TRANSLATION OF THE PHILOBIBLON.
L.S. (Vol. ii, p. 153.) inquires for a "translation of Robert de Bury's Philobiblon." An English version of this famous treatise by Richard, not Robert Aungerville (see, for the surname, Pits, p. 467.) de Bury, Bishop of Durham in 1333, was published by Mr. Rodd in the year 1832. The translator has not given his name, but he was Mr. John Bellingham Inglis, formerly a partner in the house of Inglis, Ellis, and Co. It is greatly to be desired that there should be a careful reprint of this most interesting work, and that the first edition of 1473 should be collated with MSS. The translation by Mr. Inglis might be revised, and made to accompany the Latin text. Let us hope, however, that his notes, if they be permitted again to appear, may be purified from scepticism and profaneness.
The claim of Holcot to be the author of this tract, should be well considered and decided upon; and the errors of the learned Fabricius (who had a manuscript copy in which the writer was styled "Muiegervile", instead of Aungerville), which have been repeated by Mansi, should be corrected. Dr. James, the first Bodleian librarian, fell into a strange mistake when he imagined that his inaccurate reprint at Oxford, in 1599, was the second edition of this treatise. It was in reality the fourth, having been preceded by the impressions, Colon. 1473; Spiræ, 1483; and Paris, 1500. So far as I remember, the editio princeps has not been specified by Gough. (Brit. Topog. ii. 121.)
R.G.
I find I can answer the Query of L.S. (Vol. ii., p. l53.), who asks, "Where can I procure a translation of Robert de Bury's Philobiblon?"
A translation was published by Mr. Rodd, in 1832, of which the following is the title:—
"Philobiblon: a Treatise on the Love of Books, by Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham, written in MCCCXLIV; and translated from the first Edition, MCCCCLXXIII, with some Collations. London: Printed for Thomas Rodd, 2 Great Newport Street, Leicester Square, 1832."
This translation is a small 8vo. volume, of which there is a copy in the Douce collection in the Bodleian; at the beginning of which copy, on a fly-leaf, the words, "J.B. Inglis to his friend F. Douce, Esq.," are written; and opposite, on the inside of the cover, there is written in pencil, apparently in Douce's own hand, "I had read the MS. of this work before it was printed."
There appears to have existed some difference of opinion with respect to the authorship of the Philobiblon. Leland, in his Itinerary, ed. 8vo. Oxford 1744, vol. iii. pp. 77, 78, sub loc. Saresbyri, says,—
"Ex tabella in Sacello S. Mariæ. Orate pro anima Ricbardi Poure, quondam Sarum Episcopi." ...
"Qui quidem Richardus Episcopus postea translatus fuit ad Episcopatum Dunelmensem ... Incipit Prologus in Philobiblon Richardi Dunelmensis Episcopi, quem librum compilavit Robertus Holcot de Ord. Prædicatorum sub nomine dicti Episcopi."
Still, however, in the appendix to vol. iv. of the Itinerary, p. 164., it is said:—
"Richardus de Bury, alias Angravyle dictus, episc. Dunelm., scripsit Philobiblon."
Upon Leland's authority, the Bodleian catalogue ascribes the work in question to Robertus Holcot. Watt, however (Bibl. Brit.), seems to imagine R. de Bury and Holcot to be the same person. His words are (vol. i. c. 176 ):—"Bury, Richard. Dunelm., alias Robertus Holcot, Bishop of Durham, and Chancellor and Treasurer of England, in the reign of Edward III.;" and again, under Holcot's name, "Holcot, Robert, or Richard D. Bury."
The translator (J.B. Inglis) distinguishes in his Preface between these contemporary writers, and considers R. de Bury to be the undoubted author of this work passing under his name. In corroboration of his opinion, Mr. Inglis refers to the Biographical and Retrospective Miscellany; and, in order to prove that the work was finished in the author's lifetime, he produces the words:
"Quod opus (Philobiblon) Aucklandiæ in habitatione sua complevit, 24 die Januarii, anno a communis salutis origine 1344, ætatis suæ 58, et 11 suæ pontificatus."
and then adds:
"He died 14 April, 1345. Holcot died in 1349."
There appears to be some confusion about the editions, also, of the Philobiblon. There is an edition, 4to. Par., apud Gaspar. Philippum, 1500; also edit. secund. 4to. Oxoniæ, 1598; and it is printed in the Philolog. Epist. ex Bibl. Melch. Goldasti, ed. Lipsiæ, 1674. But prior to all these is the edition "printed at Cologne, 1473," from which the translation is made, and which is described by Watt as "the editio princeps, and a work of uncommon rarity."
Query. Why does the Oxford edition of 1598 call itself "editio secundo?" If the Paris edit. of 1500 so far differ from that of 1473 as to entitle it to be considered a different work, had the second MS. passed through Holcot's hands?
J. SANSOM.
The translation of Richard de Bury's Philobiblon, by Mr. Inglis, printed in 1832 for the late Mr. Rodd, is an unsatisfactory performance. The version is bald and spiritless, and some of the best passages of the original are rendered in language that does no justice to the author's meaning. His style is so peculiar, so allusive, and so full of metaphor and quotation, and the work is luminous with "the sparks of so many sciences," that a good translation is a desideratum.
I may inform your correspondent that one has lately been prepared and is announced for publication, with a memoir of the illustrious bishop. I may add that the Philobiblon has been six times printed: the last edition, if I remember rightly, was by Dr. James: but some old MS. copies of this remarkable treatise on the Love of Books exist, with some of which the text used by the translator should be collated. But, of the publication announced, it would not become me to say anything more, as the biographer is
Your faithful servant,
W.S.G.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne.