bart., 61
Cracherode, Rev. C.M., 221
Cranmer, Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, 18
Crawford, Alexander William, Earl of, 399
Daniel, George, 358
Dee, Dr. John, 45
Dent, John, 277
Devonshire, William, Duke of, 364
D'Ewes, Sir Symonds, Bart., 103
Digby, Sir Kenelm, 105
Douce, Francis, 293
Edwards, James, 297
Fairfax, Brian, 170
Farmer, Rev. Richard, D.D., 235
Fisher, John, Bishop of Rochester, 14
Folkes, Martin, 195
Gibson-Craig, James Thomson, 395
Gough, Richard, 238
Grenville, Right Hon. Thomas, 281
Guilford, Frederick North, Earl of, 321
Hamilton, Alexander, Duke of, 328
Hargrave, Francis, 267
Hearne, Thomas, 172
Heath, Benjamin, 208
Heath, Rev. Benjamin, D.D., 253
Heber, Richard, 336
Hibbert, George, 300
Hoare, Sir Richard Colt, Bart., 313
Huth, Henry, 409
Inglis, John Bellingham, 349
Laing, David, 377
Lansdowne, William Petty Fitzmaurice, Marquis of, 248
Laud, William, Archbishop of Canterbury, 66
Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of, 49
Le Neve, Peter, 147
Locker-Lampson, Frederick, 418
Lumley, John, Lord, 52
Luttrell, Narcissus, 139
Marlborough, George Spencer Churchill, Duke of, 324
Mead, Dr. Richard, 160
Miller, William Henry, 355
Moore, John, Bishop of Ely, 125
Morris, William, 423
Murray, John, 159
Norfolk, Thomas Howard, Earl of, 91
Oldys, William, 197
Orford, Horace Walpole, Earl of, 209
Oxford, Robert and Edward Harley, Earls of, 150
Parker, Matthew, Archbishop of Canterbury, 21
Pearson, Major Thomas, 256
Pembroke, Thomas Herbert, Earl of, 137
Pepys, Samuel, 113
Perkins, Frederick, 347
Perkins, Henry, 346
Phillipps, Sir Thomas, Bart., 367
Ratcliffe, John, 199
Rawlinson, Dr. Richard, 186
Rawlinson, Thomas, 176
Reed, Isaac, 269
Roxburghe, John Ker, Duke of, 259
Royal Collectors, 1
Selden, John, 85
Sheldon, Ralph, 108
Sloane, Sir Hans, Bart., 143
Smith, Joseph, 184
Smith, Richard, 93
Smith, Sir Thomas, 34
Spencer, George John, Earl, 308
Steevens, George, 240
Stillingfleet, Edward, Bishop of Worcester, 122
Sunderland, Charles Spencer, Earl of, 165
Sykes, Sir Mark Masterman, Bart., 331
Thomason, George, 96
Thorold, Sir John, Bart., 233
Tite, Sir William, C.B., 392
Totnes, George Carew, Earl of, 59
Towneley, John, 226
Turner, Robert Samuel, 415
Usher, James, Archbishop of Armagh, 76
West, James, 203
Willett, Ralph, 215
Williams, John, Archbishop of York, 81
Wodhull, Michael, 263
Wotton, Thomas, 43
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Earl Spencer, _Frontispiece_
Henry, Prince of Wales, 6
Archbishop Parker, 21
Device of Earl of Arundel, 30
Book-stamp of Sir Thomas Smith, 35
Book-stamp of Lord Burghley, 42
Arms of Thomas Wotton, 44
Dr. Dee, 46
Book-stamp of Earl of Leicester, 50
Lord Lumley, 53
Book-stamp of Earl of Totnes, 59
Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, Bart., 62
Archbishop Usher, 76
Archbishop Williams, 81
Arms of Earl of Norfolk, 92
Book-stamp of Sir Symonds D'Ewes, Bart., 104
Book-stamp of Sir Kenelm Digby, 106
Book-stamp of Ralph Sheldon, 109
Book-plate of Samuel Pepys, 114
Book-stamp of Samuel Pepys, 118
Book-stamp of Samuel Pepys, 120
Book-plate in Bishop Moore's Books, given by
George I. to the University of Cambridge, 127
John Bagford, 131
Sir Hans Sloane, Bart., 143
Book-plate of Robert Harley, 151
Book-stamp of Robert Harley, 152
Dr. Mead, 161
Earl of Sunderland, 165
Thomas Hearne, 172
Book-plate of Joseph Smith, 184
Dr. Richard Rawlinson, 189
Strawberry Hill, 211
Rev. C.M. Cracherode, 221
Book-stamp of Rev. C.M. Cracherode, 225
Book-plate of John Towneley, 228
Book-plate of James Bindley, 245
Rev. Dr. Heath, 254
Duke of Roxburghe, 259
Book-stamp of Michael Wodhull, 264
Right Hon. Thomas Grenville, 283
William Beckford, 318
Duke of Devonshire, 364
Small Book-stamp of the Earl of Balcarres, 400
Large Book-stamp of the Earl of Balcarres, 402
Frederick Locker-Lampson, 418
Book-plate of Frederick Locker-Lampson, 419
ROYAL COLLECTORS
Although various books are incidentally mentioned in the Wardrobe
Accounts of the first, second, and third Edwards, there is no good
reason to believe that any English king, save perhaps Henry VI., or any
royal prince, with the exception of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and
possibly of John, Duke of Bedford, possessed a collection large enough
to be styled a library until the reign of Edward IV. In the Wardrobe
Accounts of that Sovereign, preserved among the Harleian MSS. in the
library of the British Museum, mention is made of the conveyance, in the
year 1480, of the King's books from London to Eltham Palace. It is
stated that some were put into 'the kings carr,' and others into 'divers
cofyns of fyrre,' Several entries also refer to the 'coverying and
garnysshing of the books of oure saide Souverain Lorde the Kynge' by
Piers Bauduyn, stationer. Among the books mentioned are the works of
Josephus, Livy, and Froissart, 'a booke of _the holy Trinite_,' 'a
booke called _le Gouvernement of Kinges and Princes_,' 'a booke called
_la Forteresse de Foy_,' and 'a booke called the _bible historial_.' The
price paid for 'binding, gilding, and dressing' the copy of the _Bible
Historiale_ and the works of Livy was twenty shillings each, and for
several others sixteen shillings each. Other entries show that the
bindings were of 'Cremysy velvet figured,' with 'Laces and Tassels of
Silk,' with 'Blue Silk and Gold Botons,' and with 'Claspes with Roses
and the Kings Armes uppon them.' 'LXX Bolions coper and gilt,' and 'CCC
nayles gilt' were also used.
The first English king who formed a library of any size was Henry VII.,
and many entries are found in his Privy Purse Expenses relating to the
purchase and binding of his books. The great ornament of his collection
was the superb series of volumes on vellum bought of Antoine Verard, the
Paris publisher, which now forms one of the choicer treasures of the
British Museum. Henry's principal library was kept in his palace at
Richmond, where, with the exception of some volumes which seem to have
been taken to Beddington by Henry VIII., it appears to have remained for
more than a century after his death, for Justus Zinzerling, a native of
Thuringia, and Doctor of Laws at Basle, states in his book of travels,
entitled _Itinerarium Galliae, etc._, Lyons, 1616, that 'the most
curious thing to be seen at Richmond Palace is Henry VII.'s library.' It
was probably removed to Whitehall, for the only book in the library
mentioned by Zinzerling, a _Genealogia Rerum Angliae ab Adamo_, appears
in a catalogue of Charles II.'s MSS. at Whitehall, compiled in 1666.
Henry VIII. inherited the love of his father for books, and added
considerably to his collection. Besides the library at Richmond, Henry
had a fine one at Westminster, a catalogue of which, compiled in 1542 or
1543, is still preserved in the Record Office. He had also libraries at
Greenwich, Windsor, Newhall in Essex, and Beddington in Surrey. Some of
his books were also kept at St. James's, for in the inventory of his
furniture at that palace, entries occur of a _Description of the hollie
lande_; 'a boke covered with vellat, embroidered with the Kings arms,
declaring the same, in a case of black leather, with his graces arms';
and other volumes. Of these libraries the largest and most important
appears to have been that at Westminster. It was fairly rich in the
Greek and Latin classics, and in the writings of French and Italian
authors. The English historians were well represented, but the principal
feature of the collection was the works of the Fathers, which were very
numerous. The library also contained no less than sixty primers, many of
them being bound in 'vellat,' or in 'lether gorgiously gilted.' In the
succeeding reign this library was purged 'of all massebookes, legendes,
and other superstitiouse bookes' by an Order in Council, which also
directed that 'the garnyture of the bookes being either golde or silver'
should be delivered to Sir Anthony Aucher, the Master of the Jewel
House.
The library at Greenwich contained three hundred and forty-one printed
and manuscript volumes, besides a number of manuscripts, kept in various
parts of the palace. An inventory, taken after the King's death,
mentions among other books 'a greate booke called an Herballe,' 'twoo
great Bibles in Latten,' and 'a booke, wrytten on parchment, of the
processe betweene King Henry th' eight and the Ladye Katheryne Dowager.'
The Windsor and Newhall libraries were smaller; the first comprising one
hundred and nine, and the second sixty volumes. At Beddington were some
remarkably choice books, including many beautiful editions printed for
Antoine Verard, probably some of those purchased by Henry VII. Among
these was 'a greate booke of parchment, written and lymned with gold of
gravers worke, _de confessione Amantis_.'
Edward VI. and Mary during their short reigns added comparatively few
books to the royal collection, nor are there many to be now found in it
which were acquired by Elizabeth. It is difficult to say what became of
this Queen's books, of which she appears to have possessed a
considerable number; for Paul Hentzner tells us in his _Itinerary_ that
her library at Whitehall, when he visited it in 1598, was well stored
with books in various languages, 'all bound in velvet of different
colours, although chiefly red, with clasps of gold and silver; some
having pearls and precious stones set in their bindings.' Probably the
richness of the bindings had much to do with the disappearance of the
books.
James I. is undoubtedly entitled to a place in the list of royal
book-collectors, and the numerous fine volumes, many of them splendidly
bound, with which he augmented the royal library, testify to his love of
books. When but twelve years of age he possessed a collection of
something like six hundred volumes, about four hundred of which are
specified in a manuscript list, principally in the handwriting of Peter
Young, who shared with George Buchanan the charge of James's education.
This list is preserved in the British Museum, and was edited in 1893 by
Mr. G.F. Warner, Assistant-Keeper of Manuscripts, for the Scottish
History Society. After the death of the learned Isaac Casaubon, the
King, at the instigation of Patrick Young, his librarian, purchased his
entire library of his widow for the sum of two hundred and fifty pounds.
If James I. is entitled to be regarded as a collector, his eldest son
Henry has even a better claim to the title. This young prince, who
combined a great fondness for manly sports with a sincere love for
literature, purchased from the executors of his tutor, Lord Lumley, the
greater portion of the large and valuable collection which that nobleman
had partly formed himself, and partly inherited from his father-in-law,
Henry Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, the possessor of a fine library at
Nonsuch, comprising a number of manuscripts and many printed volumes
which had belonged to Archbishop Cranmer. Henry's first care after the
acquisition of the books was to have them catalogued, and in his Privy
Purse Expenses for the year 1609 we find the following entry: 'To Mr.
Holcock, for writing a Catalogue of the Library which his Highness hade
of my Lord Lumley, L8, 13s. 0d.' He also unfortunately had the volumes
rebound and stamped with his arms and badges, a step which must have
destroyed many interesting bindings. Henry only lived three years to
enjoy his purchase, but during that time he made many additions to it.
Edward Wright, the mathematician, who died in 1615, was his librarian,
and received a salary of thirty pounds a year. As Henry died intestate
his library became the property of his father, and passed into the royal
collection which was given to the British Museum by George II.
Prince Rupert also appears to have inherited to some extent the love
of books possessed by his grandfather James I. and his uncle Prince
Henry, for he formed a well-selected library of about twelve hundred
volumes, of which a catalogue is preserved among the Sloane manuscripts
in the British Museum.[1]
[Illustration: HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES.]
King Charles I., although he bought some books, and had a number of
valuable volumes given to him by his mother, can hardly be classed with
the royal book-collectors. He had a greater inclination to paintings and
music than to books, and it is said that he so excelled in the fine
arts, that he might, if it were necessary, 'have got a livelihood by
them.' One very precious addition to the royal library was, however,
made during his reign: the famous _Codex Alexandrinus_, which Cyril
Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, in 1624 placed in the hands of Sir
Thomas Roe, the English ambassador to the Porte, as a gift to King
James, but which did not reach England till four years later, when that
sovereign was no longer alive. The royal library, which had narrowly
escaped dispersion in the Civil War, was largely increased during the
reign of Charles II., and at his death the works in it amounted to more
than ten thousand. A love of books can scarcely be attributed to
Charles, and although he certainly caused some important additions to be
made to the collection--notably a number of valuable manuscripts which
had belonged successively to John and Charles Theyer--the greater part
of the increase may be ascribed to the operation of the Copyright Act,
which was passed in the fourteenth year of this reign, and enabled the
royal library to claim a copy of every work printed in the English
dominions. From the death of Charles until the library was given to the
nation by George II. in 1757 little interest was taken in it by the
kings and queens who reigned in the interval.
Although George III. was a man of somewhat imperfect education, he
keenly regretted the loss of the royal collection, and no sooner was he
seated on the throne than he began to amass the magnificent library
which has now joined its predecessor in the British Museum. In this
labour of love he was assisted by the sympathy and help of his Queen,
who, Dr. Croly tells us, was in the habit of paying visits, with a
lady-in-waiting, to Holywell Street and Ludgate Hill, where second-hand
books were offered for sale. The King commenced the formation of his
collection in 1762 by buying for about ten thousand pounds the choice
library of Mr. Joseph Smith, who for many years was the British consul
at Venice, and 'for seven or eight years the shops and warehouses of
English booksellers were also sedulously examined, and large purchases
were made from them. In this labour Dr. Johnson often assisted,
actively as well as by advice.'[2] It is said the King expended during
his long reign, on an average, about two thousand pounds a year in the
purchase of books. In 1768 he despatched his illegitimate half-brother,
Mr. Barnard, afterwards Sir Frederic Augusta Barnard, whom he had
appointed his librarian, on a bibliographical tour on the Continent,
during which so many valuable acquisitions were obtained for the
library, that it at once took its place amongst the most important
collections in the country, and after the death of the King, when the
books it contained were counted by order of a select committee of the
House of Commons, they were found to number 'about 65,250 exclusive of a
very numerous assortment of pamphlets, principally contained in 868
cases, and requiring about 140 more cases to contain the whole.' These
tracts, which number about nineteen thousand, have since been separately
bound. The manuscripts belonging to the library amount to about four
hundred and forty volumes, and there is also a magnificent collection of
maps and topographical prints and drawings. The library is very rich in
bibliographical rarities as well as in general literature. The Gutenberg
Bible, the Bamberg Bible, the first and second Mentz Psalters (the
first, a superb volume, is kept at Windsor Castle), and no less than
thirty-nine Caxtons are among the most conspicuous of the many
treasures of this splendid collection. The Caxtons were principally
purchased at the sales of the libraries of James West in 1773, John
Ratcliffe, the Bermondsey ship-chandler, who had acquired the remarkable
number of forty-eight, in 1776, and of Richard Farmer in 1798. Edwards,
in his _Lives of the Founders of the British Museum_, informs us that
'Ratcliffe's forty-eight Caxtons produced at his sale two hundred and
thirty-six pounds, and that the king bought twenty of them at an
aggregate cost of about eighty-five pounds. Amongst them were _Boethius
de Consolatione Philosophiae_, the first editions of _Reynard the Foxe_
and the _Golden Legende_, the _Curial_, and the _Speculum Vitae Christi_.
The _Boethius_ is a fine copy, and was obtained for four pounds six
shillings.'
George III.'s library was first kept in the old Palace of Kew, which was
pulled down in 1802, and afterwards in a handsome and extensive suite of
rooms at Buckingham House; the site which at one time had been proposed
for the British Museum. Scholars and students were at all times
liberally permitted by the King to consult the books, and he also showed
his kindly consideration for them by instructing his librarian 'not to
bid either against a literary man who wants books for study, or against
a known collector of small means.' A handsome catalogue of the library
was compiled by Sir F.A. Barnard, who had charge of the collection from
its commencement to the time when it was acquired by the nation. He died
on the 27th of January 1830, aged eighty-seven.
The library in which George III. took so keen an interest was regarded
by his successor as a costly burden, and there is little doubt he
intended to dispose of it to the Emperor of Russia, who was very anxious
to obtain it. The design of the King having become known to Lord
Farnborough and Richard Heber, the collector, they communicated
intelligence of it to Lord Liverpool and Lord Sidmouth, who were
fortunately able to prevent the proposed sale of the books by offering
the King an equivalent for them, the amount of which has not transpired,
out of a fund known as the Droits of the Admiralty. On the completion of
the bargain, George IV. addressed to Lord Liverpool a letter, dated
January 15th, 1823, in which occur the following words: 'The King, my
late revered and excellent father, having formed during a long series of
years a most valuable and extensive library, consisting of about 120,000
volumes, I have resolved to present this collection to the British
Nation.' This letter, printed in letters of gold, is preserved in the
British Museum. In addition to the first edition of the Mentz Psalter;
the Aldine Virgil of 1505, the Second Shakespeare folio which once
belonged to Charles I., four Caxtons forming part of the collection,
viz., _The Doctrinal of Sapience_, on parchment, _The Fables of AEsop_,
_The Fayts of Arms_, and the _Recueil des Histoires de Troye_, with a
few other volumes, were retained at Windsor.
Of the sons of George III., the Duke of Sussex alone appears to have
inherited his father's love of collecting books, and he formed a
magnificent library in his apartments at Kensington Palace. The
collection consisted of more than fifty thousand volumes, twelve
thousand of which were theological. It included a very considerable
number of early Hebrew and other rare manuscripts, and about one
thousand editions of the Bible. An elaborate catalogue of a portion of
it, entitled _Bibliotheca Sussexiana_, was compiled by Dr. T.J.
Pettigrew, the Duke's librarian, in two volumes, the first of which was
printed in 1827, and the second in 1839.
After the Duke's death his books were sold by auction by Evans of Pall
Mall. They were disposed of in six sales, the first of which took place
in July 1844, and the last in August 1845; and they occupied altogether
sixty-one days. The number of lots was fourteen thousand one hundred and
seven, and the total amount realised nineteen thousand one hundred and
forty-eight pounds.
The Duke of York possessed a good library, which was sold by Sotheby in
May 1827, but it consisted almost entirely of modern books, and the Duke
could hardly be considered a collector.
On his succession to the throne William IV., as he remarked, found
himself the only sovereign in Europe not possessed of a library, and
speedily took steps to acquire one. He did more than this, for in July
1833 he caused a special codicil to his will to be drawn up which sets
forth that 'Whereas His Majesty hath made considerable additions to the
Royal Libraries in His Majesty's several Palaces, and may hereafter make
further additions thereto, Now His Majesty doth give and bequeath all
such additions, whether the same have been or may be made by and at the
cost of His Majesty's Privy Purse or otherwise unto and for the benefit
of His Majesty's successors, in order that the said Royal Libraries may
be transmitted entire.'
When on November 30th, 1834, the King signed this document, he made it
yet more emphatic by the autograph note: 'Approved and confirmed by me
the King, and I further declare that all the books, drawings, and plans
collected in all the palaces shall for ever continue Heirlooms to the
Crown and on no pretence whatever be alienated from the Crown.'
Thus explicitly protected from the fate which befell its two
predecessors, this third Royal Library throve and prospered under Queen
Victoria till it fills a handsome room at Windsor Castle. The few books
reserved by George IV. give it importance as an antiquarian collection;
but its development has been rather on historical and topographical than
on antiquarian lines, though it possesses sufficient fine bindings to
have supplied materials for a handsome volume of facsimiles by Mr.
Griggs, edited with introduction and descriptions by Mr. R. R. Holmes,
M.V.O., the King's Librarian at Windsor.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Sloane MSS. 555.]
[Footnote 2: Edwards, _Lives of the Founders of the British Museum_, p.
469.]
JOHN FISHER, BISHOP OF ROCHESTER, 1459?-1535
John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, was born at Beverley in Yorkshire, and
was the eldest son of Robert Fisher, a mercer of that town. The date of
his birth is uncertain, some of his biographers placing it as early as
1459, and others as late as 1469. He was educated in the school attached
to the collegiate church of his native place, and afterwards at Michael
House, Cambridge (now incorporated into Trinity College), of which he
became a Fellow in 1491, and Master in 1497. In 1501 he was elected
Vice-Chancellor, and in 1504 Chancellor of the University. The respect
in which Margaret, Countess of Richmond, the mother of Henry VII., held
him, induced her to appoint him her chaplain and confessor, and it was
principally through his exertions that the Countess's designs for
founding St. John's College, Cambridge, were carried out, Fisher himself
subsequently founding several fellowships, scholarships, and
lectureships in connection with the college. He was appointed the first
'Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity' in the University of Cambridge
in 1503, and in 1504 was consecrated Bishop of Rochester. The firmness
with which he opposed the royal supremacy, and the divorce of Henry
VIII., brought on him the displeasure of the King, and in 1534, having
given too ready a credence to the 'revelations' of Elizabeth Barton,
'the nun of Kent,' he was attainted of misprision of treason, and soon
afterwards, on his refusal to acknowledge the King's supremacy and the
validity of his marriage with Anne Boleyn, was committed with Sir Thomas
More to the Tower. During his imprisonment Pope Paul III. created him a
cardinal, an act which greatly increased the irritation of the King
against him, and on the 22nd of June 1535 Fisher was beheaded on Tower
Hill.
Bishop Fisher, who was the author of a considerable number of
controversial tracts, was a man of great learning, and is said to have
possessed the finest library in the country. In an account of his life
and death first published in 1665, which was professedly written by
Thomas Baily, a royalist divine, but is said to have been really the
work of Dr. Richard Hall of Christ's College, Cambridge, who died in
1604, a relation is given of the seizure of his goods and books after
his attainder. 'In the meantime lest any conveyance might be made of his
goods remaining at Rochester, or elsewhere in Kent, the King sent one
Sir Richard Moryson, of his Privy Chamber, and one Gostwick, together
with divers other Commissioners, down into that Countrey, to make
seisure of all his moveable goods that they could finde there, who being
come unto Rochester, according to their Commission, entred his house;
and the first thing they did was, they turned out all his Servants; then
they fell to rifling his goods, whereof the chief part of them were
taken for the Kings use, the rest they took for themselves; then they
came into his Library, which they found so replenished, and with such
kind of Books, as it was thought the like was not to be found againe in
the possession of any one private man in Christendom; with which they
trussed up and filled 32 great vats, or pipes, besides those that were
imbezel'd away, spoyl'd and scatter'd; and whereas many yeares before he
had made a deed of gift of all these books, and other his household
stuffe to the Colledge of St John in Cambridge, ... two frauds were
committed in this trespasse; the Colledge were bereaved of their gift,
and the Bishop of his purpose.' An account of his library and its
confiscation is also to be found in a manuscript treatise concerning his
life and death, preserved among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum.
'He had ye notablest Library of Books in all England, two long
galleries full, the Books were sorted in stalls & a Register of ye
names of every Book at ye end of every stall. All these his Books, &
all his Hangings, plate, & vessels for Hawl, Chamber, Buttry, & Kitchin,
he gave long before his death to St Joh: College, by a Deed of gift, &
put them in possession thereof; & then by indenture did borrow all ye
sd: books & stuff, to have ye use of ym during his life, but at his
apprehension, the Lord Crumwell caused all to be confiscated, which he
gave to Moryson, Plankney of Chester, and other that were about him, &
so ye College was defrauded of all this gift.'
Erasmus represents Fisher as a man of the greatest integrity, of deep
learning, incredible sweetness of temper, and grandeur of soul; and Sir
Thomas More declared that there was 'in this realm no one man, in
wisdom, learning, and long approved vertue together, mete to be matched
and compared with him.'
An excellent portrait of Fisher is preserved among the Holbein drawings
at Windsor Castle, and others are to be found in several of the Colleges
of the University of Cambridge.
THOMAS CRANMER, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, 1489-1556
[Illustration]
Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, the events of whose life are
so well known that it is not necessary to give an account of them here,
possessed a very fine library, both of manuscripts and printed books.
Many of the volumes it contained are still in existence, and fortunately
they can be identified without difficulty, as almost all of them bear
the Archbishop's name written, it is believed, by one of his
secretaries. As might be expected, the books are principally of a
theological nature, although copies of the Greek and Latin Classics, and
of works treating of historical, scientific, legal, medical, and
miscellaneous subjects are fairly numerous. Strype tells us 'that the
library was the storehouse of ecclesiastical writers of all ages: and
which was open for the use of learned men. Here old Latimer spent many
an hour; and found some books so remarkable, that once he thought fit to
mention one in a sermon before the King.' Strype adds that Cranmer both
annotated the books in his library, and also made extracts from them,
and the notes which are found in many of those which have been
preserved to our time confirm his statement.
The fate of the library after the fall of its owner can only be
conjectured.
Soon after the accession of Mary to the throne Cranmer was put on his
trial for high treason, and sentence of death was passed upon him; and
although at that time his life was spared, he was included in the Act of
Attainder passed in Parliament against the Earl of Northumberland,
deprived of his archbishopric, and committed to the Tower. He had to
produce an inventory of his goods; and a list of all the property found
in the Archbishop's palaces is still preserved in the Record Office,
but, with the exception that it is stated that a 'bible with other
bookes of service' were 'conveyed and stolen awaie' from the chapel, no
mention is made of the books. They probably shared the fate of the goods
of Robert Holgate, Archbishop of York, who was deprived of his see in
1554, and imprisoned in the Tower, and while confined there had his
houses at Battersea and Cawood rifled of all their valuables.
It is evident that many of Cranmer's books were acquired by Lord Lumley,
then a young nobleman in high favour at Court; and others by Lord
Lumley's father-in-law, Henry Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, the Lord
Steward, who at that time was forming a library at Nonsuch, which he had
recently purchased of the Queen; as a number of the volumes which were
in their libraries have the Archbishop's name inscribed in them.
By far the larger portion of Cranmer's books which have survived to the
present time are preserved in the British Museum, whither they came in
1757 as part of the old Royal Library, Henry Prince of Wales having
purchased the Lumley and Arundel collections in 1609. But some are also
possessed by the Cambridge University Library, the Bodleian Library, and
the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth, while others are to be found on
the shelves of various cathedral and collegiate libraries, and a few are
in private hands. Those belonging to the two University Libraries were
probably gifts of Lord Lumley, who presented eighty-four volumes to the
Cambridge University Library in 1598, and forty to the Bodleian in the
following year.
Cranmer was the author of several theological books, and he also wrote
the prologue to the second edition of the 'Great Bible,' printed in
1540. His works were collected and arranged by H. Jenkyns, and published
in four volumes at Oxford in 1833. There is a portrait of the
Archbishop, at the age of fifty-seven, by G. Fliccius in the National
Portrait Gallery, and others are at Cambridge and Lambeth. Cranmer was
born at Aslacton Manor, in Nottinghamshire, on the 21st of July 1489,
and burned at the stake at Oxford on the 21st of March 1556.
[Illustration: ARCHBISHOP PARKER.]
MATTHEW PARKER, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, 1504-1575
Matthew Parker, the second Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, was born
at Norwich on the 6th of August 1504. He was the son of William Parker,
a calenderer of stuffs, who, Strype says, 'lived in very good reputation
and plenty, and was a gentleman, bearing for his coat of arms on a field
gules, three keys erected. To which shield, in honour of the Archbishop,
a chevron was added afterwards, charged with three resplendent
estoilles.' Parker was first privately educated, and afterwards
proceeded to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, of which college he was
elected a Fellow in 1527. In the same year he took holy orders, and in
1535 was appointed Chaplain to Queen Anne Boleyn, who shortly afterwards
conferred on him the Deanery of the College of St. John the Baptist at
Stoke, near Clare in Suffolk. In 1538 he was created a Doctor of
Divinity, and made one of the King's chaplains; and in 1544 he was
elected Master of Corpus Christi College. He was chosen to the office of
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge in 1545, and again in
1549. In 1552 he was appointed to the Deanery of Lincoln, of which he
was deprived in 1554. During the reign of Mary, Parker lived quietly
pursuing his studies, as he himself tells us, 'Postea privatus vixi, ita
coram Deo laetus in conscientia mea; adeoque nee pudefactus, nec
dejectus, ut dulcissimum otium literarium, ad quod Dei bona providentia
me revocavit, multo majores et solidiores voluptates mihi pepererit,
quam negotiosum illud et periculosum vivendi genus unquam placuit.' On
the accession of Elizabeth he was summoned from his retirement and made
Archbishop of Canterbury. His consecration took place on the 17th of
December 1559. He died on the 17th of May 1575, and was buried in his
private chapel at Lambeth, in a tomb which he had himself prepared. His
remains, however, were disinterred in 1648 by Colonel Scot, the
regicide, and buried under a dunghill, but after the Restoration they
were replaced in the chapel.
Parker married in 1547 Margaret, daughter of Robert Harlestone of
Matsal, in the county of Norfolk, by whom he had four sons, of whom two
died in infancy, and a daughter. John, the eldest son, was knighted in
1603, and died in 1618.
Archbishop Parker was not only a great churchman, a distinguished
scholar, and a warm promoter of learning, but he was also an ardent
collector of books, and formed a very fine and valuable library,
composed to a great extent of rare and choice manuscripts which had
once belonged to the suppressed monasteries and religious houses. He
also appears to have purchased Bale's fine collection of manuscripts.
Some of his books he presented to the Cambridge University Library
during his lifetime, and in his will he made bequests of other volumes
from his collection to that library. He also gave books to the libraries
of the colleges of Caius and Trinity Hall, but the great bulk of his
manuscripts and printed books he left to his own college of Corpus
Christi.[3] An original list of these volumes is preserved in the
college, with a note by John Parker, the Archbishop's son, stating that
the missing volumes 'weare not found by me in my father's Librarie, but
either lent or embezeled, whereby I could not deliver them to the
college.' Some singular conditions were attached to this bequest by the
Archbishop. 'Every year on the 6th of August, the collection is to be
visited by the masters or _locum tenentes_ of Trinity Hall and Caius,
with two scholars on Archbishop Parker's foundation, and if, on
examination of the library, twenty-five books are missing, or cannot be
found within six months, the whole collection devolves to Caius. In that
case the masters or _locum tenentes_ of Trinity Hall and Benet, with two
scholars on the same foundation, are the visitors: and if Caius College
be guilty of the like neglect, the books to be delivered up to Trinity
Hall: then the masters or _locum tenentes_ of Caius and Benet, with two
such scholars, become the inspectors; and in case of default on part of
Trinity Hall, the whole collection reverts back to its former order. On
the examination day, the visitors dine in the College Hall, and receive
three shillings and four pence, and the scholars one shilling each.'[4]
It is also probable that he was a benefactor to the library at Lambeth,
for some of the manuscripts preserved there contain notes in his
handwriting. The books which he did not specially bequeath he left to
his son John, afterwards Sir John Parker.
In addition to the books which Parker gave to Corpus Christi College he
founded several scholarships in connection with it, and bestowed upon it
large sums of money and presents of plate. He also gave various pieces
of plate to Gonville and Caius College and Trinity Hall.
Parker's love for books, and the pains he took to rescue the precious
volumes which, after the dissolution of the abbeys and religious houses,
were being destroyed or sold for common purposes, is so well told by
Strype that his account is worth giving at length: 'His learning, though
it were universal, yet it ran chiefly upon antiquity. Insomuch that he
was one of the greatest antiquarians of the age. And the world is for
ever beholden to him for two things; viz., for retrieving many ancient
authors, Saxon and British, as well as Norman, and for restoring and
enlightening a great deal of the ancient history of this noble island.
He lived in, or soon after, those times, wherein opportunities were
given for searches after these antiquities. For when the abbeys and
religious houses were dissolved, and the books that were contained in
the libraries thereunto belonging underwent the same fate, being
miserably embezzled, and sold away to tradesmen for little or nothing,
for their ordinary shop uses; then did our Parker, and some few more
lovers of ancient learning, procure, both by their money and their
friends, what books soever they could: and having got them into their
possession, esteemed many of them as their greatest treasures, which
other ignorant spoilers esteemed but as trash, and to be burnt, or sold
at easy rates, or converted to any ordinary uses.
'He was therefore a mighty collector of books, to preserve, as much as
could be, the ancient monuments of the learned men of our nation from
perishing. And for that purpose he did employ divers men proper for such
an end, to search all England over, and Wales, (and perhaps Scotland and
Ireland too), for books of all sorts, some modern as well as ancient;
and to buy them up for his use; giving them commission and authority
under his own hand for doing the same. One of these, named Batman,[5] in
the space of no more than four years, procured for our Archbishop to the
number of 6700 books. It seems to be almost incredible, then, what
infinite volumes all the rest of his agents in many more years must have
retrieved for him.
'It was in those times that many of our choicest MSS. were conveyed out
of the land beyond sea. Of this our Archbishop complained often; taking
it heavily, as he wrote in one of his letters to Secretary Cecyl, "that
the nation was deprived of such choice monuments, so much as he saw they
were in those days, partly by being spent in shops, and used as waste
paper, or conveyed over beyond sea, by some who considered more their
own private gain than the honour of their country." This was the reason
he took so much pleasure in the said Secretary's library; "that such
MSS. might be preserved within the realm, and not sent over by covetous
stationers, or spoiled in the apothecaries' shops." ... For the
retrieving of these ancient treatises and MSS. as much as might be, the
Archbishop had such abroad, as he appointed to lay out for them
wheresoever they were to be met with, as was shewn before.
'But he procured not a few himself from such in his own time as were
studious in antiquity: as, namely, several Saxon books from Robert
Talbot,[6] a great collector of such ancient writings in King Henry the
Eighth's time, and an acquaintance of Leland, Bale, etc. Some of which
writings the said Talbot had from Dr. Owen,[7] the said King Henry's
physician; and some our archbishop likewise had from him; as appears in
one of the Cotton volumes:[8] which is made up of a collection of
various charters, etc., written out by Joh. Joscelyn.[9] Where at some
of these MSS. collected, the said Joscelyn adds these notes, _The copy
of this Dr. Talbot had of Dr. Owen. The Archbishop of Canterbury had
this charter from Dr. Owen, etc_. There be other collections of this
nature now remaining in Benet College, sometime belonging to this
Talbot, which we may presume the Archbishop, partly by his own interest,
and partly by the interest of Bale, Caius, and others, obtained;
particularly his annotations upon that part of Antoninus's _Itinerarium_
which belongs to Britain. And another _De Chartis quibusdam regum
Britannorum_. These are mentioned by Anthony a Wood.
'And he kept such in his family as could imitate any of the old
characters admirably well. One of these was Lyly, an excellent writer,
and that could counterfeit any antique writing. Him the Archbishop
customarily used to make old books complete, that wanted some pages;
that the character might seem to be the same throughout. So that he
acquired at length an admirable collection of ancient MSS. and very many
too: as we may conjecture from his diligence for so many years as he
lived, in buying and procuring such monuments. The remainders of his
highly valuable collections are now preserved in several libraries of
the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, but chiefly in that of Benet
College, Cambridge.'
Archbishop Parker was one of the founders of the Society of Antiquaries
in 1572. He took a special interest in the early English Chronicles, and
endeavoured to revive the study of the Saxon language. Among other works
he caused to be printed _Flores Historiarum_, attributed to Matthew of
Westminster, Matthew Paris's _Historia Major_, and the Latin text of
Asser's _Alfredi Regis Res Gestae_ in Saxon characters, cut by John Day,
the printer. He also, says Strype, 'laboured to forward the composing
and publishing of a Saxon Dictionary.' His great work, _De Antiquitate
Britannicae Ecclesiae et Privilegiis Ecclesiae Cantuariensis, cum
Archiepiscopis eiusdem 70_, which, if not written by him, was produced
under his immediate supervision, was printed by John Day in Lambeth
Palace in 1572. A very limited number of copies of this work, the first
book privately printed in England, were struck off; not more than
twenty-five are known to exist, and no two are found quite alike. The
preparation of the Bishops' Bible, which was completed in 1568, was
performed under his auspices. A presentation copy to Queen Elizabeth
from the Archbishop of the _Flores Historiarum_, very handsomely bound,
with the royal arms on the covers; and a copy of the work _De
Antiquitate Britannicae Ecclesiae, etc._, in a fine embroidered binding,
which is also believed to have been presented to the Queen by the
Archbishop, are preserved in the British Museum. These books were
probably bound in Lambeth Palace, for in a letter to Lord Burghley,
dated the 9th of May 1573, the Archbishop writes, with reference to the
last-named work, 'I have within my house on wagis, drawers and cutters,
paynters, lymners, wryters, and boke-bynders'; and he adds that he has
sent Lord Burghley a copy of it 'bound by my man.'
A list of Parker's writings, and his editions of authors will be found
in Coopers' _Athenae Cantabrigienses_. There are portraits of him in
Lambeth Palace, the Guildhall at Norwich, Corpus Christi College, and in
the Master's Lodge, Trinity College, Cambridge. There is also a rare
portrait of him, engraved in 1573, by Remigius Hogenberg, who appears to
have been in the service of the Archbishop.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 3: An interesting account of the sources of the manuscripts,
by Montague Rhodes James, Litt. D., Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum,
was published in 1899 by the Cambridge Antiquarian Society.]
[Footnote 4: Hartshorne, _Book Rarities in the University of Cambridge_,
p. 9.]
[Footnote 5: Dr. Stephen Batman, one of the Archbishop's domestic
chaplains, editor of _De Proprietatibus Rerum_, by Bartholomeus
Anglicanus.]
[Footnote 6: Robert Talbot, Rector of Haversham, Berkshire, and
Treasurer of Norwich Cathedral, was the son of John Talbot of Thorpe
Malsover, Northamptonshire. He was born about 1505, and was educated at
Winchester and New College, Oxford. Camden calls him 'a learned
antiquary,' and Lambarde describes him as 'a diligent trauayler in the
Englishe hystorye.' He died in 1558, and was buried in Norwich
Cathedral. His choicest manuscripts were left by him to New College.]
[Footnote 7: Dr. Owen, physician to King Henry VIII., King Edward VI.,
and Queen Mary. He died in 1558, and was buried in St. Stephen's,
Walbrook.]
[Footnote 8: Vitellius D. 7.]
[Footnote 9: An antiquary who resided in the Archbishop's house, and who
wrote the lives in _De Antiquitate Britannicae Ecclesiae_.]
HENRY FITZALAN, EARL OF ARUNDEL, 1513?-1580
Henry Fitzalan, twelfth Earl of Arundel, was born about the year 1513.
He was the only son of William Fitzalan, eleventh Earl of Arundel, K.G.,
by his second wife, Anne, daughter of Henry Percy, fourth Earl of
Northumberland.
[Illustration: THE EARL OF ARUNDEL'S DEVICE.]
When fourteen years of age his father was anxious to place him in the
household of Cardinal Wolsey, but he preferred to offer his service to
his godfather, King Henry VIII., 'who did noblely receave him, and well
esteemed of him for the same.'[10] In 1534 he was summoned to
Parliament in his father's barony as Lord Maltravers,[11] and in 1536,
although only twenty-three years of age, he was appointed Governor of
Calais, a post he held until the death of his father in January 1544. On
the 24th of April in the same year he was made a K.G., and in the
following July he received the appointment of 'Marshal of the Field' in
the army which invaded France. He greatly distinguished himself at the
siege of Boulogne, and on his return home he was made Lord Chamberlain,
which office he held until the fourth year of King Edward VI.'s reign,
when, on a false and ridiculous charge of abusing the privileges of his
post to enrich himself and his friends, he was deprived of it, and fined
twelve thousand pounds, eight thousand pounds of which was afterwards
remitted.[12]
On the death of Edward, Arundel took a prominent part in the proceedings
which placed Mary on the throne, and as a reward for his exertions he
was made Lord Steward of the Household, and was also given a seat on the
Council Board. Queen Elizabeth, on her accession to the crown, continued
him in all the appointments which he had held in the preceding reign,
and on several occasions visited him at Nonsuch, his residence at Cheam
in Surrey. These marks of kindness led him, it is said, to aspire to a
union with his royal mistress; but being disappointed in gaining her
hand, and 'being miscontented with sundry things,' in 1564 he resigned
his post of Lord Steward 'with sundry Speeches of Offence,'[13] which so
displeased Elizabeth that she ordered him to confine himself to his
house. He afterwards partially regained the favour of the Queen, but
having endeavoured to promote the marriage of his widowed son-in-law,
the Duke of Norfolk, with Mary Queen of Scots, he was once more placed
under arrest, and although after a time he obtained his release, it was
followed by further imprisonment, and he did not finally regain his
liberty until some months after the execution of Norfolk on the 2nd of
June 1572.
Arundel passed the remainder of his life in retirement, affectionately
tended until her death in 1577 by 'his nursse and deare beloved childe'
Lady Lumley. He died on the 24th of February 1580 at Arundel House in
the Strand, and was buried in the Collegiate Chapel at Arundel, where a
monument, with an inscription by his son-in-law, Lord Lumley, was
erected to his memory.
Arundel was twice married. By his first wife, Katherine, second daughter
of Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset, he had one son, Henry, Lord
Maltravers, who died in 1556, and two daughters: Jane, who married Lord
Lumley, and Mary, who became the wife of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk,
beheaded in 1572. His second wife, Mary, who died in 1557, was a
daughter of Sir John Arundell of Lanherne, Cornwall, and widow of Robert
Ratcliffe, first Earl of Sussex. By her he had no issue.
With the assistance of Humphrey Llwyd, the physician and antiquary, who
married Barbara, sister of Lord Lumley, Lord Arundel formed at his
residence of Nonsuch a fine collection of books, many of which had once
been the property of Archbishop Cranmer. An account of this mansion is
given in the manuscript Life of Lord Arundel, to which we have already
alluded, and it also contains a reference to his library. 'This Earle
moreover continewed allwayes of a greate and noble mynde. Amonge the
number of whose doings, that past in his tyme, this one is not the
least, to showe his magnificence, that perceivinge a sumptuous house
called Nonsuche to have bene begon, but not finished, by his first
maister Kinge Henry the eighte, and thearfore in Quene Maryes tyme,
thoughte mete rather to have bene pulled downe and solde by peacemeale
then to be perfited at her charges, he, for the love and honour he bare
to his olde maister, desired to buye the same house, by greace, of the
Quene, for wch he gave faire lands unto her Highnes; and having the
same, did not leave till he had fullye finished it in buildings,
reparations, paviments and gardens, in as ample and perfit sorte as by
the first intente and meaninge of the saide Kinge his old maister, the
same should have bene performed, and so it is nowe evident to be
beholden of all strangers, and others, for the honour of this Realme as
a pearle thereof. The same he haith lefte to his posterity, garnished
and replenished with riche furnitures; amonge the wch his Lybrarye is
righte worthye of remembrance.'
Lord Arundel left Nonsuch, with its library and furniture, together with
the greater part of his estates, to his son-in-law, Lord Lumley.
There are portraits of the Earl of Arundel by Holbein and Sir Anthony
More. That by Holbein, which is in the collection of the Marquis of
Bath, is engraved in Lodge's _Portraits of Illustrious Personages_.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 10: MS. Life of the Earl of Arundel, evidently written by one
of his most intimate servants, probably a chaplain.--_Royal MSS._, 17 A
ix., British Museum.]
[Footnote 11: _Complete Peerage of England, etc._ Edited by G.E.C.]
[Footnote 12: 'Th' erle of Arrundel committed to his house for certaine
crimes of suspicion against him, as pluking downe of boltes and lokkes
at Westminster, giving of my stuff away, etc., and put to a fine of
12,000 pound to be paide a 1000 pound yerely, of which he was after
released.'--_Journal of King Edward VI._, Cotton MSS., C. x., British
Museum.]
[Footnote 13: Strype, _Annals_ (London, 1709), i. 413.]
SIR THOMAS SMITH, 1513-1577
[Illustration: SIR THOMAS SMITH'S BOOK-STAMP.]
Sir Thomas Smith, who was Secretary of State to King Edward VI., and
afterwards to Queen Elizabeth, was born at Saffron Walden, Essex, on the
23rd of December 1513. He was the son of John Smith of Saffron Walden
and Agnes Charnock, a member of an old Lancashire family. When eleven
years old he was sent to Queens' College, Cambridge, as he himself
informs us in his _Autobiographical Notes_, now preserved in the British
Museum,[14] which he wrote for the purpose of having his nativity cast:
'1525. Sub fine II [=a]ni circa fest[=u] Mic[=h]is Cantabrigiam s[=u]
missus ad bonas I[=r]as.' Here he so greatly distinguished himself that
King Henry VIII. chose him and John Cheke, afterwards tutor to Prince
Edward, to be his scholars, and allotted them salaries for the
encouragement of their studies. Cheke makes mention of this honour in an
epistle to the King prefixed to his edition of Two Homilies of St. John
Chrysostom, published at London in 1543: 'Cooptasti me et Thomam Smithum
socium atque aequalem meum, in scholasticos tuos.' Smith specially
applied himself to the study of the Greek classics, and also to the
reformation of the faulty pronunciation of the Greek language which then
prevailed; and in a short time, so Strype, in his _Life of Sir T.
Smith_, tells us, his more correct way 'prevailed all the University
over.' He also endeavoured to introduce a new English alphabet of
twenty-nine letters, and to amend the spelling of the time, 'some of the
syllables,' he considered, 'being stuffed with needless letters.' As
early as 1531 he had become a Fellow of his college, and in 1534 he was
chosen University Orator. In 1540 Smith paid a visit to the Continent,
and proceeded to Padua, where he took the degree of D.C.L. On his return
to England in 1542 he was made LL.D. at Cambridge, and at the beginning
of 1544 was appointed Regius Professor of Civil Law at the University.
In the succeeding year he served as Vice-Chancellor, and also became
Chancellor to Goodrich, Bishop of Ely, by whom in 1546 he was collated
to the rectory of Leverington, Cambridgeshire, and also ordained priest,
a fact unknown to Strype. About the same time he received a prebend from
the Dean of Lincoln, and soon after he became Provost of Eton and Dean
of Carlisle. Towards the end of February 1547, Smith was summoned to
court, and 'mutata clericali veste, modoque, ac vivendi forma,'[15] he
was made Clerk of the Privy Council, and Master of the Court of Requests
of the Duke of Somerset, then Lord Protector. On the 14th of April 1548
he was sworn one of the King's Secretaries, and knighted in the
beginning of the following year. Shortly after his appointment Smith was
sent as ambassador to the Emperor Charles V., and in 1551 he took part
in the embassy to France to arrange a match for the King with the French
sovereign's eldest daughter. On the accession of Mary he lost all his
offices and preferments, but he managed to pass through this dangerous
reign in safety; and Strype says of him, 'that when many were most
cruelly burnt for the profession of the religion which he held, he
escaped, and was saved even in the midst of the fire, which he probably
might have an eye to in changing the crest of his coat-of-arms, which
now was a salamander living in the midst of a flame; whereas before it
was an eagle holding a writing-pen flaming in his dexter claw.' When
Elizabeth came to the throne, Smith returned to court, and was engaged
in several embassies to France. In 1572 the Queen conferred on him the
Chancellorship of the Order of the Garter; and shortly afterwards, on
Lord Burghley's preferment to the office of Lord Treasurer, vacant by
the death of the Marquis of Winchester, made him Secretary of State, a
post which, four-and-twenty years before, he held under Edward VI. Smith
died at his residence called Mounthaut, or Hill-hall, in Essex on the
12th of August 1577, and was buried in the parish church of Theydon
Mount, where a monument was erected to his memory. He was twice
married, but had no children by either of his wives.
Sir Thomas Smith possessed a fine library of about a thousand volumes.
He bequeathed all his Latin and Greek books, as well as his great globe,
of his own making, to Queens' College, Cambridge, or, if that college
did not care to have them, to Peterhouse. Some of his Italian and French
books he gave to the Queen's Library, and many volumes were also left to
friends. Strype gives a list of the contents of the library at Hill-hall
in 1566.
Smith was the author of several works, the principal one being _De
Republica Anglorum; the Maner of Gouvernement or Policie of the Realm of
England_, London, 1583, 4to. Between 1583 and 1640 this work passed
through ten editions, and several Latin and other translations of it
have been published.
A portrait of him by Holbein is at Theydon Mount, and another is
preserved at Queens' College, Cambridge.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 14: Sloane MSS. 325, f. 2.]
[Footnote 15: _Autobiographical Notes_ by Sir T. Smith.]
WILLIAM CECIL, LORD BURGHLEY, 1520-1598
William Cecil, Lord Burghley, a relation of whose life would be the
history of England during the reign of Elizabeth, was born in 1520 and
died in 1598. This great statesman, who at the age of sixteen delivered
a lecture on the logic of the Schools, and at nineteen one on the Greek
language, found time amid the cares and anxieties attendant on his high
position to form a library, which Strype tells us was a very choice one.
The same authority also mentions that he gave many books to the
University of Cambridge, 'both Latin and Greek, concerning the canon and
civil law and physic.' In 1687 a considerable portion of his printed
books and manuscripts was sold by auction. The title-page of the sale
catalogue reads 'Bibliotheca Illustriss: sive Catalogus Variorum
Librorum in quavis Lingua et Facultate Insignium ornatissimae Bibliothecae
Viri Cujusdam Praenobilis ac Honoratissimi olim defuncti, Libris
rarissimis tam Typis excusis quam Manuscriptis refertissimae: Quorum
Auctio habebitur Londini, ad Insigne Ursi in Vico dicto Ave-Mary-Lane
prope Templum D. Pauli, Novemb. 21, 1687. Per T. Bentley and B. Walford,
Bibliopolas. Lond.'; and in the Preface we read:--'If the catalogue,
here presented, were only of Common Books, and such as were easie to be
had, it would not have been very necessary to have Prefac'd any thing to
the Reader: But since it appears in the World with two Circumstances,
which no Auction in England (perhaps) ever had before; nor is it
probable that the like should frequently happen again, it would seem an
Oversight, if we should neglect to advertise the Reader of them. The
first is, That it comprises the main part of the Library of that Famous
Secretary William Cecil, Lord Burleigh: which consider'd, must put it
out of doubt, that these Books are excellent in their several kinds and
well-chosen. The second is, That it contains a greater number of Rare
Manuscripts than ever yet were offer'd together in this way, many of
which are rendred the more valuable by being remark'd upon by the hand
of the said great Man. This Auction will begin on Monday the 21st day of
November next 1687, at the sign of the Bear in Ave-Mary-Lane, near the
West-end of St. Paul's Church, continuing day by day the first five days
of every Week, till all the Books are sold, from the Hours of Nine in
the Morning till Twelve, and from Two till Six in the Evening.' There
were three thousand eight hundred and forty-four lots of printed books,
and four hundred and thirteen manuscripts in two hundred and forty-three
lots in the sale. A copy of the catalogue, marked with the prices, is
preserved in the British Museum. The printed books in the sale do not
appear to have been exceptionally choice or rare, but there were some
valuable manuscripts. A few of the most notable, together with the
prices they fetched, are given in the following list:--
_Biblia Sacra Antiquissima_, folio magno, vellum--six pounds, twelve
shillings; _Polychronicon vetus MS. per Radulphum Hygden, nunquam Latine
impressum_, vellum--eleven pounds; _Wicklif's Book of Postils or Sermons
in Old English_--seven pounds, two shillings and six pence; _Other
Discourses by him_--ten pounds, two shillings and six pence; _Wilhelmus
Malmesburiensis de gestis Regum Angliae_, vellum--seven pounds, three
shillings; _L'Histoire du Roy Arthur, avec des Figures d'orees_, folio
grand on vellum--three pounds, two shillings; _Le Chronique de Jean
Froissart des guerres de France et D'Angleterre_, folio grand, _avec des
belles Figures_, vellum--three pounds, nine shillings; _Norden .
Speculum Britanniae_--four pounds, seven shillings. It is not known to
whom these books belonged at the period of the sale, but it appears
probable they were the property of James Cecil, fourth Earl of Salisbury
(a descendant of Lord Burghley's younger son), who succeeded to the
title in 1683, and died in 1694. He was mixed up in the troubles of the
time, and was, says Macaulay, 'foolish to a proverb,' and the 'prey of
gamesters.' John Cecil, Earl of Exeter, from 1678 to 1700, who was
descended from Lord Burghley's elder son, was himself a book collector,
and therefore not likely to part with the library of his illustrious
ancestor.
The bindings of Lord Burghley's books are generally stamped with his
arms, which are sometimes encircled by the order of the Garter, but a
little volume preserved in the library of the British Museum simply
bears his name and that of his second wife, his affectionate companion
for forty-three years. Lord Burghley left an immense mass of papers,
which are now preserved at Hatfield House, the Record Office, the
British Museum, etc. Those in the British Museum, which consist of one
hundred and twenty-one folio volumes of state papers and the
miscellaneous correspondence of Lord Burghley, together with his private
note-book and journals, passed from Sir Michael Hickes, one of the
statesman's secretaries, to a descendant, Sir William Hickes, by whom
they were sold to Chiswell, the bookseller, and by him to Strype, the
historian. On Strype's death they came into the hands of James West, and
from his executors they were acquired by William Petty, first Marquis of
Lansdowne, whose manuscripts were purchased by the Trustees of the
British Museum in 1807.[16]
[Illustration: LORD BURGHLEY'S BOOK-STAMP.]
THOMAS WOTTON, 1521-1587
Thomas Wotton was born in 1521 at Bocton or Boughton Place, in the
parish of Boughton Malherbe, in the county of Kent, and succeeded his
father, Sir Edward Wotton, in that estate in 1550. He was appointed
sheriff of the county of Kent in the last year of Queen Mary, and in
July 1573 he entertained Elizabeth and her court at his residence,
Bocton Place, when she offered him knighthood, which he declined. Wotton
was twice married. By his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John
Rudstone, he had three sons: Edward, knighted by Elizabeth, and
afterwards raised to the peerage as Baron Wotton by James I.; and James
and John, who were also made knights by Elizabeth. His second wife was
Eleanora, daughter of Sir William Finch of Eastwell in Kent, and widow
of Robert Morton, Esq., of the same county, by whom he had a son, Henry,
the poet and statesman, who was knighted by James I. He died in London
on the 11th of January 1587, and was buried in the parish church of
Boughton Malherbe, where a monument was erected to his memory.
[Illustration: ARMS OF THOMAS WOTTON.]
Wotton was celebrated for his hospitality, and was much beloved and
respected by all who knew him. He was also a patron of learning, and
possessed a fine and extensive collection of books, remarkable for their
handsome bindings. They are generally ornamented in a style similar to
that used on the volumes bound for Grolier, whose motto he adopted.
Although the majority of the bindings executed for him bear the legend
THOMAE WOTTONI ET AMICORVM as the only mark of their ownership, they are
sometimes impressed with his arms.
Izaak Walton, in his _Life of Sir Henry Wotton_, states that Thomas
Wotton 'was a gentleman excellently educated, and studious in all the
liberal arts, in the knowledge whereof he attained unto great
perfection; who though he had--besides those abilities, a very noble and
plentiful estate, and the ancient interest of his predecessors--many
invitations from Queen Elizabeth to change his country recreations and
retirement for a court life:--offering him a knighthood, and that to be
but as an earnest of some more honourable and more profitable employment
under her; yet he humbly refused both, being a man of great modesty, of
a most plain and single heart, of an ancient freedom, and integrity of
mind.'
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 16: Edwards, _Lives of the Founders of the British Museum_
(London, 1870), p. 426.]
DR. DEE, 1527-1608
Dr. John Dee, 'that perfect astronomer, curious astrologer and serious
geometrician,' as he is styled by Lilly, was born in London on the 13th
of July 1527. He was the son of Rowland Dee, who, according to Wood, was
a wealthy vintner, but who is described by Strype as Gentleman Sewer to
Henry VIII. In his _Compendious Rehearsal_ Dee informs us that he
possessed a very fine collection of books, 'printed and anciently
written, bound and unbound, in all near 4000, the fourth part of which
were written books. The value of all which books, by the estimation of
men skilful in the arts, whereof the books did and do intreat, and that
in divers languages, was well worth 2000 lib.'; and he adds that he
'spent 40 years in divers places beyond the seas, and in England in
getting these books together.' He specially mentions 'that four written
books, one in Greek, two in French, and one in High Dutch cost 533 lib.'
His library also contained a 'great case or frame of boxes, wherein some
hundreds of very rare evidences of divers Irelandish territories,
provinces and lands were laid up; and divers evidences ancient of some
Welsh princes and noblemen, their great gifts of lands to the
foundations or enrichings of Sundry Houses of Religious men. Some also
were there the like of the Normans donations and gifts about and some
years after the Conquest.' Dee, in a letter from Antwerp to Sir William
Cecil, afterwards Lord Burghley, dated February 16, 1563, also states
that he had purchased a curious book (probably a manuscript),
_Steganographia_, by Joannes Trithemius, which was so rare that '1000
crowns had been offered in vain' for a copy. Dee placed his library in
his house at Mortlake, Surrey, and so great was its repute, that on the
10th of March 1575, Queen Elizabeth, attended by many of her courtiers,
paid him a visit for the purpose of examining it; but learning that his
wife had been buried that day, she would not enter the house, but
requested him to show her his famous magic glass, and describe its
properties, which he accordingly did 'to her Majesty's great contentment
and delight.' In 1583, during his absence on the Continent, the
populace, who execrated him as 'a caller of divels,' broke into his
house and destroyed a great part of his furniture, collections, and
library. On his return to his home in 1589, he succeeded in regaining
about three-fourths of his books; but these were gradually dispersed in
consequence of the pecuniary difficulties he was in during the latter
years of his life. Lilly states that 'he died very poor, enforced many
times to sell some book or other to buy his dinner with.' An autograph
catalogue of both his printed and manuscript books, dated September 6,
1583, is preserved among the Harleian manuscripts in the British
Museum.[17] His private diary, and a catalogue of his manuscripts, were
edited in 1842 for the Camden Society by Mr. J.O. Halliwell, F.R.S.,
from the original manuscripts in the Ashmolean Museum and Trinity
College, Cambridge. Another portion of his diary, preserved in the
Bodleian Library, was edited by Mr. J.E. Baily, F.S.A., and printed
(twenty copies only) at London in 1880. In 1556 Dee presented to Queen
Mary 'A Supplication for the recovery and preservation of ancient
Writers and Monuments.' In this interesting document he laments the
spoil and destruction of so many and so notable libraries through the
subverting of religious houses, and suggests that a commission should be
appointed with power to demand that all possessors of manuscripts
throughout the realm should send their books to be copied for the
Queen's library, so that it might 'in a very few years most plentifully
be furnished, and that without one penny charge to the Queen, or doing
injury to any creature.' He himself undertook to procure copies of the
famous manuscripts at the Vatican, St. Mark's, Venice, Bologna,
Florence, Vienna, etc.
[Illustration: DR. DEE. From the Ashmolean portrait as engraved by
Schencker.]
Dee wrote a large number of works, but comparatively few of them have
been printed. No fewer than seventy-nine are enumerated in Coopers'
_Athenae Cantabrigienses_. A catalogue of his writings, printed and
unprinted, is given in his _Compendious Rehearsal_. Many of his
manuscripts came into the possession of Elias Ashmole, the eminent
antiquary.
Aubrey says of Dee that 'he was a great peace-maker; if any of the
neighbours fell out, he would never let them alone till he had made them
friends. He was tall and slender. He wore a gown like an artist's gown,
with hanging sleeves, and a slit. He had a very fair, clear, sanguine
complexion, a long beard as white as milk. A very handsome man.'
He died in December 1608, and was buried in the chancel of Mortlake
Church.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 17: _Harl. MSS._ 1879.]
ROBERT DUDLEY, EARL OF LEICESTER, 1532?-1588
Robert Dudley, Baron Denbigh, and Earl of Leicester, the favourite of
Elizabeth, was born on the 24th of June in 1532 or 1533. He was the
fifth son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who was executed in
August 1553 for maintaining the claims of Lady Jane Grey, his
daughter-in-law, to the crown. He was himself condemned to death for the
part he took in the attempt of his father to place Lady Jane upon the
throne; but on the intercession of the Lords of the Council was pardoned
by Queen Mary, who received him into favour, and appointed him master of
the English ordnance at the siege of St. Quentin, where his brother
Henry was killed. On the accession of Elizabeth, Dudley soon became a
great favourite of the Queen, who advanced him to the highest honours,
and, there is little doubt, at one time contemplated a marriage with
him. Leicester was a generous supporter of learning, and his letters
show that he was himself possessed of considerable literary ability.
Geoffrey Whitney, in his dedication of his _Choice of Emblems_ to the
Earl, mentions 'his zeale and honourable care of those that love good
letters,' and states that 'divers, who are nowe famous men, had bin
through povertie longe since discouraged from their studies if they had
not founde your honour so prone to bee their patron.' Little is known
respecting Leicester's library, which must have been a large and fine
one, for many handsomely bound volumes which once belonged to it are
found both in public and private collections. This dispersion of his
books may probably be accounted for by the sale of his goods after his
death, as mentioned by Camden in his _Annals of the Reign of Elizabeth_:
'But whereas he was in the Queen's debt, his goods were sold at a public
Outcry: for the Queen, though in other things she were favourable
enough, yet seldom or never did she remit the debts owing to her
Treasury.' In the _Notices of London Libraries_, by John Bagford and
William Oldys, it is stated: 'At Lambeth Palace over the Cloyster is a
well-furnished library. The oldest of the books were Dudley's, Earl of
Leicester.' Not more, however, than nine or ten which belonged to the
Earl are to be found there now. Almost all his books have his well-known
crest, the bear and ragged staff, stamped upon the covers, but a few of
them bear his arms instead.
