A.D. 1850.

'Bodleian Library,'January9, 1849.'Sir,—In compliance with your letter, dated Oct. 27, 1848, desiring certain Returns respecting the Bodleian Library, I have to state—'1. As to the number of books received under the various Copyright Acts, no distinct register of the books so received has been kept, but they have, at the end of each year, been incorporated into the general collection, so that I am unable to give the number of the books so received.'2. The number of printed volumes in the Bodleian Library amounts to about 220,000; but this statement will very inadequately express the real extent of the collection, as so many works have been bound together in one volume.'3. The number of manuscripts is about 21,000.'4. All graduates of the University have the right of admission to the Library; other persons must apply for admission to the regular authorities.'5. No register is kept of persons consulting the Library; accordingly, the number of students who have frequented it during the last ten years cannot be ascertained.'I have, &c.'BULKELEY BANDINEL,'Bodleian Librarian.'George Cornewall Lewis, Esq.,'Under-Secretary of State, Whitehall.'

'Bodleian Library,'January9, 1849.

'Sir,—In compliance with your letter, dated Oct. 27, 1848, desiring certain Returns respecting the Bodleian Library, I have to state—

'1. As to the number of books received under the various Copyright Acts, no distinct register of the books so received has been kept, but they have, at the end of each year, been incorporated into the general collection, so that I am unable to give the number of the books so received.

'2. The number of printed volumes in the Bodleian Library amounts to about 220,000; but this statement will very inadequately express the real extent of the collection, as so many works have been bound together in one volume.

'3. The number of manuscripts is about 21,000.

'4. All graduates of the University have the right of admission to the Library; other persons must apply for admission to the regular authorities.

'5. No register is kept of persons consulting the Library; accordingly, the number of students who have frequented it during the last ten years cannot be ascertained.

'I have, &c.'BULKELEY BANDINEL,'Bodleian Librarian.'George Cornewall Lewis, Esq.,'Under-Secretary of State, Whitehall.'

The estimate of printed volumes here given is believed to be as nearly accurate as it was possible to make it, as considerable pains were taken in forming the calculation. The number of separate printed books and tracts may be reckoned as at least treble the number of volumes. With regard to the reply to the fifth enquiry some explanation is requisite. A register is kept of all the octavo and most of the quarto volumes taken out forreaders, of all the volumes from special and separate collections, and of all the MSS.; but no account is kept of the folios and other books on the ground-floor of the great room, which are accessible to readers themselves, and frequently used by them without the help of the assistants. Consequently, any return of the number of readers entered on the register would not adequately represent the whole number of students who use the Library, although, of course, it would, with a margin for allowance, afford a very fair approximation. No record, however, of separatevisitsof readers is kept, as distinct from the books required; so that although a reader may be at work for days or weeks together, yet, if he continue to use only the same books, one entry alone will be made of his name.

[346]A separate list of the books purchased at Jacobs' sale is appended to the annual Catalogue.

The Hebrew collection was still further increased in this year by the purchase of sixty-two MSS., of which fifty-seven had been brought from Italy; and in 1851, by the purchase of some printed books collected by Dr. Isaac L. Auerbach, of Berlin, who had recently deceased. Every year about this time[347]saw additions to this branch of the Library, made chiefly through the agency of the late Mr. Asher, the well-known Jewish bookseller of Berlin, and also through the late Hirsch Edelmann, a learned Rabbi, who was for years a frequent reader in the Bodleian, from whence he commenced the publication of a series of extracts (see under the year1693). Mr. Edelmann died a few years since in Germany. A series of works illustrating the history, civil and ecclesiastical, the geography, &c. of Hungary, Transylvania, Croatia, and other neighbouring provinces of the Austrian Empire,amounting to 400 volumes, was purchased for £78; and a similar but much larger collection, relating to the history of Poland, numbering no fewer than 1200 volumes, was purchased for £366. Three hundred and twenty volumes of early printed works, some of which were fine specimens ofincunabula, were obtained at the sale of the duplicates from the Royal Library at Munich. It was announced at the end of the Annual Catalogue that a special list of these, together with a catalogue of the Hebrew MSS. noticed above, and of the Hungarian and Polish collections, would be printed and circulated in the following year; this, however, was not done.

A series of 600 English sermons, printed between 1600 and 1720, bound separately, was purchased for £59.

Various specimens of the first beginning of printing in one of the Friendly Islands, Vavau, consisting of the Bible in the Tonga language, and of several elementary books, were presented by Capt. Sir Jas. Everard Home, R.N. as also some elementary books printed at Apea by the natives, under the direction of the Missionaries, for the use of the natives of the Navigators' Islands.

