Annals of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, A.D. 1598-A.D. 1867 Part 26

[305] Various other _editt. princ._ were bought in this year, with some Aldines. Also a collection of modern Greek works printed at Venice.

[306] Offor's copy sold for 41; Lea Wilson's for 61 10_s._

[307] The present writer has in his possession an early newspaper printed in New Zealand, the _Auckland Times_, No. 41, for Apr. 6, 1843, not merely curious in relation to the history of the colony, but also as a typographical relic. Its crowning interest is to be found in its colophon (if such a cla.s.sical word may be applied to the imprint of a newspaper), which states that it was '_Printed in a mangle_.'

[308] In Lascelles' Account of Oxford, published in this year, it is said that the printed books in the Library were computed at 160,000, and the MSS. at 30,000.

[309] Mr. Braidwood's report was printed in 1856, together with one from Mr. Scott, on the extension of the Library, and the means of rendering it fire-proof.

A.D. 1822.

In July, the Rev. Dr. Bliss returned to the Library as Sub-librarian, in the room of Mr. Nicoll, appointed Regius Professor of Hebrew. And in October the Rev. Rich. French Laurence, M.A., of Pembroke College, succeeded Dr. Cotton, who quitted Oxford for Ireland.

'Tuesday, August 6, 1822, I was at the Library the whole day, and not a single member of the University came into the room, excepting Mr. Eden, the a.s.sistant. Oxford race-day.' This note occurs in vol. x. of Dr.

Bliss's MS. antiquarian and miscellaneous memoranda. Considering that the time of the year was well-nigh the middle of the Long Vacation, it does not seem surprising that on one day there should have been no academic readers in the Library, even if there may have been academic riders on the race-course. The two occurrences have so little correspondence with each other that one would hope that the zealous Sub-librarian (who has deemed the same want of readers worth commemorating also in another note) a.s.signed _non causa pro causa_.

A.D. 1823.

By the exertions of the brothers J. S. and P. B. Duncan, Esqs., Fellows of New College, distinguished for their efforts to promote the study of the Arts and Sciences in the University, a subscription-fund was raised for the purpose of adorning the Picture Gallery with plaster models of some of the finest buildings of Greek and Roman antiquity. The result was that in the present year the following series, by Fouquet, of Paris, was placed in the Gallery, at a total cost of about 400:--The Arch of Constantine, the Parthenon, the Temple of the Sybil at Tivoli, the Maison Carree at Nismes, the Erechtheum and Lantern of Demosthenes at Athens, the Theatre of Herculaneum, and the Temple of Fortuna Virilis at Rome.

A large number of works by foreign authors, chiefly theological, was bought (for 375) at the sale at Leyden of the library of Jonas Wilh. Te Water, professor of Eccl. Hist. in that University. A separate catalogue, occupying twenty-three folio pages, was issued of these books.

Mr. E. P. New, of St. John's College (B.A. 1822, M.A. 1825, B.D. 1831), was appointed in December to a.s.sist in the compilation of the new Catalogue; but how long he remained in the Library does not appear.

A.D. 1824.

A collection of valuable original papers relating to affairs in Church and State, which had belonged to Archbishop Sheldon, were sold by his great-nephew, Sir John English Dolben, of Finedon, Northamptons.h.i.+re, to the Library for 40 5_s._ They are now bound in six volumes, of which three are lettered _Sheldon_, and three _Dolben_. Of the first three, two contain letters from English, Welsh, Scotch and Irish Bishops, and the contents of the other are miscellaneous; of the second three, one contains miscellaneous letters and papers commencing at 1585, another has similar papers from 1626 to 1721, and the third contains miscellaneous ecclesiastical letters and doc.u.ments. Some of the letters are addressed to the Archbishop's secretary, Miles Smyth, Esq. A short letter from Sir John Dolben to Dr. Bandinel, relating to his disposal of these papers, dated Oct. 12, 1824, is preserved in Bodl. MS. Addit. ii.

A. 32. He had previously given, in 1822, a fine copy of a quarto Bible which had belonged to Sheldon, containing (1) the Prayer-Book and Metrical Psalms, printed at Cambridge in 1638, (2) the Old Test., printed by Field at London in 1648, and (3) the New Test., Cambr. 1637.

At the end are some memoranda by the Archbishop of the births, baptisms, and deaths of members of the Sheldon and Okeover families, and of the legitimate children of Charles II and the Duke of York. The Library more than a century before had received benefactions from a member of the same family of Dolben; Gilbert Dolben, of Finedon, having given some printed books in 1697, together with a ma.n.u.script of Gower. And twenty vols. of Chamberlaine's _State of Great Britain_ were given by Mr. J. E.