[Illustration: BOOK-STAMP OF LORD LEICESTER.]
Leicester was suddenly seized with illness on his way to Kenilworth, and
died at his house at Cornbury, in Oxfordshire, on the 4th of September
1588. The suddenness of his death gave rise to a suspicion that it was
caused by poison; and Ben Jonson tells a story that he had given his
wife 'a bottle of liquor which he willed her to use in any faintness,
which she, not knowing it was poison, gave him, and so he died.' He was
buried at Warwick.
JOHN, LORD LUMLEY, 1534?-1609.
John, Lord Lumley, was born in or about the year 1534. He was the only
son of George Lumley of Twing, in the county of Yorkshire, who was
executed in 1537 at Tyburn, for high treason. On the death of his
grandfather, Lord Lumley, in 1544, John succeeded to the family estates,
and in 1547 he was permitted to take the title of Baron Lumley. He
matriculated in May 1549, as a fellow-commoner of Queens' College,
Cambridge, and was also educated in the court of King Edward VI., whose
funeral he attended. On the 29th of September 1553 he was created a
Knight of the Bath, and, two days later, was present, together with his
wife, at the coronation of Queen Mary;[18] Lady Lumley riding in the
third chariot with five other baronesses.
[Illustration: LORD LUMLEY. From the Cheam portrait as engraved for
Sandford.]
On the accession of Queen Elizabeth, he, with other lords, was appointed
to attend her Majesty on her journey from Hatfield to London. In 1559
his father-in-law, the Earl of Arundel, at that time Chancellor of the
University of Cambridge, nominated him High Steward of the University.
Lord Lumley was sent to the Tower in 1569 on suspicion of being
implicated in intrigues to bring about the marriage of his
brother-in-law the Duke of Norfolk with Mary, Queen of Scots, and to
re-establish the Roman Catholic religion. In the next year he was
released, but in October 1571 he was again imprisoned, and he did not
obtain his liberty until April 1573, ten months after the execution of
the Duke of Norfolk. At a later period he appears to have quite regained
the favour of the Queen, for we read that she accepted as a New Year's
gift from him in 1584 'a cup of cristall graven and garnished with
golde,' and that at the New Year 1587 he presented to her 'a booke,
wherein are divers Psalmes in Lattin written, the boards greate,
inclosed all over on the outeside with golde enamuld cut-worke, with
divers colours and one litle claspe.'[19] In 1580 Lord Lumley lost his
father-in-law, who by a deed, dated March 14th, 1566, had conveyed a
great part of his estates to Lord Lumley and Jane his eldest daughter,
Lord Lumley's wife; and after her decease, Lord Arundel confirmed the
same to Lord Lumley by his will, which he made a few months before his
death. Among the estates bequeathed were the palace and park of Nonsuch,
which in 1590 Lord Lumley conveyed to the Queen in exchange for lands of
the yearly value of five hundred and thirty-four pounds. Lord Lumley
died on the 11th of April 1609 at his residence on Tower Hill, in the
parish of St. Olave, Hart Street, and was buried in Cheam church, in the
county of Surrey, where a monument was erected to his memory in the
Lumley aisle, which he had built. By his first wife, Jane, who died in
1577, Lord Lumley had three children, who all died in infancy. He had
no issue by his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of John, Lord Darcy of
Chiche, who survived him nine years.
Lord Lumley, Bishop Hacket says, 'did pursue Recondite Learning as much
as any of his Honourable Rank in those Times, and was the owner of a
most precious Library, the search and collection of Mr. Humfry
Llyd.'[20] This fine library, which to a great extent was formed by the
books bequeathed to him by his father-in-law in 1580, contained many
volumes which had evidently been once the property of Archbishop
Cranmer, as they bear his name, which is sometimes accompanied by the
signature of Lumley, and in other instances by the signatures of both
Arundel and Lumley. Lord Lumley also collected a number of portraits.
Lord Lumley made liberal donations of books to the University Library of
Cambridge and the Bodleian Library during his lifetime, and also
'bestowed many excellent Pieces printed and manuscript upon Mr.
Williams[21] for alliance sake.' After his death in 1609 the remainder
of his library, 'which was probably more valuable than any other
collection then existing in England, with the exception of that of Sir
Robert Cotton,'[22] was purchased by Henry, Prince of Wales. At the
Prince's decease in 1612 the books went to augment the old royal library
of England, which was given to the nation in 1757 by King George II. A
curious and interesting inventory of the 'moveables' found at Lumley
Castle after the death of its owner is given in Surtees's _History of
Durham_, vol. ii. pp. 158-163. The goods comprised pictures, sculptures,
'peeces of hangines of arras with golde of the Storie of Troye, Quene
Hester, Cipio and Haniball,' etc., hangings of 'gilte leather,' 'Beddes'
of gold, silver, and silk, splendid chairs, and velvet and Turkey
carpets, and were valued at fourteen hundred and four pounds, seventeen
shillings and eightpence, but no mention is made of any books. Most of
these treasures were sold by auction at the beginning of the nineteenth
century. Among the Royal MSS. preserved in the British Museum is a
translation of Erasmus's _Institutio Principis Christiani_, signed 'Your
lordshippes obedient sone, J. Lumley, 1550.' As Lord Lumley's own father
was put to death in 1537, this was evidently addressed to his
father-in-law, who has written his name Arundel on the first page. Lord
Lumley was a member of the old Society of Antiquaries, and in
conjunction with Dr. Caldwell[23] he founded a surgery lecture in the
Royal College of Physicians, endowing it with forty pounds per annum.
The Lumley family was one of considerable importance and antiquity, and
an amusing account is given by Pennant[24] and Hutchinson[25] of a visit
paid by King James I. to Lumley Castle on the 13th of April 1603. In the
absence of Lord Lumley the King was received by Dr. James, Dean of
Durham, 'who expatiated on the pedigree of their noble host, without
missing a single ancestor, direct or collateral, from Liulph to Lord
Lumley, till the King, wearied with the eternal blazon, interrupted him,
"Oh mon, gang na further; let me digest the knowledge I ha gained, for
on my saul I did na ken Adam's name was Lumley."'
Lord Lumley's first wife was a very learned lady, and several volumes
containing the exercises both of herself and her sister, the Duchess of
Norfolk, are preserved among the Royal MSS. in the British Museum,
having been handed down with the Lumley books. A quarto volume,[26] upon
the first leaf of which is written 'The doinge of my Lady Lumley,
dowghter to my L. Therle of Arundell,' contains Latin translations of
several of the Orations of Isocrates, and 'The Tragedie of Euripides
called Iphigeneia, translated out of Greake into Englisshe.' Among the
royal manuscripts is also to be found a beautiful little volume of
fourteen vellum leaves,[27] containing copies of moral apophthegms, in
Latin, which Sir Nicholas Bacon had inscribed on the walls of his house
at Gorhambury. On the first page, above the arms of Lady Lumley, which
are splendidly emblazoned, is written in gold capitals, 'Syr . Nicholas
. Bacon . Knyghte . to . his . very . good . ladye . the . ladye .
Lumley . sendeth . this,' and on the second page this title, 'Sentences
printed in the Lorde Kepar's Gallery at Gorhambury: selected by him out
of divers authors, and sent to the good ladye Lumley at her desire.' The
sentences, which are thirty-seven in number, are inscribed in gold
capital letters upon grounds of various colours.
There are three portraits of Lord Lumley at Lumley Castle, and one at
Arundel Castle. A fine engraving of another portrait, which was formerly
in the Lumley aisle at Cheam, is in Stebbing's edition of Sandford's
_Genealogical History_. There are also engravings of Lord Lumley by
Fittler and Thane. Lumley Castle also contains a portrait of Lady
Lumley, inscribed 'Jane Fitzalan, daughter to Henry Earle of Arundele,
first wife to John Lord Lumley.'[28]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 18: Cooper, _Athenae Cantabrigienses_, vol. ii. p. 517.]
[Footnote 19: Cooper.]
[Footnote 20: Humphrey Llwyd, physician and antiquary, Lord Lumley's
brother-in-law.]
[Footnote 21: Afterwards Archbishop of York, a relative of Lord Lumley.]
[Footnote 22: Edwards, _Lives of the Founders of the British Museum_, p.
162.]
[Footnote 23: Richard Caldwell, M.D., elected President of the Royal
College of Physicians in 1570.]
[Footnote 24: Pennant, _Tour in Scotland, etc_.]
[Footnote 25: Hutchinson, _History of County of Durham_.]
[Footnote 26: _Royal MSS._, 15 A ix.]
[Footnote 27: _Royal MSS._, 17 A xxiii.]
[Footnote 28: Cooper.]
GEORGE CAREW, EARL OF TOTNES, 1555-1629
[Illustration: BOOK-STAMP OF EARL OF TOTNES.]
George Carew, Baron Carew of Clopton and Earl of Totnes, was born in
1555. He was the son of George Carew, Dean of Windsor, by his wife Anne,
daughter of Sir Nicholas Harvey. In 1564 he was sent to the University
of Oxford, which he left in 1573, and in the following year went to
Ireland and entered the service of his cousin Sir Peter Carew, who was
then engaged in prosecuting his claims to his Irish property. Carew held
various posts in that country, and remained there, save for visits to
England and the Low Countries, until 1592, when he entered upon his
duties as Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance, to which office he had
been appointed in 1591. He took part in the expeditions of Essex to
Cadiz in 1596, and to the Azores in 1597, and in 1599 returned to
Ireland as Lord President of Munster, a post he held until 1603. In 1605
he was made Vice-Chamberlain to Queen Anne, and in the same year was
created Baron Carew. Three years later he was made Master of the
Ordnance, and in 1611 he again went to Ireland as 'Sole Commissioner for
the reformation of the army and improvement of his majesties revenew.'
On the 5th of February 1626, Carew, who had been knighted in 1585, was
created Earl of Totnes, and later in the year received the appointment
of 'Treasurer and receaver-general to queene Henriette Marie.'
He died at London on the 27th of March 1629, and was buried in the
Church of Stratford-on-Avon, where a monument was erected to his memory
by his widow, a daughter of William Clopton, of Clopton House, near
Stratford-on-Avon. He left no children by her.
Carew, who was much attached to antiquarian pursuits, maintained a large
correspondence with Camden, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Robert Cotton, and
Sir Thomas Bodley, and many of his letters have been printed by the
Camden Society. He bequeathed his books and manuscripts, of which he had
acquired a considerable number, to Sir Thomas Stafford, who was said to
be his illegitimate son. They afterwards became the property of
Archbishop Laud, who placed forty-two of the volumes of manuscripts,
which principally relate to Irish history in the time of Queen
Elizabeth, in the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth, and four in the
Bodleian Library. Others are preserved in the Department of M., British
Museum, the State Paper Office, and at Hatfield.
SIR ROBERT BRUCE COTTON, BART., 1571-1631
Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, who is styled by Sir Symonds D'Ewes 'England's
Prime Antiquary,' was born in 1571. He was the eldest son of Thomas
Cotton, of Connington, Huntingdonshire, by his first wife, Elizabeth,
daughter of Francis Shirley of Staunton-Harold, Leicestershire. He
received his early education at Westminster School, and in 1581
matriculated at Jesus College, Cambridge, where four years later he
took the degree of B.A. At a very early age he became a member of the
Elizabethan Society of Antiquaries, which met for many years at his
residence in Westminster, near Palace Yard. It was in this house that he
formed that magnificent collection of manuscripts and other antiquities
which now ranks as one of the principal treasures of the British Museum.
The dissolution of the monasteries in the reigns of Henry VIII. and
Edward VI. afforded special facilities to Cotton in forming the
collection which comprises such valuable manuscripts as the famous
_Durham Book_ (a copy of the Gospels in Latin, written and illuminated
in honour of St. Cuthbert by Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne, between
the years 698 and 720, with an interlinear translation in Northumbrian
Saxon), and the copy of the Gospels said to have been used to administer
the oath at the coronation of King Athelstan. Other treasures are the
original Bull of Pope Leo X. conferring on King Henry VIII. the title of
Defender of the Faith; and a contemporary and official copy of Magna
Charta, granted by King John, and dated at Runnymede, 15th June, in the
seventeenth year of his reign, which was given to Cotton by Sir Edward
Dering. Both these precious documents were unfortunately damaged by the
fire at Ashburnham House, but have since been very skilfully repaired.
More than two hundred volumes of the library consisted of letters of
sovereigns and statesmen; but Cotton did not acquire these valuable
documents without creating a strong feeling that such a large and
important collection of official papers should rather be preserved in
the Record Office than left in the possession of a private individual,
and his library was twice sequestrated by the Government. On the first
occasion his books were given back to him; but on the second, although
he repeatedly petitioned the King for their restoration, he died before
his applications were answered. His death took place at his house in
Westminster on the 6th of May 1631, and he was buried in Connington
Church, where a monument was erected to his memory. Cotton was knighted
on the accession of James I., and was also one of the baronets created
by that sovereign in 1611. Sir Robert Cotton gave directions in his will
that his library should not be sold, and bequeathed it to his son, Sir
Thomas Cotton, who on the decease of his father made great efforts to
obtain its restoration, which were ultimately successful. He died in
1662, leaving the collection to his son, Sir John Cotton, who, having
declined an offer for it of sixty thousand pounds from Louis XIV. in
1700, expressed his intention of practically giving it to the nation;
and in the same year an Act was passed, enacting that on the death of
Sir John (he died in 1702), Cotton House, together with the collection,
should be vested in trustees, but at the same time continue in his
family and name, and not be sold or otherwise disposed of. It was
further ordered that the library should be kept and preserved for public
use and advantage, and that a room should be provided for it, with 'a
convenient way, passage, and resort to the same, at the will and
discretion of the heirs of the family.' Obstacles, however, occurred in
carrying out these directions, principally on account of the difficulty
of access to the library, and the unsuitableness of the room in which it
was deposited, it being described as 'a narrow little room, damp, and
improper for preserving the books and papers.' An agreement was
therefore made, by virtue of an Act of Parliament (5 Anne, cap. 30),
with Sir John Cotton, grandson of the Sir John Cotton who died in 1702,
for the purchase of the inheritance of the house where the library was
deposited for the sum of four thousand five hundred pounds; and it was
further provided that the library should continue to be settled in
trustees, and a convenient room built in part of the grounds for its
accommodation. This, however, was not done, and the dilapidated
condition of Cotton House soon necessitated the removal of the
collection, which was taken to Essex House, Essex Street, Strand, where
it remained until 1730, when it was conveyed to Ashburnham House in
Little Dean's Yard, Westminster, which was purchased by the Crown to
receive it, together with the royal MSS. Here, on the 23rd of October
1731, the disastrous fire broke out in which one hundred and fourteen
manuscripts were burnt, lost, or entirely spoiled, and ninety-eight
damaged, but many of these have been cleverly restored. Those which were
saved were placed in a new building designed for the dormitory of
Westminster School, where they remained until they were transferred to
the British Museum in 1757, having been included in the Act under which
the Museum was founded in 1753.
[Illustration: SIR ROBERT COTTON. From an engraving by R. White.]
The Cottonian Collection originally consisted of 958 volumes. A
catalogue of it was compiled by Dr. Thomas Smith in 1696, and a more
ample one by Mr. Joseph Planta, Principal Librarian of the British
Museum, in 1802.
'Omnis ab illo
Et Camdene tua, et Seldeni gloria crevit.'[29]
WILLIAM LAUD, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, 1573-1645
William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, whose eventful history is well
known, was born at Reading on the 7th of October 1573. He was the son of
a clothier of that town, and was first educated in the free grammar
school of his native place, and afterwards proceeded to St. John's
College, Oxford, where he successively obtained a scholarship and a
fellowship, and in 1611 became President of the College. In 1616 James
I. conferred on him the Deanery of Gloucester, on the 22nd of January
1621 he was installed as a prebendary of Westminster, and on the 29th of
June in the same year he obtained the See of St. David's. On the
accession of Charles I. to the throne Laud's influence became very
great, and in 1626 he was made Bishop of Bath and Wells, and two years
later Bishop of London. In 1630 he was elected Chancellor of the
University of Oxford, and in 1633 he was appointed Archbishop of
Canterbury. Shortly after the meeting of the Long Parliament in 1640
Laud was impeached of treason by the House of Commons, and committed to
the Tower. After an imprisonment of three years he was brought to trial
before the Lords, but as they showed an inclination to acquit him, the
Commons passed an ordinance of attainder, declaring him guilty of
treason, to which they compelled the Peers to assent, and on the 10th of
January 1645 he was brought to the scaffold on Tower Hill. His body was
interred in the chancel of All Hallows, Barking, where it remained until
1663, when it was removed to the Chapel of St. John's College, Oxford.
Archbishop Laud was an ardent collector of books, especially of
manuscripts, but Wood in his _Athenae Oxonienses_ says he was 'such a
liberal benefactor towards the advancement of learning that he left
himself little or nothing for his own use.' The Bodleian Library is
indebted to him for a large portion of its choicest treasures,
especially of Oriental literature. Between the years 1635 and 1640 he
enriched the Library with repeated gifts of valuable manuscripts. In
1635 he presented four hundred and sixty-two volumes and five rolls.
Among these were forty-six Latin manuscripts, 'e Collegio Herbipolensi
[Wuerzburg] in Germania sumpti, A.D. 1631, cum Suecorum Regis exercitus
per universam fere Germaniam grassarentur.' This gift was followed, in
1636, by another of one hundred and eighty-one manuscripts. In the next
year five hundred and fifty-five additional manuscripts were given by
him to the Library, and in 1640 eighty-one more. This splendid donation
of nearly thirteen hundred manuscripts comprised works in Oriental and
many other languages; a large number of them being of exceptional value
and interest. Among them was a manuscript of the Acts of the Apostles in
Greek and Latin, of the end of the seventh century, which is believed to
have been once in the possession of the Venerable Bede. Other notable
manuscripts were an Irish vellum manuscript containing the Psalter of
Cashel, Cormac's Glossary, Poems attributed to St. Columb-Kill and St.
Patrick, etc., and a copy of the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, which ends at
the year 1154, and appears to have been written in, and to have
formerly been the property of, the Abbey of Peterborough. In addition to
the manuscripts, the Archbishop presented the Library with a collection
of coins, and other antiquities and curiosities.[30] Archbishop Laud was
also a great benefactor to his own college, St. John's. Sir Kenelm Digby
in a letter to Dr. Gerard Langbaine, dated Gothurst, November 7th, 1654,
writes: 'As I was one day waiting on the late King, my master, I told
him of a collection of choice Arabic Manuscripts I was sending after my
Latin ones to the University. My Lord of Canterbury [Laud] that was
present, wished that they might go along with a parcel that he was
sending to St. John's College: whereupon I sent them to his Grace, as
Chancellor of the University, beseeching him to present them in my name
to the same place where he sent his. They were in two trunks (made
exactly fit for them) that had the first letters of my christian and
sirname decyphered upon them with nails; and on the first page of every
book was my ordinary motto and name written at length in my own hand.
The troubles of the times soon followed my sending these trunks of books
to Lambeth-house, and I was banished out of the land, and returned not
until my lord was dead; so that I never more heard of them.'[31]
Some curious entries in the Journals of the House of Commons show that
the books which the Archbishop retained for his own use fell into the
hands of Hugh Peters, the regicide.
'Ao. 1643-4, March 8. Ordered, That a Study of books to the value of
one hundred pounds out of such books as are sequestered, be forthwith
bestowed upon Mr. Peters.'
'Ao. 1644, 25 April. Whereas this House was formerly pleased to bestow
upon Mr. Peters, Books to the Value of an Hundred Pounds, it is this day
ordered, that Mr. Recorder, Mr. Whitlock and Mr. Hill, or any Two of
them, do cause to be delivered unto Mr. Peters Books of the Value of an
Hundred Pounds, out of the particular and private study of the
Archbishop of Canterbury, and out of the Books belonging to the said
Archbishop, in his own particular.'
'Ao. 1644, 27 Junij. Whereas formerly Books to the Value of an Hundred
Pounds were bestowed upon Mr. Peters, out of the Archbishop of
Canterbury's particular private Study: And whereas the said Study is
appraised at a matter of Forty Pounds more than the said Hundred Pounds;
It is this day ordered, That Mr. Peters shall have the whole Study of
Books freely bestowed upon him.'
These books, however, appear to have been recovered after the
Restoration, for we find an entry in the Journals of the date of May 16,
1660, ordering 'That it be referred to the Committee to whom the
Business of Secretary Thurloe is referred, to take Order, that all the
Books and Papers, heretofore belonging to the Library of the late
Archbishop of Canterbury, and now, or lately, in the Hands of Mr. Hugh
Peters, be forthwith secured.'
In addition to his other benefactions to the University of Oxford,
Archbishop Laud founded in that university a Professorship of Arabic,
and endowed it with lands in the parish of Bray, in the county of Berks.
The works written by Laud are but few in number. They are _Officium
Quotidianum, or a Manual of Private Devotions_; _A Summary of
Devotions_; his _Diary_; and _A History of his Troubles and Tryal_;
together with some smaller pieces, sermons, and speeches. _A Relation of
the Conference between him and Fisher the Jesuit_, by Laud's chaplain
John Baily, was printed in 1624. A collected edition of his works,
edited by Henry Wharton, was printed in 1695-1700, and a second one in
the Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology, in six volumes in 1847-49.
Portraits of him are to be found in St. John's College, Oxford, and at
Lambeth Palace. A copy of the last portrait, by Henry Stone, is in the
National Portrait Gallery.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 29: Preface to Weaver's _Funeral Monuments_.]
[Footnote 30: Macray, _Annals of the Bodleian Library_, pp. 61-65.]
[Footnote 31: Walker, _Letters by Eminent Persons_. London, 1813.]
ROBERT BURTON, 1576-1640
Robert Burton, the author of _The Anatomy of Melancholy_, who is
numbered by Dibdin 'among the most marked bibliomaniacs of the age,' was
the second son of Ralph Burton of Lindley in the county of Leicester,
and was born on the 8th of February 1576. He received the early part of
his education at the grammar schools of Nuneaton and Sutton Coldfield.
In 1593 he was admitted a commoner at Brasenose College, Oxford, and in
1599 was elected a student of Christ Church. He took the degree of B.D.
in 1614. The last-named college presented him with the vicarage of St.
Thomas, in the west suburb of Oxford, in 1616, and some years later
George, Lord Berkeley, gave him the rectory of Segrave in
Leicestershire. The first edition of his famous work, _The Anatomy of
Melancholy_, appeared in 1621. Burton, about whose life little is known,
died in his chamber at Christ's Church on the 25th of January 1639-40,
'at, or very near that time,' Anthony a Wood writes, 'which he had some
years before foretold from the calculation of his own nativity. Which
being exact, several of the students did not forbear to whisper among
themselves, that rather than there should be a mistake in the
calculation, he sent up his soul to heaven thro' a slip about his neck.'
Wood adds that he was buried in the north aisle of Christ Church
Cathedral, and over his grave 'was erected a comely monument on the
upper pillar of the said isle with his bust painted to the life: on the
right hand of which, is the calculation of his nativity, and under the
bust this inscription made by himself; all put up by the care of William
Burton, his brother.
'Paucis notus, paucioribus ignotus, hic jacet Democritus junior, cui
vitam dedit & mortem Melancholia. Obiit viii. Id. Jan. A.C. MDCXXXIX.'
Burton's monument and bust have been engraved for Nichols's _History and
Antiquities of Leicestershire_, and his portrait hangs in the hall of
Brasenose College.
Wood gives the following character of Burton:--'He was an exact
mathematician, a curious calculator of nativities, a general-read
scholar, a thorough-paced philologist, and one that understood the
surveying of lands well. As he was by many accounted a severe student, a
devourer of authors, a melancholy and humourous person, so by others who
knew him well, a person of great honesty, plain dealing and charity. I
have heard some of the ancients of Christchurch often say that his
company was very merry, facete and juvenile; and no man in his time did
surpass him for his ready and dexterous interlarding his common
discourses among them with verses from the poets, or sentences from
classical authors; which, being then all the fashion in the university,
made his company more acceptable.'
Burton left behind him a large and curious collection of books, the
nature of which he well describes in his Address to the Reader of his
_Anatomy of Melancholy_: 'I hear new news every day, and those ordinary
rumours of war, plagues, fires, inundations, thefts, murders, massacres,
meteors, comets, spectrums, prodigies, apparitions, of towns taken,
cities besieged in France, Germany, Turkey, Persia, Poland, etc., daily
musters and preparations, and such like, which these tempestuous times
afford, battles fought, so many men slain, monomachies, shipwrecks,
piracies, and sea-fights; peace, leagues, stratagems, and fresh
alarms.... New books every day, pamphlets, currantoes, stories, whole
catalogues of volumes of all sorts.... Now come tidings of weddings,
maskings, mummeries, entertainments, jubilies, embassies, tilts and
tournaments, trophies, triumphs, revels, sports, plays: then again, as
in a new shifted scene, treasons, cheating tricks, robberies, enormous
villanies in all kinds, funerals, burials, deaths of princes, new
discoveries, expeditions, now comical, then tragical matters.' He
appears to have purchased indiscriminately almost everything that was
published.
In his will, dated August 15th, 1639, he gives directions for the
disposal of his books:--
'Now for my goods I thus dispose them. First I give an Cth pounds to
Christ Church in Oxford where I have so long lived to buy five pounds
Lands per Ann. to be Yearly bestowed on Books for the Library. Item I
give an hundreth pound to the University Library of Oxford to be
bestowed to purchase five pound Land per Ann. to be paid out Yearly on
Books.... If I have any Books the University Library hath not, let them
take them. If I have any Books our own Library hath not, let them take
them.' After bequeathing books to various friends, he directs, 'If any
books be left let my Executors dispose of them with all such books as
are written with my own hands and half my Melancholy Copy for Crips hath
the other half. To Mr. Jones Chaplin and Chanter my Surveying Books and
Instruments.'
In addition to _The Anatomy of Melancholy_, Burton wrote a Latin comedy,
entitled _Philosophaster_, which was acted at Christ Church on Shrove
Monday, February the 16th, 1618, and which was first printed in 1862 for
the Roxburghe Club at the expense of the late Rev. W.E. Buckley, of
Middleton Chaney, the possessor of one of two manuscripts of it which
have been preserved.
JAMES USHER, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH, 1581-1656
[Illustration: ARCHBISHOP USHER.]
James Usher or Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, was born in Dublin on the
4th of January 1581. He was the second, but elder surviving son of
Arland Usher, one of the six clerks of the Irish Court of Chancery. His
mother was a daughter of James Stanyhurst, Recorder of the City of
Dublin, who was thrice elected Speaker of the Irish House of Commons.
Usher is said to have been taught to read by two aunts who had been
blind from their infancy. At the age of eight he was sent to a school in
Dublin conducted by Mr. James Fullerton and Mr. James Hamilton, two
secret political agents of King James of Scotland, who were afterwards
made Sir James Fullerton and Viscount Clandeboye. In 1594 he proceeded
to Trinity College, Dublin, being the second scholar admitted in the
newly opened University, of which he was made a Fellow in 1599. On the
20th of December 1601 he was ordained by his uncle, the Archbishop of
Armagh, having first made over his paternal inheritance to his younger
brother and his sisters, reserving only a small portion for his support
during his studies. On the 24th of the same month the Spaniards were
defeated at the battle of Kinsale by the English and Irish, and the
officers of the English army determined to commemorate their success by
founding a library in the College at Dublin. They collected among
themselves about eighteen hundred pounds for this purpose,[32] and
Usher, in conjunction with Dr. Luke Challoner, was requested to select
the books. For this object, in 1602, he paid a visit to England, where
he made the acquaintance of Sir Thomas Bodley, Sir Robert Cotton,
Camden, and other distinguished persons. In 1606 he again made a journey
to England, this time to buy books for his own library, as well as for
that of his college,[33] and for some time he repeated his visits every
three or four years. In 1607 he was made Professor of Divinity in
Trinity College, which office he held for thirteen years. He was
consecrated Bishop of Meath and Clonmacnoise in 1621, and four years
later he was raised to the Archbishopric of Armagh and the Primacy of
the Irish Church. Usher came to England on a visit in 1640, but he never
returned to his native country, for in the next year his residence at
Armagh was attacked and plundered by the rebels, and he lost everything
he possessed except his library, and some furniture in his house at
Drogheda. In consequence of the unsettled state of the country it was
thought useless for him to return to his see, and the king therefore
bestowed on him the bishopric of Carlisle, to be held _in commendam_.
For some time he resided in Oxford, but that city being threatened with
a siege by the Parliamentary forces, in 1645 he proceeded to Cardiff, of
which town Sir Timothy Tyrrell, who had married his only child, was
governor. Some months later, when Tyrrell was obliged to give up his
command, Usher accepted an invitation from Mary, widow of Sir Edward
Stradling, to take up his abode at her residence, St. Donat's Castle,
Glamorganshire. On his way thither, in company with his daughter, he
unluckily fell into the hands of a party of Welsh insurgents, who
plundered him of all his books and papers, but these were afterwards to
a great extent recovered by the exertions of the clergy and gentry of
the country. In 1646 Usher came to London, and found a home in the house
of his friend the Dowager Countess of Peterborough, which was situated
in St. Martin's Lane, 'just over against Charing Cross.' From the roof
of the building he witnessed the preliminaries of the execution of
Charles I., but he nearly fainted when 'the villains in vizards began to
put up the king's hair,' and had to be removed. Usher was appointed
Preacher to the Society of Lincoln's Inn in 1647, and for nearly eight
years preached regularly during term-time in the chapel. He had a suite
of furnished apartments provided for him in the Inn, 'with divers rooms
for his library.' He retired in 1656 to Lady Peterborough's house at
Reigate in Surrey, and died there on the 21st of March in that year. On
the 21st of the following month he was buried in Westminster Abbey; a
public funeral being given him by order of Cromwell, who is said,
however, to have left the relations of the deceased prelate to pay the
greater part of the expense. Usher formed a large and valuable library
of nearly ten thousand volumes, which cost him many thousand pounds. Dr.
Richard Parr, his biographer, states that 'after he became archbishop he
laid out a great deal of money in books, laying aside every year a
considerable sum for that end, and especially for the procuring of
manuscripts, as well as from foreign parts, as near at hand.' His
library contained a number of rare Oriental manuscripts, which he
obtained through the instrumentality of Mr. Thomas Davis, a merchant at
Aleppo. Among them were a copy of the Samaritan Pentateuch, a Syrian
Pentateuch, and a Commentary on a great part of the Old and New
Testaments. From the Samaritan Pentateuch Usher furnished some extracts
for his friend Selden's _Marmora Arundeliana_, and he deposited the
manuscript itself in the Cottonian Library. Dr. Walton also found
Usher's collection of much use in preparing his Polyglot Bible. Several
of the manuscripts which had belonged to Usher were given to the
Bodleian Library by James Tyrrell, the historian, who was the
Archbishop's grandson. It was Usher's intention to have left his library
to Trinity College, but having lost all his other property he thought it
right to bequeath it to his daughter, Lady Tyrrell, who had a large
family. After his death it was offered for sale, and the King of Denmark
and Cardinal Mazarin were both anxious to acquire it; but Cromwell,
considering it disgraceful to his administration to allow such a
splendid collection of books to be sent out of the kingdom, prohibited
the disposal of it without his consent, and it was purchased for the sum
of two thousand two hundred pounds, the money being principally
contributed by the officers and soldiers of the army in Ireland. It is
said that the amount paid for it was much less than what had been
previously offered. The books were sent to Dublin and placed in the
Castle, with a view that they should form the library of a new College
or Hall then projected. They remained in the Castle until the
Restoration, when Charles II., in accordance with Usher's first
intention, gave them to Trinity College, where they are still preserved.
Usher, who is said by Selden to have been 'ad miraculum doctus,' was the
author of many works, some of the more important being _Immanuel, or
the Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God_ (Dublin, 1638), 4to;
_Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates et Primordia_ (Dublin, 1639),
4to; _Annales Veteris et Novi Testamenti_ (London, 1650-54), folio[34];
_De Graeca Septuaginta Interpretum Versione Syntagma_ (London, 1654),
4to; and _Chronologia Sacra_ (London, 1660), 4to. A complete edition of
the Archbishop's works, in seventeen octavo volumes, partly edited by
Dr. C.R. Elrington, and partly by Dr. J.H. Todd, with an index volume by
Dr. W. Reeves, was published in Dublin in 1847-64.
[Illustration: ARCHBISHOP WILLIAMS.]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 32: Life of Usher, by Dr. C.R. Elrington, prefixed to Usher's
works, vol. i. p. 23. Dublin, 1847.]
[Footnote 33: A list of these books, with the prices annexed to several,
is still extant in Usher's handwriting, and preserved among the MSS. of
Trinity College, Dublin. _Ibid._, p. 25.]
JOHN WILLIAMS, ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, 1582-1650
John Williams, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and Archbishop of York, was
the son of Edmund Williams of Aber-Conway, Caernarvonshire, at which
place he was born on the 25th of March 1582. He was first educated at
the public school at Ruthin, and later at St. John's College, Cambridge,
where he was sent when sixteen years of age. While at the university he
appears to have indulged in a somewhat reckless expenditure, and Bishop
Hacket, who wrote his biography, informs us that 'from a youth and so
upward he had not a fist to hold money, for he did not lay out, but
scatter, spending all that he had, and somewhat for which he could be
trusted.' He was, however, by no means neglectful of his studies, for we
are told by Lloyd in his _State Worthies_, 'that unwearied was his
industry, unexpressible his capacity: He never saw the book of worth he
read not; he never forgot what he read; he never lost the use of what he
remembered: Everything he heard or saw was his own; and what was his own
he knew how to use to the utmost.' From the time of Williams's
ordination in 1609, his career until the accession of Charles I. was a
remarkably rapid and successful one. After holding one or two livings,
he was appointed Chaplain to the King and Sub-Dean of Salisbury, and in
1620 Dean of Westminster. On the fall of Bacon, in July 1621, in whose
ruin he had taken a large share, he was sworn in as Lord Keeper. Lloyd
observes with reference to the manner in which he fulfilled the duties
of this post, that 'the lawyers despised him at first, but the judges
admired him at last.' Williams was also made Bishop of Lincoln, and
allowed to retain the deanery of Westminster and the rectory of
Walgrave; in fact the number of preferments he held was so large that
Dr. Heylyn remarks that 'he was a perfect diocese within himself, as
being bishop, dean, prebend, residentiary, and parson, all at once.'
Williams held the post of Lord Keeper until 1626, when he was deprived
of his office, and various charges, including one of betraying the
King's secrets, were brought against him by Archbishop Laud, his great
enemy. He was found guilty of subornation of perjury in defending
himself from these charges, suspended from all his dignities and
appointments, condemned to suffer imprisonment during the pleasure of
the King, and fined ten thousand pounds. Lloyd says 'he suffered for
conniving at Puritans, out of hatred to Bishop Laud; and for favouring
Papists, out of love to them.' At the meeting of the Long Parliament
Williams was released, and having been again received into favour at
court, he was translated in 1641 to the Archbishopric of York. During
the Civil War he retired to his estate at Aber-Conway, and for some time
held Conway Castle for the King. He died of a quinsy on the 25th of
March 1650, and was interred in Llandegay church, where a monument was
erected to his memory by his nephew and heir Sir Griffyth Williams.
Archbishop Williams was a generous patron of learning, and Lloyd states
that 'his pensions to Scholars were more numerous than all the Bishops
and Noble-mens besides'; and that he imposed 'Rent-charges on all the
Benefices in his Gift as Lord Keeper, or Bishop of Lincoln, to maintain
hopeful youth.' He formed a library in his palace at Buckden in
Huntingdonshire, which was dispersed or destroyed during his
imprisonment,[35] but upon his release he collected another, which he
bequeathed to St. John's College, Cambridge, having previously given
upwards of two thousand pounds to the college for the purpose of
building a new library; and in Bagford and Oldys's _London Libraries_ we
find an account of the books which he gave to the library of Westminster
Abbey. 'In the great cloister of the abbey,' they write, 'is a
well-furnished library, considering the time when it was erected by Dr.
Williams, Dean of Westminster and Bishop of Lincoln; who was a great
promoter of learning. He purchased the books of the heirs of one Baker
of Highgate, and founded it for public use every day in Term, from nine
to twelve in the forenoon, and from two till four in the afternoon. The
MSS. are kept in the inner part, but by an accident many of them were
burnt.' Mr. James Yeowell, the editor of the work, adds in a note that
'Dean Williams converted a waste room, situate in the east side of the
cloisters, into a library, which he enriched with the valuable works
from the collection of Sir Richard Baker, author of _The Chronicles of
the Kings of England_, which cost him 500_l._ A catalogue of this
library is in Harl. MS. 694. There is also a MS. catalogue, compiled in
1798 by Dr. Dakin, the precentor, arranged alphabetically.'
A portrait of Archbishop Williams is hung in the library of St. John's
College, Cambridge.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 34: The chronology given in this work is still the standard
adopted in editions of the English Bible.]
[Footnote 35: 'After this, hearing his Majesty would not abate anything
of his fine, he desired that it might be taken up by 1000_l._ yearly as
his estate would bear it, till the whole should be paid. But that was
not granted: Kilvert [the solicitor for the prosecution] was ordered to
go to Bugden and Lincoln, and there to seize upon all he could and bring
it into the Exchequer. Kilvert, glad of the office, made sure of all
that could be found, goods of all sorts, plate, books, etc. to the value
of 10,000_l._, of which he never gave account but of 800_l._ The timber
he felled, killed the deer in the park, sold an organ which cost 120_l._
for 10_l._, pictures which cost 400_l._ for 4_l._, made away with what
books he pleased, and continued revelling for three summers in
Bugden-house. For four cellars of wine, cyder, ale, and beer, with wood,
hay, corn, and the like, stored up for a year or two, he gives no
account at all; and thus a large personal estate was squandered away,
and not the least part of the King's fine paid all this while, whereas
if it had been managed to the best advantage, it would have been
sufficient to have discharged the whole.'--_Biographia Britannica_, vol.
vi. p. 4288 (note).]
JOHN SELDEN, 1584-1654
John Selden, the distinguished legal antiquary, historian, and Oriental
scholar, who was styled by his friend Ben Jonson 'a monarch in letters,'
and 'vir omni eruditionis genere instructissimus' by Archbishop Laud,
was born on the 16th of December 1584 at Salvington, near Worthing, in
Sussex. His father was John Selden, a farmer, known as the 'Minstrel' on
account of his proficiency in music. Aubrey describes him as 'a
yeomanly man of about forty pounds a year, who played well on the
violin, in which he took much delight.' Selden was first educated at the
free grammar school at Chichester, and afterwards proceeded with an
exhibition to Hart Hall, since merged in Magdalen Hall, Oxford. On
leaving the university he was admitted a member of Clifford's Inn; but
in 1604 removed to the Inner Temple. Wood, in his _Athenae Oxonienses_,
says of him that 'after he had continued there a sedulous student for
some time, he did, by the help of a strong body and a vast memory, not
only run through the whole body of the law, but became a prodigy in most
parts of learning, especially in those which were not common or little
frequented or regarded by the generality of students of his time. So
that in a few years his name was wonderfully advanced not only at home
but in foreign countries, and he was usually styled the great dictator
of learning of the English nation.... He was a great philologist,
antiquary, herald, linguist, statesman, and what not.' Selden devoted
his time rather to chamber practice and to legal researches and the
study of history and antiquities than to the more active part of his
profession. It is said he wrote his first work, _Analecton
Anglo-Britannicon_, as early as 1607, when only twenty-two years of age,
but it was not published until eight years later. _The Duello_,
_England's Epinomis_, and _Jani Anglorum Facies Altera_ appeared in
1610, _Titles of Honour_ in 1614, _De Diis Syris Syntagmata Duo_ in
1617, and _The History of Tithes_ in 1618, wherein he allows the legal,
but denies the divine, right of the clergy to the receiving of tithes.
The more important of his later works are _Marmora Arundeliana_,
published in 1628, _De Successionibus_ in 1631, _Mare Clausum_ in 1635,
_De Jure Naturali et Gentium juxta Disciplinam Ebraeorum Libri VII_. in
1640, and _Fleta, seu Commentarius Juris Anglicani_, an ancient
manuscript which he edited and annotated, in 1647. Among his other
literary labours are the notes appended to Drayton's _Polyolbion_. A
volume of his _Table Talk_ was published after his death in 1689, and
his complete works in 1726, in three volumes folio. In 1621 Selden was
committed to prison for having advised the House of Commons to assert
its right to offer advice to the Crown, but was released after an
imprisonment of five weeks. He first entered the House of Commons in
1623 as Member for Lancaster, and for some years took a very prominent
part in its proceedings. During the later disputes between Charles and
the Parliament he acted with great moderation, and it is said that at
one time the King thought of intrusting him with the Great Seal. Selden
subscribed the Covenant in 1643, and was made Keeper of the Rolls and
Records in the Tower. In 1645 he was appointed a Commissioner of the
Admiralty, and in the same year he was elected Master of Trinity Hall,
Cambridge, an office he declined to accept. Parliament voted him five
thousand pounds in 1647 as compensation for his sufferings during the
monarchy; but Wood states that 'some there are that say that he refused
and could not out of conscience take it, and add that his mind was as
great as his learning, full of generosity and harbouring nothing that
seemed base.' Although he remained in Parliament after the execution of
the King, he almost entirely withdrew from public affairs, and, it is
said, refused to write a reply to the _Eikon Basilike_ when requested to
do so by Cromwell. Selden died on November 30, 1654, at Friary House,
Whitefriars, the residence of Elizabeth, Countess Dowager of Kent, to
whom it was reputed he had been married. He was interred in the Temple
Church, where a monument was erected to his memory.
Selden collected a very fine library, 'rich in classics and science,
theology and history, law and Hebrew literature,' of which about eight
thousand volumes were eventually added to the Bodleian Library. Selden
had bequeathed his books to the Bodleian; but it is said he was so
offended with the University for refusing the loan of a manuscript
except upon a bond for one thousand pounds, that he revoked the
bequest, and left them to the free disposal of his executors. They
offered the collection to the Society of the Inner Temple, but as no
building was provided for its reception, they carried out the original
intention of Selden, and gave it in 1659 to the Bodleian, stipulating at
the same time that all the books should be chained, and L25, 10s. was
expended for that purpose. There is no doubt, however, that a
considerable number of the manuscripts came into the possession of that
library soon after Selden's death, and the entire affair is involved in
some obscurity. The Rev. W.D. Macray, who, in his _Annals of the
Bodleian Library_, goes very fully into the matter, gives another reason
for Selden's displeasure. 'In July 1649,' he writes, 'the new intruded
officers and fellows of Magdalene College found in the Muniment-room in
the cloister-tower of the College a large sum of money in the old
coinage called Spur-royals, or Ryals, amounting to L1400, the equivalent
of which had been left by the Founder as a reserve-fund for law
expenses, for re-erecting or repairing buildings destroyed by fire,
etc., or for other extraordinary charges. This gold had been laid up and
counted in Queen Elizabeth's time, and had remained untouched since
then; consequently, although some of the old members of the College were
aware of its existence, to the new-comers it seemed a welcome and
unexpected discovery, especially as the College was at the time heavily
in debt. They immediately proceeded to divide it among all the members
on the foundation proportionately, not excluding the choristers (who
were at that time undergraduates), the Puritan President, Wilkinson,
being alone opposed to such an illegal proceeding, and being with
difficulty prevailed upon to accept L100 as his share, which, however,
upon his death-bed he charged his executors to repay. The Spur-royals
were exchanged at the rate of 18s. 6d. to 20s. each, and each fellow had
thirty-three of them. But when the fact of this embezzlement of
corporate funds became known, the College was called to account by
Parliament, and, although they attempted to defend themselves, they
individually deemed it wise to refund the greater, or a considerable,
part of what had been abstracted. Fuller, whose _Church History_ was
published in the year following Selden's death, after telling this
scandalous story, proceeds thus (Book IX. p. 234):--"Sure I am, a great
antiquarie lately deceased (rich as well in his state as learning) at
the hearing thereof quitted all his intention of benefaction to Oxford
or any place else." ... And Wood (_Hist. and Antiq._, by Gutch, ii. 942)
says that he had been told that this misappropriation was one reason of
Selden's distaste at Oxford.'
Besides the books sent to the Bodleian Library, those relating to law
were given to Lincoln's Inn, and some medical works were bequeathed by
Selden to the College of Physicians. 'Eight chests full of registers of
abbeys, and other manuscripts relating to the history of England,' were
unfortunately destroyed in a fire at the Temple; and many volumes also
were lost during the interval between Selden's death and their arrival
at Oxford.
THOMAS HOWARD, EARL OF NORFOLK, 1586-1646
One of the most zealous and successful collectors of the early part of
the seventeenth century was Thomas Howard, only son of Philip, Earl of
Arundel, and grandson of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, who was beheaded in
1572. He was born on the 7th of July 1586. In 1595 his father died in
the Tower, and by his attainder his son was deprived of his titles and
lands. On the accession of James I. the former were restored to him, but
the King retained the property. Lord Arundel was created Earl of Norfolk
in 1644, and died at Padua on the 4th of October 1646.
[Illustration: ARMS OF THOMAS HOWARD, EARL OF NORFOLK.]
After his death his collections were partially dispersed; and in 1666
his printed books were presented, at the instigation of John Evelyn, to
the Royal Society by Henry Howard, afterwards sixth Duke of Norfolk, a
grandson of the Earl, while the manuscripts were divided between that
Society and the College of Arms. In 1831 the principal portion of the
manuscripts in possession of the Royal Society were transferred to the
British Museum, and the remainder, consisting of Oriental manuscripts,
in 1835. They were valued at three thousand five hundred and fifty-nine
pounds, and were paid for partly in money, and partly with duplicates of
printed books in the Museum collection. A large portion of the Earl's
library consisted of the books of Bilibaldus Pirckheimer of Nuremberg,
which he acquired during a diplomatic mission into Germany in 1636. Some
of the manuscripts, Oldys states, once formed part of the library of
Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary. The Earl of Norfolk's collections
also comprised a very large number of antique marbles, paintings, vases,
and gems.
RICHARD SMITH, 1590-1675
Richard Smith or Smyth, who was born in 1590 at Lillingston Dayrell,
Buckinghamshire, was the son of the Rev. Richard Smith of Abingdon,
Berkshire. He was sent to the University of Oxford, but did not
matriculate, and after a short stay there was removed by his parents,
and articled to a solicitor of the city of London. In 1644 he became
Secondary of the Poultry Compter, which was worth about seven hundred
pounds a year. This office he held until the death of his eldest son
John in 1655, when he sold it, and 'betook himself,' says Anthony a
Wood, 'wholly to a private life, two-thirds of which he at least spent
in his library.' He died on the 26th of March 1675, and was buried in
the Church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, where a monument was erected to
his memory.
Smith was an indefatigable collector, and amassed a library of very fine
and rare books, many of which had belonged to an earlier collector,
Humphrey Dyson. These books came to Smith by marriage.[36] Wood informs
us that 'he was constantly known every day to walk his rounds among the
booksellers' shops (especially in Little Britain) in London, and by his
great skill and experience he made choice of such books that were not
obvious to every man's eye.' 'He lived in times,' Wood adds, 'which
ministred peculiar opportunities of meeting with books that were not
every day brought into public light: and few eminent libraries were
bought where he had not the liberty to pick and choose.... He was also a
great collector of MSS., whether ancient or modern that were not extant,
and delighted much to be poring on them.' Wood also states that after
Smith's death, 'there was a design to buy his choice library for a
public use, by a collection of moneys to be raised among generous
persons, but the work being public, and therefore but little forwarded,
it came into the hands of Richard Chiswell, a bookseller living in S.
Paul's Ch.-yard, London: who printing a catalogue of, with others added
to, them, which came out after Mr. Smith's death, they were exposed to
sale by way of auction, to the great reluctancy of public-spirited men,
in May and June 1682.' The sale, which commenced on the 15th of May, and
was continued day by day the first five days of every week until all the
books were sold, took place at 'the Auction House known by the name of
the Swan in Great Bartholomew's Close.' It realised one thousand four
hundred and fourteen pounds, twelve shillings and eleven pence.[37] A
copy of the catalogue, with the prices in manuscript, is preserved in
the British Museum. The sums obtained for the Caxtons, of which there
were about a dozen, will be interesting to bibliographers. A copy of
_Godfrey of Bulloyn_, which it is stated had belonged to King Edward
IV., fetched the highest price--eighteen shillings; and the _Game of the
Chesse_, the _History of Jason_, and the _Eneydos of Virgil_ sold
respectively for thirteen shillings, five shillings and a penny, and
three shillings; while no more than two shillings could be got for the
_Book of Good Manners_. A fine copy of the Coverdale Bible realised only
twenty shillings and sixpence, and Captain John Smith's _History of
Virginia_ went for seven shillings and twopence. The manuscripts also,
even for those days, sold at exceedingly low prices.
A very interesting account of the library will be found in an article on
English Book-Sales, 1681-86, by Mr. A.W. Pollard, in vol. ii. of
_Bibliographica_. Mr. Smith wrote some learned works which he left in
manuscript. _A Letter to Dr. Henry Hammond, concerning the Sense of that
Article in the Creed, He descended into Hell_, written by Smith in 1659,
was printed in 1684; and his _Obituary, being a catalogue of all such
persons as he knew in their life; extending from A.D. 1627 to A.D.
1674_, was edited for the Camden Society by Sir H. Ellis, K.H., in 1849.
The manuscript of the _Obituary_, together with the manuscripts of two
or three other works by Smith are preserved among the Sloane Manuscripts
in the British Museum. A portrait of him was engraved by William
Sherwin.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 36: Hearne in his _Diary_ (Oct. 4, 1714) states: 'That Mr.
Rich. Smith's rare and curious collection of books was began first by
Mr. Humphrey Dyson, a public notary, living in the Poultry. They came to
Mr. Smith by marriage. This is the same Humphrey Dyson that assisted
Howes in his continuation of _Stowe's Survey of London_, ed. folio;' and
in his preface to Peter Langtoft's _Chronicle_ (vol. i. p. xiii.) Hearne
describes Dyson as 'a person of a very strange, prying, and inquisitive
genius in the matter of books, as may appear from many Libraries; there
being Books (chiefly in old English) almost in every Library, that have
belong'd to him, with his name upon them.' Some of his books are
preserved in the British Museum.]
[Footnote 37: In an entry in his _Diary_ (Sep. 4, 1715) Hearne
says:--'Mr. Richard Smith's Catalogue that is printed contains a very
noble and very extraordinary collection of books. It was begun first in
the time of King Hen. VIII., and comeing to Mr. Smith, he was so very
diligent and exact in continueing and improving, that hardly anything
curious escaped him.']
GEORGE THOMASON, _died_ 1666
George Thomason, who formed the wonderful collection of Civil War
tracts, which was given to the British Museum by King George III., was
born at the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the seventeenth
century. Nothing appears to be known of his parents. He took up his
freedom as a member of the Stationers' Company on the 5th of June
1626.[38] His first publication was a new edition of Martyn's _History
of the Kings of England_, which he produced in conjunction with James
Boler and Robert Young in 1628, and he continued to publish books until
1660. He carried on business at the Rose and Crown, St. Paul's
Churchyard, and we learn from the _Obituary_ of Richard Smith that he
died on April 10, 1666, and was 'buried out of Stationers' Hall (a poore
man).' The Rev. George Thomason, who was Canon of Lincoln from 1683 to
1712, is stated to have been his eldest son.
The number of separate printed tracts in the collection which Thomason
formed with such unwearied perseverance for twenty years is stated in an
Account of it,[39] printed about 1680, to consist of 'near Thirty
Thousand several sorts,' together with 'near one hundred several MS.
pieces that were never printed, all, or most of them on the King's
behalf, which no man durst then venture to publish without endangering
his Ruine,' and it is said that these were contained in 'above Two
Thousand bound Volumes.' Mr. Falconer Madan, however, in his admirable
paper on the Thomason Tracts in _Bibliographica_,[40] informs us that
after going carefully through the collection, and looking at every
title-page, he has come to the conclusion that the present number of
separate pieces is twenty-two thousand seven hundred and sixty-one in
print, and seventy-three in manuscript, comprised in about one thousand
nine hundred and eighty-three volumes.
All the tracts are arranged in chronological order, and from July 1642
to the end of the collection Thomason has placed the date of issue on
every piece when it is not printed on it, and has also endeavoured to
supply the place of printing when not given. These notes are sometimes
supplemented by others commenting on the opinions of the authors of the
tracts. There is a manuscript catalogue in twelve folio volumes,
compiled by Marmaduke Foster, and annotated and corrected by Thomason
himself.
The collection is not confined to tracts relating to the Civil War and
the Commonwealth; it also contains many works on other subjects. Among
these is a fine copy of the first edition of Walton's _Compleat Angler_,
which at the present time would realise nearly, if not quite, as large a
sum as the amount (three hundred pounds) given by King George III. for
the entire series.
The collection, which was commenced by Thomason in 1640, and continued
until 1661, was made by him under great difficulties. He was a staunch
Royalist, and the books appear to have been in constant danger of
falling into the hands of the Parliamentary army. We read in the Account
to which we have already referred that 'to prevent the Discovery of
them, when the Army was Northwards, he pack'd them up in several
Trunks, and by one or two in a week sent them to a trusty Friend in
Surry, who safely preserv'd them; and when the Army was Westward, and
fearing their Return that way, they were sent to London again; but the
Collector durst not keep them, but sent them into Essex, and so
according as they lay near Danger, still, by timely removing them, at a
great charge, secur'd them, but continu'd perfecting the Work.
'And for a further Security to them, there was a Bargain pretended to be
made with the University of Oxford and a Receipt of a Thousand Pounds
given and acknowledg'd to be in part for them, that if the Usurper had
found them out, the University should claim them, who had greater Power
to struggle for them than a private Man.
'All these Shifts have been made, and Difficulties encounter'd to keep
the Collection from being embezel'd and destroy'd; which with the great
Charges of collecting and binding them, cost the Undertaker so much that
he refused Four Thousand Pounds for them in his Life time, supposing
that Sum not sufficient to reimburse him.'
And in another account, at one time prefixed to the catalogue of the
collection, it is stated that 'not thinking them safe anywhere in
England, he at last took a resolution to send them into Holland for
their more safe preservation. But considering with himself what a
treasure it was, upon second thoughts, he durst not venture them at sea,
but resolved to place them in his warehouses in form of tables round
about the rooms covered over with canvas, continuing still without any
intermission his going on; nay, even then, when by the Usurper's power
and command he was taken out of his bed, and clapt up close prisoner at
Whitehall for seven weeks' space and above,[41] he still hoping and
looking for that day, which, thanks be to God, is now come, and there is
put a period to that unparallelled labour, charge and pains he had been
at.
'Oxford's Library Keeper[42] (that then was) was in hand with them,
about them a long time, and did hope the Publick Library might compass
them; but that could not be then effected, it rising to so great a sum
as had been expended on them for so long a time together.'
After Thomason's death a trust was appointed under his will to take
charge of the tracts, and one of the trustees, Dr. Thomas Barlow,
Bodley's librarian from 1652 to 1660, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, had
them for a long time in his custody, as appears from a letter addressed
by him to the Rev. George Thomason, the son of the collector, dated
Oxon, February 6, 1676. He mentions in the letter that he had
endeavoured to secure them for the Bodleian Library, and that although
he had hitherto failed, he still did not despair of finding a way to do
so. He was not, however, successful in his efforts, and King Charles II.
appears to have directed Samuel Mearn, the royal stationer and
bookbinder, to buy them on his account; it is not known for what sum. It
is to be presumed, however, that the King did not find the money for
them, for on May 15, 1684, the Privy Council considered and granted a
petition from Anne Mearn, widow of Samuel Mearn, that she might dispose
of the tracts by sale. She does not seem to have succeeded in doing
this, and they appear to have been returned to the Thomason family, for
in the year 1745 we find them in possession of Mr. Henry Sisson, a
druggist in Ludgate Street, London, who, Richard Gough, the antiquary,
was informed, was a descendant of the collector.[43] After some
negotiations with the Duke of Chandos for their purchase, they were
brought by Thomas Hollis[44] to the notice of King George III., who,
through the Earl of Bute, bought them of Miss Sisson in 1761 for the sum
of three hundred pounds, and in the following year they were presented
by him to the British Museum.
On one of the volumes of the collection are some mud stains, which have
an interesting history. The volume was borrowed from Thomason by King
Charles I., who was anxious to read one of the tracts in it, and while
journeying to the Isle of Wight let it fall in the dirt. Thomason made a
memorandum of the circumstance on a fly-leaf of the book, adding the
'volume hath the marke of honor upon it, which noe other volume in my
collection hath.'
In 1647 Thomason published a trade catalogue in quarto, consisting of
fifty-eight closely printed pages, entitled _Catalogus Librorum diversis
Italiae locis emptorum Anno Dom. 1647, a Georgio Thomasono Bibliopola
Londinensi apud quem in Caemiterio D. Pauli ad insigne Rosae Coronatae
prostant venales. Londini, Typis Johannis Legatt_, 1647, and in 1648 a
selection of works in oriental languages from this catalogue was
purchased by order of the House of Commons,[45] who directed that the
sum of five hundred pounds out of the receipts at Goldsmiths' Hall
should be paid for the books, in order that they might be bestowed upon
the Public Library at Cambridge.
Mr. A.W. Pollard, in a note to Mr. Madan's article in _Bibliographica_,
states that Thomason had great difficulty in getting the money for
these books: 'On March 28th, 1648,' he tells us, 'the five hundred
pounds was ordered to be paid from the arrears of the two months'
assessments for the Scots army before Newark; on Sep. 25th it was
charged on the composition of Colonel Humphrey Matthews; and on Nov.
16th, Thomason, being still unpaid, was consoled by interest at the rate
of eight per cent.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 38: Arber, _Transcript of the Register_, vol. iii. p. 686.]
[Footnote 39: Copies are preserved in the British Museum and the
Bodleian Library, and it is reprinted in Beloe's _Anecdotes_ vol. ii. p.
248.]
[Footnote 40: Vol. iii. p. 304.]
[Footnote 41: Thomason was implicated in Christopher Love's plot against
the Commonwealth. There are several entries in the _Calendar of State
Papers_ which refer to his imprisonment. Mr. A.W. Pollard, the editor of
_Bibliographica_, has given a list of them in a note (vol. iii. p. 298)
to Mr. Madan's paper on the Thomason Collection in that publication.]
[Footnote 42: Probably Dr. Thomas Barlow, librarian of the Bodleian
Library.]
[Footnote 43: Gough, _Anecdotes of British Typography_, second edition,
p. 699, note.]
[Footnote 44: _Memoirs of Hollis_, vol. i. pp. 121, 192; vol. ii. p.
717.]
[Footnote 45: _Journals of the House of Commons_, 24th March 1648.]
SIR SYMONDS D'EWES, BART., 1602-1650
Sir Symonds D'Ewes, one of the most eminent of the antiquaries and
collectors of the first half of the seventeenth century, was born in
1602. He was the son of Paul D'Ewes of Milden, Suffolk, and Cecilia,
daughter and heiress of Richard Simonds of Coxden, Chardstock,
Dorsetshire. In 1618 he was sent to St. John's College, Cambridge, but
left in 1620, and entered at the Middle Temple, being called to the Bar
in 1623. He soon, however, gave up his legal practice, and devoted
himself to the study of history and antiquities. D'Ewes was made a
knight in 1626, and created a baronet in 1641. He was twice married, and
died in 1650. The baronetcy became extinct in 1731.
[Illustration: BOOK-STAMP OF SIR SYMONDS D'EWES, BART.]
D'Ewes possessed a very fine collection of manuscripts, which were sold
by his grandson to Sir Robert Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford,
notwithstanding the injunction of D'Ewes, in his will, that his library
should not be sold or dispersed. Oldys states that Harley recommended
Queen Anne to purchase the manuscripts for a public library, as the
richest collection in England next to Sir Robert Cotton's, but that the
Queen said, 'It was no virtue for her, a woman, to prefer as she did
arts to arms; but while the blood and honour of the nation was at stake
in her wars, she could not, till she had secured her living subjects an
honourable peace, bestow their money on dead letters.' 'Whereupon,' adds
Oldys, 'the Earl stretched his own purse, and gave six thousand pounds
for the library.' The manuscripts, together with a list of them, which
is believed to have been made by D'Ewes himself, now form part of the
Harleian Collection in the British Museum. The manuscript of an
Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, compiled by D'Ewes in conjunction with Francis
Junius, and several of his diaries are also preserved there. His great
work was the _Journals of all the Parliaments during the reign of Queen
Elizabeth_, which was not published until 1682.
SIR KENELM DIGBY, 1603-1665
The celebrated scholar and collector, Sir Kenelm Digby, was born at
Gayhurst, near Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, in 1603. He was the son
of Sir Everard Digby, who was executed in 1606 for the part he took in
the Gunpowder Plot. Sir Kenelm, who was the author of several remarkable
works, is described by Lord Clarendon as a man of 'very extraordinary
person and presence, with a wonderful graceful behaviour and a flowing
courtesy and civility.' He was knighted in 1623. Digby possessed a very
fine library, which he formed during his residence in Paris, and he had
many of the volumes bound there by Le Gascon and other eminent binders.