Dukes' Shropshire Collections.See1841.

[347]In 1845, about 320 printed volumes were purchased from a catalogue issued at Berlin by A. Rebenstein, or Bernstein, and D. Cassel.

At the sale of the books of the poet Gray, by Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson, on Aug. 28, his copies of Clarendon and of Burnet'sOwn Times(vol. i.), with many MSS. notes written by him in the margins, were bought for £49 10s.and £2 18s.respectively[348]. Perfect specimens of facsimiles, which would defy detection, were obtained for the completion of the Library copy ofCoverdale's Bible; being pen-and-ink copies of the title, from Lord Leicester's copy, and of the map of Palestine, from Lord Jersey's copy, executed with admirable skill by the late well-known facsimilist, Mr. J. Harris.

A Supplemental Catalogue of the printed books, comprehending all the accessions which had been made during the years 1835-1847, was published in this year, in one folio volume, under the editorship of the Rev. Alfred Hackman, M.A., by whom the greater part of the earlier Catalogue had been compiled, as mentioned at p. 268.

On March 27, Convocation voted an addition of £50per annumto the stipends of the Sub-librarians.

Recovery of Pococke MS. 32.See p.81.

Malone's Correspondence.See p.232.

[348]The Clarendon had been previously sold at an auction on Nov. 29, 1845, by Messrs. Evans, with various other books which had belonged to Gray.

In the Report of the University Commission, which was issued in this year, various suggestions were embodied which had been made by several witnesses. Sir Edmund Head renewed his plan of allowing books to be taken out of the Library by readers, and was supported by the opinions of Professors Wall and Jowett; but the proposal was met with the strong counter-testimony of Mr. H. E. Strickland[349], Prof. Vaughan, Dr. W. A. Greenhill (at that time a constant reader in the Library), Prof. Donkin, Mr. E. S. Foulkes, and others. And the Commissioners werenot prepared to report in favour of a plan which would at once lessen what was described as being one of the great advantages of the place, namely, the certainty of finding within its walls every book which it possessed. At the same time, they were disposed to recommend a relaxation in some instances of the strictness of the rule, and concurred in a suggestion made by Dr. Macbride and Mr. Storey Maskelyne, that duplicates should be allowed to circulate. Most, however, of the suggestions for extension of facilities to readers, as well as of the reasons alleged for alteration of system, have now been answered by the opening (through the liberality of the Radcliffe Trustees) of the Radcliffe Library as a noble reading-room for both day and evening. As the hours during which the Library may be used extend now, in consequence of this addition, from nine a.m. to ten p.m., it is at once apparent that the Bodleian presents greater advantages to students than can anywhere else be enjoyed; to which is to be added the readiness and quickness (specially testified to, in 1852, by Dr. Greenhill) with which, under all ordinary circumstances, readers are supplied with the books which they require. The Commissioners in their Report called attention to a suggestion of Sir Henry Bishop, then Professor of Music, for the establishment of a classified musical library, which should comprehend, not merely the music received by the Bodleian from Stationers' Hall, but all superior foreign music as well, of every school and every age. Such collections the Professor said were only to be found at Munich and Vienna.

The Report and Evidence upon the recommendations of the Commissioners, which were issued by the Hebdomadal Board in the following year, did not differ widely in testimony or suggestions from those of the Commission. Dr. Pusey and Mr. Marriott agreed in deprecating the allowing removal of books, speaking (as did several of the witnesses before the Commission) fromactual experience as constant readers in the place; and Dr. Bandinel mentioned, in a paper of observations which he contributed, the fact that he had been told by the Librarian of the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh that between 6,000 and 7,000 volumes appeared to have been lost there from the facilities afforded to borrowers. A comparative tabular statement respecting the arrangements and rules of the libraries at Berlin, Dresden, Florence, Munich, Paris and Vienna, drawn up by Mr. Coxe from the Parliamentary Report on Libraries, which showed very favourably in behalf of the Bodleian, was subjoined by Dr. Bandinel to his evidence.

