Annals of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, A.D. 1598-A.D. 1867 Part 33

A.D. 1864.

The chief acquisitions in ma.n.u.script books were various Hebrew volumes (for 159), and a series of letters to Malone from Dr. Johnson, Mrs.

Siddons, and others; and in printed books, a perfect copy of Cromwell's Great Bible, printed by Grafton in 1539, which was bought of Mr. Fry, the well-known collector, for 100.

A sixth part of the general catalogue of MSS. was issued, containing the Syriac, Carshunic and Mendean MSS., in number 205, which had been drawn up by Rev. R. Payne Smith, M.A., and to which several facsimiles were appended. And the eighth part, containing the Sanscrit MSS., in number 854, appeared under the editorship of Theodore Aufrecht, M.A., now Professor of Sanscrit in the University of Edinburgh. A first _fasciculus_ of this had been issued in 1859.

A.D. 1865.

At the beginning of January, a sale was held in London by Messrs.

Sotheby and Wilkinson, of the stock of the late Mr. William Henry Elkins, a bookseller, of 41, Lombard Street. At this sale, the Library was the fortunate purchaser of what appears to be a genuine _Shakespeare Autograph_. The book is Ovid's _Metamorphoses_, printed by Aldus, at Venice, in October, 1502, in octavo; and on the t.i.tle is the signature 'W^m. Sh^r.' in a hand bearing no resemblance whatever to that of the Ireland forgeries, but not unlike that of the signature attached to Shakespeare's will. Opposite to the t.i.tle, on a leaf pasted down on the original binding of the book, is the note, most certainly a genuine memorandum of the date to which it professedly belongs, of which a faithful facsimile is given with that of the autograph itself, in the accompanying lithograph[362]. That the note itself is no forgery is admitted by all who have examined it; the volume, therefore, is certainly, by tradition, one which belonged to the poet. The only question is, whether the name may not have been forged in consequence of the existence of this note. To this, which is the opinion of some, it may fairly be replied, that, seeing no contracted form of Shakespeare's signature is known to exist, a forger would hardly have invented one for the occasion, but would have given the name in full; while, on the other hand, if the signature be real, what more natural than that a subsequent owner should record the tradition that the indefinite 'Sh^r.' of this unimportant t.i.tle-page was no other than the very definite 'Shakspere'

himself? The names mentioned in the note are names, as every one knows, connected with the poet's history. _Hall_ was the marriage name of his daughter Susannah, to whom he left his house in Henley Street; and one William Hall, a glover, appears from the Stratford Records printed by Mr. Halliwell, to have had a house in that street in 1660. He, doubtless, was the donor of the volume. Susannah Hall's daughter, Elizabeth, was married to a Thomas Nash, who died in 1647; but though he died without issue, the initials 'T. N.' may well stand for some member of the family who bore the same names. That, therefore, a Hall should possess the book, and subsequently give it to (most probably) a Nash, goes far to establish its genuineness as a Shakespeare relic. In a full account of the volume, supporting its pretensions, which appeared in the _Athenaeum_ for Jan. 28, 1865 (p. 126), it was pointed out that the two references to the story of Baucis and Philemon, which are found in Shakespeare's Plays, show that he was not unacquainted with the _Metamorphoses_. To this may be added a better proof of his knowledge of Ovid's writings in the fact that two lines from the _Amores_ (I. xv.

35, 36) form the motto to the _Venus and Adonis_. As the volume is somewhat dirty, and has a well-worn air, it may possibly have been used by Shakespeare during those school-keeping experiences of which Aubrey tells us; possibly, however, the wear and tear may be due to an older owner, who has plentifully interspersed his MS. notes in, apparently, a foreign hand, on many of the pages. Owing to a generally-entertained suspicion throughout the auction-room on the occasion of the sale of the volume, that the autograph must be a forgery, the Library became its possessor for the small sum of 9[363]!

[Ill.u.s.tration:

OVIDII METAMORPHOSEON LIBRI QVINDECIM.

W^m Sh^r.

ALDVS

This little Book of Ovid was given to me by W Hall who sayd it was once Will Shakspares

T N

1682

A small volume, containing several papers in the handwriting of Luther, was bought for 45. The first edition of Coverdale's New Testament, printed at Antwerp, by Matthew Crom, in 1538, was added to the Biblical collection. Two interesting and important series of newspapers were obtained; the one, a set (not quite perfect) of the _London Gazette_, from 1669 to 1859, bought for 200[364]; and the other, a collection of London newspapers, from 1672 to 1737, arranged in chronological order in ninety-six volumes, obtained also for 200. This very curious collection had been formed by Mr. John Nichols; its escape from destruction by the disastrous fire at his printing-office in 1808, is mentioned at p. 99 of the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for that year. It is accompanied by a MS.

index, drawn up by Mr. Nichols himself. Many unknown contributions by Defoe to the journals of his time, have recently been traced in this series by a gentleman who has made a special study of the Defoe literature, Mr. W. Lee.

