At the sale of the books of the poet Gray, by Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson, on Aug. 28, his copies of Clarendon and of Burnet's Own Times (vol. i.), with many MSS. notes written by him in the margins, were bought for £49 10s. and £2 18s. respectively[348]. Perfect specimens of facsimiles, which would defy detection, were obtained for the completion of the Library copy of
Coverdale's Bible; being pen-and-ink copies of the title, from Lord Leicester's copy, and of the map of Palestine, from Lord Jersey's copy, executed with admirable skill by the late well-known facsimilist, Mr. J. Harris.
A Supplemental Catalogue of the printed books, comprehending all the accessions which had been made during the years 1835-1847, was published in this year, in one folio volume, under the editorship of the Rev. Alfred Hackman, M.A., by whom the greater part of the earlier Catalogue had been compiled, as mentioned at p. 268.
On March 27, Convocation voted an addition of £50 per annum to the stipends of the Sub-librarians.
Recovery of Pococke MS. 32. See p. [81].
Malone's Correspondence. See p. [232].
[348] The Clarendon had been previously sold at an auction on Nov. 29, 1845, by Messrs. Evans, with various other books which had belonged to Gray.
A.D. 1852.
In the Report of the University Commission, which was issued in this year, various suggestions were embodied which had been made by several witnesses. Sir Edmund Head renewed his plan of allowing books to be taken out of the Library by readers, and was supported by the opinions of Professors Wall and Jowett; but the proposal was met with the strong counter-testimony of Mr. H. E. Strickland[349], Prof. Vaughan, Dr. W. A. Greenhill (at that time a constant reader in the Library), Prof. Donkin, Mr. E. S. Foulkes, and others. And the Commissioners were
not prepared to report in favour of a plan which would at once lessen what was described as being one of the great advantages of the place, namely, the certainty of finding within its walls every book which it possessed. At the same time, they were disposed to recommend a relaxation in some instances of the strictness of the rule, and concurred in a suggestion made by Dr. Macbride and Mr. Storey Maskelyne, that duplicates should be allowed to circulate. Most, however, of the suggestions for extension of facilities to readers, as well as of the reasons alleged for alteration of system, have now been answered by the opening (through the liberality of the Radcliffe Trustees) of the Radcliffe Library as a noble reading-room for both day and evening. As the hours during which the Library may be used extend now, in consequence of this addition, from nine a.m. to ten p.m., it is at once apparent that the Bodleian presents greater advantages to students than can anywhere else be enjoyed; to which is to be added the readiness and quickness (specially testified to, in 1852, by Dr. Greenhill) with which, under all ordinary circumstances, readers are supplied with the books which they require. The Commissioners in their Report called attention to a suggestion of Sir Henry Bishop, then Professor of Music, for the establishment of a classified musical library, which should comprehend, not merely the music received by the Bodleian from Stationers' Hall, but all superior foreign music as well, of every school and every age. Such collections the Professor said were only to be found at Munich and Vienna.