The great feature of this year was the acquisition of the Italian Library of the Count Alessandro Mortara, consisting of about 1400 volumes, choice in character and condition, for £1000. The Count, who was distinguished for his literary taste and knowledge of the literature of his own country, had, although holding the nominal office of Grand Chamberlain to the Duke of Lucca, taken up his abode in Oxford some ten years previously, on account of his desire to examine the Canonici MSS. and of his friendship with Dr. Wellesley, the late Principal of New Inn Hall. He became a daily reader in the Bodleian, where the interest which he took in the place, together with his polished, yet genuine, courtesy, made him a welcome and popular visitor. It was upon returning to Italy (where he died, June 14, 1855, at Florence), that he disposed of his valuable collection. A catalogue, compiled by himself, with occasional short notes, was issued with the purchase-catalogue for the year. He also drew up a catalogue of the Italian MSS. in the Canonici collection, which was published, in a quarto volume, in 1864. (See under1817.)

Among miscellaneous purchases were a few volumes which were wanted to make the Library set of De Bry'sVoyagescomplete, an imperfect copy of the OxfordLiber Festivalis(see1691), and a large collection of Dr. Priestley's writings (believed to have been made by himself), in thirty-nine vols.

[349]Several important suggestions were made by this gentleman. One, that the Library Books should all be stamped with a distinguishing mark, is now in process of being carried out. Another, respecting the great importance of collecting the most ephemeral local literature, especially for the county of Oxford, and of procuring books printed at provincial presses, relates to a subject which has received much more attention of late years than formerly. A third, on the desirability, acknowledged (as we have seen) in the last century, of having a general Catalogue compiled of the books found in College Libraries which are wanting in the Bodleian, has unfortunately as yet seen no accomplishment.

A portion of the collection of Hebrew MSS. formed by Prof. Isaac Sam. Reggio, at Goritz, amounting to about seventy-two volumes, was purchased for £108. Many other MSS. in this class of literature occur yearly in the accounts at this time. But the great acquisition of 1853 was theBreviarium secundum regulam beati Ysidori, dictum Mozarabes, printedon vellumat Toledo, by command of Cardinal Ximenes, in 1502. £200 were given for this book, which is the only vellum copy known, and which is in most immaculate condition. It is of extreme rarity even on paper, as it is believed that only thirty-five copies were printed.

An imperfect copy of Caxton'sChronicle, 1480, was bought for £21; and a large gathering of Norfolk tracts was obtained at the sale of Mr. Dawson Turner's library.

It was in this year that Dr. Constantine Simonides visited the Library in the hope of disposing of some of the products of his Eastern ingenuity, but failed here, as also at the British Museum, although successful in most other quarters. It is much to be lamented that the talent and ability which he undoubtedly possessed in no small degree were devoted to such unworthy purpose as his history discloses. The story of his interview with Mr. Coxe, then Sub-librarian, is well known, and was reproduced in an article in theCornhill Magazinefor Oct. 1867 (p. 499); and as the version there given appears to be substantially correct, it will be sufficient to borrow it from its pages:—

'On visiting the [Bodleian Library, Mr. Simonides] showed some fragments of MSS. to Mr. Coxe, who assented to their belonging to the twelfth century. "And these, Mr. Coxe, belong to the tenth or eleventh century?" "Yes, probably." "And now, Mr. Coxe, let me show you a very ancient and valuable MS. I have for sale, and which ought to be in your Library. To what century do you consider this belongs?" "This, Mr. Simonides, I have no doubt," said Mr. Coxe, "belongs to the [latter half of the] nineteenth century." The Greek and his MS. disappeared.'

An account of this visit was given in theAthenæumfor March 1, 1856, and a full narrative, including a letter from Sir F. Madden respecting the dealings with Simonides on the part of the British Museum, is to be found in S. L. Sotheby'sPrincipia Typographica, vol. ii. pp. 133-136f[350].

[350]The death of Simonides, from the terrible disease of leprosy, was announced as having occurred at Cairo in last year.

A very interesting series of eighteen autograph letters from Henry Hyde, the second Earl of Clarendon, was presented to the University by 'our honoured Lord and Chancellor,' the Earl of Derby[351]. They are best described in the following letter to the Vice-Chancellor, which accompanied the gift, and which is now bound in the same volume:—

'Knowsley,Oct. 17, 1854.

'My Dear Sir,—In looking over some old papers here the other day, I found (how they came here I know not) some original and apparently autograph letters, which appeared to me to be curious. They are private letters, addressed by Lord Clarendon, to the Earl of Abingdon, as Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, during, and on the suppression of, the Dukeof Monmouth's Rebellion. I have no doubt of their genuineness; and if from the connexion of the University with the writer[352], as well as the locality, you think they would be worth depositing in the Bodleian Library, I shall have great pleasure in offering them to the acceptance of the University for that purpose; and in that case would send with them a miniature pencil drawing of the Duke of Monmouth, which is not too large to be let into the cover of the portfolio which should contain the letters, and for the authenticity of which I can so far vouch that it has been in this house since 1729, at least; since it appears in a catalogue of the pictures and engravings here which formed the collection at that time.

