The Bodleian at the Present Time

The position of the Bodleian Library among the great libraries of the world has been stated on p. [13]. A general description may now be given of its buildings, organization and facilities accorded to students, at the present time.

A. Buildings and Reading Rooms

The Buildings may be conveniently divided into three parts: 1. The older part (“Bodley”); 2. The modern part (the “Camera” and Underground Bookstore); 3. Certain outlying store rooms in University buildings.

The Old Reading Room.

The older part consists, as will be clear from a glance at the [frontispiece], of an H-shaped building, and three sides of a Quadrangle fitted on to it. Readers who have followed the history outlined in preceding chapters will understand that the very cradle of the whole Library lies in the part marked on the plan “Old Reading Room.” That is Sir Thomas Bodley’s own first room, which had been superposed on the Divinity School in the latter part of the fifteenth century, finished in 1480, and taken over in a derelict condition by the Founder. No one can enter the room without a feeling of veneration for its antiquity and associations. The first extension (also in the Founder’s life-time) was the Arts End on the East, matched before the Civil War by the corresponding Selden End on the West. Since all three rooms were on the first-floor level, there is a space below, and a vaulted walk or ambulatory bears up the Arts End, while the Convocation House, built by the University, is under the Selden End. The contents of this triple room on the first floor are chiefly the printed books acquired before 1750, still divided according to the four Faculties—Theology, Medicine, Law and Arts. So firmly fixed are some of these that the present writer, having lost all trace in the General Catalogue of a book to be found under the word Parantinis in the 1605 Catalogue, in despair ordered it by its shelf mark in 1605 (8ᵒ L. 20 Th.), to see what would turn up, and it came. The fittings, ceiling and desks are hardly altered from what Sir Thomas Bodley ordained and saw. America as well as England may claim this heritage, for it presents the same appearance now as it presented years before the Pilgrim Fathers sailed in 1620.

The Bodleian Quadrangle.

The three sides of the School Quadrangle which adjoin the Arts End now contain the most valuable part of the Library. In the Gallery are the Upper Reading Room (with the General Catalogue and the selected periodicals) and the Picture Gallery (with a quarter of a mile of bibliography). On the first-floor on the South side are the chief manuscript collections; on the East side the Bywater, Douce and (north of the Tower) the Oriental MSS, and printed books; on the North side the Malone, Tanner, and Gough books, with all the Bibles. On the ground-floor are placed the Hope Collection of engraved portraits (about 300,000)—which is under separate trustees and is not really Bodleian property—the Music School (containing the printed and manuscript music and, at present, the Backhouse Chinese collection), the Meerman room (with a number of smaller sets of books), the Law Room, the Foreign Periodical Room and the Map Room.

The Camera.

The Camera Reading Room holds comparatively few books, not being a store-room, but the volumes kept in it are the most-used modern works to the number of about 27,000. But the Camera Basement, and the Underground Bookstore which adjoins it, hold the great bulk of the books of the last forty years. These are arranged by an elaborate system of subject division, the more important sections being in the Basement, while the less-used subjects (Minor Theology, Minor Prose and Verse, Scientific handbooks now superseded for ordinary use, and the like) are kept in the Underground Bookstore, with gigantic series such as the earlier editions of the Ordnance Survey, the Times from 1806, the London Gazette and some others. But certain entire sections, though modern books, are still retained in the older part of the Bodleian (“Bodley”) as being specially related to the studies pursued there: such are Bibliography, Palæography, British topography, Family history and Numismatics.

Outlying Store Rooms.

Lastly, some outlying buildings have been lent as storerooms. Half of the Sheldonian Theatre Basement keeps the Parliamentary Blue Books, and such newspapers and journals as the Bodleian takes in. The Basement of the Old Ashmolean holds the “Year-books” (so called from the accessions between 1824 and 1850 being arranged, not by subject but in order of acquisition) and in general the octavo books received between 1824 and 1883. Finally, beneath the New Examination Schools are preserved directories, some old magazines and all novels.

In 1915 the numbers of volumes in these three main divisions were found to be:—

In “Bodley”422,000
(Old Reading Room 61,000)
In the “Camera” and Underground Store321,000
In outlying buildings279,000
Total1,022,000

B. Organization

Curators.

The whole Library is subject ultimately to the authority of the Board of Curators, fifteen in number. Of these, eight are official (the Vice-Chancellor and two Proctors, and the five Regius Professors of Divinity, Civil Law, Medicine, Hebrew and Greek); and seven are chosen for ten years by Congregation from its resident members. The Curators meet at least twice a term, and hold an Annual Visitation of the Library on November 8, the anniversary of the opening of the Bodleian in 1602. The income and expenditure and even the regulations of the Library are under their control.

Officers.

The three officers are the responsible officials, and any one of them can take complete charge of the Library. They are the Librarian and the two Sub-Librarians; by custom one of the latter is an Oriental scholar. At the age of sixty-five they retire, unless specially retained for a few additional years. They may not hold a cure of souls, nor undertake outside work incompatible with the due discharge of their office. But the two Sub-Librarians are subordinate to the Librarian in all matters concerning their duties and work.

Assistants.

The Senior Assistants are at present thirteen in number. Ten of them are in charge of the ten Sections of the Library, and are responsible for its proper condition. One is the Librarian’s Secretary, one the Financial Assistant, two are Superintendents of the Upper Reading Room, and of the Camera, and one is in charge of the Stores. Their maximum (pre-war) salary is £250. There is also a class of Minor Assistants, who have less responsibility and less difficult work.

The Janitor at “Bodley” is on Sir Thomas Bodley’s original foundation, and has charge of the Picture Gallery, and the admission of visitors. There is now also a Janitor at the Camera.

The Junior Assistants (aged 14 to 19) undertake the supply and replacement of books, and such work as the preparation of lists, and especially hand lists, showing what books are added to the shelves, with other duties varying according to their powers. The Curators give annual prizes at Christmas to this class, for conduct, industry and intelligence.