Considerable a.s.sistance in completing the Library sets of the Public and Private Acts of Parliament was afforded, in this year, by the late Mr.

W. Salt.

Specimens of the first books printed in the Dyak language, which were issued at Singapore in 1862, were given by Rev. J. Rigaud, B.D., of Magdalene College.

On the appointment of Dr. Jacobson to the See of Chester, Mr. R. Payne Smith became his successor in the office of Regius Professor of Divinity. Professor Max Muller, M.A., was thereupon nominated to take Mr. Smith's place as the Sub-librarian in special charge of the Oriental department, and the nomination was confirmed in Convocation on Nov. 7.

[362] The lithograph represents the lower half of the t.i.tle-page.

[363] The purchase of it, as of a relic 'which there is little doubt is genuine,' is noticed in an article on Books and Book-collecting in the _Cornhill Magazine_ for Oct. 1867, p. 496.

[364] The only portions of the _London Gazette_ previously to be found in the Library, were of the reign of Charles II; and these only came by the transfer of the Ashmolean Library.

A.D. 1866.

There is not much to notice under this year, save that the _Vulgaria quedam abs Terencio in Anglicam linguam traducta_, printed at Oxford before 1483, was obtained, in a volume containing also two tracts printed by J. de Westphalia, at the sale of the library of Mr. Thomas Thomson, of Edinburgh, for 36. Although complete in itself, it appears to have formed a part of a larger work, as the signatures run from n. to q., in eights.

A.D. 1867.

The closing year of these memorials is distinguished by the acquisition of a volume described by Archdeacon Cotton, in his _Typographical Gazetteer_, as being 'of the very highest rarity.' It is a fine copy of the _Breviarium Illerdense_, printed at Lerida, in Spain, in 1479, by Henry Botel. Besides being remarkable from its rarity, there is special interest attaching to the volume from the fact that it was printed at the sole expense of the bell-ringer of the cathedral! The colophon states that 'Antonius Palares, campanarum ejusdem ecclesiae pulsator, propriis expensis fieri fecit.' The volume was bought from Mr. Boone for 36.

A somewhat imperfect copy of the rare Bible printed at Edinburgh by Arbuthnot and Ba.s.sandyne in 1579, being the first edition printed in Scotland, was another purchase of the year; as were also two thick volumes of recent transcripts of the Stuart correspondence, preserved in the Imperial Library at Paris.

Within the last few years considerable attention has been paid by the Librarian to the formation of a series of editions of the English Bible.

The number now collected is very large, and approaches very nearly to a complete gathering of every edition before 1800, which has any claim to regard either from date, imprint, variety of size, correctness, or incorrectness. Early Quaker tracts have also been largely collected, together with editions of Cotton Mather's works and those of John Bunyan.

A portrait of the Prince of Wales, in academic dress, painted by Sir J.

Watson Gordon, was presented towards the close of the year to the University by the Prince, in memory of his academic days, and now hangs conspicuously at the entrance of the Picture Gallery, to which it forms the latest addition.

Prof. Max Muller having resigned his Sub-librarianship on account of health, the Rev. J. W. Nutt, M.A., Fellow of All Souls' College, was approved by Convocation, on June 25, as his successor in the charge of the Oriental department.

The number of printed _volumes_ at present in the Library may be estimated at nearly 350,000. It was returned to Parliament, in 1848, as about 220,000; and with a view to this return a calculation as nearly accurate as possible was then made. An estimate has now been made of the additions received since that date; and from this it appears that some 79,500 volumes have been placed in the old Library and 45,000 in the _Camera Radcliviana_, making a total for the whole collection of about 345,000 volumes. Within the same period about 5000 additional ma.n.u.scripts have been obtained, making a total of nearly 25,000. The number was returned in 1848 as being about 21,000, but this appears to have been somewhat in excess of the fact. The proportion was singularly overestimated in 1819, for Clarke, in his _Repertorium Bibliographic.u.m_ published in that year (p. 68), states that the Library contains upwards of 160,000 volumes, of which 30,000 are ma.n.u.scripts! The annual rate of ordinary increase of printed books at present, apart, of course, from the accession of any entire collection or special purchase, may be reckoned at about 3000 volumes, exclusive of magazines, of which two-thirds come from Stationers' Hall under the provisions of the Copyright Act.

Floreat Bibliotheca.

APPENDIX A.