'I am, my dear sir,'Yours sincerely,'DERBY.'

The portrait in question, which is a beautifully executed drawing, in an oak frame, marked on the back, 'Duke of Monmouth, by Foster,' is now fixed, as desired, in the present morocco binding of the volume.

A collection of early editions of the Prayer-Book (including Whitchurch's May and June editions of 1549 and that of 1552), of the Metrical Psalter, and of Visitation Articles (amongst others, Edward the Sixth's Articles of 1547, and Injunctions of the same year), with a few miscellaneous books, was bought of the Rev. T. Lathbury, M.A., the well-known writer on English Church history, for £300. Various rare English books were purchased at Mr. Pickering's sale, and foreign dissertations, &c. at that of the library of Professor Godfrey Hermann, the Greek editor and commentator (who died Dec. 31, 1848), at Leipsic, in April.

[351]A portrait of Lord Derby, in his Chancellor's robes, painted by Sir F. A. Grant, was given by him to the University about 1858, and now hangs in the Picture Gallery.

[352]The Earl was High Steward of the University.

Three Greek Biblical MSS. of great antiquity were obtained from the collection of Prof. Tischendorf, being Nos. 3-5 of thevolumes described in a small quarto catalogue issued (anonymously) by him ofCodices Græci, &c. One of these three is of the ninth century, containing the Gospel of St. Luke, with portions of the other Gospels, which was bought for £125; another of the eighth century, containing the whole of St. Luke and St. John, bought for £140; the third, also of the eighth century, containing the greatest part of Genesis, for £108.

Rev. T. R. Brown's Dictionary, &c. printed by himself.See1838.

A volume containing two autograph letters of Luther was bought for £20, together with a large collection of printed books (formed by — Schneider, of Berlin,) relating to him and the German Reformation, with various editions of his works, for £300. Another volume, with some small additional papers in the Reformer's hand, was subsequently obtained.

The ever-increasing Bible collection received the addition of the very rareed. princ.of the Bohemian Bible, printed at Prague in 1488, which was obtained for £17 10s., and a still more rare edition of the Pentateuch, with New Test., &c. printed at Wittemberg in 1529, obtained for eighteen guineas. A Roman Missal, printed 'ad longum, absque ulla requisitione,' (i. e.in a kind of 'Prayer-book-as-read' form,) Lyons, 1550, was obtained for £20. It was arranged by Nicholas Roillet, Chanter of the Church of S. Nicetius at Lyons, with the view of avoiding difficulties and delays, 'sacerdotesque expectantibus molestos reddentes, ipsosque erga dictos circumstantes scandalum generantes, qui existimant illos non solum ignaros sed nescientes quid agendum vel faciendam habeant;' and was issued with the papalimprimaturof Paul III. But as Pius V and Clem. VIII subsequently forbade any variation whatsoever from the authorized Roman form, this Missal, like theBreviary of Card. Quignones, was, with others, suppressed. And hence its rarity.

Fifty guineas were given for a very large collection of Chinese works, numbering altogether about 1100, which had been gathered by Rev. F. Evans, for some time a missionary in China. Some of the Chinese books in the Library have been subsequently examined and catalogued by Professor Summers, of King's College, London.

On May 22, a new body of Library Statutes was confirmed by Convocation, after a complete revision of the previous regulations. The principal changes, besides the omission of various obsolete requirements, were the adding five elected Curators, holding office for ten years, to the oldex officiobody of eight; the providing for the removal of books to the extra-mural 'Camera,' or reading-room, about to be added; the fixing the stipend of the Librarian (including all the former fees and small separate payments) at £700, and that of the Sub-librarians at £300, and the assigning to the former a retiring pension after twenty years' service of £200, and after thirty years', of £300, and to the latter, after thirty years', of £150; and the making a few alterations with regard to the times at which the Library should be closed, these times being lessened by about one week in the course of the year.

