How to Form a Library, 2nd ed

by Henry B. Wheatley

The Society prospered, and in 1867 an Extra Series was started, in which were included books that had already been printed, but were difficult to obtain from their rarity and price.

One hundred and twenty-six volumes have been issued between 1864 and 1884, eighty-two volumes of the Original Series and forty-four of the Extra Series, and there can be no doubt that the publications of the Society have had an immense influence in fostering the study of the English language. The prefaces and glossaries given with each work contain an amount of valuable information not elsewhere to be obtained.

These books throw light upon the growth of the language, and place within the reach of a large number of readers works of great interest in the literature of the country. The greatest work undertaken by the Society is the remarkable edition of "William's Vision of Piers the Plowman," which Prof. Skeat has produced with an expenditure of great labour during nearly twenty years. The last part, containing elaborate notes and glossary, was issued in 1884.

The subjects treated of are very various. There is a fair sprinkling of Romances, which will always be amongst the most interesting of a Society's publications. Manners and Customs are largely illustrated in a fair proportion of the Texts, as also are questions of Social and Political History. Perhaps the least interesting to the general reader are the Theological Texts, which are numerous, but the writers of these were thoroughly imbued with the spirit of their times, and although they are apt to be prosy, they are pretty sure to introduce some quaint bits which compensate for a considerable amount of dulness. These books help us to form a correct idea of the beliefs of our forefathers, and to disabuse our minds of many mistaken views which we have learnt from more popular but less accurate sources.

The Ballad Society grew out of the publication, by special subscription, of Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscript, edited by F.J. Furnivall and J.W. Hales. This was issued in connection with the Early English Text Society (but not as one of its Texts), through the energy of Mr. Furnivall, who had many difficulties to overcome before he was able to get permission to print the manuscript, which had been very faithfully guarded from the eyes of critics. He had to pay for the privilege, and in the end the old volume was sold to the nation, and it now reposes among the treasures of the British Museum. When this useful work was completed, Mr. Furnivall was anxious to follow it by a reprint of all the known collections of Ballads, such as the Roxburghe, Bagford, Rawlinson, Douce, etc., and for this purpose he started the Ballad Society in 1868. He himself edited some particularly interesting "Ballads from Manuscripts," and an elaborate account of Captain Cox's Ballads and Books in a new edition of Robert Laneham's Letter on the Entertainment at Kenilworth in 1575. The veteran Ballad illustrator, Mr. William Chappell, undertook to edit the "Roxburghe Ballads," and produced nine parts, when the Rev. J.W. Ebsworth took the work off his hands. Mr. Ebsworth had previously reproduced the "Bagford Ballads," and he is now the editor-in-chief of the Society. The following is a short list of the publications of the Society: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 10, "Ballads from Manuscripts"; Nos. 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 18, 19. "The Roxburghe Ballads," edited by Wm. Chappell; No. 7, "Captain Cox, his Ballads and Books"; No. 11, "Love Poems and Humourous Ones"; Nos. 14, 15, 16, 17, "The Bagford Ballads." No. 20, "The Amanda Group of Bagford Ballads;" Nos. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, "The Roxburghe Ballads," edited by the Rev. J.W. Ebsworth. No. 26 completes the fifth volume of the "Roxburghe Ballads." There are two more volumes to come, and then Mr. Ebsworth will undertake "The Civil War and Protectorate Ballads." Much of the work on these volumes is done, and they only await an increase in the subscription list. It is to be hoped that when the good work done by the Ballad Society is better known, the editor will not be kept back in his useful course by the want of funds for printing. Mr. Ebsworth's thorough work is too well known to need praise here, but it may be noted that his volumes contain a remarkable amount of illustration of the manners of the time not to be obtained elsewhere. The value of this is the more apparent by the system of arrangement in marked periods which the editor has adopted.

The Chaucer Society was founded in 1868 by Mr. Furnivall, "to do honour to Chaucer, and to let the lovers and students of him see how far the best unprinted Manuscripts of his Works differed from the printed texts." For the Canterbury Tales, Mr. Furnivall has printed the six best unprinted MSS. in two forms—(1) in large oblong parts, giving the parallel texts; (2) in octavo, each text separately. The six manuscripts chosen are—The Ellesmere; The Lansdowne (Brit. Mus.); The Hengwrt; The Corpus, Oxford; The Cambridge (University Library); The Petworth. Dr. Furnivall has now added Harleian 7334 to complete the series. The Society's publications are issued in two series, of which the first contains the different Texts of Chaucer's Works, and the second such originals of and essays on these as can be procured, with other illustrative treatises and Supplementary Tales.

The Spenser Society was founded at Manchester in 1867 for the publication of well-printed editions of old English authors in limited numbers. The chief publication issued to subscribers was a reprint, in three volumes folio, of the works of John Taylor, the Water-poet, from the original folio. The other publications are in small quarto, and among them are the works of John Taylor not included in the folio, the works of Wither, etc.

The Roxburghe Library was a subscription series, commenced by Mr. W. Carew Hazlitt in 1868, with the same objects as a publishing society. It was discontinued in 1870. The following is a list of the publications:—"Romance of Paris and Vienne"; "William Browne's Complete Works," 2 vols.; "Inedited Tracts of the 16th and 17th Centuries (1579-1618)"; "The English Drama and Stage under the Tudor and Stuart Princes, 1543-1664"; "George Gascoigne's Complete Poems," 2 vols.; "Thomas Carew's Poems."

The Harleian Society was founded in 1869. Their chief publication has been the late Colonel Chester's magnificently edited Registers of Westminster Abbey. Other Registers published are those of St. Peter's, Cornhill; St. Dionis Backchurch; St. Mary Aldermary; St. Thomas the Apostle; St. Michael, Cornhill; St. Antholin, Budge Lane; and St. John the Baptist, on Wallbrook. Of the other publications there are Visitations of Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumberland, Devon, Essex, Leicestershire, London 1568, 1633, Nottingham, Oxford, Rutland, Somersetshire, Warwickshire, and Yorkshire, and Le Neve's Catalogue of Knights.

The Hunterian Club was founded at Glasgow in 1871, and named after the Hunterian Library in the University. Among the publications of the Club are a Series of Tracts by Thomas Lodge and Samuel Rowlands; the Poetical Works of Alexander Craig; Poetical Works of Patrick Hannay; Sir T. Overburie's Vision by Richard Niccols, 1616. The printing of the famous Bannatyne Manuscript, compiled by George Bannatyne, 1568, was commenced by the Society in 1873, and the seventh part, which completed this invaluable collection of Scottish Poetry, was issued in 1881.