Extra Staff.

The Extra Staff is apparently a class peculiar to the Bodleian, instituted by Nicholson. They are to a large extent former Junior Assistants, retained for a time on the Staff under conditions which allow them to carry on their own studies (as, for instance, for a University Degree). It is found that their experience of the Library in the past makes their services of special value, while on the other hand they are allowed to choose a normal scheme of hours and take what holidays they please, being paid by the hour (from 6d. to 2s.). They deal with arrears, or miscellaneous work, according to their special powers or the library requirements. Some of the Extra Staff are usually specialists temporarily engaged, such as the members of the Catalogue Revision Staff. The entire normal staff consists of about seventy persons.

One of the customs of the Library now associated with the Annual Visitation is the Oratio Bodleiana, in Latin, delivered in the Congregation House on November 8 by a Master of Arts of Christ Church, on the set subject of Praise of Sir Thomas Bodley and of Hebrew Studies. It was founded in 1682 under the will of Dr. John Morris, Regius Professor of Hebrew, who died in 1648. The Orator is selected by the Dean of Christ Church, and delivers the Oration before the Curators of the Library. For the last fifty years the speeches have been preserved, and are of some value as contemporary annals.

C. Facilities for Readers

Admission. Days and Hours, etc.

Anyone desirous of becoming a reader is required to bring a personal recommendation signed by some one in a responsible position. A printed form is supplied for the purpose. On admission he signs a statutory promise of good conduct in matters relating to the Library, and can choose a seat in any of the three reading-rooms. Preferably he will use the older books and manuscripts in the Old Reading Room, and modern books in the other two. The two parts of the Bodleian are only closed together on six weekdays in the year (Good Friday, Easter Eve, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the two following week days), and are otherwise open, with a few exceptions for cleaning purposes, from 9 a.m. to 3, 4 or 5 p.m., according to the season. The Camera is similarly open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Readers who use printed books have only to order them from the General Catalogue, or, if reference books, take them down from the shelves. For manuscripts there are three indexes which cover the whole ground: that of the Old Catalogue of 1697 (soon to be superseded by the other two); that of the Quarto Catalogues, combined; and that of the Summary Catalogue. The Oriental MSS. have in general their own indexes. Ordinary books can be reserved at the seat: manuscripts and valuable printed books are given up each day, and kept for re-issue. Free access to the shelves is not possible in so large a library, but arrangements are made to suit reasonable requirements: the Reference books are numerous, and the Subject Catalogue and lists of Accessions are provided. A Manual for Readers, giving further detail, can be obtained on application, without payment, as well as the Rules for Cataloguing and lists of the numerous collections, both manuscript and printed.

Catalogues.

The Catalogues of Manuscripts are numerous, but consist chiefly (for western languages) of three parts: 1. The Old Catalogue of 1697, described on p. [27], which has its own index; 2. The Quarto Series of detailed Catalogues,[26] each with its index, but also indexed in one long alphabet of combined slips available for general use; 3. The Summary Catalogue filling up gaps in the other two classes, with a similar slip index. The whole ground is covered in more or less detail by these three.

All the Printed Books are in the General Catalogue of printed books, one copy of which is in Bodley, and one at the Camera. This is an Author Catalogue of the usual kind, anonymous books being entered under their title, and official books under the institution which issues them. A third copy of the Catalogue is arranged by subjects, but is at present kept in loose bundles of slips. The Cataloguing Rules are separately printed, as noted above.

D. Finance

The normal income is about £11,000 (Dividends, rents, etc. £2800: University allowances £5100; internal income £250; From Colleges £2000; Oxford University Endowment Fund, and various donors £850). The expenditure may be placed at £10,800 (Staff £6700; Establishment £1250; Purchases £2000; Binding £700; Miscellaneous £150). The large expenditure on the Staff compared with the purchases is due to the great number of books received under the Copyright Act. In 1841 a bequest of £36,000 was received under the Will of the Rev. Robert Mason, of Queen’s College. The resources of the Library are however obviously inadequate, although the University bears the cost of the upkeep of the fabric and permanent fittings. Details for 1882-1918 will be found summarized in the Bodleian Quarterly Record, No. 21, or in detail in the published Annual Reports. During the years 1908-1916, the Library has received more than £25,000 from the O. U. Endowment Fund, expended chiefly on the New Reading Room and Underground Book-store.

Manuscripts and printed books are not lent out except under a Special Decree of Convocation in each case, and was finally decided on May 31, 1887, in accordance with the principles of the Founder and the traditions both of the Bodleian and the British Museum (see pp. [10], [11], [20], [25]).

CHAPTER V
THE MANUSCRIPT AND OTHER TREASURES

Attractions of the Bodleian.

The antiquity, the historical associations, and the treasures of the Library combine to give it a peculiar fascination. Founded in the “spacious times of great Elizabeth,” and even then carrying on the traditions of the University library first mentioned in 1320; exhibiting a normal evolution in fabric and contents, without great catastrophes or change of place; and as the receptacle of so many and such great collections that it might be called the National Library for the first century and a half of its development, its very walls are vocal with multitudinous memories, much more its shelves and volumes and accessories. Who can walk down the Old Reading Room, with its quiet alcoves, each with its own window looking out on the Sheldonian Theatre or, if so be, the quiet lawn of Exeter College Garden; or note the old-fashioned fittings, adapted for the mediæval system of chaining books, and still comfortable, though not too luxurious; or enjoy the spaciousness of the Selden End, with its outlook on St. Mary’s and its restful gloom, without feeling that he has found an earthly paradise, a true home of study, a Temple of the Religio Grammatici? And when the volumes are found to match the surroundings, and to be such as rank high in the esteem of the whole world, whether as historical monuments, or for beauty of illustration, or as affording ample ground for study and research, great is the content of mind which they engender.

The present chapter is designed partly to illustrate these points, and also to be a guide to some of the most prominent treasures of this great repository. It will, in the first place, describe a few of the curiosities of association which cluster round certain volumes, and then settle down to what is by comparison a mere list of valuable books, whether written or printed. Neither part should be taken as in any way exhaustive.

Examples of Association.

Sayings of our Lord.

The Excavations at Oxyrhynchus (120 miles south of Cairo) produced in 1897 large quantities of Greek papyri, but perhaps the most interesting of all was a dirty, tattered and torn piece about 6 × 4 inches, such as one would throw into the waste paper basket. Yet it contains the ΛΟΓΙΑ ΙΗΣΟΥ, Sayings of Our Lord, as transmitted by oral tradition till they were written down, possibly within the first century. The fragment is quite independent of our Four Gospels, and here alone are found such sayings as “Wherever there is one alone, I say, I am with him,” “Raise the stone, and thou shalt find Me; cleave the wood, and there am I.” Perhaps there never was a greater contrast between external appearance and intrinsic worth, for the genuineness of the sayings is contested by few. A second leaf from another MS. of the same kind was subsequently discovered and is now in the British Museum.

A Schoolboy’s Letter.

At Oxyrhynchus was found also a school-boy’s letter to his father, an example of the immutability of basal human nature. It is in Greek, on papyrus, written in the second or third century of our era. This is part of it: “Theon to his father Theon greeting. It was a fine thing of you not to take me with you to town.... Mother said to Archelaüs ‘He upsets me: take him away.’ So send for me, I implore you. If you won’t send, I won’t eat, I won’t drink: there now.” The appeal to what his mother said about him to a house-friend, was a master stroke, the boy thought, but the effect may have been diminished in his father’s eyes by the undoubted fact that the grammar and spelling of the letter leave a good deal to be desired. That completes the picture. But we may be pretty sure that no tragedy followed the missive. Having done his best to bring his father into the right path the youthful Theon undoubtedly sat down to a good dinner and calmly awaited the course of events. A chilling interval no doubt followed, and a prosaic reply that Theon had better keep his temper and not upset his mother. Little did Theon think that his boyish letter would, after seventeen hundred years, become an interesting treasure in a great library.

Cædmon.

The earliest personal name in the long range of English Literature is Cædmon, the herdman of Whitby, in the seventh century. The only ancient MS. of Cædmon’s metrical paraphrase of parts of the Old Testament is the Junius MS. in the Bodleian, written in England about the year 1000, and illustrated by a native pre-Conquest artist. The question of how much of the MS. is Cædmon’s own composition cannot be here dealt with, but part corresponds closely with a prose version written in the eighth century and contained in a Cambridge MS. of Bede, and the Genesis part of the present MS. is known to be of Northumbrian origin. Much of the interest lies in the pen-and-ink drawings which illustrate the Genesis. For instance, the ark is represented by a set of boxes erected on the deck of the largest vessel which the artist had ever seen, namely a Scandinavian war-galley with its turned up fore- and sternposts and its side steering. Out of the boxes peer the animals and birds, while the steersman has an aspect of lofty detachment which should do credit to an artist of the present day. There is no pseudo-archaism in the illustrations, but an invaluable record of buildings, costumes and life in England, half a century before the Conquest.

Bede’s Acts of the Apostles.

The chief ancient Biblical MS. possessed by the Library is a Græco-Latin uncial Acts, probably written in the sixth century, given by Archbishop Laud and known as Codex E of the Acts. The Latin closely follows the Greek text, and is not the Vulgate version. In the seventh century the MS. was in Sardinia, and much interest attaches to it from the fact that the Venerable Bede (d. 735) used it, and probably owned it; for about seventy readings which are stated to occur in his Retractatio in Actus are all found, and often solely, in this codex. It also has affinities with the great Cambridge MS., the Codex Bezæ, a manuscript which has in the last few years established some claim to represent the oldest tradition of the text.

Saint Margaret’s Gospel-book.

A small volume in brown calf binding was sold at Sotheby’s on July 26, 1887, described as “Evangelia iv. ... Manuscript on vellum ... illuminated in gold and colours ... saec. xiv,” and was bought for a very moderate sum by the Bodleian. It turned out to be a Gospel-book (containing the portions of the Gospels which occur in the Mass) written in England about A.D. 1000, and bearing four full-page miniatures of the Evangelists with other illumination. On the second leaf is a Latin poem of the eleventh century, telling a strange tale, that a miracle had been worked on this volume. It had been taken to a trysting-place in order that by its sanctity it might bind the parties to an agreement, but on its way dropped unnoticed into a river out of the folds of the priest’s dress who was carrying it. When its absence was noted, the party slowly retraced its steps, and at last saw it in the river. A soldier plunged in head first and rescued it, and it was found to be miraculously unhurt “except two leaves which you see at each end, in which from the water some crinkling is apparent.” The poem specially records that the silken sheets which protected the illuminations were washed out of the book by the stream, and ends “May the King and noble Queen find everlasting salvation, whose book was recently saved from the waves.” The clue to this was found in the Life of St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland, whose chapel is still a venerated shrine in Edinburgh Castle. She was a sister of Edgar Ætheling, fled to the North, and in 1070 married Malcolm Canmore, King of Scotland. Her mild and civilizing influence on the Scottish Court and country till her death in 1093 led to canonization in 1251. The Life of her, probably by her confessor Turgot, contains the whole story in similar terms in prose, and establishes beyond a doubt that this volume was her especial treasure and constant companion. She must often have used it both in Dunfermline Abbey, which she founded, and in her chapel in the Castle at Edinburgh. Even the “crinkling” mentioned is still visible, but as to the miracle, the clear water of a Scotch stream would do little harm even to an illuminated volume. It is, however, an undoubted relic, valuable alike for its liturgical contents, its romantic history and its associations.