A report from the eminent architect, Mr. G. G. Scott, on the means which might be adopted for the enlargement of the Library, and for rendering it fire-proof, dated in Dec. 1855, was printed in this year, together with one from Mr. Braidwood on the warming apparatus (see under1821). Mr. Scott's report contained suggestions for the extension of the Library throughout the whole of the quadrangle and adjoining buildings, including the Ashmolean Museum, and proposed that the Divinity School should be assigned as a reading room, for which the great degree of light afforded by its large windows appeared peculiarly to fit it. The subsequentassignment, however, of the Radcliffe Library as a reading-room for the Library, removed the immediate necessity for any other extension. In 1858 a paper on the subject, illustrated with a plan of the Library, was printed by the late Dr. Wellesley, who, after considering the various modes then suggested for the enlargement of the Library, recommended the adoption (from the British Museum) of presses running up direct from the ground through all the floors, by which the dangers attendant upon the increase of weight of the wall-pressure would be obviated.

A collection of manuscripts, more interesting as to their history than as to their actual contents[353], was presented by William and Hubert Hamilton, in memory, and in accordance with the wish, of their celebrated father, Sir William Hamilton. It comprises fifty-eight volumes (thirty-nine in folio, sixteen in quarto, and three in octavo) from the library of the Carthusian Monastery of Erfurt, famous as the place of Luther's early abode. A short catalogue of them, by Joh. Broad, was printed at Berlin in 1841, with a prefatory notice, from which we learn that they were preserved at Erfurt until 1805, when the library was broken up and dispersed on the occupation of the city by the French army, who stabled their horses in the place where the books were deposited, and burned many of them for fuel, while others were carried away and secreted with a view to their safety. Some of the latter were bought by the Count de Buelow, on whose death they were purchased from the subsequent possessors by Broad, and finally sold by him to Sir W. Hamilton. 'Nunc in eam terram demigrant,' says the bibliopolist, 'quæ, quodcunque alicujus pretii est aut materialiumaut spiritualium rerum, in suo gremio accumulare a Providentia Divina destinata videtur.' Another collection of MSS., from the same library at Erfurt, was on sale by Mr. J. M. Stark, the well-known bookseller (now of London), at Hull, in 1855, who issued a small catalogue of them in duodecimo.

A valuable collection of Italian and Spanish MSS., amounting to about forty-six volumes, came to the Library by the bequest of Rev. Joseph Mendham, M.A., of Sutton Coldfield, who died Nov. 1, 1856. The most important part of these is a series of twenty-eight volumes relating to the Council of Trent, which were purchased at the sale of the Earl of Guildford's library in 1830 by Thorpe, the bookseller, for £35, and re-sold by him to Mr. Mendham in 1832 for fifty guineas. It was chiefly from the materials afforded by these that Mr. Mendham drew up hisMemoirs of the Council of Trent, published in 1834. They are described in Thorpe's Catalogue of MSS. on sale in 1831, and in the preface to Mr. Mendham's book.

On June 18, the Rev. Robert Payne Smith, M.A., of Pembroke College, was appointed an Assistant Sub-librarian for the Oriental department, in consequence of the increasing infirmities of the aged senior Sub-librarian, Mr. Reay.

[353]For the most part, they consist of mediæval sermons and theological treatises by writers of no great fame, together with some of the works of Aquinas.

On Oct. 30, an offer made by the Trustees of the Ashmolean Museum for the transfer of the printed books, coins, and MSS. there contained to the Bodleian, in order to facilitate the devotion of a part of the building to the purposes of an Examination School, was accepted by the Curators; but a similar offer with regard to the antiquities was declined. The latter consequently remain in their old repository, but the collections in Natural History were transferred to the New Museum. It was not, however, until 1860, that the books were actually received into the Library, where they nowfill one small room. Altogether they amount to upwards of 3700 volumes, forming five different series. First are those of Elias Ashmole himself, numbering originally 2175, but reduced by losses before the transfer to 2136, of which about 850 are MSS[354]. This collection is extremely rich in heraldic and genealogical matter, together with an abundance of astrology. The printed books are chiefly scientific and historical; these, with the books in the following collections, are now in process of incorporation into the new General Catalogue of the Library. A list of the MSS. is given in Bernard's catalogue,A.D.1697; but a very elaborate and minute account, forming a thick quarto volume, was drawn up by Mr. W. H. Black, the well-known antiquary, and published in 1845. As this, however, was destitute of an index, it remained comparatively useless until 1866, when a full Index, edited by the writer of this volume, was published under the direction of the Delegates of the University Press.

