English Book Collectors Part 6

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-STAMP OF SIR SYMONDS D'EWES, BART.]

D'Ewes possessed a very fine collection of ma.n.u.scripts, which were sold by his grandson to Sir Robert Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford, notwithstanding the injunction of D'Ewes, in his will, that his library should not be sold or dispersed. Oldys states that Harley recommended Queen Anne to purchase the ma.n.u.scripts for a public library, as the richest collection in England next to Sir Robert Cotton's, but that the Queen said, 'It was no virtue for her, a woman, to prefer as she did arts to arms; but while the blood and honour of the nation was at stake in her wars, she could not, till she had secured her living subjects an honourable peace, bestow their money on dead letters.' 'Whereupon,' adds Oldys, 'the Earl stretched his own purse, and gave six thousand pounds for the library.' The ma.n.u.scripts, together with a list of them, which is believed to have been made by D'Ewes himself, now form part of the Harleian Collection in the British Museum. The ma.n.u.script of an Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, compiled by D'Ewes in conjunction with Francis Junius, and several of his diaries are also preserved there. His great work was the _Journals of all the Parliaments during the reign of Queen Elizabeth_, which was not published until 1682.

SIR KENELM DIGBY, 1603-1665

The celebrated scholar and collector, Sir Kenelm Digby, was born at Gayhurst, near Newport Pagnell, Buckinghams.h.i.+re, in 1603. He was the son of Sir Everard Digby, who was executed in 1606 for the part he took in the Gunpowder Plot. Sir Kenelm, who was the author of several remarkable works, is described by Lord Clarendon as a man of 'very extraordinary person and presence, with a wonderful graceful behaviour and a flowing courtesy and civility.' He was knighted in 1623. Digby possessed a very fine library, which he formed during his residence in Paris, and he had many of the volumes bound there by Le Gascon and other eminent binders.

An earlier library which he collected is said to have been burnt by the Roundheads during the Civil War.[46] When he died in 1665, his library, which was still in France, was claimed as the property of the French king, by virtue of the _droit d'aubaine_, and it is said to have been purchased for ten thousand crowns by the Earl of Bristol, who died in 1676, and whose books, conjointly with those of another collector, were sold in London in April 1680. A priced catalogue of the sale is preserved in the British Museum; and it is stated in it that the books princ.i.p.ally belonged 'to the library of the Right Honourable George, late Earl of Bristol, a great part of which were the Curiosities collected by the learned Sir Kenelme Digby.' It is evident, however, that a considerable number of the volumes which belonged to Digby remained in France, as several are to be found in the Bibliotheque Nationale and other libraries. In a communication to the Library a.s.sociation of the United Kingdom, M. Leopold Delisle, Director of the Bibliotheque Nationale, gives a list of ma.n.u.scripts and printed books in that library, which were formerly the property of the collector. One volume, with a very beautiful binding by Le Gascon, is preserved in the Bibliotheque Mazarine. Sir Kenelm presented to the Bodleian Library a valuable collection of ma.n.u.scripts and printed books which Thomas Allen, his former tutor, had bequeathed to him in 1630. He also gave a considerable number of volumes to the library of Harvard College, Cambridge, Ma.s.s., and the following notice of the gift occurs in the works of Richard Baxter:--

'I proposed,' he writes, 'to have given almost all my library to Cambridge in New England; but Mr. Thomas Knowles, who knew their library, told me that Sir Kenelm Digby had already given them the Fathers, Councils and Schoolmen, and that it was Histories and Commentators which they wanted. Whereupon I sent them some of my Commentators and some Histories, among which were Freherus, Renherus, and Pistorius's collections.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: ONE OF SIR KENELM DIGBY'S BOOK-STAMPS.]

Unfortunately, this first Harvard library was destroyed by fire in 1764.

At that time it contained about six thousand volumes.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 46: See Article on English Book-Sales, 1676-1680, by Mr. A.W.

Pollard, in _Bibliographica_, vol. i. p. 373.]

RALPH SHELDON, 1623-1684

Ralph Sheldon, who was born on the 1st of August 1623, at Beoley in Worcesters.h.i.+re, was the eldest son of William Sheldon of Beoley and Elizabeth, daughter of William, second Lord Petre. He was privately educated, and at the age of nineteen he paid a visit to France and Italy, and resided at Rome for some time, returning home about 1647, after an absence of four years from his native country. Sheldon appears to have been greatly respected, and Nash, in his _Collections for the History of Worcesters.h.i.+re_, says 'he was a person of such rare worth and excellent qualities as deserve particular notice. He was a great patron of learning and learned men, and well skilled in the history and antiquities of his country, sparing no money to set up a standing library at Weston. He was a great friend to Anthony Wood, and left him a legacy of 40. He purchased the valuable MSS. of the ingenious Augustine Vincent, Windsor Herald, and Keeper of the records in the Tower, _temp._ Charles I., which at his death he bequeathed to the Heralds' College, where they are still preserved; and allowed John Vincent his son a yearly pension for many years. He travelled often to Rome, and spent some time there to furnish himself with choice books, coins and medals.

In short, he was of such remarkable integrity, charity and hospitality, as gained him the universal esteem of all the gentlemen of the county; insomuch that he usually went by the name of the Great Sheldon.... And for the sufferings which himself and father had undergone in the civil wars, he was nominated by Charles II. one of the gentlemen of Warwicks.h.i.+re, who were to have received the honour of the Order of the Royal Oak, had it been inst.i.tuted; his estate being then valued at 2000 per annum, the largest of any in the county, except that of the Middlemores of Edgbaston, which was estimated of the same annual value.'

The library formed by Sheldon at his manor-house of Weston in the parish of Long Compton, Warwicks.h.i.+re, was a fine one. Among the printed books was a very curious and probably unique copy of the first folio of Shakespeare (now the property of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts), where the concluding pa.s.sages of _Romeo and Juliet_, and the opening pa.s.sages of _Troilus and Cressida_, are printed twice over at different parts of the volume. This irregularity was discovered by Mr. Sidney Lee, who read a paper on the subject before the Bibliographical Society on March 21, 1898. The library at Weston was dispersed in 1781.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-STAMP OF RALPH SHELDON.]

In commemoration of Sheldon's gifts to Heralds' College, Mr. Ralph Bigland, who was created Blue Mantle in 1757, and died as Garter in 1784, caused a handsome canvas to be painted, on which are emblazoned Sheldon's arms, impaled with those of his wife, accompanied by the following biographical notice:--'To the Memory of Ralph Sheldon of Beoley in the County of Worcester, Esquire, a great Benefactor to this Office. Who died at his Manor-House of Weston in the Parish of Long-Compton, in the County of Warwick, on Midsu[~m]er Day, 1684, aged 61 years wanting 6 weeks: the Day afterwards his Heart and Bowels were buried in Long-Compton Chancel, in a Vault by those of his Father, Mother, Grandfather, etc., and on the 10th of July following, his Body in a Vault by his Ancestors under our Lady's Chapel, Joyning on the North Side to St. Leonard's Church of Beoley: He married Henrietta-Maria, Daughter of Thomas Savage, Viscount Rock-Savage by Elizabeth his wife, Daughter of Thomas, Lord Darcy, of Chich in Ess.e.x, Viscount Colchester and Earl Rivers, but by her had no issue.'

This canvas is still preserved in Heralds' College.

Sheldon compiled _A Catalogue of the n.o.bility of England since the Norman Conquest, according to theire severall Creations by every particular King_, with the arms handsomely emblazoned. This ma.n.u.script came into the possession of Sir Thomas Phillipps, and formed one of the lots at the sale of his collection in June 1893.

DR. FRANCIS BERNARD, 1627-1698

Dr. Francis Bernard was born in 1627. He was a Fellow of the College of Physicians, a.s.sistant-Physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and Physician-in-Ordinary to King James II. He died on the 9th of February 1698, and was buried in the parish church of St. Botolph, London, where his wife erected a monument to his memory.

Dr. Bernard formed a very extensive library, which consisted, 'more especially of that sort of Books which are out of the Common Course, which a Man may make the Business of his Life to collect, and at last not be able to accomplish.'[47] It was very rich in works relating to medicine, and it also contained a considerable number of early English books, among which were about a dozen Caxtons. The collection was sold by auction shortly after Bernard's death. The t.i.tle-page of the sale catalogue reads:--'A Catalogue of the Library of the late learned Dr.