Dolben in 1796. An additional volume of the Sheldon correspondence was given to the Library in 1840, by Dr. Routh, the President of Magdalen College. It is a copy-book of business-letters written by the Archbishop. In a note to Dr. Bandinel which accompanied the gift, and which is now fixed in vol. i. of Burnet's autograph copy of his _Own Times_, Dr. Routh says:--

'The President takes the opportunity of sending a volume containing the first draught of letters sent by Archbp. Sheldon to different persons, together with a few other contemporary papers. They were put into the President's hands by the late Sir John English Dolben, and as the University purchased of that gentleman what were commonly called the Sheldon Papers, he thinks they cannot be deposited anywhere more suitably than in the Bodleian Library.'

To the annual catalogue for this year was attached a special list, filling thirty-two folio pages, of the books (upwards of 1500 in number) which were bought at the Hague, at the sale of the library collected by the distinguished Dutch scholars and lawyers, Gerard and John Meerman.

The sale-catalogue is a volume of more than 1200 pages. The books bought for the Library were chiefly such as supplied deficiencies in foreign history and law, together with some Greek[310] and Latin MSS., for the most part patristic and cla.s.sical. The sum expended was 925. Some rare Spanish historical books (in which cla.s.s of literature, thanks to Dr.

Bandinel's care in keeping it steadily in view, the Library is now very rich) were bought at the sale of Don J. Ant. Conde.

But the chief distinction of this year lies in the acquisition, by bequest of Mrs. Elizabeth Dennis Denyer (widow of Mr. John Denyer, of Chelsea, who died in 1806) of a most valuable collection of early editions of the English Bible, numbering altogether about twenty-five.

To show the rarity and worth of this collection, it will be sufficient to mention but a few of the volumes which it contains. _Imprimis_, Coverdale's first edition, 1535[311], and his second edition, 1537; Cranmer's, in April, 1540 and in 1541, and by Grafton in 1553; Matthew's, by Becke, in 1551; Tyndale's New Testament, in 1536, and another of his earliest editions; Hollybush's English and Latin Testament, 1538, and Erasmus' Testament, 1540. Besides the Biblical collection, Mrs. Denyer also bequeathed twenty-one English theological works, nearly all printed before 1600; including a beautiful copy of Fisher on the Penitential Psalms (by Wynkyn de Worde) and books by (amongst others) Bale, Bonner, Brightwell, Erasmus, Hooper, Joye, and Tonstall.

Mr. L. E. Judge, New College (B.A. 1827, M.A. 1830; Chaplain; deceased 1853), succeeded Mr. Roberts, in March, as a.s.sistant; but in July of the next year retired, and was succeeded by Mr. W. Bailey, also of New College (B.A. 1829).

[310] These, in number thirty-eight, are described in Mr. c.o.xe's Catalogue, cols. 724-773. An eighth-century copy of Eusebius'

_Chronicon_ is among the Latin MSS.

[311] Wanting t.i.tle and map. A t.i.tle had been supplied by Mrs. Denyer, who in several instances had supplied deficiencies very successfully in pen and ink; a perfect facsimile, however, by Mr. J. Harris, which might pa.s.s for the original, were not the minute mark '_Fs. T. H._' seen on the back of the page, has since been subst.i.tuted. It is a marvel of caligraphic skill. Another imperfect copy came to the Library among Selden's books.

A.D. 1825.

The sale at Paris of the library of L. M. Langles, the keeper of the Oriental MSS. in the Bibl. Royale, afforded a large accession of books in that branch of literature which was his specialty.

Mr. Sim. J. Etty, New College (B.A. 1829, M.A. 1832, now Vicar of Wanborough, Wilts), was appointed a.s.sistant in the room of Mr. Eden. Mr.

Etty remained in the Library until the year 1834. The Catalogue of _Dissertationes Academicae_, which appeared in 1832, was in a great measure his work.

Two MSS. intended of old for the Library by Sir K. Digby, were bought in this year. To the account of them given at p. 58 _supra_, it should be added that the library left in France by Digby on his death (from which, no doubt, these volumes came) was bought back by George, Earl of Bristol, and finally sold by auction at London, in April and May, 1680.

Sixty-nine MSS. were included in this dispersion. It should further be added to the previous notice that it was at Laud's instance, and through him as Chancellor of the University, that Digby presented his collection to the Library. A letter from the Archbishop, which accompanied the gift, is printed in Wharton's collection of his _Remains_, vol. ii. p.

73.

A.D. 1826.

There is not much to notice in the acquisitions of this year. A few Persian and other Oriental MSS. were purchased, and more in the two following years; and some Burmese MSS. were given by Sir C. Grey, Chief Justice of Calcutta. A curious volume of ma.n.u.script and printed papers relative to the siege of Oxford, 1643-46, was presented by Mr. W.