The Turbutt Shakespeare.

A worn and tattered copy of the First Folio of Shakespeare (1623), plainly bound in contemporary calf, was brought up to the Library on January 23, 1905, from a Mr. Turbutt’s library at Ogston Hall, Derbyshire, for advice about repairs to the binding. Fortunately Mr. Strickland Gibson, a Senior Assistant, who studies Oxford bindings, had not neglected, as so many do, the poorer and mediocre covers, such as the one described; and he soon recognized on it the peculiarities of Oxford binders, and was able after a little investigation to establish the fact that the long-lost original First Folio, sent in sheets from the publisher in 1623 under Sir Thomas Bodley’s Agreement (see p. [20]), had revisited its old home in the guise of a dubious stranger, but wearing still its ancient coat, much out at elbows. The identification is complete, and there is no doubt that the book had been sold after the Restoration as superseded. The special interest of the volume is two-fold—first, it is the only copy which went straight from the publisher to a public institution, and is therefore in some respects the only standard copy in existence; secondly, that the wear and tear of the book when it was chained in Bodley as S. 2.17 Art. (which can be proved to have been occasioned in the Library, and not at a later period) indicates, as nothing else can, which plays were most to the taste of the Bachelors of Arts before the Civil War. An estimate has been made from the comparative deterioration of each leaf, and the result is the following list of preferences: Romeo and Juliet; Julius Cæsar; The Tempest. Next: Henry IV, part i; Macbeth and Cymbeline equal. The Tragedies were most read, and the Histories least; the Comedies being intermediate.

Milton and Rouse.

John Rouse, who steered the Bodleian through the stormy waters of the Civil War, was a personal friend of Milton, and wrote to him to complain that no copy of his (Milton’s) Poems, London, 1645, was to be found in the Library. Milton sent a copy, and inserted in it a long Latin poem “ad Joannem Rousium ... de libro poematum ... Ode Joannis Miltonij.” Milton at this time was only Cromwell’s Latin Secretary, so the book was allowed to go up in the ordinary course, as 8ᵒ M. 168 Art., to one of the Galleries of the Arts End. After about a hundred and fifty years, it was rediscovered as a valuable autograph of the great poet, and is now exhibited in the glass cases.

The smallest MS.

The smallest MS. in the Library measures three-quarters of an inch square and about a quarter inch in thickness, and very appropriately contains shorthand writing. It was so likely to be lost that Mr. Coxe chained it to a piece of wood eighteen inches long. Knowledge of its history and contents was completely lost until in 1912 a visitor saw it, and made a suggestion which was found to be true, that it was a sermon written by Jeremiah Rich “the Semigrapher,” in his peculiar stenography, and referred to in a broadside of about 1664 as “now shown in the Publick Library in Oxford.” Rich claimed that he could write so small that his pen could scarcely be seen to move.

Clarendon’s Council Notes.

Imagine the Council Chamber of King Charles II, the King himself at one end, Lord Clarendon the Historian of the Rebellion at the other, and the Lords of the Council ranged along the sides: date 1660-1665. The King often desired to obtain the immediate opinion of Clarendon on matters which came before the Council, whether it was a question of arrangements for Parliament, or the dismissal of an officer of state, or the hanging of some traitors; and his custom was to send a slip of paper to his Chancellor with his own query at the top, and room for the reply. These papers flew backwards and forwards between the two, and, as filled in, they may be regarded as the most personal and intimate State Papers which exist. They should have been at once destroyed, but Clarendon kept them, and they are now preserved in the Bodleian. Many are of the highest interest, as revealing the undisguised opinions and feelings of the King. Here is one of less intrinsic importance, Clarendon’s contributions being in italic:—

“I would willingly make a visite to my sister at Tunbridge for a night, or two at furthest, when do you thinke I can best spare that time?

I know no reason why you may not for such a tyme (2 nights) go the next weeke, about Wensday or Thursday, and returne tyme enough for the adjournement: which yet ought to be the weeke followinge. [Then, added as an after thought] I suppose you will go with a light Trayne [i.e. you will not take the whole court with you, surely?].

I intend to take nothing but my night bag.

Yes, you will not go without 40 or 50 horse.

I counte that part of my night bag.”

It may be added that the King is greatly superior to his Minister, both in handwriting and spelling. The date is December, 1660.

The Sutherland Collection.

The Rev. James Granger (d. 1776) published a History of England in 1769 on the theory that a series of biographies best brings out the historical features of each successive generation. The work obviously lent itself to illustration by engraved portraits, and now any books enriched by its owner with additional inserted illustrations is said to be “grangerized.” The most magnificent example of this not wholly commendable practice is to be found in the Sutherland Collection presented to the Bodleian in 1837. Mr. Alexander Sutherland took a folio edition of Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion, the Life of Clarendon, and Burnet’s History of My Own Times, inlaid each leaf and illustrated them with not less than 20,000 portraits and views of persons and places which are mentioned, even incidentally, in the histories. The result is contained in sixty-one elephant folio volumes. The quality of the engravings is of the finest, and when an engraving was lacking, a copy in colours of some original picture took its place. For instance, the portraits of Charles I number 743, of Cromwell 373, of Charles II 552; the views of London 309 and of Westminster 166. Mrs. Sutherland completed this sumptuous work after her husband’s death, and printed a complete catalogue of the whole. Among the topographical prints is the original drawing by Antonio van der Wyngaerde, of London, in about 1560, which is the earliest detailed view of that city. The Library also contains the only copies of the earliest (engraved) views of Oxford (by Agas, 1578) and of Cambridge (by Hamond, 1592).

These are ten specimens of the associations and stories which gather round the volumes of the Bodleian, but space does not allow this section to be extended.