Francis Bernard, Fellow of the College of Physicians, and Physician to S. Bartholomew's Hospital. Being a large Collection of the best Theological, Historical, Philological, Medicinal and Mathematical Authors, in the Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Dutch and English Tongues, in all Volumes, which will be sold by Auction at the Doctor's late Dwelling House in Little Britain; the Sale to begin on Tuesday, Octob. 4, 1698.' A copy of the catalogue, with the prices in ma.n.u.script, is in the British Museum. The sale consisted of nearly fifteen thousand lots and thirty-nine bundles of tracts, which realised nineteen hundred and twenty pounds; the expenses of the sale amounting to three hundred and twenty pounds. The Caxtons sold for a little over two guineas. _The Dictes or Sayings of the Philosophers_ and the _Knight of the Tower_ each fetched five s.h.i.+llings and fourpence, the _History of Jason_ three s.h.i.+llings and sixpence, the _Histories of King Arthur_ two s.h.i.+llings and tenpence, the _Chastising of G.o.d's Children_ one s.h.i.+lling and tenpence, and the second edition of the _Game of the Chesse_ one s.h.i.+lling and sixpence.

Dibdin says that Dr. Bernard was 'a stoic in bibliography. Neither beautiful binding, nor amplitude of margin, ever delighted his eye or rejoiced his heart: for he was a stiff, hard, and straightforward reader--and learned, in Literary History, beyond all his contemporaries'; and in the preface to the sale catalogue we read that he was 'a person who collected books for use, and not for ostentation or ornament, and he seemed no more solicitous about _their_ dress than _his own_.' A memorandum book containing notes of his visits to patients, etc., is in the Sloane collection of ma.n.u.scripts in the British Museum.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 47: Address to the reader, prefixed to sale catalogue.]

SAMUEL PEPYS, 1633-1703

Samuel Pepys, Secretary to the Admiralty in the reigns of King Charles II. and King James II., was born either at London or Brampton in Huntingdons.h.i.+re on the 23rd of February 1633.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-PLATE OF SAMUEL PEPYS.]

His father, John Pepys, was a citizen of London, where he followed the trade of a tailor, but in 1661 retired to Brampton, at which place he had inherited a property of eighty pounds a year from his eldest brother Robert Pepys. He died there in 1680. Samuel Pepys received his early education at Huntingdon, and afterwards at St. Paul's School, London, where he continued until 1650, in which year he was admitted at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. On the 5th of March 1651 he migrated as a sizar to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he is entered in the books of the College as 'Samuel Peapys,' and where, two years later, he was elected to a scholars.h.i.+p founded by John Smith. He graduated B.A. in 1653 and M.A. in 1660. In 1659 he accompanied his relative, Sir Edward Montagu, afterwards Earl of Sandwich, on his expedition to the Sound, and on his return became a clerk in the office of Sir G. Downing, one of the Tellers of the Exchequer. In 1660 he was appointed Clerk of the Acts of the Navy, which post he held until 1673, when he was made Secretary for the Affairs of the Navy, and in 1684 he became Secretary of the Admiralty, an office he retained until the accession of William and Mary, when he lost his public appointments, and retired into private life. Pepys was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1665, and in 1684 became President. He died at Clapham on the 26th of May 1703, and was buried in the church of St. Olave, Hart Street, London.

Pepys collected a very interesting library, which is now preserved in a fireproof room in Magdalene College, Cambridge. It consists of about three thousand volumes arranged in eleven mahogany cases in the precise order in which Pepys left them. The cases are the identical ones mentioned in his _Diary_, August 24, 1666:--'Up and dispatched several businesses at home in the morning, and then comes Sympson to set up my other new presses for my books, and so he and I fell in to the furnis.h.i.+ng of my new closett, and taking out the things out of my old, and I kept him with me all day, and he dined with me, and so all the afternoon till it was quite dark hanging things, that is my maps and pictures and draughts, and setting up my books, and as much as we could do, to my most extraordinary satisfaction; so I think it will be as n.o.ble a closet as any man hath, and light enough--though indeed it would be better to have a little more light.'

This room, Mr. Wheatley tells us in his excellent account of the library in vol. i. of _Bibliographica_, 'was at the Navy Office in Crutched Friars, and the ill.u.s.tration in the ordinary editions of the _Diary_ shows the position of the cases when they were transferred to the house in York Buildings (now Buckingham Street, Strand).' 'The presses,' he adds, 'are handsomely carved, and have handles fixed at each end; the doors are formed of little panes of gla.s.s, and in the lower divisions the gla.s.s windows are made to lift up. The books are all arranged in double rows; but by the ingenious plan of placing small books in front of large ones, the letterings of all can be seen. Neatness was a mania with Pepys, and the volumes were evened on all the shelves; in one instance some short volumes have been raised to the required height by help of wooden stilts, gilt in front.'