_Account of the Muscovite Cloak mentioned at p. 40. Extracted from vol.

vi. of B. Twyne's Collections (among the University Archives), f. 97._

'_Mr. Smyth's Relation of the Tartar Lambskinne garment in Bodleiana, Oxon._

'Sir Rich. Lee, knight, about the later ende of the raigne of the late Qu. Elizabeth, being by her Maiestie sent amba.s.sador into Russia, amongest other novelties of the c.u.n.try found by the information of the inhabitants, that in Tartaria, a c.u.n.trie neere adioyning to Muscovia and Russia, and vnder the gouernement of the Emperour of Russia, there did some yeres growe out of the ground certaine livinge creatures in the shape of lambes, bearinge wooll vppon them, very like to the lambes of England, in this manner; viz., a stalke like the stalke of an hartichocke did growe vp out of the ground, and vppon the toppe thereof a budd, which by degrees did growe into the shape of a lambe, and became a liuinge creature, resting vppon the stalke by the navell; and as soone as it did come to life, it would eate of the gra.s.se growinge round about it, and when it had eaten vp the gra.s.se within its reach it would die.

And then the people of the c.u.n.try as they finde these lambes doe flea of their skins, which they preserue and keepe, esteeminge them to bee of excellent vse and vertue, especially against the plague and other noysome diseases of those c.u.n.tries.

'Vppon this information, Sir Rich. Lee was very desirous to haue some of the skyns of these Tartar lambes for his money, which at that time was not to be gotten for money; for that whensoeuer any of those lambes were at any time found, it was very rarely; and then also when they were found, they were presented to the Emperor, or to some other great man of the c.u.n.trie, as a present of great worthe.

'At this time the Emperour had a gowne or longe cloake, made after the fashion of that c.u.n.trie with the skins of those Tartar lambes; which garment the then Duke, and since Kinge, of Swethland was very desirous to haue and offered great summes of money for, but could by no meanes obtayne his desire.

'At this time also Sir Rich. Lee had an agatt of so great biggenesse that he made thereof a pestle and a morter, whiche the Emperour hauinge notice of, was desirous to haue for his money. Sir Rich. Lee, vnderstandinge thereof, sent it to the Emperour as a present from him, which the Emperour would not accept as a gift, neither would he haue it but for his money. Sir Richard, beinge willinge the Emperour should haue the pestle and the morter, yet lothe to playe the marchant at that time, did therefore deliuer this pestle and morter, into the hands and custodie of the Emperour's physitian to beate his physicke in it for the Emperour; which manner of giuinge this pestle and morter did so please the Emperour, as that he caused secret enquirie to be made whether there were any thinge in those c.u.n.tries which Sir Richard was desirous to haue, and by that means had notice that Sir Richard had endeuoured to haue gotten some of their lambeskyns. Wherevppon the Emperour, after Sir Richard had taken his leaue of him, and had receaued a great gift of him as an Amba.s.sador, and was departed one dayes iourney toward England, the Emperour sent after him the before mentioned garment so made with their Tartar lambeskyns as aforesaide, and with it some fewe skynnes loose, and gaue them all vnto him freelie.

'Sir Richard Lee, travaylinge homewards, came to the Kinge of Swethlandes court, who demaunded of him of diverse thinges of the c.u.n.trie of Muscovia; and, amongest other thinges, asked him whether he had seene the aforesaid garment, and he answered, that he had not only seene it, but had it in his possession; whereat the Kinge of Swethland admired, sayinge he had longe laboured to get it for loue or money, but could neuer obtayne it.

'Sir Rich. Lee in this iourney had not onely gotten this garment and Tartar lambeskyns, but diverse other rich furres and other rarities of great price; the greatest part whereof the Queene tooke of him, and promised him recompence for them, which she neuer performed; which was partly the cause that he concealed this garment from her duringe her life. And when Sir Rich. Lee died himselfe, he by his will gaue it to the Library in Oxford, to be kept as a monument there, beinge, as he conceiued, the fittest place for a jewell of so great worth and aestimation as that is or ought to be.

'Sir Rich. Lee was the neere kinseman of my wife; by reason whereof, I was very familiarly acquaynted with him; and vppon conference had with him about his trauayles at sundry times, I had the true relation of all the premisses from his owne mouthe. And I comminge to Oxford to the Act, and findinge this garment in Sir Tho. Bodley's studdie or closet, without any expression made of the raritie or worth of this garment, did discouer so much as I haue herein written to Mr. Russe, the Keeper of the Library; at whose request I haue sett it downe, in writinge. And in testimonie of the truthe thereof, I haue herevnto subscribed my name, the 13th of July, 1624.

'EDWARD SMYTHE.