The next collection is that of Anthony à Wood, containing about 130 MSS. and 970 printed volumes[355], which were bequeathed to the Museum by the owner on his death in Nov. 1695. The former are of extreme value for the history of Oxford and the neighbourhood; among the latter are most curious sets of the pamphlets of the time, with the ballads, fly-sheets, chap-books, almanacks, &c. just such 'unconsidered trifles' as most men suffer to perish in the using, but a few, like Wood, lay by for the amusement and information of future generations. There are also seven volumes of his own correspondence, including letters from Dugdale, Evelyn, &c. Of the MSS. a list is to be found in the old Catalogue of 1697; a fuller and better one, compiled byWilliam Huddesford, M.A., the Keeper of the Museum, was printed in a thin octavo volume, in 1761, which was reprinted by Sir Thomas Phillips, at Middlehill, Worcestershire, in 1824. There are also bundles of charters and deeds, chiefly monastic, but nearly all more or less mutilated or injured by damp and dirt, so as to be partially useless.

The third collection is that of Dr. Martin Lister, physician to Queen Anne, who died Feb. 2, 1711/2. Besides his books, he was the donor of various other gifts to the Museum, in return for which he was created M.D. of Oxford, in 1683. The books are chiefly medical and scientific, and number in a written catalogue 1451 volumes (including thirty-two MSS.), but thirty-five of these were missing when the transfer from the Museum was made.

The collections of Sir William Dugdale, which form a fourth series, number forty-eight volumes. A list of these is in the old Catalogue of 1697.

In the fifth place there are the MSS. of the well-known antiquary, John Aubrey. These are about twenty in number, of which fifteen are in his own hand, and are described in Britton's Life of him, printed for the Wilts Topographical Society, pp. 88-123. Collections for the history of Wiltshire, entitledHypomnemata Antiquaria, form one of Aubrey's own works[356], but unfortunately the second volume (marked with the letter B) is missing. It was borrowed from the Museum, in 1703, by William Aubrey, the author's brother, and was never returned. A paper on the subject was inserted by Rev. J. E. Jackson, in 1860, in vol. vii. of the Wiltshire Archæological Magazine, and a reward for information as to the presentlocaleof the missing volume was subsequently publicly offered, but to no purpose, by the same gentleman. Asmall MS. ofHoræ, which had belonged to Sir Thomas Pope, the founder of Trinity College, is among Aubrey's books. A MS. of Matthew of Westminster, (nowe Mus.149) had been given to the Library by Aubrey, in 1675, through Ant. à Wood.

There are also five or six MSS. which were given to the Museum by William Kingsley before 1700. Some few others, which were given by E. Lhuyd and Dr. W. Borlase, together with a volume of W. Huddesford's correspondence, are now incorporated with the Ashmole MSS., and are described in Mr. Black's catalogue, as well as the latest gift of this kind which was made to the Museum,viz.a little volume ofPrivate Thoughts, by Bishop Wilson, of Sodor and Man, which was presented in 1824 by Lieut. Brett, R.N.

Thirty-nine choice Persian and Arabic MSS., which had formed part of Sir Gore Ouseley's collection, were bought from his son, Sir Fred. Gore Ouseley, Bart., the present Professor of Music, for £500. The rest of the collection came by gift, as will be seen under the following year.

At the sale (in June-Aug.) of the library of Dr. Bliss, a large number of volumes (still kept separate) were purchased, including a volume of original letters of Charles I, Clarendon, &c., and poems by Lord Fairfax (see p.97); together with many from the series of books ofCharacterscollected by Dr. Bliss, and from his like series, both of books printed in London shortly before the fire of 1666, and of books printed at Oxford. The Library obtained by his bequest his own interleaved copy of theAthenæ, with many MS. additions[357].

A copy of the octavo Bible printed by Barker in 1631 (not 1632, as generally said), in which the word 'not' was omitted in the seventh commandment, was bought for £40. For this error (which looks very much like a wicked jest) the printer was fined 1000 marks by the High Commission Court[358], and the edition was rigidly suppressed, all the copies which could be found being condemned to the flames.

Another purchase was a large collection of political tracts in seventy volumes, chiefly relating to foreign affairs, which had been formed by Mr. — Hamilton, of the Diplomatic Service.

[354]This number includes some fifteen or sixteen volumes given by subsequent donors, but incorporated with Ashmole's own books.

[355]About fifty volumes out of Wood's whole number were missing when the Library became possessed of them.

[356]These were printed by the Wiltshire Archæological Society in 1862, in one volume quarto, under the editorship of Rev. J. E. Jackson.