An earlier library which he collected is said to have been burnt by the
Roundheads during the Civil War.[46] When he died in 1665, his library,
which was still in France, was claimed as the property of the French
king, by virtue of the _droit d'aubaine_, and it is said to have been
purchased for ten thousand crowns by the Earl of Bristol, who died in
1676, and whose books, conjointly with those of another collector, were
sold in London in April 1680. A priced catalogue of the sale is
preserved in the British Museum; and it is stated in it that the books
principally belonged 'to the library of the Right Honourable George,
late Earl of Bristol, a great part of which were the Curiosities
collected by the learned Sir Kenelme Digby.' It is evident, however,
that a considerable number of the volumes which belonged to Digby
remained in France, as several are to be found in the Bibliotheque
Nationale and other libraries. In a communication to the Library
Association of the United Kingdom, M. Leopold Delisle, Director of the
Bibliotheque Nationale, gives a list of manuscripts and printed books in
that library, which were formerly the property of the collector. One
volume, with a very beautiful binding by Le Gascon, is preserved in the
Bibliotheque Mazarine. Sir Kenelm presented to the Bodleian Library a
valuable collection of manuscripts and printed books which Thomas Allen,
his former tutor, had bequeathed to him in 1630. He also gave a
considerable number of volumes to the library of Harvard College,
Cambridge, Mass., and the following notice of the gift occurs in the
works of Richard Baxter:--
'I proposed,' he writes, 'to have given almost all my library to
Cambridge in New England; but Mr. Thomas Knowles, who knew their
library, told me that Sir Kenelm Digby had already given them the
Fathers, Councils and Schoolmen, and that it was Histories and
Commentators which they wanted. Whereupon I sent them some of my
Commentators and some Histories, among which were Freherus,
Renherus, and Pistorius's collections.'
[Illustration: ONE OF SIR KENELM DIGBY'S BOOK-STAMPS.]
Unfortunately, this first Harvard library was destroyed by fire in 1764.
At that time it contained about six thousand volumes.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 46: See Article on English Book-Sales, 1676-1680, by Mr. A.W.
Pollard, in _Bibliographica_, vol. i. p. 373.]
RALPH SHELDON, 1623-1684
Ralph Sheldon, who was born on the 1st of August 1623, at Beoley in
Worcestershire, was the eldest son of William Sheldon of Beoley and
Elizabeth, daughter of William, second Lord Petre. He was privately
educated, and at the age of nineteen he paid a visit to France and
Italy, and resided at Rome for some time, returning home about 1647,
after an absence of four years from his native country. Sheldon appears
to have been greatly respected, and Nash, in his _Collections for the
History of Worcestershire_, says 'he was a person of such rare worth and
excellent qualities as deserve particular notice. He was a great patron
of learning and learned men, and well skilled in the history and
antiquities of his country, sparing no money to set up a standing
library at Weston. He was a great friend to Anthony Wood, and left him a
legacy of L40. He purchased the valuable MSS. of the ingenious Augustine
Vincent, Windsor Herald, and Keeper of the records in the Tower, _temp._
Charles I., which at his death he bequeathed to the Heralds' College,
where they are still preserved; and allowed John Vincent his son a
yearly pension for many years. He travelled often to Rome, and spent
some time there to furnish himself with choice books, coins and medals.
In short, he was of such remarkable integrity, charity and hospitality,
as gained him the universal esteem of all the gentlemen of the county;
insomuch that he usually went by the name of the Great Sheldon.... And
for the sufferings which himself and father had undergone in the civil
wars, he was nominated by Charles II. one of the gentlemen of
Warwickshire, who were to have received the honour of the Order of the
Royal Oak, had it been instituted; his estate being then valued at
L2000 per annum, the largest of any in the county, except that of the
Middlemores of Edgbaston, which was estimated of the same annual value.'
The library formed by Sheldon at his manor-house of Weston in the parish
of Long Compton, Warwickshire, was a fine one. Among the printed books
was a very curious and probably unique copy of the first folio of
Shakespeare (now the property of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts), where the
concluding passages of _Romeo and Juliet_, and the opening passages of
_Troilus and Cressida_, are printed twice over at different parts of the
volume. This irregularity was discovered by Mr. Sidney Lee, who read a
paper on the subject before the Bibliographical Society on March 21,
1898. The library at Weston was dispersed in 1781.
[Illustration: BOOK-STAMP OF RALPH SHELDON.]
In commemoration of Sheldon's gifts to Heralds' College, Mr. Ralph
Bigland, who was created Blue Mantle in 1757, and died as Garter in
1784, caused a handsome canvas to be painted, on which are emblazoned
Sheldon's arms, impaled with those of his wife, accompanied by the
following biographical notice:--'To the Memory of Ralph Sheldon of
Beoley in the County of Worcester, Esquire, a great Benefactor to this
Office. Who died at his Manor-House of Weston in the Parish of
Long-Compton, in the County of Warwick, on Midsu[~m]er Day, 1684, aged
61 years wanting 6 weeks: the Day afterwards his Heart and Bowels were
buried in Long-Compton Chancel, in a Vault by those of his Father,
Mother, Grandfather, etc., and on the 10th of July following, his Body
in a Vault by his Ancestors under our Lady's Chapel, Joyning on the
North Side to St. Leonard's Church of Beoley: He married
Henrietta-Maria, Daughter of Thomas Savage, Viscount Rock-Savage by
Elizabeth his wife, Daughter of Thomas, Lord Darcy, of Chich in Essex,
Viscount Colchester and Earl Rivers, but by her had no issue.'
This canvas is still preserved in Heralds' College.
Sheldon compiled _A Catalogue of the Nobility of England since the
Norman Conquest, according to theire severall Creations by every
particular King_, with the arms handsomely emblazoned. This manuscript
came into the possession of Sir Thomas Phillipps, and formed one of the
lots at the sale of his collection in June 1893.
DR. FRANCIS BERNARD, 1627-1698
Dr. Francis Bernard was born in 1627. He was a Fellow of the College of
Physicians, Assistant-Physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and
Physician-in-Ordinary to King James II. He died on the 9th of February
1698, and was buried in the parish church of St. Botolph, London, where
his wife erected a monument to his memory.
Dr. Bernard formed a very extensive library, which consisted, 'more
especially of that sort of Books which are out of the Common Course,
which a Man may make the Business of his Life to collect, and at last
not be able to accomplish.'[47] It was very rich in works relating to
medicine, and it also contained a considerable number of early English
books, among which were about a dozen Caxtons. The collection was sold
by auction shortly after Bernard's death. The title-page of the sale
catalogue reads:--'A Catalogue of the Library of the late learned Dr.
Francis Bernard, Fellow of the College of Physicians, and Physician to
S. Bartholomew's Hospital. Being a large Collection of the best
Theological, Historical, Philological, Medicinal and Mathematical
Authors, in the Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Dutch
and English Tongues, in all Volumes, which will be sold by Auction at
the Doctor's late Dwelling House in Little Britain; the Sale to begin on
Tuesday, Octob. 4, 1698.' A copy of the catalogue, with the prices in
manuscript, is in the British Museum. The sale consisted of nearly
fifteen thousand lots and thirty-nine bundles of tracts, which realised
nineteen hundred and twenty pounds; the expenses of the sale amounting
to three hundred and twenty pounds. The Caxtons sold for a little over
two guineas. _The Dictes or Sayings of the Philosophers_ and the _Knight
of the Tower_ each fetched five shillings and fourpence, the _History of
Jason_ three shillings and sixpence, the _Histories of King Arthur_ two
shillings and tenpence, the _Chastising of God's Children_ one shilling
and tenpence, and the second edition of the _Game of the Chesse_ one
shilling and sixpence.
Dibdin says that Dr. Bernard was 'a stoic in bibliography. Neither
beautiful binding, nor amplitude of margin, ever delighted his eye or
rejoiced his heart: for he was a stiff, hard, and straightforward
reader--and learned, in Literary History, beyond all his
contemporaries'; and in the preface to the sale catalogue we read that
he was 'a person who collected books for use, and not for ostentation or
ornament, and he seemed no more solicitous about _their_ dress than _his
own_.' A memorandum book containing notes of his visits to patients,
etc., is in the Sloane collection of manuscripts in the British Museum.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 47: Address to the reader, prefixed to sale catalogue.]
SAMUEL PEPYS, 1633-1703
Samuel Pepys, Secretary to the Admiralty in the reigns of King Charles
II. and King James II., was born either at London or Brampton in
Huntingdonshire on the 23rd of February 1633.
[Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF SAMUEL PEPYS.]
His father, John Pepys, was a citizen of London, where he followed the
trade of a tailor, but in 1661 retired to Brampton, at which place he
had inherited a property of eighty pounds a year from his eldest brother
Robert Pepys. He died there in 1680. Samuel Pepys received his early
education at Huntingdon, and afterwards at St. Paul's School, London,
where he continued until 1650, in which year he was admitted at Trinity
Hall, Cambridge. On the 5th of March 1651 he migrated as a sizar to
Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he is entered in the books of the
College as 'Samuel Peapys,' and where, two years later, he was elected
to a scholarship founded by John Smith. He graduated B.A. in 1653 and
M.A. in 1660. In 1659 he accompanied his relative, Sir Edward Montagu,
afterwards Earl of Sandwich, on his expedition to the Sound, and on his
return became a clerk in the office of Sir G. Downing, one of the
Tellers of the Exchequer. In 1660 he was appointed Clerk of the Acts of
the Navy, which post he held until 1673, when he was made Secretary for
the Affairs of the Navy, and in 1684 he became Secretary of the
Admiralty, an office he retained until the accession of William and
Mary, when he lost his public appointments, and retired into private
life. Pepys was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1665, and in
1684 became President. He died at Clapham on the 26th of May 1703, and
was buried in the church of St. Olave, Hart Street, London.
Pepys collected a very interesting library, which is now preserved in a
fireproof room in Magdalene College, Cambridge. It consists of about
three thousand volumes arranged in eleven mahogany cases in the precise
order in which Pepys left them. The cases are the identical ones
mentioned in his _Diary_, August 24, 1666:--'Up and dispatched several
businesses at home in the morning, and then comes Sympson to set up my
other new presses for my books, and so he and I fell in to the
furnishing of my new closett, and taking out the things out of my old,
and I kept him with me all day, and he dined with me, and so all the
afternoon till it was quite dark hanging things, that is my maps and
pictures and draughts, and setting up my books, and as much as we could
do, to my most extraordinary satisfaction; so I think it will be as
noble a closet as any man hath, and light enough--though indeed it would
be better to have a little more light.'
This room, Mr. Wheatley tells us in his excellent account of the library
in vol. i. of _Bibliographica_, 'was at the Navy Office in Crutched
Friars, and the illustration in the ordinary editions of the _Diary_
shows the position of the cases when they were transferred to the house
in York Buildings (now Buckingham Street, Strand).' 'The presses,' he
adds, 'are handsomely carved, and have handles fixed at each end; the
doors are formed of little panes of glass, and in the lower divisions
the glass windows are made to lift up. The books are all arranged in
double rows; but by the ingenious plan of placing small books in front
of large ones, the letterings of all can be seen. Neatness was a mania
with Pepys, and the volumes were evened on all the shelves; in one
instance some short volumes have been raised to the required height by
help of wooden stilts, gilt in front.'
The library consists principally of ordinary books, but it also
comprises some valuable manuscripts, and many volumes from the presses
of the early English printers. It contains as many as nine Caxtons,
eight Pynsons, and nineteen Wynkyn de Wordes, several of the last being
unique. The books printed by Caxton are the _Game of the Chesse,
Polychronicon, Chronicles of England, Description of Britain, Mirrour of
the World, Book of the Order of Chivalry_, the first and second editions
of the _Canterbury Tales_, and the _Chastising of God's Children_. Among
the most interesting collections is one of eighteen hundred ballads in
five folio volumes; and another of four duodecimo volumes of garlands
and other popular publications, printed for the most part in black
letter. The volumes are lettered: Vol. 1 _Penny Merriments_, Vol. 2
_Penny Witticisms_, Vol. 3 _Penny Compliments_, and Vol. 4 _Penny
Godlinesses_. In the first volume of the ballads Pepys has written:--'My
collection of ballads, begun by Mr. Selden, improv'd by the addition of
many pieces elder thereto in time; and the whole continued to the year
1700.' The library also possesses collections of old novels, pieces of
wit, chivalry, etc, plays, books on shorthand, tracts on the Popish
Plot, liturgical controversies, sea tracts, news-pamphlets, etc.
[Illustration: BOOK-STAMP OF SAMUEL PEPYS.]
The most interesting manuscripts are the famous _Diary_ in six volumes,
the papers collected by Pepys for his proposed _Navalia_, and a
collection of Scottish poetry, formed by Sir Richard Maitland of
Lethington, Lord Privy Seal and Judge in the Court of Session, who died
in 1586. The drawings and prints in the library are numerous and
valuable. Among them are portraits of Pepys's friends, and prints and
drawings illustrating the city of London; one of the rarest of these is
the large plan of London attributed to Agas, of which only one other
copy is known. The library also contains some volumes of music with the
title, _Songs and other Compositions, Light, Grave and Sacred, for a
single voice adjusted to the particular compass of mine; with a thorough
base on ye ghitarr by Cesare Morelli_. Several songs composed by Pepys
are in this collection, one of which, entitled _Beauty Retire_, was a
great success, and the composer was very proud of it. All the books in
the library are in excellent condition, and, with the exception of a few
in morocco or vellum, are bound in calf. Almost all of them bear Pepys's
arms on the lower cover; while on the upper is found a shield with the
inscription, SAM. PEPYS CAR. ET IAC. ANGL. REGIB. A SECRETIS ADMIRALIAE.
This shield is surmounted with his helmet and crest, and is surrounded
by mantling, in which are introduced two anchors, indicating his office.
He also used three bookplates--one with his arms, quartering Talbot of
Cottenham; a second with his portrait by Robert White, with his motto,
_Mens cujusque is est Quisque_, from the _Somnium Scipionis_ of Cicero;
and a third bearing his initials, with two anchors crossed, together
with his motto.
[Illustration: BOOK-STAMP OF SAMUEL PEPYS.]
Pepys left his library, together with his other property, to his nephew,
John Jackson; but in a paper of directions respecting it, preserved
among the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, he expresses a
desire that at his nephew's death it should be placed in either Trinity
or Magdalene College, Cambridge, preferably 'in the latter, for the sake
of my own and my nephew's education therein.' In addition to Pepys'
collection at Magdalene College, the Bodleian Library contains a series
of his miscellaneous papers in twenty-five volumes, together with
numerous other volumes which belonged to him, including many curious
dockyard account-books of the times of King Henry VIII. and Queen
Elizabeth.[48] These were bequeathed to the library by Dr. Richard
Rawlinson, the nonjuring bishop. Mr. John Eliot Hodgkin, F.S.A., of
Childwall, Weybridge, Surrey, also possesses some papers which once
belonged to Pepys.
Pepys published _Memoirs relating to the State of the Royal Navy of
England for ten years determined December 1688_, in 1690; and a work
entitled _The Portugal History: or a Relation of the Troubles that
happened in the Court of Portugal in the years 1667 and 1668 ... by
S.P., Esq._, printed at London in 1677, is also attributed to him. His
well-known _Diary_, the manuscript of which fills six small volumes of
closely written shorthand, was first deciphered by the Rev. John Smith,
Rector of Baldock, Hertfordshire, and was published, with a selection
from his private correspondence, by Lord Braybrooke, in two volumes in
1825. It has since been several times reprinted. The last edition,
edited by Mr. H.B. Wheatley, F.S.A., published in eight volumes octavo
in 1893-96, contains the whole of the _Diary_, with the exception of
passages which cannot possibly be printed.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 48: Macray, _Annals of the Bodleian Library_.]
EDWARD STILLINGFLEET, BISHOP OF WORCESTER, 1635-1699
Edward Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester, was the seventh son of Samuel
Stillingfleet of the family of Stillingfleet of Stillingfleet,
Yorkshire. He was born at Cranborne in Dorsetshire on the 17th of April
1635, and received his early education in the grammar schools of
Cranborne and Ringwood. In his fifteenth year he was admitted into St.
John's College, Cambridge, where he obtained a Fellowship in 1653. For
several years after leaving college he was engaged as a private tutor,
first in the family of Sir Roger Burgoyne of Wroxall in Warwickshire,
and afterwards in that of the Hon. Francis Pierrepoint of Nottingham,
during which period he was ordained by Ralph Brownrig, the deprived
Bishop of Exeter. In 1657 he was presented by Sir R. Burgoyne to the
rectory of Sutton, Bedfordshire, and in 1665 the Earl of Southampton
gave him the rectory of St. Andrew's, Holborn. He was also appointed
Preacher at the Rolls Chapel, and shortly afterwards Reader of the
Temple, and Chaplain in Ordinary to Charles II. In 1667 he was collated
to a Canonry in St. Paul's, London; in 1669 he became a Canon 'in the
twelfth prebend' in Canterbury Cathedral; in 1677 Archdeacon of London;
in 1678 Dean of St. Paul's; and on the 13th of October 1689 he was
consecrated Bishop of Worcester. He died at his residence in Park
Street, Westminster, on the 27th of March 1699, and was buried in
Worcester Cathedral, where a monument was erected to his memory by his
son, with a Latin epitaph by Richard Bentley, who had been one of his
chaplains.
Bishop Stillingfleet collected 'at a vast expence of time, pains and
money' a very choice and valuable library, which contained a
considerable number of manuscripts, and upwards of nine thousand five
hundred printed volumes, besides many pamphlets. It is stated that there
were over two thousand folios in it, and that it cost the Bishop six
thousand pounds. Evelyn in a letter to Pepys, dated August 12th, 1689,
writes: 'The Bishop of Ely[49] has a well stor'd library; but the very
best is what Dr. Stillingfleete, Deane of St. Paule's, has at Twicknam,
ten miles out of towne.' After Stillingfleet's death his library was
offered for sale. Entries in Evelyn's diary[50] show that great efforts
were made to persuade William III. to buy it, but they evidently failed,
as the historical manuscripts were purchased by Robert Harley
(afterwards Earl of Oxford), while the remainder of the collection was
acquired by Narcissus Marsh, Archbishop of Armagh, who bought the books
for a public library in Dublin which he had founded. He is said to have
paid two thousand five hundred pounds for them. Stillingfleet, who on
account of his handsome person was nicknamed 'the beauty of holiness,'
was the author of _Origines Britannicae, or Antiquities of the British
Churches_, and many controversial works. His collected works were
printed in 1710 in six volumes folio, and a volume of his miscellaneous
works was published in 1735 by his son, the Rev. James Stillingfleet,
Canon of Worcester.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 49: John Moore, Bishop of Ely, whose library was purchased by
King George I., and presented by him to the University of Cambridge.]
[Footnote 50: '_April 29, 1699._--I dined with the Archbishop, but my
business was to get him to persuade the King to purchase the late Bishop
of Worcester's library, and build a place, for his own library at St.
James's, in the Parke, the present one being too small.'
'_May 3, 1699._--At a meeting of the Royal Society I was nominated to be
of the Committee to wait on the Lord Chancellor to move the King to
purchase Bp. of Worcester's library.']
JOHN MOORE, BISHOP OF ELY, 1646-1714
John Moore, Bishop successively of Norwich and Ely, who was born at
Sutton-juxta-Broughton, Leicestershire, in 1646, was the eldest son of
Thomas Moore, an ironmonger at Market Harborough. He was educated at the
Free School, Market Harborough, and at Clare College, Cambridge, where
he obtained a fellowship in 1667. Having taken holy orders, he was
collated in 1676 to the rectory of Blaby in Leicestershire; and in 1679,
through the influence of Heneage Finch, Earl of Nottingham, who, in
1670, had appointed him his chaplain, he was installed canon in Ely
Cathedral. In 1687 he was presented by the dean and chapter of St.
Paul's to the rectory of St. Austin, London, and in 1689 he obtained the
rectory of St. Andrew's, Holborn, which he held with his canonry at Ely
until 1691, when he was consecrated Bishop of Norwich. He remained in
that see until 1707, in which year he was translated to the more
valuable bishopric of Ely. Moore died on the 31st of July 1714, from the
effects of a cold which he caught while presiding at the trial of Dr.
Bentley, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, who was charged with
encroaching on the privileges of the fellows of that institution. He
was buried in Ely Cathedral, where a monument was erected to his memory.
[Illustration: BOOK-PLATE PLACED IN BOOKS FROM BISHOP MOORE'S LIBRARY
GIVEN BY GEORGE I. TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.]
Bishop Moore, who is called by Dibdin 'the father of black-letter
collectors in this country,' was a great and generous patron of
learning, and formed a magnificent library, which at the time of his
death contained nearly twenty-nine thousand printed books and seventeen
hundred and ninety manuscripts. John Bagford was the principal assistant
in its collection, and in return for his services the Bishop procured
him a place in the Charterhouse. The library, which was kept in the
episcopal residence in Ely Place, Holborn, where it occupied 'eight
chambers,' is mentioned in _Notices of London Libraries_, by John
Bagford and William Oldys, where it is stated that 'Dr. John Moore, the
late Bishop of Ely, had also a prodigious collection of books, written
as well as printed on vellum, some very ancient, others finely
illuminated. He had a _Capgrave's Chronicle_, books of the first
printing at Mentz, and other places abroad, as also at Oxford, St.
Alban's, Westminster, etc.' John Evelyn, Bishop Burnet, and Ralph
Thoresby also write in terms of high praise of the excellence and great
extent of the collection. Richard Gough, the antiquary, states that 'the
Bishop formed his library by plundering those of the clergy in his
diocese. Some he paid with sermons or more modern books; others only
with quid illiterati cum libris'; but there appears to be little, if
any, truth in this accusation. Moore, who was anxious that his library
should not be dispersed after his death, offered it, in 1714, to Robert
Harley, Earl of Oxford, for the sum of eight thousand pounds; but the
negotiation failed in consequence, it is said, of the Bishop 'insisting
on being paid the money in his lifetime, though Lord Oxford was not to
have the books till the Bishop's death.' After Moore's decease the
collection was sold for six thousand guineas to George I., who gave it,
on the suggestion of Lord Townsend, to the University of Cambridge. A
special book-plate, designed and engraved by John Pine, was placed in
the volumes. At the same time that the king sent these books to the
University he despatched a troop of horse to Oxford, which occasioned
the two well-known epigrams attributed to Dr. Tripp and Sir William
Browne--
'Contrary methods justly George applies
To govern his two universities,
To Oxford sent a troop of horse;--for why?
That learned body wanted Loyalty.
To Cambridge he sent books, as well discerning,
How much that loyal body wanted learning.'
The reply by Sir W. Browne runs--
'Contrary methods justly George applies
To govern his two universities,
And so to Oxford sent a troop of horse,
For Tories hold no argument but force;
To Cambridge Ely's learned books are sent,
For Whigs admit no force but argument.'
This is not the only version of these epigrams, but the Rev. Cecil Moore
in his Memoir of the Bishop considers it to be the correct one.
Moore's diaries, letters, and private accounts are also preserved in the
Cambridge University Library. A volume containing his printed sermons
was published in 1715, and a second issue in two volumes in 1724. Both
series were edited by the Rev. Samuel Clarke, D.D.
JOHN BAGFORD, 1650?-1716
John Bagford was born about 1650. The exact date of his birth is
unknown, and he does not appear to have been acquainted with it himself,
for a short time before his death he informed Mr. James Sotheby that he
was either sixty-five or sixty-six years of age, he could not tell
which. According to the belief of Thomas Hearne, the antiquary, he was
born in Fetter Lane, London, and he was no doubt for some time a
shoemaker, for in a very curious and entertaining little treatise on the
_Art of Shoemaking and Historical Account of Clouthing of ye foot_,
which is believed to have been written by him, and is now preserved
among the Harleian manuscripts in the British Museum, the writer states
that he was brought up to the 'craft of shoemaking.' This trade,
however, he soon abandoned for a more congenial occupation, and he
became a collector of books on commission for booksellers and amateurs.
In pursuance of this work he made several journeys to the Continent, and
acquired a great knowledge of books, prints, and literary curiosities.
He was specially employed by Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, Sir Hans
Sloane, and John Moore, Bishop of Ely, who appear to have greatly
appreciated his judgment, diligence, and honesty; and the last-named
collector procured him, as some recompense for his services, admission
into the Charterhouse. Nothing is known of Bagford's parents, and little
of his domestic life, but he appears to have been married, for on the
back of a leaf in one of the volumes of his collections we find the
following memorandum in Bagford's writing: 'John, son of John and
Elizabeth Bagford, was baptized 31st October 1675, in the parish of St.
Anne, Blackfriars.' This son seems to have become a sailor in the Royal
Navy, for in another volume in the same collections there is a power of
attorney, dated April 6, 1713, signed by John Bagford, Junior,
empowering his 'honoured father, John Bagford, Senior, of the parish of
St. Sepulchre, in the county of Middlesex, bookseller,' to claim and
receive from the Paymaster of Her Majesty's Navy his wages as a seaman
in case of his death. Bagford, who took great interest in all
descriptions of antiquities, was one of the little group of
distinguished men who reconstituted in 1707 the Society of Antiquaries.
He died, Dr. Birch informs us, at Islington on the 15th of May 1716, and
was buried in the graveyard belonging to the Charterhouse.
[Illustration: JOHN BAGFORD.]
During his researches for his employers Bagford amassed two great
collections: one consisting of ballads, now known as the 'Bagford
Ballads'; the other being a vast collection of leaves from manuscripts,
title-pages and fragments of books, specimens of paper, book-plates,
engravings, bindings, catalogues, advertisements, and various
interesting and curious pieces. With the aid of these materials Bagford
intended to write a history of printing, and in 1707 he published his
_Proposals for an Historical Account of that most universally celebrated
as well as useful Art of Typography_. The work, which was also to
contain a history of bookbinding, paper-making, etc., was, however,
never published, and it has been often stated that Bagford was quite
incompetent to carry out such an undertaking. This may possibly have
been the case, for although he was certainly a man of much ability, and
possessed an extensive knowledge of books, he had received but little
education. Several of his contemporaries, however, held a different
opinion, and among them Hearne, who repeatedly expresses in his works
his admiration of both Bagford's genius and his collections.
The method of compiling a history of printing from a collection of
title-pages appears to be both a clumsy and a costly one, but it seems
probable from entries in the diary of Oldys, and from Gough's memoir of
Ames, that that bibliographer wrote his _Typographical Antiquities_ with
the aid of similar materials.
Bagford has been subjected to very severe censure for mutilating books
for the purpose of forming his collection of title-pages. Mr. Blades, in
his work _The Enemies of Books_, accuses him of being 'a wicked old
biblioclast who went about the country, from library to library, tearing
away title-pages from rare books of all sizes'; and Dr. Dibdin in
_Bibliomania_ states that he 'was the most hungry and rapacious of all
book and print collectors.' The testimony of Hearne (who knew Bagford
well, and who was also amply qualified to judge both of his merits and
demerits), however, is very different. He writes: 'It was very laudable
in my Friend, Mr. John Bagford (who I think was born in Fetter Lane,
London), to employ so much of his time, as he did, in collecting Remains
of Antiquity. Indeed he was a man of very surprising genius, and had his
education (for he was first a shoemaker, and afterwards for some time a
bookseller) been equal to his natural genius, he would have proved a
much greater man than he was. And yet, without this education, he was,
certainly, the greatest man in the world in his way.... 'Tis very
remarkable, that, in collecting, his care did not extend itself to Books
and to the fragments of Books, only, but even to the very Covers, and to
the Bosses and Clasps; and all this, that he might, with the greater
ease, compile the History of Printing, which he had undertaken, but did
not finish. In this noble Work he intended a Discourse about Binding,...
and another about the Art of making paper, in both of which his
observations were very accurate.'
A great number of the title-pages and fragments collected by Bagford are
evidently taken from books which could be purchased in his day for a few
shillings, many of them probably for a few pence; while it is possible
that some may have been salvage from the Great Fire of 1666, when we
know immense quantities of books were burnt or damaged. The collections,
it is true, contain fragments of the Gutenberg Bible, various Caxtons,
and other rare books, but there is no reason to think that these were
abstracted from complete copies; it is much more likely that they were
odd leaves which Bagford had picked up, while the leather stains on some
of the most valuable show that they once formed part of the padding of
old bindings. Many of the books were probably acquired by Bagford when
he took part in the book-hunting expeditions of the Duke of Devonshire,
the Earls of Oxford, Sunderland, and other collectors, who amused
themselves every Saturday during the winter in rambling through various
quarters of the town in search of additions to their libraries. After
Bagford's death Hearne was very anxious to obtain his collections, as he
wished to publish 'a book from them, for the service of the public, and
the honour of Mr. Bagford,' but much to his chagrin he was forestalled
by Wanley, Lord Oxford's librarian, who acquired them for his employer's
library, and they formed part of the Harleian Manuscripts, etc.,
purchased in 1753 for the British Museum. Wanley, however, does not
appear to have secured the whole of Bagford's papers, as the Sloane
collection contains four volumes of manuscripts and printed matter
which belonged to him, and the Bodleian Library possesses some
Indulgences which he acquired and gave to Hearne.
The Bagford collections in the British Museum consist of one hundred and
twenty-nine[51] volumes, including three of ballads. The manuscript
pieces are contained in thirty-six folios; the printed pieces in
sixty-three folios, twenty-one quartos, and nine octavos. Among the more
important manuscripts are Bagford's Commonplace Book; his Book of
Accounts; his Account of Public and Private Libraries; Collections in
reference to Printing; Names of old English Printers, with lists of the
works which passed through their hands; an Account of Paper; Patents
granted to Printers in England; Observations on the History of Printing;
Lives of famous Engravers, etc. The collection also contains a large
number of fragments of early Bibles, Service Books, Decretals, Lives of
Saints, etc. These are almost entirely of vellum, and some of them are
as early as the eighth century.
Among the printed fragments is a leaf from the Gutenberg Bible,[52]
portions of the _Recuyell of the Histories of Troy_, the
_Polychronicon_, the _Book of Fame_, and many other books from the
presses of Caxton, Machlinia, Rood and Hunte, Pynson, Wynkyn de Worde,
and other early printers, both English and foreign.
The maps in the collection are especially important and interesting,
including a very rare one sometimes found in Hakluyt's _Navigations and
Discoveries of the English Nation_, printed in the years 1599 and 1600,
and worth at least two hundred pounds;[53] and the even more valuable
celestial and terrestrial planispheres by John Blagrave of Reading,
which are believed to be unique. There are also some rare documents
relating to the Post Office; a number of early book-plates; some fine
specimens of English, French, and German stamped bindings of the
sixteenth century; several volumes of Chinese, marbled, and other
papers; early almanacks; a quantity of engravings of towns, costumes,
trades, furniture, etc.; curious advertisements of tobacco, tea, quack
medicines, etc.; specimens of fine writing; and many other miscellaneous
papers of much interest.
Bagford was the author of a letter on the antiquities of London,
prefixed to the first volume of Hearne's edition of Leland's
_Collectanea_; and also of an _Account of London Libraries_, first
printed in 1708 in _The Monthly Miscellany, or Memoirs for the
Curious_. This little brochure was continued by Oldys, and the complete
work published by Mr. James Yeowell in 1862. _The Essay on the Invention
of Printing, by Mr. John Bagford_, in vol. XXV. of the _Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society_, was, Dibdin says, drawn up by
Wanley. The collection of ballads has been edited by the Rev. J.W.
Ebsworth for the Ballad Society.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 51: It is somewhat doubtful whether a few of these belonged to
Bagford.]
[Footnote 52: Probably given to Bagford by Michael Maittaire, the
collector, who possessed a very imperfect copy of the Gutenberg Bible,
which sold for fifty shillings at the sale of his library.]
[Footnote 53: This is believed to be the map alluded to by Shakespeare
in Act. iii. Sc. 2 of _Twelfth Night_, where he makes Maria say of
Malvolio: 'He does smile his face into more lines than there are in the
new map, with the augmentation of the Indies.']
THOMAS HERBERT, EIGHTH EARL OF PEMBROKE, 1656-1733
Thomas Herbert, eighth Earl of Pembroke, who was born in 1656, was the
third son of Philip, the fifth Earl. By the deaths of his elder
brothers, the sixth and seventh Earls, he succeeded to the title in
1683, and from that time to his death in 1733 he held many of the
highest appointments in the State. He was one of the representatives of
England at the treaty of Ryswick, and he carried the Sword of Justice at
the coronations of William and Mary, Anne, George I. and George II. He
was also President of the Royal Society in 1689-90.
Many of the Earls of Pembroke were men of culture and patrons of
learning. In 1629 William, the third Earl, gave to the University of
Oxford, of which he was Chancellor, a very valuable series of Greek
manuscripts collected by Giacomo Barocci, a gentleman of Venice; and in
1649 his brother Philip, the fourth Earl, gave to the same University,
of which he was also Chancellor, a splendidly bound copy of the Paris
Polyglot Bible, printed in 1645 in nine volumes. These two brothers are
'the incomparable pair of brethren' to whom the first folio of
Shakespeare is dedicated. There had been for several generations a
library at Wilton House, Salisbury, which Dibdin considered to be one of
the oldest of private collections existing; but Thomas, the eighth Earl,
added to it so large a number of rare books that it 'entitled him to
dispute the palm even with the Lords Sunderland and Oxford.' Maittaire,
in his _Annales Typographici_, calls the library a 'Bibliotheca
exquisitissima,' and styles its owner 'Humanitatis politioris cultor et
patronus.' Dibdin also states that Lord Pembroke spared no expense for
books, and that he was 'a collector of everything the most precious and
rare in the book-way.' The library was still further augmented by his
successor Henry.
Dr. Dampier, Bishop of Ely, compiled a list in 1776 of the earlier
printed works in the library, which Dibdin has reproduced in his
_Decameron_. The books are one hundred and ninety-nine in number, of
which one hundred and eighty-eight are of the fifteenth century. The
list contains eight Caxtons, eighteen volumes printed by Jenson, and
ten by the Spiras. Among the most notable of the incunabula are the
_Rationale Divinorum Officiorum_ of Durandus, on vellum, printed by Fust
and Schoeffer at Mentz in 1459; the _Catholicon_ of Balbus, printed at
Mentz in 1460; _Cicero de Oratore_, printed by Sweynheym and Pannartz at
the Monastery of Subiaco in 1465; Cicero's _Epistolae ad Familiares_,
printed by Joannes de Spira at Venice in 1469; and the _Bokys of Hawkyng
and Huntyng_, printed at St. Albans in 1486. The Caxtons are _The
Recuyell of the Histories of Troy_; the first and second editions of
_The Game of the Chesse_; the first edition of _The Dictes or Sayings of
the Philosophers_, _Tully of Old Age_, _Chronicles of England_, the
_Polychronicon_, and the _Liber Festivalis_.
NARCISSUS LUTTRELL, 1657-1732
Narcissus Luttrell, who was born in 1657, was the son of Francis
Luttrell of London, a descendant of the Luttrells of Dunster Castle, in
the county of Somerset. He received his early education under Mr.
Aldrich at Sheen in Surrey, and in 1674 was admitted a fellow-commoner
of St. John's College, Cambridge. In the succeeding year he was created
M.A. by royal mandate.[54] While at the University he presented a
silver tankard to his college, which was lost, together with a quantity
of other plate, on the 9th of October 1693, for the recovery of which a
reward of ten pounds was offered.[55] Luttrell, who, Dibdin says, was
'ever ardent in his love of past learning, and not less voracious in his
bibliomaniacal appetites,' formed an extensive library at Shaftesbury
House, Little Chelsea, where he resided for many years in seclusion.
Hearne speaks of it 'as a very extraordinary collection,' and adds that
'in it are many manuscripts, which, however, he had not the spirit to
communicate to the world, and 'twas a mortification to him to see the
world gratified without his assistance.' A special feature of the
library was the large and interesting collection of fugitive pieces
issued during the reigns of Charles II., James II., William III., and
Anne, which Luttrell purchased day by day as they appeared. Sir Walter
Scott found this collection, which in his time was chiefly in the
possession of the collectors Mr. Heber and Mr. Bindley, very useful when
editing the _Works_ of Dryden, published in eighteen volumes at London
in 1808. In the preface he remarks that 'the industrious collector seems
to have bought every poetical tract, of whatever merit, which was hawked
through the streets in his time, marking carefully the price and date
of purchase. His collection contains the earliest editions of many of
our most excellent poems, bound up, according to the order of time, with
the lowest trash of Grub Street.' On Luttrell's death, which took place
at his residence in Chelsea on the 27th of June 1732, the collection
became the property of Francis Luttrell (presumed to be his son), who
died in 1740. It afterwards passed into the possession of Mr. Serjeant
Wynne, and from him descended to Edward Wynne, his eldest son, the
author of _Eunomus, or Dialogues concerning the Law and Constitution of
England; and a Miscellany containing several law tracts_, published at
London in 1765. He died a bachelor in 1784, and the library, which had
been considerably enlarged by its later possessors, was inherited by his
brother, the Rev. Luttrell Wynne, of All Souls' College, Oxford, by
whose direction it was sold by auction by Leigh and Sotheby in 1786. The
sale, which consisted of two thousand seven hundred and fifty-six lots,
commenced on March 6th, and lasted twelve days. It is stated in the
catalogue that 'great part of the library was formed by an Eminent and
Curious Collector in the last Century, and comprehends a fine Suite of
Historical, Classical, Mathematical, Natural History, Poetical and
Miscellaneous Books, in all Arts and Sciences ... by the most Eminent
Printers, Rob. Steph., Morell, Aldus, Elzevir, Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde,
&c. &c. Also a very curious Collection of old English Romances, and old
Poetry; with a great number of scarce Pamphlets during the Great
Rebellion and the Protectorate.' Various portions of the Luttrell
collections were bought by Messrs. Heber and Bindley. The greater part
of those purchased by Mr. Bindley were eventually acquired by the
British Museum at the Duke of Buckingham's sale in 1849, while those
which belonged to Mr. Heber are now to be found on the shelves of the
Britwell library. Dibdin informs us that 'a great number of poetical
tracts was disposed of, previous to the sale, to Dr. Farmer, who gave
not more than forty guineas for them.' Two Caxtons in the sale--the
_Mirrour of the World_ and _Caton_--fetched respectively five guineas
and four guineas, and a collection of plays, in twenty-one volumes, by
Gascoigne, Dekker, etc., sold for thirty-eight pounds, seventeen
shillings.
[Illustration: SIR HANS SLOANE, BART.]
Luttrell compiled a chronicle of contemporary events, which was
frequently quoted by Lord Macaulay in his _History of England_. This
remained in manuscript for many years in the library of All Souls'
College, Oxford, but in 1857 it was printed in six volumes by the
Delegates of the University Press under the title of _A Brief Historical
Relation of State Affairs from September 1678 to April 1714_. He also
left a personal diary in English, but whimsically written in Greek
characters, consisting principally of entries recording the hours of his
rising and going to bed, the manner in which he spent his time, what
friends called to see him, the sermons he heard, where and how he dined,
and the occasions, which were not infrequent, when he took too much
wine. This manuscript is preserved in the British Museum (Add. MS.
10447).
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 54: _Notes and Queries._ Second Series. Vol. xii., page 78.]
[Footnote 55: See _London Gazette_, October 16-19, 1693.]
SIR HANS SLOANE, BART., 1660-1753
Sir Hans Sloane, Bart., was born on the 16th of April 1660 at
Killileagh, County Down, Ireland. His father, Alexander Sloane, was a
Scotchman, who had settled in Ireland on his appointment to the post of
receiver-general of the estates of Lord Claneboy, afterwards Earl of
Clanricarde.[56] Hans Sloane gave early indications of unusual ability,
and as soon as his health, which was delicate, would permit, he came to
London, and devoted himself to the study of medicine, and the kindred
sciences of chemistry and botany. In 1683 he went to Paris, which at
that time possessed greater facilities for medical education than could
be found in London. Having taken the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the
University of Orange in July 1683, he made a tour in France, and
towards the close of the year 1684 he returned to England and settled in
London. In 1685 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in
1687 he was admitted a Fellow of the College of Physicians. His love for
scientific research led him to accept the offer of the post of physician
to the Duke of Albemarle, who had been recently appointed
Governor-General of the West India Colonies. He was also appointed
physician to the West Indian fleet. He set sail for Jamaica on the 12th
of September 1687, and reached Port Royal on the 19th of December; but
in consequence of the death of the Duke, which took place towards the
end of the following year, Sloane returned to England in May 1689,
bringing with him large collections in all branches of natural history,
which he had obtained in Madeira, as well as in Jamaica and other West
Indian islands. In 1693 Sloane was appointed to the Secretaryship of the
Royal Society, and in 1727 he had the honour of succeeding Sir Isaac
Newton as President. His professional career was a very successful one.
In 1712 he was made Physician-Extraordinary to Queen Anne, whom he
attended during her last illness; and in 1716 he was created a baronet
by King George I., who also bestowed on him the post of
Physician-General to the Forces. On the accession of King George II. in
1727 he was appointed First Physician to the King. He was elected
President of the College of Physicians in 1719, and held the office till
1735. In 1741 he removed his museum and library from his residence in
Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, to the fine old manor-house of
Chelsea, which he had purchased from the family of Cheyne. Here he spent
his time in the society of his friends, and in enriching and arranging
the treasures he had collected. He died after a short illness on the
11th of January 1753, in the ninety-third year of his age, and was
buried in Chelsea church, where a monument was erected to his memory by
his daughters. Sir Hans Sloane married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress
of Alderman Langley, and widow of Fulk Rose of Jamaica, by whom he had
four children, two of whom died young. Sarah, the elder of the two
daughters who survived their father, married George Stanley of Poultons,
Hampshire; the younger, Elizabeth, married Colonel Charles Cadogan,
afterwards second Baron Cadogan.
A table drawn up by Sloane's trustees immediately after his death shows
that, in addition to his splendid natural history museum, his
collections comprised between forty and fifty thousand printed books,
three thousand five hundred and sixteen manuscripts,[57] and six
hundred and fifty-seven pictures and drawings. The coins and medals
amounted to thirty-two thousand, and other antiquities to two thousand
six hundred and thirty-five. Sir Hans Sloane expressed a desire in his
will that his collection in all its branches might be kept and preserved
together after his decease, and that an application should be made by
his trustees to Parliament for its purchase for twenty thousand pounds,
a sum which did not represent more than a fourth of its real value. This
application was favourably received, and in June 1753 an Act was passed,
'For the purchase of the Museum, or Collection of Sir Hans Sloane, and
of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts; and for providing one general
repository for the better reception and more convenient use of the said
Collections; and of the Cottonian Library, and of the additions
thereto.' The Act further enacted that a board, consisting of forty-two
trustees, be appointed for putting the same into execution; and at a
general meeting of this body, held at the Cockpit, at Whitehall, on the
3rd of April 1754, it was resolved to accept of a proposal which had
been made to them, of the 'Capital Mansion House, called Montague House,
and the freehold ground thereto belonging, for the general repository of
the British Museum, on the terms of ten thousand pounds.'[58] Although
the Act had been passed, considerable difficulty was experienced in
finding the purchase-money. When the matter was brought before George
II. he dismissed it with the remark, 'I don't think there are twenty
thousand pounds in the Treasury'; and eventually it was proposed that
the needful sum should be raised by a public lottery, which should
consist of 'a hundred thousand shares, at three pounds a share; that two
hundred thousand pounds should be allotted as prizes, and that the
remaining hundred thousand--less the expenses of the lottery
itself--should be applied to the threefold purposes of the Act, namely,
the purchase of the Sloane and Harleian Collections; the providing of a
Repository; and the creation of an annual income for future
maintenance.'[59] Sir Hans Sloane's principal work was the _Natural
History of Jamaica_, 2 vols., London, 1707-25, which occupied him for no
less than thirty-eight years.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 56: Edwards, _Lives of Founders of the British Museum_, p.
274.]
[Footnote 57: There are 4100 volumes of Sloane MSS. in the British
Museum. A catalogue of them, compiled by the Rev. S. Ayscough, was
printed in 1782.]
[Footnote 58: Sims, _Handbook to the Library of the British Museum_, p.
2.]
PETER LE NEVE, 1661-1729
Peter Le Neve was the son of Francis Neve (the _Le_ had been dropped for
several generations, when Peter resumed the ancient form of his name), a
citizen and draper of London. He was born in London in 1661, and was
educated at Merchant Taylors' School. From an early age he displayed a
great love of antiquarian pursuits, and in 1707, when the Society of
Antiquaries was reconstituted, he was chosen the first President, which
office he held until 1724. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society. On
the 17th of January 1690, Le Neve was appointed Rouge-Croix Pursuivant;
on April the 5th 1704, Richmond Herald; and on the 25th of the
succeeding month Norroy King-at-Arms. He died on the 24th of September
1729, and was buried in the chancel of Great Witchingham Church,
Norfolk. Oldys states that Le Neve had 'a vast treasure of Historical
Antiquities, consisting of about 2000 printed books and above 1200 MSS.,
interspersed with many notes of his own.' Oldys also mentions that 'it
is said that he had some pique with the Heralds' Office a little before
his death, so cut them off with a single book, otherwise he had left
them the whole of his library.'[60]
'Honest Tom Martin of Palgrave,' the antiquary, who was Le Neve's
executor, and who married his widow, appears to have succeeded to the
bulk of Le Neve's collections. They were sold by auction in 1731. The
title-page of the sale catalogue reads:--'A Catalogue of the valuable
library collected by that truly Laborious Antiquary, Peter Le Neve,
Esq.; Norroy King of Arms (lately deceas'd), containing most of the
Books relating to the History and Antiquities of Great Britain and
Ireland, and many other nations. With more than a thousand Manuscripts
of Abstracts of Records, etc., Heraldry, and other Sciences, several of
which are very antient, and written on Vellum. Also, a great number of
Pedigrees of Noble Families, etc. With many other Curiosities. Which
will be Sold by Auction the 22nd Day of February 1730-1 at the Bedford
Coffee-house, in the Great Piazza, Covent Garden. Beginning every
Evening at Five a-Clock. By John Wilcox, Bookseller in Little Britain.'
The sale appears to have lasted about a fortnight, and was followed by a
small supplementary one on March the 19th, of 'Some Curiosities and
Manuscripts omitted in the previous Catalogue.' A copy of the sale
catalogue, with the prices and the names of some of the purchasers in
manuscript, is to be found in the British Museum.
Although Le Neve was an ardent collector and compiled a considerable
number of works on heraldry and topography, many of which are preserved
in the British Museum, the Bodleian Library, Heralds' College, and the
Record Office, he does not appear to have printed anything. His list of
_Pedigrees of Knights made by King Charles II., King James II., King
William III. and Queen Mary, King William alone, and Queen Anne_, was
edited by Dr. G.W. Marshall for the Harleian Society in 1873.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 59: Edwards, _Lives of the Founders of the British Museum_, p.
308.]
[Footnote 60: _Memoir of Oldys_, etc. London, 1862, p. 76.]
ROBERT HARLEY, FIRST EARL OF OXFORD, 1661-1724
AND
EDWARD HARLEY, SECOND EARL OF OXFORD, 1689-1741
Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, who was born in Bow Street, Covent
Garden, on the 5th of December 1661, was the eldest son of Sir Edward
Harley, K.B., who was Governor of Dunkirk after the Restoration.
Entering Parliament in 1689, in 1701 he was elected Speaker of the House
of Commons; in 1710 he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, and in
1711 he was created Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, and made Lord High
Treasurer, from which post he was dismissed in 1714. In 1713 he received
the Order of the Garter. He was impeached by the House of Commons in
1715; acquitted without being brought to a trial in 1717, and died at
his house in Albemarle Street, London, on the 21st of May 1724.
[Illustration: ONE OF THE BOOK-PLATES OF ROBERT HARLEY AS A COMMONER.]
Harley was the greatest collector of his time, and formed a splendid
library, which, at the time of his death, besides the printed books,
contained more than six thousand volumes of manuscripts, and an immense
number of charters, rolls, and deeds. This noble collection was
inherited by Lord Oxford's son Edward, second Earl, by whom it was very
considerably augmented in every department; and when he died in June
1741, the volumes of manuscripts amounted to seven thousand six hundred
and thirty-nine volumes, exclusive of fourteen thousand two hundred and
thirty-six original rolls, deeds, charters, and other legal documents.
The printed books were estimated at about fifty thousand volumes, the
pamphlets at about three hundred and fifty thousand, and the prints at
forty-one thousand. In the _Account of London Libraries_, by Bagford and
Oldys, it is stated:--
[Illustration: ROBERT HARLEY'S BOOK-STAMP.]
'For libraries in more expressly particular hands, the first and most
universal in England, must be reckoned the Harleian, or Earl of Oxford's
library, begun by his father and continued by himself. He has the rarest
books of all countries, languages, and sciences, and the greatest number
of any collector we ever had, in manuscript as well as in print,
thousands of fragments, some a thousand years old; vellum books, some
written over; all things especially respecting English History, personal
as well as local, particular as well as general. He has a great
collection of Bibles, etc., in all versions, and editions of all the
first printed books, classics, and others of our own country,
ecclesiastical as well as civil, by Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson,
Berthelet, Rastall, Grafton, and the greatest number of pamphlets and
prints of English heads of any other person. Abundance of ledgers,
chartularies, old deeds, charters, patents, grants, covenants,
pedigrees, inscriptions, etc., and original letters of eminent persons,
as many as would fill two hundred volumes; all the collections of his
librarian Humphrey Wanley, of Stow, Sir Symonds D'Ewes, Prynne, Bishop
Stillingfleet, John Bagford, Le Neve, and the flower of a hundred other
libraries.'
The library was remarkably rich in early editions of the Greek and Latin
classics (there were as many as one hundred and fifteen volumes of
various works by Cicero printed in the fifteenth century), English early
poetry and romances, and books of prints, sculpture and drawings. The
collection of Caxtons was both large and fine, and it comprised the only
perfect copy known of the _Book of the Noble Histories of King Arthur_,
which, nearly a century and a half after the dispersion of the Harleian
library, was purchased for nineteen hundred and fifty pounds, at the
sale of the Earl of Jersey's books in 1885, by Mr. Quaritch for a New
York collector.
The volumes in the library were all handsomely bound; mostly in red
morocco, and tooled with a distinctive kind of ornamentation, which has
since been known as the Harleian Style. This commonly consisted of a
centrepiece, generally of a lozenge form, surrounded by a broad and
elegant border. Eliot and Chapman were the binders of the greater
portion of the books, at a cost, it is said, of upwards of eighteen
thousand pounds.
Humphrey Wanley was for several years librarian to both the first and
the second Earls, and he commenced the compilation of the catalogue of
the manuscripts, which was finally completed by the Rev. Thomas Hartwell
Horne in 1812. Among the Lansdowne manuscripts in the British Museum is
a diary,[61] kept by Wanley, which contains much interesting information
respecting the library. Some time after Wanley's decease, William Oldys
was appointed librarian at a salary of two hundred pounds per annum.
The second Earl of Oxford had a passion for building and landscape
gardening, as well as for collecting books, paintings and curiosities,
and some years before his death these expensive tastes involved him in
pecuniary difficulties. George Vertue, the eminent engraver, in one of
his commonplace-books, now preserved in the British Museum,[62] thus
feelingly refers to the embarrassed circumstances of the Earl:--'My good
Lord, lately growing heavy and pensive in his affairs, which for some
late years have mortify'd his mind.... This lately manifestly appeared
in his change of complexion; his face fallen less; his colour and eyes
turned yellow to a great degree; his stomach wasted and gone; and a dead
weight presses continually, without sign of relief, on his mind.'
A fortnight after this was written Vertue had to lament his loss.
Lord Oxford died in Dover Street, London, on the 16th of June 1741, and
on his decease the library became the property of Margaret, Duchess of
Portland, the only daughter and heiress of the Earl, who sold the
printed books to Mr. Thomas Osborne, the bookseller of Gray's Inn, for
about thirteen thousand pounds. The manuscripts were purchased by
Parliament in 1753 for the sum of ten thousand pounds, and were placed
in the library of the British Museum four years later. The portraits,
coins, and miscellaneous curiosities were sold by auction in March 1742.
Osborne bought Lord Oxford's books with a view of disposing of them by
sale, and engaged Dr. Johnson and Oldys to compile a catalogue of them,
which was printed in four volumes octavo in the years 1743-44. A fifth
volume was issued in 1745, but this is nothing more than an enumeration
of Osborne's unsold stock. Osborne also published in eight volumes
quarto, '_The Harleian Miscellany: or, a Collection of Scarce, Curious,
and Entertaining Pamphlets and Tracts_, as well as in Manuscript as in
Print, found in the late Earl of Oxford's library, interspersed with
Historical, Political and Critical notes. London 1744-46.' This work,
which was edited by Oldys, was republished by Thomas Park in 1808-12,
with two supplemental volumes. A catalogue of the pamphlets contained in
the _Harleian Miscellany_ was also prepared by Oldys, and printed in a
quarto volume, which appeared in 1746; and a _Collection of Voyages and
Travels_, compiled from the _Miscellany_, was published in two volumes
folio in 1745.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 61: Lansdowne MSS. 771, 772.]
[Footnote 62: Add. MS. 23,093.]
JOHN BRIDGES, 1666-1724
John Bridges, the author of _The History and Antiquities of
Northamptonshire_, was born in 1666 at Barton Seagrave,
Northamptonshire. He was appointed Solicitor of the Customs in 1695, a
Commissioner of the Customs in 1711, and in 1715 a Cashier of the
Excise. He was a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn, and a Fellow of the Society
of Antiquaries. He died on the 16th of March 1724.
Bridges, who is mentioned with great respect by Hearne and other
antiquaries, was, says Dibdin, 'a gentleman, a scholar, and a notorious
book-collector.' His library, which consisted of 'above 4000 Books and
Manuscripts in all languages and faculties, particularly in Classics and
History, and especially the History and Antiquities of Great Britain and
Ireland,'[63] was sold at his chambers, No. 6 Lincoln's Inn, by Mr.
Cock, on the 7th of February 1726, and twenty-six following days. The
number of lots was four thousand three hundred and thirteen, and the
total proceeds of the sale were four thousand one hundred and sixty
pounds, twelve shillings. The books sold well, and Hearne, in his
_Diary_, under February 15th, 1726, writes: 'My late friend John Bridges
esqr.'s books being now selling by auction in London (they began to be
sold on Monday the 7th inst.). I hear they go very high, being fair
books, in good condition, and most of them finely bound. This afternoon
I was told of a gentleman of All Souls' College, I suppose Dr. Clarke,
that gave a commission of 8s. for an Homer in 2 vols., a small 8 deg. if not
12 deg.. But it went for six guineas. People are in love with good binding
more than good reading.' Humphrey Wanley, who was a buyer at the sale
for Lord Oxford's library, was much dissatisfied with the large sums
which the books fetched, and suspected there was a conspiracy to run up
the prices. He writes in his _Diary_ (February 9, 1725-26): 'Went to Mr.
Bridges's chambers, but could not see the three fine MSS. again, the
Doctor his brother having locked them up. He openly bid for his own
books, merely to enhance their price, and the auction proves to be, what
I thought it would become, very knavish'; and on the 11th of February he
adds: 'Yesterday at five I met Mr. Noel and tarried long with him; we
settled then the whole affair touching his bidding for my Lord [Oxford]
at the roguish auction of Mr. Bridges's books. The Reverend Doctor one
of the brothers hath already displayed himself so remarkably as to be
both hated and despised, and a combination among the booksellers will
soon be against him and his brother-in-law, a lawyer. These are men of
the keenest avarice, and their very looks (according to what I am told)
dart out harping-irons. I have ordered Mr. Noel to drop every article in
my Lord's commissions when they shall be hoisted up to too high a price.
Yet I desired that my Lord may have the Russian Bible, which I know full
well to be a very rare and a very good book.'
A copy of the sale catalogue, with the prices in manuscript, is
preserved in the library of the British Museum.
Bridges expended several thousand pounds in making collections for his
_History of Northamptonshire_, which, after many delays, was published
under the editorship of the Rev. Peter Whalley in 1791.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 63: Description of library in sale catalogue.]
JOHN MURRAY, 1670-1748
John Murray of Sacombe in Hertfordshire, who was born on the 24th of
January 1670, and died on September 13, 1748, was an indefatigable
collector of books. In the _Account of London Libraries_, by Bagford and
Oldys, we read that he 'made scarce publications of English authors his
inquiry all his life,' and that he had been 'a collector above forty
years at all sales, auctions, shops, and stalls, partly for his own
curiosity, and partly to oblige such authors and gentry as have
commissioned him.' He was a friend of Hearne, who frequently mentions
him in his works and _Diary_. Hearne states that Murray told him he
began to collect books at thirteen years of age. Dr. Rawlinson possessed
a painting of him, which was engraved by Vertue. He is leaning on three
books, inscribed 'T. Hearne, V. III., Sessions Papers, and Tryals of
Witches,' and holding a fourth under his coat. Underneath are the
following lines, signed G.N.:--
'Hoh Maister John Murray of Sacomb!
The Works of old Time to collect was his pride,
Till Oblivion dreaded his Care:
Regardless of Friends, intestate he dy'd,
So the Rooks and the Crows were his Heir.'
DR. MEAD, 1673-1754
Dr. Richard Mead, the eminent physician and collector, was born at
Stepney, Middlesex, on the 11th of August 1673. His father, Matthew
Mead, was a divine of some eminence among the dissenters, and during the
Commonwealth was minister of Stepney, but was ejected for nonconformity
in 1662. Richard Mead was first educated at home, and at a private
school kept by Mr. Thomas Singleton, who was at one time second master
at Eton. At the age of sixteen he entered the University of Utrecht,
where he remained three years, and then proceeded to the University of
Leyden for the purpose of qualifying himself for the medical profession.
In 1695 he made a tour in Italy, and after taking the degree of doctor
of philosophy and physic at Padua, he visited Naples and Rome. In 1696
he returned to England, and began to practise at Stepney, in the house
in which he was born. In 1703 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal
Society, and in the same year he was chosen Physician to St. Thomas's
Hospital, and took a house in Crutched Friars, in the City of London,
where he resided until 1711, when he removed to one in Austin Friars,
which had formerly been inhabited by Dr. Howe. In 1707 the University of
Oxford conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and in the
following year he was admitted a member of the College of Physicians, of
which institution he was elected a Fellow in 1716. On the death of Dr.
Radcliffe in 1714, Mead removed to the residence which had been occupied
by that distinguished physician in Bloomsbury Square, and in 1720 he
took a house in Great Ormond Street, which he filled with books,
pictures and antiquities, and where he lived until his death on the 16th
of January 1754. In 1727 he was appointed Physician-in-Ordinary to King
George II., and in 1734 he was offered the post of President of the
College of Physicians, but this he declined, being desirous of
retirement. He was twice married. Dr. Mead was the foremost medical man
of his time, and his professional income was a very large one. The
greater part of his wealth he devoted to the patronage of science and
literature, and to the acquisition of his valuable collections, which
were always open to students who wished to consult them. He had a very
large circle of attached friends, amongst whom were Newton, Halley,
Pope, Bentley, and Freind; and Dr. Johnson said of him that he 'lived
more in the broad sunshine of life than almost any other man.' Pope
refers to his love of books in his epistle to Richard Boyle, Earl of
Burlington, _Of the Use of Riches_:--
'Rare monkish manuscripts for Hearne alone,
And books for Mead and butterflies for Sloane.'
[Illustration: DR. MEAD.]
Dr. Mead's library consisted of upwards of ten thousand printed volumes,
and many rare and valuable manuscripts. The collection was especially
rich in medical works, and in early editions of the classics. Among the
latter were to be found the Spira Virgil of 1470 on vellum, and the 1469
and 1472 editions of the _Historia Naturalis_ of Pliny; the former of
which was bought at the sale of his books by the King of France for
eleven guineas, and the latter by a bookseller named Willock for
eighteen guineas. One of the choicest manuscripts was a missal said to
have been illuminated by Raphael and his pupils for Claude, wife of
Francis I., King of France. This was acquired by Horace Walpole for
forty-eight pounds, six shillings. It was bought at the Strawberry Hill
sale in 1842 by Earl Waldegrave for one hundred and fifteen pounds, ten
shillings. The books were generally very fine copies and handsomely
bound. After Mead's death they were sold by auction by Samuel Baker of
Covent Garden, in two parts, and realised five thousand five hundred and
eighteen pounds, ten shillings and elevenpence, including nineteen
pounds, six shillings and sixpence for fifteen bookcases. The sale of
the first part commenced on the 18th November 1754, and lasted
twenty-eight days; that of the second part began on the 7th of April
1755, and lasted twenty-nine days. The pictures, prints and drawings,
antiquities and coins and medals, were sold in the early part of 1755
for ten thousand five hundred and fifty pounds, eighteen shillings; the
pictures fetching three thousand four hundred and seventeen pounds,
eleven shillings--about six or seven hundred pounds more than Mead gave
for them. Some portions of his collections were sold during his
lifetime.
Dr. Mead was the author of several medical works, of which his
_Discourse on the Plague_, published in 1720, was the best. The
magnificent edition of De Thou's _Historia Sui Temporis_, in seven folio
volumes, London, 1733, edited by Samuel Buckley; and the _Opus Majus_ of
Roger Bacon, London, 1733, edited by Dr. Samuel Jebb, were produced
partly at his expense. Collected editions of his medical works were
published in London in 1762, and in Edinburgh in 1765. His life has been
written by Dr. Maty, the second Principal Librarian of the British
Museum; and a very interesting account of his library, by Mr. Austin
Dobson, will be found in the first volume of _Bibliographica_. A
portrait of him by Allan Ramsay, painted in 1740, is in the National
Portrait Gallery, and a bust of him by Roubillac is preserved in the
College of Physicians. His gold-headed cane, given him by Dr. Radcliffe,
is also kept in that institution.
[Illustration: EARL OF SUNDERLAND.]
