Bodleian Library

“ It remains to indicate the place among libraries which the Bodleian Library, the Library of the University of Oxford, appears to occupy among the libraries of the world. In the absence of all proper standardization of statistics, size (as estimated by the reputed number of volumes, not works) must be first regarded, and next importance, such as that due to manuscripts, incunabula and the like. Mere size may not connote importance, for the million volumes claimed by Messrs. ”

“ Valueless, indeed, was our early drama held by graver men. Sir Thomas Bodley wholly rejected from his great library all plays, “to avoid stuffing it with baggage-books;” but more particularly objected to “English Plays, as unlike those of other nations, which are esteemed for learning the languages; and many of them,” he adds, “are compiled by men of great wisdom and learning.”
The perplexities of the founder of the noble Bodleian Library were occasioned by our dramatic illegitimacy; we had no progenitors, and we were not spell-bound by the three unities. ”

“ The men who for years past have been persistently trying to force this fatal policy upon the University may be remarkable on more accounts than one; yet they are assuredly not remarkable either for their acquaintance with books and libraries, or for their knowledge of the Bodleian. To them it is merely a large library, not essentially different from the London Library or from Mudie’s, and they propose to treat it accordingly. No mistake can be greater. The Bodleian is no ordinary library ”

“ Bodleian Library in 1695; Bodley in 1706; Bodleian in 1749. The term “Bodley” is now some times used for the old part of the Library, as compared with the “Camera.”
[4] New College: matr., 1592; Fellow; D.D., 1614; died, 1629; Librarian, 1602-1620.
[5] The Letters are well worth republishing, with notes, for Hearne’s edition in 1703 (Reliquiæ Bodleianæ) exhibit them in a hopelessly haphazard order, devoid of all chronological sequence.
[6] Bodley, however, reserved a life interest in this endowment, and the only independent income of the Librarian and Sub-Librarian as such was 8d. ”

“ A library in which no man works—a library such as the Bodleian is in the hands of men too ignorant or too idle to use it—is dreadful to think of. I, however, hoped better of the place, and I argued that we should not send our books out of the library, because—as one reason amongst others—it would then be impossible for us to use those books in the library. ”

“ Those who are in favour of changing the whole character of the Bodleian, and who wish to convert it from a library of reference into a library of circulation, do not seem to feel much confidence in the strength of their case; at all events, they have made no serious attempt to meet the facts and arguments with which they are confronted, but show a disposition to wander off into side issues of little or no importance. ”

“ Prince, the Oxford bookseller:—
'Our Bodleian Library is putting into good order. It has been already one year in hand. Some one, two or three of the Curators work at it daily, and several assistants. The revenue from the tax on the Members of the University is about £460 per annum, which has existed 12 years. This has increased the Library so much that it must be attended to, and a new Catalogue put in hand. They have lately bought all the expensive foreign publications. ”

“ If after thirty years of constant ‘reform’ we are sunk so low that we neither can, nor will, use the treasures of the Bodleian Library ourselves, why in that case I say let us give the whole of it away to some country where scholars are yet to be found. ”

“ But every foreign book and periodical has to be purchased, and though much has been done, the foreign literature is not fully adequate. All that can be accomplished is to provide, in this department, a large and useful working library. It is in English Literature, in Theology and in Classics that the Bodleian can be justly called firstrate. ”

“ Not one European library, of the first class, has a complete printed catalogue, in a single work. The Bodleian Library is not an exception. It may be necessary to search six distinct catalogues, in order to ascertain whether any specified book were or were not in that collection, at the close of the year 1847. ”

“ The earliest example of these is at Corpus Christi College, Oxford (1517) , and they are still in use in the Old Reading Room (“Duke Humphrey”) of the Bodleian; and in the Chapter library at Hereford, the very chains of the books are still preserved.
The modern practice of lining the walls of our rooms with book-shelves, though in one sense a reversion to an ancient type, in another is a definite change of system, of which examples are found in the sixteenth century abroad, but the first in England is in the Bodleian. In the Old Reading Room Sir Thomas Bodley reproduced the stall system. ”

“ THE MANUSCRIPT AND OTHER TREASURES
Attractions of the Bodleian.
The antiquity, the historical associations, and the treasures of the Library combine to give it a peculiar fascination. Founded in the “spacious times of great Elizabeth,” and even then carrying on the traditions of the University library first mentioned in 1320; exhibiting a normal evolution in fabric and contents, without great catastrophes or change of place ”

“ A young man of this place is about making a Catalogue of all the singular books in this place, in the College libraries as well as the Bodleian.... We have a young man in this place, his name is Curtis, who was an apprentice to me, who has hitherto only dealt in books of curiosities, in which he is greatly skilled, superior in many respects to De Bure, Ames, or his continuator. [Pg 201] He has been employed five or six years in the Bodleian Library, and since at Wadham, Queen's and Balliol. ”

“ University and Collegiate Libraries.—The Bodleian Library, Oxford, though it had been preceded by various efforts towards a university library, owed its origin to Sir Thomas Bodley (q.v.) . Contributing largely himself, and procuring Oxford. contributions from others, he opened the library with upwards of 2000 vols. in 1602. In 1610 he obtained a grant from the Stationers’ Company of a copy of every work printed in the country, a privilege still enjoyed under the provisions of the various copyright acts. ”

“ Two large and valuable donations were received in that year and in 1914, namely, 17,000 volumes of Chinese literature from Sir Edmund Backhouse, of Pekin, and Professor Ingram Bywater’s very choice library of about four thousand volumes on Aristotle and his commentators, [37] and of Humanist scholars up to about 1650. Then the War came, and checked many of the activities of the Bodleian. Forty-one members of the Staff were called away on military service of one kind or another, including all of the Regular Staff who were of military age, [24] for the Library made no claim for exemption. ”

