This Old Royal Library, although, as above mentioned, it still contains fragments of the more ancient Collection of the Kings of England—and among them books which undoubtedly belonged to King Henry the Sixth, if not to earlier Plantagenet kings—may fairly be regarded as of Prince Henry’s foundation in the main. Lord Lumley’s Library (which the Prince bought in bulk) contained that of his father-in-law, Henry Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, into which had passed a part of Archbishop Cranmer’s Library. But this conjoined Collection has not wholly passed to the British Museum. It suffered some losses after Prince Henry’s death. On the other hand, it had acquired the collection of MSS. formed by the Theyers (John and Charles), in which was included another part of the Library of Cranmer; as I shall shew hereafter.
[See Book I, Chapter 3.]
(II)
1759. Hebrew Library (Printed and Manuscript) of Da Costa.
Collected by Solomon Da Costa, formerly of Amsterdam, and chiefly between the years 1720 and 1727; Given by the Collector, in 1759, to the Trustees of the British Museum ‘for inspection and service of the Public, as a small token of my esteem, reverence, love, and gratitude to this magnanimous Nation, and as a thanksgiving offering ... for numberless blessings which I have enjoyed under it.’ (From Da Costa’s Letter to the Trustees.)
A collection, small in extent, but of great intrinsic worth; and very memorable, both as the generous gift of a good man; and as instancing the co-operation (at the very outset) of the love of learning in a foreigner—and a Jew—with a like love in Britons, for a common object; national, indeed, but also much more than national.
(III)
1762. The Thomason Collection of English Books and Tracts, Printed and Manuscript.
Collected by George Thomason (Died 1666); Purchased by King George the Third, in 1762, for presentation to the British Museum.
This Collection—the interest of which is specially but by no means exclusively political and historical—was formed between the years 1641 and 1663 inclusive, and it contains everything printed in England during the whole of that period which a man of great enterprise and energy could bring together by daily watchfulness and large outlay. It also contains many publications, and many private impressions, from printing-presses in Scotland, Ireland, and the Continent of Europe, relating to or illustrating the affairs of the United Kingdom and of the Commonwealth. In his lifetime, the Collector refused £4000 for his library, as insufficient to reimburse his costs, charges, and labour. His heirs and their assigns kept it for a century and then sold it to King George III for £300. It includes many political MSS., which no printer dared to put to press.