The second event of 1605 was the issue of the first printed Catalogue of the printed books and MSS. The three Catalogues issued in the seventeenth century (1605, 1620, 1674) were all pioneers in bibliography, and the fifth (1843-51) marks the end of the long period during which the Bodleian was the largest library in the British Empire. Of the first, Bodley writes that “the general Conceit, as well of other Nations as of our own at home, of the Library-store, is so great, that they imagine in a manner, there is nothing wanting in it.” Yet in the Arts section, which includes Literature and History, there are only thirty-six books in the English language. The Library was intended for scholars and students, and it is to be feared that Bodley included nearly all English books among the “Baggage Books” and “Riff Raff” which were excluded. So keen, however, was Bodley that nothing should escape him which was worth having, that he wrote in 1607, “You shall never see that any good Books shall be lost for want of buying, though I find no Contributors: albeit you need not doubt, but I shall always find sufficient money.” The books are arranged in the Catalogue in the order in which they stood on the shelves, divided into the Faculties of Theology, Medicine, Law, Arts, and further subdivided according to the first letter of the author’s name (Th. A-Z, Med. A-Z, etc.), but there is an alphabetical index of authors. James also planned (and partly executed) a series of Subject Catalogues, and proposed what would now be called an Undergraduates’ library, but the latter received scant encouragement from the Founder. The spirit in which he worked is well expressed by his entry on an interesting occasion in an Album Amicorum of Frederick Kemener, “Non quæro quod mihi vtile est sed quod multis. Amoris ergo scripsit Tho: James primus Bibliothecarius eodem die quo primo Bibliotheca patuit studentibus viz. Anno 1602. Die Nouembris 8ᵒ.”
Stationers’ Company’s Agreement.
The outstanding occurrence in the later years of the Founder’s life was undoubtedly the Agreement with the Stationers’ Company (that is to say the whole body of licensed printers and publishers in Great Britain) by which one copy of every book issued by a member of the Company was sent to the Bodleian, gratis. The date of the Agreement is December 12, 1610 (the Company) and February 22, 1611 (Congregation), and far-reaching were its effects. The idea was suggested to Bodley by his Librarian, and there were many “Rubs and Delays.” The advantage to the publishers was that whenever an edition ran out of print, there would always be a “perfect copy” available for reprint or amendment, and the presentation of a piece of plate worth £50 settled their remaining scruples. The first book which came in under the Agreement was Thomas Man’s Christian Religion substantially ... treatised (London, pr. by Felix Kingston for Thomas Man, 1611) sent by John Man, Master of the Company, and bearing a note in Bodley’s own hand. The Library has never lost this privilege—which is long antecedent to, and independent of, the Copyright Acts. The grant was confirmed by an Order of Star-Chamber on July 11, 1637. The first similar grant by Parliament was made, no doubt on grounds of public utility, to the Bodleian and a few other libraries in 1662, and the first Copyright Act, recognizing the Bodleian right and granting it to eight other libraries, was in 1709. The latest is dated 1912.
Early Constitution.
By the time of the Founder’s death (January 28, 1613) the Library had a set of Statutes (1610) and a settled constitution, the Librarian having an Under-keeper and a Janitor under him, and being himself under eight Curators, who could call him to account for remissness or misconduct, but left him very large powers in matters of detail. The Library was open on all weekdays from 8 to 11 a.m., except when there was a University Sermon or other service, and in the afternoons from 2-5 from Easter to Michaelmas, or 1-4 from Michaelmas to Easter. All Doctors, Masters and Bachelors could claim the right of reading, except that Bachelors of Arts must be of two years standing. All others had to take an oath at entry, and if not benefactors or highborn, and especially if foreigners, had to obtain a decree in their favour in Congregation. Lending out books was absolutely forbidden.
First Extension.
Bodley had seen the first extension of his Library when the “Arts End” (see [frontispiece]) was built in 1610-12. All the Arts books were there placed, allowing the older part to retain the books of the three superior Faculties of Theology, Medicine and Jurisprudence. But shortly before his death the University had formed a plan of building the “Schools Quadrangle,” or rather three sides, which together with the Arts End would form a quadrangle, and Bodley in his Will (January 2, 1613) wrote “for as much as the perpetuall preseruation, support & maintenance of the Publique Librarie ... dothe greatly surpasse all my other worldly cares, and because I doe foresee that in proces of time there must of necessitie be very great want of ... stowage for Bookes,” he provides for a second-floor room to over-top the two stories needed for the Lecture Rooms or Schools of the University, and to form a reserve of space for an overflow of books. This was completed in 1618. The accounts for August 1613, to July 1614, the first complete year since Bodley’s death, show an income of £137 from property, and expenditure of £110 (stipends £51, establishment £6, purchase of books £13, binding £14, miscellaneous £24).
Benefactions.
We need not be surprised that with such a founder and such a building and administration, the Bodleian gathered treasures within its walls from its earliest days. Of these a few may be mentioned. The great Registrum Benefactorum instituted by Bodley begins in 1600, two years before the opening of the Library, showing how keen was the spirit he stirred up among his friends, but no gifts of single volumes are recorded. Accordingly we can only conjecture that the Founder himself gave the fine MS. French Romance of Alexander, with the Travels of Marco Polo, which was certainly received before 1605 (S.C. 2464). It is notable for the illuminations, including a remarkable view of Venice in the fourteenth century, and for the numerous marginal pictures of customs, trades and amusements (perhaps English). In 1601 in the Thomas Allen donation came “the patriarch of all Welsh books known,” written in 820 (S.C. 2176). In another part of the same volume is a contemporary portrait of St. Dunstan (d. 988), who owned that part. In the following year the Dean and Chapter of Exeter gave eighty-one Latin MSS., one of which is the famous Leofric Missal (S.C. 2675), one of the very few Missals known to have been used in a pre-Conquest English Church, in this case Exeter Cathedral. It is striking, and touching, that Sir Robert Cotton, who was forming his own great collection, now represented by the Cottonian Collection in the British Museum, was a firm friend of his rival collector and presented to his friend’s new Library, in 1603, eleven MSS. of value, including Latin Gospels, perhaps of the seventh century (S.C. 2698). In 1605 the Librarian was able to say that the Library contained books in thirty or more languages, and that it was already frequented by foreigners (Italian, French, German, Polish, Swedish and other), and Bacon calls it “an ark to save learning from deluge.” The Oriental literature may be regarded as beginning in this year with the donation and purchase of Chinese books. The Dean and Chapter of Windsor imitated their brethren of Exeter in 1612, by sending sixty-seven volumes of MSS., chiefly theological.