The Library was under the care of William Sayer, the Librarian of the “Public Library,” from 1801 to 1805, when it was committed to the custody of the Steward. The Library was again entrusted to the “Public Library” in 1815, and came under the care of its librarian Richard Langton, until 1833, when he was succeeded by Edward Langton, who retained the office until the Library was housed at the Free Library in 1862. Henceforth the books came under the charge of the
following Librarians to the Corporation for the periods stated: Mr. George Harper, 1862-76, Mr. George Easter, 1877-1900, Mr. J. Geo. Tennant, 1901-11, and Mr. Geo. A. Stephen, 1911-.
DONATION BOOK AND CATALOGUES.
The first reference in the Minute Book to a catalogue is under date 8th June, 1657: “The library keeper this day brought in catalogues of the books wch were affixed. Sixpence was ordered to bee given to a boy for pasting up the Catalogues.” It may perhaps be assumed that these catalogues were written lists which were displayed in the Library.
At the meeting on Jan. 11th, 1657, an order was given for “a book consisting of 3 qrs of thick venice paper, to be bound up to make a book to contain Catalogues of the bookes in the library,” and “Mr. Collinges was desired to keep the office of library keeper untill the aforesaid book be bought and the Catalogues made.”
On Dec. 13th, 1658 “The library keeper brought in a paper book ruled containing a Classicall and an alphabetical catalogue of all ye bookes in the library” . . . “He further informed them that hee had laid out 3s for paper and 4s. for ye ruling & binding ye said book, in all 7s wch is more then he received 2s 10d. That he had procured 2 catalogues to be wrote in it fairly, that for ye catalogue of Comentators it was begun & should before ye next meeting be pfected by his own hand.” This book has fortunately been preserved, and is in good state. It is a folio volume, measuring 13½ by 9½ inches, and is in three sections. The first section is a classified catalogue of the books on the east side of the Library, which were arranged in two groups of sizes, (1) Folio, divided into ten classes, and (2) Quarto and Octavo, divided into four classes. At first an attempt was made to classify the books according to subjects, the classification of the folios being I Bibles; II and III Old Commentaries, etc.; IVa Theology, IVb History; V Canon Law; VI The Fathers; VII Lexicons, Dictionaries, etc.; VIII Reformation Commentaries; IX Ecclesiastical History; X Miscellaneous. The four classes in the quarto and octavo section were not grouped according to subjects. A heading was started in
the catalogue for a classification of the books on the west side, but that part of the work was not done. The second section is an author catalogue of the books with two columns, the numbers in the first column denoting the class and those in the second the book. The third section of the catalogue, ruled in double columns, has a heading in Latin, to this effect: “Catalogue of the authors whose books are to be found in the Library of Norwich, who either illustrated the whole book of Sacred Scripture or any part of it with their most illuminating annotations or commentaries. The column towards the left indicates the authors who have written on the whole Book, the other indicates those who have written on any part of it.” Following the names of the authors are the class and book numbers.
At the meeting on July 11th, 1659, “The library keep brought in a Catalogue of the bookes & Benefactors names fairly written in a parchment booke; For the wrighting wherof hee pd to the cleark 7s; For the repaymt of wch monye it was aggreed every minister should pay viijd: wch monye was paid by as many as were then present.” This catalogue or “Donation Book” is a folio volume measuring 14 3/4 by 9½ inches, and is bound in rough calf, with three small brass clasps. Later, in the Minute Book it is generally referred to as the Vellum Book. In it are entered in chronological order the names of the donors, the date of each gift, brief author and title entries of the books, and frequently their date and place of publication. The entries are all very clearly written, from the date of the first donation in 1608, the year of inauguration, to 1737. Facsimiles of the title-page, with the initials “J.S.” in the lower corners, and two typical pages face this page. The lettering of these pages is characteristic of the period, and shows the decadence of the art of manuscript writing.
In the “Extracts from the Court Books of the City of Norwich, 1666-1688,” edited by Mr. Walter Rye, there is one on Jan. 15, 1669, stating that “Mr. Thos. Morly, clerk, keeper of the Library of the City, brought in a catalogue of all the books there,” but there is no reference to this in the Library Minute Book. On January 12th, 1673, however, the ministers “did appoynt yt Mr Norgate should agt their next meeting bring in a Catalogue of the Bookes to be dd to the Court and yt he