The magnificent series of historical prints and drawings which is called, from the name of its collectors and its donor, the Sutherland collection, was presented to the University on May 4 in this year, although it was not actually deposited in the Library until March, 1839[330]. The six volumes of the folio editions of Clarendon's History of the Rebellion and Life, and of Burnet's Own Times, are inlaid and bound in sixty-one elephant folio volumes,
and illustrated with the enormous number of 19,224 portraits of every person and views of every place in any way mentioned in the text, or connected with its subject-matter[331]. The gathering was commenced in 1795 by Alexander Hendras Sutherland, Esq., F.S.A.; on his death (May 21, 1820) it was taken up by his widow[332], who spared neither labour nor money to render it as complete as possible, and by whom its contents were, consequently, nearly doubled. At length, desiring, in accordance with her husband's will, that the results of her own and his labour should be always preserved intact, Mrs. Sutherland presented the whole collection to the Bodleian. Its extent may be in some degree appreciated when it is mentioned that there are (according to Mrs. Sutherland's statement in the preface to the Supplementary Catalogue) 184 portraits of James I, of which 135 are distinct plates; 743 of Charles I, of which 573 are distinct plates, besides sixteen drawings; 373 of Cromwell (253 plates); 552 of Charles II (428 plates); 276 of James II; 175 of Mary II (143 plates); and 431 of William III, of which 363 are separate plates[333]. There are also 309 views of London and 166 of Westminster. Amongst those of London is a drawing on many sheets, by a Dutch artist, Antonio van den Wyngaerde, executed between 1558-1563. It affords a view which extends from the Palace at Westminster to that at Greenwich, both included; and comprehends also Lambeth Palace and part of Southwark, with the palace
there of the Protector Somerset, in which the Mint was situated. The whole amount expended on the formation of the series is estimated at £20,000.
The collection is accompanied by a handsomely printed Catalogue, compiled by Mrs. Sutherland, and published in 1837 in three volumes quarto, two containing the portraits, and one the topography[334]. A Supplement to this was printed in the following year, in the preface to which Mrs. Sutherland records her transfer of the collection. She adds that 'the University of Oxford, by the manner in which it has received the collection, has afforded her the high gratification of witnessing the fulfilment, in their utmost extent, of the wishes of its founder; and in the liberal step which its future conservators have taken, to insure a direct and easy means of reference to the prints, she finds proof of their intention to comply with her own earnest desire, that the books should be as freely open to those really interested in them as may be consistent with their safe preservation. Under the superintendence of the compiler, but at the expense of the University, a copy of the Catalogue has been prepared, in which every print is marked with the page which it respectively fills in the volumes; by means of this, every difficulty of reference, and every doubt as to the print intended to be described, is obviated, and the manuscript indices will be preserved from the injury of constant use. In order to prevent the possibility of disappointment in referring from this marked catalogue, every print (with four exceptions only) of which the page has not been ascertained, has been struck out, although probably several of the portraits not at present
found are still in the volumes.' The following letter of thanks was addressed by Convocation to the donor[335]:—
'To Mrs. Sutherland, of Merrow, in the County of Surrey.
'Madam,—We, the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford, feel ourselves called upon to acknowledge, in a public and formal manner, the splendid donation recently made by you to our Bodleian Library.
'It is doubtless a source of much gratification to us that our University should have been selected by you as the fittest depository of so valuable a collection; but we are not, on that account, less disposed to appreciate and admire the feeling which has led you to make so considerable a sacrifice, and to relinquish the possession of what has been to you, for many years, an object of constant interest and occupation.
'We shall prize the matchless volumes about to be committed to our care, not merely as being embellished with the richest specimens of the graphic art, but as possessing a real historical character; as enhancing, in no slight degree, the value of works which we have long been accustomed to regard as most important contributions to the annals and literature of our Country.
'Given at our House of Convocation, under our Common Seal, this first day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven[336].'