THE CHIEF COLLECTIONS OF THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY
(In order of acquisition)
WITH NOTES OF SOME OF THE MORE IMPORTANT VOLUMES IN THEM

A. Manuscripts

Out of the 200 collections of Manuscripts only the more valuable are mentioned, and of their contents only the most striking volumes. In the latter division the numeral in brackets is the number of the volume in the Old Catalogue of 1697 (1-8716), or in the Summary Catalogue (1-8716 and 8717-36587). The use of the Roman numerals which here follow (i-x) will enable a reader to recognize the general character of each collection.

The following subjects are characterized for brevity by members as below:—

i.Bibles and Liturgies.
ii.Theology and Church History.
iii.Greek Literature.
iv.Latin Literature.
v.English Language and Literature.
vi.British History.
vii.British Topography.
viii.Colonial and Foreign Literature, History and Geography.
ix.Sciences and Arts.
x.Miscellaneous (used only when the miscellaneous element is large).

The following statistics of early Greek and Latin MSS. in the Bodleian, excluding papyri, deeds and fragments, may be interesting. Lists of the volumes, with titles, will be found in the Bodleian Quarterly Record, Nos. 3, 7, 11, 12 (see p. [64]).

Cent.GreekLatin
6th-7th27
8th18
9th1254
10th2163
11th115130
12th87552

The oldest complete MS. in the Library is a Chinese scroll, written by Wang Hsi Chih about A.D. 400. The oldest printed book is also Chinese, the voluminous Spring and Autumn Annals of Confucius, printed about A.D. 1150. Both were in the Backhouse donations of 1914.

Seventeenth Century

1. Exeter Cathedral (1602; 86 vols.; i, ii).

Persius, 11th cent. (2455); Prudentius, 11th cent. (2666); Leofric Missal, 10th cent. (2675); Latin Gospels written in Brittany, 10th cent. (2719).

2. Windsor (1612; 67 vols.; ii).

3. Twyne (1612; 20 vols.; ix).

4. Savile (1620; 61 vols.; iii, etc.).

5. Barocci (1629; 244 vols.; i, ii, iii).

Canons of the Church, 11th cent. (26); Grammarians, 11th cent. (50); Chronicon John Malalæ, 12th cent. (182); Epistolæ Photii, 10th cent. (217); early MSS. of the Fathers; all in Greek.

6. Roe (1629; 28 vols.; iii).

Catena in Epistolas Pauli, in Greek, 10th cent. (262).

7. Digby (1634-9; 238 vols.; v, vi, ix, x).

Chanson de Roland, 12th cent. (1624), the earliest MS. of the first French Roman de geste; the Abingdon Missal, 15th cent., illuminated (1828).

8. Laud (1635-40; abt. 1230 vols.; i, ii, iii, iv, v, vi, x).

Canons of Councils, Greek, 11th cent. (715b); Irish poems, 13th cent. (784); Sidonius Apollinaris, 10th cent. (838); Ælfric’s Heptateuch, 11th cent. (942); Gregory’s Cura Pastoralis, 9th cent. (1000); the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, to A.D. 1154 (1003); Egbert’s Penitential, in Old English, 11th cent. (1054); Codex E of the Acts, Græco-Latin, 7th cent. (1119), see p. [45]; The “Psalter” of Cashel, in Irish, 12th cent. (1132); Lives of Saints, in English, 14th cent. (1486); Quintus Curtius, 15th cent., with illuminations (1526); Augustine de Trinitate, 8th cent. (1556); Martianus Capella, 11th cent. (1597).

9. Cromwell (1654; 24 vols.; iii).

10. Selden (1659; 351 vols.; ii, iii, iv, vi, x).

Mexican records, the Mendoza Codex, 16th cent. (3134); English Carols, with music, 15th cent. (3340); The King’s Quair, etc., 15th cent. (3354); Latin pieces in the hand of William of Malmesbury, 12th cent. (3362); The Acts, in Latin uncials written in England, 8th cent. (3418).

11. Casaubon (1671; 61 vols.; iii, etc.).

12. Hatton (1671; 112 vols.; v, etc.).

King Alfred’s translation of Gregory’s Pastoral Care, 9th cent. (4113); Rule of St. Benedict, in Latin, 7th cent. (4118); Collectis Canonum Hibernensium, 9th cent. (4119); Anglo-Saxon homilies, 11th cent. (5210, 5134-6).

13. Fairfax and Dodsworth (1673; 114 vols.; v, vi, vii).

14. Junius (1678; 121 vols.; v).

The Ormulum, the original MS. of the first English religious poem after the Conquest, abt. 1315 (5113); Cædmon, see p. [44] (5123).

15. Marshall (1685; 159 vols.; x.).

16. Barlow (1691; 54 vols.; i, ii, vi, etc.).

17. Pococke (1692; 420 vols.; x, Arabic, etc.).

Edrisi’s Geography in Arabic, with maps (5737).

18. Huntington (1693; 646 vols.; x, Arabic, etc.).

Arabic descr. of Egypt, 14th cent. (5749); autograph signature of Moses Maimonides (5757); Coptic Gospels, 12th cent. (5860); a Tartar Bakhtiar Nameh (MS. Hunt, 596).

19. Bernard (1698; 171 vols.; iii, iv, x. etc.).

Vendôme chronicle, 11th to 14th cent. (8537, cf. 14715); Maximianus, 12th cent. (8849).

Miscellaneous MSS.—Seventeenth Century.

Early Latin treatises written in Cornwall, 9th-10th cent. (2026); Early Latin treatises written in Brittany and Wales, 9th-11th cent., owned by Dunstan (2176); Old English Gospels, 11th cent. (2382); Romance of Alexander, and Marco Polo’s Travels, in French, with notable illuminations, 14th-15th cent. (2464); Sir Thomas Bodley’s Letters to his first Librarian, 17th cent. (2541); The Tropary of Ethelred, in Latin, 10th cent. (2558); Cornish plays, 15th cent. (2639, cf. 10714); Latin Gospels, Codex O, 7th cent., once called St. Augustine’s (2698); Pliny’s Epistolæ, 15th cent., a relic of Duke Humphrey’s library at Oxford (2934); Bible History in Latin, Gen.-Job, with fine miniatures, xiii (2937); Latin Psalter, 13th cent., with illuminations and binding (3055); Hours of Qu. Mary, 15th cent. (3083); the original MS. of much of Wycliffe’s English Bible, 14th cent. (3093); Latin Acts of Councils, 7th cent. (3686-8); Edrisi’s Geography in Arabic, with 33 maps (3837); a “vast massy” volume of Middle English Verse, 14th cent., known as the Vernon MS. (3938); The MacRegol Gospels, in Latin, with Old English Version, abt. A.D. 800 (3946); the original MS. of John Leland’s Collectanea and Itinerary (5102-5112*, after 6615); Anglo-Saxon Canons, 10th cent. (5232); Terence, 12th cent., with classical drawings (27603).

Eighteenth Century

20. Jones (1708; 61 vols.; vi).

21. Marsh (1714; 744 vols.; x, Oriental).

22. Tanner (1736; 627 vols.; ii, v). See p. [29].

English historical papers, 1570-1699 (9841-9906, 10288-90).

23. Carte (1753, etc.; 278; vi). See p. [29].

Original earliest existing journal of the Irish Parliament, 1585-6 (10507); original letter-book of the confederate Catholics at Kilkenny, 1642-5 (10510).

24. St. Amand (1755; 62 vols.; iii, iv).

25. Ballard (1756; 72 vols.; vi).

26. John Walker (1756; 25 vols.; ii, vi). See p. [29].

27. Rawlinson (1756; 5206 vols.; i., ii, iii, iv, v, vi, vii, viii, ix, x). See p. [30].

Thurloe State Papers, 1638-60 (10884-10950); Pepys’ Papers, abt. 1650-90 (11054-11121); Parish notes for Oxfordshire, abt. 1720 (11740-4); old Irish MSS., annals, cartularies and poetry (between 11822 and 11861); Prudentius, abt. A.D. 1000 (12541); perhaps “The earliest English musical composition,” abt. 1220 (14755); Avianus, 11th cent. (14836); Latin Gospels of St. Luke and St. John, 8th cent. (14890); royal letters to Qu. Elizabeth (14976); Oxford University Bedel’s book, 16th cent. (15411); Prayers for the use of Wladislaw, King of Poland, abt. 1434 (15857); Holman’s Essex MSS. (15988-16018).

28. Clarendon (1759, etc.; 145 vols.; vi). See p. [30].

Letters of Charles I and Henrietta Maria (16183-4, cf. 15003, 16177, 30253); Council notes of Charles I and Clarendon, 1660-2 (16186-7; see p. [47]).

29. Dawkins (1759; 60 vols.?; x, Syriac).

30. Willis (1760; 110 vols.; vii).

31. Hunt (1774; abt. 200 vols.; x, Oriental).

32. Bradley (1776, etc.; 51 vols.; ix).

33. Holmes (1789, etc.; 163 vols.; i, iii).

34. Bridge (1795; 52 vols.; vii, Northants).

Miscellaneous MSS.—Eighteenth Century.

Ussher’s Collectanea (27610-7); Register of Committee for plundered ministers, 1645-53 (27619-26); Bale’s Carmelitana (27635); Portraits of Rajahs (27697); Furney’s Gloucestershire Collections (27825-30); autograph poems by James I (27843-44).

Nineteenth Century, and After

35. Wight (1801; 209 vols.; ix, Music).

36. D’Orville (1804; 618 vols.; iii, iv, etc.).

Moissac psalter, 11th cent. (16923); Horace, 11th cent. (17036); papers on the Greek Anthology (17112-143, 17150-168), and on Theocritus (17144-149, 17169-76); Euclid in Greek, A.D. 888 (17179).

37. Gough (1809; 866 vols.; i, vi, vii). See p. [32].

Large Map of Great Britain, 14th cent. (17610); Dr. Charles Mason’s Cambridge Collections (17755-88); Hutchison’s Collections for Dorset (17867-902, cf. 25532-3); Pegge’s Lincolnshire Collections (18003-9); Blomefield’s Norfolk Collections (18056-69); Peter le Neve’s do. (18085-91); Bowen’s Shropshire Collections (18189-207); Beckwith’s Yorkshire Collections (18269-80); the Gaignières Drawings of French Monuments, abt. A.D. 1700 (18346-61).

38. E. D. Clarke (1809; 91 vols.; iii, iv, x).

St. Gregory Nazianzen’s poems, 10th cent. (18374); Dialogues of Plato, written A.D. 896 (18400).

39. Canonici (1817; 2047 vols.; i, ii, iii, iv, viii, x).

Greek Evangeliaria, 9th cent. (18538, 18545); Catullus, 14th cent. (18611); Juvenal, 11th cent., with a genuine passage found in no other MS. (18622); Virgil, 10th cent. (18631); the Ranshoven Latin Gospels, A.D. 1178 (18953); Dalmatian Liturgy, in Latin, 11th cent. (19379); Rabanus Maurus de Computo, 9th cent. (19829); Notitia Dignitatum, with illuminations in old Roman style (19854); Boccaccio’s Philocopo, 15th cent., illuminated (20137); Pirro Ligorio’s drawings of Rome, 16th cent. (20190); old Slavonic service books (20639-41).

40. Saibante (1820; 52 vols.; iii).

Arrian’s Discourses of Epictetus, in Greek, 12th cent., the archetype of all existing MSS. (20531).

41. Malone (1821; 30 vols.; v).

42. Meerman (1824; 59 vols.; iii, iv).

Physiologus, 10th cent. (20618); Donatus, 9th cent. (20624); Livy, bks. i-x, abt. A.D. 1000 (20631); Jerome’s Chronicle of Eusebius, in Latin, 6th cent. (20632); Macrobius, abt. A.D. 1000 (21637).

43. Boreal (1828; 153 vols.; viii, Icelandic).

44. Oppenheimer (1829; 780 vols.; x, Hebrew).

45. Douce (1834; 497 vols.; i, v, ix, Illumination). See p. [32].

Hours, with fine miniatures (Gonzaga, 21603; Sforza, 21614; Medici, 21616; Maximilian, 21793-4); a Codex purpureus of the Psalter, 9th cent. (21633); Primasius, on the Apocalypse, 8th cent. (21714); Gospel lections in Latin, 10th cent., with carved ivory binding (21750); Apocalypse in Latin, with fine illuminations, 13th cent. (21754); Latin Gospels, 11th cent., with carved ivory binding (21866); the Ormesby Psalter, 14th cent. (21941); Miracles de la Vierge, 15th cent. miniatures (21949); Map of the Holy Land, abt. 1400 (21964).

46. Blakeway (1840; 26 vols.; vii, Shropshire).

47. Wilson (1842; 546 vols.; x, Sanskrit).

48. Bruce (1843; 96 vols.; x, Arabic, Ethiopic).

Book of Enoch (22731); Gnostic treatise in Coptic (22753).

49. Milles (1843; 21 vols.; vii, Devon).

50. Ouseley (1844, 1858; 590 vols.; x, Persian).

Persian illuminations (24643-50, etc.).

51. A. Walker (1845; 215 vols.; x, Oriental).

52. Michael (1841, 1850; 690 vols.; x, Hebrew).

53. Mill (1849, 1858; 195 vols.; x, Sanskrit, etc.)

54. Elliott (1859; 387 vols.; x, Persian).

55. Ashmole, Wood, Lister, Dugdale, Aubrey (1860; 128 vols.; vi, vii Oxford, ix).

These collections contain more valuable material relating to Oxford history than can be detailed. Lichfield Chapter records (MS. Ashm. 794, etc.). Order of the Garter (MSS. Ashm. 1097-1135, etc.); Bestiarium, 12th cent. (MS. Ashm. 1511); Reliquiæ Lhuydianæ, 17th-18th cent. (25184-93, 25198, 25202-3); Letters to Anthony Wood, 17th cent. (25213-9).

56. Tamil (1860; 103 vols.; x, Tamil).

57. Montagu (1864; 62 vols.; iv, v, etc.).

Autograph Letters (25426-50).

58. W. N. Clarke (1868; 18 vols., vii, Berks).

59. Oxford Diocesan Papers (1878, 1914, 1916; abt. 1000 vols. or boxes; ii, vii, etc.) See p. [35].

60. Savile (1884; 147 vols.; ix.).

61. Music School (1885; 778 vols.; ix, Music).

62. Hultzsch (1887; 437 vols.; x, Sanskrit).

63. Shelley (1893; 12 vols.; v, Shelley).

64. Hallam (1896; 149 vols.; v, dialects).

65. Chandra (1909; 6330 pieces; x, Sanskrit).

66. Backhouse (1913; x, Chinese).

Miscellaneous MSS., from 1801 (i-x).

Watson’s Cheshire and Lancashire Collections (25562-78); Herculanean Papyri (28047-60); Greek N.T., the Codex Ebnerianus (28118); Sheldon papers, English history, 1585-1724 (28181-87, cf. 28473); Oxford Siege papers, 1643-6 (28189); Yriarte Spanish MSS. (28360-85); Burnet MSS. (28386-95); Aubrey’s Monumenta Britannica (28426-27); Gower’s Cheshire Collections (28483-87, cf. 30704); Cornish Plays (28556-57); Greek Gospels, Codex Α, 9th cent. (28643); Genesis in Greek, 9th cent. (28644); Greek Gospels, 10th cent., Codex Γ (28645); Reader’s Coventry Collections (28854-8); a supposed Shakespeare signature (28902); Turner’s Oxfordshire Collections (29019-46); Poems by Chatterton, xviii (29126); Welsh pedigrees (29205-7); Jones’ Devonshire Collections (29462-69); Barret’s Sacred Warr, 17th cent., the longest poem in the world (29573); Ford’s Suffolk Collections (29670-79); Mark Pattison Papers; Gospel book of St. Margaret of Scotland, 11th cent. (29744, see p. [45]); Parts of Iliad 2, 2nd cent. (29896); Oxford Barbers’ Company Records (31110-27); Ecclesiasticus in Hebrew (32358); the Bower Sanskrit MS., 5th cent. (32602); The Logia (32901, see p. [43]); a unique York Gradual (32940); The Bakhshale and Weber Sanskrit MSS. (33178-79); the Brett Nonjuror papers (MSS. Eng. 00th. c. 24-43); nearly 4000 inscribed Ostraca, in 1914.

Miscellaneous MSS. (various dates of acquisition).

Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, in French, etc., 14th cent. (30142); Goliardica, 13th cent. (30151); Ciceroniana (30350-419); Registers of the Court of the Marches of Wales, 16th cent. (30435, cf. 33088); Warren Hastings (30463-78).

In Greek: Psalter, etc., ix (1982); Xenophon’s Cyropædia, xii (2936); Manuel Phile, with miniatures, xvi (3078); Scholia on the Odyssey, xi (28347); Miniatures of Saints, xiv (2919).

B. Printed Books

The separate printed works in the Library, which are contained in about 160 collections, amount to over two million, and cannot possibly be shortly described. They are all in the General Catalogue of printed books, of which two copies are available for the use of readers.

It has to be remembered that since 1610 (see p. [20]) the Library has had a right to a copy of every book published in the United Kingdom, and receives about 300 literary items (books, pamphlets, sheets of music, etc.) a day. But every foreign book and periodical has to be purchased, and though much has been done, the foreign literature is not fully adequate. All that can be accomplished is to provide, in this department, a large and useful working library. It is in English Literature, in Theology and in Classics that the Bodleian can be justly called firstrate.