CHARLES SPENCER, THIRD EARL OF SUNDERLAND, 1674-1722
Charles Spencer, third Earl of Sunderland, who was born in 1674, was the
second son of Robert, second Earl, by Anne, daughter of George Digby,
second Earl of Bristol. He appears, even when a boy, to have displayed
much ability, for as early as 1688, Evelyn, who was on very intimate
terms with the Spencer family, mentions him as 'a youth of extraordinary
hopes, very learned for his age, and ingenious, and under a governor of
great merit.' This governor appears to have been Dr. Trimnell,
afterwards Bishop of Winchester. When quite young, Lord Spencer
manifested a great love for books, and already possessed a considerable
collection of them, for he was but twenty years of age when Evelyn wrote
to him: 'I was with great appetite coming to take a repast in the noble
library which I hear you have lately purchased.' Evelyn's Diary also
contains several notices of the collection, and particularly mentions
the purchase of the books of Sir Charles Scarborough, an eminent
physician, which were at one time destined for the Royal Library.
At the general election in 1695 Lord Spencer was returned both for
Tiverton in Devonshire, and for Heydon in Yorkshire. He elected to sit
for Tiverton, which he represented in Parliament until the death of his
father in 1702, when he succeeded to the title, his elder brother having
died in 1688. While a member of the House of Commons he appears to have
held opinions of a somewhat republican nature; and Swift tells us, 'he
would often, among his familiar friends, refuse the title of Lord (as he
had done to myself), swear he would never be called otherwise than
Charles Spencer, and hoped to see the day when there should not be a
peer in England.' These views, however, were very considerably modified
on his succession to the title. In 1705 he was appointed envoy
extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Court of Vienna, to
congratulate the Emperor Joseph on his accession to the crown. Shortly
after his return to England, Sunderland, notwithstanding the opposition
of Queen Anne, who always entertained a great antipathy for him, was
made one of the Secretaries of State, an office which he held until June
1710, when he was dismissed by the Queen, who wished, however, to bestow
on him a pension of three thousand pounds a year. This he refused, with
the remark, 'I am glad your Majesty is satisfied I have done my duty.
But if I cannot have the honour to serve my country, I will not plunder
it.' He remained out of office during the remainder of Anne's reign,
but on the accession of George I. to the throne he was made
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. This post, however, was by no means
agreeable to him, for he regarded it as a kind of banishment, and during
the short time he held it he never crossed the Channel. In 1715 he was
appointed Lord Privy Seal, Vice-Treasurer of Ireland in 1716, and in
April 1717 he was a second time made a Secretary of State, his friend
Addison receiving a like appointment. On the 16th of March 1718 he
became Lord-President of the Council, and on the 21st of the same month
First Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, which office he resigned on the
3rd of April 1721. He died, after a short illness, on the 19th of April
1722.
Lord Sunderland was thrice married, and had children by all his wives.
By his second wife, Anne, daughter of the great Duke of Marlborough, he
had four sons and a daughter. The eldest son died in infancy; Robert,
the second, succeeded to the earldom, and died unmarried on the 15th of
September 1729; Charles, the third, became Earl of Sunderland on the
death of his elder brother, and in 1733 second Duke of Marlborough, but
he did not obtain the Marlborough estates until the demise of the
Dowager Duchess in 1744; John, the youngest son, who, by a family
arrangement, then succeeded to the Spencer estates, was the father of
the first Earl Spencer.
Lord Sunderland was a most liberal patron of literature, and the
splendid library which he commenced in his early youth, and sedulously
augmented till the time of his death, bore witness for several
generations to his love of books. This noble collection was kept in his
town house, which stood between Sackville Street and Burlington House,
where it occupied five large rooms, and at the time of the Earl's death
in 1722 consisted of about twenty thousand printed volumes, together
with some choice manuscripts, and was valued at upwards of thirty
thousand pounds; the King of Denmark being anxious to purchase it of his
heirs for that sum. Charles, the fifth Earl, also took great interest in
the library, and added a considerable number of books to it, among which
was a copy on vellum of the Livy of 1470, printed at Venice by Vendelin
de Spira. Only one other perfect copy on vellum of this edition is known
to exist. In 1749 the library was removed to Blenheim, where it remained
until 1881. It was sold by Puttick and Simpson in five portions in 1881,
1882 and 1883, and the entire sale, which consisted of thirteen thousand
eight hundred and fifty-eight lots, realised fifty-six thousand five
hundred and eighty-one pounds, six shillings.
Lord Sunderland was always very liberal in his dealings with
booksellers, and the prices which he gave for his books frequently gave
umbrage to other collectors. Humphrey Wanley, Lord Oxford's librarian,
when giving in his Diary an account of a book-sale which took place in
1721, mentions that: 'Some books went for unaccountably high prices,
which were bought by Mr. Vaillant, the bookseller, who had an unlimited
commission from the Earl of Sunderland. The booksellers upon this sale
intend to raise the prices of philological books of the first editions,
and indeed of all old editions, accordingly. Thus Mr. Noel told me that
he has actually agreed to sell the Earl of Sunderland six ... printed
books, now coming up the river, for fifty pounds per book, although my
Lord gives no such prices.' And on the demise of the Earl, Wanley wrote:
'This day died the Earl of Sunderland, which I the rather note here,
because I believe by reason of his decease some benefit may accrue to
this Library, even in case his relatives will part with none of his
books. I mean, by his raising the price of books no higher now; so that,
in probability, this commodity may fall in the market, and any gentleman
be permitted to buy an uncommon old book for less than forty or fifty
pounds.'
BRIAN FAIRFAX, 1676-1749
Brian Fairfax, who was the eldest son of Brian Fairfax, author of the
_Life of the Duke of Buckingham_ and other works, was born on the 11th
of April 1676. He received his early education at Westminster School,
where he entered as a Queen's Scholar, and from whence he went to
Trinity College, Cambridge, taking the degrees of B.A. in 1697 and M.A.
in 1700. He became a Fellow of his College in 1698. In 1723 he was
appointed a Commissioner of the Customs, a post he held until his death
on the 9th of January 1749.
Fairfax collected in his house in Panton Square a very valuable library,
which, together with a considerable fortune, a gallery of pictures, a
fine collection of Greek, Roman, and English coins and medals, and other
curiosities, he bequeathed to his relative, the Hon. Robert Fairfax, of
Leeds Castle, Kent, afterwards seventh Lord Fairfax. Robert Fairfax
intended to sell the library by auction on the 26th of April 1756, and
the seventeen following days; but after having advertised it, he
privately disposed of it for two thousand pounds to his kinsman, Mr.
Francis Child,[64] of Osterley Park, Isleworth, Middlesex, and the
printed catalogues, with the exception of twenty, were suppressed.[65]
The title to the catalogue of the intended sale reads: 'A Catalogue of
the Entire and Valuable Library of the Honourable Bryan Fairfax, Esq.,
one of the Commissioners of His Majesty's Customs, Deceased: which will
be sold by Auction, by Mr. Prestage, at his great room the end of Savile
Row, next Conduit Street, Hanover Square. To begin selling on Monday,
April 26, 1756, and to continue for seventeen days successively.
Catalogues to be had at the Place of Sale, and at Mr. Barthoe's,
Bookseller in Exeter Exchange in the Strand. Price Six-pence, pp. 68.
8 deg..' In a copy of the catalogue mentioned by Dibdin in his
_Bibliographical Decameron_, the price at which each article was valued
is given for the express purpose of the purchase of the whole by Mr.
Child. Among the prices thus noted are those of the nine Caxtons which
the library contained, which altogether amounted to thirty-three pounds,
four shillings. _The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye_ was valued at
eight guineas, the _Confessio Amantis_ at three pounds, and the
_Histories of King Arthur_ at two pounds, twelve shillings and sixpence.
The prices obtained for these books at the sale of the Osterley library
in 1885 were eighteen hundred and twenty pounds, eight hundred and ten
pounds, and nineteen hundred and fifty pounds, respectively. The
collection became part of the Osterley library, of which a catalogue was
made in 1771 by Dr. Thomas Morell, assisted by the preceding labours of
the Rev. Dr. Winchester. Only twenty-five copies of this catalogue were
printed.
Brian Fairfax's pictures, statues, urns, and other antiquities were sold
by auction on April the 6th and 7th, and the prints and drawings on May
the 4th and 5th, 1756.
In 1819 the library passed by marriage into the family of the Earls of
Jersey, and on the 6th of May 1885 and seven following days it was sold
by Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge. The sale consisted of one thousand nine
hundred and thirty-seven lots, which realised the large sum of thirteen
thousand and seven pounds, nine shillings.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 64: The first wife of the Hon. Robert Fairfax was Martha
Collins, niece to Sir Francis Child, Bart.]
[Footnote 65: Nichols, _Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century_,
vol. v. p. 326.]
THOMAS HEARNE, 1678-1735
Thomas Hearne, the eminent antiquary, was born in July 1678 at
Littlefield Green in the parish of White Waltham, Berkshire, where his
father, George Hearne, was the parish clerk. At a very early age he
showed such marked ability that Francis Cherry, the nonjuror, who
resided at Shottesbrooke in the same neighbourhood, undertook to
defray the cost of his education, and first sent him to the free school
of Bray, and afterwards, in 1695, to St. Edmund Hall, Oxford. This
kindness is frequently referred to by Hearne, who speaks of his
benefactor as 'my best friend and patron.' He took the degrees of B.A.
in 1679, and M.A. four years later. While an undergraduate, Dr. John
Mill, the Principal of St. Edmund Hall, and Dr. Grabe employed him in
the collation of manuscripts; and Hearne tells us in his _Autobiography_
that, after taking his B.A. degree, 'he constantly went to the Bodleian
Library every day, and studied there as long as the time allowed by the
Statutes would admit.' His industry and learning attracted the notice of
Dr. Hudson, who had been recently elected Keeper of the Bodleian
Library, and, in 1701, by his influence Hearne was made Janitor, or
Assistant, in the Library, succeeding to the post of Second Librarian in
1712. The duties of this appointment he continued to perform until the
23rd of January 1716, the last day fixed by the Act for taking the oaths
to the Hanoverian dynasty. These oaths as a nonjuror he could not
conscientiously take, and he was in consequence deprived of his office
on the ground of 'neglect of duty'; but the Rev. W.D. Macray, in his
_Annals of the Bodleian Library_, tells us that 'to the end of his life
he maintained that he was still, _de jure_, Sub-librarian, and with a
quaint pertinacity, regularly at the end of each term and half-year, up
to March 30, 1735, continued to set down, in one of the volumes of his
Diary, that no fees had been paid him, and that his half-year's salary
was due.' Hearne continued a staunch nonjuror to the end of his days,
and refused many University appointments, including the Keepership of
the Bodleian Library, which he might have had, had he been willing to
take the oath of allegiance to the government; but he preferred, to use
his own words, 'a good conscience before all manner of preferment and
worldly honour.' The Earl of Oxford offered to make him his librarian on
Wanley's death, but this post he also declined, and continued to reside
to the end of his life at St. Edmund Hall, engaged in preparing and
publishing his various antiquarian and historical works. He died on the
10th of June 1735, and was buried in the churchyard of St.
Peter's-in-the-East at Oxford. Hearne, who was a man of unwearied
industry, and a most devoted antiquary, is described by Pope in the
_Dunciad_, under the title of Wormius--
'But who is he, in closet close ypent,
Of sober face, with learned dust besprent?
Right well mine eyes arede the myster wight,
On parchment scraps y-fed, and Wormius hight.'
[Illustration: _THOMAS HEARNE M.A. of Edmund Hall Oxon._]
Hearne amassed a considerable collection of manuscripts and printed
books, of which he made a catalogue, with the prices he gave for them.
This manuscript came into the possession of Mr. Beriah Botfield, M.P.,
of Norton Hall, Northamptonshire, who privately printed some extracts
from it in 1848.
Hearne left all his manuscripts and books with manuscript notes to Mr.
William Bedford, son of the nonjuring bishop, Hilkiah Bedford, whose
widow sold them to Dr. Richard Rawlinson for one hundred guineas, and by
him they were bequeathed to the Bodleian Library. Hearne's diary and
note-books, in about one hundred and fifty small duodecimo volumes, were
among them.[66] His printed books were sold by Thomas Osborne on the
16th of February 1736, and following days. The title-page of the
catalogue reads: 'A Catalogue of the Valuable Library of that great
Antiquarian Mr. Tho. Hearne of Oxford: and of another Gentleman of
Note. Consisting of a very great Variety of Uncommon Books, and scarce
ever to be met withal.
Which will begin to be sold very cheap, the lowest Price mark'd in each
Book, at T. Osborne's Shop in Gray's Inn, on Monday the 16th day of
February 1735-36.'
The title-page has also a small portrait of Hearne, with the following
lines below it:--
'Pox on't quoth time to Thomas Hearne,
Whatever I forget, you learn.'
The catalogue contains six thousand seven hundred and seventy-six lots.
Hearne's publications, which were almost all printed by subscription at
Oxford, are very numerous. Among the most valuable are an edition of
Livy in 6 vols., 1708; the _Life of Alfred the Great_, from Sir John
Spelman's manuscript in the Bodleian Library, 1710; Leland's
_Itinerary_, 9 vols., 1710; Leland's _Collectanea_, 6 vols., 1715;
Roper's _Life of Sir Thomas More_, 1716; Camden's _Annals_, 3 vols.,
1717; _Curious Discourses by Eminent Antiquaries_, 1720; Robert of
Gloucester's _Chronicle_, 2 vols., 1724; Peter of Langtoft's
_Chronicle_, 2 vols., 1725; _Liber Niger Scaccarii_, 2 vols., 1728; and
Walter of Hemingford's _History_, 2 vols., 1731.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 66: Extracts from these volumes were published by Dr. Bliss in
1857, and again in 1869, under the title of _Reliquiae Hearnianae_; and
Hearne's _Remarks and Collections_ are now being printed by the Oxford
Historical Society.]
THOMAS RAWLINSON, 1681-1725
Thomas Rawlinson, who, Dibdin says, 'may be called the Leviathan of
book-collectors during nearly the first thirty years of the eighteenth
century,' was born in the Old Bailey on the 25th of March 1681. He was
the eldest son of Sir Thomas Rawlinson, Lord Mayor of London in 1705-6,
by Mary, eldest daughter of Richard Tayler, of Turnham Green, Middlesex,
who kept the Devil Tavern near Temple Bar. He was also an elder brother
of Dr. Richard Rawlinson, the nonjuring bishop, who was himself an
ardent collector. In 1699 he matriculated at the University of Oxford
from St. John's College, having been previously educated at Cheam under
William Day, and at Eton. He was called to the bar in 1705, and applied
himself to the study of municipal law; but three years later, on the
death of his father in 1708, who left him a large estate, he devoted
himself to the collection of books, manuscripts and pictures. His love
for books appears to have been early fostered by his grandfather,
Richard Tayler, who settled upon him, while a schoolboy at Eton, an
annuity of fourteen pounds per annum for his life to buy books with;
'which,' Hearne informs us in his Diary, 'he not only fully expended,
and nobly answered the end of the donor, but indeed laid out his whole
fortune this way, so as to acquire a collection of books, both for
number and value, hardly to be equalled by any one study in England.'
For some years Rawlinson resided in Gray's Inn, but in 1716, having
filled his four rooms so completely with books that he was obliged to
sleep in the passage, he was compelled to move, and he took lodgings at
London House, in Aldersgate Street, an ancient palace of the bishops of
London, but at that time the residence of Mr. Samuel May, a wealthy
druggist. Here he lived, says Oldys, 'in his bundles, piles, and
bulwarks of paper, in dust and cobwebs,' until the 6th of August 1725,
when he died, and was buried in St. Botolph's Church, Aldersgate Street.
Rawlinson was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the Society of
Antiquaries. He was also a Governor of Bridewell and Bethlehem
Hospitals. About a year before his decease he married his servant, Amy
Frewin, but left no issue.
Towards the end of his life Rawlinson became involved in pecuniary
difficulties, and he sold a portion of his collection by auction to meet
his liabilities. Prior to his death there were five sales, the first of
which took place on the 4th of December 1721, which realised two
thousand four hundred and nine pounds. But when he died an enormous
number of books were still left, and it required eleven additional
sales, which extended to March 1734, to dispose of them and the
manuscripts, of which there were upwards of a thousand. These sales
lasted on an average for more than twenty-one days each, but it should
be observed that they took place in the evening, generally commencing
at five o'clock. All Rawlinson's books were sold by Thomas Ballard, the
bookseller, at the St. Paul's Coffee House, with the exception of those
disposed of at the seventh and eighth sales, which were sold by Charles
Davis, the bookseller; the former at London House, and the latter at the
Bedford Coffee House, in the great Piazza, Covent Garden. In addition to
the printed books and manuscripts, Rawlinson's gallery of paintings was
sold at the Two Golden Bulls in Hart Street, Covent Garden, on April the
4th and 5th 1734, in one hundred and seventeen lots. Among the portraits
was one in crayons of Rawlinson by his brother Richard.
Copies of the sale catalogues of Thomas Rawlinson's books are very rare,
but the Bodleian Library possesses an entire set of them, almost all of
which are marked with the prices which the books fetched, while two or
three have also the names of the purchasers. A fairly correct list of
them is given by Dibdin in his _Bibliomania_, which he made from a
complete collection of them in the Heber library. The catalogue of the
manuscripts was compiled by Rawlinson's brother Richard.
Rawlinson's books appear to have realised but poor prices, for Hearne
writes in his Diary (Nov. 10th, 1734), that 'Dr. Rawlinson by the sale
of his brother's books hath not rais'd near the money expected. For, it
seems, they have ill answer'd, however good books; the MSS. worse, and
what the prints will do is as yet undetermin'd.' No doubt the low prices
were caused by the immense number of books thrown upon the market by
Rawlinson's sales; for, as early as April 1723, Hearne tells us in his
Diary that 'the editions of classicks of the first print (commonly
called _Editiones Principes_), that used to go at prodigious prices, are
now strangely lowered; occasioned, in good measure, by Mr. Tho.
Rawlinson, my friend's, being forced to sell many of his books, in whose
auction these books went cheap, tho' English history and antiquities
went dear: and yet this gentleman was the chief man that raised many
curious and classical books so high, by his generous and couragious way
of bidding.' It is quite possible too that Rawlinson's books were not
always in the finest condition, and had suffered from the dust and
cobwebs of which Oldys speaks.
The Caxtons, of which there were upwards of five and twenty (perfect and
imperfect), realised but very moderate prices. _The Recuyell of the
Histories of Troy_ sold for two pounds, seven shillings; Gower's
_Confessio Amantis_ for two pounds, fourteen shillings and sixpence;
_The Golden Legend_ for three pounds, twelve shillings; and Lydgate's
_Life of Our Lady_ for two pounds, thirteen shillings. _The Histories of
King Arthur and his Knights_, for which Mr. Quaritch, at the Earl of
Jersey's sale in 1885, gave as much as nineteen hundred and fifty
pounds, fetched no more than two pounds, four shillings and sixpence.
These were the highest prices obtained. Many of the volumes went for a
few shillings--the first edition of _The Dictes or Sayings_ for fifteen
shillings, Chaucer's _Book of Fame_ for nine shillings and twopence, and
_The Moral Proverbs of Christine de Pisan_ for four shillings and
tenpence. Mr. Blades does not make any mention of Thomas Rawlinson's
Caxtons in his life of the printer.
Rawlinson appears to have greatly increased the number of separate works
in his library by breaking up the volumes of tracts; for Oldys
complains, 'that out of one volume he made many, and all the tracts or
pamphlets that came to his hands in volumes and bound together, he
separated to sell them singly, so that what some curious men had been
pairing and sorting half their lives to have a topic or argument
complete, he by this means confused and dispersed again.'
Dr. Richard Rawlinson said of his brother that he collected in almost
all faculties, but more particularly old and beautiful editions of the
classical authors, and whatever directly or indirectly related to
English history. As early as 1712 Rawlinson told Hearne that his library
had cost him two thousand pounds, and that it was worth five thousand.
Among many other choice and rare books in the collection were three
copies of Archbishop Parker's _De Antiquitate Britannicae Ecclesiae_. Two
of them are now in the Bodleian Library, and the Rev. W.D. Macray, in
his _Annals of the Bodleian Library_, states that 'one of these is the
identical copy described by Strype in his Life of Parker, and which was
then in possession of Bp. Fleetwood of Ely.'
Rawlinson's passion for collecting books was evidently well known to his
contemporaries, for Addison, who disliked and despised bibliomaniacs,
gives a satirical account of him, under the name of 'Tom Folio,' in No.
158 of _The Tatler_. Hearne, who was greatly indebted to Rawlinson for
assistance in his antiquarian labours, warmly defends his friend:--'Some
gave out,' he writes, 'and published it too in printed papers, that Mr.
Rawlinson understood the editions and title-pages of books only, without
any other skill in them, and thereupon they styled him TOM FOLIO. But
these were only buffoons, and persons of very shallow learning. 'Tis
certain that Mr. Rawlinson understood the titles and editions of books
better than any man I ever knew (for he had a very great memory), but
besides this, he was a great reader, and had read abundantly of the best
writers, ancient and modern, throughout, and was entirely master of the
learning contained in them. He had digested the classicks so well as to
be able readily and upon all occasions (what I have very often admired)
to make use of passages from them very pertinently, what I never knew in
so great perfection in any other person whatsoever.'[67]
A poem of twenty-six lines by Rawlinson on the death of the Duke of
Gloucester in 1700 was printed in a collection of verses written by
members of the University of Oxford on that event. This appears to be
his only publication with his name attached. The pretty edition of the
_Satires of Juvenal and Persius_, published at London in 1716, and
edited by Michael Maittaire, was dedicated by him to Rawlinson.
It is stated in Nichols's _Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century_
(vol. v. p. 704) that the following inscription was found among the
papers of Rawlinson, written with his own hand, and in all probability
designed by him for part of an epitaph on himself:--
'Hic jacet----Vir liberrimi Spiritus
qui omnes Mortales pari ratione habuit;
tacuisse de Criminibus non auro vendidit.
Qui, Rege dempto, neminem agnovit superiorem;
illum vero, O infortunium! nunquam potuit
inspicere.'
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 67: _Diary_, Sept. 4, 1725.]
JOSEPH SMITH, 1682-1770
[Illustration: BOOK-PLATE OF JOSEPH SMITH.]
Joseph Smith, a portion of whose collection formed the foundation of
King George III.'s library, now in the British Museum, was born in 1682.
Nothing appears to be known about his parents and his early years, but
at the age of nineteen he took up his residence at Venice, where he
spent his life, apparently engaged in commerce.[68] In 1740 he was
appointed British Consul in that city, and he died there on the 6th of
November 1770, aged eighty-eight.
Smith was well known as a collector of books, manuscripts, and works of
art. In 1762 George III. purchased all the books Smith had amassed up to
that time for about ten thousand pounds, and at a later period the king
also bought his pictures, coins, and gems for the sum of twenty thousand
pounds. After the sale of his library Smith still continued to collect,
and the books which he subsequently acquired were sold after his death,
partly by auction by Baker and Leigh at their house in York Street,
Covent Garden, on Monday, January 25th, 1773, and the thirteen following
days, and partly in the shop of James Robson, bookseller, in New Bond
Street. Those sold by Baker and Leigh realised two thousand two hundred
and forty-five pounds. A portion of his manuscripts was purchased by the
Earl of Sunderland for one thousand five hundred pounds. Smith's library
was rich in the best and scarcest editions of Latin, Italian and French
authors. It also contained a considerable number of fine manuscripts,
some of them beautifully illuminated, and many valuable books of prints
and antiquities.
About 1727 Smith compiled a catalogue, which was limited to twenty-five
copies, of some of the rarest books in his collection, of which a second
edition with additions was published in 1737. A catalogue of his entire
library was printed at Venice in 1755, and in 1767 an account of his
antique gems in two volumes folio, written by Antonio Francesco Gori,
was published in the same city under the title of _Dactyliotheca
Smithiana_. An edition of Boccaccio's _Decamerone_ was brought out by
Smith in 1729.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 68: _Dictionary of National Biography._]
DR. RICHARD RAWLINSON, 1690-1755
Richard Rawlinson was the fourth son of Sir Thomas Rawlinson, Lord Mayor
of London in 1705-6, and younger brother of Thomas Rawlinson the
collector. He was born in the Old Bailey on the 3rd of January 1690,
and, after having received his early education at St. Paul's School and
Eton, matriculated as a commoner of St. John's College, Oxford, in 1708;
but, in consequence of the death of his father, he became a
gentleman-commoner in the following year. He took the degrees of B.A. in
1711, M.A. in 1713, and in 1719 he was created D.C.L. On the 21st of
September 1716 he was ordained deacon, and two days later, priest among
the nonjurors by Bishop Jeremy Collier, in Mr. Laurence's chapel on
College Hill, London.[69] After his ordination he travelled through a
great part of England, and in 1719 paid a visit to France, and
afterwards to the Low Countries, where he was admitted into the
Universities of Utrecht and Leyden. Towards the end of the year he
returned home, but in 1720 he again left England, and spent several
years in France, Germany, Italy, and other parts of the Continent. In
April 1726 he again came home, in consequence of the death of his
brother, which took place in the preceding year. During his travels he
kept a series of note-books, some of which are preserved among his
miscellaneous manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. In 1728 he was
consecrated bishop by the nonjuring bishops Gandy, Doughty and
Blackbourne in Gandy's chapel, but he appears to have been always
desirous of concealing both his clerical and episcopal character, for in
a letter written in 1736 to Mr. T. Rawlins of Pophills, Warwickshire, he
requests him not to address him as 'Rev.'[70] Dr. Rawlinson was elected
a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1714, and a Fellow of the Society of
Antiquaries in 1727, but later he quarrelled with both these Societies,
and stipulated in his will that the recipients of his bequests should
not be Fellows. He was also a Governor of Bridewell, Bethlehem, and St.
Bartholomew's Hospitals.
Dr. Rawlinson lived for some time in Gray's Inn, but shortly after the
death of his brother Thomas he took up his abode in the rooms which had
been occupied by him in London House in Aldersgate Street. He died at
Islington on the 6th of April 1755, and was buried, in accordance with a
direction in a codicil to his will, in St. Giles's Church, Oxford. His
heart, which he bequeathed as a token of affection to St. John's
College, Oxford, is preserved in a marble urn in the chapel of that
College, inscribed with the text 'Ubi thesaurus, ibi cor,' and with his
name and the date of his death. It is said that Rawlinson also left
instructions that a head, which he believed to be that of Counsellor
Christopher Layer, the Jacobite conspirator, who was executed in 1723,
should be buried with him, placed in his right hand; but this
injunction, if really made, does not appear to have been complied
with.[71]
[Illustration: DR. RICHARD RAWLINSON.]
Rawlinson devoted himself to antiquarian pursuits, and, like his brother
Thomas, was an enthusiastic collector of manuscripts and books. The
Rev. W.D. Macray, in his _Annals of the Bodleian Library_, says that his
collections were 'formed abroad and at home, the choice of
book-auctions, the pickings of chandlers' and grocers' waste-paper,
everything, especially, in the shape of a MS., from early copies of
Classics and Fathers to the well-nigh most recent log-books of sailors'
voyages. Not a sale of MSS. occurred, apparently, in London, during his
time, at which he was not an omnigenous purchaser; so that students of
every subject now bury themselves in his stores with great content and
profit. But history in all its branches, heraldry and genealogy,
biography and topography, are his especially strong points.'
Rawlinson bequeathed all his manuscripts, with the exception of private
papers and letters, 'to the chancellor, masters and scholars of the
University of Oxford, to be placed in the Bodleian Library, or in such
other place as they should deem proper'; and he further directed that
they should be 'kept separate and apart from any other collection.' All
his deeds and charters, his books printed on vellum or silk, and those
containing MS. notes, together with some antiquities and curiosities,
were also left by him to the University. His manuscript and printed
music he bequeathed to the Music School. The number of manuscripts left
by him exceeded four thousand eight hundred in number, together with a
large collection of charters and deeds. A catalogue of them has been
made by the Rev. W.D. Macray, the author of the _Annals of the Bodleian
Library_. The printed books which he selected from his library for the
University amounted to between eighteen and nineteen hundred.[72] Other
books and manuscripts, together with some valuable pictures and coins,
were given by him to the Bodleian Library during his lifetime. The
remainder of his printed books, with the exception of a few which he
bequeathed to St. John's College, were sold by auction by Samuel Baker,
of York Street, Covent Garden, at two sales. The first commenced on the
29th of March 1756, and lasted fifty days. It consisted of nine thousand
four hundred and five lots, which fetched one thousand one hundred and
sixty-one pounds, eighteen shillings and sixpence. The second sale,
which, as the preface to the catalogue informs us, consisted of 'upwards
of Twenty Thousand Pamphlets ... and his most Uncommon, Rare and Old
Books,' began on Thursday, March 3rd, 1757, and was continued on the
nine following evenings. It realised but two hundred and three pounds,
thirteen shillings and sixpence. These were followed by a sale of
prints, books of prints and drawings, upwards of ten thousand in number.
One hundred and sixty-three pounds, ten shillings and threepence,
however, was all that could be obtained for them. Marked catalogues of
the three sales are preserved in the Library of King George III. in the
British Museum. The prices at all the sales were very low. There were
three Caxtons in the first sale--_Tully of Old Age_, _Curia Sapientiae_,
and the _Order of Chivalry_, which fetched respectively one pound five
shillings, six shillings, and eleven shillings. The prints and drawings
fared even worse than the printed books. One hundred and three prints by
Albert Duerer, in two lots, sold for one pound, ten shillings and
sixpence, and a large collection of woodcuts by the same artist for half
a crown. Twenty-four etchings by Rembrandt, in four lots, realised but
three pounds, five shillings; while eleven shillings and sixpence was
all that could be got for thirty-four heads and thirty-five views by
Hollar.
The collection of manuscripts which Dr. Rawlinson bequeathed to the
University of Oxford is a magnificent one, and Mr. Macray gives a long
and very interesting account of it in his _Annals of the Bodleian
Library_. It contains some fine Biblical manuscripts, and about one
hundred and thirty Missals, Horae, and other Service-books, many of them
from the library of the celebrated collector Nicolas Joseph Foucault. It
is rich in early copies of the classics, and there are upwards of two
hundred volumes of poetry, including the works of Chaucer, Hoccleve,
Lydgate, etc. English history is remarkably well represented. Among the
manuscripts of this division of the collection are the _Thurloe State
Papers_ in sixty-seven volumes, which were published by Dr. Birch in
1742, and the _Miscellaneous Papers_ of Samuel Pepys in twenty-five
volumes. The Pepys papers, among other very interesting matter,
comprise many curious dockyard account-books of the reigns of King Henry
VIII. and Queen Elizabeth. This division also contains some important
letters of King Charles II., King James II., and the Duke of Monmouth,
together with an acknowledgment by Monmouth that Charles II. had
declared that he was never married to Lucy Walters, the Duke's mother.
This was written and signed by him on the day of his execution, and
witnessed by Bishops Turner and Ken, and also by Tenison and Hooper. As
might be expected, the number of works relating to topography, heraldry
and genealogy is very large. The collection also comprises many Irish
manuscripts, a considerable number of Italian papers bearing on English
history, and the valuable collections made by Rawlinson for a
continuation of Wood's _Athenae Oxonienses_, and for a History of Eton
College. There are one hundred volumes of letters, two hundred volumes
of sermons, and the immense quantity of ancient charters and deeds
already mentioned.
Rawlinson also bequeathed to the University Hearne's daily diary and
note-books in about one hundred and fifty small duodecimo volumes, which
he had bought of the widow of Mr. William Bedford.
Among the printed books is a magnificent collection of the original
broadside proclamations issued during the reign of Elizabeth, and a set
of almanacs extending from 1607 to 1747, bound in one hundred and
seventy-five volumes.[73]
To St. John's College, Rawlinson bequeathed a large portion of his
estate, amounting to about seven hundred pounds a year, a few of his
printed books, a collection of coins, etc.; and to the College of
Surgeons he gave some anatomical specimens. He also left property to
endow a professorship of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, and to provide a salary
for the Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum. But all his endowments were
accompanied by eccentric restrictions, which remained in force until a
few years ago, when they were annulled by statute. He directed 'that no
native of Scotland or Ireland, or of any of the plantations abroad, or
any of their sons, or any present or future member of the Royal or
Antiquary societies,' should hold these endowments; and in the case of
the Ashmolean Museum, he further enjoined that the Keeper 'is not to be
a doctor in divinity or in holy orders ... neither born nor educated in
Scotland, neither a married man nor a widower, but one who hath
regularly proceeded in Oxford to the degrees of master of arts or
bachelor of law.'
Rawlinson wrote a considerable number of works, chiefly of an
antiquarian or topographical nature. Among the more important are _The
English Topographer_, _The History and Antiquities of the City and
Cathedral Church of Hereford_, _The History and Antiquities of the
Cathedral Church of Rochester_, _The History and Antiquities of
Glastonbury_; and a _Life of Anthony a Wood_. He also edited Aubrey's
_Natural History and Antiquities of Surrey_, and other books.
Although Dr. Rawlinson, like his father and his brother, was a warm
Jacobite, he does not appear to have taken part in any of the movements
for the restoration of the Stuart family to the throne. He entirely
occupied himself with antiquarian and literary pursuits, and the
formation of his noble collections. In order that he might devote as
much as possible of his income to the purchase of books and antiquities,
he denied himself the luxuries, and even the comforts of life; and he
went about so meanly clad, that the coachman of his late father
happening to meet him one day, and judging from his appearance that he
was in a destitute condition, begged his acceptance of half a crown to
relieve his distress. The story is told by Dr. Rawlinson himself.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 69: Rev. W.D. Macray, _Annals of the Bodleian Library_.
London, etc., 1868, p. 168.]
[Footnote 70: _Ibid._ p. 168.]
[Footnote 71: When the head of Layer was blown off from Temple Bar
(where it had been placed after his execution), it was picked up by a
gentleman in that neighbourhood, who showed it to some friends at a
public-house; under the floor of which house, I have been assured, it
was buried. Dr. Rawlinson, mean-time, having made enquiry after the
head, with a wish to purchase it, was imposed on with another instead of
Layer's, which he preserved as a valuable relique, and directed it to be
buried in his hand.--Nichols, _Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth
Century_, vol. v. p. 497.]
[Footnote 72: Macray, _Annals of the Bodleian Library_, p. 170.]
[Footnote 73: Rawlinson also left to the University some autograph
writings of King James I. The existence of these had been forgotten, and
has only been recently discovered.]
MARTIN FOLKES, 1690-1754
Martin Folkes, the eminent antiquary and scientist, was the eldest son
of Martin Folkes, a Bencher of Gray's Inn. He was born in Lincoln's Inn
Fields, London, on the 29th of October 1690, and after receiving his
early education at the University of Saumur, was sent, in 1707, to Clare
Hall, Cambridge, where he so greatly distinguished himself in all
branches of learning, and more particularly in mathematics and
philosophy, that in 1714, when only twenty-three years of age, he was
elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and two years later was chosen
one of its Council. In 1723 he was appointed a Vice-President of the
Society, and on the retirement of Sir Hans Sloane in 1741 he became
President, a post he held until 1753, when he resigned it on account of
his health. Folkes was also elected a Fellow of the Society of
Antiquaries in 1720, and in 1750 he succeeded the Duke of Somerset as
President, an office he filled during the remainder of his life. His
attainments were also recognised by the French Academy, which elected
him in 1742 one of its members. He was a D.C.L. of the University of
Oxford, and LL.D. of the University of Cambridge. He died on the 28th of
June 1754, and was buried in the chancel of Hillington Church, Norfolk.
In 1792 a monument was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey.
Folkes, who was the author of two works on English coins, and several
papers in the _Philosophical Transactions_ of the Royal Society and the
_Archaeologia_ of the Society of Antiquaries, formed a fine collection of
books, prints, drawings, pictures, gems, coins, etc., a considerable
portion of which he acquired during his travels in Italy and Germany.
His library, which was very rich in works on natural history, coins,
medals, inscriptions, and the fine arts, was sold by Samuel Baker, York
Street, Covent Garden, on Monday, February the 2nd 1756, and forty
following days. The sale consisted of five thousand one hundred and
twenty-six lots, which produced three thousand and ninety-one pounds,
six shillings. A catalogue, marked with the prices, is preserved in the
Library of King George III. in the British Museum. A copy of the first
Shakespeare folio fetched but three guineas. The sale of Folkes's prints
and drawings occupied eight days, and that of his pictures, gems, coins,
and mathematical instruments five days. Dibdin says that 'the MSS. of
his own composition, not being quite perfect, were, to the great loss of
the learned world, ordered by him to be destroyed.'
WILLIAM OLDYS, 1696-1761
William Oldys, Norroy King-at-Arms, was born on the 14th of July 1696.
There is some obscurity respecting his parentage, but there is little
doubt he was the natural son of Dr. William Oldys, Chancellor of
Lincoln, and Advocate of the Admiralty Court. His father left him some
property, which he appears to have lost in the South Sea Bubble. From
the year 1724 to 1730 Oldys resided in Yorkshire, but in the latter year
he returned to London, and became acquainted with Edward Harley, the
second Earl of Oxford, to whom he sold his collection of manuscripts for
forty pounds. In 1738 the Earl appointed him his literary secretary and
librarian, first at a salary of one hundred and fifty pounds, and
afterwards of two hundred pounds, a year. Unfortunately the Earl died in
1741, and Oldys was obliged to earn a precarious livelihood by working
for booksellers, and was soon involved in pecuniary difficulties. He was
confined in the Fleet prison from 1751 to 1753, when he was released by
the kindness of the Duke of Norfolk, who not only paid his debts, but in
1755 procured for him the office of Norroy King-at-Arms, which congenial
post he held for six years. He died at his rooms in Heralds' College on
the 15th of April 1761, and was buried in the church of St. Benet,
Paul's Wharf. A portrait of him will be found in the _European Magazine_
for November 1796. The principal works by Oldys are a _Life of Sir
Walter Raleigh_, prefixed to an edition of his _History of the World_,
printed in 1736; _The British Librarian_, published anonymously in
1738; and _The Harleian Miscellany_, published in 1744-46. He also
annotated _England's Parnassus_, and two copies of Langbaine's _Account
of the early Dramatick Poets_. One of these copies was purchased by Dr.
Birch at the sale of Oldys's books for one guinea, and was bequeathed by
him to the British Museum. Twenty-two of the lives in _Biographia
Britannica_ were from his pen, and in addition to the works already
mentioned he wrote a few minor ones on bibliographical and medical
subjects. Oldys's library was not a large one, but it contained some
very interesting and scarce books. After his death it was purchased by
Thomas Davies, the bookseller, author of _Memoirs of the Life of
Garrick_, and was sold by him in 1762. The title of the sale catalogue
reads: 'A Catalogue of the Libraries of the late William Oldys, Esq.,
Norroy King-at-Arms (author of _The Life of Sir Walter Raleigh_); the
Rev. Mr. Emms of Yarmouth, and Mr. Wm. Rush, which will begin to be sold
on Monday, April 12 [1762] by Thomas Davies.' The books were disposed of
for extremely low prices.
JOHN RATCLIFFE, -1776
Nothing appears to be known of the parentage and birth of John
Ratcliffe, the collector, who for some years kept a chandler's shop in
Southwark, where he seems to have amassed a sufficient competency to
enable him to retire from business and devote the remainder of his life
to the acquisition of old books. It is said that his passion for
collecting them arose from the perusal of some of the volumes which were
purchased by him for the purpose of wrapping his wares in. Ratcliffe
kept his library at his house in East Lane, Bermondsey, where, Nichols
informs us in his _Literary Anecdotes_, 'he used to give Coffee and
Chocolate every Thursday morning to Book and Print Collectors; Dr.
Askew, Messrs. Beauclerk, Bull, Croft, Samuel Gillam, West, etc., used
to attend, when he would produce some of his fine purchases.' Nichols
adds, 'he generally used to spend whole days in the Booksellers'
warehouses; and, that he might not lose time, would get them to procure
him a chop or a steak.' An amusing letter respecting him appeared in the
_Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1812. The writer states that 'Mr. John
Radcliffe was neither a man of science or learning. He lived in East
Lane, Bermondsey; was a very corpulent man, and his legs were remarkably
thick, probably from an anasarcous complaint. The writer of this
remembers him perfectly well; he was a very stately man, and, when he
walked, literally went at a snail's pace. He was a Dissenter, and every
Sunday attended the meeting of Dr. Flaxman in the lower road to
Deptford. He generally wore a fine coat, either red or brown, with gold
lace buttons, and a fine silk embroidered waistcoat, of scarlet with
gold lace, and a large and well-powdered wig. With his hat in one hand,
and a gold-headed cane in the other, he marched royally along, and not
unfrequently followed by a parcel of children, wondering who the stately
man could be. A few years before his death, a fire happened in the
neighbourhood where he lived; and it became necessary to remove part of
his household furniture and books. He was incapable of assisting
himself; but he stood in the street lamenting and deploring the loss of
his Caxtons, when a sailor, who lived within a few doors of him
attempted to console him: "Bless you, Sir, I have got them perfectly
safe!" While Ratcliffe was expressing his thanks, the sailor produced
two of his fine curled periwigs, which he had saved from the devouring
element; and who had no idea that Ratcliffe could make such a fuss for a
few books.' He died in 1776.
Ratcliffe's collection, though not large, was marvellously rich in the
productions of the early English printers; and the volumes were
generally in fine condition, and handsomely bound, though not always in
good taste. It contained no less than forty-eight Caxtons, among which
were the _Game of the Chesse_, the _Dictes or Sayings of the
Philosophers_, the _History of Jason_, and Chaucer's _Canterbury
Tales_. It comprised also numerous books from the presses of the
Schoolmaster of St. Albans, Lettou, Machlinia, Pynson, Wynkyn de Worde,
etc., and a few manuscripts. Dibdin in his _Bibliomania_ remarks: 'If
ever there was a unique collection, this was one--the very essence of
Old Divinity, Poetry, Romances and Chronicles.' Ratcliffe compiled a
manuscript catalogue of his library in four volumes, which was disposed
of at the sale of his collection for seven pounds, fifteen shillings. It
is said that he always wrote on the first fly-leaf of his books
'Perfect'--or otherwise, as the case might be.
After his death his library was sold by auction by Mr. Christie of Pall
Mall. The sale, which commenced on the 27th of March 1776 and lasted
till April 6th, consisted of one thousand six hundred and seventy-five
lots. It does not appear to have been well managed, for Nichols says,
'there were many hundred most rare Black-letter books and Tracts,
unbound, with curious cuts. They were sold I remember in large bundles,
and were piled under the tables in the Auction Room, on which the other
books were exposed to view, and were not seen by the Booksellers who
were the purchasers.' A priced copy of the catalogue is preserved in the
British Museum, which shows that the Caxtons fetched but two hundred and
thirty-six pounds, five shillings and sixpence; the highest prices
obtained being sixteen pounds for the _Game of the Chesse_, fifteen
guineas for the _Dictes or Sayings of the Philosophers_, and nine
pounds, fifteen shillings for the _Golden Legende_. King George III.
bought twenty of the Caxtons at an aggregate cost of about eighty-five
pounds. Among them were the _De Consolatione Philosophiae_ of Boethius,
_Reynard the Foxe_, the _Golden Legende_, the _Curial_, and the
_Speculum Vitae Christi_. The Boethius, which was a fine copy, was
acquired for four pounds, six shillings. A copy of the _Bokys of Hawkyng
and Huntyng, etc._, ascribed to Dame Juliana Bernes, printed at St.
Albans in 1486, sold for nine pounds, twelve shillings, and a manuscript
Bible on vellum, finely illuminated, for two pounds, ten shillings.
JAMES WEST, 1704?-1772
James West, who is described by Dibdin as 'a Non-Pareil Collector: the
first who, after the days of Richard Smith, succeeded in reviving the
love of black-letter lore and of Caxtonian typography,' was born about
1704. He was the son of Richard West of Priors Marston in Warwickshire,
said to be descended from Leonard, a younger son of Thomas West, Lord de
la Warr, who died in 1525. James West was educated at Balliol College,
Oxford, whence he took the degrees of B.A. in 1723 and M.A. in 1726. In
1721 he was admitted as a student at the Inner Temple, and was called to
the Bar in 1728. On the 4th of January 1737, while residing in the
Temple, he lost a large portion of his collections, valued at nearly
three thousand pounds, through a fire in his chambers.[74] In 1741 he
was elected one of the representatives in Parliament for St. Albans, and
was appointed one of the Joint Secretaries of the Treasury, which post
he held until 1762. Three or four years later his patron the Duke of
Newcastle obtained for him a pension of two thousand a year. He sat for
St. Albans until 1768, and afterwards represented the constituency of
Boroughbridge in Yorkshire until his death on July the 2nd, 1772. He was
Recorder of Poole for many years, and also High Steward of St. Albans.
He married the daughter of Sir Thomas Stephens, timber merchant in
Southwark, with whom he had a large fortune in houses in Rotherhithe.
West had a great love for scientific and antiquarian pursuits, and as
early as 1726 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in the
following year a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, of which he
became a Vice-President. Of the first-named Society he was chosen
Treasurer in 1736 and President in 1768, which office he held during the
remainder of his life. In addition to his extensive and valuable
library of manuscripts and printed books, West collected paintings,
prints, and drawings, coins and medals, plate, and miscellaneous
curiosities. His collection of printed books was exceedingly rich in
early English ones. It contained no fewer than thirty-four Caxtons, and
a large number of works from the presses of Lettou, Machlinia, the
anonymous 'Scole mayster' of St. Albans, Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, and
the rest of the old English typographers, many of which were unique
copies. His manuscripts were exceptionally interesting and valuable.
These, with some exceptions, were bought by William, Earl of Shelburne,
afterwards Marquis of Lansdowne, and were subsequently purchased by
Parliament, together with the other manuscripts of the Marquis, for the
British Museum. Many of the manuscripts had previously belonged to
Bishop Kennet.
West's coins, pictures, prints, drawings, and museum of curiosities were
disposed of at various sales in the early part of 1773,[75] and on the
29th of March and twenty-three following days in the same year his
library was sold by Messrs. Langford[76] at his late dwelling-house in
King Street, Covent Garden.[77] There were four thousand six hundred and
fifty-three lots, which realised two thousand nine hundred and
twenty-seven pounds, one shilling. A copy of the catalogue with the
prices and the names of the purchasers is preserved in the Library of
King George III. in the British Museum. Many of the more valuable books
were purchased by Gough, the antiquary, the greater part of which were
bequeathed by him to the Bodleian Library. Although Horace Walpole, in a
letter to the Rev. W. Cole, dated April 7th, 1773, writes that he
considered 'the books were selling outrageously,' the prices were only
fairly good for the time, and not high. The thirty-four Caxtons realised
no more than three hundred and sixty-one pounds, four shillings and
sixpence. The highest prices obtained were forty-seven pounds, fifteen
shillings and sixpence for the first edition of Chaucer's _Canterbury
Tales_, thirty-two pounds, eleven shillings for the _Recuyell of the
Histories of Troy_, thirty-two pounds and sixpence for the first edition
of the _Game of the Chesse_, and twenty-one pounds for the second
edition of the _Dictes or Sayings of the Philosophers_. These four works
were purchased for King George III., who bought largely at the sale.
Among many other rare English books a fine example of the _Bokys of
Hawkyng and Huntyng_, printed at St. Albans in 1486, fetched thirteen
pounds, and unique copies of two works from the press of Wynkyn de
Worde--_The Passe Tyme of Pleasure_, 1517, and the _Historye of Olyver
of Castille_, 1518--three guineas, and one pound, twelve shillings
respectively. The latter book was reprinted in 1898 by Mr.
Christie-Miller for the Roxburghe Club. It was edited by Mr. R.E.
Graves, late Assistant-Keeper, Department of Printed Books, British
Museum. West's famous collection of ballads, which was begun by Robert
Harley, Earl of Oxford, was bought for twenty pounds by Major Pearson,
who made many additions to it. It afterwards came into the possession of
the Duke of Roxburghe, by whom it was also greatly enlarged. After
passing through the library of Mr. Bright, it was finally acquired in
1845 by the trustees of the British Museum.
Among the manuscripts a beautifully illuminated Missal, made by order of
King Henry VII. for his daughter Margaret, afterwards Queen Consort of
James IV., King of Scotland, was bought by the Duke of Northumberland
for thirty-two pounds, eleven shillings; a Book of Hours sold for
forty-three pounds, one shilling; and a manuscript of Boccaccio for
twenty-five pounds, four shillings. Both of these manuscripts had
exceedingly fine illuminations.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 74: Oldys, _Diary_, London, 1862, p. 3.]
[Footnote 75: Horace Walpole says that the prints sold for the 'frantic
sum of L1495, 10s.'--_Letters_, London, 1857-59, vol. v. p. 439.]
[Footnote 76: Nichols states that the books were sold by auction under
the name of Messrs. Langford, but actually by Mr. Samuel Paterson, who
compiled the catalogue.--_Anecdotes of literature_, vol. vi. p. 345.]
[Footnote 77: West's country residence was Alscot Park,
Preston-on-Stour, Gloucestershire.]
BENJAMIN HEATH, 1704-1766
Benjamin Heath, who was born at Exeter on the 20th of April 1704, was
the eldest son of Benjamin Heath, a fuller and merchant of that
city.[78] He was educated at the Exeter Grammar School, and afterwards
studied law, with a view of being called to the Bar; but having
inherited a handsome fortune on the death of his father, he abandoned
his intention, and devoted himself to literature, and also to the
formation of a library, which he had commenced at a very early age. In
1752 Heath was elected town-clerk of Exeter, an appointment he held
until his death on the 13th of September 1766. In 1762 the University of
Oxford conferred on him the degree of D.C.L. He was the author of
several works, principally on the Greek and Latin classics and the text
of Shakespeare. Heath in his lifetime divided a portion of his fine
library between two of his sons, but retained a large part of it. Dibdin
in _Bibliomania_ prints an interesting letter, dated Exeter, March 21st,
1738, from Heath to Mr. John Mann of the Hand in Hand Fire Office,
London, asking him to superintend the purchase of some books at a sale
which was shortly to take place, and appending a list of those he
desired, and the prices he was willing to pay for them.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 78: Drake, _Heathiana_. London, 1882.]
HORACE WALPOLE, FOURTH EARL OF ORFORD, 1717-1797
Horatio or Horace Walpole, fourth Earl of Orford (he disliked the name
Horatio, and wrote himself Horace), was the fourth and youngest son of
Sir Robert Walpole, first Earl of Orford, by his first wife, Catherine
Shorter, eldest daughter of John Shorter of Bybrook, near Ashford in
Kent. He was born, as he himself tells us, on the 24th of September 1717
O.S. In 1727 he was sent to Eton, where he had for his schoolfellows the
future poets Thomas Gray and Richard West; and eight years later he
proceeded to King's College, Cambridge. Walpole entered the House of
Commons in 1741 as Member for Callington in Cornwall, and afterwards sat
for the family boroughs of Castle Rising and King's Lynn, but although
he took a considerable interest in politics, public life was not
congenial to his pursuits and tastes, and in 1767 he resigned his seat
in Parliament. In his earlier days he was a Whig with a strong leaning
to republicanism, but the public events of his later years greatly
modified his views. It has been well said of him that 'he was an
aristocrat by instinct and a republican by caprice.' On the death of his
nephew, George, the third Earl, in 1791, he succeeded to the earldom,
but he never took his seat in the House of Lords, and seldom signed his
name as Orford. He died at his house in Berkeley Square on the 2nd of
March 1797, and was buried at Houghton, the family seat in Norfolk.
In 1747 Walpole purchased the remainder of the lease of a small house
which stood near the Thames 'just out of Twickenham,' popularly called
Chopped-Straw Hall, on account of its having been the residence of a
retired coachman of an Earl of Bradford, who was supposed to have made
his money by starving his master's horses. On the 5th of June 1747
Walpole writes to Sir Horace Mann, that although 'the house is so small
that I can send it to you in a letter to look at, the prospect is as
delightful as possible, commanding the river, the town (Twickenham), and
Richmond Park, and being situated on a hill descends to the Thames
through two or three little meadows, where I have some Turkish sheep and
two cows, all studied in their colours for becoming the view.' This
cottage grew into the Gothic mansion of Strawberry Hill, the erection
and embellishment of which formed for so many years the principal
occupation and amusement of Walpole's life. Here he collected works of
art and curiosities of every kind--pictures, miniatures, prints and
drawings, armour, coins, and china, together with a fine library of
about fifteen thousand volumes, chiefly of antiquarian and historical
subjects. These he acquired with the emoluments of three sinecure
offices which his father had obtained for him.
[Illustration: VIGNETTE OF STRAWBERRY HILL. Used in books printed at
Walpole's Press.]
In 1757 Walpole set up a printing-press in a small cottage adjoining his
residence, and this continued in use until his death in 1797. Gray's
_Odes_, in a handsome quarto, was the first of a large number of works
and fugitive pieces, many from his own pen, which issued from it. An
excellent account of the press, by Mr. H.B. Wheatley, F.S.A., will be
found in _Bibliographica_, vol. iii., pp. 83-98. Walpole was the author
of many works, but his literary reputation now rests mainly on his
letters. Mr. Austin Dobson, in his delightful Memoir of Walpole, says of
them that 'for diversity of interest and perpetual entertainment, for
the constant surprises of an unique species of wit, for happy and
unexpected turns of phrase, for graphic characterisation and clever
anecdote, for playfulness, pungency, irony, persiflage, there is nothing
like his letters in English.' A collected edition of his works, edited
by Mary Berry, under the name of her father, Robert Berry, was published
in 1798 in five volumes.
Although the library formed by Walpole at Strawberry Hill consisted
principally of works 'which no gentleman's library should be without,'
it also contained some beautiful manuscripts, a goodly number of rare
books of the Elizabethan and Jacobean times, and an immense collection
of interesting papers and letters, prints and portraits. Many of the
prints were by the great engravers of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and
seventeenth centuries. The most notable of the manuscripts were a copy
of the Psalms of David on vellum, with twenty-one illuminations
attributed to Giulio Clovio; a magnificent 'Missal,' executed for
Claude, Queen Consort of Francis I., King of France; and a folio volume
of old English poetry, written on vellum, from the library of Ralph
Thoresby, the antiquary. Among the more important of the collections of
papers and letters were those of Sir Julius Caesar, which contained
letters of James I., Henry, Prince of Wales, the King and Queen of
Bohemia, and most of the leading nobility and gentry of the time of
Elizabeth and James I.; Sir Sackville Crowe's Book of Accounts of the
Privy Purse of the Duke of Buckingham in his different journeys into
France, Spain, and the Low Countries with Prince Charles; the
manuscripts bequeathed to Walpole by Madame du Deffand, together with
upwards of eight hundred letters addressed by her to him; and Vertue's
manuscripts in twenty-eight volumes. Sir Julius Caesar's travelling
library, consisting of forty-four duodecimo volumes, bound in white
vellum, and enclosed in an oak case covered with light olive morocco,
elegantly tooled, and made to resemble a folio volume (now in the
British Museum); and the identical copy of Homer used by Pope for his
translation, with the inscription, 'Finished ye translation in Feb.
1719-20--A. Pope,' and containing a pencil sketch of Twickenham Church
by the poet, were among the most interesting printed books in the
library. A remarkable and beautiful collection of about forty original
drawings, being portraits of Francis the First and Second of France, and
the members of their Courts, taken from life in pencil, tinted with red
chalk, by Janet; Callot's Pocket Book, with drawings by this master; and
fine collections of the works of Vertue and Hogarth also deserve to be
mentioned.
After Walpole's death Strawberry Hill and its contents passed to the
Hon. Mrs. Damer, the sculptress, daughter of his cousin, Field-Marshal
Conway, together with two thousand a year for its maintenance. After
residing in it for some time Mrs. Damer found the situation lonely, and
gave up the house and property to the Countess Dowager Waldegrave, in
whom the fee was vested under Walpole's will. In 1842, George, seventh
Earl Waldegrave, to whom Strawberry Hill had descended, ordered the
contents to be sold by George Robins, the well-known auctioneer. The
sale was advertised to occupy twenty-four days, from April 25th to May
21st. The catalogue was badly compiled, and so much dissatisfaction was
expressed at the intention of selling some of the collections _en
masse_, that the contents of the seventh and eighth days' sale, which
consisted of prints, drawings, and illustrated books, were withdrawn,
re-catalogued, and disposed of at a sale at Robins's rooms at Covent
Garden, which lasted from the 13th to the 23rd of June. The amount
realised at the sale at Strawberry Hill was twenty-nine thousand six
hundred and twelve pounds, sixteen shillings and threepence; and at that
in London, three thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven pounds, fifteen
shillings and sixpence. The library, consisting of books, manuscripts,
prints, etc., sold for about seven thousand seven hundred and forty
pounds. The copy of the Psalms, with illuminations ascribed to Giulio
Clovio, fetched four hundred and forty-one pounds; the volume of English
poetry, two hundred and twenty pounds, ten shillings; the 'Missal'
executed for Queen Claude, one hundred and fifteen pounds, ten
shillings; and the manuscripts and letters of Madame du Deffand, one
hundred and fifty-seven pounds, ten shillings.
RALPH WILLETT, 1719-1795
Ralph Willett, the collector of the famous Merly Library, was born in
1719. He was the elder son of Henry Willett, of the island of St.
Christopher in the West Indies. In 1736 he matriculated at the
University of Oxford from Oriel College, but did not take a degree; and
in 1739 he was admitted a student at Lincoln's Inn. Willett early
developed a taste for books and pictures, and his inheritance of the
family estates in the West Indies, on the death of his father in 1740,
enabled him to form splendid collections of them. In 1751 he purchased a
property at Merly, near Wimborne, Dorsetshire, where in 1752 he built a
noble mansion, which later he enlarged by adding two wings, in one of
which he constructed a handsome room for a library, which he ornamented
with frescoes and arabesque designs. A description of this library,
written by Willett in English and French, was printed in 1776 in octavo,
and reprinted in 1785 by John Nichols in a large folio volume, with
twenty-five illustrations of the designs. His London house was in Dean
Street, Soho. Willett was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
in 1763, and contributed two papers on _The Origin of Printing_ to the
_Archaeologia_, which were reprinted at Newcastle in 1818-20; and a third
on _British Naval Architecture_. In 1764 he was also elected a Fellow of
the Royal Society. He died on the 13th of January 1795. Willett, who was
twice married, but left no issue, bequeathed his property to his cousin
John Willett Adye, who took the name of Willett, and was M.P. for New
Romney from 1796 to 1806. This gentleman, shortly before his death,
which occurred on 26th of September 1815, parted with the collections
which had been left to him. The pictures were sold by Peter Coxe and Co.
on May 31st, 1813, and two following days, and the books by Leigh and
Sotheby on December 6th, and sixteen following days. The same
auctioneers also sold the botanical drawings, of which there was a large
number, on the 20th and 21st of December; and the books of prints on the
20th of February in the succeeding year. The books were disposed of in
two thousand seven hundred and twenty lots, and realised thirteen
thousand five hundred and eight pounds, four shillings. The sale
catalogue states that the library consisted of 'a most rare assemblage
of the early printers, fine specimens of block-printing, old English
chronicles, etc., in the finest preservation, likewise an extensive and
magnificent collection of books in every department of literature, from
the earliest period to the present time. All the books are in the finest
condition, many printed on vellum and on large paper, and bound in
morocco and russia leathers. Likewise a most splendid missal; and a very
choice selection of botanical drawings, by Van Huysum, Taylor, Brown,
Lee, etc.'
The block-books in the collection comprised a _Biblia Pauperum_, which
realised two hundred and fifty-seven pounds, five shillings; the first
and another edition of the _Speculum Humanae Salvationis_, which sold for
three hundred and fifteen pounds and two hundred and fifty-two pounds;
and the _Apocalypse of St. John_, which fetched forty-two pounds. There
were seven Caxtons--the first edition of the _Dictes or Sayings of the
Philosophers_, _Tully of Old Age_, the _Polychronicon_, the second
edition of the _Game of the Chesse_, the _Confessio Amantis_, the second
edition of the _Mirrour of the World_, and _Diverse Ghostly Matters_.
These realised altogether one thousand three hundred and eighteen
pounds, sixteen shillings; the _Dictes_ and the _Confessio Amantis_
fetching the highest prices--three hundred and fifteen pounds, and two
hundred and sixty-two pounds, ten shillings.
Some of the many other notable books in the library, and the prices
obtained for them, were a copy of the Mentz Psalter of 1459 on vellum,
sixty-three pounds; _Rationale Divinorum Officiorum_ of Durandus (Mentz,
1459), one hundred and five pounds; the _Catholicon_ of Joannes Balbus
(Mentz, 1460), sixty pounds, eighteen shillings; the _Constitutiones_ of
Pope Clement V. (Mentz, 1460), sixty-six pounds, three shillings; Latin
Bible (Mentz, 1462), one hundred and five pounds; the _Officia_ of
Cicero (Mentz, 1465), seventy-three pounds, ten shillings; Latin Bible
on vellum (Venice, 1476), one hundred and sixty-eight pounds; _Rhetorica
Nova_, by Laurentius de Saona (St. Albans, 1480), seventy-nine pounds,
sixteen shillings; a vellum copy of the first edition of Homer
(Florence, 1488), eighty-eight pounds, four shillings; a nearly complete
set of De Bry's collections in seven volumes, one hundred and twenty-six
pounds; and a large paper copy of Prynne's _Records_ in three volumes,
London, 1665-70, one hundred and fifty-two pounds, five shillings. The
'splendid' manuscript missal, specially mentioned in the sale catalogue,
sold for one hundred and five pounds.
DR. ANTHONY ASKEW, 1722-1774
Dr. Anthony Askew, M.D., was born at Kendal, Westmoreland, in the year
1722. His father was Dr. Adam Askew, an eminent physician of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He received his education at Sedbergh School, the
Grammar School of Newcastle, and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He took
the degree of M.B. in 1745, and that of M.D. five years later. After
leaving the University he went to Leyden, where he remained twelve
months studying medicine, and then undertook an extensive tour on the
Continent, during which he purchased a large number of valuable books
and manuscripts. Dibdin says he was well known as a collector in most
parts of Europe. In 1750, having finished his travels, Askew returned to
Cambridge, where he practised for some time as a physician. He
afterwards removed to London, where, aided by the patronage and support
of his friend Dr. Mead, he soon acquired a considerable reputation, but
he is better known as a scholar than a physician. Dr. Parr entertained a
very high opinion of his attainments in Greek and Roman literature.