[357]A very valuable Index of notes and references on all kinds of biographical, historical, and antiquarian matters, contained in forty small covers, which had been the growth of the many years of Dr. Bliss's literary researches, was bequeathed by him to Rev. H. O. Coxe, by whom it is kept in the Library for the use of readers. Several references are made to this Index in the earlier part of the volume.

[358]In Burn'sHigh Commission Court, 1865, it is said (from the Reports of proceedings in the Court) that the fine inflicted on Barker was £200 and on Lucas £100. 'With some part of this fine Laud causeth a fair Greek character to be provided, for publishing such manuscripts as time and industry should make ready for the publick view; of which sort were theCatenaandTheophylactset out by Lyndsell.' Heylin'sCyprianus Anglicus, p. 228.

Numerous MSS., chiefly classical, patristic, or Italian, were purchased at the sale of M. Libri's collection in London, in March. Amongst them was a Sacramentary, of the commencement of the ninth century, which was obtained for £43; and a copy of S. Cyprian's Epistles, also of the ninth century, for £84. Four volumes of the correspondence of Scholars at home and abroad with E. H. Barker, of Thetford, were also added to the Library from the sale of Mr. Dawson Turner's library. They are now numbered Bodl. MSS. 1003-1006. And the munificent gift of a very valuable collection of 422 volumes of Arabic and Persian MSS. was received from J. B. Elliott, Esq., of Calcutta. These chiefly consist of the MSS. which Sir Gore Ouseley (who died Nov. 18, 1844,) obtained during his diplomatic service in the East, commencing his collection when stationed at Lucknow, andcompleting it while ambassador in Persia; of which Mr. Elliott had been the purchaser. A small remaining part had previously been bought by the Library, as noted under 1858. In 1860, Mr. Elliott added to his former gift a series of Eastern coins, and various handsome specimens of Eastern weapons; the latter are now exhibited in a case in the Picture Gallery. Five Sanscrit MSS. were received from Fitz-Edward Hall, Esq., of Saugur, who, at the same time, expressed his munificent intention of presenting hereafter the whole of his large collection.

In this year, after considerable enquiry had been made respecting different modes of cataloguing, and Mr. Coxe had reported on the arrangements adopted in the great libraries at home and some of those abroad, it was resolved by the Curators, upon that gentleman's recommendation, that the plan in use in the British Museum should be immediately introduced, for the purpose of commencing a new General Catalogue of all the printed books (excepting the Hebrew, of which a separate catalogue had been made) in the whole Library. By this plan, three or five copies, according as the case may be that of a single or double entry, are written simultaneously on prepared paper, as with a manifold-copier, the transcribers writing out in this way the entries of titles previously examined and corrected by the cataloguers. The separate titles are then mounted, arranged in alphabetical order, and bound in volumes. By this plan two copies of the Catalogue are at once written with the labour of one, while surplus slips are also provided for the formation hereafter of a classified catalogue as well. The use of the Catalogue, however, is thus confined to the Library itself; and the literary world in general must still refer to the printed Catalogues of 1843 and 1851. A commencement of the new undertaking was made in this year; but it was not until 1862 that the present staff (as to numbers) of assistants was employed, and the work completelyorganized. At present the letters A-E, G-H are catalogued; and the extent to which the whole Catalogue will run may be estimated from the fact that the letters B, C, and G fill sixty, sixty-five, and thirty-four volumes respectively. All the books are seen and examined separately; anonymous authors are, if possible, traced out; many errors in previous catalogues are corrected, and the number of entries is very largely increased.

The resignation of the Librarianship by Dr. Bandinel, after forty-seven years of office in the capacity of Head, and a total of fifty of work in the Library, forms a leading feature in the Bodley Annals of this year. At the age of seventy-nine the natural infirmities of age were felt by himself to be incapacitating him for the duties which he had so long and so regularly discharged, while at the same time the continually increasing pressure of work and enlargement of the Library, made those duties much more onerous than they had been even a quarter of a century before. And so he resolved to withdraw at Michaelmas from the place to which he had been so heartily and entirely devoted, and which under his headship had been doubled in contents. The parting was not without a great struggle; it was the abandoning what had been the cherished occupation of his life, and with the ceasing of that occupation he felt a too-certain foreboding (which he expressed to the writer of these pages) that the life would soon cease as well. A well-merited tribute was paid to him by Convocation in June, in both increasing the amount of his statutable pension, so that he retired on a full stipend, and in specially enrolling him among the Curators of the Library. But he was seldom seen in the old place after his resignation; on two or three occasions only did he again mount the long flight of stairs which had of late tried both his strengthand breath severely; and then, when only seven months had elapsed, on Feb. 6, 1861, he passed away. And little more than a fortnight previously, on January 20, his old colleague, Professor Reay, departed this life, at the age of seventy-eight. He also had retired on his pension at Michaelmas, 1860, and had been succeeded as Oriental Sub-librarian by Rev. R. Payne Smith (Assistant-librarian in the same department since 1857), whose appointment was confirmed by Convocation on Nov. 22. Memoirs of Dr. Bandinel and Mr. Reay are given in theGentleman's Magazine, (1861, pp. 463-6), which do justice, in the case of the former, to his watchful solicitude for the Library and his thorough acquaintance with it; and in the case of the latter (evidently from intimate personal acquaintance), to his great kindliness of heart, and simplicity and gentleness of character.