The number of Incunabula is about 5600,[27] of which the Caxtons are sixty. Space only allows in this place a mention of such out of the collections of printed books as have a distinctive character and are still kept together, with a few other notes.

Ashmole (English antiquities, heraldry, astrology).

Dissertations.

Douce (English literature).

Georgian (Georgian language and literature: the Wardrop Collection).

Gough (British topography).

Hope (old periodicals).

Linc. (i.e. Bp. Barlow’s books, seventeenth century).

Malone (English dramatic literature, including a large set of folios and quartos of Shakespeare’s works).

Nichols Newspapers (1672-1737, bound in one long chronological order).

Pamphlets (with a long English series in chronological order). Oxford 15th cent. press.

Parliamentary Bluebooks.

Rawlinson (miscellaneous seventeenth and eighteenth century literature).

Selden (British history).

Tanner (English literature).

Tractatus Lutherani (the Reformation in Germany).

Among rarities other than Incunabula may be mentioned as specimens:—

Nine blockbooks.

The only copy of the first edition of Shakespeare’s first publication, 1593 (see p. [32]).

Two collections of early sixteenth century English romances, all rare, some unique (S. Selden, d. 45 and 4ᵒ L. 71 Art.)

The original Bodleian First Folio of Shakespeare, 1623 (see p. [46]).

The only copy of the Bay Psalm-book (1640) outside the United States, which possess nine copies only.

Lord Kingsborough’s Antiquities of Mexico, on vellum, 1831-48, 7 atlas folio volumes.

Pictures and Coins

During the seventeenth century the Bodleian became, very naturally, the depository of other things than books. It was an eminently safe place for the deposit of both artistic and numismatical collections, as well as for curiosities of every kind. The Ashmolean Museum, opened in 1683, was the first public museum in Great Britain, and was full of similar objects intended to promote the study of natural history, anthropology (as we now call it) and science; and from about 1750 it diverted to itself the streams of donation in those kinds. But throughout the eighteenth century pictures and coins flowed into the Bodleian, where the ample Picture Gallery, provided by the forethought of the Founder, was able to house them all. The coin collection began with a large gift from Archbishop Laud in 1636, and Freke, Rawlinson, Brown Willis, Ingram and many others augmented it, till it has now reached about 60,000 pieces, and is ready for transference to its proper place, the New Ashmolean. The pictures also which were primarily of artistic value have been within the last thirty years for the most part transferred to the New Ashmolean, and the ceremonial ones (Chancellors in their robes, royal personages and the like) are in the New Examination Schools, leaving still a large number which are of historical, literary or Bodleian interest to adorn the Picture Gallery. All are described fully in Mrs. Poole’s Catalogue of Portraits in Oxford, vol. i (1912).

CHAPTER VI
METHODS AND MATERIALS OF MODERN STUDY

Man lives in the present, for the future, but emphatically by the past. He cannot possibly understand what he sees (whether in politics, theology, literature or science), without realizing how it came to be. If he attempts to avoid this necessary study of the past, or affects to despise it, he is beaten in the race of life by those who are wiser than himself. Every characteristic of a living person or nation, the stock of ideas and ideals by which they live, their very habits and daily life, all have roots deep in the past. If this truth is grasped—and it is not less true because it can be clearly and shortly stated—libraries are seen at once to be a necessary adjunct to all education and all civilization. Carlyle saw this when he wrote with characteristic exaggeration that the Modern University is a Library of Books.

But, as is pointed out at p. [10] above, there are libraries and libraries. However valuable elementary and circulating and private libraries may be (and they are the necessary lower rungs of the ladder of progress), it is for the great Libraries of Deposit that the educated student reserves his time, his energies and his admiration. The certainty of finding all, or nearly all, the authorities on his subject, and of finding them at hand, is his delight. If he further discovers a large store of manuscripts from which new information may be drawn, or old texts improved, his pleasure amounts to enthusiasm.

The Bodleian, it is submitted, satisfies these conditions of contentment, and is, and always will be, both for British and foreign students of theology, history, literature or science, a potent element in post-graduate education at Oxford. That it is not fully used, is true; and that it needs much more help before it can exercise its proper functions, is also true. But it has been greatly aided and stimulated by three centuries of goodwill, energy and benefaction; and it does what it can, both in giving free access to all who are properly recommended to it, and in providing catalogues and indexes for their use; it is only the lack of adequate endowment which prevents it from greatly increasing its utility and influence.

There are several departments of study in which the Library is able to furnish ample manuscript materials for original research. Among them may be mentioned especially Theology, Classics, English history and English literature, the local history of the British Isles (especially of Oxford and its neighbourhood), and Oriental literature (especially Hebrew, Sanskrit, Arabic and Chinese). To these may be added Music, old Irish literature and Liturgies without exhausting the list of specialities. The printed collections are rich in English books of all dates (especially Bibles and Theology), in Classics, Historical books of reference, and old literature of various kinds.

Much has been written lately about the pitfalls which await the historical researcher, whether he attempts to interpret the documents of a past age or to enter into its ideas. This is not the place for an enumeration of these difficulties, but they are well summarized (with a short bibliography) in C. G. Crump’s Logic of History (Helps for Students of History, No. 6: 1919; price 8d.). Classical students are at no loss for guides,[28] and it is open to all others simply to take a book or edition of repute, and study its methods, the enumeration of MSS., the grouping of them, and the principles of text-construction and criticism. But at every step they need a large library, and the Bodleian combines the advantages usually only found in a great city with the amenity and surroundings of a country town.

Even in this short manual it may be of practical use to give two actual examples of historical method, applied in one case to prehistoric remains in and the other to elucidation of old and vague chronicles. They are given in the belief that an ounce of practice is worth a hundred-weight of precept.