Askew was a Fellow and Registrar of the College of Physicians, and also
a Fellow of the Royal Society. He died at Hampstead on the 27th of
February 1774.
Dr. Askew was an indefatigable collector, and filled his house from the
ground floor to the attics with rare and handsomely bound books. The
library, which numbered about seven thousand volumes, was extremely rich
in early editions of the Greek and Latin classics, and its owner was
ambitious that it should contain every edition of a Greek author. It
comprised the first editions of the _De Officiis_ of Cicero, the Natural
History of Pliny, Cornelius Nepos, the History of Ammianus Marcellinus,
the Fables of AEsop, the Works of Plato, and of many other Greek and
Latin writers; the greater number of them being printed on vellum. A
vellum copy of the _Rationale_ of Durandus, printed by Fust and
Schoeffer at Mentz in 1459; a first edition of the _Teseide_ of
Boccaccio, printed on vellum at Ferrara in 1475; a copy of the _Greek
Anthology_, also on vellum, printed at Florence in 1494; _Tully of Old
Age_, printed by Caxton, and a fine vellum copy of the _Tewrdannck_,
were a few of the other notable books in the collection.
The printed books in the library were sold by Baker and Leigh at their
auction rooms in York Street, Covent Garden, on the 13th of February
1775, and the nineteen following days. The lots were three thousand five
hundred and seventy in number, and realised three thousand nine hundred
and ninety-three pounds and sixpence. Among the purchasers at the sale
were King George III., Louis XVI., King of France, Dr. Hunter and the
Rev. C.M. Cracherode. The British Museum also acquired a considerable
number of the books. The manuscripts, and the printed books with
manuscript notes, were sold by Leigh and Sotheby in 1785. The sale took
place on March the 7th and the eight subsequent days. There were six
hundred and thirty-three lots, which produced eighteen hundred and
twenty-seven pounds.
[Illustration: REV. C.M. CRACHERODE.]
Askew was the author of a manuscript volume of Greek and Latin
Inscriptions, copied by him during his travels in Greece and the Levant.
The collection is preserved among the Burney Manuscripts in the British
Museum.
REV. C.M. CRACHERODE, 1730-1799
The Rev. Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode, to whom the British Museum is
indebted for some of its most precious collections, was the son of
Colonel Mordaunt Cracherode, who commanded the Marines in Anson's voyage
round the world. He was born at Taplow in 1730, and was educated at
Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford, taking the degree of B.A. in
1750, and that of M.A. in 1753. After leaving the University he took
holy orders, and for some time was curate of Binsey, near Oxford, but
he did not seek any preferment in the Church. On the death of his father
he inherited a fortune of about three thousand pounds a year, which
enabled him to acquire a library of not less than four thousand five
hundred volumes, remarkable for their rarity and beauty; seven
portfolios of drawings by the great masters, and a hundred portfolios of
prints, many of which were almost priceless; and in addition to these a
splendid collection of coins and gems, and a cabinet of minerals. Mr.
Cracherode, who never married, was a shy, retiring man, who lived
entirely among his collections, and it is said that he never mounted a
horse, nor travelled a greater distance than from London to Oxford. One
great drawback to the happiness of his quiet life was the dread that he
might possibly be called upon to officiate at a coronation as the King's
cupbearer, as his manor of Great Wymondley was held from the Crown
subject to the performance of this duty. Dibdin, in his _Bibliographical
Decameron_, says of him that he had 'a dash of the primitiveness of the
old school about him, and that his manners were easy, polished and
engaging. He was a thorough gentleman, and no mean scholar.' He devoted
his life to his favourite pursuit, the formation of his collections; and
Edwards, in his _Lives of the Founders of the British Museum_, tells us
that--'For almost forty years it was his daily practice to walk from his
house in Queen Square, Westminster, to the shop of Elmsly, a bookseller
in the Strand, and thence to the still more noted shop of Tom Payne, by
the "Mews-Gate." Once a week, he varied the daily walk by calling on
Mudge, a chronometer-maker, to get his watch regulated. His excursions
had, indeed, one other and not infrequent variety--dictated by the calls
of Christian benevolence--but of these he took care to have no note
taken.... The ruling passion kept its strength to the last. An agent was
buying prints, for addition to the store, when the Collector was dying.
About four days before his death, Mr. Cracherode mustered strength to
pay a farewell visit to the old shop at the Mews-Gate. He put a finely
printed _Terence_ (from the press of Foulis) into one pocket, and a
large paper _Cebes_ into another; and then--with a longing look at a
certain choice _Homer_, in the course of which he mentally, and somewhat
doubtingly, balanced its charms with those of its twin brother in Queen
Square--parted finally from the daily haunt of forty peripatetic and
studious years.' Mr. Cracherode is also mentioned in the _Pursuits of
Literature_, by T.J. Mathias:--
'Or must I, as a wit, with learned air,
Like Doctor Dibdin, to Tom Payne's repair,
Meet Cyril Jackson and mild Cracherode there?
"Hold!" cries Tom Payne, "that margin let me measure,
And rate the separate value of the treasure."
Eager they gaze. "Well, Sirs, the feat is done.
Cracherode's _Poetae Principes_ have won."'
Mr. Cracherode, who was a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Society
of Antiquaries, and a Trustee of the British Museum, died at Queen
Square on the 5th of April 1799, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. He
bequeathed the whole of his collections to the nation, with the
exception of two books. A copy of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible was
given to Shute Barrington, Bishop of Durham, and a _princeps_ Homer,
once the property of De Thou, to Cyril Jackson, Dean of Christ Church;
but these volumes ultimately rejoined their former companions in the
British Museum.
The library formed by Mr. Cracherode is marvellously rich in choice
copies of rare and early editions of the classics; a large proportion of
them being printed on vellum. The volumes are almost always in faultless
condition, and beautifully bound. Many of them were once to be found in
such renowned collections as those of Grolier, Maioli, Henry II. of
France and Diana of Poitiers, Katharine de' Medici, De Thou,
Longepierre, Count von Hoym, etc.; and have bindings by Nicolas and
Clovis Eve, Le Gascon, Padeloup, Derome, and Roger Payne. Among them are
magnificent copies of the editions of _Pliny_ printed at Venice by
Joannes de Spira in 1469, and by Nicolas Jenson in 1476. The latter
formerly belonged to Grolier, and the binding bears his well-known
motto. A copy of the first edition of _AEsop's Fables_, printed at Milan
about 1480, and a very beautiful example of the first edition of the
_Greek Anthology_, on vellum, printed in capitals by Laurentius de Alopa
at Florence in 1494, in the original binding, are also deserving of
special notice. Other remarkable and interesting books are the _Greek
Grammar_ of Lascaris, printed at Milan in 1476; the _Liber Psalmorum_,
printed at Milan in 1481; Maioli's copy of the _Hypnerotomachia
Poliphili_, printed at Venice by Aldus in 1499; and a fine copy of
Petrarch's _Sonetti e Canzoni_, on vellum, printed by Aldus in 1501,
which formerly belonged to Isabella d'Este, wife of Gian-Francesco
Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua. This was the first Italian book printed in
italic type.
[Illustration: ARMORIAL BOOK-STAMP OF THE REV. C.M. CRACHERODE.]
The library contains three Caxtons: _Boethius de Consolatione
Philosophiae_, the _Mirrour of the World_, and the _Boke of Eneydos_.
A copy of Tyndale's New Testament on vellum, which once belonged to
Queen Anne Boleyn, with her arms emblazoned on the title-page, and the
words 'Anna Regina Angliae' painted in gold on the edges of the leaves,
and a handsome Shakespeare first folio, ought also to be mentioned.
Mr. Cracherode's classical attainments were by no means inconsiderable,
but his only writings were a Latin poem printed in the _Carmina
Quadragesimalia_ of 1748, and some Latin verses in the collection of the
University of Oxford on the death of Frederick, Prince of Wales, in
1751.
A portrait of Mr. Cracherode appears in Clarke's _Repertorium
Bibliographicum_, and in Dibdin's _Bibliographical Decameron_. This was
engraved, contrary to his express wishes, from a drawing made by Edridge
for Lady Spencer. An explanation is given by Dr. Dibdin of the
circumstances under which the likeness was reproduced.
JOHN TOWNELEY, 1731-1813
John Towneley, who was born on the 15th of June 1731, and died on the
13th of May 1813, was the younger son of Richard Towneley of Towneley,
in the county of Lancaster, and Mary, daughter of William, Lord
Widdrington. He married Barbara, fourth daughter of Edward Dicconson of
Wrightington, in the county of Lancaster, by whom he had a daughter,
Barbara, who married Sir William Stanley, Bart., of Hooton, and a son,
Peregrine Edward, who succeeded to the estates. Dibdin, in his
_Bibliographical Decameron_, informs us that 'Mr. Towneley had one of
the finest figures, as an elderly gentleman (for he died at 82), that
could possibly be seen. His stature was tall and frame robust; his gait
was firm; his countenance was Roman-like; his manners were conciliatory,
and his language was unassuming. His habits were simple and perhaps
severe. He generally rose at five, and lighted his own library fire--and
his health was manifest in his person and countenance. He was entirely
an unpretending man--and may be said to have collected rather from the
pleasure and reputation attached to such pursuits than from a thorough
and keen relish of the kind of taste which it imparts. He had an ample
purse, and it was most liberally unstrung when there was occasion for
effectual aid. This observation may equally apply to matters out of the
_bibliomaniacal_ record; but as a book-purchaser he was considered among
the most heavy-metalled and determined champions in the field.'
[Illustration]
The library formed by Mr. Towneley was a particularly good one, and it
was remarkable for the large number of rare and fine examples it
possessed of books from the presses of Caxton, Pynson, Wynkyn de Worde,
Julian Notary, and other early English printers. No fewer than nine
Caxtons were to be found on its shelves, and Pynson and Wynkyn de Worde
were especially well represented. Among the Caxtons were the first
edition of the _Dictes or Sayings of the Philosophers_, the _Fayts of
Arms_, and _Troilus and Creside_, together with the _Life of St.
Katherine_, published by Caxton's executors. Perhaps the most important
of the other early English books were Boccaccio's _Falle of Princis_,
translated by Lydgate, and Froissart's _Cronycle_, both printed by
Pynson; and the _Vitas Patrum_ and the _Kalender of Shepeherdes_ by
Wynkyn de Worde. The library also contained some exceedingly rare and
valuable manuscripts, of which some of the most notable were a famous
copy of the _Iliad_, a _Pontificale_ of Pope Innocent IV., and a very
interesting and curious collection of English Miracle-Plays acted at
Wakefield in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.[79] Of the copy of
the _Iliad_, Clarke in his _Repertorium Bibliographicum_ remarks:--'This
is the identical manuscript which was formerly in the possession of
Victorius and Salviati at Florence, the supposed loss of which had been
deplored for more than two centuries. Critics have unanimously assigned
to it a very remote period of antiquity. It is written upon vellum in a
very fair and legible hand, and the margins are replete with most
valuable and important scholia. Heyne has given a facsimile of it in his
Homer. It was purchased by the late Rev. Dr. Burney, whose entire
collection is now deposited in the British Museum.'
Towneley's books were sold after his death, in three portions, by Evans
of Pall Mall. The first sale took place on June 8th, 1814, and six
following days. It comprised nine hundred and five lots, which realised
five thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven pounds, four shillings. The
second sale occurred on June 19th, 1815, and nine following days, and
the seventeen hundred and three lots in it fetched two thousand seven
hundred and seven pounds, sixteen shillings. The third sale consisted
only of a few remaining books, which were disposed of in conjunction
with the library of Mr. Auditor Harley on May 22nd, 1817, and six
following days. Eleven hundred and twenty-seven pounds, two shillings
were obtained for the nine Caxtons; the _Troilus and Creside_, the _Life
of St. Katherine_, and the _Dictes or Sayings of the Philosophers_
fetching the highest prices, viz. two hundred and fifty-two pounds, two
shillings, two hundred and thirty-one pounds, and one hundred and
eighty-nine pounds. Bochas's _Falle of Princis_ and Froissart's
_Cronycle_ realised twenty-seven pounds, sixteen shillings and sixpence,
and forty-two pounds; and the _Vitas Patrum_ and the _Kalender of
Shepeherdes_ fifty-three pounds, eleven shillings and nineteen pounds.
Eighty-five pounds were obtained for Henry Boece's _Hystory and
Croniklis of Scotland_, translated by Bellenden, and printed by Davidson
at Edinburgh in 1536; thirty-three pounds, sixteen shillings for
Ricraft's _Survey of England's Champions_, etc., London, 1647; and
forty-eight pounds, six shillings for a Book of Hours printed on vellum
by Julian Notary in 1503. Among the manuscripts the _Iliad_ sold for six
hundred and twenty pounds, the Wakefield Miracle-Plays for one hundred
and forty-seven pounds, and the _Pontificale Innocentii IV._ for one
hundred and twenty-seven pounds, one shilling. The drawings, prints,
etc., belonging to Towneley were sold by King of 38 King Street, Covent
Garden, in May 1816 for fourteen hundred and fourteen pounds, five
shillings and sixpence; and his magnificent collection of Hollar's works
was disposed of by the same auctioneer for two thousand one hundred and
eight pounds, eleven shillings and sixpence in May 1818. John Towneley
was not the only collector of his family. Charles Towneley, his nephew,
formed a celebrated collection of marbles, coins, gems, and drawings,
now in the British Museum; and Christopher Towneley, who was born in
1604 and died in 1674, was the collector of many of the old manuscripts
disposed of in the second sale of the Towneley library which occurred in
1883 after the death of Colonel John Towneley, when in default of a male
heir the estates devolved on his daughters and those of his elder
brother, Colonel Charles Towneley.
The second sale of the Towneley library took place in June 1883. The
printed books were sold on the 18th and seven following days, and the
manuscripts on the 27th and following day, by Sotheby, Wilkinson and
Hodge. There were two thousand eight hundred and fifteen lots of printed
books, which realised four thousand six hundred and sixteen pounds,
three shillings; and two hundred and fifty-one lots of manuscripts, for
which the sum of four thousand and fifty-four pounds, six shillings and
sixpence was obtained. Among the printed books the very rare _York
Manual_, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1509; the _Pilgrymage of
Perfection_ of 1531, by the same printer, with the Towneley arms worked
in silver on the covers of the binding; and a large paper copy of
Nichols's _History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester_, in eight
volumes, were the most deserving of special notice. These sold
respectively for fifty-nine pounds, twenty-seven pounds, ten shillings,
and two hundred and thirty-five pounds. The two principal manuscripts in
the sale were a _Vita Christi_, beautifully illuminated by Giulio Clovio
for Alexander, Cardinal Farnese, for which Mr. Quaritch gave two
thousand and fifty pounds, and the collection of Wakefield Plays, which
was also purchased by the same great bookseller for six hundred and
twenty pounds.[80]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 79: These plays were printed for the Surtees Society in 1836,
and re-edited by George England, with side-notes and introduction by
Alfred W. Pollard, M.A., in 1897, for the Early English Text Society.]
[Footnote 80: This collection was re-purchased for the Towneley library
at the sale of Mr. North's books in May 1819 for ninety-four pounds, ten
shillings.]
SIR JOHN THOROLD, BART., 1734-1815
Sir John Thorold, Bart., of Syston Park, Grantham, Lincolnshire, who was
born in 1734, and succeeded his father, Sir John Thorold, eighth
baronet, in 1775, was one of the most ardent collectors of his time. The
magnificent library which he and his son Sir John Hayford Thorold formed
at Syston Park contained some of the rarest incunabula in existence.
Among them were copies of the Gutenberg Bible; the Second Mentz Psalter
on vellum; the _Catholicon_ of 1460; the Latin Bible of 1462, with the
arms and cypher of Prince Eugene on the binding; and the _Mirrour of the
World_, printed by Caxton in 1481. It also possessed one of the earliest
of the block-books, the _Apocalypse_. The library was extremely rich in
first editions of the Greek and Latin classics, some of them on vellum.
Other choice and rare books in the collection were a copy of the Greek
Bible, printed 'in aedibus Aldi' in 1518, described by Dibdin as 'the
largest and finest copy I ever saw'; the Polyglot Bible of Cardinal
Ximenez; the first edition of the _Tewrdannck_; the four Shakespeare
folios; _Purchas his Pilgrimmes_; and the _Pastissier Francois_, printed
by L. and D. Elzevier at Amsterdam in 1655. There were also many
editions of _Horae_ and _Officia_ of the Virgin Mary, mostly printed on
vellum. Several of the Syston Park books once formed part of the famous
libraries of Grolier, Maioli, Diana of Poitiers, Katharine de' Medicis,
Count von Hoym, Prince Eugene, and Sir Kenelm Digby. The collection also
possessed a number of the beautiful little volumes bound by Clovis Eve,
which were once thought to have formed part of the library of Marguerite
de Valois, but are now believed to have belonged to that of Marie
Marguerite de Valois de Saint-Remy, daughter of a natural son of Henry
III., King of France. After the death of Sir John Thorold on the 25th of
February 1815, his son and successor Sir John Hayford Thorold, having
first sold the duplicates in the library, made many additions to it. He
died on the 7th of July 1831, and fifty-three years later a portion of
the books was sold by auction by Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge. The sale,
which took place on December 12th, 1884, and seven following days,
consisted of two thousand one hundred and ten lots, which realised the
large sum of twenty-eight thousand and one pounds, fifteen shillings and
sixpence. For some of the rarest of the books very large prices were
obtained. Mr. Quaritch acquired the Gutenberg Bible for three thousand
nine hundred pounds, and the Mentz Psalter for four thousand nine
hundred and fifty. _The Catholicon_ sold for four hundred pounds, the
1462 Latin Bible for one thousand pounds, _The Mirrour of the World_
for three hundred and thirty-five pounds, the Aldine Greek Bible for
fifty-one pounds, and the first Shakespeare folio for five hundred and
ninety pounds.
REV. RICHARD FARMER, D.D., 1735-1797
The Rev. Richard Farmer, D.D., was born at Leicester on the 28th of
August 1735. He was the second son of Richard Farmer, a wealthy maltster
of that town. After receiving his early education in the Free Grammar
School of his native place, he was entered in 1753 as a pensioner of
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1757 and M.A. in
1760. In the latter year he was appointed classical tutor of his
College; which post he held until his election to the Mastership in
1775, when he took the degree of D.D. He served the office of
Vice-Chancellor of the University in 1775-76 and again in 1787-88, and
on the 27th of June 1778 was chosen the Chief Librarian of the
University. In 1780 he was collated to a prebendal stall at Lichfield,
and two years later became Prebendary of Canterbury, which he resigned
in 1788 on being preferred to a residentiary canonry of St. Paul's
Cathedral, London. It is said that he twice refused a bishopric which
was offered to him rather than forgo the pleasure of witnessing dramatic
performances on the stage. He died on the 8th of September 1797, at the
Lodge, Emmanuel College, and was buried in the chapel. A monument, with
an epitaph by Dr. Parr, was erected to his memory in the cloisters.
Dr. Farmer, who was an elegant scholar and a zealous antiquary, was
somewhat eccentric both in his appearance and manners. It is said of him
'that there were three things he loved above all others, namely, old
port, old clothes, and old books; and three things which nobody could
persuade him to do, namely, to rise in the morning, to go to bed at
night, and to settle an account.[81] His reluctance to settle his
accounts, however, was not caused by avarice, but indolence, for he
spent a considerable portion of his large income in the relief of
distress, and in assisting in the publication of literary works; while
his pupils frequently borrowed of him sums of money, well knowing there
would be but little chance of a demand for repayment. Dr. Parr, who was
one of Farmer's intimate friends, remarked of him 'that his munificence
was without ostentation, his wit without acrimony, and his learning
without pedantry.' Farmer was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the
Society of Antiquaries. His only published work was an _Essay on the
Learning of Shakespeare_, which appeared in 1767 and went through four
editions, besides being prefixed to several issues of Shakespeare's
plays.
Dr. Farmer possessed a well-chosen library, which was rich in old
English poetry and plays. He himself said of it 'that not many private
collections contain a greater number of really curious and scarce books;
and perhaps no one is so rich in the ancient philological English
literature; but Dibdin tells us that the volumes 'were, in general, in
sorry condition; the possessor caring little for large margins and
splendid binding.' The collection was sold by auction by Mr. King, of
King Street, Covent Garden, on May 7th, 1798, and the thirty-five
following days. The catalogue, of which a priced copy is in the British
Museum, contains three hundred and seventy-nine pages, and the lots,
including a few pictures, number eight thousand one hundred and
fifty-five. The sale realised two thousand two hundred and ten pounds, a
sum said to be greatly in excess of that which Farmer gave for his
books.
There is a portrait of Dr. Farmer by Romney in Emmanuel College, which
has been engraved by J. Jones.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 81: _Dictionary of National Biography._]
RICHARD GOUGH, 1735-1809
Richard Gough, the eminent antiquary, was the only son of Harry Gough,
of Perry Hall, Staffordshire. He was born in Winchester Street, London,
on the 21st of October 1735, and was privately educated until about
seventeen years of age, when he was admitted a fellow-commoner of Benet
(now Corpus Christi) College, Cambridge. He left the University in 1756
without taking a degree, and commenced a series of antiquarian
excursions into various parts of the kingdom for the purpose of
obtaining information for an enlarged edition of Camden's _Britannia_,
which he published in London in 1789. In 1767 Gough was elected a Fellow
of the Society of Antiquaries, and in 1771, on the death of Dr. Gregory
Sharpe, Master of the Temple, was nominated Director, a post he held
until 1797, when he left the Society altogether. He was also chosen a
Fellow of the Royal Society in 1775, but resigned in 1795. He died at
Enfield on the 20th of February 1809, and was buried in the churchyard
of Wormley, Hertfordshire.
Gough wrote, and assisted in the production of numerous topographical
and antiquarian works, and contributed many articles to the
_Archaeologia_ and the _Vetusta Monumenta_ of the Society of Antiquaries.
A history of that institution by him is prefixed to the first volume of
the first-named publication. The _Gentleman's Magazine_ also contains
many papers and reviews from his pen. In addition to his edition of
Camden's _Britannia_, which occupied seven years in translating and in
printing, his more important works are _Anecdotes of British
Topography_, published at London in 1768, which was afterwards enlarged
and reprinted in 1780 under the title of _British Topography: or an
historical Account of what has been done for illustrating the
Topographical Antiquities of Great Britain and Ireland_; and _The
Sepulchral Monuments of Great Britain_, London, 1786-99.
Gough possessed a considerable fortune, which enabled him to form an
extensive library, as well as a fine collection of maps, drawings,
prints, coins, and other antiquities. He left to the Bodleian Library
'all his topographical collections, together with all his books relating
to Saxon and Northern literature, for the use of the Saxon Professor,
his maps and engravings, and all the copper-plates used in the
illustration of the various works published by himself.[82] This
collection, which numbered upwards of three thousand seven hundred
volumes, was placed, in accordance with the wish expressed in his will,
in 'The Antiquaries' Closet,' with the collections of Dodsworth,
Tanner, Willis, and other antiquaries. Gough also gave to the library a
splendid series of early printed Service-books of the English Church,
among which is a beautiful vellum copy of the _Hereford Missal_, printed
at Rouen in 1502, and which is believed to be unique. A catalogue of the
collection was published by Dr. Bandinel in 1814. Gough bequeathed to
Mr. John Nichols his interleaved set of the _Gentleman's Magazine_, and
of the _Anecdotes of Mr. Bowyer_.
The remainder of his books, prints, and drawings, together with his
coins, medals, and other antiquities, were sold, according to his
directions, by auction by Leigh and Sotheby in 1810. The books realised
three thousand five hundred and fifty-two pounds, and the prints,
drawings, coins, medals, etc., five hundred and seventeen pounds more.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 82: Macray, _Annals of the Bodleian Library_.]
GEORGE STEEVENS, 1736-1800
George Steevens, the Shakesperian commentator, who was born on the 10th
of May 1736, was the only son of George Steevens of Stepney, for many
years an East India captain, and afterwards a Director of the East India
Company. He received his early education at a school at
Kingston-on-Thames and at Eton. In 1753 he was admitted a
fellow-commoner of King's College, Cambridge, but left the University
without taking a degree. In 1766 he published a reprint in four octavo
volumes of _Twenty of the Plays of Shakespeare, being the whole number
printed in quarto during his Lifetime, etc._; and in 1773 he brought
out, in association with Dr. Johnson, an edition of the whole of
Shakespeare's dramatic works. Steevens, who was a Fellow of the Royal
Society, and of the Society of Antiquaries, died unmarried at Hampstead
on the 22nd of January 1800, and was buried in the chapel at Poplar,
where a monument by Flaxman was erected to his memory.
Steevens collected a fine library, which was very rich in early English
poetry and in the plays and poems of Shakespeare. It contained the first
and second folios of the great dramatist, and upwards of forty copies of
the separate plays in quarto, many of them being first editions. The
second folio formerly belonged to King Charles I., and was given by him
on the night before his execution to Sir Thomas Herbert, his Groom of
the Bedchamber. This very interesting volume, in which the King has
written 'Dum spiro spero C.R.,' was bought at the sale of Steevens's
books for King George III. for eighteen guineas, and is now preserved in
the Royal Library at Windsor. The collection also comprised some rare
plays of Peele, Marlowe, and Nash; Barnabe Googe's _Eglogs, Epytaphes
and Sonnettes_; Puttenham's _Arte of English Poesie_, London, 1589;
Skelton's _Lyttle Workes and Merie Tales_; Watson's _Passionate Centurie
of Love_; _England's Helicon_, collected by John Bodenham, London, 1600;
Breton's _Workes of a young Wyt_; _The Paradice of Dainty Devises_,
London, 1595; _XII Mery fests of the Wyddow Edyth_, London, 1573; and
many other scarce and choice books.
Steevens's library was sold by auction by Mr. King at his great room,
King Street, Covent Garden, on May 13th, 1800, and ten following days.
The catalogue contained nineteen hundred and forty-three lots, which
realised two thousand seven hundred and forty pounds, fifteen shillings.
A copy of the catalogue marked with the prices of the books and the
names of the purchasers is preserved in the British Museum.
Although Dibdin considered that 'enormous sums were given for some
volumes that cost Steevens not a twentieth part of their produce,' the
prices were very small compared with those which could be obtained for
the same books at the present time. The first folio of Shakespeare's
works fetched only twenty-two pounds, and Charles I.'s copy of the
second folio, as already mentioned, but eighteen guineas. Of the first
editions of the separate quarto plays, _Othello_ sold for twenty-nine
pounds, eight shillings; _King Lear_ and the _Merry Wives of Windsor_
for twenty-eight pounds each; _Henry the Fifth_ for twenty-seven pounds,
six shillings; _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ for twenty-five pounds, ten
shillings; and _Much Ado about Nothing_ for the same sum. The first
edition of Shakespeare's _Sonnets_ went for three pounds, nineteen
shillings. Steevens's copies of the _Merry Wives of Windsor_ and the
_Sonnets_ fetched respectively three hundred and thirty guineas and two
hundred and fifteen guineas at the sale of the library of George Daniel
in 1864. Other prices obtained for some of the rare books were eleven
pounds, fifteen shillings for _England's Helicon_; ten pounds, fifteen
shillings for Barnabe Googe's _Eglogs, Epytaphes and Sonnettes_; and
seven pounds, ten shillings for Puttenham's _Arte of English Poesie_.
Steevens, who led a very retired life in his house at Hampstead Heath,
was the reverse of an amiable man; and while he was very polite and
courteous to his literary friends in private, he made bitter attacks
upon them in print. Dibdin says of him that 'his habits were indeed
peculiar: not much to be envied or imitated; as they sometimes betrayed
the flights of a madman, and sometimes the asperities of a cynic. His
attachments were warm, but fickle both in choice and duration. He would
frequently part from one, with whom he had lived on terms of close
intimacy, without any assignable cause; and his enmities, once fixed,
were immovable.' Dr. Parr said of him that 'he was one of the wisest,
most learned, but most spiteful of men.' Dr. Johnson, however, thought
'he was mischievous, but not malignant.'
JAMES BINDLEY, 1737-1818
Mr. James Bindley was the second son of Mr. John Bindley, distiller, of
St. John's Street, Smithfield. He was born in London on the 16th of
January 1737, and was educated at the Charterhouse, from whence he
proceeded to Peterhouse, Cambridge, taking the degree of B.A. in 1759,
and that of M.A. in 1762. Later he became a Fellow of his College. In
1765, through the interest of his elder brother John, he was appointed
one of the Commissioners of the Stamp Duties, and in 1781 rose to be the
Senior Commissioner, a post he held until his death, which occurred at
his apartments in Somerset House on the 11th of September 1818. He was a
Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries for upwards of fifty-three years. A
handsome monument to his memory was erected in the church of St.
Mary-le-Strand. Bindley formed a very large and valuable collection of
rare books, engravings, and medals, which he commenced at a very early
age, and to which he devoted all his spare time and money. When only
fifteen years of age he constantly frequented the book-shops, where he
bought everything which he considered rare or curious. He was a man of
very regular and retired habits, and it is said of him, that during the
long period he held the appointment of Commissioner of the Stamp Duties,
'he never once failed in his daily attendance at the Board, or once
slept out of his own apartments since he left his house at Finchley to
reside in Somerset House.'[83] Bindley published in 1775 _A Collection
of the Statutes now in force relating to the Stamp Duties_; and he read
all the proof-sheets of Nichols's _Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century_,
which are dedicated to him, and also of the early volumes of _The
Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century_, by the
same author. He performed the same work for the _Memoirs of John
Evelyn_, edited by William Bray in 1818.
[Illustration]
Bindley's library was a remarkably fine one, and few collections have
contained a larger number of works of early English literature,
especially of those of the time of Elizabeth and James I. Many of these
books were excessively rare, and some of them unique. Among them were
the _Venus and Adonis_ of Shakespeare, printed in 1602; his _Poems_
printed in 1640, and several of the first editions of his separate plays
in quarto. The library also comprised a large portion of the
extraordinary collection of poetical sheets, consisting of ballads,
satires, elegies, etc., formed by Narcissus Luttrell, who, Sir Walter
Scott says, 'seems to have bought every poetical tract, of whatever
merit, which was hawked about the streets in his time, marking carefully
the price and date of the purchase.'
After Bindley's death his books were sent to Evans of Pall Mall for
sale. They were disposed of in five portions. The first sale took place
in December 1818, and the fifth, which consisted of omissions, in
January 1821. There were nine thousand three hundred and eighty-three
lots in the five sales, which occupied forty-six days, and realised
upwards of seventeen thousand five hundred pounds. The following are a
few of the more notable books, and the prices they fetched in the
sales:--_The Temple of Glasse_, printed by Berthelet, forty-six pounds,
four shillings; Chute's _Beawtie Dishonoured_ (London, 1529)--Steevens's
copy, thirty-four pounds; Lewicke's _Titus and Gisippus_ (London, 1562),
twenty-four pounds, thirteen shillings and sixpence; Parker, _De
Antiquitate Britannicae Ecclesiae_ (London, 1572), forty-five pounds,
three shillings; Nicolas Breton's _Floorish upon Fancie_ (London, 1577),
forty-two pounds; Hunnis's _Hyve full of Hunnye_ (London, 1578),
eighteen guineas; _The Forrest of Fancy_ (London, 1579), thirty-eight
pounds, six shillings and sixpence; Markham's _Tragedie of Sir Richard
Grinvile_ (London, 1595), forty pounds, nineteen shillings; Robert
Fletcher's _Nine English Worthies_ (London, 1606), thirty-seven pounds,
sixteen shillings; Dolarny's _Primerose_ (London, 1606), twenty-six
pounds, ten shillings; and Purchas's _Pilgrimes_, five volumes (London,
1625), thirty-four pounds, thirteen shillings. The first edition of
_Othello_ sold for fifty-six pounds, fourteen shillings; of _Love's
Labour Lost_ for forty pounds, ten shillings; and the _Venus and Adonis_
of 1602 for forty-two pounds. Seven hundred and eighty-one pounds, one
shilling were obtained for the Luttrell collection of poetical sheets;
and fifty-two pounds, ten shillings for a little _Manual of Devotions_,
one inch and seven-eighths long, and one inch and three-eighths broad,
written on vellum, and bound in gold, said to have been given by Anne
Boleyn on the scaffold to her Maid of Honour, Mistress Wyatt.
Bindley's portraits, prints, drawings, and medals were sold by Leigh and
Sotheby in 1819, and realised seven thousand six hundred and ninety-two
pounds.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 83: _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. lxxviii. part ii. p. 631.]
WILLIAM PETTY FITZMAURICE, FIRST MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE, 1737-1805
William Petty Fitzmaurice, third Earl of Shelburne and first Marquis of
Lansdowne, was born in Dublin on the 2nd of May 1737. He was first
privately educated, and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford, which he
left early to take a commission in the Guards. He served with the
British troops under Prince Ferdinand in Germany, and was present at the
battles of Kampen and Minden, where he distinguished himself by his
personal valour. He became a Major-General in 1765. In May 1760, and
again in April 1761, he was elected member for Wycombe, but he sat for a
short time only in the House of Commons, as the death of his father on
the 10th of May 1761 called him to the House of Lords. In April 1763 he
was placed at the head of the Board of Trade and Plantations, a post
which he held only till September in the same year; but in 1766, when
Pitt, Earl of Chatham, formed his second administration, he included
Lord Shelburne in it as Secretary of State for the Southern Department,
to which, at that time, the Colonial business was attached. From this
post, however, he was dismissed in October 1768 by the Duke of Grafton,
whose influence in the Cabinet became paramount when the Earl of
Chatham's illness prevented him taking an active share in the
government. Lord Shelburne remained out of office until March 1782, when
on the formation of the Rockingham administration he became Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs. This ministry was dissolved on the death of
Lord Rockingham on the 1st of July in the same year, and the King
entrusted Lord Shelburne with the construction of a new one, which
lasted but little over seven months, as it was defeated in February 1783
by the vote of the Fox and North coalition. Shortly after his
retirement he was created Earl Wycombe and Marquis of Lansdowne. Lord
Lansdowne did not again accept office, but devoted himself to the
augmentation of his fine library, the formation of which had occupied
his attention for many years. It was especially rich in historical and
political manuscripts, and comprised, among other collections, one
hundred and twenty-one volumes of the papers and miscellaneous
correspondence of Lord Burghley, including his private note-book and
journal, which had formerly been in the hands of Strype the historian.
The library also contained a considerable portion of the important
collection of State papers amassed by Sir Julius Caesar, Master of the
Rolls in the reign of James I.; the historical collections of White
Kennet, Bishop of Peterborough, which amounted to a hundred and seven
volumes, many of them being in the bishop's handwriting; the heraldic
and genealogical collections of Segar, St. George, Dugdale, Le Neve, and
other heralds; and some valuable legal, topographical, musical, biblical
and classical manuscripts. The collection of manuscripts, which amounted
to one thousand two hundred and forty-five volumes, was acquired in 1807
by the Trustees of the British Museum for the sum of four thousand nine
hundred and twenty-five pounds. The printed books, among which were many
valuable topographical works and some rare volumes of English
literature, numbered about twenty thousand. They were sold by Leigh and
Sotheby in 1806, and together with the maps, charts, books of prints,
etc., realised over eight thousand three hundred and fifty pounds. The
Marquis, who collected pictures and sculpture as well as books, died on
the 7th of May 1805, at the age of sixty-eight, and was succeeded by his
son John Henry.
TOPHAM BEAUCLERK, 1739-1780
The Honourable Topham Beauclerk was the only son of Lord Sydney
Beauclerk, and a grandson of the first Duke of St. Albans. He was born
in 1739, and on the death of his father in 1744 succeeded to the estates
which Lord Sydney had inherited from Mr. Richard Topham, M.P. for
Windsor. In 1757 Beauclerk matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford, but
seems to have left the University without taking a degree. While he was
at Oxford he made the acquaintance of Dr. Johnson, who appears to have
been greatly attracted to him on account of his wit and conversation.
This intimacy surprised many of Johnson's friends, for although
Beauclerk valued science and literature, he was also gay and dissipated.
'What a coalition,' said Garrick, when he heard of it, 'I shall have my
old friend to bail out of the Round-house.' Notwithstanding somewhat
frequent squabbles, the friendship lasted for upwards of twenty years,
and on Beauclerk's death Johnson remarked of him--'that Beauclerk's
talents were those which he had felt himself more disposed to envy, than
those of any whom he had known.'[84] His conversational powers were
evidently of a very high order, for Dr. Barnard, Bishop of Limerick, in
his well-known lines on Dr. Johnson, writes of him:
'If I have thoughts, and can't express 'em,
Gibbon shall teach me how to dress 'em
In terms select and terse;
Jones teach me modesty and Greek;
Smith, how to think; Burke, how to speak;
And Beauclerk to converse.'
Beauclerk married on the 12th of March 1768 Lady Diana Spencer, eldest
daughter of the second Duke of Marlborough, two days after her divorce
from Lord Bolingbroke and St. John. He died at Great Russell Street,
Bloomsbury, on the 11th of March 1780, leaving one son and two
daughters.
Beauclerk possessed a fine library of upwards of thirty thousand
volumes, which he kept at his residence at Muswell Hill, near London,
stored, as Horace Walpole informs us, 'in a building that reaches
half-way to Highgate.' It did not contain many rare books, but it was
rich in works relating to natural history, voyages and travels, and
English and French plays; and Dibdin says that it was also valuable to
the general scholar, and to the collector of English antiquities and
history. It also possessed a few curious and choice manuscripts. Some of
the books appear to have belonged to Mr. Topham, but most of them were
collected by Beauclerk. After his death they were sold by auction by Mr.
Paterson 'at the Great Room, heretofore held by the Society for the
Encouragement of Arts and Manufactures, opposite Beaufort Buildings, in
the Strand, London,' on Monday, April 9th, 1781, and the forty-nine
following days. A priced copy of the catalogue is in the British Museum.
Beauclerk, who was a Fellow of the Royal Society, was a collector of
natural curiosities, as well as books, and botany was one of his
favourite studies. He had also an observatory at Muswell Hill.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 84: Boswell, _Life of Johnson_ (London, 1811), vol. iii. p.
460.]
REV. BENJAMIN HEATH, D.D., 1739-1817
[Illustration: REV. BENJAMIN HEATH, D.D.]
The Rev. Benjamin Heath, D.D., one of the sons to whom Mr. Benjamin
Heath gave a part of his books, was born on the 29th of September 1739.
He was educated at Eton and at King's College, Cambridge, of which
College he became a Fellow. After leaving the University he was
appointed an assistant master at Eton, and in 1771 succeeded Dr. Sumner
as headmaster of Harrow, a post he held for fourteen years.[85] He died
on the 31st of May 1817, at the rectory of Walkerne in the county of
Hertford, a living given to him by his College, which he held with the
rectory of Farnham in Buckinghamshire. He was buried at Exeter. Dr.
Heath, who was 'a scholar and a bibliomaniac,' added greatly to the
library given to him by his father, for which he built a large room at
Walkerne, where, says Dibdin, 'he saw, entertained, and caressed his
friends, with Alduses in the forenoon, and with a cheerful glass towards
evening, hospitable, temperate, kind-hearted, with a well furnished mind
and purse, and with a larder and cellar which might have supplied
materials for a new edition of Pynson's _Royal Boke of Cookery and
Kervinge_, 1500, 4to.'[86] Some years before his death Heath offered his
books to King's College, Cambridge, for half the sum they had cost him;
but the College authorities declined the purchase, and he then sold the
principal portion of them to some private individuals, who, Dibdin
believes, were Messrs. Cuthell and Martin, for three thousand pounds
beneath the sum they ultimately produced,[87] and they instructed Mr.
Jeffery of 11 Pall Mall to sell the books by auction. The sale took
place on Thursday, the 5th of April 1810, and twelve following days and
Wednesday, May 2nd, and eighteen following days. It consisted of four
thousand seven hundred and eighty-six lots, which realised eight
thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine pounds. The sale catalogue states
that the library consisted of 'rare, useful and valuable publications in
every department of literature, from the first invention of printing to
the present time, all of which are in the most perfect condition.'
Another catalogue, with the prices and purchasers' names, of which it is
said only two hundred and fifty copies were printed, was published later
in the year by Constable of Edinburgh. Both the catalogues are to be
found in the Library of King George III. in the British Museum.
Dibdin describes this sale in enthusiastic terms in his
_Bibliomania_:--'Never,' he writes, 'did the bibliomaniac's eye alight
upon "sweeter copies"--as the phrase is; and never did the
bibliomaniacal barometer rise higher than at this sale! The most marked
phrensy characterized it. A copy of the Editio Princeps of Homer (by no
means a first-rate one) brought L92:[88] and all the ALDINE CLASSICS
produced such an electricity of sensation that buyers stuck at nothing
to embrace them!'[89]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 85: Dibdin, _Bibliographical Decameron_, vol. iii. p. 368.]
[Footnote 86: Dibdin, _Bibliographical Decameron_, vol. iii. p. 369.]
[Footnote 87: _Ibid._, iii. 370.]
MAJOR THOMAS PEARSON, 1740?-1781
Major Thomas Pearson was born about the year 1740 at Cote Green, near
Burton-in-Kendal, Westmoreland. He was educated at Burton, and came to
London about 1756 to fill a post in the Navy Office, which he resigned
in 1760. In the course of the following year he left England, having
obtained a cadetship on the Bengal Establishment, in which he rose to
the rank of Major. He distinguished himself on several occasions, and
was particularly noticed by Lord Clive, to whom he adhered during the
mutiny fomented by Sir Robert Fletcher, at whose trial he held the
office of Judge Advocate. In 1767 Pearson married a sister of Eyles
Irwin, the traveller and writer. This lady died in the following year,
and an epitaph inscribed to her memory may be found, together with other
poetical pieces by Pearson, in vol. iv. of Pearch's _Collection of
Poems_. Pearson returned to England in August 1770 with Governor
Verelst, under whom he had acted as Military Secretary, and built a
house for himself at Burton, in which he collected a very extensive
library, consisting of works on the history, antiquities, topography,
and heraldry of Great Britain and Ireland, foreign history, voyages and
travels, natural history, etc., but it was principally remarkable for
the large number of books in all branches of old English literature, and
it was especially rich in the works of the early poets and dramatists.
In 1776 Pearson again went to India, but after a residence there of five
years he fell a victim to the effects of the climate, and died at
Calcutta on the 5th of August 1781. Some years after his death his
library was brought from Westmoreland, and sold on April 14th, 1788, and
twenty-two following days, by T. and J. Egerton at their room in
Scotland Yard. The prices obtained at the sale, in which there were
five thousand five hundred and twenty-five lots, were very
small:--Boccaccio's _The Falle of Princis and Princesses and other
Nobles_, translated by Lydgate, and printed by Pynson in 1494, fetched
but one pound, twelve shillings; _The Castell of Laboure_, also printed
by Pynson, two guineas; two books printed by Wynkyn de Worde--Hawes's
_Example of Virtu_, and _The Lyf of Saynt Ursula_, translated by
Hatfield--seven pounds, ten shillings and one pound, ten shillings;
Skelton's _Ryght Delectable Traytise upon a goodly Garlande, or Chapelet
of Laurell_, printed by Richard Faukes in 1523--an excessively rare, if
not unique book--seven pounds, seventeen shillings and sixpence; Peele's
_Polyhymnia_, London, 1590, three guineas; Lyly's _Midas_, London, 1592,
seven pounds; and _England's Helicon_, collected by John Bodenham,
London, 1600, five pounds, ten shillings. Two volumes of ballads,
chiefly collected by the Earl of Oxford, and purchased by Major Pearson
at Mr. West's sale, were bought by the Duke of Roxburghe for thirty-six
pounds, four shillings and sixpence, and are now, with additions by the
Duke, preserved in the British Museum. Books bound for Pearson may be
recognised by the device of a bird surmounting a vase, stamped on the
panels of the back.
[Illustration: DUKE OF ROXBURGHE.]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 88: The marked catalogue says L94, 10s.]
[Footnote 89: _Bibliomania_, London, 1811, p. 617.]
JOHN KER, DUKE OF ROXBURGHE, 1740-1804
John Ker, third Duke of Roxburghe, was born on the 23rd of April 1740 in
Hanover Square, London. He was the elder son of Robert Ker, second Duke,
and on the death of his father in 1755 succeeded to the title and
estates. While on a tour on the Continent he became greatly attached to
Christiana, eldest daughter of the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and
there is little doubt that she would have become his wife had not King
George III. soon afterwards sought the hand of the Princess's younger
sister in marriage, when it was considered necessary to break off the
match, partly for political reasons, and partly because 'it was deemed
indecorous that the elder sister should be the subject of the younger.'
This was a great disappointment to both the Duke and the Princess, who
evinced the strength of their affection by remaining single during their
lives. George III., probably feeling that he had done the Duke an
injury, always manifested a warm friendship for him, and bestowed upon
him various appointments in the royal household. In 1768 he was made a
Knight of the Thistle, and in 1801 was invested with the Order of the
Garter. He died on the 19th of March 1804.
The Duke, who was remarkable both for his fine presence and his mental
accomplishments, collected a magnificent library at his residence in St.
James's Square, London. It contained among numerous other treasures the
famous Valdarfer Boccaccio, upwards of a dozen volumes printed by
Caxton, and many from the presses of Pynson, Wynkyn de Worde, Julian
Notary, and other early English printers. The first, second, and third
Shakespeare folios were in the collection, as well as a large number of
early quarto plays. The library was especially rich in choice editions
of the French romances, and in the works of the English dramatists who
flourished during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. Some rare books
printed in Scotland were also to be found in it. The collection of
broadside ballads in three thick folio volumes, now in the British
Museum, is perhaps the most extensive and interesting ever brought
together. It was begun by Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, from whose
library it passed successively to those of Mr. James West and Major
Thomas Pearson, and at the sale of the books of the last-named collector
it was purchased for thirty-six pounds, four shillings and sixpence by
the Duke, who made many additions to it while in his possession. The
collection has been admirably edited by Mr. William Chappell and the
Rev. J.W. Ebsworth for the Ballad Society. Other books deserving
special notice were the first edition of Pliny, printed by J. de Spira
at Venice in 1469; Cicero's _Epistolae ad Atticum_, etc., printed at Rome
in 1470; the 1580 edition of the _Paradyse of Daintie Devises_, and the
first edition of Shakespeare's _Sonnets_.
Among the manuscripts the most valuable were Chaucer's _Canterbury
Tales_, bound with Lydgate's _Life of St. Margarete_, on vellum, with
illuminations, and the _Mystere de la Vengeance de Nostre Seigneur_,
also on vellum.
The library was sold in 1812 by Mr. Evans of Pall Mall in the
dining-room of the Duke's house in St. James's Square, and the total
amount realised was twenty-three thousand three hundred and ninety-seven
pounds, ten shillings and sixpence. The sale, which consisted of nine
thousand three hundred and fifty-three lots, lasted forty-two days,
commencing on the 18th of May, and ending on the 4th of July. It was
followed by a supplementary one of seven hundred and sixty-seven lots,
which began on the 13th of July, and lasted till the 16th of the same
month. The catalogue was compiled by Mr. George Nicol, bookseller to the
King. The sale excited very great interest; and Dibdin, who gives an
account of it in his _Bibliographical Decameron_, tells us 'the room was
so crowded that nothing but standing upon a contiguous bench saved the
writer of _The Bibliographical Decameron_ from suffocation.' The prices
obtained for the books were very high. That 'most notorious volume in
existence,' the Valdarfer Boccaccio, which cost the Duke of Roxburghe
but one hundred guineas, was acquired by the Marquis of Blandford, after
a severe struggle with Lord Spencer, for two thousand two hundred and
sixty pounds, and Dibdin says that the Marquis declared that it was his
intention to have gone as far as five thousand guineas for it. A copy of
the _Recuyell of the Histories of Troye_, which once belonged to
Elizabeth Grey, wife of Edward IV., was purchased by the Duke of
Devonshire for one thousand and sixty pounds, ten shillings; while three
other books from the press of Caxton, _The Mirrour of the World_, the
_Fayts of Arms_, and Gower's _Confessio Amantis_, sold respectively for
three hundred and fifty-one pounds, ten shillings, three hundred and
thirty-six pounds, and three hundred and thirty-six pounds. The
collection of ballads fell to Mr. J. Harding for four hundred and
seventy-seven pounds, fifteen shillings. At the sale of Mr. B.H.
Bright's books in 1845 it was secured for the British Museum for the sum
of five hundred and thirty-five pounds. The first folio of Shakespeare's
Plays fetched one hundred pounds, and his Sonnets twenty-one pounds. The
two manuscripts mentioned realised three hundred and fifty-seven pounds
and four hundred and ninety-three pounds, ten shillings.
A dinner was given, at the suggestion of Dr. Dibdin, to commemorate the
sale of the Boccaccio; and Earl Spencer, Dr. Dibdin, and other
bibliophiles met on the day of the sale at St. Alban's Tavern, St.
Alban's Street--now Waterloo Place--and then and there formed the
Roxburghe Club; Earl Spencer being the first President.
MICHAEL WODHULL, 1740-1816
Michael Wodhull, the translator of the tragedies of Euripides, was born
at Thenford, Northamptonshire, on the 15th of August 1740. His father
was John Wodhull, a descendant of Walter Flandrensis, who held the
estates of Pateshull and Thenford in the time of William I. He received
his early education under the Rev. William Cleaver of Twyford, Bucks. He
was afterwards sent to Winchester, and at the age of seventeen proceeded
to the University of Oxford, matriculating from Brazenose College. While
still young Wodhull inherited a considerable fortune from his father,
and he built a fine mansion on the family estate at Thenford, in which
he kept his library. He was High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1783.
Wodhull married a daughter of the Rev. J. Ingram of Wolford,
Warwickshire, by whom he had three children, who all predeceased him.
He died on the 10th of November 1816. In addition to his translations of
the tragedies of Euripides, Wodhull was the author of several poems.
From 1764 to his death Wodhull was an indefatigable collector of rare
and curious books, and Dibdin says of him that 'a better informed or
more finished bibliographer existed not either in France or England.'
[Illustration: BOOK-STAMP OF MICHAEL WODHULL.]
His splendid library, which was a great consolation and pleasure to him
in the solitude of the last years of his life, was particularly rich in
early editions of the Greek and Latin classics, and in works printed in
the fifteenth century. All the books--many of which were bound by Roger
Payne--were in fine condition, and some of them had once formed part of
the libraries of Francis I., Grolier, Henry II. and Diana of Poitiers,
Longepierre, and other famous French collectors, and were bound by such
fine craftsmen as Boyet, Derome, Monnier, etc. The covers of the volumes
bound for Wodhull are mostly impressed with a stamp of his arms, impaled
with those of his wife. A portion of Wodhull's books, principally
duplicates, was sold by Leigh, Sotheby and Son, of York Street, Covent
Garden, at two sales in 1801 and 1803. The first sale consisted of a
thousand and fifty-nine lots, which realised three hundred and sixty-one
pounds, ten shillings; and the second of one thousand six hundred and
thirty-nine lots, for which the sum of eight hundred and fifteen pounds
was obtained. The remainder of the library appears to have been kept at
Thenford until 1886, when Mr. J.E. Severne, M.P., to whom it had
descended, determined to part with it, and it was sold by Wilkinson,
Sotheby and Hodge on January 11th, 1886, and nine following days. There
were two thousand eight hundred and four lots in the sale, which
produced the large sum of eleven thousand nine hundred and seventy-two
pounds, fourteen shillings and sixpence.
The following are a few of the rarest and most interesting books in this
splendid collection, with the prices they fetched:--the _Catholicon_ of
Joannes Balbus, printed at Mentz in 1460, three hundred and ten pounds;
_Cicero de Officiis_, printed at Mentz in 1466, seventy-one pounds;
_Tullius de Senectute et Amicitia_, printed by Caxton in 1481, two
hundred and fifty pounds; (a perfect copy of Caxton's _Mirrour of the
World_ was sold in the 1803 sale for thirty-eight pounds, seventeen
shillings); the first edition of Homer, printed at Florence in 1488,
two hundred pounds; _Poliphili Hypnerotomachia_, printed by Aldus in
1499, fifty-three pounds; the Aldine Virgil of 1501, one hundred and
forty-five pounds; _Roman de Guy de Warwick_, Paris, 1525, one hundred
and thirty pounds; the _New Actes and Constitucionis of Parliament maid
by James V., Kyng of Scottis_, printed on vellum at Edinburgh in 1541,
one hundred and fifty-one pounds; the _Contes_ of La Fontaine, Amsterdam
(Paris), 1762, in two small 8vo volumes, bound in red morocco,
ninety-three pounds; Moliere's Works, with plates by Moreau, six
volumes, 1773, seventy-seven pounds.
Among the books with historical or fine bindings were Alcyonius,
_Medices Legatus de Exsilio_, in aedib. Aldi, Venetiis, 1522, bound for
Francis I., with the arms of France, the crowned initial of the king,
and the salamander stamped on the covers, fifty-eight pounds; Aristotle,
_De Arte Poetica_, Florentiae, 1548, bound for Henry II. of France and
Diana of Poitiers, with the devices of the king and his mistress on the
covers, two hundred and five pounds; Crinitus, _De Poetis Latinis_,
Florentiae, 1505, bound for Grolier, seventy-four pounds; _Irenici
Germania_, Hagenoae, 1518, also bound for Grolier, sixty-two pounds; and
two works by Giordano Bruno--_Spaccio de la Bestia Trionfante_, Parigi,
1584, and _La Cena de la Ceneri_, 1584; the former bound in citron
morocco, with a red double by Boyet, and the latter in a beautiful
mosaic binding by Monnier, realised respectively the large sums of three
hundred and sixty pounds and three hundred and sixty-five pounds.
The principal manuscripts were a copy of Dante, with a commentary by
Joannes de Sarravalle, written in the years 1416-17, which sold for one
hundred and fifty-one pounds; and a very beautiful Roman Breviary of the
beginning of the sixteenth century, on vellum, illuminated for Francois
de Castelnau, Archbishop of Narbonne, for which five hundred and fifteen
pounds was obtained.
FRANCIS HARGRAVE, 1741?-1821
Francis Hargrave, the eminent law writer, who was born about 1741, was
the son of Christopher Hargrave of Chancery Lane. He entered as a
student at Lincoln's Inn in 1760, and in 1772 he greatly distinguished
himself in the Habeas Corpus case of James Sommersett, a negro. Soon
afterwards he was appointed one of the king's counsel, and in 1797 he
was made Recorder of Liverpool. He was also for many years Treasurer of
Lincoln's Inn. In 1813, in consequence of the impaired state of
Hargrave's health, his wife petitioned Parliament to purchase the fine
law library which he had amassed, consisting of a considerable number of
printed books and about five hundred manuscripts; and on the
recommendation of a Committee of the House of Commons the collection was
acquired by the Government for the sum of eight thousand pounds, and
deposited in the British Museum. Edwards, in his _Lives of the Founders
of the British Museum_, says that 'the peculiar importance of the
Hargrave Collection consisted in its manuscripts and its annotated
printed books. The former were about five hundred in number, and were
works of great juridical weight and authority, not merely the
curiosities of black-letter law. Their collector was the most eminent
parliamentary lawyer of his day, but his devotion to the science of law
had, to some degree, impeded his enjoyment of its sweets. During some of
the best years of his life he had been more intent on increasing his
legal lore than on swelling his legal profits. And thus the same
legislative act which enriched the Museum Library, in both of its
departments, helped to smooth the declining years of a man who had won
uncommon distinction in his special pursuit.' A catalogue of the
manuscripts was compiled by Sir Henry Ellis, and published in 1818.
Hargrave, among other important legal works, published a new edition of
_State Trials from the eleventh year of Richard II. to the sixteenth of
George III._, in eleven volumes folio, in 1776-81; _Juridical Arguments
and Collections_, in two volumes, in 1797-99; and _Jurisconsult
Exercitations_, in three volumes, in 1811-13. He died on the 16th of
August 1821, and was buried in Lincoln's Inn Chapel. Lord Lyndhurst, in
speaking of Hargrave's great legal knowledge, declared that 'no man ever
lived who was more conversant with the law of his country.'
ISAAC REED, 1742-1807
Isaac Reed, the editor of Shakespeare, was born in London on the 1st of
January 1742. He was a conveyancer, and had chambers, first in Gray's
Inn and afterwards in Staple Inn, where he died on the 5th of January
1807. He was buried at Amwell in Hertfordshire. Reed, who was a Fellow
of the Society of Antiquaries, collected books for upwards of forty
years, and Dibdin says that 'he would appear to have adopted the
cobbler's well-known example of applying one room to almost every
domestic purpose: for Reed made his library his parlour, kitchen, and
hall.' His extensive collection of books, which was rich in works
relating to the English drama and poetry, was sold by King and Lochee,
38 King Street, Covent Garden, on Monday, November 2nd, 1807, and
thirty-eight following days. The sale consisted of eight thousand nine
hundred and fifty-seven lots, including prints and a few miscellaneous
articles, and realised four thousand three hundred and eighty-six
pounds, nineteen shillings and sixpence. A copy of the catalogue, with
the prices added in manuscript, is preserved in the Library of King
George III. in the British Museum.
SIR JOSEPH BANKS, BART., 1744-1820
The Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., to whom the British Museum, in
addition to other bequests, is indebted for one of the finest libraries
of books on natural history ever collected, was born in Argyle Street,
London, on the 13th of February 1744. He was the only son of William
Banks, of Revesby Abbey, Lincolnshire, by his wife Sarah, daughter of
William Bate. Banks was first educated at Harrow and Eton, and proceeded
afterwards to Christ Church, Oxford, which college he entered as a
gentleman-commoner in 1760. In 1761 his father died, leaving him a large
estate. He left the University in 1763, after having taken an honorary
degree, and in 1766 he set out on a scientific voyage to Newfoundland
with his friend Lieutenant Phipps, afterwards Lord Mulgrave, and brought
back a large collection of plants and insects. In 1768 he accompanied
Captain Cook's expedition round the world in _The Endeavour_, a vessel
which he equipped at his own expense, taking with him his friend and
librarian Dr. Solander, two draughtsmen, and several servants. This
voyage, which was attended by many dangers and privations, occupied
nearly three years, and the specimens which the enterprising collectors
brought home with them excited very great and general interest. Banks
was anxious to join Captain Cook's second expedition, but owing to some
difficulties respecting the fittings of the ship in which he was to have
sailed he relinquished his purpose, and in 1772 paid a visit in company
with Dr. Solander to Iceland, where he obtained a large number of
botanical specimens, and also purchased a collection of Icelandic
manuscripts and printed books, including the library of Halfdan
Einarsson, the literary historian of the island, which he gave to the
British Museum on his return to England. Ten years later he presented a
second collection to that institution. In 1778 Banks succeeded Sir John
Pringle as President of the Royal Society, a post he held for upwards of
forty-one years. He had been a Fellow since the year 1766. In 1779 he
married Dorothea, daughter of William Weston-Hugesson of Provender, in
the parish of Norton, Kent, and in 1781 he was created a baronet. In
1795 he received the Order of the Bath, and in 1797 he was sworn of the
Privy Council. The National Institute of France elected him a member in
1802. He died at his house at Spring Grove, Isleworth, on the 19th of
June 1820, leaving a widow but no issue.
Sir Joseph Banks, even when a schoolboy, took great interest in all
branches of natural history, and during his residence at Oxford he
procured the appointment of a lecturer on natural science in the
University. He was always exceedingly generous in his relations with men
of science, and the splendid collections in his house in Soho Square
were always open to them for study and investigation.
Sir Joseph Banks bequeathed his library, with the exception of some
manuscripts which he left to the Royal Society and the Mint, his
herbarium, drawings, engravings, and other collections to the Trustees
of the British Museum, subject to a life interest and a life use in them
by his friend and librarian, Mr. Robert Brown, the eminent botanist.
This bequest was accompanied by a proviso that Mr. Brown should be at
liberty to transfer the collections to the British Museum during his
lifetime, if the Trustees were desirous to receive them, and he were
willing to comply with their wishes. An arrangement to this effect was
eventually carried out, and in the year 1827 the transfer was effected;
Mr. Brown at the same time receiving the appointment of Keeper of the
Department of Botany in the Museum, a post he held until his death in
1858.
The number of printed books acquired by the Museum amounted to about
sixteen thousand, consisting principally of works on natural history and
the journals and transactions of learned societies. The manuscripts
numbered but forty-nine, but among them were the log-books of _The
Endeavour_, _The Resolution_, and _The Racehorse_, and the journals of
Tasman, Carver, Verwey and other navigators.
A catalogue of the library was compiled by Mr. Jonas Dryander, who
succeeded Dr. Solander as Sir Joseph's librarian, in five volumes, and
published in London in the years 1798-1800.
Sir Joseph Banks was the author of two treatises:--one, _On the Cause of
Blight in Corn_, published in 1805; and the other on _Some Circumstances
relative to Merino Sheep_, published in 1809; together with some
articles contributed to the journals of learned societies. He evidently
intended at one time to publish a work embodying the results of his
researches, as the plates were engraved, and the text partly prepared
for press, but the death of his librarian Dr. Solander in 1782 appears
to have caused him to relinquish his purpose. Kaempfer's _Icones
Plantarum_ was published by him in 1791, and he also superintended the
issue of Roxburgh's _Coromandel Plants_ in 1795-1819. A statue of Sir
Joseph by Sir Francis Chantrey is placed in the Natural History Museum
in South Kensington, and a portrait of him by Sir Thomas Lawrence is
hung in the board-room of the British Museum. Another portrait of him by
Thomas Phillips, R.A., is in the National Portrait Gallery.
Sarah Sophia Banks, the only sister of Sir Joseph Banks, possessed
similar tastes to her brother, and amassed a considerable number of
books, coins, objects of natural history, etc. She died at her brother's
house in Soho Square on the 27th of September 1818; and after her death
a portion of her collections, consisting of sixty-six volumes of
manuscripts, chiefly relating to heraldic matters, ceremonials, archery,
etc., together with several printed books principally treating of
chivalry, knighthood, etc., some of them enriched with her MS. notes,
were presented to the library of the British Museum by Lady Banks, the
wife of Sir Joseph. Several of the volumes were in very fine bindings.
REV. JOHN BRAND, 1744-1806
The Rev. John Brand, the author of _Observations on Popular
Antiquities_, was born on the 19th of August 1744 at Washington, in the
county of Durham, where his father Alexander Brand was parish clerk.
When fourteen years of age he was apprenticed to his uncle Anthony
Wheatley, a shoemaker of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and during his residence
in that town he attended the grammar school there. He displayed so much
ability and industry that the master of the school, the Rev. Hugh
Moises, with the assistance of some friends, sent him to Lincoln
College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1775. He had been ordained
some time previously, and, after filling several curacies, in 1784 he
was presented by the Duke of Northumberland to the rectory of the united
parishes of St. Mary-at-Hill and St. Mary Hubbard in the city of London.
In the same year he was elected resident secretary of the Society of
Antiquaries, an office he held until his death on the 11th of September
1806. He was buried in the chancel of his church. Brand had a very
extensive knowledge of antiquities, and he accumulated a large library,
which was very rich in old English literature.
Among the rarer books were the _Knight of the Tower_, printed by Caxton
in 1484; the _Dyalogue of Dives and Pauper_, and Arnold's _Chronicle of
the Customs of London_, printed by Pynson in 1493 and 1521; _A Plaister
for a Galled Horse_, London, 1548; John Byshop's _Beautiful Blossomes_,
London, 1577; Thomas Bentley's _Monument of Matrones_, London, 1582; _A
Booke of Fishing with hooke and line_, London, 1600; Mrs. Fage's
_Poems_, London, 1637; and _A Juniper Lecture_, London, 1639. The
collection also contained some curious works on witches.
After Brand's death, the library was sold in two parts by Stewart of 194
Piccadilly. The first sale took place on May 6th, 1807, and thirty-six
following days, 'Sundays, the King's Birthday, and May 21-26 excepted.'
It consisted of eight thousand six hundred and eleven lots of printed
books, and two hundred and forty-three of manuscripts, which realised
four thousand three hundred pounds. The second part, containing
duplicates and pamphlets, was sold on February the 8th, 1808, and
fourteen following days, 'Sundays and the Fastday excepted.' There were
four thousand and sixty-four lots in this portion, and the sum obtained
for them was eighteen hundred and fifty-one pounds. _The Knight of the
Tower_ was purchased by Mr. Payne the bookseller for Earl Spencer for
one hundred and eleven pounds, six shillings; Arnold's _Chronicle_
fetched eighteen guineas; the _Dyalogue of Dives and Pauper_, four
pounds, three shillings; Bentley's _Monument of Matrones_, eight pounds,
eighteen shillings and sixpence; and Mrs. Fage's _Poems_, five pounds,
fifteen shillings and sixpence. A copy of Brand's own work on _Popular
Antiquities_, with additions for a new edition, sold, with the
copyright, for six hundred and thirty pounds.
In addition to his _Observations on Popular Antiquities_, which appeared
in 1777, Brand published a work on the _History and Antiquities of the
town and county of Newcastle-upon-Tyne_ in 1789; and in 1775 a poem _On
Illicit Love, written among the ruins of Godstow Nunnery, near
Oxford_--the place where the celebrated Rosamond, the mistress of Henry
II., was buried. He also contributed many papers to the _Archaeologia_ of
the Society of Antiquaries.
Nichols, in his _Literary Anecdotes_,[90] says of Brand that 'his
manners, somewhat repulsive to a stranger, became easy on closer
acquaintance, and he loved to communicate to men of literary and
antiquarian taste the result of his researches on any subject in which
they might require information.'
JOHN DENT, 1750?-1826
Mr. John Dent was born about the middle of the eighteenth century. His
father is said to have been the master of a school in a small town in
Cumberland. At an early age he entered the banking-house of Messrs.
Child and Co. of London as a clerk, and in 1795 rose to be a partner in
the firm. In 1790 he was elected Member of Parliament for the borough
of Leicester, and held the seat during five successive Parliaments
until the dissolution in 1812. Six years later he was chosen Member for
Poole, which he represented till 1826. He died at his residence in
Hertford Street, Mayfair, on the 14th of December 1826.
Mr. Dent, who was a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Society of
Antiquaries, accumulated a very fine library, which was very rich in the
Greek and Latin Classics and early English literature. It also contained
some very beautiful manuscripts. After his death it was sold in two
parts by Mr. Evans of Pall Mall. The first sale, which took place on
March the 29th, 1827, and eight following days, consisted of fifteen
hundred and two lots, and realised six thousand two hundred and
seventy-eight pounds, twelve shillings. The second portion of the books
was sold on the 25th of the succeeding month and eight following days.
There were one thousand four hundred and seventy-four lots in this sale,
which brought eight thousand seven hundred and sixty-two pounds, seven
shillings. The following are a few of the many very rare books which
this noble collection contained, and the prices which were obtained for
them:--
Fust and Schoeffer's Latin Bible of 1462, one hundred and seventy-three
pounds, five shillings; a vellum copy of the first edition of Livy,
printed by Sweynheym and Pannartz at Rome in 1469, two hundred and
sixty-two pounds, ten shillings; the first edition of the _Anthologia
Graeca_ on vellum, printed at Florence in 1494, seventy pounds; a perfect
copy of Higden's _Polychronicon_, printed by Caxton in 1482, one hundred
and three pounds, nineteen shillings; three other imperfect Caxtons,
fifty-eight pounds, seventeen shillings and sixpence; Barclay's _Shyp of
Folys_, printed by Pynson in 1509, thirty pounds, nine shillings;
Bradshawe's _Lyfe of Saynt Radegunde_, printed by Pynson, without date,
thirty-two pounds; _The Cronycle of Englonde_, printed by Wynkyn de
Worde in 1502, thirty-eight pounds, seventeen shillings; a copy on
vellum of the _Orcharde of Syon_, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1519,
sixty-five pounds, two shillings; _Vitruvius de Architectura_, printed
on vellum by P. de Giunta in 1513, one hundred and seven pounds, two
shillings; the Coverdale Bible, 1535, eighty-nine pounds, five
shillings; and Archbishop Parker's _De Antiquitate Britannicae Ecclesiae_,
1573, forty pounds. Mr. Dent possessed the first three Shakespeare
folios, and a large number of the separate quarto plays. The folios
realised respectively one hundred and ten pounds, five shillings,
fifteen pounds, and sixty-five pounds, two shillings. The copy of the
third folio had many contemporary manuscript corrections. Of the quarto
plays, twenty-six pounds was obtained for the first edition of _Love's
Labors Lost_, twenty-two pounds for the first edition of _Othello_,
sixteen pounds for the first edition of _The Merchant of Venice_, and
four pounds, ten shillings for the first edition of _Midsummer Night's
Dream_.
Several of the manuscripts were of exceptional beauty and interest. A
Roman Breviary, with illuminations in the finest Flemish style,
presented to Queen Isabel of Castile by Francisco de Rojas, sold for
three hundred and seventy-eight pounds; a copy of the Gospels in Greek,
said to have been written about the end of the eleventh century, for two
hundred and sixty-seven pounds, fifteen shillings; an _Office de la
Vierge_, written by Nicolas Jarry, the celebrated calligraphist, in 1656
for Anne of Austria, and which afterwards passed into the possession of
Madame de Maintenon and the Prince de Conti, for one hundred and ten
pounds, five shillings; and a copy of the _Westminster Liber Regalis_,
written in the fifteenth century, for fifty-five pounds, thirteen
shillings. All these manuscripts were on vellum. The copies of the Roman
Breviary and the Greek Gospels are described by Dibdin in his
_Bibliographical Decameron_ (vol. i. pp. clxiii and xcii).
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 90: Vol. ix. p. 653.]
RIGHT HON. THOMAS GRENVILLE, 1755-1846
[Illustration: THOMAS GRENVILLE. After a Portrait by Hoppner.]
The Right Hon. Thomas Grenville, who was born on the 31st of December
1755, was the second son of the Right Hon. George Grenville, the
statesman, who succeeded Lord Bute as Premier in 1763, and Elizabeth,
daughter of Sir William Wyndham. In 1771 he entered Christ Church,
Oxford, as a gentleman-commoner, and in 1778 he was appointed ensign in
the Coldstream Guards, which he left the following year to become a
lieutenant in the 80th foot. In 1780 he was elected Member for
Buckinghamshire, and became a follower of Lord Rockingham and Mr. Fox,
the latter of whom thought so highly of his talents that he intended, if
his India Bill had passed, to have made him Governor-General. Towards
the close of the war with the United States, Mr. Grenville was sent to
Paris to negotiate terms of peace, but only remained there a short time,
being recalled by the death of the Marquis of Rockingham and a change of
ministry. On his return to this country he continued for some time to
support Mr. Fox, but the course pursued by that statesman with regard to
the French Revolution caused him to transfer his allegiance to Mr. Pitt,
and in 1794 Mr. Grenville accepted the post of Minister Extraordinary
to the Court of Vienna. In 1798 he became a privy councillor, and in
1799 he was sent as Ambassador to Berlin to endeavour to prevent the
King of Prussia deserting the coalition against France; but the first
vessel in which he sailed was stopped by ice, and the second was
wrecked, and the delay which ensued rendered the mission an abortive
one. In 1800 he was made Chief Justice in Eyre to the South of the
Trent, a sinecure office of two thousand a year, of which he was the
last holder. On the fall of Mr. Pitt's ministry in March 1801, Mr.
Grenville ceased to support the Tory party, and renewed his political
connection with Mr. Fox, and in 1806, shortly after his brother, Lord
Grenville, became Prime Minister, he was appointed President of the
Board of Control. On the death of Mr. Fox on the 13th of September 1806,
he succeeded Lord Howick as First Lord of the Admiralty, a post he held
until the formation of the Duke of Portland's administration in April
1807, when he finally retired from office, and devoted the remaining
forty years of his life to literature, and to the collection of the
splendid library, which is now one of the great glories of the British
Museum. From an early age Mr. Grenville was animated by an ardent love
for books, and took a great interest in the development of the National
Library, of which he was for many years a Trustee. He died at Hamilton
Place, Piccadilly, on the 17th of December 1846, at the age of
ninety-one. Mr. Grenville had originally bequeathed his library to his
great-nephew the Duke of Buckingham, but the circumstance that it was
principally purchased from the profits of the sinecure office which he
had held for so many years, led him to the conclusion that it was 'a
debt and a duty' that the collection so acquired should be devoted to
the use of the public. In the autumn of 1845, in the course of a
conversation with his friend Mr. Panizzi, afterwards Sir Anthony
Panizzi, then Keeper of Printed Books in the British Museum, he informed
him of his intention; and after his death it was found that he had
revoked the bequest to the Duke of Buckingham, and left his noble
collection to the nation. A full and interesting description of the
printed books in the library by Sir Anthony Panizzi is to be found in
the Report on the accessions to the Museum for the year 1847, and we
cannot do better than give the account of them in the words of the
famous librarian, who had himself much to do with the acquisition of
this magnificent gift:--
'With exception of the Collection of His Majesty George the Third, the
Library of the British Museum has never received an accession so
important in every respect as the Collection of the Right Honourable
Thomas Grenville.... Formed and preserved with the exquisite taste of an
accomplished bibliographer, with the learning of a profound and elegant
scholar, and the splendid liberality of a gentleman in affluent
circumstances, who employed in adding to his library whatever his
generous heart allowed him to spare from silently relieving those whose
wants he alone knew, this addition to the National Library places it in
some respects above all libraries known, in others it leaves it inferior
only to the Royal Library at Paris. An idea may be formed of the
literary value of Mr. Grenville's Library by referring to its pecuniary
value; it consists of 20,240 volumes, forming about 16,000 works, which
cost upwards of L54,000, and would sell for more now. During his
lifetime, Mr. Grenville's library was most liberally rendered accessible
to any person, however humble his condition in life, who could show the
least cause for asking the loan of any of his precious volumes. By
bequeathing the whole to his country, Mr. Grenville has secured to
literary men, even after his death, that assistance, as far as it
relates to the use of his books, which he so generously bestowed on them
in every way during his long and dignified career:--the career of a man
of high birth, distinguished for uniting to a powerful and cultivated
intellect a warm and benevolent heart.'
Sir Anthony Panizzi, in describing the contents of the collection, adds:
'It would naturally be expected that one of the editors of the "Adelphi
Homer" would lose no opportunity of collecting the best and rarest
editions of the Prince of Poets. AEsop, a favourite author of Mr.
Grenville, occurs in his Library in its rarest forms; there is no doubt
that the series of editions of this author in that library is
unrivalled. The great admiration which Mr. Grenville felt for Cardinal
Ximenes, even more on account of the splendid edition of the Polyglot
Bible which that prelate caused to be printed at Alcala, than of his
public character, made him look upon the acquisition of the Moschus, a
book of extreme rarity, as a piece of good fortune. Among the extremely
rare editions of the Latin Classics, in which the Grenville Library
abounds, the unique complete copy of Azzoguidi's first edition of Ovid
is a gem well deserving particular notice, and was considered, on the
whole, by Mr. Grenville himself, the boast of his collection. The Aldine
Virgil of 1505, the rarest of the Aldine editions of this poet, is the
more welcome to the Museum, as it serves to supply a lacuna; the copy
mentioned in the Catalogue of the Royal Collection not having been
transferred to the National Library.
'The rarest editions of English Poets claimed and obtained the special
attention of Mr. Grenville. Hence we find him possessing not only the
first and second edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales by Caxton, but
the only copy known of a hitherto undiscovered edition of the same work
printed in 1498 by Wynkyn de Worde. Of Shakespeare's collected Dramatic
Works, the Grenville Library contains a copy of the first edition,
which, if not the finest known, is at all events surpassed by none. His
strong religious feelings, and his sincere attachment to the
Established Church, as well as his mastery and knowledge of the English
Language, concurred in making him eager to possess the earliest, as well
as the rarest, editions of the translations of the Scriptures in the
vernacular tongue. He succeeded to a great extent; but what deserves
particular mention is the only known fragment of the New Testament in
English, translated by Tyndale and Roy, which was in the press of
Quentell, at Cologne, in 1525, when the printers were obliged to
interrupt the printing, and fly to escape persecution.
'The History of the British Empire, and whatever could illustrate any of
its different portions, were the subject of Mr. Grenville's unremitting
research, and he allowed nothing to escape him deserving to be
preserved, however rare and expensive. Hence his collection of works on
the Divorce of Henry VIII.; that of Voyages and Travels, either by
Englishmen, or to countries at some time more or less connected with
England, or possessed by her; that of contemporary works on the
gathering, advance, and defeat of the "Invincible Armada"; and that of
writings on Ireland,--are more numerous, more valuable, and more
interesting than in any other collection ever made by any person on the
same subjects. Among the Voyages and Travels, the collections of De Bry
and Hulsius are the finest in the world; no other library can boast of
four such fine books as the copies of Hariot's Virginia, in Latin,
German, French, and English of the De Bry series. And it was fitting
that in Mr. Grenville's library should be found one of the only two
copies known of the first edition of this work, printed in London in
1588, wherein an account is given of a colony which had been founded by
his family namesake, Sir Richard Grenville.
'Conversant with the language and literature of Spain, as well as with
that of Italy, the works of imagination by writers of those two
countries are better represented in his library than in any other out of
Spain and Italy; in some branches better even than in any single library
in the countries themselves. No Italian collection can boast of such a
splendid series of early editions of Ariosto's Orlando, one of Mr.
Grenville's favourite authors, nor, indeed, of such choice Romance
Poems. The copy of the first edition of Ariosto is not to be matched for
beauty; of that of Rome, 1533, even the existence was hitherto unknown.
A perfect copy of the first complete edition of the _Morgante Maggiore_
of 1482, was also not known to exist before Mr. Grenville succeeded in
procuring his. Among the Spanish Romances, the copy of that of "Tirant
lo Blanch," printed at Valencia in 1490, is as fine, as clean, and as
white as when it first issued from the press; and no second copy of
this edition of a work professedly translated from English into
Portuguese, and thence into Valencian, is known to exist except in the
library of the Sapienza at Rome.
'But where there is nothing common, it is almost depreciating a
collection to enumerate a few articles as rare. It is a marked feature
of this library, that Mr. Grenville did not collect mere bibliographical
rarities. He never aimed at having a complete set of the editions from
the press of Caxton or Aldus; but Chaucer and Gower by Caxton were
readily purchased, as well as other works which were desirable on other
accounts, besides that of having issued from the press of that printer;
and, when possible, select copies were procured. Some of the rarest, and
these the finest, Aldine editions were purchased by him for the same
reasons. The Horae in Greek, printed by Aldus in 16mo in 1497, is a
volume which, from its language, size, and rarity, is of the greatest
importance for the literary and religious history of the time when it
was printed. It is, therefore, in Mr. Grenville's library. The Virgil of
1501 is not only an elegant book, but it is the first book printed with
that peculiar _Italic_, known as Aldine, and the first volume which
Aldus printed, "forma enchiridii," as he called it, being expressly
adapted to give poor scholars the means of purchasing for a small sum
the works of the classical writers. This also is, therefore, among Mr.
Grenville's books; and of one of the two editions of Virgil, both dated
the same year, 1514, he purchased a large paper copy, because it was the
more correct of the two.
'It was the merit of the work, the elegance of the volume, the "genuine"
condition of the copy, etc., which together determined Mr. Grenville to
purchase books printed on vellum, of which he collected nearly a
hundred. He paid a very large sum for a copy of the Furioso of 1532, not
because it was "on ugly vellum," as he very properly designated it, but
because, knowing the importance of such an edition of such a work, and
never having succeeded in procuring it on paper, he would rather have it
on expensive terms and "ugly vellum," than not at all.
'By the bequest of Mr. Grenville's library, the collection of books
printed on vellum now at the Museum, and comprising those formerly
presented by George II., George III., and Mr. Cracherode, is believed to
surpass that of any other National Library, except the King's Library at
Paris, of which Van Praet justly speaks with pride, and all foreign
competent and intelligent judges with envy and admiration. Injustice to
the Grenville Library, the list of all its vellum books ought here to be
inserted. As this cannot be done, some only of the most remarkable shall
be mentioned. These are--the Greek Anthology of 1494; the Book of
Hawking, of Juliana Berners, of 1496; the first edition of the Bible,
known as the "Mazarine Bible," printed at Mentz about 1454; the Aldine
Dante of 1502; the first Rationale of Durandus of 1459; the first
edition of Fisher On the Psalms, of 1508; the Aldine Horace, Juvenal,
Martial, and Petrarca, of 1501; the Livy of 1469; the Primer of
Salisbury, printed in Paris in 1531; the Psalter of 1457, which supplies
the place of the one now at Windsor, which belonged to the Royal
Collection before it was transferred to the British Museum; the
Sforziada, by Simoneta, of 1490, a most splendid volume even in so
splendid a library; the Theuerdank of 1517; the Aulus Gellius and the
Vitruvius of Giunta, printed in 1513, etc., etc. Of this identical copy
of Vitruvius, formerly Mr. Dent's, the author of the Bibliographical
Decameron wrote, "Let the enthusiastic admirers of a genuine vellum
Junta--of the amplest size and in spotless condition--resort to the
choice cabinet of Mr. Dent for such a copy of this edition of Vitruvius
and Frontinus." The Aulus Gellius is in its original state, exactly as
it was when presented to Lorenzo de' Medici, afterwards Duke of Urbino,
to whom the edition was dedicated.'
In addition to the printed books, the Grenville Library contains
sixty-four manuscripts, many of them being of great interest and value.
The finest of them is a volume of exquisite miniature drawings by
Giulio Clovio, executed by command of Philip II. of Spain, and
representing the victories of the Emperor Charles V. This volume was
formerly in the Escurial. Other notable manuscripts are the original
drawings for Hariot's Virginia in the De Bry collection, made by John
White; Norden's Description of Essex; the Third Voyage of Vespucius in
Latin; and two very interesting documents relating to the Spanish
Armada--one being an original letter from the Lords of the Council to
the Lord High Admiral, regarding the preparation of the fleet, dated
July 21, 1588; and the other, a Resolution of a Council of War, held by
the admirals and captains of the fleet which dispersed the Armada, dated
August 1, 1588. The former of these papers is signed by Chr. Hatton
(Cancs.), W. Burghley, F. Knollys, T. Heneage, Poulet, and J. Wolley;
the latter by C. Howard, George Cumberland, T. Howarde, Edmonde
Sheffeylde, Fr. Drake, Edw. Hoby, John Hawkyns, and Thomas Fenner.
There is a catalogue of Mr. Grenville's library in three parts (London,
1842-72). Parts 1 and 2 were compiled by Messrs. Payne and Foss, the
booksellers of Pall Mall, who bought largely for him; and part 3 by Mr.
W.B. Rye, the late Keeper of the Department of Printed Books, British
Museum.
A portrait of Mr. Grenville by Hoppner has been engraved for Fisher's
_National Portrait Gallery_. There is also a painting of him by Phillips
at Althorp, and a miniature by C. Manzini in the National Portrait
Gallery.
A bust of him, presented by Sir David Dundas, is placed in the room in
the British Museum occupied by his library.
FRANCIS DOUCE, 1757-1834
Francis Douce, who was born in 1757, was a son of Thomas Douce, one of
the Six Clerks of the Court of Chancery. He was first sent to a school
at Richmond, conducted by a Mr. Lawton, author of a work on Egypt, and
afterwards to 'a French academy, kept by a pompous and ignorant
Life-Guardsman, with a view to his learning merchants' accounts, which
were his aversion.' On leaving school he studied for the bar, and for
some time held an appointment, under his father, in the Six Clerks'
Office, but the post was not very congenial to him, as from an early age
he devoted himself to books and antiquities, and he also had a great
passion for music. His father, who died in 1799, bequeathed the greater
part of his property, which was very considerable, to his elder son,
leaving but a comparatively small amount to be divided between Francis
and his sisters, but in 1823 Nollekens, the sculptor, left Douce so
large a portion of his fortune that at the decease of the latter his
property was valued at nearly eighty thousand pounds. In 1807 he
succeeded the Rev. Robert Nares as Keeper of the Manuscripts in the
British Museum, but resigned the post in 1812 in consequence of some
trifling disagreement with one of the trustees. While holding this
office he took part in the preparation of the catalogues of the Harleian
and Lansdowne manuscripts. Douce published in 1807 _Illustrations of
Shakspeare and Ancient Manners_, and in 1833 _The Dance of Death_,
'exhibited in elegant Engravings on wood, with a Dissertation on the
several Representations on that Subject.' The substance of this
Dissertation had appeared about forty years before in illustration of
Hollar's etchings, published by Edwards of Pall Mall, London. In
addition to these works he edited Arnold's _Chronicle_ in 1811, two
books for the Roxburghe Club in 1822 and 1824, and assisted in the
production of Scott's _Sir Tristram_, Smith's _Vagabondiniana_, and the
1824 edition of Warton's _History of English Poetry_. Many papers also
by him are to be found in the _Archaeologia_, the _Vetusta Monumenta_,
and the _Gentleman's Magazine_. Douce was a prominent Fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries, and numbered among his friends Isaac D'Israeli,
the Rev. C.M. Cracherode, Sir George Staunton, Mr. John Towneley, and
Dr. Dibdin, to the last of whom he left five hundred pounds. He is
introduced under the name of _Prospero_ in Dibdin's _Bibliomania_. Douce
died at his residence in Gower Street, London, on the 30th of March
1834, and he left in his will two hundred pounds to Sir Anthony Carlisle
'requesting him either to sever my head or extract the heart from my
body, so as to prevent the possibility of the return of vitality.' His
valuable collection of printed books, which consisted of sixteen
thousand four hundred and eighty volumes, with a quantity of fragments
of early English works, including two printed by Caxton, which are
unique; three hundred and ninety-three manuscripts, many of them
beautifully illuminated; ninety-eight charters; a large number of
valuable drawings and prints; together with a collection of coins and
medals, were left by him to the Bodleian Library. It is said that this
bequest was the result of the courteous reception he received from Dr.
Bandinel, the librarian, when Douce visited Oxford with Isaac D'Israeli
in 1830. The carvings in ivory or other materials, and the miscellaneous
curiosities, were bequeathed to Dr., afterwards Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick,
of Goodrich Castle, Wales, who published an account of them, entitled
_The Doucean Museum_. To the British Museum Douce left a volume of the
works of Albert Duerer which had formerly belonged to Nollekens, his
impressions from monumental brasses, and his 'commented copies of the
blockhead Whitaker's History of Manchester, and his Cornwall Cathedral.'
His will also directs his executor 'to collect together all my letters
and correspondence, all my private manuscripts, and unfinished or even
finished essays or intended work or works, memorandum books, especially
such as are marked in the inside of their covers with a red cross, with
the exception only of such articles as he may think proper to destroy,
as my diaries, or other articles of a merely private nature, and to put
them into a strong box, to be sealed up without lock or key, and with a
brass plate inscribed "Mr. Douce's papers, to be opened on the 1st of
January 1900," and then to deposit this box in the British Museum, or,
if the Trustees should decline receiving it, I then wish it to remain
with the other things bequeathed to the Bodleian Library.' The Trustees
accepted the charge of the box, and it was opened at the time appointed,
but nothing of literary value was found in it.
A catalogue of the printed books, manuscripts, charters and fragments
presented by Douce to the Bodleian was published in 1840, and there is
also a manuscript catalogue of the prints and drawings.
JAMES EDWARDS, 1757-1816
James Edwards, who was so ardent a collector that he directed that his
coffin should be made out of the shelves of his library, was born in
1757. He was the eldest son of William Edwards, an eminent bookseller of
Halifax, Yorkshire, who was noted both for his success in collecting
rare books, and his skill and taste in binding them. In 1784 James
Edwards and, along with him, his younger brother John, were set up by
their father as booksellers in Pall Mall, London, under the title of
Edwards and Sons. John died soon afterwards, but the business was
conducted with great ability and success by the elder brother, who,
Dibdin says, 'travelled diligently and fearlessly abroad; now exploring
the book-gloom of dusty monasteries, and at other times marching in the
rear or front of Bonaparte's armies in Italy.'
Edwards was a bookbinder as well as a bookseller, and in 1785 he took
out a patent for 'embellishing books bound in vellum by making drawings
on the vellum which are not liable to be defaced but by destroying the
vellum itself.' This was accomplished by rendering the vellum
transparent, and then painting or impressing the design on the under
surface. The British Museum possesses a Prayer Book bound by Edwards in
this manner for Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III., which is a
very skilful and artistic piece of work. Both he and his father were
also celebrated for the pretty paintings with which they decorated the
edges of the leaves of the books they bound. In 1788 Edwards,
accompanied by his friend and fellow bookseller James Robson, went to
Venice for the purpose of purchasing the Pinelli Library, which they
brought to England, and sold by auction in the following year. Many
other collections of note were sold by him during the twenty years he
remained in business. Having amassed a considerable fortune, he
determined to retire from trade, and in 1805 purchased the fine old
manor-house at Harrow, which for some time was one of the residences of
the Archbishops of Canterbury. A part of Dibdin's _Bibliographical
Decameron_ was written on the garden terrace of this mansion, Edwards
being the 'Rinaldo' of that work. In consequence of ill-health he
determined in 1815 to part with the remainder of his library (a portion
of the books had been disposed of by Christie on his retirement in
1804), and it was sold by his successor in the Pall Mall business,
Robert Harding Evans, who became so well known as a book auctioneer. The
sale consisted of but eight hundred and thirty lots, but it realised the
large sum of eight thousand four hundred and twenty-one pounds,
seventeen shillings. Edwards died at Harrow on the 2nd of January 1816,
and a monument was erected to his memory in the parish church.
Edwards's collection was not a large one, but it contained some
exceedingly rare and choice manuscripts and printed books. Among the
most precious of the former was the famous Bedford Book of Hours, which
he acquired at the Duchess of Portland's sale in 1786 for two hundred
and thirteen pounds, and which was purchased at his own sale by the
Marquis of Blandford, afterwards Duke of Marlborough, for six hundred
and eighty-seven pounds, fifteen shillings. It is now in the British
Museum. Other fine manuscripts were a copy of the Gospels in Greek,
written in the tenth century; _Opera Horatii_, executed for Ferdinand I.
King of Naples, which realised respectively two hundred and ten and one
hundred and twenty-five pounds; and _Regole e Precetti della Pittura_,
written by Leonardo da Vinci, and illustrated with original drawings by
Nicholas Poussin, which fetched one hundred and two pounds, eighteen
shillings.
Among the printed books were the Latin Bible, on vellum, printed at
Mentz, by Fust and Schoeffer, in 1462, which realised one hundred and
seventy-five pounds; and the first edition of Livy, also on vellum,
printed by Sweynheym and Pannartz at Rome about 1469. This copy, the
only one known on vellum, belonged to Pope Alexander VI., and was bought
by Sir M.M. Sykes for nine hundred and three pounds. It was afterwards
acquired by the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville, and bequeathed by him to
the British Museum. Luther's own copy of the first edition of his
translation of the Bible after his final revision, printed at Wittemberg
in 1541, with MS. notes by himself, Bugenhagen and Melanchthon, which is
also now in the British Museum, sold for eighty-nine pounds, five
shillings; and a splendid set of the _Opere di Piranesi_ for three
hundred and fifteen pounds. A fine and perfect block-book, the _Biblia
Pauperum_, was also among the treasures of the library, and was
purchased by the Duke of Devonshire for two hundred and ten pounds.
GEORGE HIBBERT, 1757-1837
George Hibbert was born at Manchester in the year 1757. His father was
Robert Hibbert, a West India merchant. Destined from his boyhood to a
commercial life, he was educated at a private school, and on leaving
Lancashire he joined a London firm engaged in the West India trade, in
which, first as a junior partner, and afterwards as the head of the
firm, he remained nearly half a century. In 1798 Mr. Hibbert was elected
an alderman, but resigned his gown in 1803, and in 1806 he entered
Parliament as one of the members for Seaford, Sussex, and sat for that
borough until 1812. He was also chairman of the West India merchants,
and agent for Jamaica. The construction of the West India Docks was
largely owing to his exertions, and as one of the original members of
the committee of the London Institution, he took a prominent part in its
foundation and management, and for many years he filled the office of
president. Mr. Hibbert was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in
1811, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in the following year.
He was also a Fellow of the Linnaean Society, and formed at his residence
at Clapham a large collection of exotic plants, many of which were first
introduced into this country by the agents he employed in almost every
part of the globe. He married Elizabeth Margaret, daughter of Mr. Philip
Fonnereau, by whom he had a large family. Mr. Hibbert died on the 8th of
October 1837, at Munden House, near Watford, Hertfordshire, and was
buried in the churchyard of Aldenham, in the same county.
Mr. Hibbert, who was the 'Honorio' of Dibdin's _Bibliographical
Decameron_, was a patron of art, and an enthusiastic collector of books,
pictures, and prints and drawings. He formed a splendid library at his
houses at Clapham, and in Portland Place, London, which is believed to
have cost him at least thirty-five thousand pounds. It contained a
large number of early printed Bibles, and was particularly rich in rare
editions of the French Romances, and of English and Italian Poetry. No
fewer than eighty of the books were printed on vellum. The collection
also comprised twenty-five manuscripts.
When, in 1829, Mr. Hibbert retired to his estate of Munden, which had
been bequeathed to him by Mr. Roger Parker, an uncle of his wife, he
found that the size of his new residence rendered it necessary that he
should dispose of the greater part of his collections, and his library
was sold by auction by Mr. Evans at 93 Pall Mall in three divisions. The
sales occupied altogether forty-two days. The first commenced on the
16th of March, and the last on the 25th of May 1829. There were eight
thousand seven hundred and ninety-four lots, representing about twenty
thousand volumes; and the total amount realised was twenty-one thousand
seven hundred and fifty-three pounds, nine shillings. The books sold for
comparatively small sums. A copy of the sale catalogue, with the prices
obtained for the books and the names of the purchasers, is preserved in
the library of the British Museum.
The following are a few of the principal books in this magnificent
collection, together with the prices they fetched at the sale:--
The Gutenberg Bible, two hundred and fifteen pounds.
The Mentz Psalter of 1459, ninety pounds, six shillings.
The Latin Bible printed by Fust and Schoeffer at Mentz in 1462, one
hundred and twenty-eight pounds, two shillings.
The Latin Bible, printed at Paris in 1476, thirty-two pounds, eleven
shillings.
The Latin Bible, printed by Jenson at Venice in 1479. A very fine copy,
which formerly belonged to Pope Sixtus IV., ninety-eight pounds,
fourteen shillings.
The Complutensian Polyglot Bible, said to have been Cardinal Ximenes's
own copy, for which Mr. Hibbert gave sixteen thousand one hundred francs
at the sale, five hundred and twenty-five pounds.
Luther's own copy of the first edition of his translation of the Bible
after his final revision. This volume, which is now in the British
Museum, contains his autograph, and also the autographs of Bugenhagen,
Melanchthon, and G. Major, two hundred and sixty-seven pounds.
The first and second editions of Cicero's _Officia_, printed by Fust and
Schoeffer at Mentz in 1465 and 1466, eighty-two pounds, ten shillings;
and fifty-nine pounds.
Cicero's _Epistolae ad Familiares_, printed by Joannes de Spira at Venice
in 1469, eighty pounds.
Petrarch's _Sonetti, Canzoni e Trionfi_, printed by Jenson at Venice in
1473; the only copy known on vellum, eighty pounds, seventeen shillings.
A presentation copy to Cardinal Sforza of the _Sforziada_, printed at
Milan in 1490; in the original velvet binding, with silver knops, one
hundred and sixty-eight pounds. The last two volumes are now preserved
in the Grenville Library in the British Museum.
_Poliphili Hypnerotomachia_, printed by Aldus at Venice in 1499,
eighty-two pounds, nineteen shillings.
_Missale Vallisumbrose_, printed by Lucantonio di Giunta at Venice in
1503, sixty-four pounds, one shilling.
All the above books are printed on vellum. The library also contained
several fine block-books: the first edition of the _Speculum Humanae
Salvationis_, the _Apocalypsis_, and the first edition of _Ars
Memorandi_, which sold respectively for eighty pounds; thirty-one
pounds, ten shillings; and twenty-six pounds, ten shillings. The
_Catholicon_ of Joannes Balbus de Janua, printed at Mentz in 1460, and
five Caxtons: the first edition of the _Dictes or Sayings of the
Philosophers, Fayts of Arms_, the second edition of the _Mirrour of the
World_, the _Recuyell of the Histories of Troye_, and the _Royal Book_,
were to be found in the collection. Thirty-six pounds, four shillings
and sixpence was obtained for the _Catholicon_, and three hundred and
thirty-nine pounds, thirteen shillings and sixpence for the Caxtons. Of
these the _Recuyell_ fetched the highest price--one hundred and
fifty-seven pounds, ten shillings. Some other notable books in this
marvellous library were the Dante, printed at Florence in 1481, which
realised forty pounds, nineteen shillings; the first edition of the
_Teseide_ of Boccaccio, which was disposed of for one hundred and sixty
pounds; a very fine copy of Smith's _Historie of Virginia_, which sold
for thirteen guineas; and the first four folio Shakespeares. The prices
obtained for these were eighty-five pounds, one shilling; thirteen
pounds; twenty-four pounds; and three pounds, nine shillings.
The more important manuscripts were _Praeparatio ad Missam_, written and
illuminated for Pope Leo X., which fetched ninety-nine pounds, fifteen
shillings; _Droits d'Armes et de Noblesse_, ninety-four pounds, ten
shillings; _Roman de la Rose_, eighty-four pounds; _Missale Romanum_,
sixty-one pounds, nineteen shillings; and _Romant des Trois
Pelerinages_, thirty-one pounds, ten shillings. These were all written
on vellum.
In 1819 Mr. Hibbert printed for the Roxburghe Club, from a manuscript
preserved in the Pepysian Library at Magdalen College, Cambridge, _Six
Bookes of Metamorphoseos by Ovyde_, translated from the French by
Caxton, together with some prefatory remarks by himself.
REV. CHARLES BURNEY, D.D., 1757-1817
Charles Burney, the second son of Charles Burney, the author of _The
History of Music_, was born at Lynn, Norfolk, in the early part of
December (the exact date is uncertain) 1757. He was educated at the
Charterhouse, and Caius College, Cambridge, but left the University
without taking a degree. He afterwards became a student of King's
College, Aberdeen, where he graduated M.A. in 1781. After leaving the
College he devoted himself to educational work, and for a short time was
an assistant master at Highgate School, which he left to join Dr.
William Rose, the translator of Sallust, in his school at Chiswick. In
1786, having married Rose's second daughter in 1783, he opened a school
of his own at Hammersmith, which he carried on until 1793, when he
removed to Greenwich, and there established a very flourishing academy,
which in 1813 he made over to his son, the Rev. Charles Parr Burney.
Late in life (1807) Burney took orders, and was appointed to the Rectory
of St. Paul's, Deptford, Kent, and in a short time after to the Rectory
of Cliffe in the same county. In 1811 he was made Chaplain to the King,
and in 1817, a few months before his death, he was collated to a
prebendal stall in Lincoln Cathedral. He received the degree of LL.D.
from the Universities of Aberdeen and Glasgow in 1792, the degree of
M.A. was conferred on him by Cambridge University in 1808, and that of
D.D. by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1812. Burney, who was the friend
and companion of Dr. Parr and Professor Porson, wrote several works on
the Greek and Latin Classics, as well as one or two of a theological
nature. He died of apoplexy at Deptford on the 28th of December 1817,
and a monument to his memory was erected in Westminster Abbey by a
number of his old scholars.
Dr. Burney realised a considerable fortune by his scholastic work, and
the money which he thus acquired enabled him to form a library of nearly
thirteen thousand five hundred volumes of printed books, and five
hundred and twenty manuscripts. Among the latter was the Towneley Homer,
believed to be of the thirteenth century, and valued at six hundred
guineas. The library was particularly rich in the Greek Classics,
especially the dramatists; comprising as many as one hundred and
sixty-six editions of Euripides, one hundred and two of Sophocles, and
forty-seven of AEschylus, the margins of a large proportion of the
classical books being covered with notes in Burney's hand, in addition
to those by the Stephens, Bentley, Markland, and others. Another very
interesting feature of the library was the large number of English
newspapers it contained. These papers, which reached from the reign of
James I. until nearly the end of that of George III., were bound in
about seven hundred volumes, and now form the basis of the splendid
collection in the British Museum. Dr. Burney also amassed from three to
four hundred volumes containing materials for a history of the British
Stage, and several thousand portraits of literary and theatrical
personages. On the death of the Doctor his library was purchased for the
British Museum for the sum of thirteen thousand five hundred pounds.
GEORGE JOHN, SECOND EARL SPENCER, 1758-1834
George John, second Earl Spencer, was born on the 1st of September 1758.
He was the only son of John Spencer, who was created Viscount Spencer of
Althorp in 1761, and Earl Spencer in 1765, and grandson of John, the
youngest son of Charles Spencer, third Earl of Sunderland. At seven
years of age he was placed under the tutorship of William Jones, the
famous Orientalist, who was afterwards knighted, with whom he made two
Continental tours. Jones resigned his charge in 1770, when Lord Althorp
was sent to Harrow, and, on leaving school, to Trinity College,
Cambridge. In 1780 he entered Parliament as member for Northampton, and
on the formation of the second Rockingham Ministry in March 1782 he
became a Commissioner of the new Treasury Board. On the death of his
father in 1783, Lord Althorp (who had married in 1781 Lavinia, eldest
daughter of Charles, first Lord Lucan) succeeded to the title, and in
1784 was sent with Mr. Thomas Grenville on a special mission to the
Court of Vienna. During his absence from England, on the 19th of July in
that year, he was made Lord Privy Seal in Mr. Pitt's Ministry, which
office he resigned in the following December for that of First Lord of
the Admiralty, a post which he held with great credit for upwards of six
years. After his retirement from the Admiralty in February 1801, Lord
Spencer remained out of office until February 1806, when he accepted the
Secretaryship of State for the Home Department in the Grenville-Fox
Ministry. On the dissolution of that ministry in March 1807, he finally
retired from office, but continued to take part in the debates in the
House of Lords. He died on the 10th of November 1834, and was succeeded
by his eldest son John Charles.
Lord Spencer was a most energetic and enlightened collector of books,
and the magnificent library which, until the year 1892, was one of the
glories of Althorp, testifies to the skill and liberality with which he
collected them. A taste for literature and a love of books were
developed in Lord Spencer at an early age, and he was but thirty-two
when he acquired the choice collection of Count Reviczky, a Hungarian
nobleman, which at once placed his library among the more important
private collections of the time. He also bought largely at the Mason,
Herbert, Roxburghe, Alchorne, and other sales, and after the dispersion
of the famous library at White Knights in 1819 he was able to acquire,
at a cost of seven hundred and fifty pounds, the copy of the Valdarfer
Boccaccio for which he had vainly bid two thousand two hundred and fifty
pounds seven years before at the Roxburghe sale. In the years 1819 and
1820 he made a bibliographical tour on the Continent, during which,
among other purchases, he acquired the library of the Duke of
Cassano-Serra, which contained some very rare fifteenth century books.
Lord Spencer was considerably assisted in the formation of his famous
collection by his librarian, the well-known Dr. Thomas Frognall Dibdin,
the author of _Bibliomania, The Bibliographical Decameron_, and other
pleasant and gossiping, but somewhat verbose and not particularly
accurate, works on books, their printers and owners. Dibdin's services
were liberally rewarded; and Edwards, in his work _Libraries and
Founders of Libraries_, states that in addition to his stipend as
librarian, 'Lord Spencer insured his librarian's life for the advantage
of his family. Lord Spencer also gave him the vicarage of Exning, in
Suffolk, in 1823, and obtained for him, on Episcopal recommendation, the
rectory of St. Mary, Bryanstone Square, at the end of the same year.'
Dibdin was the first to suggest the establishment of the Roxburghe Club,
of which he became vice-president. He died in 1847.
The collection at Althorp, which Renouard described as 'the most
beautiful and richest private library in Europe,' amounted in 1892 to
about forty-one thousand five hundred volumes. Other private libraries
have possessed more books, but none could boast of choicer ones. It
contained the earliest dated example of wood-engraving--the figure of
St. Christopher, with the date 1423; and no less than fourteen
block-books, comprising three editions of the _Ars Moriendi_, three of
the _Speculum Humanae Salvationis_, two of the _Apocalypsis S. Johannis_,
together with copies of the _Biblia Pauperum_, _Ars Memorandi_,
_Historia Virginis ex Cantico Canticorum_, _Wie die fuenfzehen zaichen
kimen vor dem hingsten tag_, the _Enndchrist_, and _Mirabilia Romae_. It
was particularly rich in Bibles, among which were the Gutenberg and
Bamberg Bibles, the Coverdale Bible of 1535, and a magnificent copy of
the Antwerp Polyglot, once the property of De Thou. It also contained
the first and second Mentz Psalters. The Classics, too, were splendidly
represented. The editions of works by Cicero numbered upwards of
seventy, about fifty of which were printed before 1473; while fifteen of
those of Virgil were prior to the year 1476. Among these were the second
edition by Sweynheym and Pannartz, most probably printed in 1471, which
is not less rare than the first, and the famous 'Adam' edition, which
issued from the press in that year. These two volumes were obtained from
the library of the King of Wirtemberg, Dibdin making a special journey
to Stuttgart to purchase them. The library also possessed a large number
of the early editions of Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and other Italian
Classics; and no less than fifty-two Caxtons, three of them unique, were
to be found on its shelves. A splendid descriptive catalogue of the
library, entitled 'Bibliotheca Spenceriana,' was compiled by Dibdin in
the years 1814-23.
Lord Spencer maintained his interest in his books to the end of his
life, and in the year before that of his death he wrote to Dibdin, 'I am
trying my hand at a Classed Catalogue.'
In August 1892 this noble collection was purchased by Mrs. Rylands,
widow of the late Mr. John Rylands, of Longford Hall, near Manchester,
for a sum which was said to be little less than a quarter of a million
sterling; and on the 6th of October 1899 she presented it, together
with a handsome building for its reception, to the city of Manchester,
in memory of her husband. An excellent catalogue, both of the printed
books and the manuscripts, in three handsome quarto volumes, compiled by
Mr. Gordon Duff, the librarian, accompanied this munificent gift.
SIR RICHARD COLT HOARE, BART., 1758-1838
Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart., the historian of Wiltshire, was born on
the 9th of December 1758. He was the son of Richard Hoare, Esq., of Barn
Elms, Surrey (who was created a baronet in 1786), by Anne, second
daughter of Henry Hoare, Esq., of Stourhead, Wiltshire, and of Susanna,
daughter and heiress of Stephen Colt, Esq. He was privately educated,
and at an early age entered the family bank (Messrs. Hoare's Bank, Fleet
Street, London). In his work, _Pedigrees and Memoirs of the Families of
Hore_, etc., he writes:--'Blessed by my parents with the advantages of a
good education, I thereby acquired a love of literature and of drawing;
of which, in my more advanced years, I feel the inestimable advantage.
Destined, as I imagined, for an active and commercial life, I was
unexpectedly and agreeably surprised to hear, shortly after my
marriage, that my generous grandfather had intentions to remove me from
the banking business, and to settle me on his estate in Wiltshire; which
he put into execution during his lifetime, by making over to me all his
landed property, with their appendages, at Stourhead and in the
adjoining counties.' In 1783 Hoare married Hester, only daughter of Lord
Westcote, afterwards created Lord Lyttelton, who died in 1785, leaving a
son Henry Richard. In 1787, on the death of his father, he succeeded to
the baronetcy. After the decease of his wife he made an extensive tour
on the Continent, visiting France, Italy, Switzerland and Spain. In 1787
he returned home, but in the following year he paid a second visit to
the Continent, and did not return to England until August 1791. During
these tours he made a large number of drawings of interesting objects,
and 'for the gratification of his family and friends' printed an account
of his travels in four volumes. When he was no longer able to travel on
the Continent in consequence of the French revolutionary war, Sir R.C.
Hoare made a tour through Wales, taking Giraldus Cambrensis as a guide,
and in 1806 he published a translation of the _Itinerarium Cambriae_ of
Giraldus in two handsome volumes. He also contributed sixty-three
drawings to Archdeacon Coxe's _Historical Tour in Monmouthshire_, which
appeared in 1801. In 1807 he paid a visit to Ireland, and printed a
short account of his excursion. In 1812 Hoare published in London the
first part of his great work, the _Ancient History of Wiltshire_, which
he completed in two volumes in 1821. This was followed by the _Modern
History of Wiltshire_ in fourteen parts, London, 1822-24, which was left
unfinished at the time of his death. Hoare was the author of many works
in addition to those already mentioned, some of which were intended only
for private circulation. A list of them will be found in the Catalogue
of the Hoare Library at Stourhead, compiled by John Bowyer Nichols in
1840. Hoare, who was a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Society of
Antiquaries, died at Stourhead on the 19th of May 1838. His only son
predeceased him, and the baronetcy and estates devolved on his eldest
half-brother, Henry Hugh Hoare of Wavendon, Buckinghamshire.
Sir R.C. Hoare possessed a noble library at Stourhead. The foundation of
it no doubt was laid by his grandfather, Henry Hoare, whose bookplate
occurs on many of the volumes, but it was Sir R.C. Hoare who brought
together the magnificent collection of books on British topography,
which was probably the finest private one ever formed. The water-colour
drawings, the books of prints, and the engravings in the library were
remarkable for their beauty, and had been selected with great judgment
and taste. During his travels on the Continent between the years 1785
and 1791 Hoare acquired a large number of books relative to the history
and topography of Italy. Of these he printed in 1812 a separate
catalogue, the impression of which was limited to twelve copies. In 1825
he presented this collection to the British Museum, together with a copy
of the catalogue, upon the fly-leaf of which he has written:--'Anxious
to follow the liberal example of our gracious monarch George the Fourth,
of Sir George Beaumont, Bart., of Richd. Payne Knight, Esq. (tho' in a
very humble degree) I do give unto the British Museum, this my
Collection of Topography, made during a residence of five years
abroad--and hoping that the more modern publications may be added to it
hereafter. Rich. Colt Hoare, A.D. 1825.' The Stourhead library was sold
by auction on Monday, the 30th of July 1883 and seven following days, by
Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge. The books, engravings and drawings, of
which there were one thousand nine hundred and seventy-one lots,
realised ten thousand and twenty-eight pounds, six shillings and
sixpence. On the 9th of December 1887, and three following days, some
more books belonging to the library were sold for one thousand three
hundred and ninety-two pounds, eleven shillings and sixpence. The prices
obtained for many of the books were exceptionally high.
WILLIAM BECKFORD, 1759-1844
William Beckford, the author of _Vathek_, was born at Fonthill,
Wiltshire on the 29th of September 1759. He was the only legitimate
child of Alderman William Beckford, who was twice Lord Mayor of London,
and who died in 1770, leaving his son property worth upwards of one
hundred thousand pounds a year. Beckford amassed at his residence at
Fonthill a magnificent collection of books, pictures, furniture and
curiosities of all kinds, but his extravagance and the depreciation of
his West India property compelled him in 1823 to sell Fonthill and the
greater part of its contents. He, however, retained a portion of his
library and the best of his pictures, and removed them to Lansdown
Tower, Bath, which he built on leaving Fonthill, and where he continued
to add to his collections. Beckford married in 1783 Margaret, daughter
of Charles, fourth Earl of Aboyne, by whom he had two daughters--Margaret
and Susan Euphemia--the elder of whom married Colonel Orde, and the
younger the Marquis of Douglas, who afterwards became Duke of Hamilton.
The elder daughter having offended her father by her marriage with
Colonel Orde, he left all his property to the Duchess of Hamilton.
After Beckford's death on May the 2nd, 1844, the Duke of Hamilton
wished to sell the library to Mr. Henry Bohn, who was willing to give
thirty thousand pounds for it, but the Duchess objected to part with
her father's books, and they were removed to Hamilton Palace, but
kept separate from the noble library which already existed there.
In the years 1882, 1883 and 1884 both these splendid collections
were sold. The sale, or rather sales, of the Beckford books, for the
collection was divided into four portions, took place at the auction
rooms of Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, and lasted altogether forty days;
the first sale commencing on the 30th of June 1882 and lasting twelve
days, and the last on the 27th of November 1883, and continuing for four
days. The total number of lots in the four sales was nine thousand eight
hundred and thirty-seven, and the amount realised seventy-three thousand
five hundred and fifty-one pounds, eighteen shillings.
[Illustration: WILLIAM BECKFORD. From a Medallion by Singleton.]
Beckford's library was rich in fine early printed books, rare voyages
and travels, and choice French, Spanish and Italian works, but it was
chiefly remarkable for its superb collection of beautiful and historical
bindings. It contained a large number of volumes from the libraries of
Grolier, Maioli, Lauwrin, Canevari, De Thou, Peiresc, and other
distinguished collectors, and also examples of bindings bearing the arms
and devices of Francis I. of France, Henry II. and Diana of Poitiers,
Charles IX., Henry III., Henry IV., Louis XIII., Anne of Austria, etc.;
many of the volumes being bound by Nicolas and Clovis Eve, Le Gascon,
Padeloup, Derome, Monnier and other famous French binders. Very high
prices were obtained for many of these splendid books--_Lactantii
Opera_, printed in the Monastery of Subiaco by Sweynheym and Pannartz in
1465, sold for two hundred and eighty-five pounds; _Biblia Latina_,
printed on vellum by N. Jenson at Venice in 1476, three hundred and
thirty pounds; _Livre de Bien Vivre_, on vellum, finely illuminated,
Paris, A. Verard, 1492, three hundred and thirty pounds; _Philostrati
Vita Apollonii Tyanei_, printed by Aldus at Venice in 1502, Grolier's
copy, bound in red morocco, three hundred pounds; _Lucanus_, printed by
Aldus in 1515, Grolier's copy, bound in marbled calf, two hundred and
ninety pounds; _Tirante il Bianco_, Vinegia, 1538, red morocco, from the
library of Demetrio Canevari, one hundred and eleven pounds; _Entree de
Henry II. en Paris 6 Juing_ 1549, etc., with the arms and cypher of de
Thou on the binding, four hundred and seventy pounds; _Psalmorum
Paraphrasis Poetica_, by G. Buchanan, beautifully bound in olive
morocco, with the arms and cypher of De Thou, three hundred and ten
pounds; _Livre de la Conqueste de la Toison d'Or par le Prince Jason_,
par J. Gohory, Paris, 1563, in a beautiful binding by Nicolas Eve, with
the arms of the Duke of Guise painted on the covers, four hundred and
five pounds; _Poliphile Hypnerotomachie_, Paris, 1561, bound in blue
morocco by Nicolas Eve for Louise de Lorraine, two hundred and twenty
pounds; _Portraits des Rois, Hommes et Dames Illustres_, etc., a series
of the engraved works of Sir Anthony Vandyck, including his own
etchings, in three large folio volumes, two thousand eight hundred and
fifty pounds; _Decor Puellarum_, printed by N. Jenson at Venice in 1471,
in a splendid binding by Monnier--blue morocco, with flowers in various
leathers, and with silk linings, five hundred and thirty pounds; and
_Longi Pastoralia_, printed on vellum by P. Didot at Paris for Junot,
Duke of Abrantes, with drawings by Prud'hon and F. Gerard, nine hundred
pounds.
Beckford wrote other works besides _Vathek_, several of which he left in
manuscript, and a large number of his books contained notes in his
handwriting.
FREDERICK NORTH, FIFTH EARL OF GUILFORD, 1766-1827
Frederick North, fifth Earl of Guilford, was born on the 7th of February
1766. He was the third and youngest son of Frederick, second Earl, Prime
Minister from January 1770 to March 1782. When his health, which was
very delicate, permitted, he went to Eton, and afterwards became a
student of Christ Church, Oxford. He was created D.C.L. in 1793, and
received the same degree by diploma in 1819. In 1779, through his
father's interest, he obtained the sinecure of one of the Chamberlains
of the Tally Court of the Exchequer, and in 1794 he was appointed to the
Comptrollership of the Customs of the Port of London, when he resigned
the representation of the family borough of Banbury, to which he had
succeeded when his eldest brother, George Augustus, came to the Earldom
in 1792. North was Secretary of State to the Viceroy of the Ionian
Islands during 1795 and 1796, and in 1798 he was made Governor of
Ceylon, a post he held until July 1805. On the death of his brother
Francis, the fourth Earl, in 1817, he succeeded to the Earldom of
Guilford, and in 1819 he was created a Knight Grand Cross of the Order
of St. Michael and St. George. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and
a Member of the Eumelean Club. Lord Guilford, who had been received into
the Eastern Church at Corfu in 1791, died unmarried in London on the
14th of October 1827, and was succeeded by his cousin, the Rev. Francis
North, Prebendary of Winchester and Master of the Hospital of St. Cross.
Lord Guilford was a distinguished scholar, and a most accomplished
linguist. He took the greatest interest in everything relating to Greek
literature and art, and it was principally through his exertions, and
with his money, that a University was founded in 1824 at Corfu, of which
he was the first chancellor, and in which he resided until 1827, when he
was obliged to return to England on account of his health. He left his
collections of printed books, manuscripts, etc., at Corfu to the
University, but in consequence of its failure to comply with certain
conditions which accompanied the bequest, it was not carried out. Lord
Guilford's fine library was sold by Evans, in seven parts, in the years
1828, 1829, 1830, and 1835. The first sale took place on December 15th,
1828, and eight following days; and the others on January 12th, 1829,
and five following days; February 28th, 1829, and two following days;
December 8th, 1830, and four following days; December 20th, 1830, and
four following days; January 5th, 1831, and three following days; and
November 9th, 1835, and seven following days. The last three sales were
of the manuscripts and books removed from Corfu. There were eight
thousand five hundred and eleven lots in the seven sales, which realised
twelve thousand one hundred and seventy-eight pounds, ten shillings and
sixpence.
Lord Guilford's collection was an excellent one, and, as might be
expected, the Greek manuscripts in it were particularly numerous and
choice. The printed books were good, but they were not equal to the
manuscripts either in interest or value. Among the latter was the
original manuscript of Tasso's _Gerusalemme Liberata_, with some
alterations of verses in the margin, likewise in the handwriting of
Tasso. This sold for two hundred and four pounds, fifteen shillings.
Four Greek manuscripts of the eleventh century: a copy of the Four
Gospels; the Greek Offices, with Intonations or Musical Directions for
Chanting; an Evangelistarium and Menologium of the Greek Church; and
Josephus's _Historia de Bello Judaico_, deserve special notice on
account of their beauty and rarity. These fetched at the sale
respectively one hundred and two pounds, eighteen shillings; one hundred
and seventy-three pounds, five shillings; seventy-three pounds, ten
shillings; and two hundred and seventy-three pounds. Another interesting
manuscript was a copy of the New Testament in Glagolitic characters,
which realised one hundred and sixty-eight pounds. Among the printed
books may be mentioned a large paper copy of the first edition of the
Sixtine Bible, printed at Rome in 1590, and suppressed by order of
Gregory XIV., on account of the numerous inaccuracies in it, which
realised sixty-three pounds; and the Duke of Northumberland's _Concio ad
Populum Londinensem_, printed at Rome in 1570, of which the only other
known copy is in the library of the Vatican, for which forty-two pounds
was obtained.
GEORGE SPENCER CHURCHILL, FIFTH DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH, 1766-1840
George Spencer Churchill, fifth Duke of Marlborough, the collector of
the famous library at White Knights, near Reading, Berkshire, was the
elder son of George, fourth Duke of Marlborough, by Caroline, only
daughter of John, fourth Duke of Bedford. He was born on the 6th of
March 1766, and was educated at Eton, and subsequently at Christ Church,
Oxford, graduating M.A. in 1786 and D.C.L. in 1792. At the general
election in 1790 he was returned to Parliament as one of the members for
Oxfordshire, and in August 1804 he was appointed a Lord of the Treasury,
which office he held until February 1806. On the 12th of March in the
same year he was called to the House of Lords as Baron Spencer of
Wormleighton, and on the death of his father on the 29th of January 1817
he succeeded to the dukedom. In the May following he was authorised to
take and use the name of Churchill after that of Spencer, and to bear
the arms of Churchill quarterly with those of Spencer, in order to
perpetuate in his family the surname of his celebrated ancestor, John,
first Duke of Marlborough. He married, on the 15th of September 1791,
Susan, second daughter of John, seventh Earl of Galloway, by whom he had
issue four sons and two daughters. He died on the 5th of March 1840, and
was succeeded by his eldest son, George.
The splendid library which the Duke of Marlborough, while Marquis of
Blandford, collected at White Knights was one of the finest in the
kingdom. Its two great treasures were the Bedford Book of Hours, now in
the British Museum, purchased by the Duke in 1815 at the sale of the
library of James Edwards, for the sum of six hundred and ninety-eight
pounds, five shillings; and the edition of Boccaccio's _Decameron_,
printed by Valdarfer at Venice in 1471, which he acquired at the Duke of
Roxburghe's sale in 1812, after a spirited contest with his relative,
Earl Spencer, at the enormous price of two thousand two hundred and
sixty pounds. This copy, Edward Edwards tells us (_Libraries and
Founders of Libraries_), had been offered to Lord Sunderland for a
hundred guineas just a century before one of his great-grandsons offered
more than two thousand guineas for it, and was outbidden by another.
Among many other choice manuscripts and rare books the library contained
a beautiful Missal, said to have been executed for Diana of Poitiers; no
fewer than eighteen Caxtons; the _Bokys of Hawkyng and Huntyng_, printed
at St. Albans in 1486; a large number of very rare books from the
presses of Machlinia, Pynson, Wynkyn de Worde, and other early English
printers; a copy on vellum of the first edition of Luther's translation
of the Bible after his final revision; a collection of Churchyard's
Works in two volumes; many of the early editions of Shakespeare's plays,
together with the first edition of his _Sonnets_; and Ireland's account
of the Shakesperian Forgery, in his own handwriting. The collection was
especially rich in missals, books of emblems, and Italian, Spanish, and
French romances of chivalry, poetry, and facetiae.
The extravagance of the Duke compelled him to dispose of his magnificent
collection during his lifetime, and it was sold in two parts by Mr.
Evans at 26 Pall Mall. The sale, which consisted of four thousand seven
hundred and one lots, commenced on the 7th of June 1819 and lasted till
the 3rd of July following. It realised but fourteen thousand four
hundred and eighty-two pounds, ten shillings and sixpence, a much less
sum than that paid for the books by the Duke. The Valdarfer Boccaccio
sold for nine hundred and eighteen pounds, fifteen shillings, and the
Caxtons fetched one thousand three hundred and sixteen pounds, twelve
shillings and sixpence; the highest prices being obtained for Gower's
_Confessio Amantis_, and Chaucer's _Troylus and Creside_, which realised
two hundred and five pounds, sixteen shillings, and one hundred and
sixty-two pounds, fifteen shillings. The Book of St. Albans, which was
imperfect, fetched eighty-four pounds; Luther's translation of the
Bible, two hundred and twenty pounds, ten shillings; Churchyard's Works,
eighty-five pounds, one shilling; and Shakespeare's _Sonnets_,
thirty-seven pounds. The Missal said to have been written for Diana of
Poitiers sold for one hundred and ten pounds, five shillings.