The Convocation for the election of Dr. Bandinel's successor was held on November 6, when, with unanimous consent, the Rev. H. O. Coxe, M.A., Sub-librarian since 1837, was appointed to the office.

A most seasonable and valuable enlargement of the Library was effected, by an addition which henceforth marks an æra in our Annals. On June 12, Convocation thankfully accepted an offer from the Radcliffe Trustees (which had been first mooted by Dr. Acland in 1856), of the use, as a Bodleian reading-room, of the noble building hitherto under their control, the existing contents of which had (for the most part) been removed to the New Museum. Dr. Radcliffe's own original intention had been the building an additional wing to the Bodleian rather than the erecting a library of his own; and subsequently the idea had been entertained of devoting his structure to the exclusive reception of manuscripts[359]. Its appropriation, therefore, to the Bodleianupon the removal of the library of medicine and natural history, was, in some sort, a return to the founder's first design. And the return came most seasonably, when the old walls of the Schools' quadrangle were well-nigh bursting from a plethora of books, and still the cry 'They come' daily caused fresh bewilderment as to whither those that came should go. It was resolved that the new reading-room thus opportunely gained should be appropriated to new books (arranged under a system of classification) and magazines; that it should be called the 'Camera Radcliviana;' and that it should be open from tenA.M.to tenP.M., thus affording the facilities for evening use of the Bodleian which had often been desired for those who were occupied in college work during the day. It was at the close of the year 1861 that the building began to be filled by its new occupants, and on Jan. 27, 1862, (the necessary alterations and preparations having been completed in the short space of the Christmas vacation) it was announced by the Vice-Chancellor to be open as a Reading Room in connection with the Bodleian. A grant of £200per annumtowards the expense of management was made byConvocation on Nov. 28, 1861, which was increased to £300 in 1865, the remainder of the charge, consisting of the incidental expenses, being defrayed from the general funds of the Library.

A large additional space for the reception of books was gained by the closing up the open ground-floor (through which was the former entrance to the reading-room), converting the spaces between the outer arches into windows, and lining the walls within with book-shelves, thus affording accommodation, according to the present reckoning, for about 50,000 volumes. The whole building may probably be reckoned as capable of containing altogether about 75,000 volumes[360].

The terms on which the Radcliffe Trustees made their offer, and which were accepted by the University, were these:—1. That the Radcliffe Building should be a reading-room to the Bodleian, or be used for any other purpose of the Bodleian Library. 2. That it should remain the property of the Trustees, being esteemed a loan to the University. 3. That no alteration should be made in the building without consent of the Trustees or a Representative approved by them. 4. That the expense of maintaining the building should be borne by the Trustees.

The transfer of this magnificent room afforded a rare opportunity for developing the usefulness of the Library to which it is now attached, and all who frequent it will acknowledge that that opportunity has been well and worthily improved under the direction of the present Librarian.

On Oct. 25, leave was granted by Convocation for the lending two Laud Manuscripts, 561 and 563, being copies of theHistoria Hierosoylmitana, by Albert of Aix, to the French Government.

At the sale of the library of Dr. Wellesley, Principal of New Inn Hall, a copy of Boccaccio'sCorbaccio, 1569, was purchased, on account of its possessing the autograph of Sir Thomas Bodley, to whom it had been given by the editor, J. Corbinelli.

A rare SalisburyPrimer, printed at Rouen by Rob. Valentin in 1556, was purchased for £22. Its title affords an amusing specimen of a foreigner's mode of printing English; it runs thus—This prymer of Salisbury vse is se tout along with houtonyser chyng, with many prayers & goodly pyctures.It is intended hereby to be conveyed to the English reader that, without any searching, he will find his prayers and psalms set out in their proper order.

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