“ Bodleian's librarians in the eighteenth century were mostly clerks in holy or [Pg 270] ders and it was not uncommon for them to fail to open the library at all on a Saturday if they were "taking duty in the country," on the following day. There is preserved in the Bodleian a scrap of paper which an angry scholar affixed to the door of the library in 1806 when he found it closed contrary to the statutes. On it were these words in Greek: "Woe unto you who have taken away the key of knowledge! Ye enter not yourself and hinder those who come." ”

“ In the greatest libraries—even in the Bodleian—the number of splendid manuscripts—of manuscripts valuable as works of art or as palæographic monuments—is comparatively small.
But let us suppose the fiction to be a fact; let it be assumed that ‘my idea of a MS. is that it should exist beautifully’; how would that be a flaw in the argument against lending Bodleian books? The argument—to put it in its baldest form—is, that Nothing that tends to damage a library ought to be done by those who really care for it; but lending tends to damage a library, ergo. ”

“ The Extra Staff is apparently a class peculiar to the Bodleian, instituted by Nicholson. They are to a large extent former Junior Assistants, retained for a time on the Staff under conditions which allow them to carry on their own studies (as, for instance, for a University Degree) . It is found that their experience of the Library in the past makes their services of special value, while on the other hand they are allowed to choose a normal scheme of hours and take what holidays they please, being paid by the hour (from 6d. to 2s.) ”

“ In the Bodleian library, Henry Stubbe held the office of second keeper. A reader of all kinds of books, at home in ecclesiastical and profane history, as well as in mathematical studies, he also spoke Greek and Latin with much ease; and, according to his eulogists, could "talk on various sciences with an eloquent tongue, or with his dexterous pen write so as none could equal, answer, or come near him." [257] In a recess of the library, Elias Ashmole often sat pouring over old coins, for he had come to make a catalogue of the numismatic collection given to the Bodleian by Archbishop Laud. ”

“ It is somewhat humiliating for the librarian unprovided with this valuable auxiliary, to find himself dependent upon the classified indexes to the London publishers' list and Brunet's Manuel du Libraire for information which he ought to be able to supply from his own catalogue. Even the Bodleian, we perceive, is about taking measures to prepare an index of subjects, and the Bodleian is a library for scholars who might not unfairly be expected to bring their bibliographical information along with them. ”

“ The whole building may probably be reckoned as capable of containing altogether about 75,000 volumes [360] .
The terms on which the Radcliffe Trustees made their offer, and which were accepted by the University, were these:—1. That the Radcliffe Building should be a reading-room to the Bodleian, or be used for any other purpose of the Bodleian Library. 2. That it should remain the property of the Trustees, being esteemed a loan to the University. 3. That no alteration should be made in the building without consent of the Trustees or a Representative approved by them. 4. ”

“ Macray's Annals of the Bodleian Library, second edition, Oxford, 'at the Clarendon Press, 1890,' I cannot honestly profess to entertain in my breast, with regard to it, the precise emotions which C.S.C. declared took possession of him when he regarded the decalogue. A great library easily begets affection, which may deepen into love; but devotion and awe are plants hard to rear in our harsh climate ”

“ Classical students are at no loss for guides, [28] and it is open to all others simply to take a book or edition of repute, and study its methods, the enumeration of MSS., the grouping of them, and the principles of text-construction and criticism. But at every step they need a large library, and the Bodleian combines the advantages usually only found in a great city with the amenity and surroundings of a country town. ”

“ The number of printed volumes in the Bodleian Library amounts to about 220,000; but this statement will very inadequately express the real extent of the collection, as so many works have been bound together in one volume.
'3. The number of manuscripts is about 21,000.
'4. All graduates of the University have the right of admission to the Library; other persons must apply for admission to the regular authorities. ”

“ The field of Oxford history is so plentiful and so untilled that it can be found by any one without trouble, and it is therefore here [63] passed over. Any one inspired to cultivate it will find a wealth of material, both antiquarian, topical and literary. The following jottings are divided under a few general headings, but are otherwise in no order and could be indefinitely extended. The Bodleian statute requires that the leave of the Librarian or Curators be obtained before any manuscript is copied with a view to publication. ”

“ Oliver Cromwell, while Lord Protector, presented to the library twenty-two Greek manuscripts he had purchased, and, what is more, when Bodley's librarian refused the Lord Protector's request to allow the Portugal Ambassador to borrow a manuscript, sending instead of the manuscript a copy of the statutes forbidding loans, Oliver commended the prudence of the founder, and subsequently made the donation just mentioned.
A great wave of generosity towards this foundation was early noticeable. The Bodleian got hold of men's imaginations. ”

“ Opie, and—The Antiquary! The far wiser plan is now carried out in the Bodleian of rejecting nothing; even the elementary works that do not need entering in the Catalogue, are so kept that access can be had to them at all times and examination made; and the music is from time to time sorted and bound. And this plan was commenced in the [Pg 228] year of which we are writing; for, (in consequence, of course, of this return being called for by the House of Commons,) the Curators ordered, on May 27, that all publications sent from Stationers' Hall should in future be entered and preserved. ”

“ To prevent so shocking an accident, it was pulled down many years since." We shall meet with a similar legend in another university city. Many persons have been shy of these localities, who were in no danger whatever of meeting the fate threatened by the prediction.
We passed through the Bodleian Library, only glancing at a few of its choicest treasures, among which the exquisitely illuminated missals were especially tempting objects of study. It was almost like a mockery to see them opened and closed, without having the time to study their wonderful miniature paintings. ”