ALEXANDER, TENTH DUKE OF HAMILTON, 1767-1852
A good library had no doubt existed in Hamilton Palace for a
considerable period of time, but Alexander, tenth Duke of Hamilton, who
was born on the 5th of October 1767, and died on the 18th of August
1852, was the first of his line who was a book-collector on an extensive
scale. He formed a large and very choice collection of printed books,
but that of his manuscripts was of still greater interest and value. It
was wonderfully rich in Bibles and portions of the Scriptures, Missals,
Breviaries and Books of Hours, many of them having been written and
illuminated for Francis I., King of France, the Emperor Maximilian, Pope
Leo X., the Duke of Guise, and other distinguished personages. The
finest of these was a copy of the Gospels in Latin, known as 'The Golden
Gospels,' written about the end of the eighth century in gold letters
upon purple vellum, which was at one time the property of King Henry
VIII. Another famous manuscript in the library, valued at five thousand
pounds, was the _Divina Commedia_ of Dante, illustrated with upwards of
eighty original designs attributed to Sandro Botticelli, now in the
Royal Library at Berlin.
In addition to his own books, the Duke acquired the whole of William
Beckford's splendid collection by his marriage with Beckford's daughter
Susan Euphemia. William, the eleventh Duke, who was born on February the
19th, 1811, and died on July the 15th, 1863, added considerably to the
library, but his successor was reluctantly obliged to part with it, and
it was advertised to be sold by auction on June 30th, 1882. Before,
however, the time appointed for the sale, the Royal Museum at Berlin, by
a private arrangement, acquired the whole of the manuscripts for a sum
which is believed to have amounted to about seventy-five thousand
pounds, and they were divided between that Institution and the Royal
Library at Berlin. A portion of them, which related to Scottish history,
was purchased of the Prussian authorities by the British Museum; and
ninety-one other manuscripts which were not required by the Berlin
Museum, including the 'Golden Gospels,' were sent to Sotheby, Wilkinson
and Hodge, by whom they were sold on the 23rd of May 1889 for fifteen
thousand one hundred and eighty-nine pounds, ten shillings and sixpence.
The 'Golden Gospels' was bought by Mr. Quaritch for one thousand five
hundred pounds. The printed books were sold by the same auctioneers on
May 1st, 1884, and seven following days. The sale consisted of two
thousand one hundred and thirty-six lots, and realised twelve thousand
eight hundred and ninety-two pounds, twelve shillings and sixpence. The
following are a few of the rarest and most interesting books, and the
prices they fetched--_Boecius de Consolatione Philosophie_, printed by
Caxton in 1477-78, one hundred and sixty pounds; Dante's _Commedia_,
printed at Florence in 1481, with twenty engravings by Baccio Baldini,
three hundred and eighty pounds; the Poems of Pindar in Greek, printed
by Aldus in 1513, with the arms of France and the monogram and devices
of Henry II. and Diana of Poitiers on the binding, one hundred and
forty-one pounds; the Prince of Conde's copy of _L'Hystoire du Roy
Perceforest_, Paris, 1528, with his arms on the covers, one hundred and
eighteen pounds; a dedication copy, printed upon vellum, and bound for
James V., King of Scotland, of Hector Boece's _History and Croniklis_,
translated by Bellenden, and printed at Edinburgh in 1536, the binding
having on the upper cover IACOBVS QVINTVS, and on the lower REX
SCOTORVM, eight hundred pounds; a Collection of Architectural Designs,
executed with pen and ink by J. Androuet du Cerceau, in a beautiful
binding attributed to Clovis Eve, two hundred and forty pounds; De Bry's
_Collectiones Peregrinationum_, in eleven volumes, bound in blue morocco
by Derome, five hundred and sixty pounds; Book of Common Prayer, 1637,
folio--King Charles I.'s copy, with numerous alterations in his own
handwriting which were used in printing the Scottish Prayer-book of the
same year, usually termed Laud's Book. Prefixed to the Order for Morning
Prayer the King has written: 'Charles R.--I gave the Archbp. of
Canterbury comand to make the alteracons expressed in this Book and to
fit a Liturgy for the Church of Scotland, and wheresoever they shall
differ from another Booke signed by us at Hampt. Court Septembr. 28,
1634, our pleasure is to have these followed rather than the former;
unless the Archbp. of St. Andrews and his Brethren who are upon the
place shall see apparent reason to the contrary. At Whitehall, April 19,
1636'--one hundred and thirty-seven pounds.
The paintings and objects of art belonging to the Duke of Hamilton were
sold in July 1882, and realised three hundred and ninety-seven thousand
pounds.
SIR MARK MASTERMAN SYKES, BART., 1771-1823
Sir Mark Masterman Sykes, Bart., was the eldest son of Sir Christopher
Sykes, second baronet, of Sledmere, Yorkshire. He was born on the 20th
of August 1771, and in his seventeenth year was sent to Brasenose
College, Oxford. In 1795 he served the office of High Sheriff of
Yorkshire, and on the death of his father in 1801 he succeeded to the
title and estates. He was elected Member of Parliament for the city of
York in 1807; was again returned in 1812 and 1813, and retired on
account of ill health in 1820. Sir M. Masterman Sykes was twice married.
His first wife was Henrietta, daughter and heiress of Henry Masterman of
Settrington, Yorkshire, and on his union with her in 1795 he assumed the
additional name of Masterman. She died in 1813, and in the following
year he married Mary Elizabeth, daughter of William Tatton Egerton, and
sister of Wilbraham Tatton Egerton, of Tatton Park, who survived him.
Sir Mark died at Weymouth, on his way to London, on the 16th of February
1823. He had no children, and was succeeded by his brother, Sir Tatton
Sykes.
Sir M. Masterman Sykes early developed a love for books, and the
magnificent library which he formed, one of the finest private
collections in England, was the result of upwards of thirty years'
unremitting and careful work. Some of the rare volumes it contained, we
are informed in the preface to the sale catalogue of his library written
by the Rev. H.J. Todd, 'were procured during the collector's travels
abroad, but many of them were acquired at the dispersion of the
libraries of Major Pearson, Dr. Farmer, Steevens, Reed, the Rev. Mr.
Brand, the Duke of Roxburghe and others, but especially of that of the
late Mr. Edwards, from whom the celebrated Livy of 1469 was
obtained--the only known copy of the first edition of Livy on vellum.'
Among the principal treasures of the collection were the Gutenberg
Bible; the Psalter of 1459, on vellum; the _Rationale Divinorum
Officiorum_ of Durandus, on vellum, 1459; the _Catholicon_ of Joannes
Balbus de Janua, 1460; the Latin Bible of 1462, on vellum; and the
Epistles of St. Jerome, on vellum, 1470: all printed at Mentz.
The library was especially rich in early editions of the Greek and Latin
Classics, and on its shelves were to be found the only copy known to
exist on vellum of the first edition of Livy, printed at Rome by
Sweynheym and Pannartz about 1469, to which we have already referred;
the first edition of Pliny, printed by Joannes de Spira at Venice in
1469; that printed at Rome by Sweynheym and Pannartz in 1470; a copy on
vellum of the beautiful 1472 edition from the press of Nicolas Jenson of
Venice; and the earliest editions of Homer, Cicero, Horace, Virgil,
Tacitus, Terence, and Valerius Maximus.
The library also contained the Dante printed at Foligno in 1472, and
that printed at Florence in 1481; the first issue of the Latin
translation of the Letter of Columbus, printed at Rome in 1493; a fine
copy of the _Poliphili Hypnerotomachia_, printed by Aldus at Venice in
1499; the Aldine Petrarch of 1501; several rare Missals and Books of
Hours, the most notable of them being a vellum copy of the Vallombrosa
Missal, printed at Florence in 1503; and a copy of the _Tewrdannck_,
also on vellum, printed at Nuremberg in 1517.
There were several Caxtons, among them being _The Myrrour of the World_
and Higden's _Polychronicon_.
The literature of the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. was well
represented, and the library contained a copy of that rare work,
Archbishop Parker's _De Antiquitate Ecclesiae Britannicae_.
The collection also comprised several fine and interesting manuscripts.
Deserving especial notice were a beautiful illuminated Office, on
vellum, of the Virgin Mary, executed for Francis I., King of France; the
original Report of Convocation to Henry VIII. on the Legality of his
proposed Divorce from Anne of Cleves, subscribed with the autograph
signatures of the Archbishop and all the Bishops and Clergy assembled in
Convocation, dated July 9th, 1540; and an autograph manuscript of
Dugdale's Visitation of the County of York in 1665-66.
Sir M. Masterman Sykes possessed an immense collection of prints. It
included a complete set of Bartolozzi's engravings which is said to have
cost Sir Mark nearly five thousand pounds; his collection of portraits
was considered to be one of the best in the kingdom; and Dibdin declared
that his 'Faithornes and Hollars almost defied competition.' He also
accumulated a considerable number of pictures, bronzes, coins and
medals.
All the collections were dispersed by sale in 1824. The books were sold
by Mr. Evans of Pall Mall in three parts, commencing on the 11th of May
and continuing until the 28th of June. The total amount realised was
eighteen thousand seven hundred and twenty-nine pounds, sixteen
shillings. The prices obtained were by no means high. The Gutenberg
Bible, which was a very fine one, fetched less than two hundred pounds,
and the copy of the Mentz Psalter, for which Mr. Quaritch subsequently
gave four thousand nine hundred and fifty pounds at Sir J. H. Thorold's
sale in 1884, sold for one hundred and thirty-six pounds, ten shillings.
The Latin Bible of 1462 was disposed of for the same sum; and the unique
vellum Livy, which cost Sir Mark nine hundred and three pounds at the
sale of Mr. Edwards's books in 1815, realised but four hundred and
seventy-two pounds, ten shillings. This volume was bought by Messrs.
Payne and Foss, who sold it to Mr. John Dent, and at the sale of his
collection in 1827 it was acquired for two hundred and sixty-two pounds,
ten shillings by the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville, who bequeathed it to
the British Museum in 1846. The three manuscripts mentioned--The Office
of the Virgin Mary, the Report of Convocation on Henry VIII.'s divorce
from Anne of Cleves, and Dugdale's Visitation of the County of
York--fetched respectively one hundred and sixty-three pounds, sixteen
shillings; two hundred and fifteen pounds, five shillings; and one
hundred and fifty-seven pounds, ten shillings.
Sir M. Masterman Sykes was one of the original members of the Roxburghe
Club, and in 1818 printed for presentation to the members a portion of
Lydgate's Poems. He was the 'Lorenzo' of Dibdin, who describes him as
'not less known than respected for the suavity of his manners, the
kindness of his disposition, and the liberality of his conduct in all
matters connected with books and prints.'
RICHARD HEBER, 1773-1833
Richard Heber, styled by Sir Walter Scott 'Heber the Magnificent, whose
library and cellar are so superior to all others in the world,' was the
eldest son of Reginald Heber, lord of the manors of Marton in Yorkshire,
and Hodnet in Shropshire, and was half-brother to Reginald Heber, Bishop
of Calcutta. He was born in Westminster on the 5th of January 1773, and
was first educated under the private tuition of the Rev. George Henry
Glasse; afterwards proceeding to Brasenose College, Oxford, where he
graduated B.A. in 1796, and M.A. in the following year. In 1822 the
University conferred on him the degree of D.C.L. On the death of his
father in 1804, Heber succeeded to the estates in Yorkshire and
Shropshire, which he considerably augmented and improved. He was one of
the founders of the Athenaeum Club, and in 1821 he was elected a
representative in Parliament for the University of Oxford, but resigned
his seat in 1826. From his earliest years he was an ardent collector,
and Dibdin says that he had seen a catalogue of Heber's books, compiled
by him at the age of eight; and when ten years old he requested his
father to buy some volumes at a certain sale, where 'there would be the
best editions of the classics.' Of many of his books he possessed
several copies, and on being asked by a friend why he purchased them, he
seriously replied: 'Why, you see, Sir, no man can comfortably do without
_three_ copies of a book. One he must have for his show copy, and he
will probably keep it at his country house. Another he will require for
his own use and reference; and unless he is inclined to part with this,
which is very inconvenient, or risk the injury of his best copy, he must
needs have a third at the service of his friends.' Soon after the peace
of 1815 Heber paid a visit to the Continent to collect books for his
library, and in 1825 he again left England for a considerable period for
the purpose of still further adding to his literary stores. On his
return in 1831 he spent his time in seclusion between his country
residence at Hodnet, near Shrewsbury, and his house at Pimlico, devoting
himself to the last days of his life to the increase of his immense
collection. He died at Pimlico of an attack on the lungs, accompanied
with jaundice, on the 4th of October 1833, and was buried at Hodnet on
the 16th of the following month. The Rev. Mr. Dyce in a letter to Sir
Egerton Brydges, gives a melancholy account of his end. 'Poor man,' he
writes, 'he expired at Pimlico, in the midst of his rare property,
_without a friend to close his eyes_, and from all I have heard I am led
to believe he died broken-hearted: he had been ailing for some time, but
took no care of himself, and seemed indeed to court death. Yet his
ruling passion was strong to the last. The morning he died he wrote out
some memoranda for Thorpe about books which he wished to be purchased
for him. He was the most liberal of book-collectors: I never asked him
for the loan of a volume, _which he could lay his hand on_, he did not
immediately send me.[91] Heber, who was a man of deep learning, numbered
among his friends Porson, Cracherode, Canning, Southey, Dr. Burney, Sir
Walter Scott, and many other distinguished persons. Sir Walter dedicated
the sixth canto of _Marmion_ to him, and alludes to his library in the
following lines:--
'Thy volumes, open as thy heart,
Delight, amusement, science, art,
To every ear and eye impart;
Yet who, of all who thus employ them,
Can like the owner's self enjoy them?--
But, hark! I hear the distant drum!
The day of Flodden Field is come.--
Adieu, dear Heber! Life and health,
And store of literary wealth.'
The number of volumes accumulated by Heber was enormous. He collected
manuscripts as well as printed books. At the time of his death he
possessed eight houses overflowing with books. At Hodnet he had built a
new library which he is said to have filled with volumes selected on
account of their fine condition; and so careful was he of these, that
occasionally he used to engage the whole of the inside places of the
coach for their conveyance from London. The walls of all the rooms and
passages of his house at Pimlico were lined with books; and another
house in York Street, Westminster, which he used as a depository for
newly purchased books, was literally crammed with them from the floors
to the ceilings. He had a library in the High Street, Oxford; an immense
collection at Paris, which was sold in the years 1834 to 1836; another
at Ghent, sold in 1835; and others at Brussels and Antwerp, together
with smaller gatherings in several places on the Continent. Dibdin
estimated the total number of volumes in Heber's collections in England
at one hundred and twenty-seven thousand five hundred, but other
calculations have placed it at a somewhat lower figure. The whole of the
libraries which he possessed in England and on the Continent probably
contained from one hundred and forty-five thousand to one hundred and
fifty thousand volumes, as well as a very large number of pamphlets; and
they are believed to have cost him about a hundred thousand pounds. As
Heber was an accomplished scholar as well as a collector, his books were
chosen with ability and judgment. He was a purchaser at every great
sale, and so keen was he in the prosecution of his favourite pursuit,
that on hearing of a rare book he has been known to undertake a coach
journey of several hundred miles to obtain it. His library was
particularly rich in the works of the early English poets, and his
collection of Greek and Latin Classics, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and
French books was very extensive and choice, but he had a great objection
to large paper copies, because they occupied so much room on his
shelves. He possessed also a number of books printed in Mexico; and
among his manuscripts were to be found the letters and papers of Sir
Julius Caesar, the autograph manuscript of _The Monastery_, by Sir Walter
Scott, and a large collection of the letters of distinguished men. For a
considerable period his will could not be found, although diligent
search was made for it, both at home and abroad, and his sister, Mrs.
Cholmondeley, was on the point of taking out letters of administration,
when it was accidentally discovered by Dr. Dibdin among some books on an
upper shelf at Pimlico. As it did not contain any directions as to the
disposal of his books, those in England, together with some brought from
Holland, were sold by Sotheby and Son, Evans, and Wheatley at a series
of sales extending over four years, and realised fifty-seven thousand
five hundred and fifty-four pounds, twelve shillings. The catalogue is
in thirteen parts, bearing the dates 1834-37. His books on the
Continent, with the drawings and coins, fetched about ten thousand
pounds more.
Heber edited the works of Persius Flaccus, Silius Italicus, and
Claudianus. He also reprinted the _Caltha Poetarum, or the Bumble Bee_,
of T. Cutwode, from the edition of 1599, for the Roxburghe Club, and
assisted in the preparation of the third edition of Ellis's _Specimens
of the Early English Poets_.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 91: _The Book Fancier._ By Percy Fitzgerald (London, 1887), p.
230.]
RICHARD GRENVILLE, FIRST DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, 1776-1839
Richard Temple Nugent Brydges Chandos Grenville, first Duke of
Buckingham, was born in London on the 20th of March 1776. He was the
eldest son of George Grenville, Earl Temple, who was made Marquis of
Buckingham in 1784. He began collecting books at a very early age, and
in 1798 had already commenced the formation of a library at Stowe; and
the acquisition of the manuscripts and papers of Thomas Astle, Keeper of
the Records in the Tower; the Irish manuscripts from Belanagare, the
seat of The O'Conor Don; the State Papers of Arthur Capel, Earl of
Essex, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in the reign of Charles II., together
with some other purchases, placed his library among the finest private
collections in the kingdom.[92] On the death of his father in 1813 he
succeeded to the title, and nine years later he was created Duke of
Buckingham and Chandos. In 1827, in consequence of his great expenditure
on his various collections, and the munificence with which he had
entertained the royal family of France, he found himself in embarrassed
circumstances, and left England, remaining abroad about two years. In
1834 he was compelled to sell his furniture, pictures, and articles of
virtu, but did not part with his books, which, on his death on the 17th
of January 1839, passed into the possession of his only son, Richard
Plantagenet Temple Nugent Brydges Chandos Grenville, who was born on
February the 11th, 1797. The habits of the son were not less extravagant
than those of his father, and in 1847 the effects at Stowe and his other
residences were seized by bailiffs, and in August and September 1848 the
pictures, furniture, china, plate, etc., were sold by auction, realising
over seventy-five thousand five hundred pounds. The printed books in the
library were sold by Sotheby and Wilkinson, on January 8th, 1849, and
eleven following days, and January 29, and eleven following days. There
were six thousand two hundred and twelve lots in the two sales, which
brought ten thousand three hundred and fifty-five pounds, seven
shillings and sixpence. The extensive and valuable series of engraved
portraits contained in the Duke's illustrated copy of the _Biographical
History of England_, by the Rev. James Granger, was sold by the same
auctioneers on March 5th and eight following days, and a continuation of
it by the Rev. Mark Noble, together with some other engravings, on the
21st of March and five following days. There were two thousand two
hundred and one lots in these two sales, for which the sum of three
thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine pounds, eighteen shillings and
sixpence was obtained. The manuscripts were bought by the Earl of
Ashburnham for eight thousand pounds. The collection of printed books in
the Stowe library was inferior in interest to that of the manuscripts,
but it contained some rare and choice volumes. Amongst them was a
block-book, _The Apocalypse_, which sold for ninety-four pounds;
_Missale ad usum Ecclesiae Andegavensis_, on vellum, printed in 1489,
sixty-three pounds; Le Fevre's _Recuyles of the Hystoryes of Troye_,
printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1503, fifty-five pounds; a complete set of
the twenty-five parts in eight volumes of De Bry's _Collectiones
Peregrinationum_, printed at Frankfurt in 1590-1634, eighty-one pounds;
De Bry's _Relation of Virginia_, translated by Hariot, printed at
Frankfurt in 1590, sixty-three pounds; the first Shakespeare folio
(mended, and the title-page slightly imperfect), seventy-six pounds;
fine, large, and perfect copies of the second and third folios, eleven
pounds, five shillings and thirty-five pounds; Shakespeare's _Poems_,
1640, seven pounds, ten shillings; Prynne's _Records_, three volumes,
1665-70, one hundred and forty pounds; the fourth volume, printed in
1665 or 1666, believed to be unique, three hundred and thirty-five
pounds; Houbraken's _Heads of Illustrious Persons_, two volumes, 1756,
folio, large paper, with first states and duplicate proofs of the
plates, etc., ninety-one pounds; Bartolozzi's Engravings, a collection
of six hundred and sixty plates in various proof states, bound in eight
folio volumes, sixty-two pounds; Boydell's Prints, five hundred and
forty fine impressions, bound in nine folio volumes, seventy-eight
pounds, fifteen shillings; Lysons's _Topographical Account of
Buckinghamshire_, inlaid in eight volumes, atlas folio, and
super-illustrated with four hundred and eighty drawings, etc., five
hundred and forty pounds; and Lysons's _Environs of London_, large
paper, eighteen volumes quarto, super-illustrated with eight hundred
drawings and a large number of plates, one hundred and thirty-three
pounds. The Duke, who died at the Great Western Hotel, London, on July
the 29th, 1861, was the author of _Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of
George III._, 1853-55, two volumes; _Memoirs of the Court of England
during the Regency_, 1856, two volumes; _Memoirs of the Court of George
IV._, 1859, two volumes; _Memoirs of the Courts and Cabinets of William
IV. and Victoria_, 1861, two volumes; and _Private Diary of Richard,
Duke of Buckingham and Chandos_, 1862, four volumes; together with a few
political works.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 92: A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the Stowe
library by the Rev. Charles O'Conor, D.D., the Duke's librarian, was
printed in 1818-19.]
HENRY PERKINS, 1778-1855
Henry Perkins, who was born in 1778, was a partner in the well-known
firm of Barclay, Perkins and Co., brewers, but he does not appear to
have taken an active part in the business, and he spent the later part
of his life in retirement among his books at Hanworth Park, Middlesex.
He died at Dover on the 15th of April 1855.
Mr. Perkins, who was a Fellow of the Linnean, Geological and
Horticultural Societies, possessed a small but exceedingly valuable
library, which, among many other extremely rare books, contained two
copies of the Gutenberg Bible, one on vellum and the other on paper; a
copy on vellum of Fust and Schoeffer's Latin Bible of 1462; a copy of
the Coverdale Bible; several works from the press of Caxton, and the
first four editions of Shakespeare's Plays. It also comprised many fine
manuscripts, some of them superbly illuminated. Mr. Henry Perkins
bequeathed his books to his son, Mr. Algernon Perkins, and after his
death in 1870 they were sold by auction at Hanworth by Gadsden, Ellis
and Co. on the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th of June 1873. There were but eight
hundred and sixty-five lots in the sale, but they realised an average of
thirty pounds, or a total of twenty-five thousand nine hundred and
fifty-four pounds, four shillings, the largest sum ever obtained for a
library of the same extent. The vellum copy of the Gutenberg Bible was
purchased for the Earl of Ashburnham for three thousand four hundred
pounds; and the paper copy, now in the Huth library, fetched two
thousand six hundred and ninety. Fust and Schoeffer's Latin Bible of
1462, which Mr. Perkins acquired at the sale of Mr. Dent's books for one
hundred and seventy-three pounds, five shillings, sold for seven hundred
and eighty pounds; while the copy of Coverdale's Bible, which wanted the
title and two following leaves and the map, realised four hundred
pounds; and the 1623 edition of Shakespeare's Plays brought five hundred
and eighty-five pounds. The manuscripts also went for large sums. John
Lydgate's _Sege of Troye_, a magnificently illuminated manuscript on
vellum of the fifteenth century; _Les OEuvres Diverses_ of Jehan de
Meun; and _Les Cent Histoires de Troye_ of Christine de Pisan, of about
the same period, sold respectively for thirteen hundred and twenty, six
hundred and ninety, and six hundred and fifty pounds. The prices
obtained for the books were generally greatly in excess of those given
by Mr. Perkins for them.
FREDERICK PERKINS, 1780-1860
Frederick Perkins of Chepstead, Kent, born in 1780, was a brother of
Henry Perkins, and a partner in the same firm. He also formed a good
library, which contained the first four Shakespeare folios, and a
considerable number of the separate plays in quarto. Among them were the
first editions of _Love's Labour Lost_, _Much Ado about Nothing_, the
Second Part of _Henry the Fourth_, _Troilus and Cressida_, _Pericles_,
_Othello_, and the second or first complete edition of _Romeo and
Juliet_, as well as the first edition of _Lucrece_. Three Caxtons were
to be found in the collection: the _Mirrour of the World_, the
_Chastising of Goddes Children_, and Higden's _Polycronicon_, but they
were not good copies. The library also comprised some fine illuminated
Horae and other manuscripts, including a copy on vellum of Chaucer's
_Canterbury Tales_ of the fifteenth century. Mr. Perkins died on the
10th of October 1860, and his library was sold by Sotheby, Wilkinson and
Hodge on July 10th, 1889, and six following days. There were two
thousand and eighty-six lots in the sale, which realised eight thousand
two hundred and twenty-two pounds, seven shillings. The first
Shakespeare folio fetched four hundred and fifteen pounds, the second
forty-seven pounds, the third one hundred pounds, and the fourth
fourteen pounds. Of the quarto plays, the Second Part of _Henry the
Fourth_ sold for two hundred and twenty-five pounds, _Othello_ for one
hundred and thirty pounds, and _Romeo and Juliet_ for one hundred and
sixty-four pounds. The copies of _Love's Labour Lost_, _Much Ado about
Nothing_, _Troilus and Cressida_, and _Pericles_ were poor ones, and
realised but comparatively small sums. The _Lucrece_ fetched two hundred
pounds.
JOHN BELLINGHAM INGLIS, 1780-1870
John Bellingham Inglis was born in London on the 14th of February 1780.
His father, a partner in the firm of Inglis, Ellice and Co., merchants,
Mark Lane, London, was a Director of the East India Company, and was at
one time its Chairman. In consequence of the failure of his father young
Inglis set up in business on his own account in the wine trade, but this
not proving successful, he retired after a short time on the money
rescued from the wreck of the fortune of his father, who died soon after
his failure. He resided for many years in St. John's Wood, but
afterwards removed to Hampstead Heath. He died at 13 Albion Road, N.W.,
on the 9th of December 1870.
Mr. Inglis, who was a good classical scholar, an excellent linguist, and
a man of considerable literary ability, commenced collecting books at a
very early age, and soon formed a very valuable and important library,
which was especially rich in works from the presses of the early
English printers. Unlike some possessors of libraries, he read the
books which he had collected; and the Duke of Sussex, at one of his
literary dinners at Kensington Palace, is reported to have said:
'Gentlemen, you are all very learned about titles, editions, and
printers, but none of you seem to have read anything of the books except
Mr. Inglis here.' In 1832 he translated into English, for the first
time, the _Philobiblon_ of Richard de Bury, and presented it to Thomas
Rodd, the bookseller, who published it. He also made translations of
several other mediaeval printed books and manuscripts, which have never
been published. A biographical notice of him appears in _The Bookworm_
of December 1870, by J.P. Berjeau, the editor of that periodical. A
portion of Inglis's books was sold anonymously by Sotheby on June 9th,
1826, and seven following days. The title-page of the catalogue reads:
'Catalogue of a singularly curious and valuable selection from the
Library of a Gentleman, including three extraordinary specimens of Block
Printing; Books printed in the Fifteenth Century; Books printed on
vellum; Fine copies of Works from the Presses of Caxton, Machlinia,
Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, Julyan Notary, Verard, etc.; an extensive
Collection of Old English Poetry; Romances; Historical and Theological
Tracts; early Voyages and Travels; curious Treatises on Witches and
Witchcraft; some of the earliest Dictionaries and Vocabularies in the
English Language, etc. Likewise several Manuscripts on vellum, most
beautifully illuminated, etc.' The number of lots in this sale was
sixteen hundred and sixty-five, and the sum realised three thousand
three hundred and thirty-three pounds, nine shillings and sixpence. The
prices obtained for the books were extremely low. The three
block-books:--the first edition of the _Speculum Humanae Salvationis_,
_Historia Sancti Johannis Evangelistae ejusque Visiones Apocalypticae_,
and the _Biblia Pauperum_ fetched but ninety-five pounds, eleven
shillings; forty-seven pounds, five shillings, and thirty-six pounds,
fifteen shillings respectively; while no more than four hundred and
thirty-one pounds, fifteen shillings and sixpence could be obtained for
the thirteen Caxtons in the sale--about thirty-three pounds each. The
following are a few of the other notable books in this fine collection,
and the prices they fetched: _Les Faits de Maistre Alain Chartier,
imprimez a Paris par Pierre le Caron pour Anthoine Verard_, printed on
vellum, with capital letters painted in gold and colours, fifty-six
pounds, fourteen shillings; _Le Recueil des Histoires Troiennes, imprime
a Paris par Anthoine Verard_, presentation copy to Charles VIII.,
printed on vellum, ornamented with eighty-three miniatures, twenty-seven
pounds; Vincent, _Les cinq volumes du Miroir Hystorial_, _imprime a
Paris par Anthoine Verard_, 1495-96, forty-six pounds, four shillings;
_Speculum Christiani_, printed by Machlinia, sixteen pounds, sixteen
shillings; _Promptorius Puerorum_, printed by Pynson in 1499,
thirty-eight pounds, seventeen shillings; _The Floure of the
Commandments of God_, Wynkyn de Worde, 1521, thirteen pounds, thirteen
shillings; _The Catechisme, set furth by ... Johne, Archbischop of Sanct
Androus, etc. Prentit at Sanct Androus_, 1552, sixteen pounds, five
shillings and sixpence; _Mary of Nemmegen_, printed at Antwerp by Jan
Van Doesborgh in 1518 or 1519, the only copy known, twenty-four pounds;
Painter, _The Palace of Pleasure_, London, Thomas Marshe, 1575, a very
fine copy, twenty-three pounds; and Shakespeare's _Sonnets_, London,
1609, forty pounds, nineteen shillings. Perhaps the finest of the
manuscripts were a beautifully illuminated copy on vellum of the _Liber
de Proprietatibus Rerum, Anglice_, by Bartholomaeus de Glanvilla, written
towards the end of the fourteenth century, which fetched fifty-one
pounds, nine shillings; and Boccaccio's _Tragedies of the Falle of
Unfortunate Princes_, translated into English verse, written on vellum
in England in the early part of the fifteenth century, and richly
illuminated. Thirty pounds, nine shillings was all that was obtained for
this fine manuscript. After Inglis's death, his son, Dr. C. Inglis, sold
such books as he could not find room for. They were disposed of by
Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge on the 31st of July 1871, and five
following days, and realised two thousand seven hundred and sixty-six
pounds, thirteen shillings and sixpence. Among the fifteen hundred and
eighty-eight lots in the sale were a few rare books and some fine
papyri. A third sale of the books in this splendid library, by order of
Dr. C. Inglis, took place on June 11th, 1900, and three following days,
by the same auctioneers. In this sale there were eight hundred and
forty-nine lots, for which the sum of seven thousand five hundred and
nineteen pounds, twelve shillings and sixpence was obtained. Although no
Caxtons were to be found among the books, there were many rare and
interesting examples from the presses of Machlinia, Pynson, Wynkyn de
Worde, Julian Notary and other early English printers. The foreign
printers were also well represented, and the collection contained
several beautiful Books of Hours, both printed and in manuscript. Some
very high prices were obtained for the more important books, as the
following list of a few of the most notable will show:--_Speculum Humanae
Salvationis_, printed by G. Zainer at Augsburg in 1471, eighty-four
pounds; Turrecremata, _Meditationes_, Romae, 1473, one hundred pounds;
the first edition of the _Philobiblon_ of Richard de Bury, Coloniae,
1473, eighty pounds; _Rolle de Hampole super Job_, attributed to the
Oxford press of Rood and Hunt, about 1481-86, three hundred pounds;
_Chronicle of England_, printed by Machlinia about 1484, one hundred and
seventy-five pounds; _Heures de lusaige de Romme_, with cuts printed in
various colours, Paris, Jehan du Pre, 1490, two hundred and seventy-two
pounds; First Letter of Columbus (Latin) 1493, Vespuccius, _Mundus
Novus_, 1502, and other rare tracts in one volume, two hundred and
thirty pounds; _Verardus in Laudem Fernandi Hispaniarum Regis_, etc.,
containing the letter of Columbus to King Ferdinand on his discovery of
America, 1494, ninety pounds; _Vitas Patrum_, printed by Wynkyn de Worde
in 1495, fifty pounds; _Hoefken van Devotien_, Antwerpen, 1496, one
hundred and one pounds; _Postilla Epistolarum et Evangeliorum
Dominicalium_, printed by Julian Notary in 1509, fifty pounds; _Mirrour
of Oure Ladye_, R. Fawkes, 1530, forty-nine pounds; _Heures de Rome_,
with illustrations by Geoffroy Tory, Paris, 1525, one hundred and
forty-four pounds; and Spenser's _Faerie Queene_, _Foure Hymnes_,
_Prothalamion_, etc., all first editions, 1590-96, one hundred and
seventy pounds.
WILLIAM HENRY MILLER, 1789-1848
Mr. William Henry Miller, who was born in 1789, was the only child of
Mr. William Miller of Craigentinny, Midlothian. In 1830 he entered
Parliament as one of the Members for Newcastle-under-Lyme, which seat he
held until the year 1841. He died unmarried at his residence,
Craigentinny House, near Edinburgh, on the 31st of October 1848, and was
buried, according to his desire, in a mausoleum on his estate. Mr.
Miller formed a fine collection of very choice books at Britwell Court,
Buckinghamshire, many of which he acquired at the Heber and other
important sales of the first half of the nineteenth century. He was very
particular about the condition and size of the volumes he purchased, and
from his habit of carrying a foot-rule about him for the purpose of
ascertaining their dimensions he became known as 'Measure Miller.' The
library was bequeathed to his cousin Miss Marsh, from whom it passed to
Mr. Samuel Christie-Miller, who was Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme from
1847 to 1859, and on his death on the 5th of April 1889 to Mr. Wakefield
Christie-Miller, who died at Dublin on the 22nd of February 1898. Many
rare books have been added to the Britwell Library by its later
possessors. The additions made by the last owner were especially
important, notably that of the larger portion of the Elizabethan
rarities discovered in 1867 at Lamport Hall, the seat of Sir Charles
Isham; and the collection may now be considered unrivalled among private
libraries for the number of choice examples of English and Scottish
literature which it contains, particularly in the division of English
poetry. The finest copy known of the _Dictes or Sayings of the
Philosophers_, one of the three extant copies of the _Morale Prouerbes
of Cristyne_, and nine other works printed by Caxton, are to be found on
the shelves of the library, as well as a large number of books from the
presses of Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, Julyan Notary, and other early
English printers. Among them are many editions of the grammatical
treatises of Robert Whitinton and John Stanbridge, printed by Wynkyn de
Worde, and unique copies of Fitzherbert's _Boke of Husbandrie_, the
romance of _Oliver of Castile_, and _Fysshynge with an Angle_, all by
the same printer. The library contains also a fine series of the early
editions of the English Chronicles, and of the works of Chaucer. Among
the treasures of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods are the first
Shakespeare folio (the second, third, and fourth folios are also in the
library); an unique copy of an edition of _Venus and Adonis_, printed
for William Leake at London in 1599, from the Isham collection; all the
early editions of Sidney's _Arcadia_; fine examples of the early
editions of the works of Edmund Spenser; the only perfect copy known of
the first edition of the _Paradyse of Daintie Devises_; and remarkably
complete sets of the works of Churchyard, Breton, Greene, Dekker, Wither
and Brathwaite. Other notable books in this splendid library are a copy
on vellum, with coloured maps, of Ptolemy's _Cosmographia_, printed at
Ulm in 1482, and bound by Derome; the Aldine edition of _Poliphili
Hypnerotomachia_, in the original binding, and an unique copy of the
English translation printed in London by Samuel Waterson in 1592; a fine
and perfect set in nine parts of the _Mirrour of Princely Deedes and
Knighthood_ (a translation of the Spanish _Espejo de Principes y
Cavalleros_); editions of Hakluyt's _Voyages_; a beautiful and tall copy
of _Purchas his Pilgrimes_; the finest and most complete set which has
been formed of De Bry's _Voyages_; the first issue of Milton's _Paradise
Lost_; the first edition of Walton's _Compleat Angler_ in the original
sheepskin binding; the Kilmarnock edition of Burns's _Poems_; and
several of the original editions of Shelley's works, including the
excessively rare _OEdipus Tyrannus_. There is a fine collection of
early English music in the Britwell Library, and it possesses the
greater portion of the Heber ballads and broadsides, and a large number
of books which once belonged to De Thou. Many of the volumes are
masterpieces of the work of Bedford, Riviere, Lortic, and other English
and foreign binders.
GEORGE DANIEL, 1789-1864
George Daniel was born in London on the 16th of September 1789. After
receiving an education at Mr. Thomas Hogg's boarding-school at
Paddington Green, he became a clerk to a stockbroker in Tokenhouse
Yard,[93] and afterwards followed the profession of an accountant; but
he employed all his leisure time in literary pursuits, and in the
collection of books, works of art and curiosities. He commenced writing
at a very early age, and was the author of a novel _The Adventures of
Dick Distich_, and a considerable number of poetical and dramatic
pieces. He also contributed many articles to _Ackerman's Poetical
Magazine_, _Bentley's Miscellany_, and other magazines, and was the
editor of Cumberland's _British Theatre_, and Cumberland's _Minor
Theatre_. His first printed production, _Stanzas on Lord Nelsons Victory
and Death_, written in conjunction with a young friend, appeared in
1805, but he tells us that he wrote some verses when he was but eight
years of age on the death of his father. In 1811 he published a poem
called _The Times, or the Prophecy_, and in 1812 a poetical squib
founded on the reputed horse-whipping of the Prince of Wales by Lord
Yarmouth, entitled _R-y-l Stripes; or, a Kick from Yar--th to Wa--s_,
for the suppression of which a large sum was paid by the Prince Regent.
In the same year appeared _The Adventures of Dick Distich_ in three
volumes, which was written by the author before he was eighteen, and a
volume of _Miscellaneous Poems_; and in 1814 _The Modern Dunciad_, in
which he sings the praises of 'old books, old wines, old customs, and
old friends.' He continued to write during the whole of his life, and
his last work, _Love's Last Labour not Lost_, was published in 1863.
Daniel was fond of convivial society, and numbered Charles Lamb and
Robert Bloomfield among his acquaintances, and he was also intimate with
many of the principal actors of the day. He died at his son's house, The
Grove, Stoke Newington, on the 30th of March 1864. The cause of his
death was apoplexy.
Daniel formed a very choice and valuable library in his residence, 18
Canonbury Square, Islington, which was chiefly remarkable for rare
editions of old English writers, and very fine collections of
Elizabethan black-letter ballads and Shakespeariana. The Elizabethan
ballads would alone be sufficient to render any library famous. They
were one hundred and forty-nine in number, and he is said to have
purchased them for fifty pounds from Mr. William Stevenson Fitch,
Postmaster at Ipswich, who is believed to have obtained them from the
housekeeper at Helmingham Hall, Suffolk, the residence of the Tollemache
family. Of these ballads seventy-nine were sold to Mr. Heber by Mr.
Daniel for seventy pounds, and the remaining seventy were bought at the
sale of his library for seven hundred and fifty pounds by Mr. Huth, who
had them printed for presentation to the members of the Philobiblon
Society. The Shakespearian collection comprised splendid copies of the
first four folios and eighteen of the quarto plays, together with the
1594 and 1655 editions of _Lucrece_, the 1594 and 1596 editions of
_Venus and Adonis_, and the first editions of the _Sonnets_ and _Poems_.
The library also contained a large number of early Jest-Books,
Drolleries, Garlands and Penny-Histories; and among the rare editions of
English writers were works by John Skelton, Edmund Spenser, Anthony
Chute, Robert Chester, Anthony Munday, Ben Jonson, Patrick Hannay,
George Herbert, Robert Herrick, John Milton, and many others. Several
very beautiful manuscripts were also to be found in it.
Daniel's library was sold by auction by Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge on
the 20th of July 1864, and the nine following days. There were eighteen
hundred and seventeen lots, which realised thirteen thousand nine
hundred and eighty-four pounds, eleven shillings; the water-colour
drawings, engravings, portraits, coins, etc., of which there were four
hundred and sixty-one lots, were sold at the same time, and produced one
thousand eight hundred and eighty pounds, eleven shillings more.
The sale excited great interest, and many of the books went for large
sums; but the prices obtained for others were small compared with those
the volumes would fetch at the present time: a fine copy of the first
edition of Walton's _Compleat Angler_ realised no more than twenty-seven
pounds, ten shillings. All the Shakespeares sold well. The first folio,
probably the finest example extant, was bought by the Baroness
Burdett-Coutts for six hundred and eighty-two guineas, till recently the
highest price ever obtained for a copy;[94] and the second, third and
fourth folios fetched respectively one hundred and forty-eight pounds,
forty-six pounds, and twenty-one pounds, ten shillings. The third folio
was a good copy, but had the title in facsimile, which accounts for the
small sum it realised. Of the quarto plays, the first edition of _King
Richard the Third_--a very fine copy--sold for three hundred and
fifty-one pounds, fifteen shillings; the first editions of the _Merry
Wives of Windsor_ and _Love's Labour Lost_ for three hundred and
forty-six pounds, ten shillings each, and the first edition of _King
Richard the Second_ for three hundred and forty-one pounds, five
shillings. The 1594 and 1596 editions of _Venus and Adonis_ realised two
hundred and forty pounds and three hundred and fifteen pounds; a copy of
the _Sonnets_ two hundred and twenty-five pounds, fifteen shillings; and
the first edition of _Lucrece_ one hundred and fifty-seven pounds, ten
shillings. The copy of _Love's Labour Lost_, and the 1596 edition of
_Venus and Adonis_, of which the Bodleian Library possesses the only
other copy, were secured for the British Museum.
The following are a few of the other more notable books in the library,
together with the prices they fetched at the sale:--Unique copy of _The
Boke of Hawkynge and Huntynge and Fysshynge_, printed by Wynkyn de
Worde, without date, one hundred and eight pounds; _Rychard Cuer de
Lyon_, also printed by Wynkyn de Worde, 1528, ninety-two pounds;
_Complaynt of a Dolorous Lover_, printed by Robert Wyer about 1550,
unique, sixty-seven pounds, four shillings; _The Tragicall Historie of
Romeus and Juliet_ (London, 1562), seventy-seven pounds, fourteen
shillings; _Merry Jeste of a shrewde and curste Wyfe_ (London, about
1575), unique, sixty-four pounds; Munday's _Banquet of Daintie
Conceits_ (London, 1588), unique, two hundred and twenty-five pounds;
Chute's _Beawtie Dishonoured_, written under the title of _Shores Wife_
(London, 1593), unique, ninety-six pounds; _Maroccus Extaticus, or
Bankes Bay Horse_ (London, 1595), eighty-one pounds; Chester's _Loves
Martyr, or Rosalins Complaynt_ (London, 1601)--this work contains a poem
(Threnos) by Shakespeare at p. 172--one hundred and thirty-eight pounds;
_Meeting of Gallants at an Ordinarie, or the Walkes in Powles_ (London,
1604), unique, eighty-one pounds; _Sejanus, his Fall_, by Ben Jonson,
first edition (London, 1605), printed on large paper, a presentation
copy from the author with the following autograph inscription--
'To my perfect friend Mr. Francis Crane
I erect this Altar of Friendship,
and leave it as an eternall witnesse of my Love.
BEN JONSON'--
unique, one hundred and six pounds; Hannay's _Philomela, the
Nightingale_, etc. (London, 1622), ninety-six pounds.
A carved casket made out of the mulberry tree in Shakespeare's Garden,
and presented to Garrick with the freedom of the borough of
Stratford-on-Avon, was purchased at Charles Mathews's sale in 1835 by
Daniel for forty-seven guineas, and presented by him to the British
Museum.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 93: _Dictionary of National Biography._]
[Footnote 94: At a sale at Sotheby's on July 11th, 1899, Mr. M'George of
Glasgow gave seventeen hundred pounds for a copy; and two years later
Mr. Quaritch purchased another copy at Christie's for seventeen hundred
and twenty pounds.]
WILLIAM, SIXTH DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, 1790-1858
All the Dukes of Devonshire were men of letters and collectors of books.
William, the first Duke, acquired many volumes which had belonged to De
Thou, and William, the third Duke, bought largely at the sales of the
libraries of Colbert, Baluze, Count von Hoym and other collectors of his
time; but William, the sixth Duke, who was born on May the 21st, 1790,
may justly be regarded as the founder of the Chatsworth Library in its
present form. 'He imbibed a taste for literature and books,' says Sir
J.P. Lacaita in his preface to the catalogue of the Library, 'from his
mother, Lady Georgiana Spencer, the "beautiful Duchess of Devonshire,"
and from his uncle George John, second Earl Spencer, who formed what is
perhaps the finest private library in existence.' In 1811 he succeeded
to the Dukedom, and shortly afterwards endeavoured to add to his library
Count M'Carthy's collection, for which he offered twenty thousand
pounds, but the offer was declined. He purchased the choicer portion of
the books of Thomas Dampier, Bishop of Ely, and he bought largely at the
sales of the Edwards, Roxburghe, Towneley and other libraries. In 1815
the Duke removed the books from his other residences to Chatsworth
with a view to the formation of a great library there,[95] and in 1821
he purchased John Philip Kemble's splendid collection of plays for two
thousand pounds, adding to it four years later the first edition of
_Hamlet_, which he purchased of Messrs. Payne and Foss, the booksellers
of Pall Mall, for one hundred pounds. But one other copy of this
precious little volume is known to exist, that in the British Museum,
which wants the title-page, while that acquired by the Duke is without
the last leaf. After the death of the Duke on January the 18th, 1858,
the collection at Chatsworth was further enlarged by his successor, who
transferred to it some choice books from the library at Chiswick, and
also added to it a select portion of the books of his brother, Lord
Richard Cavendish, who died in 1873.[96] In 1879 a catalogue of the
books at Chatsworth was compiled by Sir J.P. Lacaita, the librarian, in
four volumes, and printed at the Chiswick Press. The library is rich in
choice and early editions of the Greek and Latin Classics, and the
productions of the Aldine Press are particularly numerous and fine. Of
the Bibles, the Latin Bible of 1462, and a vellum copy of that printed
by Jenson in 1476, are perhaps the most important. As many as
twenty-five works from the press of Caxton, and twenty-four from that
of Wynkyn de Worde are to be found in the catalogue. Among the Caxtons
is a copy of the _Recuyell of the Histories of Troye_, which once
belonged to Elizabeth Grey, wife of Edward IV. This volume was bought at
the Roxburghe sale for one thousand and sixty pounds, ten shillings. A
magnificent copy of De Bry's _Collectiones Peregrinationum_, which
formerly belonged to Francois Cesar Le Tellier, Marquis de Courtanvaux,
is also deserving of special notice. A large proportion of the books are
in handsome and historical bindings, and no fewer than twenty-four
volumes from the library of Grolier are to be found on the shelves of
the collection, which also contains a nearly complete set of County
Histories. Among the manuscripts is one of great interest. It is a
Missal given by King Henry VII. to his daughter Margaret, Queen Consort
of James IV., King of Scotland, and mother of the Lady Margaret Douglas,
who later presented the volume to the Archbishop of St. Andrews. The
book contains two notes in the handwriting of Henry. On the recto of the
fourteenth leaf he has written, 'Remember yor kynde and louyng fader an
yor good prayers, Henry Ky'; and on the reverse of leaf 32, 'Pray for
your louyng fader that gave you this booke, and I geve you att all tymes
godds bless[~y]g and myne, Henry Ky.' On the reverse of leaf 156 Lady
Margaret Douglas has written, 'My good lorde of Saynt Andrews i pray
you pray for me that gaufe yow thys buuk--yowrs too my pour, Margaret.'
[Illustration: DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE.]
The Devonshire library also contains a magnificent series of drawings by
the old masters, and prints by the early engravers, which were acquired
by William, the second Duke. The gem of the collection of drawings is
the _Liber Veritatis_, a set of original designs by Claude Lorrain,
which Louis XIV. endeavoured in vain to purchase.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 95: Preface to the catalogue of the library at Chatsworth, by
Sir J.P. Lacaita.]
[Footnote 96: _Ibid._]
SIR THOMAS PHILLIPPS, BART., 1792-1872
Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., who was the son of Thomas Phillipps, of
Broadway, Worcestershire, was born at Manchester on the 2nd of July
1792. He was educated at Rugby, and in 1811 proceeded to University
College, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1815 and M.A. in 1820. In 1818, on
the death of his father, he succeeded to the family estates, and in 1821
he was created a baronet. Phillipps died at Thirlestaine House,
Cheltenham, on the 6th of February 1872, and was buried at Broadway. He
was twice married, and by his first wife had three daughters. Phillipps,
who was a Trustee of the British Museum and a Fellow of the Royal
Society and of the Society of Antiquaries, and also a member of the
principal learned societies, both English and foreign, began at a very
early age to collect books. While at Rugby he formed a small library,
the catalogue of which is still in existence, and the inheritance of his
father's property in 1818 enabled him to commence the formation of his
magnificent collection of manuscripts. With a view to their acquisition,
in 1820 he paid a visit to the Continent, and remained abroad until
1825, during which time he made large purchases of manuscripts,
especially at the sale of the famous Meerman collection at the Hague in
1824, and he also privately bought the manuscripts belonging to the
extensive and important collection of Professor Van Ess of Darmstadt,
together with a number of his early printed books. Phillipps was
indefatigable in the acquirement of his treasures, and at the time of
his death his library contained some sixty thousand manuscripts, and a
goodly collection of printed books. He writes: 'In amassing my
collection of manuscripts, I commenced with purchasing everything that
lay within my reach, to which I was instigated by reading various
accounts of the destruction of valuable manuscripts.... My principal
search has been for historical, and particularly unpublished
manuscripts, whether good or bad, and particularly those on vellum. My
chief desire for preserving vellum manuscripts arose from witnessing the
unceasing destruction of them by goldbeaters; my search for charters or
deeds by their destruction in the shops of glue-makers and tailors. As I
advanced the ardour of the pursuit increased, until at last I became a
perfect vello-maniac (if I may coin a word), and I gave any price that
was asked. Nor do I regret it, for my object was not only to secure good
manuscripts for myself, but also to raise the public estimation of them,
so that their value might be more generally known, and consequently more
manuscripts preserved. For nothing tends to the preservation of anything
so much as making it bear a high price. The examples I always kept in
view were Sir Robert Cotton and Sir Robert Harley.'
Sir Thomas Phillipps's collection was not confined to European
manuscripts. It contained several hundred Oriental ones, and he also
acquired those relating to Mexico belonging to Lord Kingsborough. The
illuminated manuscripts were particularly fine, and some of them had
been executed for regal and other distinguished persons, and were
beautifully bound. Many of the manuscripts which related to Ireland and
Wales were of special interest and great value. For many years Phillipps
kept his library, together with his fine collections of pictures,
drawings, and coins at his residence at Middle Hill, Worcestershire; but
in 1862, in consequence of their ever-increasing size, he removed them
to Thirlestaine House, Cheltenham, which he purchased from Lord
Northwick. On Sir Thomas's death his entailed Middle Hill estates went
to his eldest daughter, Henrietta Elizabeth Molyneux, the wife of James
Orchard Halliwell, the Shakespearian commentator, but in a will made
shortly before his death he left Thirlestaine House, together with his
books, manuscripts, pictures, and other collections, to his third
daughter, Katherine Somerset Wyttenbach, wife of the Rev. J.E.A.
Fenwick, at one time vicar of Needwood, Staffordshire. This bequest was,
however, encumbered with the singular condition, that neither his eldest
daughter, nor her husband, nor any Roman Catholic should ever enter the
house.[97] His second daughter, Maria Sophia, who married the Rev. John
Walcott of Bitterley Court, Shropshire, predeceased her father. Since
the manuscripts came into the possession of Mrs. Fenwick, portions have
been sold by private arrangement to several of the foreign governments;
amongst these, however, were no English ones. A large number of the
remainder have been disposed of by auction at a series of sales by
Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, but the immense collection is by no means
exhausted. The first sale took place on August 3rd, 1886, and seven
following days; and the others on January 22nd, 1889, and two following
days; July 15th, 1891, and following day; December 7th, 1891, and
following day; July 4th, 1892, and two following days; June 19th, 1893,
and three following days; March 21st, 1895, and four following days;
June 10th, 1896, and six following days; May 17th, 1897, and three
following days; June 6th, 1898, and five following days; and June 5th,
1899, and five following days. The total amount realised at all these
auction sales is upwards of thirty-six thousand six hundred pounds. The
printed books in Phillipps's library, which 'included a complete set of
the publications privately printed by him at Middle Hill; important
heraldic and genealogical works, county histories and topography, Welsh
books, valuable dictionaries and grammars, and a large collection of
rare articles relating to America; history, voyages and travels,' were
sold in three parts by Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge on August 3rd, 1886,
and seven following days; January 22nd, 1889, and two following days;
and December 7th, 1891, and following day. There were five thousand four
hundred and sixty-two lots in the three sales, which realised three
thousand two hundred and fourteen pounds, thirteen shillings and
threepence.
About 1822 Sir Thomas Phillipps set up a private printing-press in
Broadway Tower, situated on his Middle Hill estate, where he printed a
large number of his manuscripts. Among the more important of these
were:--_Institutiones Clericorum in Comitatu Wiltoniae_, 1297-1810, two
volumes, 1821-25, folio; _Monumental Inscriptions in the County of
Wilton_, two volumes, 1822, folio (only six copies of this work were
printed, one of which realised fourteen pounds, ten shillings at the
sale of the books); _A Book of Glamorganshire Antiquities, by Rice
Merrick, Esq., 1578, now first published by Sir T. Phillipps, Bart.,
1825_, folio; and _Collectanea de Familiis Diversis quibus nomen est
Phillipps, etc._, two volumes, 1816-40, folio (a copy of which fetched
sixteen pounds at the sale). Phillipps also printed catalogues of his
manuscripts and printed books. A fair but not complete list of the works
will be found in Lowndes's _Bibliographer's Manual of English
Literature_. In 1862 the printing-press was removed with the library and
other collections to Thirlestaine House.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 97: _Athenaeum_, February 17, 1872.]
REV. THOMAS CORSER, 1793-1876
The Rev. Thomas Corser was the third son of George Corser, banker, of
Whitchurch, Shropshire. He was born at Whitchurch in 1793, and received
his early education first at the school of his native place, and
afterwards at the Manchester Grammar School, from whence he was
admitted a commoner of Balliol College, Oxford. He took the degree of
B.A. in 1815 and that of M.A. in 1818. In 1816 Corser was ordained to
the curacy of Condover, near Shrewsbury, and after filling several other
curacies he was appointed in 1826 to the rectory of All Saints' Church,
Stand, Manchester, which living he held, together with the vicarage of
Norton-by-Daventry in Northamptonshire, for nearly half a century. He
died, after a long illness, at Stand Rectory on the 24th of August 1876.
The Rev. T. Corser was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in
1850, and he was one of the founders of the Chetham Society, for which
he edited four works: _Chester's Triumph_, James's _Iter Lancastrense_,
Robinson's _Golden Mirrour_, and _Collectanea Anglo-Poetica_. The
last-named work, of which a portion was written by Corser and the
remainder by James Crossley, is an elaborate account of Corser's
splendid collection of early English poetry.
Corser was one of the most learned and enthusiastic book-collectors of
his day, and his noble library contained, besides a wonderful collection
of unique and rare editions of the works of the early English poets and
dramatists, a fine block-book, 'Apocalypsis Sancti Johannis,' seven
Caxtons, and a large number of books printed by Machlinia, Wynkyn de
Worde, Pynson, Notary, Redman, and other early English printers. The
library also comprised a large number of books of emblems, drolleries,
jest-books, garlands, and many other scarce and curious works in all
classes of literature. Mr. Corser also possessed a few choice
manuscripts.
In 1868 Mr. Corser, in consequence of ill health and failure of his
eyesight, which precluded him from the further enjoyment of his books,
determined to part with his library, and it was sold in eight parts by
Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge. The first portion was sold on the 28th of
July 1868, and two following days; and the last portion on June the
25th, 1873, and three following days. There were six thousand two
hundred and forty-four lots in the eight sales, and the total amount
realised was nineteen thousand seven hundred and eighty-one pounds.
Catalogues, with the prices, of all the sales are preserved in the
British Museum. The sums obtained for the books were not large. The
block-book sold for four hundred and forty-five pounds, and the seven
Caxtons--the first edition of the _Dictes or Sayings_, _Tully of Old
Age_, _Knight of the Tower_, _Golden Legend_, _Life of Our Lady_,
_Speculum Vitae Christi_, and _Fayts of Arms_--realised but thirteen
hundred and forty-three pounds; the _Knight of the Tower_ and _Fayts of
Arms_ fetching the highest prices--five hundred and sixty pounds, and
two hundred and fifty pounds. Several of the Caxtons were, however,
imperfect. _The Dyalogue of Dives and Pauper_, 1493, until recently
believed to be the first dated book printed by Pynson, brought one
hundred and four pounds, and _The Recuyles of the historyes of Troye_,
1503; _Bartholomaeus de proprietatibus rerum_, about 1495; and _The
Example of Vertue_, 1530, all printed by Wynkyn de Worde, one hundred
and fourteen pounds, sixty pounds, and fifty-eight pounds. Mr. Corser's
four Shakespeare folios sold for one hundred and sixty pounds,
forty-nine pounds, seventy-seven pounds, and twelve pounds, while the
first edition of the _Sonnets_ realised forty-five pounds, and the 1636
edition of _Venus and Adonis_ fifty-five pounds. Some other rare books,
and the prices obtained for them, were the _Sarum Missal_, printed at
Paris in 1514, eighty-seven pounds; _Biblia Pauperum_ (A. Verard, Paris,
about 1503), ninety-nine pounds; _Guy de Waruich_ (Paris, 1525), two
hundred and eighty-two pounds; unique copy of an edition of _Huon of
Bordeaux_, thought to have been printed by Pynson, eighty-one pounds;
_Nurcerie of Names_, by Guillam de Warrino (William Warren) (London,
1581), one hundred pounds; Daye's _Daphnis and Chloe_ (London, 1587),
unique, sixty pounds; _The Three Ladies of London_, by W.R. (London,
1592), seventy-six pounds; _The Phoenix Nest_ (London, 1593),
sixty-four pounds, ten shillings; Chute's _Beawtie Dishonoured_
(London, 1593), one hundred and five pounds; _Maroccus Extaticus, or
Bankes Bay Horse_ (London, 1595), one hundred and ten pounds; the first
five editions of Walton's _Compleat Angler_, one hundred and forty
pounds; and twenty early ballads in black letter, bound in a volume,
eighty-nine pounds.
The more important manuscripts in the collection were _Le Romant des
Trois Pelerinages_, by Guillaume de Guilleville, written on vellum in
the fourteenth century, and ornamented with many illuminations and
drawings, two hundred and ten pounds; _Bartholomaeus De Proprietatibus
Rerum_, vellum, richly illuminated, fourteenth century, ninety-one
pounds; a _Poem on the Lord's Prayer_, by John Kylyngwyke, vellum,
fourteenth century, seventy pounds; _Lyf of Oure Lady_, by John Lydgate,
fifteenth century, written and illuminated on vellum, forty-six pounds;
and _Officium Beatae Mariae Virginis_, fifteenth century, illuminated,
sixty-four pounds.
Some additional manuscripts and books which had belonged to Mr. Corser
were sold after his death, at Manchester, by Capes, Dunn and Pilcher on
December the 13th, 1876, and two following days. These realised one
thousand four hundred and eight pounds, sixteen shillings and sixpence.
Among them was the original manuscript of Cavendish's _Life of Wolsey_,
which fetched sixty guineas.
DAVID LAING, 1793-1878
David Laing, the eminent Scottish antiquary, was the second son of
William Laing, a bookseller in Edinburgh, and was born in that city on
the 20th of April 1793. He was educated at the Canongate Grammar School,
and afterwards attended the Greek classes of Professor Dalzel at the
Edinburgh University.[98] At an early age he was apprenticed to his
father, and in the year 1821 he entered into partnership with him. His
father died in 1832, and David Laing continued to carry on the business
until 1837, when, having been elected librarian to the Society of
Writers to H.M. Signet, he gave it up, and disposed of his stock by
public sale. Laing was Honorary Secretary of the Bannatyne Club from its
foundation by Sir Walter Scott in 1823 to its dissolution thirty-eight
years later, and himself edited a large number of its publications. He
also edited papers for the Spalding, Abbotsford, and Hunterian Clubs,
and the Shakespeare and Wodrow Societies; while his contributions to the
_Proceedings_ of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, of which he was
elected a Fellow in 1826, consisted of upwards of one hundred separate
papers. In 1864 the University of Edinburgh conferred on him the degree
of LL.D. He died unmarried on the 18th of October 1878.
Laing's life was one of great literary activity, and although he did not
produce any large original work, he edited many of the writings of the
old Scottish authors. His acquaintance with the early literary and
ecclesiastical history, as well as the art and antiquities, of Scotland
was very extensive; and Lockhart, in _Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk_,
states that he possessed a 'truly wonderful degree of skill and
knowledge in all departments of bibliography.' A list of the various
publications issued under his editorial superintendence from 1815 to
1878 inclusive, together with his lectures on Scottish art, appear in a
collection of privately printed notices of him edited by T.G. Stevenson,
Edinburgh, 1878.
Laing availed himself of his exceptional opportunities to form a very
large and fine library, which was particularly rich in books
illustrative of the history and literature of Scotland, many of which
were of excessive rarity, and several unique. Nearly every publication
relating to Mary Queen of Scots was to be found in it. After Laing's
death his library, with the exception of his manuscripts, which he
bequeathed to the University of Edinburgh, was sold in four portions by
Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge.