The library consists princ.i.p.ally of ordinary books, but it also comprises some valuable ma.n.u.scripts, and many volumes from the presses of the early English printers. It contains as many as nine Caxtons, eight Pynsons, and nineteen Wynkyn de Wordes, several of the last being unique. The books printed by Caxton are the _Game of the Chesse, Polychronicon, Chronicles of England, Description of Britain, Mirrour of the World, Book of the Order of Chivalry_, the first and second editions of the _Canterbury Tales_, and the _Chastising of G.o.d's Children_. Among the most interesting collections is one of eighteen hundred ballads in five folio volumes; and another of four duodecimo volumes of garlands and other popular publications, printed for the most part in black letter. The volumes are lettered: Vol. 1 _Penny Merriments_, Vol. 2 _Penny Witticisms_, Vol. 3 _Penny Compliments_, and Vol. 4 _Penny G.o.dlinesses_. In the first volume of the ballads Pepys has written:--'My collection of ballads, begun by Mr. Selden, improv'd by the addition of many pieces elder thereto in time; and the whole continued to the year 1700.' The library also possesses collections of old novels, pieces of wit, chivalry, etc, plays, books on shorthand, tracts on the Popish Plot, liturgical controversies, sea tracts, news-pamphlets, etc.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-STAMP OF SAMUEL PEPYS.]

The most interesting ma.n.u.scripts are the famous _Diary_ in six volumes, the papers collected by Pepys for his proposed _Navalia_, and a collection of Scottish poetry, formed by Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington, Lord Privy Seal and Judge in the Court of Session, who died in 1586. The drawings and prints in the library are numerous and valuable. Among them are portraits of Pepys's friends, and prints and drawings ill.u.s.trating the city of London; one of the rarest of these is the large plan of London attributed to Agas, of which only one other copy is known. The library also contains some volumes of music with the t.i.tle, _Songs and other Compositions, Light, Grave and Sacred, for a single voice adjusted to the particular compa.s.s of mine; with a thorough base on ye ghitarr by Cesare Morelli_. Several songs composed by Pepys are in this collection, one of which, ent.i.tled _Beauty Retire_, was a great success, and the composer was very proud of it. All the books in the library are in excellent condition, and, with the exception of a few in morocco or vellum, are bound in calf. Almost all of them bear Pepys's arms on the lower cover; while on the upper is found a s.h.i.+eld with the inscription, SAM. PEPYS CAR. ET IAC. ANGL. REGIB. A SECRETIS ADMIRALIae.

This s.h.i.+eld is surmounted with his helmet and crest, and is surrounded by mantling, in which are introduced two anchors, indicating his office.

He also used three bookplates--one with his arms, quartering Talbot of Cottenham; a second with his portrait by Robert White, with his motto, _Mens cujusque is est Quisque_, from the _Somnium Scipionis_ of Cicero; and a third bearing his initials, with two anchors crossed, together with his motto.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOK-STAMP OF SAMUEL PEPYS.]

Pepys left his library, together with his other property, to his nephew, John Jackson; but in a paper of directions respecting it, preserved among the Harleian Ma.n.u.scripts in the British Museum, he expresses a desire that at his nephew's death it should be placed in either Trinity or Magdalene College, Cambridge, preferably 'in the latter, for the sake of my own and my nephew's education therein.' In addition to Pepys'

collection at Magdalene College, the Bodleian Library contains a series of his miscellaneous papers in twenty-five volumes, together with numerous other volumes which belonged to him, including many curious dockyard account-books of the times of King Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth.[48] These were bequeathed to the library by Dr. Richard Rawlinson, the nonjuring bishop. Mr. John Eliot Hodgkin, F.S.A., of Childwall, Weybridge, Surrey, also possesses some papers which once belonged to Pepys.

Pepys published _Memoirs relating to the State of the Royal Navy of England for ten years determined December 1688_, in 1690; and a work ent.i.tled _The Portugal History: or a Relation of the Troubles that happened in the Court of Portugal in the years 1667 and 1668 ... by S.P., Esq._, printed at London in 1677, is also attributed to him. His well-known _Diary_, the ma.n.u.script of which fills six small volumes of closely written shorthand, was first deciphered by the Rev. John Smith, Rector of Baldock, Hertfords.h.i.+re, and was published, with a selection from his private correspondence, by Lord Braybrooke, in two volumes in 1825. It has since been several times reprinted. The last edition, edited by Mr. H.B. Wheatley, F.S.A., published in eight volumes octavo in 1893-96, contains the whole of the _Diary_, with the exception of pa.s.sages which cannot possibly be printed.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 48: Macray, _Annals of the Bodleian Library_.]

EDWARD STILLINGFLEET, BISHOP OF WORCESTER, 1635-1699