Hamper, of Birmingham. In January, the Rev. Chas. Hen. c.o.x, M.A., Student of Ch. Ch., was appointed Sub-librarian in the room of Mr.

Laurence.

A.D. 1827.

A very large collection of Academic Dissertations published in Germany, amounting to about 43,400, was bought at Altona for 332 16_s._ Of these a folio catalogue was published in 1834, which, by a singular error, bears on its t.i.tle the date 1832, as the year in which this accession came to the Library. In 1828, 160 volumes of the same character were added, and other large additions were made in 1836 and 1837, but particularly in 1846, when no fewer than 7000 were purchased[312].

Mr. Henry Forster, New College (B.A. 1832, M.A. 1834; Esquire Bedel of Divinity; deceased 1857), succeeded Mr. Bailey, in March, as a.s.sistant.

[312] There is scarcely an imaginable subject in law, theology, or history, on which something may not be found in this vast collection.

The _something_ may often be meagre and superficial, but it is still oftener curious, and even in the former case it may be useful as pointing to sources of further information. In days of Ritual controversy, one party or another may be glad to know that in 1725, George Henry Goetz, D.D., wrote on the interesting question whether a clergyman might do duty in his dressing-gown,--_Num Verbi ministro toga cubicularia_ (Schlaffpeltze) _induto officio sacro defungi liceat?_ Those who know what curses were invoked of old upon the heads of stealers of books, may be interested in hearing what one Pipping had to say on the subject in 1721, in his _Diss. de Imprecationibus libris ascriptis_; while the t.i.tle of Sam. Schelging's discourse in 1729, _De Apparitionibus mortuorum vivis ex pacto factis_, will have attraction for not a few. Sometimes the dryest subjects were lightened up at the close with ponderous jokes, or unexpected turns were given to the matter in hand; _e.g._ those worthy Germans who had gone to sleep at Jena, in 1660, during the reading of a dissertation _De Jure et Potestate Parlamenti Britannici_, by one J. A. Gerhard, (who must have taken unusual interest in the history of the English Rebellion,) were wakened up at the end by the discussion of the following novel questions in law:--'Casus ex jure privato.

'I. t.i.tius ducit uxorem Caiam. Caia, elapso uno vel altero anno, trans.m.u.tatur in virum. Q. an Caia haec, soluto per hanc metamorphosin matrimonio, possit repetere dotem? Dist.

'II. Semp.r.o.nia, defuncto marito Maevio, nubit t.i.tio. Maevius divina potentia in vitam resuscitatur mortalem. Q. an Maevius hic, secundum vivus, uxorem Semp.r.o.niam et bona sua repetere possit? Aff.'

It was usual for the friends of the candidate who defended the thesis of the Dissertation (generally written for him by the _Praeses_) to attach some complimentary letters or verses. In the case of those published at Upsal, the zeal of the encomiasts frequently breaks out into wild compositions in Hebrew, Greek, French, German and English, affording in the latter instance (and it may be in others) very curious specimens of the language. A laborious trifler, named P. Wettersten, compliments a friend, who had read at Upsal, in 1742, a dissertation by Prof. Peter Ekerman on the antiquities of a small town called Norkoping, with a kind of acrostic in twenty-five lines on the verse, 'Nunc erit et seclis Norcopia clara futuris,' which, starting from the centre of the page, may be read upwards, downwards, and in every form of mazy irregularity; every way, in short, except the right.

A.D. 1828.

A collection of 153 Northern MSS., chiefly in the Icelandic and Danish languages, formed by Finn Magnusen, was purchased from him for 350[313]. A catalogue (56 pp. quarto) was published in the year 1832.

Amongst them are many early and curious volumes in poetry and history.

Other collections of MSS. were sold by the same collector to the British Museum and to the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh.

A large number of Aldines were obtained at the sale of the collection of M. Renouard, the Aldine bibliographer, which took place in London, June 26-30. And the rare first edition of John Knox's _Historie of the Church of Scotland_ was purchased for sixteen guineas.

Some additional rooms on the second story of the Schools' quadrangle, on the north and east sides, which went by the names of the Schools of Geometry and Medicine, were permanently attached to the Library, by vote of Convocation, on June 5.

On June 26, the nomination of the Rev. Stephen Reay, M.A., of St.

Alban's Hall (afterwards B.D., and Laudian Professor of Arabic in 1840), as Sub-librarian in the room of Mr. C. H. c.o.x, was approved in Convocation. Mr. Reay was appointed to the charge of the Oriental department, his knowledge of Hebrew specially qualifying him for the care of the yearly increasing ma.s.s of Rabbinical lore. To this branch he added, and retained to the close of his life, the care of the 'Progress'