_First Sale_--
December 1st, 1879, and ten following days. Three thousand seven
hundred and ninety-nine lots = thirteen thousand two hundred and
eighty-eight pounds, eight shillings and sixpence.
_Second Sale_--
April 5th, 1880, and ten following days. Four thousand and
eighty-two lots = one thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight
pounds, three shillings.
_Third Sale_--
July 20th, 1880, and four following days. Two thousand four hundred
and forty-three lots = seven hundred and seventy-one pounds, nine
shillings and sixpence.
_Fourth Sale_--
February 21st, 1881, and three following days. One thousand four
hundred and nineteen lots = seven hundred and thirty-eight pounds,
eighteen shillings.
Large prices were obtained for many of the books, especially for the
early ones printed in Scotland.
The following are a few of the rarest of the volumes, together with the
amounts for which they were sold:--
A Roman Breviary on vellum, printed by N. Jenson at Venice in 1482, and
ornamented with borders to the pages, drawn by a pen, ninety-three
pounds; _Lo Doctrinal de Sapiensa_, in the Catalan dialect, by Guy de
Roye, printed about 1495, one hundred pounds; _Missale pro usu totius
Regni Norvegiae_ (Haffniae, 1519), with the arms and cypher of the King of
Denmark on the back of the binding, one hundred and thirty-two pounds;
_The Falle of Princis_, etc., by Boccaccio, translated by John Lydgate,
and printed by Pynson in 1527, seventy-eight pounds; _The Catechisme_ of
Archbishop Hamilton, printed at 'Sanct Androus' in 1552, one hundred and
forty-eight pounds; _Tractate concerning ye Office and Dewtie of
Kyngis_, etc., written by William Lauder, and printed by John Scott at
Edinburgh in 1556, seventy-seven pounds; _Confessione della Fede
Christiana_, by Theodore Beza, printed in 1560, containing the autograph
of Sir James Melville, and having MARIA R. SCOTOR[=V] stamped in gold on
each cover, one hundred and forty-nine pounds; _The Forme and Maner of
Examination before the Admission to ye Tabill of ye Lord, usit by ye
Ministerie of Edinburge_ (Edinburgh, 1581), seventy pounds; the first
edition of the author's corrected text of _Don Quixote_ (Madrid, 1608),
together with the first edition of the second part (Madrid, 1615), one
hundred and ninety-two pounds; dedication copy to King Charles II. of
the _Institutions of the Law of Scotland_, by Sir James Dalrymple of
Stair, afterwards Viscount Stair, two volumes (Edinburgh, 1681), in a
remarkably fine contemporary Scotch binding, with the royal arms in gold
on the covers, two hundred and ninety-five pounds; a first edition of
_Robinson Crusoe_, three volumes (London, 1719-20), thirty-one pounds;
one of the twelve copies, printed at a cost of upwards of ten thousand
pounds, of the _Botanical Tables_ of the Earl of Bute, nine volumes,
with the arms of the Earl impressed in gold on the bindings,
seventy-seven pounds; the first edition of Burns's _Poems_ (Kilmarnock,
1786), with lines in the autograph of Burns, and a letter from J.G.
Lockhart, ninety pounds; and a fine collection of Scots Ballads and
Broadsides, one hundred and thirty in number, issued between 1669 and
1730, many of great rarity, one hundred and thirty-three pounds. Laing
left a collection of drawings to the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting,
of which he had been elected Honorary Professor of Ancient History and
Antiquities in 1856. His prints were sold by Sotheby, Wilkinson and
Hodge on the 21st of February 1880, in two hundred and thirteen lots,
and realised two hundred and seventy pounds, thirteen shillings.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 98: _Dictionary of National Biography._]
BERTRAM, FOURTH EARL OF ASHBURNHAM, 1797-1878
Bertram, fourth Earl of Ashburnham, who was born on the 23rd of November
1797, and died on the 22nd of June 1878, was one of the greatest and
most ardent of English book-collectors. He developed a taste for
book-buying at a very early age. It is said that his first purchase was
made in 1814, when, a boy at Westminster School, he bought a copy of the
_Secretes_ of Albertus Magnus for eighteenpence at Ginger's well-known
shop in Great College Street, and at the time of his death he had
amassed a library which ranked among the first in the kingdom.
Magnificent as was his collection of printed books, the library was even
still more notable for the manuscripts it contained, which amounted to
nearly four thousand, and were remarkable for their value and
importance. In addition to those which he bought separately, Lord
Ashburnham acquired in 1847 the manuscripts of Count Guglielmo Libri for
eight thousand pounds, and in 1849 he purchased the Stowe manuscripts
for the same sum, and those of Jean Barrois for six thousand pounds.
Five years after the death of Lord Ashburnham, his successor, the
present Earl, offered the manuscripts, for one hundred and sixty
thousand pounds, to the Trustees of the British Museum, who were
anxious to purchase them for that sum. The Chancellor of the Exchequer,
however, declined to find the money for the entire collection, but the
Stowe manuscripts were acquired by the Government for forty-five
thousand pounds, and divided between the British Museum and the library
of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. To the latter institution were
given the Irish manuscripts and certain volumes specially relating to
Ireland. It had long been suspected that many of the manuscripts in the
Libri and Barrois collections had been abstracted from French and
Italian public libraries, and when this was proved to have been the
case, principally through the researches of M. Delisle, the Director of
the Bibliotheque Nationale, it was arranged between the Trustees of the
British Museum and the French authorities that should the former become
possessors of the manuscripts, they would return the stolen volumes for
the sum of twenty-four thousand pounds. As the Treasury refused to
sanction the purchase of the whole of the Ashburnham manuscripts, this
arrangement could not be carried out, and in 1887 the manuscripts, one
hundred and sixty-six in number, stolen from the French and Italian
libraries, were bought by Mr. Karl Truebner, acting as agent for the
Grand Duke of Baden and the German Imperial authorities, for the same
sum as the French had been willing to pay for them. The primary object
of this transaction, says Mr. F.S. Ellis in his excellent account of the
library in Quaritch's _Dictionary of English Book-Collectors_, 'was to
recover the famous Manesse Liederbuch, a thirteenth century MS. carried
away by the French from Heidelberg in 1656, the loss of which had ever
since been regarded as a national calamity in Germany. For L6000 in cash
and this precious volume, he handed over the 166 Libri and Barrois MSS.
to the Bibliotheque Nationale. By a simple arithmetical process, we can
conclude that L18,000 was the net cost to the German Exchequer of a
single volume of old German ballads--the highest price ever paid for a
book.' The stolen manuscripts which were not required to replace those
taken from the French libraries, were purchased by the Italian
Government.
Mr. Yates Thompson is understood to have purchased that portion of the
other manuscripts in the library known as 'The Appendix,' for about
forty thousand pounds, and after selecting those he required for his own
collection, to have sent the remainder to the auction rooms of Sotheby,
Wilkinson and Hodge, where they were sold on May the 1st, 1899. There
were one hundred and seventy-seven lots in the sale, which realised
eight thousand five hundred and ninety-five pounds, five shillings. The
choicest manuscript in the catalogue was an important text of the later
version (1400-40) of 'Wycliffe's English Bible,' known as the 'Bramhall
Manuscript,' which was knocked down to Mr. Quaritch for seventeen
hundred and fifty pounds. Other fine manuscripts were a copy of the
_Historia Ecclesiastica_ of the Venerable Bede, written in the eighth
century; an _Evangeliarium_ of the twelfth century, with beautiful
illuminations; _Officia Liturgica_, fifteenth century; and _Horae Beatae
Mariae Virginis_, written in the sixteenth century, richly illuminated.
These realised respectively two hundred and thirty pounds, three hundred
pounds, four hundred and sixty-seven pounds, and three hundred pounds.
On the 10th of June 1901 and the four following days the manuscripts in
the Barrois Collection, not previously disposed of, were sold by the
same auctioneers. There were six hundred and twenty-eight lots in this
sale, and the very large sum of thirty-three thousand two hundred and
seventeen pounds, six shillings and sixpence was obtained for them, the
choicest manuscripts fetching exceptionally high prices. The manuscripts
were of great importance and much interest. Among them were to be found
early copies of the Gospels and Epistles, and beautifully illuminated
manuscripts of the Latin and Italian Classics, Books of Devotion, and
early French Romances and Chronicles. The collection also contained a
number of papers relating to Mary, Queen of Scots, and a valuable
series of Anglo-Norman Charters, etc. The following are a few of the
more interesting and valuable manuscripts, together with the prices they
realised:--_Roman du Saint Graal et Lancelot du Lac_, on vellum, in
three folio volumes, with beautifully painted miniatures and initials,
fourteenth century--eighteen hundred pounds; _Psalterium Latinum_, on
vellum, fourteenth century, with paintings attributed to Giotto--fifteen
hundred and thirty pounds; _Vie du vaillant Bertrand du Guesclin_,
written on vellum in the fourteenth century, with miniatures in _camaieu
gris_--fifteen hundred pounds; _La Legende Doree_, translated by Jehan
de Vignay, fifteenth century, on vellum, with a large number of very
fine illuminated miniatures and ornamental initials--fifteen hundred
pounds; _Chronique Generale dite de la Bourcachardiere_, by Jehan de
Courcy, in two large folio volumes, on vellum, with large illuminations,
fifteenth century--fourteen hundred and twenty pounds; _Horae Beatae Mariae
Virginis_, with very fine illuminations, fifteenth century--eleven
hundred and sixty pounds; _Histoire Universelle_, on vellum, in two
volumes, with miniatures in _camaieu gris_, fifteenth century--nine
hundred and ten pounds; _Dante_, vellum, richly illuminated, fourteenth
century--six hundred and thirty pounds. The collection of Anglo-Norman
Charters fetched three hundred and five pounds, and the Letters and
Papers relating to Mary, Queen of Scots, one hundred and ninety-six
pounds.
For upwards of fifty years Lord Ashburnham availed himself of every
opportunity of acquiring the finest and most perfect copies obtainable
of the rarest and choicest books, and he brought together a collection
of printed volumes which was well worthy of being associated with that
of his manuscripts. It was especially rich in Bibles, and in Missals,
Horae and other Service Books, and in the early editions of Dante,
Boccaccio and Chaucer. Among the Bibles and portions of the Scriptures
were a block-book, a copy of the _Biblia Pauperum_, regarded by
Heinecken as the second edition of that work; vellum and paper copies of
the Gutenberg Bible; a vellum copy of the 1462 Latin Bible; a perfect
copy of Tyndale's translation of the Pentateuch, printed at 'Marlborow'
by Hans Loft in 1534; and the Coverdale Bible of 1535. Of foreign
incunabula there was a large number; of Caxtons a very goodly list,[99]
but comparatively few of them perfect; and the rarest productions of the
press of St. Albans, and of those of Machlinia, Lettou, Pynson, Wynkyn
de Worde, Copland, and other early English printers were to be found in
the library. The collection of the editions of the _Book of Hawking,
Hunting_, etc., attributed to Dame Juliana Berners, may be considered to
have been unique, for it included the _Book of St. Albans_, printed in
1486, the extremely rare edition printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1496, the
three editions printed by William Copland, those of William Powell and
John Waley, and the only known copy of the first separate edition of
_Fysshynge with an Angle_, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1532. Other
rare English books were the first edition of the first _Reformed
Primer_, printed in 1535; an _Abridgement of the Chronicles of
Englande_, printed by Grafton in 1570, which belonged to Thomas Howard,
Duke of Norfolk, who was beheaded in 1572, with an interesting letter
written by him on the blank space of the reverse of the last leaf,
shortly before his death; _The Principal Navigations, etc., of the
English Nation_, by Richard Hakluyt, printed in 1598-1600, with the very
rare map having the Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, 1577, and that of
Standish, 1587, and the original suppressed pages of the Voyage to
Cadiz; the four Shakespeare folios, and the first five editions of
Walton's _Compleat Angler_, in the original bindings (three sheep and
two calf) as issued by the publisher. Books also worthy of special
notice were the beautifully illuminated copies of Boccaccio's _Ruine des
Nobles Hommes_, printed by Colard Mansion at Bruges in 1476; the _Opera
Varia Latine_ of Aristotle, printed on vellum by Andrea de Asula at
Venice in 1483; and _Heures de la Vierge Marie_, also printed on vellum,
by Geoffroy Tory in 1525. A catalogue of the more rare and curious
printed books in the library was privately printed in 1864.
Although bookbindings did not form a special feature of the library,
Lord Ashburnham possessed some remarkably fine and interesting examples
of them. That on a tenth century manuscript of the Gospels, which for
many centuries belonged to the Abbey of Noble Canonesses at Lindau, on
the Lake of Constance, is one of the finest specimens of gold and
jewelled bindings to be found in any collection. This beautiful work of
art, the lower cover of which is of the eighth century and the upper of
the ninth, is of gold or silver gilt, and is profusely decorated with
jewels. It is described in the _Vetusta Monumenta_ of the Society of
Antiquaries, and was shown at the Exhibition of Bookbindings at the
Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1891.[100] The collection also contained a
particularly fine mosaic binding, with doublures, by Monnier, and many
volumes from the libraries of Grolier, Maioli, the Emperor Charles V.,
De Thou, etc.
Lord Ashburnham's printed books were sold in three portions in 1897 and
1898 by Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge. The first sale took place on June
25th, 1897, and seven following days; the second on December 6th, 1897,
and five following days, and the third on May 9th, 1898, and five
following days. There were four thousand and seventy-five lots in the
three sales, and the total amount realised was sixty-two thousand seven
hundred and twelve pounds, seven shillings and sixpence.
Very high prices were obtained for the books. The _Biblia Pauperum_
block-book sold for a thousand and fifty pounds; the vellum copy of the
Gutenberg Bible for four thousand pounds, the largest sum paid for a
copy of this Bible, and the highest but one ever given for a printed
book (Lord Ashburnham's copy on paper was sold privately to Mr. Quaritch
for three thousand pounds); the Latin Bible of 1462 for fifteen hundred
pounds; and the Coverdale Bible and Tyndale's Pentateuch for eight
hundred and twenty pounds, and two hundred pounds. The illuminated
copies of Boccaccio's _Ruine des Nobles Hommes_, printed by Colard
Mansion; Aristotle's _Opera Varia Latine_, printed by Andrea de Asula;
and the _Heures de la Vierge Marie_, printed by Geoffroy Tory, realised
six hundred and ninety-five pounds, eight hundred pounds, and eight
hundred and sixty pounds.
Of the Caxtons the _Life of Jason_ and the _Dictes_ fetched the highest
prices--two thousand one hundred pounds, and thirteen hundred and twenty
pounds; the former being the largest sum ever paid for any Caxton book.
Three hundred and eighty-five pounds were obtained for the 'Book of St.
Albans'; one thousand pounds for Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, printed
by Wynkyn de Worde in 1498, believed to be the only copy extant; and
three hundred and sixty pounds for the _Treatyse of Fysshing with an
Angle_, by the same printer. This little book, which consists of sixteen
leaves, and without the covers weighs about two ounces, sold for nearly
forty-five times its weight in gold. The first edition of the _Reformed
Primer_ sold for two hundred and twenty-five pounds; Grafton's
_Chronicle_, with the letter of the Duke of Norfolk, for seventy pounds;
and a vellum copy of the _Tewrdannck_ for three hundred and ten pounds.
The first folio Shakespeare, which was slightly imperfect, was bought by
Mr. Sotheran for five hundred and eighty-five pounds, for presentation
to the Memorial Library, Stratford-on-Avon. The second folio fetched
ninety pounds, and the third one hundred and ninety pounds. Hakluyt's
_Navigations_ sold for two hundred and seventy-five pounds, and the set
of the first five editions of the _Compleat Angler_ for eight hundred
pounds. At the Corser sale they realised but one hundred and forty
pounds. The copy of _Merlin_ with the Monnier binding brought seven
hundred and sixty pounds, and a collection of early impressions of
sixty-two prints by Albert Duerer three hundred and fifty pounds.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 99: Eighteen are mentioned in Blades's _Life and Typography of
Caxton_. London, 1861-63.]
[Footnote 100: This volume was recently sold for the Earl of Ashburnham
by Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge to a private purchaser for ten thousand
pounds.]
SIR WILLIAM TITE, C.B., 1798-1873
Sir William Tite, C.B., was the son of Mr. Arthur Tite, a London
merchant. He was born in London in 1798, and after receiving his
education at private schools, became a pupil of David Laing, the
architect of the Custom House. Sir William Tite designed many buildings
in London and the provinces, and a considerable number of the more
important railway stations; but the work with which his name is
especially associated was the rebuilding of the Royal Exchange, which
cost L150,000, and was opened by the Queen on the 28th of October 1844.
In 1838 he was elected President of the Architectural Society, and of
the Royal Institute of British Architects from 1861-63, and from
1867-70. He entered Parliament in 1855 as Member for Bath, and continued
to represent that constituency until his death. In 1869 he was knighted,
and in the following year he received the Companionship of the Bath. Sir
William was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and also of the Society of
Antiquaries. He died at Torquay on April 20th, 1873, and was buried in
Norwood Cemetery.
Sir William Tite was an ardent collector of manuscripts, books, and
works of art, and he formed a very large and choice library, which
contained many valuable manuscripts, and a great number of rare early
English books. It was sold by Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, in May and
June 1874. The sale occupied sixteen days, and realised nineteen
thousand nine hundred and forty-three pounds, six shillings. There were
three thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven lots.
Among the more notable manuscripts in the library were a richly
illuminated _Lectionarium_, written on vellum about A.D. 1150 at the
monastery of Ottenbeuren in Suabia, which sold for five hundred and
fifty pounds; a Wycliffe New Testament on vellum of the first half of
the fifteenth century, which brought two hundred and forty-one pounds; a
copy of the Four Gospels of about the same period, which fetched one
hundred and eight pounds; a number of Horae and other service books, and
three devotional works written by Jarry, the famous French
calligraphist. There were also the original manuscripts of three of the
novels of Sir Walter Scott--_Peveril of the Peak_, the first volume of
the _Tales of my Landlord (The Black Dwarf)_, and _Woodstock_, which
together realised three hundred and ninety-eight pounds. The collection
also contained a block-book, _The Apocalypse_, which brought two hundred
and eighty-five pounds; four Caxtons, the most important of which--a
perfect copy of the second edition of the _Mirrour of the World_--sold
for four hundred and fifty-five pounds; and many books from the presses
of Machlinia, Pynson, Wynkyn de Worde, Notary, and other early English
printers. Shakespeare was well represented. The first three folios were
to be found in the library, as well as the first editions of _Lucrece_
and the _Sonnets_, and a large number of the quarto plays. The first
folio and _Lucrece_ realised respectively four hundred and forty pounds
and one hundred and ten pounds. There was also a choice collection of
the works of other writers of the time of Elizabeth and James I. A copy
of the first edition of _Don Quixote_; and a set of the first five
editions of Walton's _Compleat Angler_, which sold for sixty-eight
pounds, also deserve especial notice. A series of autographs in thirteen
folio volumes realised three hundred and twenty-five pounds; and the
sale catalogue contained as many as two hundred and fourteen lots of
autograph letters of Mary Queen of Scots, Lord Bacon, Cromwell, and
other celebrities.
Sir William Tite was the author of a 'Report of a Visit to the Estates
of the Honourable Irish Society in Londonderry and Coleraine in the
year 1834,' and of a 'Descriptive Catalogue of the Antiquities found in
the Excavations at the New Royal Exchange,' which he published in 1848.
Several of his papers and addresses, which principally treated of
bibliographical or antiquarian subjects, were privately printed. He was
a liberal promoter of all schemes for the advancement of education, and
he founded the Tite Scholarship in the City of London School.
JAMES THOMSON GIBSON-CRAIG, 1799-1886
Mr. James Thomson Gibson-Craig, who was born in March 1799, was the
second son of Mr. James Gibson, the political reformer, who, on
succeeding under entail to the Riccarton estates in 1823, assumed the
name of Craig, and in 1831 was created a baronet. He was educated at the
High School and the University of Edinburgh, and after spending some
time in foreign travel, he became a Writer to the Signet, and joined the
firm afterwards known as Gibson-Craig, Dalziel and Brodies, of
Edinburgh, of which he continued a member until about the year 1875. Mr.
Gibson-Craig was well known for his literary and antiquarian tastes, and
it was principally owing to his exertions that the Historical
Manuscripts of Scotland were reproduced and issued during the time his
brother, Sir William Gibson-Craig, held the office of Lord Clerk
Register. He was a friend of Sir Walter Scott, of Lord Jeffrey, and Lord
Cockburn, and at a later period of Lord Macaulay; and he was also
intimate with most of the principal Scottish artists and antiquaries of
his time. He died at Edinburgh on the 18th of July 1886. Mr.
Gibson-Craig, who began to collect during his student days, formed an
extensive and valuable library of choice books, many of which were bound
by celebrated binders, and were once to be found in such famous
libraries as those of Grolier, Canevari, Diana of Poitiers, Mary Queen
of Scots, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, De Thou, Count von Hoym,
Longepierre, and Madame de Pompadour. After his death his collection was
sold by Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge in three portions. The first
portion was sold on June the 27th, 1887, and nine following days; the
second on March the 23rd, 1888, and five following days, and on April
6th and eight following days; and the third on November the 15th, 1888,
and two following days. There were altogether nine thousand four hundred
and four lots, and the amount realised was fifteen thousand five hundred
and nine pounds, four shillings and sixpence.
The following are some of the more notable books and manuscripts in the
collection, and the prices obtained for them:--
_Bartholomaei Camerarii de Praedestinatione dialogi tres._ Parisiis, 1556.
Bound in white morocco, the sides blind-tooled with the various emblems
of Diana of Poitiers, and the initial of Henry II., King of France,
surmounted by a crown. In the centre of the upper cover are the words
CONSEQVITVR QVOD CVNQVE PETIT, and on the lower cover NIHIL AMPLIVS
OPTAT. One hundred and forty-six pounds.
_Cronique de Savoye, par Maistre Guillaume Paradin._ Lyon, 1552. This
volume formerly belonged to Mary Queen of Scots. It is in the original
calf binding, and has in the centre of each cover a shield bearing the
arms of Scotland, surmounted by a crown, with a crowned M above, below,
and on each side of them, as well as at the corners of the book, and
also on the panels of the back. Two hundred and sixty-five pounds.
_Larismetique et Geometrie de Estienne de la Roche._ Lyon, 1538. The
binding bears the arms of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, third husband
of Mary Queen of Scots. Eighty-one pounds.
_The XIII. Bukes of Eneados, translated out of Latyne verses into
Scottish metir bi Mayster Gawin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkel, and unkil to
the Erie of Angus._ [W. Copland], London, 1553. Seventy-five pounds, ten
shillings.
_Poliphili Hypnerotomachia._ Aldus, Venetiis, 1499. Ninety pounds.
_Tewrdannck._ Augsburg, 1519. Thirty-nine pounds.
Walton's _Compleat Angler_. First edition. London, 1653.
Cotton's _Complete Angler_. First edition. London, 1676. Together, one
hundred and ninety-five pounds.
Burns's _Poems_. Kilmarnock, 1786. One hundred and eleven pounds.
The more important of the manuscripts were:--
_Horae B. Mariae Virginis_, written in the thirteenth century on vellum by
an Anglo-Saxon or Scottish scribe. Three hundred and twenty-five pounds.
The First and Second Series of Sir Walter Scott's _Chronicles of the
Canongate_. An autograph manuscript presented by the author to R.
Cadell. One hundred and forty-one pounds.
A collection of valuable and interesting correspondence and memoranda
relating to the Rebellion of 1715, comprising many of the original
letters and despatches from the Earl of Mar, etc. Ninety-nine pounds.
In 1882 Mr. Gibson-Craig issued, in an edition of twenty-five copies,
_Fac-similes of Old Book Binding_ in his collection; and in the
following year a facsimile reprint of the _Shorte Summe of the whole
Catechisme_, by his ancestor John Craig, accompanied by a memoir of the
author by Thomas Graves Law, of the Signet Library. He also printed for
the Bannatyne Club 'Papers relative to the marriage of King James the
Sixth of Scotland with the Princess Anna of Denmark A.D. MDLXXXIX, and
the Form and Manner of Her Majesty's Coronation at Holyroodhouse A.D.
MDXC.'
ALEXANDER WILLIAM, TWENTY-FIFTH EARL OF CRAWFORD, 1812-1880
It is about three hundred years since the founder of the Bibliotheca
Lindesiana died. John Lindsay, the Octavian, better known by his title
of Lord Menmuir, the ancestor of the Earls of Balcarres, had a
distinguished though but brief career. He was not quite forty-seven
years old when he died. During his short though eventful life he took a
leading part in State affairs, being much trusted by his Sovereign, King
James VI. He was a man of varied talents--lawyer, statesman, man of
business, scholar, man of letters, and a poet. He seems to have been
familiar with Greek, and to have corresponded in the Latin language.
Besides these he acquired a knowledge of French, Italian and Spanish. He
accumulated many State papers and letters from distinguished persons
both at home and abroad.[101] These, now known as 'the Balcarres
Papers,' were presented by Colin, Earl of Balcarres, to the Advocates'
Library in 1712. A summary account of them is given in the First Report
of the Historical Manuscripts Commission. Lord Menmuir's library is now
represented at Haigh[102] by two volumes and three fragments, all of
which bear his autograph. Lord Menmuir was succeeded by a son, who died
whilst yet a youth and unmarried. The second son, David, who after his
brother's death inherited the estate of Balcarres, may be termed the
second founder of the library. The father's love of books and learning
seems to have in a very large measure descended to the son. He added to
the library until it became one of the best in the kingdom. A very
charming letter from William Drummond of Hawthornden to David Lindsay,
sent with a copy of the _Flowers of Zion_, which the poet had privately
printed, is clear evidence of the terms on which Lindsay lived with his
friends and fellow book-lovers. The original letter is preserved in the
Muniment Room at Haigh, but the identical copy of Drummond's work has,
alas! been lost sight of.
[Illustration: THE SMALL BOOK-STAMP OF THE FIRST LORD BALCARRES.]
The library of Sir David Lindsay, Lord Balcarres, continued at the
family seat on the shores of the Firth of Forth until comparatively
recent times. Sibbald in 1710 mentions the 'great bibliothek' at
Balcarres. In Sibbald's time the owner, Colin, third Earl of Balcarres,
had added many books to the library, and spent the evening of his days
in the pursuit of letters. When Lady Balcarres, great-grandmother of the
present Earl of Crawford, left Fife and removed to Edinburgh, whilst her
son was in the West Indies, the greater portion of the library was
literally thrown away and dispersed--torn up for grocers as useless
trash, by her permission. Of the library collected by generations of
Lindsays, all that now remains is a handful of little over fifty
volumes. The books of David Lindsay, first Lord Balcarres, who died in
1641, are recognisable from his signature, and on many of them his arms
are impressed in gold on the sides.
[Illustration: THE LARGE BOOK-STAMP OF THE FIRST LORD BALCARRES.]
Of the present library at Haigh, the nucleus of it may be said to be the
books inherited by the grandfather of the present Earl, whose wife was
the heiress of the first Baron Muncaster. These Muncaster books,
although not of the greatest value, formed a basis on which the late
Earl of Crawford, who was born in 1812, built up the present library,
which will be always associated with his memory. When a boy he was fired
with enthusiasm for books, and determined to form a great library in
which every branch of human knowledge in every language should have a
place. He began collecting about 1826, shortly after going to Eton, and
continued most assiduously to gather of all that was best until his
death in 1880. His success may be judged in some measure by the
remarkable collections dispersed in 1887 and 1889, which together
consisted of three thousand two hundred and fifty-four lots, and
realised twenty-six thousand three hundred and ninety-seven pounds,
fourteen shillings. Family burdens rendered it needful for the present
possessor of the library to put his hands on some available assets, and
this necessity coming at a period of great commercial depression, a
portion of the literary treasures unfortunately suffered. But the work
was again renewed, and the present state of the library will not compare
ignobly with its past. The number of manuscripts is very considerable,
probably about six thousand, not a few of which are of the greatest
interest and value, many of them having covers of the precious metals or
carved ivory, enriched with gems and crystals. There are also many
papyri, a great number of Oriental manuscripts, collections of French
autograph letters of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods, and of
English autograph letters. The printed books amount to about one hundred
thousand, and among them are to be found several block-books and a large
number of incunabula, including books printed by Caxton, Machlinia,
Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, Rood, and other early English printers. The
library is particularly rich in the productions of the early Italian
presses, especially those of Rome and Venice; and it also contains a
fine collection of rare works on the languages of North and South
America, many of them printed in Mexico and Lima, and a series of books
printed in Aberdeen from 1622 to 1736. Of other printed matter there are
collections of broadside ballads; broadside proclamations illustrative
of English, French, Dutch, German and Italian history; a long series of
Papal Bulls; early English newspapers from 1631 to the Restoration;
Civil War tracts; tracts by, for and against Martin Luther; newspapers
and periodicals published during the various French revolutions; and a
large number of caricatures issued in France and Germany during the
Second Empire and the Commune.
It is not an easy task to pick out the choicest gems from the abundant
treasures of this splendid collection, but the following are a few of
the most interesting and valuable of the manuscripts:
A Legal Instrument of Donation from Johannes, the Primicerius, or
Captain of a company of soldiers, to the Church of Ravenna; written on
papyrus, probably about A.D. 580-600, at Ravenna. Five feet four inches
long by eleven and a half inches broad.
The Four Gospels in Syriac, in the original Peshitto version, written on
vellum about 550.
St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, _Epistolae et Opuscula_, written in the
seventh or eighth century in rude Merovingian characters, often mixed
with uncial letters. One of the oldest manuscripts in existence of this
Father of the Church.
The Four Gospels in Latin, written about 850.
A Textus or Book of the Gospels, probably written at the Benedictine
monastery of St. Gall, Switzerland, in the ninth or tenth century. In
the centre of the upper cover, which is intended to be used as a pax at
Mass, is an ivory panel of the Crucifixion, with figures of the Virgin
Mary and St. John the Evangelist. The border is of gilt copper engraved
with a floriated pattern, and studded with silver bosses and jewels; at
the corners are Limoges enamel plaques with the four Evangelists. The
ivory carving is of the tenth or eleventh century, the border early
thirteenth.
The New Testament in Syriac: the Gospels of the Peshitto version, and
the remaining books of the Heraclean version, written about 1000.
Remarkable as being the only complete Syriac New Testament of any
antiquity in any library in Europe.
The Old Testament in Latin, written by a German scribe in the eleventh
century. The upper cover consists of a carved ivory panel of the
thirteenth century, with a border of silver gilt, decorated with
filigree work and figures in _repousse_, and enriched with crystals _en
cabochon_.
St. Beatus, _Commentarius in Apocalypsim_, written in Spain about 1150;
with one hundred and ten very large miniatures and a circular map of
the world.
_Bible Historiee_, executed in the south of France about 1250; a series
of full-page paintings on a background of burnished gold, representing
scenes from the Book of Genesis.
_Psalterium_, written in Paris about 1260. This volume belonged at one
time to Joan of Navarre, Queen Consort of Henry IV., King of England,
whose autograph is on one of the blank leaves.
_Roman de la Rose_, written for, and presented to, Christina de
Lindesay, Dame de Coucy, 1323.
_Rime di Petrarca et Canconi di Dante._ One of the most important
manuscripts of the two poets, written during the lifetime of Petrarch,
or immediately after his death, by Paul the Scribe for Lorenzo, the son
of Carlo degli Strozzi, a member of one of the noblest families of
Florence.
Lydgate's _Siege of Troy_, probably written for William Carent, of
Carent's Court, in the Isle of Purbeck, about 1420. The volume has
illuminated borders and seventy miniatures, and bears the arms of Carent
at the end.
_Missale Romanum_, six volumes folio, written on vellum in 1510-17 for
Cardinal Pompeo Colonna. The tradition handed down by the family was
that the large full-page illuminations with which the manuscript is
adorned were executed by Raphael about the year 1517, when the owner was
made a cardinal; and there is no doubt that, if not actually by his
hand, the work was done by his followers under his supervision. In all
probability, we may say that the large miniatures are painted by Timoteo
Viti, and the illuminations and arabesques by Litti di Filippo de'
Corbizi.[103]
Some of the more notable of the incunabula are two block-books--the
first Dutch edition of the _Speculum Humanae Salvationis_, and a copy of
the _Ars Memorativa_ printed before 1474-75. Cicero, _Officiorum libri
tres_, printed at Mentz by Fust and Schoeffer in 1465. Lactantius,
_Opera_, printed in the Monastery of Subiaco, near Rome, by Sweynheym
and Pannartz in 1465. Higden's _Polychronicon_ and the _Boke of
Eneydos_, printed by Caxton in 1482 and 1490. The _Chronicles of
England_ and the _Speculum Christiani_, printed by Machlinia. Lyndewode,
_Constitutiones provinciales ecclesiae anglicanae_, printed at Oxford by
Rood and Hunte in 1483-85. The _Croniclis of Engl[=o]de with the frute
of timis_, from the St. Albans press.
Among other books of later dates deserving of special notice may be
mentioned--Vespucci, _Paesi novamente retrovati_, Vicenza, 1507. The
first and very rare edition of the celebrated Thesis of Luther against
the system of indulgences, which he affixed to the gate of the
University of Wittemberg, 1517. _Huon of Bordeaux_, printed by Wynkyn
de Worde about 1534--believed to be unique. Archbishop Parker's _De
Antiquitate Britannicae Ecclesiae_, London, 1572. A magnificent set of De
Bry's _Grands et Petits Voyages_, in one hundred and eighty-two volumes,
1590-1644. A Booke containing all such Proclamations as were published
during the Raigne of Elizabeth (and James I.); collected by Humphrey
Dyson, London, 1618. The first and second Shakespeare folios. Three
copies of the first edition of Milton's _Paradise Lost_, with the first,
third and fourth title-pages.
The immense collection of broadsides forms one of the most remarkable
features of this magnificent library. In volume iv. p. 201 of the
_Transactions of the Bibliographical Society_, published in 1898, Lord
Crawford informs us that 'in the last fourteen or fifteen years he had
managed to collect something like nineteen thousand of them, including
English, French, German and Venetian Proclamations (3000), Papal Bulls
(11,000) and English Ballads (3000).' Among them are several very rare
indulgences printed by Wynkyn de Worde and Pynson, and a large number of
proclamations and ballads of special interest and value, far too
numerous to mention.
The present Earl of Crawford, who is a Trustee of the British Museum,
President of the Camden Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society and the
Society of Antiquaries, and who was formerly President of the Royal
Astronomical Society, has printed catalogues of the English broadsides
and ballads, and of the Chinese books and manuscripts in his collection,
together with hand-lists to the Oriental manuscripts, the early editions
of the Greek and Latin writers, and the proclamations issued by
authority of the kings and queens of Great Britain and Ireland. He has
also printed collations and notes of some of the rare books in the
library.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 101: Mainly contributed by Mr. J.P. Edmond, Librarian to Lord
Crawford.]
[Footnote 102: Lord Crawford's Seat, near Wigan.]
[Footnote 103: Since the above was printed it has been announced that
Lord Crawford's MSS. have become by purchase the property of Mrs.
Rylands of Manchester.]
HENRY HUTH, 1815-1878
Mr. Henry Huth, who was born in London in 1815, was the third son of Mr.
Frederick Huth of Hanover, who settled at Corunna, in Spain; but on the
occupation of that town by the French in 1809 he came to England, where
he became a naturalised British subject, and founded the well-known firm
which is still carried on by his descendants. Mr. Henry Huth, we are
informed in the preface to the Catalogue of the Huth Library, written by
his son, Mr. Alfred Henry Huth, was intended for the Indian Civil
Service, and was sent to Mr. Rusden's school at Leith Hill in Surrey,
where he 'learned Greek, Latin, and French (Spanish was his
mother-tongue), and had also got well on with Hindustani, Persian, and
Arabic'; but in 1833, the East India Company having lost their Charter,
his father removed him from the school and took him into his business.
Office-work proving distasteful to him, he travelled for some years on
the Continent and in America, rejoining his father's firm as partner in
1849. From his early years Mr. Henry Huth had been a collector of books,
and on his return home he set energetically to work to form that
splendid library which ranks among the finest in England, and which has
been carefully preserved and augmented by his son, Mr. Alfred Henry
Huth. Mr. Henry Huth gave commissions at most of the important
book-sales, and we are told that 'he called daily at all the principal
booksellers on his way back from the city, a habit which he continued up
to the day of his death.' He was a member of the Philobiblon Society,
and in 1867 printed for presentation to the members a volume of _Ancient
Ballads and Broadsides published in England in the Sixteenth Century_,
reprinted from the unique original copies he had bought at the Daniel
sale. He was also a member of the Roxburghe Club. Mr. Huth died on the
10th of December 1878, and was buried in the churchyard of Bolney, in
Sussex. He married Augusta Louisa Sophia, third daughter of Frederick
Westenholz of Waldenstein Castle, in Austria, by whom he had three sons
and three daughters.
Among the treasures in Mr. Huth's library are block-books of the _Ars
Moriendi_, _Ars Memorandi_, and the _Apocalypse_; the superb copy of the
Gutenberg Bible which was formerly in the libraries of Sir M. Masterman
Sykes and Mr. Henry Perkins; two copies of the Fust and Schoeffer Bible
of 1462, one on vellum; and a particularly fine copy of St. Augustine's
_De Civitate Dei_, printed at Rome in 1468. The collection also
comprises several of the pre-Reformation German Bibles; the first
edition of Luther's Bible; the Coverdale Bible of 1535, and the
Icelandic Bible printed at Holum in 1584; together with upwards of one
hundred other Bibles, a large number of New Testaments, and various
portions of the Scriptures in all languages.
In books from the presses of Caxton and other early English printers the
library is remarkably rich. It contains no less than twelve Caxtons;
about fifty Wynkyn de Wordes, of which several are unique; sixteen
Pynsons, and a Machlinia. A vellum copy--the only one known--of the
_Fructus Temporum_, printed at St. Albans about 1483; and the _Exposicio
Sancti Jeronimi in Symbolum Apostolorum_, printed at Oxford, and bearing
the date 1468 (a typographical error for 1478), are also found on its
shelves.
Among the books printed by Caxton are the first editions of _The Dictes
or Sayings of the Philosophers_, Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, _Tully
of Old Age_, Gower's _Confessio Amantis_, and Christine de Pisan's
_Fayts of Arms_.
The books from the presses of foreign printers are both numerous and
fine. Some of the most notable examples are the Dantes of Foligno and
Mantua, both printed in the year 1472; the first edition of Homer,
printed at Venice in 1488; a magnificent copy on thick paper, with the
original binding, of the _Poliphili Hypnerotomachia_, printed by Aldus
at Venice in 1499; the Aldine Virgil of 1501, with the book-plate of
Bilibald Pirkheimer; and two copies of the _Tewrdannck_, one on vellum,
printed at Nuremberg in 1517. There is also a copy of the first edition
of _Don Quixote_, with the Privilege only for Madrid.
Few collections are richer than the Huth Library in old English poetry
and dramatic literature. It contains the first four folio Shakespeares,
and a goodly gathering of quarto plays, many of which were acquired at
the Daniel sale in 1864. Among them are the first editions of _Richard
II._ and _Richard III._, printed in 1597; _Henry V._, _Much Ado about
Nothing_, _Midsummer Night's Dream_, and the _Merchant of Venice_, all
printed in 1600; the first sketch of _The Merry Wives of Windsor_,
printed in 1602; the second edition of _Hamlet_, printed in 1604; and
the first editions of _Pericles_, printed in 1609, and _Othello_,
printed in 1622. Other rare Shakespeareana are the first editions of
_Lucrece_, the _Sonnets_, and the _Poems_, printed respectively in 1594,
1609, and 1640. It is only possible to mention a few of the rare English
books in this grand library; but the _Hundred Merry Tales_, published by
Rastell about 1525; the unique copy of Munday's _Banquet of Daintie
Conceits_, printed in 1588; a first folio of Ben Jonson's _Works_ on
large paper, of which only one other copy is known in that state, and a
perfect set of the editions of Walton's _Compleat Angler_ from 1653 to
1760, cannot be passed over without notice. The unique collection of
Elizabethan ballads, to which reference has already been made, would be
considered a great treasure in any library. The collection of Voyages
and Travels is believed to be the richest private one in Europe. It
comprises the early letters of Columbus and Vesputius, and perfect
editions of De Bry, Hulsius, Hakluyt, Purchas, etc., together with the
voyages of Cortes, Drake, and other famous travellers.
The fine and large collection of manuscripts contains many choice and
interesting examples. Several beautifully written Bibles, and a number
of Books of Hours are to be found in it. Some of the latter are most
charmingly illuminated; two of them, written in the fifteenth century,
of Flemish execution, are especially good. One of these contains the
coats of arms of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and Isabella his
wife. There are also three handsomely illuminated Petrarchs, and a
remarkable manuscript on vellum in four volumes, with very beautiful
illustrations of beasts, birds, fish, and insects, painted by George
Hoefnagel for the Emperor Rudolph II. A collection of Madrigals for
three voices, the words by John Milton, Thomas Tompkins, and others, is
of especial interest, for Mr. A.H. Huth informs us that several of the
songs by Milton in it have never been published, and that he composed
some of the music.
The library also contains a considerable number of interesting letters,
and a very fine collection of engravings; the series by Albert Duerer
being nearly complete. A somewhat recent addition to the collection is
'a proof set before numbers of the engravings to the Landino Dante of
1481, by Baccio Baldini, after the designs of Botticelli, and separately
printed on slips.'[104]
Many of the volumes once formed part of the libraries of Grolier,
Maioli, Canevari, Diana of Poitiers, Henry IV. of France, De Thou, Count
Mansfeld, Louis XIII., and other celebrated collectors, and bear on
their covers the arms or devices of their former owners. There are fine
examples of the work of all the great binders, and many books bound in
silver, needlework, etc.
The admirable catalogue of the library in five volumes was compiled by
Mr. F.S. Ellis and Mr. W.C. Hazlitt, and partly revised by Mr. Henry
Huth himself.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 104: Account of additions to the Huth Library, by Mr. A.H.
Huth, in Mr. Quaritch's _Dictionary of English Book-Collectors_.]
ROBERT SAMUEL TURNER, 1818-1887
Mr. Robert Samuel Turner was born in 1818. Although engaged in
commercial affairs from his youth he was a most enthusiastic
book-collector, and at a very early age began to form that noble
library, with which only a few collections of his time could vie in
value, extent or condition. Mr. Turner principally directed his
attention to the acquisition of rare Italian, French and Spanish books.
His English books were not numerous, and there were but few German ones
in the collection, but some of them were of much interest. He possessed
one of the finest copies in existence of the first folio of
Shakespeare's Plays, and an exceptionally good example of the
_Tewrdannck_. He always endeavoured to obtain the best and choicest
copies possible, and many of them, especially the French volumes, were
clothed in beautiful bindings, bearing the arms or devices of Grolier,
Maioli, Diana of Poitiers, Count Mansfeld, Cosmo de' Medici, Thomas
Wotton, Longepierre, Count von Hoym, and other famous collectors. Mr.
Turner resided for some years in Park Square West, Regent's Park,
London, but in 1878 he removed to the Albany, Piccadilly. In
anticipation of his change of residence he determined to part with a
portion of his collection of French books, and on the valuation of the
late M. Potier, of Paris, he offered it to an eminent French amateur _en
bloc_ for four thousand pounds. This offer was declined, and he sent the
books to Paris to be sold by auction. The sale took place at the Salle
Drouot on the 12th of March 1878, and the four following days, when the
lots, seven hundred and seventy-four in number, realised three hundred
and nineteen thousand one hundred francs--considerably more than three
times the sum Mr. Turner was willing to take for them. After his death,
which occurred at Brighton on the 7th of June 1887, the remainder of his
library was disposed of in two sales by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson and
Hodge: the first on June 18th, 1888, and the eleven following days, and
the second on November 23rd, 1888, and the thirteen following days. They
realised respectively thirteen thousand three hundred and seventy
pounds, thirteen shillings, and two thousand eight hundred and
seventy-four pounds, seventeen shillings and sixpence. The prices
obtained for the books, especially at the French sale, were very high. A
dedication copy to Mademoiselle de Montpensier, with the signature of
Charles de Lorraine on the title-page, of _Recueil des Portraits et
Eloges en vers et en prose (de personnages du temps par Mademoiselle de
Montpensier et autres)_, Paris, 1659, with a morocco binding of the
seventeenth century, ornamented with _fleurs-de-lis_, fetched fourteen
thousand francs; La Fontaine's _Fables Choisies_, five volumes, Paris,
1678, 1679 and 1694, bound by Boyet, eleven thousand nine hundred and
fifty francs; _Les Fais de Jason_, par Raoul Le Febvre, printed at Lyons
about 1480, seven thousand six hundred francs; _Le Livre appelle
Mandeville_, Lyon, 1480, six thousand two hundred and fifty francs; _Les
OEuvres de Guillaume Coquillant_, Paris, 1532, five thousand four
hundred and fifty francs; and _Les OEuvres de Moliere_, eight volumes,
Paris, 1739, with additional plates, five thousand francs. Among the
books at the English sales the exceptionally fine and large copies of
the _Tewrdannck_, Nuremberg, 1517, and the Aldine _Poliphili
Hypnerotomachia_, sold respectively for two hundred and fifty pounds and
one hundred and thirty-seven pounds; a copy of _Paesi Novamente
Retrovati_, Vicentia, 1507, with the title in facsimile, for one hundred
and eighty-six pounds; and Shakespeare's _Poems_, 1640, for one hundred
and six pounds. The first folio of Shakespeare Mr. Turner sold privately
to an American collector. A Grolier binding realised three thousand
francs; another binding with the devices of Diana of Poitiers, four
thousand four hundred francs; a book from the library of Longepierre,
two thousand five hundred francs; two sets of volumes with _doublures_
by Boyet, respectively four thousand francs and three thousand nine
hundred francs; and Rogers's _Italy and Poems_, with beautiful bindings
by Bedford, sixty-one pounds.
Mr. Turner was an accomplished linguist, and he possessed a wide and
accurate knowledge of the literary history and bibliography of France,
Italy and Spain. He was also a collector of rare and beautiful bindings
before the interest and value of these works of art were generally
appreciated.
FREDERICK LOCKER-LAMPSON, 1821-1895
[Illustration: MR. LOCKER LAMPSON.]
Mr. Frederick Locker, the author of _London Lyrics_ and other volumes of
delightful light and social verse, was born in 1821. His father was Mr.
E.H. Locker, a Civil Commissioner of Greenwich Hospital, and founder of
the Naval Gallery there. For some years Mr. Locker was Precis Writer in
the Admiralty. He was twice married: first in 1850 to Lady Charlotte
Christian, a daughter of the seventh Earl of Elgin, and secondly in 1874
to Hannah Jane, a daughter of the late Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson,
Bart., of Rowfant, Sussex. On the death of his father-in-law in 1885 he
added the name of Lampson to his own. He died at Rowfant on May the
30th, 1895.
[Illustration: ONE OF MR. LOCKER-LAMPSON'S BOOK-PLATES.]
Mr. Locker-Lampson tells us in his interesting autobiography entitled
_My Confidences_, that he first collected pictures and rare sixteenth
century engravings, but collectors with long purses outbid him, so he
turned to old books: 'little volumes of poetry and the drama from about
1590 to 1610.' These formed the nucleus of his collection, which soon
grew wide enough to include Caxtons and the works of the poets of the
last century. Rare editions of Sidney, Spenser, Churchyard, Middleton,
Herbert, Herrick, Dekker, Chapman, and many other writers of the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, are to be found in it, and
Shakespeare is splendidly represented by a perfect copy of the first
folio, the first editions of _Lucrece_, the _Sonnets_ and the _Poems_,
and a large number--some thirty in all--of the quarto plays, many of
which are the original editions. Mr. Locker-Lampson's folio wanted Ben
Jonson's verses, and he gives an amusing account in _My Confidences_ of
an unsuccessful attempt to purchase a copy of them from a Mr. Dene, who
possessed an imperfect first folio. He ultimately bought the precious
leaf, which had been pasted in a scrap-book, for one hundred pounds, and
so completed his copy. The library is also very rich in first editions
of Byron, Tennyson, Browning, and other English poets of recent times,
many of the volumes containing autograph inscriptions to Mr.
Locker-Lampson himself. Mr. Locker-Lampson placed his library, together
with his collections of autograph letters, pictures and drawings, in his
residence at Rowfant, the beautiful home which he and his wife
inherited from the lady's father; and a handsome catalogue of them
published in 1886 by Mr. Quaritch, with an introduction by their owner,
tells us of the treasures they contain. An etched portrait of Mr.
Locker-Lampson and a sketch of his study are inserted in the volume, and
Mr. Andrew Lang has prefixed some charming lines descriptive of the
library:--
'The Rowfant books, how fair they show,
The Quarto quaint, the Aldine tall;
Print, autograph, Portfolio!
Back from the outer air they call
The athletes from the Tennis ball,
The Rhymer from his rod and hooks;
Would I could sing them, one and all,
The Rowfant books!
The Rowfant books! In sun and snow
They're dear, but most when tempests fall;
The folio towers above the row
As once, o'er minor prophets--Saul!
What jolly jest books, and what small
"Dear dumpy Twelves" to fill the nooks.
You do not find in every stall
The Rowfant books!
The Rowfant books! These long ago
Were chained within some College hall;
These manuscripts retain the glow
Of many a coloured capital;
While yet the Satires keep their gall,
While the _Pastissier_ puzzles cooks,
There is a joy that does not pall,
The Rowfant books!
ENVOY.
The Rowfant books,--ah magical
As famed Armida's golden looks.
They hold the Rhymer for their thrall--
The Rowfant books!'
In 1900 was published an Appendix to the Catalogue, the work of Mr.
Frederick Locker-Lampson's son, Mr. Godfrey Locker-Lampson, consisting
of additions to the library since the printing of the Catalogue in 1886,
to which Mr. Andrew Lang again contributed some verses:--
'How often to the worthy Sire
Succeeds th' unworthy son!
Extinguished is the ancient fire,
Books were the idols of the Squire,
The graceless heir has none.
To Sotheby's go both old and new,
Bindings, and prose, and rhymes,
With Shakespeare as with Padeloup
The sportive lord has naught to do,
_He_ reads _The Sporting Times_.
Behold a special act of grace,
On Rowfant shelves behold,
The well-loved honours keep their place,
And new-won glories half efface
The splendours of the old.'
The volume also contains verses by Mr. Austin Dobson, the Earl of Crewe,
and Mr. Wilfrid Blunt.
WILLIAM MORRIS, 1834-1896
William Morris, the poet, art-designer, and manufacturer, was born at
Elm House, Clay Hill, Walthamstow, Essex, on the 24th of March 1834. His
father William Morris, a partner in the firm of Sanderson and Co.,
discount brokers, London, died in 1847, leaving him a considerable
fortune. Young Morris was first educated at a preparatory school at
Walthamstow, and afterwards at Marlborough, from whence he proceeded to
Exeter College, Oxford. On leaving the University he wished to become a
painter, but his studies were not sufficiently successful to warrant him
carrying out his intention. He also paid some attention to the study of
architecture. In 1858 he published a small volume entitled _The Defence
of Guenevere and other Poems_, which received but little notice at the
time; but _The Life and Death of Jason_, published in 1867, attracted
general attention, and his reputation was further greatly increased by
_The Earthly Paradise_, a poem in four volumes, which appeared in
1868-70. From that period until the time of his death Mr. Morris
published a considerable number of other works, and, in collaboration
with Mr. Eirikr Magnusson, some translations from the Icelandic. In
1863, in conjunction with D.G. Rossetti, E. Burne-Jones, and Ford Madox
Brown, he established a factory for the production of artistic glass,
tiles, wall-paper, etc., which has greatly contributed to the
improvement of household decoration in England. A large number of the
designs were the work of Mr. Morris himself, his leisure hours being
devoted to literature, and it has been said of him 'that his poems were
by Morris the wall-paper maker, and his wall-papers by Morris the poet.'
In 1891 Morris established a printing-press near his residence,
Kelmscott House, on the Upper Mall, Hammersmith, from which he issued a
series of beautiful and sumptuous reprints, principally of old books,
with ornamentations by himself, and illustrations chiefly by Sir E.
Burne-Jones. Of these reprints, which at the present time fetch large
prices, that of _Chaucer's Poems_ is considered the finest. In 1898 the
trustees of Mr. Morris published 'A Note on his aims in founding the
Kelmscott Press. Together with a short description of the Press by C.S.
Cockerell, and an annotated list of the books printed thereat.' The list
gives fifty-three works in sixty-three volumes and nine leaflets. This
was the last book printed at the Kelmscott Press. It was finished at No.
14 Upper Mall, Hammersmith, on the 4th of March 1898. In it the aims of
Morris in founding the Press are given in his own words. 'I began
printing books,' he writes, 'with the hope of producing some which would
have a definite claim to beauty, while at the same time they should be
easy to read, and should not dazzle the eye, or trouble the intellect of
the reader by eccentricity of form in the letters.' Mr. Morris, who died
at Kelmscott House on the 3rd of October 1896, collected a fine and
extensive library, which passed into the hands of a Manchester collector
for, it is said, the sum of twenty thousand pounds. The purchaser, after
selecting the books he required--about half of the MSS. and one-third of
the printed books--sent the others to Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, by
whom they were sold on December 5th, 1898, and five following days.
There were twelve hundred and fifteen lots in the sale, and the sum
obtained for them was ten thousand nine hundred and ninety-two pounds,
eleven shillings. All the books realised good prices, but the
manuscripts were of greater interest and value than the printed volumes.
The following are a few of the principal manuscripts, and the prices
they fetched:--_Testamentum Novum Latinum_, Saec. xii., vellum,
handsomely illuminated, two hundred and twenty-five pounds; Hegesippus,
_De Excidio Judaeorum_, Saec. xii., vellum, in the original Winchester
binding, one hundred and eighty pounds; _Biblia Sacra Latina_, written
on vellum about 1280, with handsomely painted initials, one hundred and
thirty-nine pounds; _Biblia Sacra Latina_, vellum, written about 1300
by an Anglo-Norman scribe, with finely illuminated initials, three
hundred and two pounds; _Josephi Antiquitates Judaicae et de Bello
Judaico Libri_, written on vellum by a French scribe in the thirteenth
century, and beautifully illuminated, three hundred and five pounds;
_Missale Anglicanum_, called the Sherbrooke Missal on account of it
having belonged to the Sherbrooke family of Oxton, County Notts, a
member of the family having inscribed his name in it about 1600; it was
written in the fourteenth century on vellum, and has illuminated
capitals and fine marginal decorations, three hundred and fifty pounds;
Gratianus, _Decretales_, Saec. xiv., vellum, with finely painted and
illuminated initials, two hundred and fifty-five pounds; Virgilius Maro,
_Georgica et AEneis_, written on vellum at the end of the fourteenth or
beginning of the fifteenth century by an Italian scribe, with beautiful
illuminated decorations, one hundred and sixty-four pounds; and _Legenda
Sanctae Catherinae de Senis_, Saec. xv., vellum, handsomely illuminated,
one hundred and forty-nine pounds.
Some of the more notable printed books were:--_S. Hieronymi Epistolae_,
printed by Sweynheym and Pannartz at Rome in 1468, fifty-three pounds;
_Speculum Humanae Salvationis Latino-Germanicum_, printed by G. Zainer at
Augsburg about 1471, one hundred pounds; _Ptolomaei Cosmographia_, Ulmae,
1486, ninety-one pounds; _Dives and Pauper_, printed by Pynson in 1493,
fifty-five pounds; Higden's _Policronicon_, 1495, _Thordinary of Crysten
Men_, 1502, and _The Orcharde of Syon_, 1519, all from the press of
Wynkyn de Worde, realised respectively thirty-eight pounds, fifty
pounds, and one hundred and fifty-one pounds; _Hystoire du Chevallier
Perceval le Galloys_, Paris, 1530, seventy-nine pounds; _Epistole et
Evangelii et Letioni Vulgari in lingua Thoscana_, Firenze, 1551,
eighty-nine pounds; and the _Historie of the four Sonnes of Aimon_,
printed by William Copland in 1554, eighty-one pounds. Among the
manuscripts retained were a twelfth-century English Bestiary, for which
Mr. Morris gave nine hundred pounds; the 'Windmill' Psalter, written
about 1270, which cost him upwards of a thousand pounds; the Huntingdon
Psalter, and the Tiptoft Missal.
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SALES
BY WALTER STANLEY GRAVES.
ABBREVIATIONS.
B. (Baker).
B.& L. (Baker and Leigh).
C. (Christie).
C. & M. (Christie and Manson).
C.M. & W. (Christie, Manson and Woods).
E. (Evans).
L. & S. (Leigh and Sotheby).
L.S. & Son (Leigh, Sotheby and Son).
P. & S. (Puttick and Simpson).
S. (Sotheby).
S. & S. (Sotheby and Son).
S. & W. (Sotheby and Wilkinson).
S.W. & H. (Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge).
ADAIR, JAMES. -1798.
2 parts. L. & S. Nov., Dec. 1798. 8 days. L1815.
ADDINGTON, SAMUEL.
Autographs. S.W. & H. April 1876. 3 days. L2151.
Library. S.W. & H. May 1886. 2 days. L3522.
AKERS, EDMUND FLEMING.
2 parts. S. [March], April 1820. 21 days. L3729.
ALEXANDER, WILLIAM. 1767-1816.
S. Nov. 1816. 6 days. L1380.
ALLEN, THOMAS.
2 parts. L. & S. June 1795, 1799. 19 days. L5737.
ASHBURNHAM, EARL OF.
See page 384.
ASHBURTON, LORD.
S.W. & H. July 1896. (Selection from French Library, with duplicates of
Lord Crawford.) 4 days. L1870.
S.W. & H. Nov. 1900. 4 days. L6256.
ASKEW, ANTHONY, M.D. 1722-1774.
See page 220.
ASTLE, EDWARD.
2 parts. E. Jan. [1816], March [1817].
Part I. 2 days. L2366.
ATKINSON, HENRY JOHN FARMER.
See Farmer-Atkinson.
AUCHINLECK, LORD.
(Auchinleck Library.) S.W. & H. June 1893. 3 days. L2525.
AYLESFORD, EARL OF.
C.M. & W. March 1888. 9 days. L10,574.
BACON, THOMAS SCLATER.
Cock (London). March 1737. 76 evenings.
BAKER, GEORGE. 1747-1811.
S. June 1825. 3 days. L1468.
BAKER, JAMES.
Autographs. S. & W. May 1855. 1 day. L278.
Library. S. & W. May 1855. 2 days. L2336.
BALME, REV. EDWARD.
E. March 1823. 5 days. L1540.
BANDINEL, BULKELEY, D.D. 1781-1861.
2 parts. S. & W. Aug., Dec. 1861. 8 days. L2885.
BASKERFIELD, THOMAS.
S. Nov. 1817. 7 days. L1426.
BATEMAN HEIRLOOMS.
S.W. & H. May 1893. 6 days. L7296.
BAYLIS, SIR ROBERT.
B. Nov.-Dec. 1749. 12 days.
BECKFORD, WILLIAM. 1759-1844.
See page 318.
BEDFORD, CHARLES.
L. & S. March 1807. 6 days. L1648.
BEDFORD, FRANCIS. 1799-1883.
S.W. & H. March 1884. 5 days. L4876.
BENTHAM, WILLIAM.
E. March-April 1838. 11 days. L3090.
BENZON, ERNEST L.S.
S.W. & H. May 1875. 2 days. L3622.
BERESFORD-HOPE, RIGHT HON. ALEXANDER JAMES BERESFORD, 1820-1887.
2 parts. S.W. & H. March 1882, June 1888. 9 days. L5148. (including
engravings and drawings).
BERNAL, RALPH. -1854.
S. & W. Feb. 1855. 6 days. L5273.
BERNARD, CHARLES. 1650-1711.
Sold at the Black-Boy Coffee-house (London). March 1711.
BERNARD, DR. FRANCIS. 1627-1698.
See page 112.
BERWICK, LORD. 1770-1832.
S. July 1817. 3 days. L1180.
BERWICK, LORD. 1773-1842.
S. & W. April-May 1843. 13 days. L6726.
BETHAM, SIR WILLIAM. 1779-1853.
MSS. S. & W. May 1860. 1 day. L2194.
BINDLEY, JAMEs. 1737-1818.
See page 246.
BLANDFORD, MARQUESS OF.
See Marlborough, Duke of.
BLEW, REV. WILLIAM J.
S.W. & H. June 1895. 3 days. L2220.
BLISS, REV. PHILIP. 1787-1857.
Books, 2 parts. S. & W. June-July, Aug. 1858. 25 days. L5057.
Autographs and MSS. S. & W. Aug. 1858. 1 day. L614.
BLOOD, BINDON. -1855.
2 parts. S. & W. July, Aug. 1856. 13 days. L2530.
BOLLAND, SIR WILLIAM. 1772-1840.
E. Nov.-Dec. 1840. 13 days. L3019.
BOSWELL, JAMES. 1778-1822.
S. May-June 1825. 10 days. L1753.
BOUCHER, REV. JONATHAN. 1737-1804.
3 parts. L. & S. Feb.-March, April 1806;
May-June 1809. 40 days. L4509.
BRABOURNE, LORD.
2 parts. S.W. & H. May 1891. P. & S. June 1893. 7 days. L3100.
BRAGGE, WILLIAM. 1823-1884.
MSS. S.W. & H. [Anon.]. June 1876. 4 days. L12,272.
Books. 2 parts. S. W. & H. Nov. 1880 and June 1882. 5 days. L2146.
BRAND, REV. JOHN. 1744-1806.
See page 276.
BRIDGES, JOHN. 1666-1724.
See page 157.
[BRIDGEWATER, DUKE OF.] 1736-1803.
Duplicates, 3 parts. King (London). Aug. 1800, April, June 1802.
11 days.